Eagle Christians 2

Thank you this morning.

That you have never failed us yet.

And you never will fail us.

Because you're the Alpha, the Omega, the beginning, the end, the first, the last.

Before anything was, you were.

And after everything will be, Lord Jesus, you still will be.

So thank you for the truth that we're about to look into.

Open our eyes to see, our ears to hear, and our hearts to receive.

And we'll give you all the praise and all the glory because you're so worthy in Jesus' name.

And all God's people said, give him a clap offering this morning.

Amen.

I want you to turn with me in your Bibles this morning to 1 Samuel 17.

We're going back to 1 Samuel.

Last week we looked at the eagle Christian.

Does everyone have an outline of worship guide?

Everyone's got one?

If not, raise your hand.

We'll make sure you have one because we want you to have the outline with us this morning.

You know, it's so exciting to study God's word.

Can I get an amen?

The truths of God's word.

You shall know the truth, and the truth shall what?

Set you free.

And that is so good.

And welcome for all you that are watching.

I was just showing Susan.

They're starting to ding, ding, ding, they're coming in.

And we praise the Lord for our outreach there as well.

But we were looking at David as the example of the eagle Christian.

And one of the things that I loved about David that I wanted to just share with you, and then we'll get right into the message.

In Acts chapter 13, verse 22, and it says, and when he had removed him, that is Saul, he raised up unto them David to be their king, to whom also he gave testimony, and said, I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart.

Acts 13:22

Now listen, which shall, and I love this, fulfill all my will.

Not some, but all of God's will for his life.

And then when you look down at verse 36, it says, For David, after he had served his own generation, in other words, David had fulfilled God's will for his life in his generation.

Notice what he says.

He said, served his own generation by the will of God, fell asleep, and was laid into his fathers and saw corruption.

In other words, he died and was buried with his forefathers.

Now, I don't know about you.

That is an eagle Christian.

It is a man or woman who knows what God has called he or she to do in their generation and what that means in the time period that you live your life and are profitable and productive during those years to fulfill what God's called you to do.

And then it's time to go home.

Amen.

So I don't know about you, but that I pray that.

Should I say I call it the four quarters of life?

First, second, third, and fourth quarter.

And I feel like right now I'm at the beginning of my fourth quarter.

To fulfill those years doing what you've called me to do, and then it's time for me to go home.

And folks, I don't dread going home to be with Jesus.

In fact, with the way it's going now, I pray every every morning, Lord Jesus, behold, come quickly.

Now, I would like to, hey, I would like to go in the rapture.

I would like to feel the excitement of going, bam, you're gone.

I don't know about you.

That'd be the ride of my life.

Would that not be exciting?

Oh, I mean, think a minute.

Here you are, Paul, and then you're standing before Jesus.

Woohoo! Wow.

That's gonna be awesome.

Some people look at me like I'm crazy.

That's not gonna happen.

Oh, yes, it is.

If you believe that book, it's gonna happen.

And uh, I wouldn't mind going in the rapture.

But I want to go when he wants me to go.

Can I get an amen?

I don't want to go a minute later or a minute before.

I want him, I want to go when he wants me to go.

But I do know that one of the greatest things I can do is fulfill God's will for my life before I go.

And in order to do that, I've got to be an eagle Christian.

Can I get an amen?

1 Samuel 17.

Boy, this is good.

Very good.

And we see David.

Four things that I want us to look at this morning about David.

First, he was a son.

Secondly, he was a shepherd.

Thirdly, he was a servant.

And then lastly, he was a soldier.

Those are the four things we're going to be looking at.

And in verse 11 and 12, and I love what it says right here, we see that David, when Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed, discouraged, defeated, frightened to death, and greatly afraid.

They were deeply shaken.

Now David was the son of Jesse.

So right here we get introduced to who David is.

He's the son of Jesse.

The introduction of David in our text begins with his position as a son.

Now, in comparison to Goliath, there was no comparison.

Goliath was the great champion, the great giant.

I meant he had medals and he had never lost a battle.

Never lost a battle.

Whereas David was the youngest, the lowly birth, the lowly esteem, the lowly task as a shepherd.

Here the champion was exalted as high as you could get, and here David was as low as you could get.

The shepherd.

So it's a tremendous contrast.

In fact, 1 Corinthians, I think I have it there in your notes, chapter 1, verse 27-29, I see this verse so aplically applied when he says, God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise.

God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound them which are mining.

And then verse 29, that no flesh should glory in his presence.

In other words, no man or no woman can get glory for what God does.

Can I get an amen?

Man, that's good.

This is so applicable right here.

It really is.

It's fabulous.

And all of this should be great encouragement to us, God's people, about serving God.

It is dedication to God.

Now watch this.

I might want to write this down.

It is dedication to God, not a claim of man or position in the world.

It's not your position, it's not your power, it's not your prestige, it's not your money that matters.

What matters is your dedication to God.

That is so important.

And we need to realize that.

But the second thing we see here, not only was David the son of Jesse.

And by the way, there were eight sons.

He had eight sons.

Three of them at this time are at the battle.

David and the other five.

Now David had been with Saul.

He was one of Saul's arm and bearers, when you go back and look at 1 Samuel 16.

And he was also, he played the harp for Saul's son.

He was a harp player.

David was, he was very gifted.

He was also a marksman with the sling.

And by the way, sling, I call them slingshot throwers back in this time, were definitely, now listen, marksmen.

They used them in the army.

You can see that in Judges.

So he was a marksman.

He was a flute player.

I mean, a harp player, not a flute player.

Harp player?

I mean, he was very gifted.

So we see that he was fulfilling the position as one of the armor bearers and playing the harp for Saul.

And then I think when it was time to go to battle against the Philistines, I think David, because he was a young lad and he was not old enough to be in the army.

Somebody asked me, Do you think you know how old David was?

I think I do.

Between 17 and 20.

Because you had to be 20 years old to be in the army.

So he was a young lad.

He was a young teenager.

That's what makes it so empowerable for all our teenagers that are account now.

How they can be used.

They don't have to wait until they get 40 to be used of God.

They can be used right now.

Can I get an amen?

In a great way.

Not just a minute way, but a great way.

So we see this.

And he's, but for some reason, and I think, we don't know, the Bible doesn't say anything, doesn't give any indication.

But I think he's probably there fixing to go to battle, and him being a young lad, the king decided to send him back home.

Plus, David had another job.

He was the shepherd boy of the family.

Why?

Well, one reason he was the youngest.

And so I'm sure all the boys have been raised, you know, working with sheep, but now, you know, you're in your right position.

You're the youngest.

You've got to pay your due, so here you are.

You're the shepherd boy.

So he goes back home to tend sheep.

So that brings me to the second point.

Look at verse 15.

But David went and returned from Saul to feed his father's sheep at Bethlehem.

Now, we note in examining David's son's position that he was assigned to take care of his father's sheep.

Now what?

So is you think, my goodness, he went from a armor bearer to a harp player in the palace back to the shepherd stinking field.

Now, how would you have taken that?

How would I have taken that?

I would have taken it probably as a demotion.

Amen.

I mean, here I am in the palace now, I'm back in the sheep field.

So look how he responds, and let's look, though.

But let me remind you, even though you think it may be a lowly position, if God has placed you there, it is not a lowly position.

Can I get an amen?

And let me tell you why.

Just as you heard the song, it meant it for evil, God meant it for good, just as, just as when God puts you in a place where you think you ought not to be, hello.

You've paid your dues, you ought to be here, but he brings you back.

Don't ever question God if you're being obedient and you're walking with the Lord.

Now, if you're you're out of the will of God, you're living in sin, he's gonna get your attention in that, but maybe bringing you back.

But sometimes he brings you back for the will of God.

Amen.

Come on, listen to me now.

This is, I know this is gonna get a little deep, but don't miss it.

This is so important.

Because God's got a plan, see, God already knows what he needs you to do when you don't.

And now he's got to train you, he's got to get you prepared, he's got to get you ready because you're fixing to get one of the greatest challenges of your life, and not only that, it will result in one of the greatest feat of your life, and it will result in one of the greatest promotions in your life.

And you don't even have a clue it's happening.

And you know why?

That's hey, let me tell you why that's a good thing.

You couldn't handle it.

Pride would overcome you so quickly you couldn't handle it.

Huh?

Oh, I'm gonna be king.

I'm gonna be king.

Oh, yeah?

Well, you gotta work with a stinking sheep first.

Huh?

Wait a minute.

Don't you know who I am?

Nope.

So watch.

Let's look real quickly at the shepherd's duties.

This is great.

First of all, look at his humility, which I just described.

It took a lot of humility to walk humbly before God.

And man, and he did, and this fits David's service perfectly.

Remember this: a humble soul is a submissive soul.

You want to write that down.

A humble soul is a submissive soul.

And in this submissions, we see God uses it greatly.

Verse I gave you, Proverbs 15, 33.

Before honor is humility.

Before honor is humility.

Now, we must realize, and this really proved true in David's case, but before he gained the honors of slaying Goliath, remember this now.

Before he gained the honors of slaying Goliath, he first had to walk, hey, in great humility as a lowly shepherd.

Do not be discontent at your lowly position.

Be faithful in it.

Now, watch this.

I wrote this to myself.

This has been true to my own life.

For your performance in your lowly position has much to do with your promotion to your higher position.

Wow.

Let me repeat that.

That is monumental.

Your performance in your lowly position has much to do with your promotion to your high position.

In other words, if you can't be, you know this first.

If you can't be faithful in little things, how can God promote you to do great things?

Amen.

That's good, folks.

And 1 Peter 5, 6, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time.

Well, that's good.

So we see his humility came through how he handled his demotion.

In fact, David's demotion in his worldly position did not hinder.

Now watch this.

His demotion in his worldly position did not hinder his promotion in God's service.

He was still a chosen instrument.

And he was being tested.

Faith has to be tested.

Watch.

Before it can be trusted.

Can I get an amen?

God's got to see how you handle all things before he can trust you to do the great things.

That's good, preacher.

Come on, I will.

Some of you are like, woo, woo, that's heavy.

Oh yeah.

Because see, you try to skip those little things.

But let me remind you, it's the little things that spoils.

What's how you finish that?

The foxes, the little things, whatever.

It's the little things that spoils the something.

Y'all got it.

You got it?

If you don't do the little steps, hey, you're gonna be in trouble.

How about that?

That's southern Georgia talk.

But now that's it.

And that's what we see right here.

But now look at his, look at the next thing.

Look at his opportunity.

David's shepherding.

In these shepherd skills, the lowly task.

God gives us different tasks in life to prepare and train us and look what we see.

In this shepherding task provided David two important opportunities.

Now you don't want to miss this.

Opportunities were provided for meditation and miracles.

Remember the story?

He had plenty of time out there to meditate with God.

And the reason we know his meditation was fantastic.

The reason we know his meditation was fantastic.

Look at all the Psalms he wrote.

Can I get an amen?

Oh, he spent so much time with God and meditating upon the word and praying.

It was awesome.

I meant unbelievable.

In the word, he says in Acts 20, 35, and now he says, and now, brethren, I commune you to the word of God which is able to build you up.

Oh.

2 Timothy 2.15, Paul said, Study to show thyself to prove unto God a word that need not be ashamed, rightly divine truth.

So we see David, he's studying the word, he's praying, he's meditating upon the word of God.

Unreal.

Now, C.S.

Lewis said this, worth writing down.

The closet, talking about the prayer closet, the closet is the great battlefield of faith.

That's powerful.

The closet is a great battlefield of faith.

In other words, you got to win the battle.

Listen to me, folks.

You got to win the battle in private so that you can be victorious in public.

Can I get an amen?

You have to.

If not, you'll be defeated.

You'll be defeated.

Then the second thing, miracles.

Remember, shepherding was a very viable experience for, hey, we see right here in verse 34 through 37.

Remember what David told King Saul?

He said, Hey, and we'll see this in a minute when King Saul says you're not qualified.

He says, wait a minute.

I've had the miraculous opportunity to watch the miraculous power of God intervene and help me kill a bear and a lion that was molesting my sheep.

And we're talking about a teenager.

And one, he talks about the grabbing the beard.

I think that probably was the lion, because they call him beard.

By his hands.

Somebody said, How in the world could he?

And he wasn't a big champion.

Somebody said, How could he take a big lion on hand, you know, with his feet?

My opinion, how that happened.

I love this.

I can't wait to get to heaven.

I'm gonna say, David, did it happen like that?

I believe it did.

I can't wait.

I got so many questions that I think I've acted them out in all these years of preaching.

I hope, I hope that he said, Yep, that's the way it happened, preacher.

But he was a marksman.

Now let me ask something.

If you're a marksman with a sling, are you going?

To attack a lion with your bare hands?

This is not a trick question.

Are you gonna, a little 5'8 boy, gonna take on a big lion?

You're gonna with your bare hands?

Now he did have a staff, but you when you can stand 50, 35, 40 yards away and bam, shoot a rifle, you're gonna, yeah, I think he boy that line went down.

He goes over there to make sure he's dead, and the line starts moving a little bit.

So he grabs that line by the beard and what you call that around his head.

Mange, thank you.

Whatever.

What is it?

Maine.

Okay.

All right.

Don't you love your country preacher?

You can you can send him to the best schools in the world, get a PhD, and he's still a country boy, but that's okay.

Now watch.

And he grabs grabs the man-da.

Mained, maned.

The long hair.

And the beard.

Breaks the lion's neck.

It's what I believe.

Now, when we get to heaven, we'll see.

So I don't know about you, but any young lad that take on a bear, I think he used a sling with the bear too.

And take on a bear and kill a bear, take on a lion, kill a lion, I'm gonna give him some respect.

Can I get an amen?

But what will the what the point is, he saw the miraculous power of God.

Very important.

Which brings me to the third thing.

His shepherdness and being that shepherd gave him meditation time to be with God, to be so filled with the word of God that you could feel the Spirit of God on David when you met him.

It gave him miraculous opportunities.

And by the way, he was practicing those slings during that time, too.

Because he was out there 12, 14 hours a day.

So, and then he'd play and praise the Lord.

You have worship.

There you go, Benji.

There you go, Sean.

Worshiping, playing the harp.

They're worshiping God.

He's meditating, he's reading and studying the word, memorizing the word, writing the word, the Psalms.

And he's protecting his sheep and watching God divinely intervene when these unbelievable animals try to kill his sheep.

I'm telling you, he's being trained to do something that's going to be talked about more than any miracle in the Bible.

Wow.

But that would have never happened if he'd not been prepared.

Can I get an amen?

It would have never happened.

So that brings me to number three, the servant.

David became a servant of his father in a special assignment to check out the welfare of his three oldest brothers.

Verse 17.

Jesse said unto David, his son, take now for thy brother an apple, a bushel of this parched corn and these ten loaves, and run to the camp to thy brethren.

Verse 17.

Now, this was a providential choosing.

For had Jesse sent one of the other brothers who was home, only three of the eight sons were at the army fighting the battle, or ready to fight the battle, David would have not encountered Goliath.

Think about that.

There's five sons still home.

David was chosen by Jesse to go run the errand.

It was a providential calling.

And let me put it another way.

Now this is where it's going to get deep.

Are you ready?

In fact, C.S.

Lewis said this.

I'll give him credit for where I got this.

Because it really stunned me for a minute.

Not only was it providential, it was a preferred calling.

That's what C.

S.

Lewis said.

And what do you mean by that?

Jesse chose David instead of the other four.

Now, why couldn't he have chosen the other four, especially since David already had a job of keeping the sheep?

Because God providentially and preferably said, choose David.

Because David was trustworthy.

David had proven himself.

So it was a providential calling and also a preferred calling.

Now watch this.

Don't miss this.

So in order for your preferred calling to be made, makes sense to me that we need to be ready.

We need to be prepared.

We need to be studying daily, walking daily with God so that God can look down and say, because of your faithfulness, because of your faith, and because of your abilities that I've given you, and that now you are exercising and you are bettering those skills, I choose you.

Doesn't matter how old you are, it matters how spirit-filled you are, and how trustworthy you are, and how faithful you are.

Can I get an amen, folks?

Hey, I'm telling you, you better listen.

This is the key.

I'm gonna prove it even more.

So we see it was a providential and preferred calling.

Now, that right there is the choosing of a servant.

Now look at the second thing, the command.

Look at the man, command, verse 17 and 18.

And he tells him, take the loaves, go to the go to the battle.

But look what else he says.

He says in verse 18, take their pledge.

That's the King James.

What that means is bring back a report.

I want a report of what how your brothers are doing.

Now watch.

The command, there's two things.

Number one, well, actually, there's there's three things.

Hey, look at this command, dedication.

Jesse told David, look, run to the camp where your brothers are.

Run.

It would not be a task for those who are slow at obeying.

Let me show you what the word run here means.

It really literally means earnestness and promptness right now.

God is looking for people that when he commands them to do something, they don't take a month to debate it.

If he had decided to debate it, he would have never killed Goliath.

He'd have never made it to the battlefield.

God is looking for men and women that when he asks you to do something, you promptly do it.

Now, not tomorrow.

Not tomorrow.

To serve well, we must obey immediately and we must put our whole heart into this service.

Another thing, he knew, Jesse knew, Jesse knew David would give him everything he's got.

Proverbs 23, 26 says, My son, give me your heart and let your eyes observe my ways.

In other words, that context in the Hebrew means, when you see it, oh, get excited and moved to do it.

Wow, that's good.

Second, he knew there'd be danger.

Look at what he said.

Jesse told David to go to the camp.

The camp was fixing to be a battlefield where the three older brothers were.

It was a dangerous spot.

It takes courage to be a dynamic Christian.

Can I get an amen?

You can't be ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ, for it's the power of God unto salvation.

Ladies and gentlemen, it's time we stand in the gap for what's going on.

And how and lift up the righteous banner of righteousness.

That's it.

Satan is so filling us with fear.

Just like he did Israel.

The righteous are bold as lions.

And we have boldness and confidence by faith in Christ, Ephesians 3.12.

And then look at his duty.

He had a list of duties.

You know, a lot of people want to call him, they just don't want the duties.

Hello?

You okay out there?

Paul and I were talking.

We have a, hey, you know, a lot of people like to tell you what to do and how to do it.

They just don't want to do it.

Oh me, come on, owe me.

Saul, you're gonna see Saul does that.

After he belittles David and says, You're not qualified, I'm getting ahead of myself.

Let's wait, I'll get there in a minute.

But hey, hey.

But they talk a lot and do little.

You know who I'm talking about.

But what?

You need to bring supplies to your brother, cheese to the captain, check on their welfare of the brothers, write it down, tell me how they're doing.

See, a lot of people want a calling without work.

They want recognition, but not responsibilities.

Hello, I'm on the building team.

What do you do?

Well, that's a good question.

Why are you on the team?

Well, somebody needs a bench warmer.

I shouldn't have said that.

I'm sorry.

Hey, they want the position and pay of work, but they don't want the prespiration of work.

Serving God's not for the lazy, it's for those that are zealous for God.

Works involved in serving God.

Can I get an amen?

And then we see, hey, in fact, 1 Corinthians 15, 57, he says that, hey, when God calls you to work, be faithful in finishing the work.

That's what he says, Paul says.

And then dependability.

Notice what he says in verse 18.

Take thy pledge, bring back a report.

He was, he knew David would bring back a thorough report.

Notice the third.

Not only the command of the servant, the character of the servant.

Now, this is so important right here.

He was obedient, verse 20, took and went as Jesse had commanded him.

Can't improve on that.

Hey, and obedience is the key to greater assignment as he was, as it was here in David's camp.

Isaiah 1.19, 20, if you're willing and obedient, you should eat the good of the lamb.

But if you refuse and rebel, you should be devoured by the sword.

Now watch this.

Notice the second thing.

He was prompt.

He rose up early in the morning.

Number three, he was responsible.

Now watch this.

Verse 22, 20 and 22.

He left the sheep with the keeper.

He left his carriage, the supplies he was taking with him on the errand in the hands of the keeper of the carriage.

In other words, David was responsible and did not forsake one duty to do another.

That's important.

You can't leave a duty to go do a duty until you're sure that the duty you were doing was taken care of.

Can I get an amen?

Just like if you if you're a Sunday school teacher or whatever you're doing for the church or anybody in your work, if something happens and you can't make it, you still ought to be responsible for helping, you know, get your position filled.

Can I get an amen?

I've always done that.

If I couldn't do it.

Out of all the 40 years in ministry, I missed preaching three different times in my whole ministry that I was asked to preach.

But I always had someone to go and preach in my place, and I tried to even preach, I meant tried to get somebody even better than I could preach to go.

It's not bad after 40-something years.

And two of them was because Dr.

Falwell asked me to do something.

And he never asked me, so when he did, that was my first allegiance.

So anyway, he was responsible.

Oh man, that's good.

And fourthly, he was zealous.

He ran, verse 22.

Oh, I love what he says in Ecclesiastes 9:10.

Ecclesiastes 9:10

Whatsoever your hands find to do, do it with all your might.

Can I get an amen?

Do it with all your might.

He was as faithful when he had to go back and be a shepherd as he was when he was being the armor bearer and the heart player.

He was faithful.

He didn't say, oh, I gotta go back.

No, he went back with zeal.

He went back with zeal.

And then look, fifthly, he was mannerly.

When David came to his brothers, he saluted them.

He was not, and the word there, shalom, salute there, it's two Hebrew words.

One is shalom, which is the gracious Jewish greeting of peace, and the other Hebrew word means to inquire.

In this case, to inquire of another's well-built being.

He was inquiring about his brothers' being, and he was saying peace to his brothers.

In other words, he was being unselfish and compassionate.

Now that's an ego Christian.

Can I get an amen?

Unselfish and compassionate for others.

Then that brings me to the last point.

Well, the criticism of the last point of this, the criticism of the servant.

All right.

This is get get ready.

Get ready.

I'm gonna give you these things pretty quick, but you gotta listen to them.

Verse 28.

Eliab his eldest brother heard when he David spake unto the men.

Eliab's anger was kindled against David, and he said, Why come thou down here?

And with whom has thou left those few sheep in the wilderness?

I know thy pride, thy naughtiness of thy heart, for thou art come down that thou might see the battle.

Now watch this.

Notice the first thing the sureness of criticism.

Every true servant of God who is on fire for God will know about criticism.

And the better your service, the more severe your criticism will be.

I saw that so well with Dr.

Falwell all those years.

In fact, let me just show you what Jesus says about this criticism.

It's very important.

Matthew chapter 5, verse 12, rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

Matthew 5:12

And verse 11 says, Blessed are you when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake.

Here it is.

It's coming.

You got to get ready for it.

It's the greatest hindrance to God's work.

I believe that is criticism.

If you can't take criticism, you will be stopped in your tracks.

I know.

Been there.

You've got to realize.

Now, I think criticism, there's always a little truth in some criticism.

So you've got to be man enough and woman enough and spirit-filled enough to listen.

And you're going to see this.

You're going to see this with David.

You'll see how he handles it.

What's this?

But first of all, second, notice, hey, here's the second thing.

Always, now please write these down because this is going to help you because you're going to be criticized.

It's coming.

All right?

Thou therefore and your hardness is good souls.

It's coming.

It's coming.

All right.

Number two, the source of the criticism.

That's very important.

The source of the criticism.

Matthew 10, 36 says, a man's enemies will be those of his own household.

Now, here's the bad thing.

It's the hardest criticism to receive is the criticism coming from those that you love the most, and those that you would think would be the ones cheering your own the most.

You would think Eliab was as excited about his younger brother being there.

And you know what?

He would have been if he had been the man of God that he should have been.

But instead of being encouraged, he was jealous.

He was convicted because David's there showing up, and then when David starts speaking, he starts asking why isn't there somebody here, especially his oldest brother, that'll go fight this giant.

King's convicted?

Eliab's convicted?

What are they doing?

Nothing.

They're terrified.

They're completely consumed with fear.

So it's coming.

It's coming.

Notice the third thing.

Look at the specifics.

Here's how you're going to be criticized.

Verse 28, why comest thou down here?

Imprudence.

David had a good reason from being there, but you know what?

Eliah wasn't concerned about the truth.

Sound familiar?

He wasn't concerned about the truth.

He didn't ask David why you're here.

You know what he did?

He started land blasting David, trying to tell David why he knew.

In fact, he goes on and says, I know why you're here.

How in the world does he know why David's there?

He can't read David's mind.

He can't read his heart.

Man, that's powerful.

Then he says you're irresponsible.

Watch this.

With whom has I left the few sheep?

And then he says you're insignificant.

Those few sheep.

And then here he nails him.

I know thy pride.

He says you're you're prideful.

Verse 28.

Wow.

Wow.

And watch how David overcomes this cruise.

When I saw this, I had a Pentecostal spell.

Verse 29:30.

Notice how he answers his brother.

What have I now done?

Is there not a cause?

And he turned from him toward another and spake after the same manner about what he had been speaking to the soldiers before.

Now watch this.

These questions challenged Eliah, Eliab to check the facts, which would have shown that Eliah, Eliab had no cause for making those accusations of David.

David put Eliab on the defense.

You know what he said?

Basically, he said, You don't know why I'm here.

Why am I here?

I'm obeying my daddy.

I'm obeying your father.

He sent me.

So, notice that.

Oh.

David wisely did not waste much time correcting Elijah.

Now don't miss this.

He turned around, so not a cause.

Yeah, in other words, you you don't know the truth.

You d you didn't even ask for the truth.

You just slam blasted.

Then he turns to the people.

He turns back and he says, Why isn't someone doing something about this giant?

If nobody will, I will.

Can I get an amen?

Can I get an amen for the Davids?

For the eagle Christians.

For the young lads.

Let us stand in the gap when nobody will.

He says, I will.

Let God deal with the critics.

Avenge not yourself for this written written vengeance is mine.

I will repay, saith the Lord.

Romans 12, 19.

Now, write this down somewhere.

Had David gotten involved with the argument.

Now what?

If he had gotten involved with the argument with Eliab, David would have never gotten involved in the assaulting of Goliath.

Don't you let your critics stop you.

Can I get an amen?

Look at, well, I wish teenagers were here.

Don't ever let moms and dads, don't let your critics stop you.

Don't let your boss stop you.

Now you gotta be somebody.

Just God's if God tells you just press, press, press.

And he did.

He did.

He did.

He did.

Alright.

Now watch this.

Another thing.

And then we're gonna wrap it up.

We must win the small wars before we win the big wars.

We must rule our spirit well if we're to rule a nation well.

C.S.

Lewis said this.

We must have success in private if we want success in public.

That's good now.

All that's from C.S.

Lewis's book.

Now watch that.

Quickly.

The soldier.

And we threw it.

Was that not good in criticism, guys?

Come on.

That's helped me.

Why did that help me?

You need to put that close somewhere.

You really do.

Alright, here we go.

Real quick.

First of all, we're not, hey, we're not to give people a job to make them faithful.

Hey, but we give them a job because they have been proven faithful.

Can I get an amen?

A lot of churches make that major mistake.

But now notice David.

Hey.

And by the way, you know how he won the second, the first two battles, one with Eliam, now the second one's with the king.

He comes in to see the king.

Here's what happened.

I'm gonna go ahead and just tell the story.

He comes in, you know what the king says?

You're not qualified.

You're a shepherd boy.

You've never fought a you've never fought uh in a battle.

You've never, you're not even a soldier.

And you know what he says?

Immediately, notice what he says.

He says, You're right.

I'm not qualified to be a soldier, but I'm qualified.

Well, he said, I'm not qualified right now according to your standards to be a soldier, but I got news for you.

I've already been a soldier in God's army.

I'm a soldier for God, and let me tell you what God's done.

God's allowed me to kill a lion, he's allowed me to kill a bear.

What is this giant?

He's nothing more than a dog.

Uncircumcised Philistine.

Wow.

Then you know the story.

Saul finally says, Wow.

Somebody, you kill that.

Then he started thinking, okay.

And long story short, wrap it up, he says, okay, you're gonna go.

Now that you decided he's gonna let him go, then not what does Saul try to do?

Remember the guy that talks a lot and tells you how to do it but never does it?

Then he says, Okay, since you're gonna fight the giant, you're gonna wear my armor.

He's seven foot.

David's 5'8.

Can you imagine David with that armor?

David tries it on, throws it away, and says, No, I'm gonna fight God with the armor he's given me.

See, you got two types of armor: the armor of the flesh, the armor of faith.

He said, I'm gonna take this little sling, and I'm gonna take my staff, and I'm gonna go bring Bigfoot down.

And he says he's walking toward Bigfoot.

Yes! He crosses a little in that valley, the stream, and he reaches down and he gets five smooth stones.

Five smooth stones.

Everybody says, oh, oh, why?

Well, he got five smooth stones.

And everybody says, now listen to me.

Well, he got five because he thought he might miss.

Hello.

If he had thought that, he would have gotten more than five.

Think about that.

If I'm gonna miss, I guarantee you all my buddies out there with their guns, you don't just have five unless you're a very unbelievable marksman.

If you think you're gonna miss, you're gonna have more than five shots.

You know why?

My opinion, when you go back and read this whole story and dissect it, Goliath had four big brothers that were in that army.

But they weren't the champion, but they were big.

And so David was not gonna just stop with Goliath because he didn't know.

He figured if he took down Goliath, the other four was coming.

So bless God, he's gonna take them all at one time.

That's what I think.

David, I know you're gonna tell me when I get there.

And that old big old giant stands there and he says, You come to me with a stick.

You think I'm a dog?

David said, Yeah.

You're just an uncircumcised Philistine.

That's what that means.

And then what's this?

But I come to you come to me with a spear, you come to me with a sword, you come to me with a shield, but I come to you in the name of the Lord Jehovah.

Notice the next words, David starts running toward Goliath.

Now let me tell you why he's running.

There's a reason.

The velocity of that sling, the power of that rock determined on how fast he released that stone.

I've studied this in detail.

So he was running to get more power behind that rock.

And here comes Goliath.

Boom, boom.

And David's running, and all of a sudden he goes, the only place, the only place that the giant wasn't covered was right here.

Boom.

Timba.

And you know what?

He didn't fall backwards.

The Bible said he fell.

Boom! Forward.

Head down.

Head down.

Not bad for 66.

Head down.

Then the Bible says he went over and grabbed, bent over, grabbed Goliath's sword, raised it.

There goes his head.

And he picked it up with the sword and took it to the king.

You know what happened with the Philistines?

They ran.

Ladies and gentlemen, as I close this morning, don't run away from the giants.

Run toward them.

Slay, hey, slay your giant.

I don't know what it is.

But I know right now Satan's trying to bring fear to their whole nation under God right now.

Don't let fear paralyze you.

If God be for you, who can be against you?

Amen.

Come on, church.

Don't do it.

I have made a promise, and you know your pastor's been faithful.

I have, from the moment we started, I said there will not be one Sunday I will not be here preaching the word of the living God.

I'm not talking about not being safe all that.

You be smart.

Can I get in that?

Just be smart.

Wash your hands.

Wear your mask if you feel more comfortable doing that.

I'm not mocking that either.

I'm not mocking any of the safety, never.

But what I am saying is don't let Satan win with fear.

I'm a child of the king.

I'm a child of the king.

Father, we love you this morning.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.

Lord, I needed that this morning.

I needed, thank you for teaching me more about criticism.

Because we all, there's not a person in here that doesn't want that, we don't want to be criticized.

But Lord, if we're walking with you, we will be criticized.

And you even showed us where they'll try to criticize us.

But the key is that we're walking in your truth, filled with your spirit.

You may be here this morning and you don't know Jesus.

Would you right now just open your heart and say, Dear Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner and I can't save myself.

But right now, dear Jesus, I'm asking you to come into my heart, my life, and save me.