Giants in the Land | Dr. Conrad Vine

Amen. Amen. [clears throat] So, um I've only known Brother Peter for two weeks. He's on the audiovisisual desk there. And I'm going to do something he's really not going to be happy with me about.

And he kind of suspects uh what I'm going to do right here. He's shaking his head at me. Um, this is where we have to practice brotherly forgiveness one for another. Um, so, um, I I've come prepared for a regular sermon and I just felt impressed to kind of shift. Is that all right with everybody here?

All right. So, it's going to be kind of extemporaneous, but um as as we were praying on the beach this morning, um my mind went back to that young man David when he was anointed by the prophet Samuel and the Holy Spirit came upon him. And that was the start of an incredible adventure with God. And each of our precious souls here today, they've been uh baptized. They've been prayed over.

We've asked for the infilling of the Holy Spirit. And so they're in the same place as David was as a young teenage boy about to start their walk with God. So I want to talk about that today. Is that all right? Um and tonight I am I will do I will promise I will talk about the second coming.

It's it's it's in my it's in my computer. It's in my Bible here. It's ready to go. We'll talk about that tonight. But uh this this sermon is is really for um our our new baptismal uh brothers and sisters in Christ.

Uh because after you've gone through the high of the baptism and the Sabbath like this, we go back to our homes. We go back to our lives tomorrow and Monday. And uh don't be surprised if Satan hits you from left field or right field. That Satan's going to do all he can to discourage you, um to dissuade you, to divert you, to depress you. He's going to do all he can to take you away from your new found faith in Christ.

And so, um, if you have, if you have your Bibles with you, um, I'm going to invite Brother Peter. Brother Peter, um, I'm really sorry about this. Um, but, um, if we if we can shift to 1st Samuel chapter 16, this is the story of the anointing of David as a teenage boy. We're going to see there. We're going to pick up the story there in 1st Samuel chapter 16.

And, [clears throat] and we'll we'll read uh, in verse 13. And so the story is the prophet Samuel, he comes to the home of Jesse in Bethlehem and in in uh the God has led him there. God is rejecting Saul from being the king of Israel. God is seeking a man after his own hearts to be the new king of Israel. And um rather than asking who's the best qualified in earthly terms, God sends Samuel to this um this man called Jesse who has seven sons and they all come in for the feast.

And uh but David is left out there with the sheep because David's not worthy to meet the prophet. And so after they have the meal, Samuel looks at the first son and says, "This is a fine young man." And God says, "No, this is not the one." And God Sam Samuel comes to the second young man. And he says, "This is a fine young man." And God says, "No, this is not the one." And they come to the third young man and Samuel says, "This must be the one." And God says, "No, God judges the heart." Man judges on the outside, but God looks at the heart. You know, I've often wondered when when we when we appoint people to leadership positions in the church, we look for M's degrees and doctoral degrees and so forth, but we rarely ask, is this a man or woman after God's own heart? That really is a primary qualification.

And so, um, we come to the story and it's going to be in 1st Samuel chapter 16 and we're going to read the verse in verse 13. And this is what it says. It says, "Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him, that is David, in the presence of his brothers, and the spirits of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward. Samuel then set out and went to Rama." And the next verse is maybe the saddest verse in all of scripture. It says, "Now the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul and an evil spirit came up from the Lord." And so in these two verses you have here first of all um David is anointed by the prophet Samuel and the anointing of oil um represents the infilling of the Holy Spirit.

And so the Holy Spirit falls upon this teenage boy whose job is to be a shepherd. And the very next verse the Holy Spirit leaves the life and presence of Saul. And so there's a transition taking place. So um you'd think that things would go well for David after this don't you think? Mhm.

You think that now he's been anointed with the Holy Spirit. He knows that one day he's going to be the king of Israel. Um, how would you respond if you were David in this moment? A certain amount of, "Yeah, I've made it." You know, the Holy Spirit's fallen upon me and the king over there, the Holy Spirit has left him. I'm just waiting my chance to get my my butt on that throne and I'm I'm going to show everybody how it's done to be a good king of Israel.

But that's not what happened. Because what happens is [clears throat] the war starts and the Philistines invade. The Philistines in the modern day Gaza Strip and they invade modern day Israel and there's a war and David as a young boy gets caught up in that war and immediately he faces a giant. What's the giant's name everybody? Goliath.

Yes. Yeah. So um you know children [clears throat] know three stories in kindergarten all around the world. Jonah and the whale, David and Goliath, and Daniel in the lion's den. And so, uh, we're going to talk today about this the anointing of this young boy, David, and what it meant for him.

So, um, David, uh, we may think, well, you know, he was a man after own God's own heart. He was the most famous king of Israel. He must have come from a good background. What do you think? Yes.

No. No. Well, actually, David came from a pretty difficult background. And um the first verse we're going to look at is in the Psalms. Psalm 69.

And if you turn there in your Bibles to Psalm 69, you'll see there that David actually came from a difficult back difficult family. Psalm 69 and verse 8. You know, there's we know who David's father is. David's father is called Jesse. But we don't know what David's mother is called.

In fact, we only read of David's mother in one verse later in his life when he has to hustle his father and his mother away from the Philistines to safety in a town called Zicklag when there's another round of warfare going on between the Israelites and the Philistines. So, David's mother only appears once in the entire Old Testament. She's not a major figure in his life. You get no sense that he's close with his mother. You have no sense that he he talks with her a lot.

She just appears in one verse and in all the formative years of his life in 1 Samuel I mean she basically is non-existent in his life and uh David the Jewish tradition says that David was the stepbrother to his older seven brothers and that's the reason they hated him that Jesse had his first wife through whom he had seven boys and then she died and then Jesse married again and David was the offspring of the second marriage now that's Jewish tradition you can read about that in the Talmud But David was the stepbrother to the older seven boys. And so when they were brought in before Jesse and Samuel to have the feast with the with the prophet, David was left off in the hills with the sheep. He wasn't considered worthy to meet the prophet. And so Psalm 69:8, [clears throat] this is a psalm of David. He says, "I've become a stranger to my kindred and alien to my mother's children." Do you see that in your verses, in your Bibles?

So, this is David speaking about his life. He is an alien to his mother's children. He is a stranger to his kindred. And so, it seems if you look at the story of David that David came from a difficult background. It was quite possibly a broken family.

And he did not get on well with his brothers. Turn back to 1st Samuel. We're going to be mostly in 1 Samuel today. 1st Samuel chapter 17 the story of David and Goliath and 1st Samuel chapter 17 and verse 28 when for the battle ahead his oldest brother sees him and his oldest brother is not happy that David is there why have you come down with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness I know your presumption in the evil of your heart for you have come down just to see the battle well what a welcome from your brother yes it was hotter there than it is even here in Hawaii And he goes all this distance. He brings food for his family and you see on the screen there that there was evil in the heart of David before he even opened his mouth.

Would you say this was a constructive family relationship or a difficult family background? What do what do you think? It's a difficult family background. Okay. So the first thing we know about David is before he before he's anointed, he comes from a difficult family where his brothers just assume the worst about him.

And some of us live in families and some of us are in marriages um where people just assume the worst about us. And before we even get up in the morning, they assume the worst about us. And people impugn your motives all the time. They say, "Well, I hear what you say, but I know what you're thinking." And so David knows what it was to come from a difficult family background. The next thing we find out about David, he had a difficult family background.

He was also um he had a difficult job. He was a shepherd boy. Now at my family, we used to have two farms in Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, and we used to keep sheep and I'd spend my summers chasing those sheep on the mountains cuz you got to bring them in for sheep shearing and you've got to bring them in to be dipped. And I can tell you when you're chasing sheep on the mountains, like it's a difficult job. You have to be like a mountain goat chasing those wretched animals up and down those mountains of Wikllo south of Dublin.

And um when you get the sheep and you get them to the sheep dip, it's with a certain amount of joy that you feed them through the chute. It's a bit like baptizing them really. And you have a long pole and as they go through the chute, you put your pole on the back of the neck and you hold it down and the head goes under the water and that's to take care of all the lice and the bugs that get up their nose and in their ears cuz that's what really drives them crazy. And so being a shepherd even today is not an easy job. But back then if you were a shepherd, what did it mean?

It meant that you didn't really spend time at home. You spent time with the flock night and day. If the flock was on the mountains by night, you slept with the flock by night. When the flock was sitting under the midday sun in the heat, you stayed out there in the heat with the flock. You didn't have a 9 or5 job.

You had a 24/7 job. And you, your body started to stink. The sheep identify with you. You identify with the sheep. The sheep, the nature of the flock starts to reflect the character of the shepherd.

If the shepherd cares for the sheep, the sheep are well looked after. Their bodies are healthy. If the shepherd just think ah they're all going to go to the butchers anyway then the sheep are dying even while they're still alive. And David was a shepherd boy. And if you turn to 1st Samuel chapter 17 and verse 34, David describes to the king um when he's brought before King Saul, he describes what it's like to be a shepherd boy.

And we read there in 1st Samuel chapter 17, it says, "But David said to Saul, are you following me in your Bibles there?" Yes. And um you see it up on the screen there. 1st Samuel chapter 17 and verse 34 it says, "David said to Saul, "Your servant has been a shepherd for his father's flock. Whenever a lion or a bear would come and carry a sheep from the flock, I would go after it and strike it down and rescue the sheep from its mouth. And if it rose up against me, I would grab it by its jaw, strike it, and kill it.

Your servant has struck down both the lion and the bear. and this uncircumcised Philistine that is Goliath shall be like one of them since he has defied the armies of the living God. So David was a shepherd boy. When a lion took his lamb, what did he do? Walk home or fight for Islam?

He fought for Islam. If you I said this in one of the evenings, if you had a hundred sheep and one of them was taken by a lion, what would you do? Hustle 99 to safety. Live to fight another day. those 99 next spring will be 150 anyway.

What's one one loss a year if you have a hundred sheep? It's really not a big deal. But David wasn't going to lose that lamb to that lion. And David went after that lamb and that lamb is covered in bore and blood. It's covered in spittle and it's probably limp with shock of what's going on.

It's barely alive. It probably can't even bleet anymore. And the lion is kind of snarling and and the lion is kind of like excited about, you know, this is like chicken nuggets for a lam, right? and he's delighted. He's got himself from some fresh, young, tender lamb meat.

And David goes after that lamb, that lion, and he fights the lion to get his lamb back. It's an amazing story. Yes. And Jesus is the son of David and he fights for his lambs and he fought for everybody that stood here this morning. And he came looking after he came looking for them.

He came into this world that each one of them might receive the gift of eternal life. And the son of David still seeks his lost lambs today. He seeks maybe your children have wandered away from the Lord. He seeks those lost lambs. He seeks those who are who are still making decision about whether to go through the waters of baptism and commit their lives to Christ.

He is seeking every lost lamb that is out there. And when we can't fight those lions and those bears ourselves because Satan is like that roaring lion today, we can ask Jesus to fight that battle for us. So, David had a difficult family and he had a difficult job. Would you agree? Now, the next thing he had was he had a difficult boss.

If you turn back to 1st Samuel chapter 16, we see there [clears throat] that um that David was actually asked to play the harp for for Saul when an evil spirit came upon him. And so in in verse the last verse of 1st Samuel 16:23, it says, "Whenever the evil spirit from s God came upon Saul, David took the liar or the harp and played it with his hand, and Saul would be relieved and feel better, and the evil spirit would depart from him." Now, let me ask you, those of you know the story, was Saul always such a nice boss as this? No. Uh there were times when Saul was so lost in depression because he knew that the Holy Spirit had left him. He would pick up his javelin and he would hurl it at David to pin him to the wall and kill him.

There was no OSHA back there. There was no HR department to file a complaint with. David came in to work renewing that this king was quite possible and had actually done it and would maybe do it today, but he quite quite able to pick up a javelin and stab him and stick him to the wall. It was a difficult job. You know, you talk about stressful jobs.

That's kind of a stressful job to have. Like I when I'm not fighting lions for my father's flock, I'm dodging spears from my regular employer. And this poor shepherd boy, I mean, he he had a tough life. His brothers don't like him. His mother's non-existent in his life.

He has a difficult boss, a difficult job, and a difficult family. And despite all of this, despite all of this, as a teenage boy, he wrote the 23rd Psalm. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. And that phrase, the Lord is my shepherd, is actually it's not a description of God, Elroy in Hebrew. It's it's one of the names of God in the Old Testament.

And God did not reveal himself to anybody else in the Bible using that name other than that teenage shepherd boy. Which means in the middle of a difficult job, a difficult family, a dangerous boss, that teenage boy was open to God and was open to God revealing himself to him. You know, um when the Adventist church started, it was led mostly by young adults. Look at our history. God did incredible things through teenagers and young adults.

God called Samuel to the prophetic ministry when he was 3 or four years old. God calls David to be the king of Israel when he's not much more than a teenager. Um, as you look through the scriptures, God call God called Mary to be the mother of Christ when she was a teenage girl. And and you see all the way through scripture, sometimes God gives the most important roles in salvation history, not to people that look like this, [snorts] [clears throat] but to people with brown hair and golden hair and red hair, but the hair is not yet gray. God has a role for young people in his work.

God has a role for young people in his church. And I want to encourage this Kihei church. You've got some wonderful younger people here. Somebody said to me this morning, "Our church grew by 25% this week." And I said, "Yeah, and your average age probably dropped by 30% as well." So make use of it. Make use of those brown hairs and those red hairs and those golden hairs.

Make use of that for God's glory. Put them to work. Let them use their gifts for God's glory. So before David, just after the anointing of David and the Holy Spirit falls upon him, David has a difficult background, a dangerous job, a really difficult boss. But in his difficult job, he's faithful with his father's flock.

He's not running away from the job. with his difficult family, he doesn't answer with angry words. Um, but he responds with peaceful words. And with his difficult boss or his dangerous boss, Saul, David doesn't say, "Hey, you throw a spirit at me, I'm going to throw it right back." David kept coming back and playing his harp to bring peace to that troubled king. He knew the spirit of God was upon him.

He knew the spirit of God had left from Saul. And David was, he could have said, "I'm the new king. You need to move move to one side, Saul. Let me sit on the throne." But no, David was trusting that God would work things out in his time and in his way. And rather than saying to Paul, Saul, get out of here, he trusted his future to God.

And he was an agent of healing to that troubled man while he sat on the throne. He's an example for all of us today. And just after David is is is anointed, you might say, just after he's baptized, like our people today, the next major thing that happens to him is in 1st Samuel 17. And you might want to turn there in your Bibles. This is the story of David and Goliath.

And so, uh, we're just after we've been baptized here, uh, yesterday and today, and we've been welcomed into church membership, there's a really good chance that everybody that's been baptized is going to walk back home into their job, into their home, into their relationships, and you're going to face modern-day Goliaths. There's giants stalking our land. There's giants stalking our homes. There's giants that we don't want in our bodies. Maybe a bad health diagnosis.

Maybe there's a giant in our marriage. Maybe there's a giant with our finances. Maybe we're losing sleep at night over a wayward child or what's going to happen at work. Everybody that goes through the waters of baptism, we know that the moment those the days and weeks afterwards, Satan is going to attack. He is going to send those giants into your life like Goliath when David was anointed with the Holy Spirit.

And the good news is we don't have to face those Goliaths on our own. There will always be Goliaths, but there will also also be God. And so let's [clears throat] pick it up in 1st Samuel 17. And for those of you putting it on the screen, we're going to look at verse 4. 4 through verse 7.

And this is the description of Goliath. And um Goliath was one of the giants of Gath. Goliath um he had four brothers as far as we can figure out from the scriptures. Is why David picked up five stones by the brook because he was going to take out Goliath and his four brothers. He was going to wipe out the entire family.

He wasn't just going to get rid of Goliath in this battle. And so we read the story when Goliath comes out in 1st Samuel 17:4 says they came out from the camp of the Philistines, a champion named Goliath of Gath whose height was 6 cubits and a span. So a cubit is about 18 in. So he's about 10 ft tall. It says verse 5, he had a helmet of bronze on his head.

He was armed with a coat of male. The weight of the coat was 5,000 shekels of bronze. He had greaves of bronze on his legs and a javelin of of bronze slung between his shoulders. The shaft of his spear was like a weaver's beam and his spear's head weighed 600 shekels of iron and his shieldbearer went before him. So back in the day, and this happened um all the way through ancient history, when two armies came face to face, many people really didn't want to fight because fighting in those days was like butchery.

You charge at each other with axes and and knives and hammers and you're swinging and stabbing and just trying to stay alive while you're killing as many people standing in front of you. It was a terrible terrible thing. So what the armies would do in ancient times was they each side would nominate a champion like Goliath and he would fight for that army and the opposing army would nominate a champion and he would fight for that army and if this champion won then this army would surrender to them and have an honorable defeat like an honorable discharge from the battle and if this champion won then this army would surrender and everybody could go home and they'd settle on terms for the peace terms. All right. So, this was like a decent a dignified way of settling a dispute between nations.

Nowadays, we have the soccer world cup when we want to settle disputes among nations. And so, um, Goliath comes out and he's he's enormous guy. He's 10t tall and he's covered from head to toe in armor. And what metal is that armor made of? Brass.

So, this story is happening about uh 1,00 to,00 BC. This is the end of the brass age or the bronze age. And so Goliath is covered from head to toe as a brass helmet. Um a coat of armor made out of bronze. He's got greaves which are metal coverings on his legs.

And in front of him he has a shieldbearer. But the tip of his spear, what metal is that made of? Iron. Because we're now switching from the bronze age to the iron age. And iron is a harder metal than bronze.

which means that that iron tip would go through any armor that any Israelite had because it was made of iron. This is the guy armed, you might say, with the latest in military technology because iron will always go through bronze armor. And so the offensive weapon is the latest in metal technology as the bronze age shifts to the Iron Age and Goliath, he stands there and he defies the armies of Israel. Now let me ask you the question. Who was the logical person to fight Goliath from the side of the Israelites?

Saul. Why is that? Because we know from when Saul was crowned king, he stood head and shoulders above everybody else. He was the tallest man on the Israelite side. We also know that only two men in the army in those days because the Philistines controlled the metal trade.

Only two men in the army of Saul actually had swords and coats of mail. And that was Saul and his son Jonathan. So, uh, the tallest man in the army of Israel with a coat of bronze and a sword of his own who should have been fighting Goliath was King Saul. But there was no way he was going to fight King Saul. He wasn't going to defend his flock.

So, he sits in his tent behind the Israelite lions. And the word comes to Saul. There's a young shepherd boy called David. And he says he'll fight Goliath on behalf of Israel. So Saul says, "Yeah, bring him to me.

Yeah, I want to meet this guy." So David is brought before King Saul and David explains that he's been fighting lions and bears since he was a teenager. It's quite a story for a teenager actually. And [clears throat] then David says 1st Samuel 17:32, David said, "The Lord or Jehovah who saved me from the poor of the lion and from the poor of the bear will save me from the hand of this Philistine." So Saul said to David, "Go and may the Lord be with you." So verse 38 says, "Saul clothed David with his armor. He put a bronze helmet on his head and clothed him with a coat of male." That's quite a it's quite a thing. If you if you ever go to London or to any of the British castles, they always have um I used to visit them a lot.

Um when we first got married, my wife and I went to Windsor Castle and Kennallorth Castle. These are famous castles. They were built over a thousand years ago and they're standing strong today. There was a tourist uh um Heathrow airport is just to the east of of um can of um Windsor Castle which was built in about 1066 by William the Conqueror and some tourist was overheard saying it's a great castle but why do they build it straight onto the flight path? Well anyway [clears throat] [cough] anyway um when you go to a castle there there's there's two two ideal destinations.

Um uh my wife always wanted to go to the living quarters cuz that's where you have all the living utensils, the dressers, and all that kind of stuff. And that's kind of okay, I guess. What I wanted to do every time I want to go down into the basement cuz you go down multiple levels and you come to the torture chamber. And the torture chamber is what you really want to look at, particularly if you're thinking of having children. Don't quote me on that.

And in the torture chamber, you have the armory. And in the armory, you see these coats of armor from these horses, from these knights. And those coats of armor could weigh 200 lb. And they were steel plates. And they would have to lift some of those horses.

The the horses they bred were like those um what are those beer beer horses that pull the Clydesales. The the the knights that when the knights rode those horses, they didn't ride Arabian horses. They rode like Clydesales cuz there was so much weight of armor on the on the soldiers. And they had to be lifted with a crane onto that onto that horse. And when they fell over in battle, they couldn't move because of the weight.

They lie there on their back waiting to be finished off. And so then King Saul, he gives his armor to David and David puts his on and he says, "Man, this stuff is heavy." And David says, verse 39, it says, "David strapped Saul's sword over the armor and he tried in vain to walk, for he was not used to them." Then David said to Saul, "I cannot walk with these, for I'm not used to them." You cannot fight in another man's armor. And everybody that's been baptized today, we've prayed for the Holy Spirit to fall upon you. And God is going to give you gifts. He's not going to give you the same armor he's going to give everybody else.

He's going to give you unique gifts that are uniquely needed for this congregation and whichever congregation you go to for the rest of your life. Amen. And God is not asking you to fight in another man's armor. He's not asking you to sing like I don't know who's a famous Adventist singer Jennifer Lton or someone like that. God is maybe not asking you to preach like Mark Finley.

God may not asking you to have a leadership role like XYZ individuals. But God has given you unique gifts and talents. And you cannot fight in another man's armor. So don't try. Ask God what gifts have you given me?

What talents have you given me? Then I'm going to intentionally develop those talents. I'm going to nurture those gifts. I'm going to learn how to better use them for God's honor and glory. And as I go through life, so my ability to use those gifts for God's glory, it just gets greater and greater and greater.

And so David cannot fight in another man's armor. Rather, David says to Saul in verse 40, it says, "David took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones from the wadi the river and put them in his shepherd's bag in the pouch. His sling was in his hand and he drew near to the Philistine. So, David goes down to the Wadi or the riverbed and he picks up five smooth stones and he's going to fight he's going to fight this Goliath using those five um smooth stones. And uh you may think, well, that's just a sling.

Have you has anybody ever seen a slingshot in action? Yeah. Like you can kill a man at 100 yards with a slingshot. And you go to the Middle East or you go to parts of Africa and those boys spend the shepherd boys spend all day practicing with those slings. like they'll take out a rabbit at 100 yards.

That's not a problem for these guys. And they can fire 10 15 shots a minute. This is like the AR-15 of the ancient world. This was a useful piece of kit. And so this wasn't just like something that we do today.

Um these guys were expert. And so if David was a shepherd boy and he sees his his sheep wandering down into a ravine, he can sling a shot at it and it and it strikes a rock in front of the sheep and the sheep is startled and it turns around and comes back to the flock. If a wolf comes for his his sheep, he can take out the wolf with a slingshot from 50 or 100 yards long before it gets to his sheep. And so when David picks up his slingshot and he's got those five stones, he's using the abilities and the gifts that God has already given him. And when we face the Goliaths in our life, don't say, "Lord, I wish I could I wish I had the gift of like intercessory prayer like that person.

Lord, I wish I had the gift of encouragement like that person. Lord, I wish I had the gift of of of hospitality like that other person has." No. Ask yourselves from this day forward, what gifts has God given me? Ask those around you, what gifts do you see in me? And how do you see that God has gifted me?

And intentionally nurture and practice with those gifts because you never know when you're going to face a Goliath in your life. And you want to be ready for when that moment of truth comes. You don't want to be found wanting. You want to be found short. David is ready for the battle because he's been faithful with his earthly father's flock, fighting off the l the lions and the bears and the wolves.

Now he can defend his heavenly father's flock because he's been faithful as a shepherd boy. He's faithful in a menial job as a shepherd and now he steps on to the greatest age of all. And all the armies of Israel are watching him. You know, it didn't occur to me I'd use this use this phrase here, but there is um there's a quote here. If I [clears throat] can make find it here.

I've never done this before. pull up something like this in the middle of a sermon, [clears throat and cough] but here it is. It's from um when I first read this, I thought it was the book Christ Subject Lessons. Turns out it was Winston Churchill. [laughter] You will understand why I thought it was Christ Subject Lessons.

When I read it, this is what he said. He said to each there comes in their lifetime a special moment when they are figuratively tapped on the shoulder and offered the chance to do a very special thing unique to them and fitted to their talents. What a tragedy if that moment finds them unprepared or unqualified for that which could have been their finest hour. I read that quote and I thought that's Christ subject lessons. No, that was Winston Churchill.

What a tragedy if that moment comes and finds you unprepared or unqualified for that which could have been in your finest hour. And because David was faithful in that menial job of being a shepherd and and defending his father's sheep, a job that nobody else wanted to do, when God gave him the opportunity to step out onto the stage in front of all the men of Israel, they're going to see this teenage shepherd boy there. And everybody sees the raw courage in that boy stepping out to fight that giant. David is really grateful that he's been faithful learning how to use the sling. He's been faithful developing the talents for his menial job, menial job.

And now when he's asked to do something great for God, that menial skill is now something that's going to win the battle for God. You don't know when your gifts are going to win the battle for God. You don't know when those menial gifts, those menial skills, those menial abilities, none of which are menial, they are God-given. You do not know when God is going to tap you on the shoulder, figuratively speaking, to quote Christ, sorry, Winston Churchill, and you're going to be prepared for what will be your finest hour. You don't know when you're going to step out onto the stage.

You don't know. I preached a sermon in 2022 called the appeal to Amish nobility, and I stepped out onto the stage in that moment in my life. And after that, I went down, I got home, and I went down with Omicron. You remember Omicron? they're the v the the co variant and my wife says you know she says after preaching a sermon like that she says you better not die of co well some of [clears throat] you will understand the context of what I'm sharing here but you never know when God in his mysterious providence says he taps you on the shoulder and says it's time for you to step out onto the stage and David could step out onto the stage not just with one stone but with five stones cuz he was going to take out all the Goliath family he could step out onto that stage because he was faithful in using the gifts that God gave him when it was hidden, when it was not popular, when it was menial, when nobody gave a second thought about it.

So use develop the gifts that God has given you today. Be intentional about developing those gifts and you never know when God is going to ask you to shine on the biggest stage possible. So D the Philistine comes up to David. We read it in 1st Samuel 17:41. The Philistine came on.

It says, "The Philistine came on and drew near to David with his shieldbearer in front of him. When the Philistine, verse 42, looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was only a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance." The Philistine said to David, "Am I a dog that you come to me with sticks, and the Philistine cursed David by his gods?" So, the Philistine comes to David and he's he's got his armor bearer in front of him. He's covered from head to toe in chain armor. He's got his helmet on. The only vulnerable spot on on Goliath and Goliath's entire body is his face.

That's the only vulnerable spot. Everything else is covered with armor. And he mocks David. And he says, you know, I am I a dog that you come to me with sticks. Like you're just a shepherd boy.

What do you think you can do to against this Goliath, this giant called Goliath? And sometimes we we we sit here in church and we know there's a Goliath in our homes and we're saying, "Well, I can't fight that Goliath. It's ruining my home. is ruining my marriage. It's ruining my prospects.

It's ruining my job. There's always going to be Goliaths, particularly just after you've given your life to Christ. Those Goliaths are going to attack. And so David says in verse 45 to the Philistine famous words, "You come to me with a sword and 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 defied. This very day the Lord will deliver you into my hand and I will struck you down and cut off your head.

Somebody should say amen to that. Amen. Yes. Yeah. Let's get some testosterone here today.

All right. And I will give the dead bodies of the Philistine this army this very day to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the earth so that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. Not that David fought the battle. David is fighting for the glory of God against this Philistine. and that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not save by sword and spear for the battle is the Lord's and he will give you into our hand.

It's a profound statement of faith from that shepherd boy. And so you come to me with a sword and a spear and a shavelin a javelin. You have three ways to kill me right now, Goliath. And I have no armor and I have no shield bearer and I have no um helmet and I have no greaves of of bronze on my legs. I'm just standing before you in front with no armor on my body.

You have three ways you could kill me instantly. And he's also um a sword, spear, and a jave. Those three ways to kill David. And David is is certain that he's going to win the battle. And this guy's got some kutzbah.

Yes. Like maybe if he was wise day, we'd say, "Look, let's just talk about this Goliath, you know, maybe we can figure something out. I got 100 sheep back home. Maybe we can do a deal, you know. You come to me with a sword and a spear and a javelin.

Yes, the giants in our lives can attack us any which way they want. And they can hurt us any which way they want. And those swords and spears and javelins can tear our lives, can tear our marriages, our homes, our jobs, our businesses apart. But says David, I come to you in the name of the Lord of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. And because I'm fighting you in the name of the Lord of Hosts, I'm going to win this battle.

Now that name Lord of Hosts in Hebrew is Yahweh Sabahoth or Jehovah Sabah. Um God has many names in the Old Testament. Each of those names is a window into the character of God. Um but David chooses to fight God in the name of Jehovah Yahweh Saboth, the Lord of Hosts. So we ask ourselves, why did David fight in the name of the Lord of hosts?

What was so special about God as the Lord of hosts that gave him the confidence and the courage and that he was going to fight this battle and he was going to walk off that battlefield alive? David knew that at the end of the day Goliath was going to be dead. He was going to lose his head literally and David was going to walk off that battlefield. But David only had courage to face the Goliaths of his life because he fought in the name of the Lord of Hosts. So what does David know about the Lord of Hosts that makes him so confident?

Well, turn in your Bibles to Psalm 46. Psalm 46. Very famous [clears throat] Psalm right in the middle of your Bibles. Psalm 46. [clears throat] It says there in verse one, "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble, like fighting Goliath.

Therefore, we will not fear. Though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble with its tumult. Sounds like Hawaii. Yes. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in times of trouble.

Verse seven, who is this God who is very present help in times of trouble? Says, the Lord of hosts, Yahweh Sabah, is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. Verse 10 says this, and this is speaking in the midst of times of trouble, when your world is literally falling apart and when there's wars breaking out all around you and there's violence around you. Verse 10 says, "Be still and know that I am God.

I am exalted among the nations. I am exalted in the earth." Who is with us? Does the Bible say, "The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge." So the first thing that David knew when he said, "I you come to me with a swords and a spear and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of Hosts," was that the Lord of Hosts is a an everpresent help in times of trouble. when your world is falling apart, when the when the when the the um the volcanoes are going off, when the ground is shaking under your feet, when the the the waves are washing over the coast, when there's war all around you, when your world is falling apart, we can be still and know that God is still in control because he is going to be an everpresent help for his children, the Lord of hosts.

when they go through the moments when their lives are falling apart, when the Goliaths are destroying everything that is precious to us, we can be still and know that God is still on his throne and he's still in control. So, the first reason why David could fight Goliath was because in moments of crisis, the Lord of Hosts is our refuge and our strength. The second reason why David could fight Goliath is found in Psalm 24. This also refers to the Lord of Hosts. This is a psalm about entering the temple.

It's a psalm of David. [clears throat] And we're going to pick it up. Psalm 24, the last three verses, uh, four verses, 7-10. And this is what it says. Psalm 24 7-10.

It says, "Lift up your heads, oh ye gates, and be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the king of glory may come in." Now, this is a messianic psalm. It's talking about Jesus ultimately pointing to his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. It says, "Who is this king of glory?" says, "The Lord or Jehovah Yahweh, strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, oh ye gates, and be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in." Who is this King of glory? The answer is this, the Lord of Hosts.

He is the King of Glory. And so, David could fight Goliath in the name of the Lord of Hosts because the Lord of Hosts is strong and he's mighty in battle. He's an everpresent help for his people in times of trouble. He is strong and he's mighty in battle. And in this passage here um that the Lord of hosts is entering Jerusalem in a triumph which means the Lord of Hosts does not lose his battles.

He returns to his city. He returns to his people in victory. And so David says, "Well, you know, you come to me with a sword and a spear and a javelin. You think you're going to feed my body to the birds of the air, but listen to me, Goliath. I come to you in the name of the Lord of Hosts, the the God of Israel this day, whom you have defied to this day.

And you're not going to take my head off. I'm going to take your head off and I'm going to feed your body to the birds of the air. Then all of Israel and you Philistines will know that there is a God in Israel and the battle belongs to him. And I can stand here with confidence because the Lord of Hosts is an everpresent help in times of trouble when your world is falling apart. And the Lord of Hosts is strong and mighty in battle and he's a conquering king and he doesn't lose the battles that he fights in.

So I can fight you Goliath today. I'm not afraid of you. And the other quote, the other verse we're going to look at is 1st Samuel 14. Turn there in your Bibles. It's like a quarter of the way through the Bible.

Sorry. 2 Samuel 14. You know, I'm kind of tired today. Is any of you tired right now? It's 2 Samuel 7.

Um 2 Samuel 7 right there. I found it. if I've got the right text now. 2 Samuel 7. I was driving here with my wife today.

He said, "You know, I'm so tired." I said, "Um, I don't think I can read the number plates on the cars in front." So, I was driving, getting closer and closer till I could read the number plates of the cars in front. Eventually, my wife says, "You better back off here." Right. So, [laughter] so you [clears throat] know, cuz preaching kind of takes it out of you. We had some late nights here. And so, I was driving this morning like trying to see like where's that car in front?

Oh, it's moving. Good. So, as long as it's moving, you got it. So um [clears throat] uh 2 Samuel chapter 7 and this is a story of where um God sends the prophet Nathan to speak with with David in um in Jerusalem. [clears throat] And God makes a covenant with David.

And this is what God says to Nathan the prophet in 2 Samuel 7:8. It says, "Now therefore, thus you shall say to my servant David, thus saith who the Lord of hosts, Jehovah Sabbath, Yahweh Sabahoth, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be prince over my people Israel." So God had made a promise to David that he was going to one day be the king of Israel. Verse 12. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your ancestors, I'll raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

As God is saying to David, the the Lord of hosts has made a deal with David, a covenant. He's made a covenant with David and says, "I'm going to establish you on the throne of Israel and you're going to live a long life and one day one of your descendants is going to reign in the everlasting kingdom." That's Jesus as the son of David. Verse 16 says, "Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever." This tells us that the the the Lord of Hosts, one of his characteristics of the characteristics of God that it reveals to us, the Lord of Hosts is a covenant-making and a covenant keeping God. And so when David stood there facing Goliath and Goliath says, "Come here, boy.

I'm going to take your head off right now." David says, "Well, yeah, you come with a sword and a spear and a javelin, but I'm fighting in the name of the Lord of Hosts, and he is an everpresent help in times of trouble. Don't you know? And by the way, he is strong and mighty in battle. And he's victorious in battle. And he goes back to his people when he's fought those battles.

And he's victorious. And the third reason I'm going to fight you, Goliath, is because God made a deal with me when I was anointed. I it was promised that I would one day be the king of Israel. It was promised that I would have descendants, and I'm not yet married. I have no children of my own.

And out of those descendants would come would come one who would rise and would reign and rule in an everlasting kingdom. That's what's God's promises to me to Goliath. And none of that's happened yet. So whatever happens today, I'm walking off this battlefield alive. Why?

Because God made that promise to me. The Lord of Hosts is a covenant-making and he's a covenant keeping God. And I'm going to trust him that whatever happens today, because his promises I would be the king of Israel have not yet come true. Because his promises I would have children have not yet come true. Because his promises I would have a descendant who one day would would rule the nations and would have an everlasting kingdom.

That promise has not yet come true. But I trust him when he made a promise to me. He's going to come through on that promise. So I don't care what you do to me here, Goliath. I'm walking off this field with my head on my shoulders on my own two feet.

I can fight you, Goliath, because God is a covenant-making God. He is a covenant-keeping God. He's made a covenant with me. And I know that that covenant has yet to come true, the promises. So I'm not afraid of anything that happens this day.

So that teenage boy can stand and fight Goliath, not in his own strength, but in the strength of the name of the Lord of hosts, Jehovah God. There is a line in um very famous reformation him, a mighty fortress is our God. I used to sing it as a kid and I kept thinking they misprinted it. They've misprinted it. There's a line that says Lord Sabbath or his name, you know that line.

And I used to think to myself, no, it's Lord Sabbath. It's Sabbath. They've mis they've they've printed B instead. They've printed A instead of uh B. It should be Lord Sabbath his name.

But that note Martin Luther who wrote that song was correct. Lord Sabbath off his name in the context of the reformation the battle and the fight for truth in the early 1500s against the darkness and the oppression of the papacy. Martin Luther also was singing praises to Lord Sabahoth. Jehovah Sabah just as David was singing praises to Jehovah Sabah here. And when you are in a covenant with God, you can claim the promises of that covenant for your own life.

And you enter when you can enter today into a covenant with the Lord of hosts and claim some promises of scripture for yourself. You can act on those promises. You can base your life on those promises and you can walk with confidence every day knowing that you're in a covenant with the covenant-making, covenant keeping God. And he's not going to let his side of the bargain down on you. You know, many years ago, if you turn in your Bibles to Joshua chapter 1, that's before 2 Samuel.

Joshua chapter 1, famous passage. [clears throat] Joshua is about to lead the children of Israel out of they've come out of slavery in Egypt. They've wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. Joshua is about to lead them into the promised land across the river Jordan. And before he goes across the land with God's people, God appears to Joshua and he gives him make basically makes a covenant with him.

It's a conditional promise. So follow me in your Bibles. Joshua chapter 1 and verse 2. It says, "My servant Moses is what? Dead.

Now proceed across the Jordan, you and all his people, into the land that I'm giving to them to the Israelites. Every place that the soul of your foot will tread upon, I've given to you as I promised to Moses. From the wilderness and the Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites to the great sea in the west shall be your territory." That's basically most of the Middle East. goes on to say verse 5, "No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you.

I will not fail you nor forsake you. Be strong and courageous, for you shall put this people in possession of the land that I swore to their ancestors to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to act in accordance with all the law that my servant Moses commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hands or to the left, so you may be successful wherever you go. This book of law shall not depart out of your mouth.

You shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to act in accordance with all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous. Then you shall be successful. I hereby command you, be strong and courage. You not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you where?

Wherever you go. What a promise. Yes. Amen. Did God honor that promise to Joshua?

Absolutely. Later in Joshua 24, we won't look at the verse now. He says, "You yourselves know that all God's promises have come true." And I when I was uh 20, how old was I? 21 maybe? 20 I think I was 21.

I was living in the south coast of England. I just graduated with a business degree and I'd worked for the British Healthcare and Mental Health for a year and um I wasn't a patient, you understand, but I was working and um [clears throat] Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

So uh anyway um I was about the British government said we need you to go and work in a third world country for 6 months can figure it out for yourself. So I connected with a friend to work for ADRA in the country of Azabaijan in the caucuses just east of Turkey north of Iran. And I connected with him and said hey can I come out and spend 6 months with you? He said absolutely. So I was 21 years old.

I was about to head off to um Aabaijan. Most people say Azabaware but I understood this is Aabahan. And I uh the day I was flying out, I knew that there was conflict with Armenia. There was a frozen conflict over a region called Nagono Carabac. And um there was going to be a like Joshua.

I was entering a strange land where people speak a strange tongue. They have a strange culture. And there was going to be fighting. And I was 21. And I was each year I read through my Bible.

And that morning I came to Joshua 1. And those first nine verses were very powerful for me. Like Joshua, I was about to enter a foreign land. I was going to see probably some fighting and hostility. I was going to see IDPs, internally displaced peoples and refugees.

I was going to work in camps. I was going to see what happens to war to people, civilian populations in war in reality. And as I read through this passage, I realized that God was offering me the same covenant that he made with Joshua. If you will meditate on my law day and night, and you do not depart from it to the right or to the left, I'll be with you wherever you go, and you'll be successful wherever you go. I hereby command you, said God to me, as I read through this passage, be strong and courageous.

Do not be frightened or dismayed about going to Heithro, getting on that plane to a difficult part of the world, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. And just as God made a covenant with David when he was anointed and filled with the Holy Spirit and that covenant was one day you'll be the shepherd not of your father's flock but of your heavenly father's flock. That is the people of Israel. So when I read this passage here I realized that God was making a covenant with me. And I've been careful to follow that covenant every day.

And every day as I go through life I think about this passage here that God has incredible promises for me. My part is to be careful to act in accordance to all that is written in the word of God. And then God says, "You'll be successful wherever you go. And I'll be with you wherever you go. And I will fight your battles for you wherever you go." I want to encourage you today, [clears throat] you know, when we end when we go through baptism, we go through the Lord's supper, we enter the new covenant with Christ.

We spoke about that on Thursday night. I want to encourage you today to ask God to make a covenant with you, a personal covenant. Maybe choose one of your favorite passages of scripture like this Joshua chapter 1. Everybody has their own favorite passage. And say to the Lord, "Look, Father, this is my covenant with you.

This is my part of the deal. This is what I'm going to do and this is what you're going to do for me." And start living your life based on that covenant and the promises that God has made for you. And that covenant, you think about it every day. What are my responsibilities to God? This doesn't mean you're not saved by grace.

This is just your own personal covenant with the Lord. And when you enter into that covenant with God, as does David, then when those Goliaths come into your life, you're not afraid because you're in a covenant walk with God. You're living your life according to the promises of God. The promises of God are not just written thousands of years ago. They're written for you today.

And when we if we don't base our life on those promises, then we don't see them coming true. But if we step out in faith based on those promises like the priests who stepped into the water of the river Jordan is only then that the water piles up and they'd see the miracle in their lives. When we step out in faith and we base and we base our the path that our feet tread on the promises of God, we see God doing incredible things in our lives. And I can testify today as did Joshua in Joshua 24. I can say Joshua says, "You know all of you that all that all the promises that God made has come through, not one of all the promises has failed." And I can say today say that not one of any of the promises of God has failed in my life.

And I face plenty of giants and I still face giants. You know, life's not easy for any of us. We all face giants. But I I trust that God is going to take care of these giants for me. That's his promise to me.

And three weeks ago, four weeks ago, I was in Sweden where it's much colder than here. [clears throat] And um it was it's midsummer in Sweden. the temperature reached like almost 70° one day which is um it's cold right [clears throat] um when you see the sun in Sweden you take a picture of it cuz it's uh there's not much sun up there and [clears throat] um four weeks ago there was a firestorm going on the internet some of you aware of that firestorm and people were saying I'm an agent of Satan that I'm Satan incarnate was the latest one I'm a viper a Jesuit a counselor on the body of Christ this is all kind of the friendly comments that come your way on Facebook and YouTube. Well, anyway, I was reading through those. I thought, Lord, what am I going to do about this?

And you turn in your Bibles to Psalm 124. And that morning, I was reading through the Bible. Four weeks ago, I came to this passage here. I'm [clears throat] just illustrating to you what it means to walk with God in a covenant relationship. And Psalm 124, it's a short psalm.

[clears throat] It says this, "If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, let Israel now say, "If it had not been the Lord who was on our side when our enemies attacked us, then they would have swallowed us up alive when their anger was kindled against us. Then the flood would have swept us away. The torrent would have gone over us. Then over us would have gone the raging waters." I thought, "Yep, that's what's happening to me right now." And it goes on to say, "Blessed be the Lord who has not given us as prey to their teeth. We've escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowlers.

The snare is broken and we have escaped. Our help is in the name of the Lord who made the heavens and the earth. And so when you enter into a covenant walk with the Lord and you run the water of the word of God through your brain on a daily basis, the bride of Christ is is prepared through the washing of the water of the word in Ephesians chapter 5. When you run the water of God through your brain every day and you're in that covenant walk with God and yes, giants are coming for you and they're saying some pretty terrible things about you for the whole world to see. Then I I come to this passage on that very day about four Mondays ago in Sweden.

I just said, "Thank you, Lord, that the battle belongs to you. That if I be faithful to you, then you're going to watch over me and I'm not going to lose any sleep about this. I'm not going to fight these battles. I'm not going to go on Twitter and Facebook and YouTube and start typing away. Don't do anything like that because the battle belongs to God and he will fight your battles for you.

When you're in a covenant walk with God and you have a personal covenant with God, these promises start coming true. You do your bit of the covenant and you see God doing for you immeasurably more than you can begin to imagine. And so David, he fights that Goliath, the giants of his time. The battle goes forward. Goliath pushes back his helmet.

He charges at David and David picks up the stone and puts it in his sling and he swings it and goes straight into this the giant's forehead and the giant collapses and David just wants to make sure the giant is not stunned. So he goes up to the Golia Goliath, the story goes and he pulls out his big sword and he lifts it high in the air and he he takes off Goliath's head and we all say, "Praise the Lord." Praise the Lord. Yes. Yeah. We never had a family a TV growing up in our home.

When my father was preaching from the front, I would read these stories. All right. This was my R-rated stories as a little boy. Okay, I love these stories uh because sometimes I'd think about my brother or my sisters and I put them into the picture or somebody else and this is how you gain kind of mental satisfaction. But Goliath is I'm being honest with you.

Goliath, his head comes off in the battle. And that which Goliath said he'd do to David, David does to Goliath by the grace of God. And God fights the battle for Gol for David. So for all of those who've just been baptized, for everybody who's just been baptized, for our precious sister Judy who's just given the profession of faith, for everybody who today has entered into the body of Christ, you are going to face Goliaths. But you don't have to face them on your own.

The Lord of Hosts is mighty in battle. He is strong and mighty in battle. Now the Lord of hosts who we you've entered into a covenant with God. He is your everpresent help in times of trouble. He is strong and mighty in battle.

And he is um he has made a covenant with you and he knows the plans and the purposes he has for you. Plans to give you a future. A future with hope. A future that is blessed. A future that one day means walking those streets of gold in the new Jerusalem.

So don't be afraid of the Goliaths that come your way, but ask God to fight the battles for you because the battle belongs to the Lord. The final verse we look at here is from the prophet Jeremiah chapter 1, right in the middle of your Bibles. Jeremiah was a teenager, a young man, when God called him to prophetic ministry. [clears throat] And Jeremiah didn't want to be a prophet. He was a he was a son of a priest which meant that one day he was going to be a priest.

That meant that if you were a priest you had a job for life. It was a position of prestige, a position of respect. People would sort of want to talk with him, maybe invite them to their homes for a meal. He's he had a safe job in the religious hierarchy of his day if he just stayed with it. And God says, "No, I don't want you to be a priest with all the job security that brings and living off the tithes.

I'm going to ask you to be a prophet." Oh Lord, please somebody else like like you're asking me to give up a job as a priest which is a job for life and an accommodable you know pension for life and all the rest of it and now you want me to be a priest like a prophet like nobody likes prophets Lord like like like John the Baptist you know they eat they eat locusts and wild honey like are you sure about this and nobody's going to like me in Jeremiah 11 he says that all my kindred want to kill me I mean nobody wants to be a prophet and God says to this young boy Jeremiah before you were born I knew you I set you apart in your mother's whom I consecrated you to be for a purpose to be a my voice to the nations and [clears throat] Jeremiah as a teenage boy think Lord like why me and he says to God he doesn't want to be it [clears throat] verse 6 Jeremiah 1 then I said oh Lord God truly I do not know how to speak for I'm only a boy says Lord like find somebody else I'm a young boy nobody's going to listen to me God says do not say I'm only a boy verse 7 for you shall go to all whom I send you shall speak Whoever whatever I command you, do not be afraid of them, says God, for I am with you to deliver you, sayaith the Lord. In the last verse of that chapter, [clears throat] God says to that young man who's just been called into service, God says to him, "They will fight against you." Verse 19, "But they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you, sayaith the Lord, to deliver you." Amen. Everybody who's just been baptized, this is a message just for you. They will fight against you. You will face Goliaths in the immediate future.

Satan's going to push back one way or the other. He may attack you this way. He may attack you that way. He may attack you that way. He may take the ground from under your feet.

But Satan's going to come for you to discourage and destroy your faith. and what God said to Joshua, what God said to David, what God says to this young teenage boy called Jeremiah who's been called into a new chapter of life, a new chapter of ministry for God, as is each of our new members of this church. God's word for you is this. The Goliaths will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you. For I am with you, sayaith the Lord, to deliver you.

God doesn't take us from the fight. He says, I'll be with you in the fight. And if I'm with you in the fight, you're never going to lose that battle. So, as we leave this place today and we we conclude tonight, there are going to be Goliaths. There are going to be battles, but don't fight them on your own.

Give the battle into the hands of the Lord and see what God can do for you. The battle belongs to God. He's going to give the victory. And whatever people threaten you with, you put it in the hands of God and say, "Lord, you are the Lord of hosts. You are my everpresent help in times of trouble.

You are strong and mighty in battle. You are a covenant-making and a covenant keeping God. And your promises to me have not yet come true. So whatever else happens when this Goliath comes after me in 2026, I'm giving the battle to you. I'm trusting you'll give the victory.

Don't be afraid of the Goliaths. Don't be afraid of the giants. He that was with us is far greater than all those who are against us. If God be for you, who can be against you? David won his battle and by God's grace we will fight we will win our battles as well.

God doesn't take us from the battle. He says I will be with you in the fight and I will give you victory in the fight. Yes, there are Goliaths but there is God and he is greater than those Goliaths. So do not be afraid. Do not yield your faith.

Do not give up your faith. Do not say this is too much to bear because if God before you, who can be against you? Amen. Amen.