Step Up! Youth Message

Q: Who is the greatest babysitter mentioned in the Bible? A: David - he rocked Goliath to sleep. Q: Why was Goliath so surprised when David hit him with a slingshot? A: The thought had never entered his head before. Q: If Goliath is resurrected, would you like to tell him the joke about David and Goliath? A: No, he already fell for it once.

Let’s face it, you guys are living in strange times. To be honest, it’s hard not to be discouraged. If you are going to be a true Believer - A Christian - then you’ve got to make sure you’re grounded in your faith or else you might not be able to stand when hard times come.

I want to talk to you about stepping up. Stepping up in your thoughts, actions, and relationships.

If we don’t try to rise above the craziness around us then I think we might miss divine opportunities to experience the life that Christ wants us to live.

It my opinion that if we stay focused on the world we will only feel defeated and discouraged.

The problem with living in defeat and discouragement is that we will miss opportunities to positively affect the lives of people God places in our path.

We must remember that as believers we have what the world is missing.

We hold the answer to the only thing that can satisfy their cravings.

Think about what 1 John 2:16-17 says:

1 John 2:16–17 NLT

16 For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. 17 And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.

Step Up

The things this world offers are all temporary, physical, and earthly. The things this world offers will pass away with time.

There’s no true fulfillment without Christ. If you don’t know Christ you are always trying to fill that void.

These cravings of the world should not be the desires of Christians. We should set our eyes and heart on things that are Higher because the world is fading away.

Why should we step up and reject what the world says is normal for what God says is right? Well, I don’t know about you, but I want to please God!

We should want to live a life that is distinguishable from the world. We should become beacons of Hope and Truth that light the way for those who are lost.

We should show the people of this world what it looks like to live a life that is full. That is satisfied.

When we step up in our relationship with God we end up taking people with us!

The thing is…all of us are struggling with something. Could be something secret, could be something everyone knows about, but if you are seeking God even a little bit the enemy is going to come at you hard.

There is an enemy who is hard at work and we need to develop a strategy to fight the battle.

My First thought for you to consider today is...

There is a Cause

So, let me take you to a story we are all familiar with in the Old Testament.

Israel was fighting the Philistines and in the Philistine army there was a very big man. This man was names Goliath. Twice a day for 40 days, morning and evening, Goliath, comes out between the lines and challenges the Israelites to send out someone to fight him.

Saul was the King of Israel and he was also the natural choice to fight Goliath because he was probably their best warrior. Saul was a head taller than anyone else in all of Israel. His armor and weaponry were no worse than Goliath’s. He was the man for the job. The battle was his to fight, but there was one problem.

Saul didn’t want to fight Goliath!

This is were David comes into the story.

David was 17 Years Old!

Unknown to Saul, Samuel had anointed David as the next king over Israel. What’s crazy about that is that Saul may not have even really paid much attention to David because David was just his harp player. He played music for King Saul!

David was not in the army. It was not HIS battle to fight. But he found himself standing among his brothers on the battlefield and he heard Goliath taunt the Israelite army. He heard this Philistine defy the army of the living God.

We know what happens, right? David ultimately proves his faith in God and defeats the Giant with just a few smooth stones and a slingshot. He proved that God was with him and with the children of Israel.

You know what I think? In my opinion, this was not David’s battle to fight. I think it was Saul's battle but Saul didn’t step up. He wanted someone else to put their neck on the line. Even though he was probably the most QUALIFIED person to stand toe to toe with this giant.

By defeating this giant David showed Saul was unfit to rule as King.

Before David volunteered to fight Goliath he was just another man standing in a field seeing what everyone else was seeing.

David was standing there hearing the foul words from the enemy, knowing the king was failing to lead, and looking for anyone who would be willing to take on the challenge.

He starting asking questions.

David asked something that it think is important. Something that I feel we can think on that might help us to Go higher this morning. He said this:

1 Samuel 17:29 And David said, “What have I done now? Is there not a cause?”

What is a cause?

Here’s the definition:

Cause: a principle, aim, or movement that, because of a deep commitment, one is prepared to defend or advocate.

David had a cause that day. Actually, the entire army of Israel had a cause.

David had a deep commitment that made him prepared to defend and prepared to fight.

What made him ready to fight?

Because this Philistine army was defying the army of the Living God.

David’s commitment was deep because he knew God.

He had personal experienced that told him God was bigger than that giant. And that God should NOT be mocked.

1 Samuel 17:36–37 NKJV

36 Your servant has killed both lion and bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God.” 37 Moreover David said, “The Lord, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you!”

He had faith that God would be with him. I can picture the indignation of David that day…here’s this army taunting his people and his God and no one was willing to stand up. No one was ready to fight for the cause.

David said, I know who God is because I have been delivered before!

He decided that if no one else would stand then he would.

Let’s apply this to us today. When you look at the world around us do you see any giants taunting the people of God, taunting you personally?

Well, if you don’t then you might have blinders on. It seems to me that as Christians we are being bombarded on every side with things that are challenging our way of life.

Christians are being marginalized. Every other religion is OK, but if you are a Christian you are considered a bigot, small minded, intolerant, and ignorant.

It’s just not right!

There Is a Cause

I remember taking a class one time at a community college. It was a world’s religion class. This was in Tulsa Oklahoma. I thought it would be a good class about religion from maybe a little different perspective. I thought, what would it hurt?

Well, the very first assignment was to stand in front of the class and declare your religion. My last name is Watterson so I was pretty much the last person to stand up, so I got to hear everyone else go first.

I would have assumed most everyone in that class was a Christian. WRONG! Muslim, Buddhist, Secular Humanist, Wicca, and many more. No one up until me said they were Christian! I was shocked.

When I stood up and said I was a Christian I saw kind eyes turn into not so kind eyes. For some reason, everyone else was accepted, but I was not. I didn’t like the feeling.

That class was challenging because the professor would intentionally pick on me. He would mark up my papers and question everything I had to say. I’d say it was the first time I felt persecution for my faith.

If the world keeps going the way its going then we might expect to experience persecution for the CAUSE of Christ.

I think we’ve had it pretty easy as Christians in the country we live, but there could be a day coming when you might have to stand up and ask yourself if the CAUSE of Christ is WORTHY of your life.

There might be a time when you are who Jesus is talking about in...

Matthew 5:10–11 NLT

10 God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. 11 “God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers.

We must decide like David did if the CAUSE is worth the commitment.

David saw a cause that day and decided that he couldn’t sit back anymore. That he was a child of the living God and that he was going to act like it…

The battle was probably not his first choice, but it was his only option.

We don’t have the luxury of playing it safe. We have to stand up and take our place in the battle.

The battle is raging against what is good and evil, we must be motivated stand for what is right.

There is a real enemy out there who is taunting the people of God.

The question I have for you today is, Are you willing to say, like David, “ I’ll go fight!” Even in the face of persecution from this world.

Will you say, “I can’t sit back anymore”.

We’ve got to fight against the enemy of our lives so that the world can see the Glory of God.

Guess what happens when you take up the Cause of Christ? You will see lives changed.

We aren’t motivated by FIGHTING. We are motivated that God can use us to bring people into the kingdom.

My Second thought for you to consider today is...

Commitment to the Cause will Bring Battles

If the biggest problem you face today is deciding if you are going to Sonic after church then I would say you may not be in the battle.

In this life if you take up the Cause of Christ then you will experience problems.

When we are facing our own issues sometimes they seem pretty big compared to what others are facing don’t they? But in this life we are all going to face major issues. No one is exempt.

Guess why? We are in a battle. Plain and simple. We are in a battle in very much the same way Israel was in a battle against the Philistines.

I think about these stories in the Bible. It’s easy to place these stories in a book and put them on a shelf. But these stories haven’t stopped. In fact, you are just as much in the story as David was that day.

Look at the words Paul uses to encourage the Christians in Corinth...

2 Corinthians 10:3–4 NLT

3 We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. 4 We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments.

If you were on the battle field with David, I could almost hear him saying the same thing! For goodness sake, he attacked a giant, who was coming at him with a 15lb sword, with stones! He was waging war differently than the world at that time for sure!

He knew that the cause was too great to stand on the sidelines. That if he was going to win he was going to have to win by a miracle of God. He needed DIVINE power to demolish that giant.

If you are going to Step Up then you’ve got to see that you are in a personal battle. Paul says we don’t wage WAR as the world does, which is great, but what he is saying is that we are in fact in a WAR!

So what are some of the personal battles we face?

There are battles that we initiate and battles that are outside our control.

My wife just started her masters degree program. I’m very proud of her. She got enrolled, got her books, and then the first assignment came. Immediately the battle in her mind started. When will I have time to get this done…what if I’m not smart enough…did I understand what I am supposed to do…on an on she kept telling me all these different fears. Then all of a sudden she just stopped talking about the assignment. I asked what happened and this is what she said...”Oh, it turned out to be super easy. I got 100%”

All that energy in the battle was spent worrying about something that turned out to be easy.

We take up the CAUSE of Christ and we expect battles from the enemy, but sometimes we give the enemy too much credit. We can initiate battles all on our own. We are fighting against ourselves instead of walking in Victory!

We tire ourselves out fighting battles we don’t have to fight. They are real, but they aren’t always necessary. We can choose to take control of our thoughts.

2 Corinthians 10:5 ESV

5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,

We need to stand on the Word of God and start thinking His thoughts. Cast down the battles we are initiating.

Step Into the Battle

We have to fight some battles that are a consequence of sin in our life. What heartaches and headaches could be avoided if we could live a perfect life? I thank God for His grace and forgiveness of our sin, but I also recognize that the results of sin in my life can bring unintended battles.

I’m telling you, if you’re going to Step Up, you’re going to have to be more than a conqueror of that sin in your life. Lay those weights down. Repent and trust God for the strength to live a new way!

I don’t diminish these battles we initiate. They are real and we must fight them with the same resolve as David fought that giant.

There are other battles that are brought to us. Battles that we don’t deserve and we didn’t initiate. Things that can shake us to the core of who we are and what we believe. I call these battles “faith Provers”. Because when you walk through these battles you find out if your faith in God is like Davids faith in God.

These battles could be anything from a loss of a loved one, finding out you have some type of medical condition, your family treating you unfairly, your best friend leaving you, the list could go on and on.

When these things come your way you have to make a decision to Step Into the Battle.

As a child of God you are ABLE to Fight.

You see, in a battle there are two sides and one side is going to win.

We, as followers of Christ, are stronger than we think! We aren’t weak. Christ in us is what can cause us to Go Higher in the battles we face.

1 John 4:4 Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

I’m telling you right now, that...

If you are in Christ, then Christ is in YOU!

God was on Davids side. He was a 17 year old - a teenager, who couldn’t even fit into the armor yet, who only had a slingshot and a stone, but with God on his side there was no giant, no battle, no army that could defeat him.

We should fight these personal battles because there is a CAUSE.

It’s not just for your glory, but for the Glory of God. And the hope that He can use you to reach the lost and hopeless.

What if you gave up in your last battle before you found the victory? Threw in the towel and said it was too hard. Wouldn’t have affected people in your life?

There are people who need you to finish strong…to make it through…they need your testimony so they can make it through their own battles.

Our battles are not just OUR battles. Others are affected for eternity.

Don’t stop fighting temptation.

Don’t give in to the enemy’s lies.

Don’t doubt that God can help you overcome.

When you think your personal battle is too much to handle remember what the giant slayer, David, said later in his life.

Psalm 44:5 NLT

5 Only by your power can we push back our enemies; only in your name can we trample our foes.

Hey listen, with God nothing is impossible. You may have been fighting for a long time, but I believe that through His name those enemy's are going to be trampled. Don’t give up!

This brings me to my final thought for today...

Christ is Our STRENGTH When We are Weak

Say you recognize the cause, you are commited to the fight, but you are just TIRED of fighting. I get that because I’ve been there. Sometimes we are battling the same thing over and over. The fight just seems to be too long.

The enemy of our Soul is the same, he doesn’t change. He’s going to keep on coming at you each day. We can get tired. We can get weary.

I have not really been much of a person who likes running. Well, I made a commitment to run in a half marathon. It was hard. I thought I might die.

I did great for the first 8 miles, but then I was 90% sure I was going to die. I had already been running for more than an hour and I knew I had an hour to go.

I started focusing on the little rest stations. They had some gatorade and water, and a kind person to say keep going! It’s crazy how that person telling you to keep going can make such a difference.

I made it over the finish line. Was I the fastest…no…was I the slowest…yes! No, just kidding. I didn’t finish last, but I certainly was no where near the top of the list.

I was absolutely exhausted. I had nothing left in the tank.

This is how we get when our battles are long. We get tired.

David fought the giant that day and had a massive victory. But something we never talk about is that he’d KEEP on fighting those Philistines for 20 years! The battles just kept coming.

So, when you turn a few pages you find a scene that I feel is really important for us today if we are going to Step Up in the battles we face.

2 Samuel 21:15–17 NLT

15 Once again the Philistines were at war with Israel. And when David and his men were in the thick of battle, David became weak and exhausted. 16 Ishbi-benob was a descendant of the giants; his bronze spearhead weighed more than seven pounds, and he was armed with a new sword. He had cornered David and was about to kill him. 17 But Abishai son of Zeruiah came to David’s rescue and killed the Philistine. Then David’s men declared, “You are not going out to battle with us again! Why risk snuffing out the light of Israel?”

Once again…Once again…

Can you identify with David right there? Does it feel like you fight a battle only to find that “Once Again” another battle begins?

20 years earlier David defeated Goliath and now he, once again, finds himself fighting the same enemy!

You and I will be fighting the same old devil our entire lives. He may bring different things to you, but he’s the same enemy.

David was in the battle with the descendant of the giant he slayed in 1 Samuel 17. This enemy wasn’t even as strong as the first enemy David faced. The first giant had a 15 lb sword. This new enemy only had a 7 pound sword. Should be a piece of cake for a - God trusting - giant slayer.

The difference here was the David had become weak and exhausted.

Have you ever been there in your own life? You just keep fighting. Yes, you’ve experienced victories, but the enemy keeps popping back up. Battles in your mind, heart, and in the body never seem to stop.

We know who God is and we stand on the scriptures, but sometimes we just get tired. We want a break. We need to rest.

If Christ is in you, you aren’t weak, but you may get tired if you are fighting the same battles over and over again. Being tired does not mean that you are defeated.

God brought someone into David’s life at the right time to HELP him defeat the same enemy he had already once defeated.

He had to step up and rise above the enemy with a new tactic.

Verse 17 says that a man named Abishai came to Davids rescue and killed the philistine.

Tired, spent, and out of ideas God sent Abishai to help David in his battle.

And you know what? If you are here today and you’re tired, spent, and out of ideas there are people here who can be your Abishai.

We are not in these battles alone. We have each other. And we have Christ.

Step Up with Christ

Jesus is our Abishai. He stands in the battles for us. We are never alone when we are with Jesus.

The enemy throws your sin in your face. Jesus stand as your righteousness.

The enemy points out the sickness in your body. Jesus stands as your healer.

The enemy reminds you of your failures. Jesus says that we can do all things through His strength.

The enemy bring fear into your heart. Jesus says do not be afraid. The Battle is not yours, but God’s!

When you are tired. When you are weary. You aren’t weak if you put your trust in the Lord. It’s OK to be tired, but it’s not OK give up.

I know I’ve been talking a long time, but really have such a short time here tonight. If I could tell you one thing I would say...

It’s time for you to Step Up. Take up the Cause of Christ and stand in battle against the enemy. When you are tired, seek help, because the Lord gives strength to the weary.

Commit to the Cause

Stand Up and Fight in the Battle

Trust Lord for Strength

Step Up in The Battle

Today you might fall into one of these categories:

1 - You haven’t cared about the Cause. Living a life apart from Jesus as your Saviour. Today, if you call on His name as Lord and believe that He’s the Lord of all creation. Surrender your heart and you can be changed forever.

2 - You haven’t fought in the battle. You know who Christ is, but you haven’t gone very far in your relationship with Him. Today, can rise up and start fighting back the enemy in your life. Defeat those sins that keep you bound. Trust God for the victories. Renew your commitment to being the hands and feet of Christ. Be a kingdom builder.

3 - You know Christ as your Saviour. You’ve been fighting for a long time and you just need help. Today, you can find rest in Christ. You can recommit yourself to Him and allow Him to restore your strength. You can renew your faith and trust that He is in control. Maybe, you can open up to your brothers or sisters in Christ and find the help you so desperately need.