Where We Focus

Good morning, Waterpark family. The scripture reading today comes from 1 Samuel 16-17.

The reading is quite broken up, so we suggest you follow along on the screen.

Starting in chapter 16, verse 1.

The Lord said to Samuel, How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel?

Fill your horn with oil and be on your way. I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem.

I have chosen one of his sons to be king.

Samuel did what the Lord said.

When he arrived at Bethlehem, the elders of the town trembled when they met him.

They asked, Do you come in peace?

Samuel replied, Yes, in peace. I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.

Consecrate yourselves and come to the sacrifice with me.

Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.

When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought,

Surely the Lord's anointed stands here before the Lord.

But the Lord said to Samuel, Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him.

The Lord does not look at the things people look at.

People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.

Then Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass in front of Samuel.

But Samuel said, The Lord has not chosen this one either.

Jesse then made Sharmak pass by.

But Samuel said, Nor has the Lord chosen this one.

Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel.

But Samuel said to him, The Lord has not chosen these.

So he asked Jesse, Are there all the sons you have?

There is still the youngest, Jesse answered.

He is tending the sheep, Samuel said.

Send for him.

We will not sit down until he arrives.

So he sent for him and had him brought in.

He was glowing with health and had a fine appearance and handsome features.

Then the Lord said, Rise and anoint him.

This is the one.

So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers.

And from that day on, the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David.

Samuel then went to Ramah.

Now the Philistines gathered their forces for war.

The Philistines occupied one hill and the Israelites another.

With the valley between them.

A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp.

His height was six cubits and a span.

He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing 5,000 shekels.

On his legs, he wore bronze greaves and a bronze javelin was slung on his back.

His spear shaft was like a weaver's rod and its iron point weighted 600 shekels.

His shield bearer went ahead of him.

Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, Why do you come out and line up for battle?

Am I not a Philistine?

And are you not the servants of Saul?

Choose a man.

Let him come down to me.

If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects.

But if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us.

Then the Philistines said, This day I defy the armies of Israel.

Give me a man and let us fight each other.

On hearing the Philistines' words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified.

Now David was the son of an Ephrathite named Jesse, who was from Bethlehem in Judah.

Jesse had eight sons.

David was the youngest.

The three eldest followed Saul.

But David went back and forth from Saul to tend his father's sheep at Bethlehem.

For forty days the Philistine came forward every morning and evening and took his stand.

Early in the morning, David left the flock in care of a shepherd, loaded up and set out as Jesse has directed.

He reached the camp as the army were going out to its battle positions, shouting the war cry.

David asked the men standing near him,

What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel?

Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?

What David said was overheard and reported to Saul.

Saul sent for him.

David said to Saul,

Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine.

Your servant will go and fight him.

Saul replied,

You are not able to go out and fight this Philistine against him.

You are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.

But David said to Saul,

Your servant has been keeping his father's sheep.

When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it.

I struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth.

When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it.

Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear.

This uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God.

The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.

So Saul said to David,

Go, and the Lord be with you.

Meanwhile, the Philistine, with his shield bearer in front of him, kept coming closer to David.

He looked David over and saw that he was little more than a boy, glowing with health and handsome, and he despised him.

He said to David,

Am I a dog that you come at me with sticks?

And the Philistine cursed David by his guards.

Come here, he said, and I'll give your flesh to the birds and the wild animals.

David said to the Philistine,

You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty,

the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.

All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves,

for the battle is the Lord's, and he will give all of you into our hands.

As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly towards the battle line to meet him.

Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead.

The stone sank into his forehead and he fell face down on the ground.

So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone,

which had a sword in his hand, and he struck down the Philistine and killed him.

This is God's holy and wonderful word.

Over to you, Moly.

Hi, guys.

Good morning, Watermark.

Thank you, Claire and Kevin, for reading the scripture to us.

As Chris said, I've been at Watermark for the last four years,

and it's just been great calling this place, this church, home.

And it's just an honor and privilege that I get to be with us and just go through God's scripture with us.

Before we start, I just want to give a quick prayer,

just to quiet our hearts and just prepare us going in.

Heavenly Father, we come before you today just acknowledging that you're God.

Father, we thank you for everything you've done for us,

just bringing us together as a community.

Thank you for going to the cross and dying for us,

because that's the reason why we're gathered here today.

Father, we just pray for open minds and open hearts as we go through your word today.

Just pray that you would just allow us to accept and understand the word.

And Father, you would quicken our steps to be able to go forth and practice it

and make it a part of our lives such that we can live lives of worship to you.

We just pray that, Father, as we go through scripture, you be magnified.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Amen.

So it's great that we get to go through scripture,

and without much ado, we can just get started.

So we're going to go through scripture today,

and we're going to look at where we focus.

But to start off, we have an illustration.

So the lady you see here, Elizabeth Holmes,

is someone you would call a prodigy tech entrepreneur.

You know, at the age of 19, she dropped out of Stanford

and went to start a tech company in Silicon Valley.

You know, she was able to raise more than $1 billion U.S.

from some of the most prominent people in government and technology.

But it turns out that it was all a sham.

The company and the product that she claimed to build

didn't really work as promised.

And a couple weeks ago, she was investigated

and convicted of multiple counts of fraud.

Now, we've all sinned, and we all fall short of the glory of God,

and so none of us are here to judge her.

But I think there's something interesting that we can take away from her story,

which is to just think about how she was able to pull this off.

You know, she got people to trust her and invest in her,

and some of these people never even got to see financial documents of the company.

So how was this possible?

Well, it turns out that those people, some of them,

were just focused on her outward appearance.

You see, the thing about Elizabeth is that she dropped out of an Ivy League college

and started a company in Silicon Valley.

You know, it was a kind of story that we make movies of, and that's what they saw.

You know, they also saw that some other reputable people

in the heights of government, technology, and investing had invested in the company,

and so they just trusted that, based on what they saw,

they could invest in this company.

And, you know, as you can see here, she was wearing,

she liked to wear Steve Jobs' style of turtleneck, you know,

just to give her that sense of being a visionary tech entrepreneur.

You know, the people who invested in her did so for complex reasons,

but one of them is that they focused on her outward appearance,

and they trusted her.

That's something that we also do,

and we are going to see that in Scripture,

that human beings tend to focus on the outward appearance,

but God does not.

He looks past that, and he focuses on our hearts.

We're going to see this play out in the story of how David became king,

how David was chosen by God and anointed to be king.

We're also going to see a play out in the story about how he went against Goliath.

And what we are going to see are these three things,

that we're going to see God's focus,

we're going to see where we focus,

and then we're going to turn our eyes to Jesus, our focus.

So in the series so far,

we've been going through all that glitters,

let's not go through the story of 1 Samuel.

And what we've seen is that,

while sometimes we may have appearances that look good on the outside,

deep down, there's decay.

And what we also see is that God comes in,

and he turns things around for his glory to be seen.

We saw it in the story of Hannah,

where she was barren,

and she was just pushed aside by the people closest to her.

But God heard her prayer,

and turned her story upside down,

and gave her a son,

who became the last judge of Israel,

Samuel.

We also see it in Eli and his sons,

who were supposed to be priests,

serving the people and leading them to God,

but they really just wanted to serve themselves,

and they abused their power.

And God saw through their outward appearance,

and got rid of them.

The same with Saul,

where Saul was supposed to lead God's people as king,

but he wanted to honor himself more than any other thing,

and so God rejects him as king.

And that's where we find ourselves in scripture today.

You know, what happens is God rejects Saul as king.

And so he tells Samuel to go to Bethlehem,

into the house of Jesse,

because he's chosen one of Jesse's sons to be king of Israel.

And you can imagine,

Samuel goes, he finds Jesse,

tells Jesse to bring his sons.

Jesse as a patriarch goes,

gathers his sons,

and brings them to Samuel.

Samuel knew why he was there.

He knew he was going to pick the next king of Israel,

and so he was looking at the people

that were brought before him,

Jesse's sons,

with an eye looking for the next king.

And scripture tells us that the moment his eyes landed on Eliab,

one of Jesse's sons,

he immediately concluded that Eliab would be the next king of Israel.

Why?

Well, there are a couple of reasons.

You know, Eliab was the firstborn of Jesse.

And we learn from scripture that the firstborn son usually would have the birthright.

And so there was a level of prominence that the firstborn son would have.

And so Samuel saw this cultural reason and immediately concluded that Eliab must be the one who is chosen as king.

Not only that, he was tall and physically good looking.

You know, the people of Israel had been asking for a king,

someone who would represent them.

And so looking at Eliab's physique,

Samuel saw him and was like,

yes, that must be the one.

He just looked good on the outside.

And also he was a soldier under Saul.

See, also the people had been asking for a king who would lead them into battle.

And so just seeing that Eliab had the experience of being a soldier,

it just kind of made sense that this person would be king.

But you know, God is a good God.

He sees past outward appearance.

And so while Samuel was focused on Eliab's outward appearance,

God came in and rebuked Samuel and said to him,

Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature,

because I have rejected him.

For the Lord sees not as man sees.

Man looks on the outward appearance,

but the Lord looks on the heart.

You know, Eliab may have had an outward appearance that looked good,

but God saw past that and saw his heart,

which was a heart that was full of pride.

You know, we learn later on in chapter 17 that,

you know, Goliath had set up camp

and he was attacking the Israelite army, taunting them.

And David saw what was happening.

And David started asking questions.

And Eliab, who had a heart full of pride,

heard his brother.

And the Bible says that his heart burned with anger against David.

Why?

Because Eliab had been rejected by Samuel, God,

and he wasn't anointed as king.

And David was instead.

So out of all that spite in his heart,

he turned against David.

And because of the pride in his heart,

his heart burned with anger against him.

God saw the pride in Eliab's heart.

And so he knew that such a person would not make a great king for Israel.

You know, God looks past the outward appearance.

And that's the same thing that happened with Saul,

as we saw last week,

that God saw his heart,

a heart that just wanted to honor himself.

And so God rejected him

because God looks past the outward appearance

and God looks at the heart.

So coming back to the story,

Samuel looks at Eliab and God rejects him.

So he looks to the other sons,

but God rejects all of them one by one

for all those who are present.

And so Samuel,

trusting God,

just knew that,

hey, something was wrong.

And so he turns to Jesse and he's like,

hey,

are these all your sons?

And then Jesse confesses that

there's one who wasn't present,

the youngest,

David.

You know,

Jesse didn't invite David

over because of the same outward mode

that Samuel had actually looked at Eliab with.

You see,

the thing about David was that

there are a couple of things.

Well,

he was the last born son of Jesse.

And so he was on the other end of the spectrum

when it came to the general idea of a birthright.

And so Jesse was like,

well,

if this is not the son,

if this is the son who's the youngest,

maybe he's not important.

And so for that cultural reason,

he didn't bring Jesse.

I mean,

he didn't bring David in.

David was also young and inexperienced.

And so he had a boyish look about him.

Physically,

he looked young.

You know how we,

as adults,

tend to have dinner

and we gather on the main table

and we have a separate table for the kids

because probably they don't have

anything important to tell us

because they're small.

You know,

Jesse looked at David in the same way.

Knowing that he was just small and boyish,

he probably didn't have a beard at that time.

You know,

and so he didn't invite David to come over.

Also,

David was a shepherd boy.

You see,

at that time,

Israel was going through a time of crisis

and so any man of any repute

was asked to be in the army

serving and fighting for the kingdom of Israel.

And so anyone who was doing anything aside that

was probably the lowest of the low.

And so that's how David found himself as a shepherd boy.

And so he didn't have that status.

David did not have the CV

that would make him important in people's eyes.

You know,

if Samuel was a recruiter,

he would have thought that Elliot had the perfect CV.

And if Jesse was looking at his son,

he'd probably think that David was not qualified

to even be in Samuel's presence.

I think an important thing we can take away from this

is that as human beings who look on the outside,

they're just as inclined to count people out

as we are to include them

based on their outward appearance.

David was not invited

because he did not even fit into the outward centered

more than his own father Jesse had.

You know,

I think this is very similar

to the way we relate to people.

It's easy for us to gravitate towards people

based on their outward appearance,

based on how wealthy they are,

or maybe based on how well-spoken,

or what level of social status they have.

On the other hand,

it's very easy for us to push people away

because they don't fit into an outward mode.

They don't fit into the mode

that we think is important in our eyes.

They might not be as wealthy,

or they might not be as well-spoken.

They might not even,

even in church,

they might not be the people

who are serving all the time,

and so we might just push them aside.

And even worse thing that we tend to do

when we focus on the outward appearance

is sometimes we tend to prop ourselves up

and put on an outward appearance

that covers up the messiness

we know we have inside.

You know, honestly,

I confess that I do this as well.

I focus on the outside

when I relate to people.

So I work for a company

that is mostly centered around tech,

and as a tech person,

man, it's like heaven to me.

But what I realize is that

I've started doing this thing

where in meetings,

people who don't have a tech background,

I tend to tune them off.

You know, I tend to think

that what they have to say

might not be as important

because I focus on the outward appearance.

But as I was going through scripture,

I was just, you know, encouraged,

but also rebuked

in the way I see these people

because now I understand

that God does not look at any of us

thinking about who has a tech background

or who doesn't.

You know, God loves us all.

And I think I'm encouraged

just knowing that God

doesn't look on the outward appearance,

that I need to see these people

as God sees them,

as people he loves.

And every voice is important.

My perspective is changing.

So coming back to the story,

we see how God looks past

the outward appearance

of each person.

And so he rejects

all of Jesse's sons.

But then it's at this point

that we see David

come into the picture.

And I think it's important

to just see how David

is introduced in scripture.

David is introduced

as a handsome guy,

glowing in health.

And I think it's interesting

and scripture is subtly

pointing us to something

that's very important.

You know, David was described

in the same way

that Saul and Elliot

were actually described.

And I think scripture

is just telling us

that God looks past

the outward appearance.

And so looking good

on the outside

or looking bad

on the outside

simply doesn't matter.

You know, Chris shared

a quote with me earlier.

He said,

the quote said that

the outward appearance

neither qualifies

nor disqualifies.

It simply doesn't matter

to God.

You know, so it could be

that we could be

serving in church

putting on the best

possible physical appearance.

But if our hearts

are not with God,

then it's all for naught.

It also could mean

that we might be

at the lowest of the low

in the way we present ourselves

but our hearts are hearts

that God looks at

because we maybe

have focused on him.

Also, another interesting way

that David was introduced

was that he was introduced

as the person

who was tending the sheep.

You know, to be a shepherd

meant that David

would have had to go

into the pasture

with the weak, feeble sheep.

And he would have had

to be reliant on God

in the face of

harsh weather conditions,

in the face of wild animals

who would have tried

to attack him

and the sheep

that he was having.

You know, God was building

trust.

He was building character

in him.

I think another important thing

that we can take away

from this is that

outward appearances

can be so deceiving

because what we might think

is a terrible time

might actually be the time

that God is actually

shaping our hearts.

He's drawing us

to a point of desperation

such that we'll chase

after him

and we'll learn to rely on him

with all our hearts.

You know, sometimes

when we be at work

and we have a very

difficult colleague

who's just pressing

all our buttons

and we're like,

God, why?

And we're like,

God, take me out of this

but maybe God

is just building

patience in us.

So just coming back

to David

and the fact that

he was a shepherd,

you know,

God was building

character in him.

Last two weeks,

Alan took us through

what God expected

the king of Israel to be

and it was someone

who would care

for the people,

someone who would

trust in God

above all things,

someone who would not

try to honor himself

or just use his position

for his own advantage

and that's what God

was building in David

at that time

and so when God

looked at David,

he looked past

his outward appearance

and he looked at his heart.

In choosing David,

he wanted someone

who would chase after him

and so he focused

on David's heart

and I think at this point

we've seen that God

focuses on the heart

over the outward appearance

and so now we can segue

to where we focus.

You know,

so David gets

annoyed at us king

but he doesn't immediately

take up the official role

as king.

He stays serving his father

as a shepherd boy

and sometimes

he even goes to serve Saul

but all the while,

Israel was still

in a time of turmoil

and so in chapter 17

we are told that

the Philistine army

was actually able

to invade the land of Israel

and they set up camp

to fight the Israelite army

and so they do this thing

that's known as

representational combat

where they sent

their best

to face the best

from Israel

and the general idea

is that the two of the best

from either side

of the army

fight with each other

and the person

who is victorious

shows which side

is victorious

and so they send

what we know

as the Philistines

champion,

Goliath.

You know,

Goliath was described

as being huge.

Man,

it was crazy.

Like,

the dimensions

that we mention

in the scripture

equate to about

9.9 feet tall.

You know,

for context,

the average man

is about

5.8 feet

and so you can imagine

this huge giant

and you can imagine

what the Israelites

were thinking

at that point

seeing this person.

They probably thought

that Goliath was big.

Not only that,

Goliath was dressed up

in the most spectacular armor.

Everything that he had adorned

was made from bronze

and you can just imagine,

like,

just try to close your eyes

and imagine

what it would have looked like

where this 9.9 feet tall guy

wearing bronze

was standing in the sun

glistening

and you can imagine

what the Israelite army

and the people there

were thinking.

Not only that,

Goliath would come

and he would throw

all kinds of taunts

at the Israelite army

saying,

hey,

aren't you Saul's army?

Can't you bring someone

to fight me?

Is there no one?

I dare you.

He taunted them

for 40 days

and 40 nights,

the Bible says.

And you can imagine

what the Israelite army

were thinking.

You know,

they were all focused

on his outward appearance.

And so,

the Bible says that

Goliath came against them

and he said,

on this day,

I defy the armies of Israel.

Give me a man

and let us fight together.

And scripture says that

on hearing the Philistines' words,

Saul and the Israelites

were dismayed and terrified.

Some translations say

that they were greatly afraid.

You know,

they focused on

Goliath's outward appearance

and what they perceived

was that they were faced

with an insurmountable problem.

To them,

Goliath was big

and God was small.

But David,

unlike the rest of the people

in the Israelite army,

heard Goliath

taunt the army

and he just could not

accept the fact

that God was being dishonored.

And so,

he decided to rise up

against Goliath.

Scripture says that

he had a focus,

I mean,

so David had a focus

on God

that made God big

and Goliath small.

And so,

it says that

David went up

and said,

hey,

the Lord who delivered me

from the paw of the lion

and from the paw of the bear

would deliver me

from the hand

of this Philistine.

That's where David's focus was.

He was focused on God.

And he was focused

on facing Goliath

to honor God.

And it's unlikely

that he didn't feel fear.

He probably was just

as afraid

as the people

in the Israelite army.

But the difference

is that

he chose to focus

on God

and the way God

had been faithful

in previous problems

that might have seemed

insurmountable to David.

You know,

he didn't trust

in his armor.

He didn't trust

in the army of Israel.

He didn't trust

in anything apart from God.

And so,

he went up

with no armor.

He went up

with just a sling

and a stone.

And the Bible says

that he flung

the stone from the sling.

It hit Goliath

right on the head.

Goliath fell

and gave him the victory,

gave Israel the victory

and got the glory.

David had a focus

on God

that made God big

and Goliath small.

You know,

bringing this story

closer to us,

we may have our own

versions of Goliath.

Things that may seem

insurmountable to us.

Things that will come up

against us

and taunt us

and test our faith.

You know,

it could be with sin

where we probably

have faced the same thing

for so long

time and time again

and we've fallen

and fallen and fallen.

We just resign

to the idea

that maybe

this is something

I just have to deal with.

This is an addiction

I will not be able to pass.

This is something

that I will just have

to live with

for the rest of my life.

You know,

in times like that,

we make sin big

and God small.

It could even be

with relational issues

where we may have

had fractured relationships

with people in our family,

people we once called friends,

people we work with,

people in our lives,

and we just feel like

there's so much pain

and animosity

that there's nothing

that we can do

and so we just resign

and say,

que sera sera

what will be

with this relationship?

We make these fractured

relationships big

and God small.

It could even be health

or financial challenges.

You know,

but it doesn't have

to be the case.

You know,

we can shift our focus

from these things

that seem insurmountable

to us

and we can shift

our focus

to God.

And so how can we do this?

Well,

I think it's important

that the first step

that we take

in shifting our focus

is coming

with a heart of repentance.

It's important

to come to God

with honesty

and say,

hey God,

I'm sorry for believing

in the lie

that you're small

and other things

were big.

You know,

as I was preparing

for the sermon

just reading scripture,

there's a song

by Don Mohan

called Be Magnified

that just kept

playing and repeating

and I think

the words,

the lyrics of the song

just point to how

we can come

with a heart

and do that repentance

and go through repentance.

You know,

the lyrics say,

I'm actually not going

to sing it,

I'm going to read it.

The lyrics say,

I have made you too small

in my eyes.

Oh God,

forgive me.

I have believed

in the lie

that you weren't able

to help me.

But now,

oh God,

I see my wrong.

Heal my heart

and show yourself strong.

And in my eyes

and with my song,

oh Lord,

be magnified.

It's such a great way

that we can pray.

A prayer of repentance

from believing

that God is small

because it shows

how we can start off

and do that 180 turn

and start off

from the point

where we say,

hey God,

I believe that you are big

and I'm sorry

for making you small.

Father,

just heal my heart

and do the final 180 turn

and say,

oh God,

be magnified

such that everything

becomes small.

And as we come

to repentance,

we start to shift

our focus

in a way

that makes God big

and every other thing small.

And coming back

to how we can start

to shift our focus,

the next thing we can do

is just succumb to God

and say we know

who God is.

You know,

if you look at the way

David responded,

you can tell

that he knew

who God was.

God was in every single

utterance that he made,

in every single declaration

that he made.

And I think that it's important

that we invest time

in getting to know God

because we cannot focus

on someone

that we do not know.

You know,

that's why Bible study,

things like Bible study,

study are so important

because we get to know

who God is.

We get to become acquainted

to our maker,

the person who is greater

than every other thing.

And so as we grow

in knowledge of him,

we can start to shift

the focus.

That's why things like CG

are so important

because by doing it

in community,

by building each other

up in scripture,

we can have a focus

that is shifted

because we know

who God is.

And so in the face

of an insurmountable problem

like sin,

we know that,

oh God,

you're the one

who heals our hearts.

You're the one

who turns our hearts

from stone into flesh.

And so we know

that God can take us through.

In times of sickness,

we know who God is.

We know that God

is a healer.

And so we can hold

on to that.

And so we can start

to shift our focus

from a point

where any other thing

is big

and God is small.

The next point is that

faith is not automatic.

You know,

you can imagine

David in the pasture

with the flock.

You know,

David showed that

he knew who God is

and his faith

had been built

by how God

had been faithful to him.

And so you can imagine

David with the flock

in the pasture

and maybe he started off

with a small dog

attacking his flock

and he trusted in God

and God helped him

go over the small dog.

And so the next time

that a lion rose up

against him,

he knew that God

would be good

because God was faithful

in the previous times.

And so he trusted in God

and the Bible says

that lions came

and he was able

to defeat them

because of God.

And so the next time

a bear,

which is bigger,

came,

he knew that God

had been faithful

with the lion

and so God

would be faithful

with the bear.

And so when he's

faced against Goliath,

he has a track record

of God's faithfulness

that he can lean on to.

And so his focus

shifted to how big God is.

I think it's the same thing

that we can apply

in our lives.

Where when we are faced

with what seems

like an insurmountable problem,

we can take how God

had been faithful

in other parts of our life

and bring them

to what might seem

insurmountable to us.

And so if we're dealing

with sin,

we know that God

is a provider

and he's always shown himself

to be true in his word.

And so we believe

that God can change our hearts

from a heart of stone

into a heart of flesh.

If we know that God

has been a healer

in another time of sickness,

we can trust

that he will be

a healer there too.

By focusing on how God

has been faithful to us

and other people

we can trust

and we can start

to shift our focus

in a way that makes God

big and every other thing

small.

And the last one

is that

David,

the last one

is taking action

because we trust God.

You know,

I think one great thing

to take away from David

is the way he responded

before he attacked Goliath.

And the Bible says that

he said,

he said to the people

that all those who,

all those gathered here

will know that

it is not by sword

or spear

that the Lord saves

for the battle

is the Lord's

and he will give

all of you

into our hands.

That's what David said

before he went up

and attacked Goliath.

You see,

the thing is that

we take action

because we know

that the victory

has already been won

for us.

And so that's what David did

and I think we can do the same.

We take action

because we trust in God.

And so when we are faced

with insurmountable problems,

we should not be reduced

to inaction or incapacity.

We can take a step

against it

and so when we are faced

with sin,

we can say,

hey sin,

not today.

Because we know

that the battle

has already been won

against it.

And so with these points,

I think it's great

for us to just ponder

and just take a step

and just think about

where our focus is

right now.

Who is biggest

in our eyes?

And how big

is God for us?

You know,

we've seen God

work in our hearts

in so many different ways.

So can we focus on him?

And at this point,

we can segue

and ask ourselves,

can we focus on Jesus

and look at Jesus

as our focus?

You know,

David,

in many ways,

seems so incredible.

You know,

David had

a heart

of servitude.

He was chosen

by God

to be the king

of Israel

and he put himself

on the line

for the sake

of others.

You know,

David went up

against Goliath

and he won the victory

for the people

of Israel.

Israel.

But David,

in many ways,

is just a pale representation,

a pale reflection

of the true king

to come,

Jesus.

You know,

if we remember,

the people of God,

the people of Israel

had been asking

for a king

who would lead them

into battle,

who would represent them

and David

actually fulfilled

some of that.

But it turns out

that even David

was not infallible.

He was flawed.

And so,

at some point

in his career

as king,

he actually ends up

being selfish

and he ends up

committing adultery

and abusing his power

to orchestrate murder.

You know,

David was not perfect.

Jesus is the only

perfect king.

See,

with Jesus,

he was the ultimate servant.

he came down

to serve all people,

even the people

on the farthest

fringes of society.

Jesus is the king

of the entire world.

You know,

he's equal with God.

And Jesus paid

the ultimate price

for our sake.

He conquered sin

and death

and won the victory

for not just Israel

but all the world.

You know,

ultimately,

our focus should be

on Jesus.

You know,

in the face

of insurmountable problems,

in the face

of things

that we may consider

the liars.

In the face

of sin,

struggles,

pain,

can we focus

on Jesus

through it all?

You know,

we focus on him

not so we can go

do it on our own.

We focus on him

because he's done it

for us.

He's won the victory

against sin,

death,

temptation,

sickness,

anything that we

can think of.

You know,

Jesus is big

and every other thing

is small.

Now,

another thing

that is really

great about the way

David approached

this problem

is he said

something that

was really,

really good.

David said

in scripture

to Goliath

that,

hey,

Goliath,

you come against me

with sword

and spear

and javelin

but I come against you

in the name

of the Lord Almighty.

That's such a great

stance to take

and I think

we can do it

as well.

You know,

when we are faced

with sin,

we can say,

hey sin,

you come against me

with all manner

of temptations

but I come against you

in the name

of the Lord Jesus Christ

in a way that makes

Jesus big

and sin small.

You know,

when we are faced

with all manner

of relational issues,

we can say,

hey,

you come against me

with all this pain

and all this animosity

and all this acrimony

but I come against you

in the name

of the Lord Jesus Christ,

the one who heals,

the one who is

love personified.

It's a great stance

for us to take

because it places

the focus on Jesus

and makes him big

and all other things small.

You know,

Jesus is the better David

who defeats all our glads.

They are small compared to him

and that's why

we focus on Jesus.

You know,

Jesus is in control

of our story.

He's the one

who writes our story

and that's why

we focus on him.

And as we just come

to a close,

we can just look at

scripture that calls him

the author and perfecter

of our faith

in Hebrews.

And I pray that

as we go through

the scripture,

we just focus on it

and we see

how great Jesus is.

And so,

Hebrews 12,

Hebrews 12:1

verse 1 and 2 reads,

let us throw off

everything that hinders

and the sin

that so easily entangles,

fixing our eyes

on Jesus,

the pioneer

and perfecter

of our faith.

For the joy

set before him,

he endured the cross,

scorning its shame

and sat down

at the right hand

of the throne of God.

When we are faced

with things

that may seem insurmountable,

things that hinder us,

things that easily

entangle us like sin,

we can fix our eyes

on Jesus

as scripture says.

We can imagine him

sitting at the throne

and by doing that

we make him big

and every other thing small.

Jesus is a perfect king.

He is the only one

who deserves our focus.

He makes every other thing small

and as we focus on him,

God will be magnified.

Let's pray.

Dear God,

we just come before you again

and thank you

for your amazing word.

Your word that comes to us

and it cuts through

Bonamara,

scripture says.

It goes past

our old appearance

and it goes directly

to our hearts.

And so Father,

as we've gone through scripture

and as we've learned

your word

and as we now know

to focus on you

in a way that makes

every other thing small,

Father,

just pray that you'll make

this reality in our lives.

Father,

we just pray that you'll

take us through each day

in a way that you're magnified

and every other thing is small.

Father,

we pray that you'll continue

to show yourself to be true

as you always have

and that we grow

and Father,

for those of us

who need to repent,

we repent for making you small

and we just turn our focus

to you,

Father.

We thank you once again

because you're a great God

seated at the right hand

of the throne.

We thank you for winning

all our battles,

for defeating all our Goliaths

and so we praise your holy name

and we honor you.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.