HOLY DISSATISFACTION | LUKE LEZON

Come on now. Y'all can take a seat.

Welcome to Key Church, everybody. It is

so great to see you and to be here with

you all this morning. I am so grateful

that we could be gathered together in

this house. And I'm grateful because

today we're continuing in our collection

of conversations that we are calling

King of Hearts as we are observing the

life of and walking with a man in the

scripture known as David. We're going to

be in 1st Samuel chapter 17 verses 1

through30 together this morning. 1

through 30. So, as you're flipping or

scrolling there, uh, a little bit of

housekeeping that I need to go through

with you this morning and it will, uh,

affect us quite a bit here. And so, let

me just make sure that we're clear on

this. Are we ready for a little bit of

an update?

>> Great. Uh, so here's the deal. Uh, over

the course of the past uh, uh, nish or

so months, we have found ourselves

operating in our current gathering times

uh, largely because uh, we felt like we

needed to make some room. And I think

what we found is that that has

absolutely been the case. And so we've

been running 8:15, 10, 11:45/ noonish,

depending on how uncristlike y'all are

in the parking lot and then a 5:00 p.m.

And so what we found ourselves

recognizing is that those have served us

well. Uh but the fact of the matter is,

uh that this gathering in particular is

slammed. Uh and in that we see that not

only has our church grown, but there's

actually a lot of growth that's just

kind of happening in our area. And so in

that we see that there's a lot of people

that right now and if you're joining us

in additional seating, we love you and

we see you. There's a lot of people that

are in additional seating uh every

single week. So maybe you've sat in

there before, maybe you know that

there's over a hundred people or so that

are going to be there today. And while

our 5:00 p.m. gathering has been great,

what we found is that it's not

necessarily the most optimal time in our

area for people to gather together as

the church. And so we are going to end

up uh making a couple of changes that

will be implemented on August the 30th.

Everyone say August the 30th.

>> August 30th.

>> Good job. Uh here are the changes that

we are going to make to our gathering

times. again, just to make sure that we

have room for everybody, optimal hours,

optimal seats, and not just being like,

"Join us at a time that maybe won't work

for you." Uh, but what we're going to do

is we are going to go to 8:00 a.m.,

which none of y'all, you're like, "Do we

even have an 8 a.m.?" Uh, 8:00 a.m.,

9:30, 11, and 12:30.

Calm down.

8 9:30. Okay. Uh, let's just by a show

of hands, where are my 9:30 folks at?

>> All right. And where are my 11 people

at? Where are mine that are going? It

depends on how late my team plays on

Saturday. Okay. Uh, and so listen, uh,

we understand that. Go balls. We're

grateful that you're here. It's never

too early to pray for Tennessee. If

y'all have watched football over the

past 20 years, you know what I mean? So,

um, let's, uh, let's just lean into

those times. All right. Uh listen, what

a great issue to have uh that there's

people that want to come and hear the

gospel and it can be complicated. We're

working on the parking and everything to

make sure that it's conducive for

everybody. Um and listen, we'll do

whatever we need to do to reach one more

person. Uh but we've got to make sure

that we do this right now uh for our

church. Is that clear to everybody? So,

there won't be a 5:00 p.m. and we're

going to have to shrink some things, but

we're going to move forward with the

gospel as we always do. So, 1st Samuel

17:es 1-30. Y'all ready for the word?

>> Pray for me. This is a lot that we got

to get through here, but we are going to

do it together. This is what it says.

The Philistines gather their forces for

war at Suko in Judah and camped between

Suko and Azaka in Ephesine.

Saul and the men of Israel gathered and

camped in the valley of Ilah. Then they

lined up in battle formation to face the

Philistines. The Philistines were

standing on one hill and the Israelites

were standing on another hill with a

ravine between them. Then a champion

named Goliath from Gath came out from

the Philistine camp. He was 9'9 in tall

and wore a bronze helmet and bronze

scale armor that weighed 125 lbs. And

there was bronze armor on his shins and

a bronze javelin was slung between his

shoulders. His spear shaft was like a

weaver's beam and the iron point of his

spear weighed 15 lbs. In addition, a

shieldbearer was walking in front of

him. He stood and shouted to the

Israelite battle formations, "Why do you

come out to line up in battle

formation?" He asked them, "Am I not a

Philistine, and are you not servants of

Saul? Choose one of your men and have

him come down against me. And if he wins

in a fight against me and kills me, we

will be your servants. But if I win

against him and kill him, then you will

be our servants and serve us." Then the

Philistines said, "I defy the ranks of

Israel today. Send me a man so we can

fight each other." And when Saul and all

Israel heard these words from the

Philistine, they lost their courage and

were terrified. Now David was the son of

the Ephrothite from Bethlehem of Judah

named Jesse. Jesse had eight sons and

during Saul's reign was already an old

man. Jesse's three oldest sons had

followed Saul to the war and their names

were Eliab the firstborn, Abinadab the

next, and Shem the third, and David was

the youngest. The three oldest followed

Saul, but David kept going back and

forth from Saul to tend his father's

flock in Bethlehem. Every morning and

evening for 40 days, the Philistines

came forward and took their stand. And

one day Jesse had told his son David,

"Take this half bushel of roasted grain

along with these 10 loaves of bread for

your brothers and hurry to their camp.

Also take these 10 portions of cheese to

the field commander. Check on the

well-being of your brothers and bring a

confirmation from them. They are with

Saul and all fighting and all the men of

Israel in the valley of Elah fighting

with the Philistines." So David got up

early in the morning, left the flock

with someone to keep it, loaded up, and

set out as Jesse had charged him. He

arrived at the perimeter of the camp as

the army was marching out to its battle

formation shouting their battle cry.

Israel and the Philistines lined up in

battle formation facing each other. And

David left his supplies in the care of

the quartermaster and ran to the battle

line. When he arrived, he asked his

brothers how they were. And while he was

speaking with them, suddenly the

champion named Goliath, the Philistine

from Gath, came forward from the

Philistine battle line and shouted his

usual words, which David heard. When all

the Israelite men saw Goliath, they

retreated from him, terrified.

Previously, an Israelite man had

declared, "Do you see this man who keeps

coming out? He comes to defy Israel. The

king will make the man who kills him

very rich and will give him his

daughter. The king will also make the

family of that man's father exempt from

paying taxes in Israel." And David spoke

to the men who were standing with him.

What will be done for the man who kills

that Philistine and removes this

disgrace from Israel? Just who is this

uncircumcised Philistine that he should

defy the armies of the living God?

That's like rap battle language for

Hebrews back then. The the troops told

him about the offer, concluding, "This

is what will be done for the man who

kills him." And David's oldest brother,

Eliab, listened as he spoke to the men,

and he became angry with David. "Why did

you come down here?" he asked. "Who did

you leave those few sheep with in the

wilderness?" "I know your arrogance and

your evil heart. You came down to see

the battle." "What have I done now?"

protested David. It was just a question.

Then he turned from those beside him to

the others in front of him and asked

about the offer. And the people gave him

the same answer as before. Let's pray

together. Uh well, Father, thank you. Um

thank you for your word. Lord, we thank

you for uh just the different elements

of your word that speak to your

character. I mean, we see these

beautiful narratives in the Old

Testament, the epistles of the New

Testament, and Lord, we just find

ourselves uh just eating of the steady

diet of your word. And so Lord, today as

we enter into that, Lord, would a part

of the feast today be the acknowledgment

of not only what's going on in David's

life and how it is that you were working

in and through him in this moment, but

what that also looks like in our lives

today while we maintain an elevated

version and vision of what it looks like

to follow you. That we're not just kind

of going with the flow down here, but

rather we're looking at your word as our

guide. And we're saying, Lord, we want

to follow you like some of the best have

ever followed you. like those that even

when they stumble continually pursuing

you. And so Lord, I don't know what it

is that we're carrying with us in this

place this morning. And yet at the same

time, I know that we're carrying things.

And Lord, whatever those might be, would

you just have us do a little heart

surgery? Would your word just take those

out of us and lay them on the table? And

would you replace whatever it is that is

plaguing us or is a barrier between us

in our own minds? And would you just

eradicate that from our life under the

power of your revealed word? Lord, we

ask that your spirit would move in this

place in such a way that we might walk

out of here and just saying, can you

even believe what it is that God has

done? Lord, we love you. We praise you.

We ask these things in Jesus name. Amen.

>> Well, in 1854,

the Crimean War waged on between Russia

and the British French alliance. And we

see that uh that war was filled with a

lot of brutal and horrific violence to

the tune of somewhere between 500,000

and 750,000 total individuals perishing.

Every nation that was involved would

find themselves realizing that they were

suffering through a staggering death

rate. And what was interesting is that

one particular detail would end up

coming to light that would be really

interesting to the British in particular

who would recognize what was happening

after that death rate ended up being

assessed. Uh the British ended up

recognizing that actually they were

taking many of their wounded soldiers

that had survived the battlefield and

they were bringing them to a military

hospital inqatari in modern day

Istanbul. And whenever they got there,

it started to become clear that there

were more soldiers that were dying from

disease than from wounds that were

sustained on the battlefield. Something

that started to really mess with them

was the fact that they realized, oh,

we're actually seeing infection killing

more British soldiers than we are seeing

Russians who are killing British

soldiers. and in wouldstep Florence

Nightingale and her 38 volunteer nurses

that would end up showing up at this

military hospital during this time. Uh,

you know what's interesting is that if

you don't know who Florence Nightingale

is, her story really is the stuff of

legend. And she never really should have

ended up becoming a nurse. You see,

Florence Nightingale descended from a

wealthier upper class family. And in

Victorian England, if you were from that

wealthier upper class, if you were a

woman, you didn't necessarily go into

the work of becoming a nurse. It was

considered to be low status and sorted

work for women of a reputation that were

untrained. And so we see that despite

her parents' best efforts to get her to

not do this, she felt like it was the

Lord himself that had called her to be a

nurse. And despite all of their wishes

against it, she would end up answering

the call of the Lord faithfully. And she

would step into this particular hospital

where she would recognize that there

were a lot of things that she had

expected to see. She expected to see

thousands of soldiers and even dead

soldiers that kind of overflowed out of

this hospital. She wasn't shocked by

that. But what she was shocked by is the

destitute condition of the hospital that

she was in. She started to realize, hey,

there's something wrong about blood and

mud and human waste all kind of be

mingling close together. She saw that

there was sewage contaminated water. She

saw that there was a flea infestation

and rats running underneath beds. She

saw that actually they lacked soap and

beds and towels. They found themselves

in a place where the floors were filthy

and the walls were filled with grime.

That she realized that there were rats

running underneath the beds of all of

these soldiers that had open wounds that

were starting to fester. And she

realized in that moment that this simply

cannot be. She understood that there

were going to be soldiers that died as a

result of warfare. But she could not

accept that 10 times the amount of

soldiers died from disease than from

those wounds sustained on the

battlefield. She ended up refusing to

accept what other people had allowed.

And so we see that she would end up

being committed to improving conditions,

pioneering reform, and it would be

something that she would have to do in

the face of major opposition because of

surgeons and doctors that really saw her

presence as an interference. But she

would continue to persevere. And as she

did, she ended up cleaning the solders's

clothing. She created. We see that she

would end up demanding better

ventilation and documented each change.

That she would find herself in a place

finding towels. She would improve their

food. She would buy soap. She would

organize supplies, making all of these

little faithful changes that started to

make an impact. And what's more, her

legend only continued to grow. She'd

become known as the lady with the lamp

because every evening she would walk up

and down each ward, checking in, tending

to these soldiers that lay there sick

and dying. And as she did, it would

become very well known that the lady

with the lamp would be coming by at

night. One soldier even ended up saying,

quote, "We look forward to the lady with

the lamp and hope that we can merely

kiss her shadow." That she was a hero to

these soldiers because of her care and

compassion for them. She would end up

creating a statistical diagram that

documented just how critical it was to

recognize that soldiers died as a result

not of warfare but of disease. And by

that same diagram, she would be able to

prove after she improved conditions and

pioneered reform how all of those

changes had significantly dropped the

mortality rate in these hospitals

because of little changes that she had

made to the sanitization policies in the

hospital. What's interesting to note is

that Florence Nightingale would end up

changing things that often still end up

impacting the way that we find ourselves

navigating the cleanliness and the

conditions of hospitals today. But you

know what's amazing is the best thing

that she offered wasn't her willingness

to clean a dirty hospital, but to

challenge the status quo. that Florence

Nightingale realized there are all of

these other people that are here and

they're just kind of fine with the

conditions they're in, seeing them as

the conditions that will always be, but

she would find herself stepping in and

say, "I know these are the things that

you've been allowing, but we cannot end

up living like this." The danger is not

that you might find yourself around

brokenness. It's that you might end up

accepting brokenness as something that

we can just tolerate. And I say that to

you because we see in a similar way, but

in a much grander story that David is

going to step towards the battlefield

here. And as he does, well before he'll

ever draw a sling, he's going to draw

from a place of holy dissatisfaction. As

everyone else in Israel is listening to

Goliath shout at them, we see that he

would say, "Are you guys really going to

sit by while he defies the living God?"

And so you see in verses 1 through3 here

as we enter into the story uh that

there's something really interesting

that is taking place here. It says this

that the Philistines gathered their

forces for war at Suka in Judah and camp

between Saka and Azaka in Ephesim. Now

Saul and the men of Israel gathered in

camped in the valley of Ilah. Then they

lined up in battle formation to face the

Philistines. The Philistines were on one

hill and the Israelites were standing on

another hill with a ravine between them.

Now, what's interesting is you can just

picture this scene, right? That you see

that there's the Philistines on one

hill, the Israelites on the other.

There's a deep ravine that goes between

them. And we see that the Israelites are

assembled and dressed for war. But the

irony of that is that there is no war.

Nothing is going on yet. The Israelites

are dressed to go fight, but no fight

has taken place. Because while Israel's

taken the battlefield, more importantly,

fear has already taken Israel. And we

start to kind of get this picture as to

why that is. That will get clear for us

as we start to continue through our

passage together. And in verses 3 and 4,

it says this. The Philistines were

standing on one hill, the Israelites on

the other with a ravine between them.

Then a champion named Goliath from Gath

came out from the Philistine camp. It's

Goliath who's instilling fear in the

people. And we'll see why that is here

momentarily. But recognize here that it

says that he is the champion. The

champion Goliath from Gath. What does

that mean? Well, in Hebrew, that's a

word that's unbelievably vivid and it

means a lot more than simply one who's

victorious. Rather, what we see going on

here is that that word can quite

literally mean the man between or the

man of the space between. It conveyed

this idea of exactly what it is that you

see Goliath is telling them to do. He

occupies the space in between these

camps and he says, "Will any one of you

come out with single combat on their

mind saying that we might fight on

behalf of our people and our nations?"

And none of them are willing to do it.

And can I just go ahead and tell you, I

don't know that that makes the

Israelites cowards because if you heard

the description of Goliath, I don't know

that we would all be trying to rush out

and volunteer for our position to go and

fight this guy either. because it would

say in verse four, "Then a champion of

Goliath, a champion named Goliath from

Gath, came out from the Philistine camp.

He was 9' 9 in tall. He wore a bronze

helmet and bronze scale armor that

weighed 125 lbs. There was bronze armor

on his shins and a bronze javelin slung

between his shoulders. His spear shaft

was like a weaver's beam, and the iron

point of his spear weighed 15 pounds. In

addition, a shieldbearer was walking in

front of him.

So,

I don't know. I mean, Kyle, maybe you'd

go fight him, but I don't know that

anyone else in here would go fight this

guy. I wouldn't. It's crazy. This dude's

huge. And you see that there's something

really terrifying that's said here.

Goliath is going to be listed with all

of this exhaustive detail about why it

is that he's so menacing. It makes sense

that when you get four verses saying why

should you should be afraid of someone

that you would be like, I don't know

that I WANT TO FIGHT THAT GUY. because

it will go through all of this detail

around his height, his helmet, his

greaves, his spear, his spear, uh uh his

point, his uh uh his his height, and

everything else listed in great detail.

And you go,

are they cowards or are they acting

normal? You realize there's a

psychological reality that they're

having to deal with before they'll move

into a place where we're having to

address a theological tension. We see

that the psychological reality that

they're having to deal with is the fact

that they're gripped by fear. And I

don't think we have to look at what the

Israelites are dealing with to recognize

in our own lives, we know what it's like

to be gripped by fear. Can I get a

witness? And how many of us understand

fear does an unbelievable job of

cataloging and itemizing every single

reason as to why something's going to go

bad in your life and why it's not going

to work.

that you lack the qualifications, you

lack the resources, you're too old,

you're too young, your marriage is too

far gone, that the diagnosis is too

serious. But you know what I love about

faith is that faith doesn't pretend like

those things aren't true. David doesn't

step up towards Goliath in this moment

and be like, he's not that big if you

think about it. He's like, you know, his

armor is kind of cheap, boys. Like, get

out. He doesn't do that. but rather he

looks at Goliath and says, "As large as

this man is,

I believe that there are larger forces

at play, that God's on our side and God

has gone before us in the midst of this

fight." And so, you see that as he's

carrying this with him into this camp,

it will say though that Goliath will

continue to stand there and he stood and

shouted to the Israelite battle

formations, "Why do you come out to line

up in battle formation?" He asked. "Am I

not a Philistine and are you not

servants of Saul? choose one of your men

and have him come down against me. If he

wins in a fight against me and kills me,

we'll be your servants. But if I win

against him and kill him, then you'll be

our servants and serve us." Then the

Philistines said, "I defy the ranks of

Israel today. Send me a man so that we

can fight each other." And when Saul and

Israel heard these words from the

Philistine, they lost their courage and

were terrified.

Goliath has been terrorizing the

Israelites for 40 days and 40 nights.

And you know what's crazy about that is

he has not actually lifted a hand

against them.

He's just shouted at them. He's just

bullying them from this ravine between

them. And you see that it's still a

psychological battle before it's a

physical one. He's killed precisely

nobody. And at the same time, they feel

like they've already been defeated. That

you'll see in the midst of this, he has

thrown no javelin. All he's doing is

offering verbal jabs. He is just

shouting at their battle formation. You

guys are losers. You're not going to

come do anything with me. Nobody's going

to occupy the space between with me.

Send your best. You won't do it. And you

know what's interesting is he ends up

redefining their identity. And that's

part of what convinces them they've been

defeated. Do you notice that? He doesn't

say, "Hey, God's covenantal people." He

says, "Hey, servants of Saul."

[snorts]

He takes God out of the equation, which

isn't that what we do when we feel fear.

And instead, he says, "You follow that

man, which there's precisely no power in

that." And you know what's interesting

is we recognize as a people that your

identity will often determine your

behavior. You can look in your own life

and you can see that to be true. You can

look at people around you in your life

and you know that to be true. But you

can even go back in scripture. I mean,

you look at Genesis chapter 3. You see,

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

the enemy would say to Adam and Eve,

oldest play in the book, he would say,

"Hey, um, did God really say that you

can't eat from the tree of the knowledge

of good and evil because uh he said that

you would uh die?" That's not true.

You'll actually be like God. He's

withholding from you. And you see that

in that they believe him and that

thoughts about God start to change and

it changes their identity and it will

move into their behaviors which happen

to just uh doom humanity for a period of

time. Uh but we see that if you continue

on in Matthew chapter 4 that this is

Matthew 4 · chapter mention

true as well that when Jesus is baptized

and we see the spirit of God descends on

him like a dove and the father's voice

speaks over him, he's led into the

wilderness by the spirit. And while

Jesus is out there, do you recognize

that the enemy would end up showing up

and he would say, "If you're the son of

God," he questioned his identity,

then he'll start to tempt him. Often

we can win or lose battles in our mind

and in our life because of the way that

we're having conversations with us and

the enemy and those who do his bidding.

And it often can start with really

familiar things like God's always going

to be mad at you, like you're always

going to be alone, like you're never

going to be able to overcome your

greatest setbacks, that you're all that

you can produce. That you find yourself

believing these little lies and it can

change your behavior. And I think what

we actually recognize here is that while

that can change our behavior, there's

something even more sinister that's

going on in this moment is all of a

sudden you see that the people of Israel

are believing Goliath's voice and

they're not listening to God's. And you

got to ask yourself, do I do that? Am I

more interested in what Goliath has to

say than what God has to say? You see

here that they'll continue on. And in

verses 11-15, it says that when Saul and

all Israel heard these words from the

Philistine, they lost their courage and

were terrified. Now, David was the son

of the Ephroite from Bethlehem of Judah

named Jesse. Jesse had eight sons and

during Saul's reign was already an old

man. Jesse's three oldest sons had

followed Saul to the war. Their names

were Eliab the firstborn, Abinadab the

next, and Shama the third, and David was

the youngest. The three oldest had

followed Saul, but David kept going back

and forth from Saul to tend his father's

flock in Bethlehem.

Uh Saul and David or Saul and Israel

here had heard what Goliath is shouting.

When Saul and Israel hear what Goliath

is shouting, it says that they lose

their courage and they're terrified. And

what's interesting is that David is not

going to have that same response. But

David's in the same environment that you

see that David is hearing the same man

shouting the same words in the same

setting. Why is it that David is going

to have a much different experience and

response to what Goliath is saying with

all of the same things on the table?

Because what's different about the way

that David and Saul will interpret

things here is not in the information,

but literally in the interpretation.

They've got the same information, but

their interpretation is substantially

different in this moment. Saul and

Israel hear that Goliath is saying all

of these things, and when they do, all

they think is we're overmatched. David

hears what's being said, and he goes,

"Are we just going to let this guy

continue to defy the living God?"

There's a theological filter that's the

problem here for Saul and Israel. And if

I'm honest, I think it can be for us,

too.

Like you notice that often times what we

do is similar to what they're doing

here. We can end up interpreting God

through our circumstances rather than

interpreting our circumstances through

God.

That you can let your circumstance be

the way that you see God rather than

letting God be the way that you see your

circumstance. And that changes the way

that you see. That changes the way that

you hear. David says, "I know what he's

saying, but I know God." Don't we know

God? Isn't that the hallmark of who we

are as a people? So, we can look at the

circumstance and say, "Yeah, I don't

think so." David will have a completely

different response. And as we see that

David will have a different response, we

also see something interesting mentioned

about David. In verse 12, it would say,

"Now, David is the son of the Ephrothite

from Bethlehem of Judah named Jesse."

I mean, we've been we've been with

David. Like, David's not a new character

in the story. Why are we being

introduced to David? Like, we don't know

who David is. We've only been with him

for like a chapter and a half. So,

what's going on? Well, you'll notice

that the author is setting up the

showdown for next week where you see

that David and Goliath will face off.

But you see here that while Goliath is

going to have this incredible list of

accolades and things that make him

menacing, you see that David is now

going to be reintroduced as he is, which

is kind of um not that he's not anoint

he's not listed as the anointed future

king. There's no military accolades that

go next to his name. Like there there's

not a whole lot there. They're not

talking about David's armor. None of

those things are happening in this

particular moment. Rather, we see that

he's just an insignificant individual

from an insignificant town in the eyes

of everyone else. But he's the one that

heaven has chosen and earth is about to

get an introduction. We see that the

author is setting the scene for us here.

And you know what's interesting is it

says that David after he ends up being

summoned to the king's palace, he's

going to serve as the king's musician.

He's going to sing he's going to end up

serving as the king's armor bearer. And

in that you see that on every human

level it looks like he's being elevated

in a crazy way. Like if we saw someone

in our modern context kind of go from

unknown to all of a sudden everyone

knows who that individual is. You'd be

like that was a really quick ascension.

But you'll notice something interesting

that as David is being elevated what it

is that he ends up doing from the

posture of his heart. It says there

something interesting to note that he

would go back and forth from the king to

his father's pasture that David lived

and moved between two different worlds.

And that's significant for us to

understand because can I tell you David

understood who he is and who's he is. He

never ended up outgrowing the assignment

that he knows God used to grow him.

David is never going to have bigger

opportunities that make him feel like he

can neglect smaller responsibilities.

Rather, he's going to find himself in a

place where he realizes whether I'm

serving the king and his scepter or I

find myself in the pasture with the

staff, I know that my audience is one.

Lord, you formed me here, you can take

me there, but I'm going to be faithful

with whatever it is that you've placed

in my hands. Um, I'll tell you a

personal story. And I always I don't

tell a lot of personal stories, uh, just

because I I I don't love to, and you

just never know how those are going to

be interpreted, and so that can be

weird. And and so, uh, I'll tell you

though, uh, when my wife Lindsay and I

when we bought our house several years

ago, uh, we were obviously elated for

all sorts of reasons, but uh, we also

started recognizing like you need all

the different things that you need uh,

for your home. And and one of the things

that I grew up doing that I love to do

and brings me a lot of peace is quite

honestly yard work. Uh, and so I was

excited to get out there and start

mowing my yard. Uh, but for whatever

reason, since we moved to Florida, I

discovered that I'm allergic to

everything in the state. Uh, and I don't

I don't really know what happened. Um,

it's been hard on our marriage. It's

been hard on me. Not that that matters a

whole lot, but I think there's been

times where she's kind of like, uh, does

sneezing without stopping fall under

insickness and health? Cuz I don't know

if I can do this. Uh, and and and we've

found ourselves like I'm I'm puffy out

there coming back in like the Michelin

man. uh being like, "Theyard's done, but

I might be dying. I don't really know."

Um, and it was it was just a thing. And

then I found myself realizing like, "Oh,

we're adding children to our family."

Uh, and then also, uh, like the church

is growing at a crazy rate. Uh, and I

just feel stressed. And then going out

to mow the yard doesn't help with the

stress. It actually makes me feel like I

need to go to the ER. And so, I don't

really know what to do with this. I

looked into how much it costs to have

someone mow your yard. And I was like,

"Oh, that's not bad." And so I decided

that I would go forward with that for

about a year. Uh about a year into it,

everyone was asleep and I was not for

whatever reason. And I was just uh kind

of praying Psalm 27 and I was just

saying like, "Lord, I always want to be

in your presence. Lord, keep me in your

house." And as I was doing that, I just

felt like I got this nudge and I was

like, "That can't be right." Uh and I

just felt like the Lord was saying, "You

need to mow your yard again." And I was

like,

That's got to be whatever she made for

dinner. That can't be

whatever. Bizarre. Go to bed.

But I unpacked it with a mentor the next

day.

And and when I say I have mentors, I

don't know. They just they just don't

build them the same. All my mentors are

75 or older. It's a it's a requirement.

I don't want you to tell me what you

think I should do. I need you to tell me

what you know I should do. And so I'm

talking to them and they're just built

different. And I just said, "Man, Jim, I

um" It was weird. I was in prayer the

other night. I felt like felt like the

Lord was saying, "I need to mow my yard

again." I was like, you know, it's kind

of ridiculous. And he goes, "Well," he

said, "Well, hold on." I was like,

"Well, let's not." Um, you know, um,

let's not do that. Um, and he was like,

"Stop talking." I was like, "Okay."

And he said, "I think that's right."

Wh what what why do you think that's

right? He said, 'Well,

it's very difficult for a man to become

arrogant if he has to mow his yard on a

regular rhythm. And I was like,

so are you still saying I should do it

or like?

And so I started taking Zerek and here

we are years later.

Why am I telling you that?

I've met a lot of different individuals

that have a lot of different things.

Wealth, no wealth, whatever. You know

what the different someone is not really

changed based upon what they have. It

just reveals who they already were.

The greatest difference with people who

even have a lot in my estimation is they

never forget who they are and where they

came from, how they were formed. Can I

tell you something? I'm popular. Great.

So, I'm going to do it anyway. um how

you handle the present, that's how

you're going to handle the future. And

there's a lot of people that I think go,

"Well, no." See, that's like, "I don't

like my season. I don't like my

situation." Luke, if you knew and you

don't see, but when I'm there, when I

have that title, that position, that

job, that spouse, when I have, then I'm

going to take things seriously, then I'm

going to show you just how it is that I

can steward something. Can I just tell

you, no, you won't. That ain't a kingdom

mindset. That ain't a kingdom. We all

suffer from destination addiction.

When I have the next job, the next

season, the next spouse, hello. Whenever

I got next, you can be so focused on

next that you end up forgetting now. And

it's almost like Jesus said, "He who's

faithful in little will be faithful in

much. But for the one who's not faithful

in little, even the little that they

have will be taken from them and given

to someone else. Why is it that you

would want God to open up the next door

in your life when you are not making the

most of the room that he's placed you

in?

Why would that happen? [applause]

You know, God

got to find a new church.

[laughter] This ridiculous stuff.

says, "Every morning and evening for 40

days, the Philistine came forward and

took his stand. And one day, Jesse had

told his son David, "Take this half

bushel of roasted grain along with these

10 loaves of bread for your brothers and

hurry to their camp. Also, take these 10

portions of cheese to the field

commander. Check on the well-being of

your brothers and bring a confirmation

from them. They're with Saul and all the

men of Israel in the valley of Elah,

fighting with the Philistines." David

got up early in the morning, left the

flock with someone to keep it, loaded

up, and set out as Jesse had charged.

David is delivering Door Dash to his

brothers.

And we see that all David's doing

is what his dad told him to do.

All David's doing is walking in

obedience with what in authority his

father had told him to do in this

moment. David is on a normal errand. He

is not seeking out some historic battle.

And we see that it's through that

ordinary act of obedience that his

entire life would change his whole life.

And I say that because I think there are

many believers that can just feel like

you hear all these great stories of the

people of God and you're like, I'm just

waiting on that assignment, God, that

one that's going to mark my life. And I

think often times we can do that and

overlook what it is that he's already

placed in our hands in this moment.

Listen, today's obedience could be

tomorrow's opportunity. And I don't mean

that in a way to where it's like you

just be faithful to God and then somehow

like whoop, you ended up Trojan horseing

God and now he's indebted to you to have

favor on your life. No, no, no. I'm just

saying if if you if you believe that you

can take God at his word, then take God

at his word. That if you're faithful

with little, he might then afford you

much to steward as well. And you see

here, David is not looking for anything

more than to deliver Door Dash. And yet,

you notice something interesting about

who David is. It would say something

interesting. It said, "And David left

his flock in the care of someone before

he ended up going to meet his brothers.

He never treats what he has casually. He

says, "This is my responsibility. I'm

not going to forsake that to do this.

I'm going to make sure this is cared for

before I carry on over here." That we

see it's going to be the battle with

Goliath that will demonstrate the

courage of David. But it's the character

of David that you see in these little

details and shows you why it is that God

trusts him. And so we see that it would

say in verse 20- 24, David arrived at

the perimeter of the camp as the army

was marching out to its battle

formation, shouting their battle cry,

which is just hysterical that they were

shouting a battlecry and doing

absolutely nothing. But Israel and the

Philistines lined up in battle

formation, facing each other. And David

left his supplies in the care of the

quartermaster and ran to the battle

line. He was speaking with them. And

suddenly the champion named Goliath, the

Philistine from Gath, came forward from

the Philistine battle line and shouted

his usual words which David heard. Then

all the Israelite men saw Goliath and

they retreated from him terrified.

Goliath has terrorized Israel for 40

days and 40 nights. And in that you see

that Israel has started to accept what

he's saying just as normal. whatever. We

don't want to deal with this. Uh but

David has not heard this vitrial out of

Goliath.

Saul and Israel heard what it is that

Goliath has to say. And in that we see

that they had started to treat something

as normal that should have been

intolerable. And David is going to find

himself stepping onto the scene

recognizing there is a liturgy of fear

that has taken over the nation of Israel

as a result of what it is that this man

has to say and sing. And so he's going

to step into it going, "I have not been

formed by this atmosphere of fear, and

I'm certainly not accustomed to letting

someone else defy the name of our God

that we see David has a completely and

totally different response than

everybody else will end up having in

this moment, and he's the one that's

going to muster up the courage to

actually do something about it." The

issue with fear is not necessarily fear

itself.

It's whenever you can all of a sudden

start to allow everything that comes

with fear to be abnormal part of your

world. Apathy, bitterness, compromise,

cynicism. David says, "I'm not doing

that. I'm not doing that." And so he

would say, "Previously, an Israelite man

had declared, "Do you see this man who

keeps coming out? He comes to defy

Israel. And the king will make the man

who kills him very rich and will give

him his daughter. And the king will also

make the family of that man's father

exempt from paying taxes in Israel."

David spoke to the men who were standing

with him, "What will be done for the man

who kills that Philistine and removes

this disgrace from Israel? Just who is

this uncircumcised Philistine that he

should defy the armies of the living

God?" The troops told him about the

offer, concluding that that's what will

be done. Now, David asked, "What will be

done for the man who kills Goliath?" And

what's interesting is you you hear what

it is that these men are saying. Word

has gotten throughout the camp and

they're just like, "Man, it's going to

be crazy. I'm telling you, that dude's

going to be rich. He's going to be able

to marry the king's daughter. He's going

to have tax exemption status. He is

moving to Florida. I'm telling you, it's

going to be crazy.

And it can seem like David is equally

like, "Oh, what's the what's the deal

for the person who kills him?"

Uh but you'll see that as the

conversation continues that he's much

more concerned about how it is that his

nation is testifying to God's glory or

in this case not. The first question

that he asks reveals much about his

character.

And so we see he'll continue to ask, but

he's trying to get at something else

that they're not getting at. It says

David's oldest brother, Eliab, listened

as he spoke to the men and became angry

with him. Why'd you come down here? Elab

asked. Who did you leave those few sheep

with in the wilderness? Don't you love

those little like brother jabs? He's

like, who'd you leave all one and a half

of those sheep with out there? He says,

'I know your arrogance and your evil

heart. You came down to see the battle.

What have I done now? David protested.

It was just a question.

Then he turned from those beside him to

others in front of him and asked about

the offer. And the people gave him the

same answer as before.

Even the people closest to you

that don't share a similar conviction

can question what you're doing for God

when you know that you're supposed to do

it.

His brother is like, "Dude, what?"

And we see that it's just

it's just the beginning of pointing to

something even more significant because

David is that pattern of a perfect king.

David

is going to show up on the scene here.

And you know what's interesting is what

we see is that

there's this massive enemy in front of

them that the people can do nothing

about. They could throw their best at

Goliath and they feel like we still

would be overcome. I mean, this man is

huge. It's insurmountable.

And as everyone else in the nation

retreats with fear, it's the anointed

king who will step forward and says,

"I'll take him on. You want to challenge

someone to single combat? I'll take you

on on behalf of everyone else." And

without knowing it, Goliath has set the

scene for the gospel to be presented

here.

because we see that many of us can find

ourselves feeling like we're David when

we read the story of David. But can I

tell you specifically in this instance,

we are the scared Israelites on the

sidelines going, I don't know how it is

that I can conquer sin. I don't know how

it is that I can conquer death.

Actually, I am assured that I cannot.

But we see that David would point to the

future king in Jesus who we see is

anointed

and the one who would step forward and

say, "I'll take him on. I'll take on sin

and death on behalf of the people. I

challenge you to single combat."

And like David, we see that it looks

like there's absolutely no way that

David could be victorious. It looks like

on Saturday that Jesus has lost, but we

see that Jesus would take on our sin and

our shame and he would rise that we

might be able to have life in his name

for those of us that have repented of

our sins and put our faith in him. You

see, even in the smallest of details,

how David's story will point to Jesus.

He's bringing bread for his brothers.

Jesus would say, "I'm the bread of life.

You eat of me, you'll never go hungry

again." You see that David's brothers

would end up not believing in him. And

in John chapter 7, we see that it would

John 7 · chapter mention

say that Jesus' own brothers did not

believe in him. And yet there would come

a moment where it was undeniable.

And it is undeniable

that Jesus Christ has taken on our sin

and shame that we might be a people that

can walk in the newness of life with

him. And so maybe you're here and you've

never actually made that declaration.

You've never made that decision to

follow Jesus. And you're going, "Hey,

I'm filled with fear. I got a lot of

things that are going on in my life that

feel insurmountable and I don't really

know what to do about it. The place that

you start is at the feet of your king

and say, I need you to do something

about this. And he will.

And for the rest of us, after I give

them an opportunity to receive Jesus as

their Lord and Savior, I just want you

to know, hey, some of you, you walked in

here and you're just your life is filled

with fear, which is the opposite of what

Timothy says. Hey, we haven't been given

a spirit of fear, power and love, and a

sound mind.

And I want to give you the opportunity

to just lay it out here at the altar.

If you call our church home, then you

know that's just what we do, man. Like

you can come up right now and say, "Man,

I got some things that I'm wrestling

through. I'm fearful. It's determining

my relationships and every other aspect

of my life. And I need to lay it down

and need people to come alongside me and

weep with me, pray with me, shoulder my

burdens." And so let's enter into that

together. if you would bow your head

with me and close your eyes. And I just

want to say if you're someone who's

never put your faith in Jesus, but

you're going, "Man, I I need that as the

central piece of my story that there is

no way that I could possibly overcome

not only the difficulties that I face in

my life, but really sin."

And I want to put my faith in Jesus for

the first time. Would you raise your

hand if that's you?

And if that's you, I'd like for you to

just pray with me and say, "Father, I'm

I'm a sinner in need of a savior.

I believe that Jesus Christ lived the

perfect life that I could not and that

he died the death that I deserved.

I believe that he willingly went to that

cross and shed perfect innocent blood

that takes away my sin, past, present,

and future as I am repenting of my sin

and putting my faith in him. I believe

he was buried in a tomb for three days

and rose to life again. And because

Jesus Christ is alive, I can have life

in his name. And praise God if that's

you.

For the rest of us that are in here and

you're going, "Man, my life just feels

marked by fear, defined by fear,

and I don't really know what I'm

supposed to do with that." Well, the

thing you're not supposed to do with it

is carry it by yourself.

This altar is open.

Lord, would we kneel at the feet of our

conquering king and recognize that

you're the one who can do something with

it? You're the one who can do something

about it. It might feel insurmountable

to us, but it's not something that

frightens you. Lord, we love you. We

praise you. We ask these things in Jesus

name. Amen.