Services | Refusing to Accept Taunts Against God Even if They Are Giants

Bulletin

Hymn # 76 “My Jesus, I Love Thee”

SCRIPTURE READING – 1 John 4:7 - 11

Giving of Selves and Our Offerings
OFFERTORY PRAYER
OFFERTORY MUSIC – Pru Hungate

Praise and Worship
“Homecoming”
“Only King Forever”
“How Great Is Your Love”

Proclamation of the Word
Message by Pastor Joe
“Resolved to Obey and Worship Only the Lord, God”
“Refusing to Accept Taunts Against God Even if They Are Giants”

PRAYER TIME / Time of Reflection
“The Battle Belongs”
Acknowledgements and Announcements
Benediction “There Is Freedom”

Sermon Notes
1 Samuel 17:1 – 3 Two armies camp opposite each other
1 Samuel 17:4 – 7 Goliath, the giant described
1 Samuel 17:8 – 11 Goliath’s challenge and Israel’s response Davis sent to check on his brothers and to take care packages
1 Samuel 17:20 – 23 While there Davis hears Goliath’s mocking
1 Samuel 17:24 – 30 David wants to know what will be done for the man who defeats Goliath
1 Samuel 17:31 – 37 Davis says that God has delivered him before and will do so again
1 Samuel 17:38 – 40 David chooses a stick and stone to go to a sword fight
1 Samuel 17:41 – 44 Goliath disparages and mocks David
1 Samuel 17:45 – 47 Davis’s response that he will prevail and all will know that there is a God and the people will know that the battle belongs to the Lord
1 Samuel 17:48 – 51 Davis kills Goliath
1 Samuel 17:52 & 53 The army of Israel as a result routs the Philistines
1 Samuel 17:54 David’s souvenirs

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Scritpures

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Transcript of Service

Before I start the message, oftentimes pastors are called in, usually with the intention of growing the church in growing buildings and doing all kinds of things that are visible. And it seems to me that one of the ways that many churches have done that in many pastors have done that is to fall into the situation where the psychology of it, that if I just tell you how wonderful you are now, God has this wonderful plan and you're going to be this awesome person and that you're going to do awesome and great things that you'll want to come here.

How awesome you are. Well, I'm sorry, I can't do that. First off, you're not that awesome, and neither am I. But our God is how great is our God? And as we just saying, there has never been and there will never be another God like ours. So we talk about who He is and what he has done for us.

And I believe in some times, as Jesus has said, narrow is the way and few who find it. But we will find those who are generally committed to following him. And if that takes a while, that takes a we have taken a look at people in the last several messages who are determined not to bow their knees to other gods and other requirements, but to worship and obey and trust God alone.

Now, none of these people started out thinking that they were going to be great, wonderful people, and we're going to be included in the Hall of Fame, of faith and all these types of things. They just basically live their lives.

The three Hebrew young men. Then they start out to say, Gee, I want to find out how God is going to save us through the fire. They simply said, I'm not going to bow down and worship that idol. Daniel didn't say, Oh, well, you know, I'm going to start praying because they made it illegal to pray and and show how God can say me through the lion's den.

He just continued to pray without ceasing, because that's what people are called to do. It wasn't like Nehemiah decided that I will. What can I choose to do that will get the most opposition and do that? He said. I'm going to do a good work and I'm going to continue doing it. Whether you like it or not. Esther didn't become Queen Esther because she thought she was going to deliver the people of God, but found herself in that position to be able to do so and willing to risk her life for it.

And we're going to see one other person today who is on a mission not to do what he ultimately and what he is well known for from every child and above. Now, again, I'm going to tweak the story a little bit because it's not how we like to think about it, not like how we we talk about it.

And so in in in a first Samuel chapter 12, we see this. It says, Now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle and they were gathered at Sukkot and which belong to Judah. And they camp between Sukkah and Esca and Ephesus, Adumim. And now the Philistines had been the enemies of Israel pretty much ever since Israel was Israel all the way back.

And the Book of Judges from about the second or third judge on, we see at different times how the judges are fighting against the Philistines. And one of the stories you probably well know in the Book of Judges about Samson and Samson is the one who's fighting the Philistines and Samson is the one that the Philistines were able to capture because he chose to be deceived by Delilah, because he had plenty of opportunities not to be deceived, but because of who he was and his lust that whatever he continued to accept her deceptions to when he's got his haircut and lost his strength.

But in his final days, he determined to bring them all down because he knew who his God was. And so this is continued from the Book of Judges into now into Samuel Wood. Samuel is one of the last judges, and we have now King Saul. But we have a different administration. And the Philistines are now again attacking Israel.

And so their army is camped on one side of the valley and another camp on the other side in Saul. And the men of Israel were gathered in, encamped in the Valley of Elah and drew up in battle, ready to encounter the Philistines. So they were there to fight the battle. The Philistines stood on the mountain on one side, while Israel stood on the mountain, on the other side, with a valley between them.

So we've got these two armies in camp on different mountaintops with a valley in between. And the reason that the armies are camp on the mountain tops is because that's strategically advantageous. It's easier for you defend from a position of height than it is to scale the height and fight. So they're doing very smart, strategic battle formation. However, things change.

Then a champion came out from the armies of the Philistines named Goliath from Gaza, whose height was six cubits and a span. Now we're not real sure about the length of a cubit. We talk about the arm length and whatever. It's pretty much everybody's agreed that it's about 18 inches, which means he's over nine feet tall. Now, that's pretty impressive.

And today, because we see people like Shaq and others who are seven feet when we go, wow, that's a big dude. But this is at a time when probably the average height of a person was about five two. So this guy is almost twice as tall as anybody in the army of Israel. And he had a bronze helmet on his head and he was clothed with veiled armor.

Which way? 5000 shekels, a bronze. Now, I don't know how much 5000 shekels a bronze is, but it sounds like a whole lot. And it sounds like this dude is not only big, but he's got big armor.

He also had a bronze greaves on his legs and a bronze javelin long between his shoulders. So not only is his chest and stomach protected, his thighs and his shins are. So we got this big guy who's basically a tank and he's standing out there and he's got this bronze javelin between his shoulder. The shaft of the spear was like a weaver's beam, and the head of the spear weighed 600 shekels of iron.

The shield carrier also walked before him. So, again, I'm not sure exactly how much this weighs. Whatever, but it seems significant. And I've seen pictures of a weaver's beam. That's not a that's not a thin thing. That's a that's like a 4x4. So he's well-protected. Well, armor. And not only is he basically this Big Ben with big armor and big weapons, he has somebody in front of the shield there.

Oh, he's got protection besides his own. And so this is a giant a giant of a man well-protected, well experienced, as we will see. And he stood in, shouted to the ranks of Israel and said to them, why do you come out to draw up in battle array? Am I not the Philistine and you servants of Sol choose a man for yourselves and let him come down to me.

So he's offering. He's offering a challenge. Or are we going to take these two armies and fight together? I'll tell you what we'll do. You pick somebody to fight me. That's what we'll do. What? Why are we. Why are we going to have armies fight against each other? Well, you have a mano a mano, just men against men.

That's all we're going to have done. If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will become your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall become our servant and serve us. So here's the challenge. You fight me and when there's no war, we just become your servant. However, if I win, you become our.

That's the challenge. And I would say, if you looking at it, it would be a pretty safe challenge. Is there not a whole lot of people who are going to be equal to Elias? Massive ability of height, strength in armor.

Again, the Philistines that I defy the ranks of Israel this day and give me a man that we may fight together. So he is now mocking the people of God. I defy come. I don't think you have. I don't think you're man enough. Come on down. Fight me, you coward. What happened when Saul and all Israel heard these words of village things?

They were dismayed and great, right?

They became fearful of the words of the line, fearful of what he might do because they know who they were and who he was afraid.

There's another scene that now takes place. There's a young man, a youth whose name is David, and David is doing what David's supposed to do. David is tending his father's sheep. That's his job, not a significant job, as we were in my thing. Not a wonderful job. Just a big deal. That's why I say everybody go, Oh, I want to do something significant.

David standing sheep. But his father gives him a mission. His father says, I want you to take a care package, some cheese and some other things, and I want you to take them to your brothers. And I want you to take this care package to their commanders, and I want you to provide it. But I also want you to tell me how it's going with them.

So give me a report. You know, it's not like this at the BBC or anything that they can find out what's happening on the battlefield. And let's face it, if you're a parent of people at risk of war, you would want to know that they're safe. So their father sends little David to check it out. That's his job.

That's his mission.

So David arose early in the morning. So we have a little bit of technical stuff on my phone. There's.

So David Rose early in the morning and left the flocks with a keeper and took the supplies and went as Jesse had commanded him. And he came to the circle of the camp while the army was going out in the battle array, shouting the war cry. And Israel and Palestine grew up in battle. Army against army.

Then David left his baggage in the care of the baggage keeper and ran to the battle line and entered in order to greet his brother, who was doing what his dad had said. And as he was talking with them, behold, the champion of the Philistines from Gath named Goliath was coming up and the army of the Philistines and he spoke the same words and David heard them.

So now David is hearing what Goliath is saying, how he's taunting the armies of God and how he's ridiculing them. And he's seeing the response of the soldiers in Israel to continue on. And when all the men of Israel saw the man, they fled from him and were greatly afraid. The men of Israel said, Have you seen this man who is coming up?

Surely he is coming up to defy Israel, and it will be that the King will enrich the man who kills him with great riches and will give him his daughter and make his father's house free in Israel. So there is this offer of of a price. If you are able to kill Goliath, we're going to give you riches.

We're going to give you the king's daughter, which means now you're in royalty and you have special privilege and you're going to be tax free. Sounds like a great deal.

Three, three great things. You're going to have great significance. You're going to be in the royalty. We're going to be rich and you're going to have it richest tax free. Then David spoke to the men who were standing by him saying, Well, we'll be done for the man who kills the Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel, for who is this uncircumcised philistine that should haunt the armies of the living God.

So, David takes it personal. David goes, Who is this guy that he should do this? That this he named Paul, this uncircumcised Philistine with basically said he's not following God's command. Who should why should be afraid of this guy? So what will the king do? Now, this somewhat bothers me personally, because I wish David would have just said, I'll take him on.

But he re-emphasize as well, I heard it said, what will get what will the king give if you take Goliath on? So then he he confirms it. And so I don't know. My first thinking was he seems to be like a mercenary. Can I get something for doing this? Then I go, Can I give him a break? No.

And I think, well, maybe he's saying this because he's confident. And by saying this, his confidence will will affect people and that will have an effect then as well. Maybe it's a sense of he's confident. And if he asked these questions and says it with confidence, maybe the word will get out and so that the king will hear it.

And so then they'll call David as opposed to David trying to volunteer on his own. I don't know sometimes that the Bible will tell us the intentions of people and sometimes they leave it silent. I don't know. So I'm going to hope that it's David's confidence that he's saying these things as opposed to he's looking for a payday.

But then again, don't we all the people answer in one accord with his word saying does it will be done for the man who kills him. Now, family is family. You think their family is a little weird and crazy and dysfunctional? Well, even the families of the Bible. So now, earlier his oldest brother, now, you know, older brothers and younger brothers.

So his oldest brother, I heard when he spoke to the men and in anger, burned against David, and he said, why have you come down? And with whom have you left those few sheep? And you're in the wilderness. I know your insolence and the wickedness of your heart, for you have come down in order to see the battle.

I love it. You're insignificant. You don't have much of a job. Dad doesn't think much of you because it makes you entitled. You watch a few sheep. Not even all the sheep. And he just puts it down. And it's classic older brother. He doesn't give them credit. And it's like any other reason you're here is to watch the battle.

And David said, No, no, I'm not here to watch the battle. I came here because Dad told me to check on you. David doesn't get a break. But David said, What have I done now? What is it? Not just a question. And so it's like, if you. I had an older brother, but we didn't have this relationship. But I can see because I've had children and I have grandchildren and I see family dynamic.

And what I do now, I just ask the question. But he's persistent. Then he turned away from him to another and he said the same thing and the people answered the same thing as before. He keeps asking what's going to happen to the guy who defeats Goliath? So now I'm thinking it's not just being a mercenary. He's trying to show.

I'm confident. And even with my brothers ridiculing me, I'm still going to keep on asking the question.

And one of the words which David spoke were heard. They told them to Saul and he sent for him. And I think, again, I'm hoping this is the reason David keeps asking this question is that the king might hear that David wants to know. And David is, in essence, volunteering, but not so much saying raising hand. Say me.

And David said this fall, let no man's heart fail on account of him. Your servant will go up and fight with this.

So David goes, I've been afraid. I've been dismayed. I volunteer to do it. I'll fight the guy. I don't care if he's nine plus feet tall and has armor. That's incredible. Then Saul said, David, you're not able to go against this Philistine to fight with them. Or you are buddy. You. Well, he has been a warrior from his youth.

This all is gone. Thanks for. Thanks for the volunteering. But you're not the guy because you're not old enough. And however old you are, he's had that much experience fighting. He's been it's like saying, okay, before you ever go to boot camp, we're going to have you take on a Navy SEAL. I don't think it's going to work out.

And so it's all says I appreciate I appreciate your your willingness, but you're not the guy. But David's not going to take no for an answer. But David said to Saul, your servant was tending his father's sheep when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb from the flock. And I went out after him and attacked him and rescued it from his mouth.

And when he rose up against me, I seized him by his beard and struck him and killed him. So, David, and one story tells two stories of how a bear and a lion had taken his father's sheep. And he wasn't content to let that get away. And you track it down, killed it and was able to do so because your servant has killed both the lion and the bear.

And this uncircumcised philistine will be like the one of them since he has taunted the armies of the living. So David goes, I've had experience. I've taken on animals that will decimate people, and I've done so with the help of God, with God's help, I'm going to take on this because He has taunted the armies of the living God.

You notice that David went from a mission of seeing how his father's work and taking a care package to now volunteering to fight the good fight against this one who has been taunting Israel? You see, David, no matter how young he was and how small he was, was not willing to tolerate God's people being demeaned and mocked because and David said the Lord to deliver me from the force of the lion and from the poor, the bear.

He would deliver me from the hand of the filth, this philistine. And Saul said to David, Go, and may the Lord be with. So David doesn't say, Because of my great skill and my wisdom and my power, I was able to defeat the lion and the bear. He goes, God did so. And God will also deliver this Philistine into my hand, not because I'm a great warrior, not because of my great size, but because I fight for and with a great God.

Then Saul called David with his garments and put on a bronze helmet on his head, and he followed him with his armor. So they set him up for the battle, and David girded his sword over the armor and tried to walk, or he had not tested them. So David said to Saul, I cannot go out with these four.

I have not tested them. And David took them off. It was it was it was a good effort to say, we're going to give you the protection word and we're going to make you like a soldier. Now, Saul was a big man. And David, as you. And even if they fit him well. David What? I'm not used to fighting with this, but I'm going to I'm not going to use it.

I'm not going to use the typical weapons of war that you provide for me. So he took the stick in his hand and chose for himself five food. So from the brook and put them in his shepherd's bag, which he had given in his pouch and his sling was in his hand. And he approached the Philistine. Now, I want you to.

I want you to catch the picture of this. Here's Goliath, a nine foot plus man who's big and strong and armor. And here's this little you takes a stick and a stone. Find it interesting. He didn't take a stone. He took five. I think there's a reason he takes the stick. It also takes the sling, which is his weapon.

But to the sword fight, he takes a stick by stone. I would pretty much bet everybody in this room and any military expert would say, you know, you probably shouldn't take a stick to a sword fight. Just say it may not work out well for you. If you take a stick to a sword fight, especially a sword fight where the sword is probably much bigger and longer than your little stick.

But David goes with the stick and this five stones that he has in his pouch and his sling. Then the Philistine came on and approached David with the shield bearer in front of Here's was this big, strong, burly guy who's got to have somebody on with a filthy look and saw David. He disdained him for he was but a youth and ruddy, which means he's kind of red much complexion and with a handsome appearance.

So he's gone. You're not a fighter. You're a model. You're a cute little boy. But we were cute little boys, too, because I'm here to fight. And so he. He rips them and he disdains them and he mocked him, does what he's been doing. He's been mocking Israel. Now he's mocking David. Then the Philistine said to David, I am.

Am I a dog? That you should come to me with sticks and the Philistine curse? David, by his God, I think that's the reason he took a stick. He got the of looking at the wrong thing. What are you going to take the stick and throw it in Big dog? Like a dog, A bird. Chase it. So he's got him concentrating on the stick and while he's concerned, he's cursing David by his God.

Now the Philistines, God was a God by the name and God liturgy was that was there God later. We'll see if you read in the Scriptures, the Philistines will eventually, sometime capture the Ark of the Covenant, and they put the Ark of the Covenant by a idol of their God. And when they come back, their God is all down, face down in front of the covenant, and they go, Now, that's not right.

So they put them back. Up next day he's face down, bow in front of the Ark of the Covenant. I love God's is God. Even your God is going to bow down before me. And so eventually they start suffering the plague and they say, Get this thing out of here. So this fight with the uncircumcised Philistines continues on and continues on, but they worship this.

This particular God. And so he curses David by his own God in the fields, and also said to David, Come to me and I will give your flesh of the birds of the sky and the piece of the field is no, all in the movies. They come here and I'll take you apart, David, not be intimidated off. And then David said to the Philistine, You come to me with a sword, a spear and a javelin.

But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted, you go, You come with weapons of war. I come in the name of God, little boy Shepherd. Nobody thinks about income. The fight of the battle. This came to see what was going on, to report back.

And now he's face to face with the giant. Now this is where I'm going to tweak it a little bit. This story is well known and there's even a saying that talk about or David and Goliath, the giant versus the little guy. And so you'll see people talk about, well, this vast corporation and this little company or this big rich person and this poor person.

And it's always the comparison of the big versus the little and that. And we will also, in our Christian songs, never talk about facing our giant. And there are times that we face our giants in the sense of our giants being whatever difficulties or whatever we're hearing. That's not the story. David is not facing his giant. He's facing a giant who's taunting God.

So much more important than we'll give you strength to face your John David is fighting against those who taunt God and his people, not his. John is the giant facing this. And then he goes on to say, This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands and I will strike you down and remove your head from you and I will give your head.

I'm sorry. I will read from you and I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistine this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth. And that all of the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. So David says, I'm taking you out because God is going to help me take you out, but I'm taking you out, or to reason that those people up there will know that there is a God in Israel.

Reason number one, Reason number two, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not deliver by sword or by spear, or the battle is the Lord, and He will give you into our bow. David is saying, I got two reasons. My purpose is to tell those who don't honor God that there is a God and that those who do.

Why are you trembling? Because God fights our battles for us. And it happened with the Philistine rose and came in Junior to meet David. The David ran quickly towards the battle line to beat the Philistine. So Goliath starts to close the gap. The distance between them. And David doesn't wait for him. David closes the gap as well. You would think that David wouldn't, because the more distance he has, the better opportunities, the five stone, the closer the gap becomes, the less opportunity has to use more than one.

So they brought together and David put in his hand into his bag and took from it a stone and slung it and struck the Philistine on his forehead. And the stone sank into his forehead so that he fell on his face to the ground. I bet that that was a very surprised giant thinking of a stick and gets a stone.

Does David prevail over the Philistine with a sling and a stone? He struck the Philistine, and killed him. But there was no sword in David's hand. Then David ran and stood over the Philistine and took his sword and drew it out of its teeth and killed him and cut off his head with it. And when the Philistine saw that what happened to their champion was dead, they flipped.

David said, Now my head, it's yours. And since David only had a stick and stones, the sling he couldn't sever said So use Goliath's own sword. Do it. And because this little guy was able to be their champion, now, the roles were reversed instead of the people of God being up there. The Philistines were now afraid, and the men of Israel and Judah arose and shouted and pursued the Philistines.

As far as the valley and to the gates of Akron and Lane, the Philistines, they along the way ran even to Gaza, and that run Malaya was from Gaza. They took his hometown. Then the Sons of Israel returned from chasing the Philistines and plundered their kin, the David that the Philistines had and brought it to Jerusalem. So David decided in this battle, I want some souvenirs.

Who took the head of Goliath? It probably was pretty heavy and took it to Jerusalem so that they might remember that there is a God in Israel who fights their battle. And then he took he put the weapons of Goliath in his tent that he buys them. The God was the one who delivered. He delivered that giant into his hand.

There are times that we need to remember what God has done, and we may need souvenirs to do that because it's amazing that God will deliver us from a situation and 15 minutes later we will know where His God is. You're going to help me. I don't know what to do. Maybe if we had some souvenirs. Oh, yeah.

I remember when God did, because God did this, there was a great. And we prevail. Because we did prevail because the battle was good. There are a lot of Christian songs that are great. But tell us, why are we fighting the battle? It's already been won. That's what David's telling us. It is God who fights our back now, I've shared this story because sometimes we don't need to look for a fight.

It just happens. We don't need to taunt other people and whatever it the battle just comes to us because we simply are believers in our God. David didn't go to the battle line to fight what we went to do, what his dad told him to do. And sometimes we may face the line because we're doing what our father oldest to do, which may seem at the time insignificant and unimportant.

But it's amazing what God will do with people who obey and do what he says and fight battles not on their branches and this story has a wonderful in just like the re Hebrew men, that story of someone else being in the fire and they were delivered from it had a wonderful ending. Just like Daniel being in the lion's den had a wonderful ending.

And just like Nehemiah was able to complete the wall around Jerusalem, had a wonderful ending. And just like Esther, who was willing to go and face the king when she wasn't called, and the people of Israel were saved because her willingness to do so had a wonderful ending. But I want us to be reminded just as those three Hebrew minutes that our God is able to deliver us.

But even if he does not, we won't fall down and worship. And my point here is, even if Goliath takes off our head, I'm not going to tolerate God being more because I would rather die fighting for the name of my God than tremble hoping somebody will deliver. I would rather God say, You know, this time, Joe, I'm not going to say his word.

Death will provide more glory. Okay? God, if that's what you want, that's because it's about you. And or even if he doesn't show up. And maybe at the end of life, and one of the things he goes well down. Well done. The good and faithful slave. I hear that it'll be worth it. Or maybe if I never hear anything, that the world might know that there is a God and our God is more.

And hopefully by my life and by your life or by my death or by your death that others may know, or those who are lost and those who are believed understand that there is a God and the battle is you.