Ep 148 | Cover to Cover 27 | Pastor Chris Ryan | July 5, 2026

Hello, this is Pastor Ryan Clark.

You are listening to a message from St.

John's Lutheran Church in Buffalo, Minnesota.

Oh Lord, open my lips and my mouth shall declare your praises in the name of Jesus.

Amen.

My boys and I have a little game that we like to play.

I will take cardboard bricks like that, and I will build a replica of the giant Goliath.

He looks just like that.

And then I will voice Goliath while they will play a young David.

They'll take a plastic spoon and they'll have a little plastic rock on that spoon, and I'll say to them, "You? Defeat me? Har, har, har!" And then they'll say up to Goliath, "We may be little, but our God is big," and they'll throw that stone right at Goliath, bzzzt.

It hits him and he goes down like a pile of bricks, right? Argh, crash! Well, it turns out I have not been building a big enough Goliath because according to the Bible, he was six cubits and a span.

Now, a cubit is 18 inches and a span is half a cubit, which means a biblically accurate Goliath was 9'9" tall, a literal giant.

To help you truly visualize this, I asked our DCE here, Kelly Thole, to build us a true-to-life Goliath structure.

Now, for comparison's sake, at my last doctor's appointment, I was 5'7 7/8, which is basically 5'8, which is basically six feet tall.

And at six feet tall, I'll tell you something, Goliath, he towers over me.

He doesn't even need to stand on his tiptoes to do it.

For more comparison's sake, our senior Pastor right there, Pastor Ryan Clark, he's not quite six feet tall.

Actually, he's only 5'11, but, clearly Goliath towers over him as well.

And Goliath would've really towered over David.

The Hebrew word used to describe David in our Bible story today is na'ar.

It means youth.

It means he wasn't even fully grown yet.

Now, the average Israelite man at this time would probably have only been around five and a half feet tall, and David wouldn't have been even that tall.

Goliath is probably quite literally twice David's size, three times his weight, and yet we know what happens.

You don't need to be doing your two-year Bible read-through to know that David defeats Goliath.

Even atheists know that, right? But how did he do it? And better yet, how can we have faith like David to accomplish the same feat that he did when we face giants of our own? Let's go ahead and dig into that story of David and Goliath and see if we can answer that question of the day.

It begins at 1 Samuel 17 with these words.

It says, "Now the Philistines gathered their forces for war.

Saul and the Israelites assembled and camped in the Valley of Elah and drew up their battle line to meet the Philistines.

The Philistines occupied one hill and the Israelites another, with the valley between them."

So there you have it.

You got the Israelites army on one hill.

You got the Philistine army on the other hill.

There's a valley between them.

And no one will go out and meet the other.

No one is willing to give up that superior high ground.

That's despite the fact that the Philistines were probably superior to the Israelites in just about every way you could imagine.

At least a few chapters before, we read that the Philistines probably had a whole lot more soldiers than the Israelites.

In 1 Samuel 13, it says, "The Philistines assembled to fight Israel with 3,000 chariots, 6,000 charioteers, and soldiers as numerous as the sand on the seashore."

That's a lot of soldiers, isn't it? The Israelites are almost certainly outmanned.

They're probably outgunned as well.

Once again, from 1 Samuel 13, it says that not a blacksmith could even be found in the whole land of Israel.

So where did the Israelites go when they needed blacksmithing done? To the Philistines.

It said, "So all the Israelites went down to the Philistines to have their plow points, mattocks, axes, and sickles sharpened."

They're outmanned.

They're outgunned.

In fact, in 1 Samuel 13, it says that amongst all the Israelites, they only had two swords, one for King Saul and one for his son Jonathan And yet, despite the fact that they're outmanned and outgunned, the Philistines aren't doing anything, the Israelites aren't doing anything, this battle is just at a standstill.

It's been that way for 40 days, saved for one thing.

Enter the scene, Goliath.

For 40 straight days, Goliath, this 9'9" giant, has been coming out.

He's been yelling across the valley to the Israelite armies, taunting Israel and taunting God.

He yells at them, "Choose a man and have 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.

This day I defy the armies of Israel.

Give me a man and let us fight each other."

And of course, on hearing his words, the Israelites, even King Saul, were dismayed and terrified.

No one was willing to stand up to this giant who was defying God, defying the Israelites.

Nothing was happening, basically, for 40 straight days, until, enter the scene, David.

We know a little bit about David by the time we get to 1 Samuel 17, actually.

In 1 Samuel 16, he is anointed the next King of Israel, Saul's replacement, by Samuel himself.

Chosen out of all of Jesse's sons, the youngest, the shepherd boy.

We know he's destined for big things.

But at this point in the story, he's just a delivery boy.

It says, "Now Jesse said to his son David, 'Take this ephah of roasted grain and these 10 loaves of bread for your brothers and hurry to their camp.

See how your brothers are, and bring back some assurance from them.'"

So Jesse, he's worried about his older sons.

They're all out on the front line about to fight those Philistines, and so he sends David along with some snacks to go and check on his sons.

He says, "Bring back the good news that they're doing well."

Well, when David gets to the front line, he can't believe what he's seeing.

He can't believe what he's hearing.

He's seeing Goliath come out, and he's hearing his taunts of God.

And it's been going on for 40 straight days, you say? Who's gonna do something about this? 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? Who's gonna volunteer to go fight him? Someone put your hand up in the air right now.

No one? "Well, I guess I'll have to go and do it," he says.

"Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine.

Your servant will go and fight him."

Well, King Saul's ears probably perked up at hearing this.

He'd been waiting for someone to say this for 40 straight days.

Who is it? Who's the brave man who finally volunteered to fight? You? Are you kidding me? You're not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him.

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

You're just a little boy, and look at him.

He is nine feet nine inches tall.

You don't stand a chance.

But David doesn't let Saul's words of discouragement dissuade him.

No.

With the Holy Spirit alighted on him, filled with faith, he says back 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, 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, he's gonna 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."

God has helped me defeat a lion.

He's helped me defeat a bear.

What is this mere man gonna do against me with God fighting my battles for me? And Saul says, "Fine, be it on your head, but at least borrow my armor before you go out and take on this giant."

And David puts it on, but it doesn't quite fit like they're hoping for.

He sheds it.

He says, "I don't need this armor anyways."

He stops by the stream.

He picks up five smooth stones.

He's got his slingshot on him, and he goes out to meet that giant Goliath, step, step, step.

Goliath squints across the valley.

He sees someone finally walking out to take him on.

A foolish decision, he thinks, no doubt, but finally someone's up for the challenge.

And Goliath goes out to meet David, trudge, trudge, trudge.

Well, when Goliath gets closer, he can't believe what he's seeing.

Goliath looked David over and saw that he was little more than a boy.

Is this all you've got, you Israelites? You send out a little boy to come and fight me? Come here, and I'll give your flesh to the birds and the wild animals.

Well, David doesn't let Goliath's voice intimidate him.

He doesn't focus on that voice at all.

Rather, he looks up at Goliath once again with faith in his heart, and he says, "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."

And then he says our highlighted verse of the day, 1 Samuel 17:47, "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."

1 Samuel 17:47

And Goliath looks down at David, and he says, "You defeat me? Har, har, har."

And David looks up at Goliath, and he basically says, "I may be little, but my God is big."

And we know what happens next.

He takes one of those five stones, he puts it in his slingshot, he whizzes it right at Goliath.

It strikes him in the forehead.

It sinks in, actually, the Bible says, and Goliath falls down, arg, crash! Pretty good story.

I think we all like that one, don't we? And like I said, it's gonna answer a pretty important question for us today.

How did David have such faith? And how can we have faith like that when we face giants of our own? Because in this sinful and fallen world, we will face giants.

Maybe not a 9'9" human giant, but the giant you're facing right now might seem bigger than all of that.

Maybe right now you're facing the giant of a big, scary health diagnosis, or maybe a mountainous pile of debt that you just can't seem to get out of.

Or maybe it's some sort of towering temptation looming over your life.

Maybe it's some sort of gargantuan guilt casting a shadow wherever you go.

Maybe it's enormous anxiety.

It's like an elephant in every room you're in.

Maybe you're facing one of these giants, maybe all of them.

Maybe you're facing a giant that's not on this list.

And like I said, it's casting a shadow wherever you go How, when we face those giants, can we have faith like David did? St.

John's family, I'm gonna try to keep this really simple today.

Over the last third or so of this message, I think there are two things that we can focus on that help us have faith like David, that help us become faith-filled giant facers.

It's all about where your focus is.

The first thing that I think you should do that David did that will help you become a faith-filled giant facer is focusing on past victories.

It would've been really easy for David to focus on Goliath, all 9 foot 9 inches of him.

It would've been really easy for David to focus on the fact that Goliath's armor probably weighed more than he did, but that's not where his focus was.

It was on past answered prayer.

It was on past battles that the Lord had already won on his behalf.

He says, "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."

I say it once again, if God has defeated a lion and a bear through me and on his behalf, on my behalf, what is this mere man gonna be able to do to me? He focused on those past victories, and we should do the same thing.

So what past victories have you experienced? Or better yet, where has God answered your prayer in the past? Because it's not gonna be you that defeats the giant.

It's gonna be God.

So where has he answered prayer on your behalf? And by the way, to have answered prayer, you know what you actually have to be doing? You have to actually pray.

So have you prayed in the past and had it been answered? Did you pray for a sick person, yourself or someone else, and they were healed? Think about such things in the face of your current giant.

Have you prayed over a fear and you knew it, that you knew that you knew that it was going to happen, but it didn't? Think about such things in the face of your current giant.

Have you prayed over a crisis? It was inevitable.

It was going to happen.

You prayed again and again and again, and it never did.

Crisis averted.

Think about such things in the face of your current giant.

And when you do that, you have a couple pretty incredible promises from God.

I love these verses, Philippians 4:6-7, some of my favorites.

Philippians 4:6–7

It says, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

It's very straightforward here.

This verse says, "Tell God what you need."

Don't keep that giant to yourself.

Tell him that you need him to win this battle on your behalf because you can't win it on your own.

Tell him about that giant, and then thank him for all he has done.

Thank him for the past answered prayers, the past victories that he has delivered on your behalf.

And when you do that- It's God's promise that he will fill you with his peace that surpasses all underst- understanding.

Your peace will grow, your faith will grow, in the face of your current giant.

And by the way, if you can't think of any recent answered prayer, if you can't think of any recent victories that God has delivered on your behalf, think way back in the past, think all the way back to that cross.

Because on the cross, Jesus Christ delivers the ultimate victory just for you on your behalf.

And as I was thinking about it, there certainly are some similarities between Jesus and David, aren't there? David is absolutely a foreshadowing of who Jesus is going to be.

Both David and Jesus faced giant enemies absolutely alone.

David faced the 9'9" Goliath.

Jesus faced the giants of sin, death, and the devil on your behalf, and both delivered absolute victory on behalf of the people, and for the people, and to the people.

David delivered absolute victory to the Israelites against the Philistines, and Jesus delivers absolute victory for you against the enemies of sin, death, and the devil.

And by the way, if you are anyone in the story of David and Goliath, you are certainly not David.

Neither am I.

We are the Israelite army standing on the sideline, cowering, unable to do anything about those giants of sin, death, and the devil.

But Jesus defeats them just for you.

He wins for you an eternal relationship with God that starts now and lasts forever.

And now, with that relationship, you get to go to God and talk to him about the current giants you're facing, and he continues to win the battles for you on your behalf.

Think about such things in the face of your current giant.

Be a faith-filled giant facer by focusing on past victories, and second, by focusing on the right voices.

There are all kinds of voices that David could have focused on before he went and fought Goliath.

He could have focused on the voice of doubt, the voice of King Saul, who said, "You're just a little boy.

You don't stand a chance against this big man right here."

He could have focused on the voice of discouragement from his brother.

We didn't talk about him yet, but his older brother, it says in 1 Samuel 17:28, "heard him speaking with the men, and he burned with anger at him and asked, 'Why have you come down here? And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the wilderness? I know how conceited you are and how wicked your heart is.

1 Samuel 17:28

You came down only to watch the battle.

I know you're not here to take on Goliath because you can't.

Look at you.

You're just here to watch.'"

He could have focused on that voice of discouragement.

He could have focused on the voice of Goliath, the voice of intimidation.

"You defeat me?" But the Bible is very clear that David's focus was only on the voice of the living God.

And as he hears God's words, it fills him with faith in the face of that giant, and we are called to focus on that same voice.

Of course, sometimes we don't, right? Sometimes we focus on the voice of intimidation like Goliath, or the voice of discouragement like Eliab, David's brother, or the voice of doubt like King Saul, and it causes our faith to dwindle.

Sometimes those voices, they come from the people we know and love the best.

Sometimes those voices, they even come, maybe most often, from ourselves.

But God says, "Don't listen to those voices.

Don't focus on them.

Focus on my voice."

And you know where you can hear God's voice very clearly? In his Word, the Bible.

And as you spend regular time reading the Bible and hearing God's words, you're gonna hear words like this that increase your faith.

Joshua 1:9, "Be strong and courageous.

Joshua 1:9

Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go."

Think about how different it's gonna be facing your giant hearing those words than hearing other voices.

Another good one, Isaiah 41:10, "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.

Isaiah 41:10

I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."

Or how about one more? 1 John 4:4, "You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world."

1 John 4:4

Wow, how different is it to go into your battle hearing words like that, beautiful promises like that, the reminder that it's God fighting the battle for you, that you need only stand still.

Focus on the right voices.

Focus on those past victories, and be a faith-filled giant facer like David.

And of course, my prayer for you, St.

John's family, is that you have faith just like that, faith that looks up at your giant just like David looked up at his and says, "The battle is the Lord's."

St.

John's family, may you be filled with faith like that because of Jesus, through Jesus, in Jesus' name, Amen.

You've been listening to a sermon from St.

John's Lutheran Church in Buffalo, Minnesota.

If you would like more information about St.

John's and any of our ministries to our community and beyond, you can go to our website, www.

stjohnsbuffalo.

org.

Thank you and God bless you.