Courageous Christianity

Welcome to this week's message from the Church at Chelsea Westover.

Our core values are vibrant worship, intimate fellowship, fulfilling service, and clear biblical truth.

We pray that this message changes your life.

Let's tune in to today's message and see what God has in store for us.

1 Samuel chapter 17.

1 Samuel 17 · chapter mention

1 Samuel chapter 17.

1 Samuel 17 · chapter mention

I grew up in circumstances being told all my life.

See, God didn't see that.

God had a plan for Danny Love.

And God's got a plan for you.

We're not interested in your past.

God's not interested in your past.

He already knows it.

God's interested in your future.

And God's got a fantastic future for you.

He doesn't think evil of you, but of good.

And he wants you to prosper and he wants you to be happy and he wants you to be a lighthouse for him.

Jeremiah 29, 11.

Amen.

So you don't let anyone belittle you or talk down to you.

Because God's got a plan for you.

Because when hey people see a shepherd boy, oh my God sees a king or a princess.

Can I get an amen, ladies?

1 Samuel chapter 17.

1 Samuel 17 · chapter mention

What a powerful, unbelievable, well-known chapter.

It's the story of David and Goliath.

I mean, everybody's heard of David and Goliath.

And it's a powerful story.

It's a real story.

It's not a fictitious story.

And by the way, if you do not have a worship guide, raise your hand.

Anyone that does not, so you can follow along with me in our outline.

That's good.

Everybody, anybody, raise your hand right here.

Okay.

Brother Harry, thank you.

But it's a powerful story.

And it's an amazing story because the young man named David, and we believe David at this time, it's probably between the years of 18 to uh 20, or possibly 17 to 20.

We know he's not 21.

Because if he had been 21, he'd have been in the army.

Amen.

And three of his brothers out of the seven were in the army.

So David being the youngest, uh, most of his brothers were, they were all in the teens or in the 20s.

Three of them already in the army, even at this battle, getting ready to fight the Philistines.

So David had really been attending the king, King Saul.

He was his armor bearer, and he also was, he played the harp for King Saul.

He was a musician.

A lot of people don't know that about David.

Well, you really do once you see all the beautiful psalms that he wrote.

And he wrote those, probably playing his harp and thinking about it, and as he was out attending the sheep.

But anyway, so David, though, has been called back to go back home to do his main job, and that's to tend to his father's sheep.

He knew he could not be gone any longer, or for some untold reason, dad had summons him back.

Now we know David would have rather been at the battle.

He had rather been attending King Saul, no doubt about it.

Let me ask you, if you got an opportunity to be a part of one of the greatest battles that's about to take place, or go ten sheep, what are you gonna do?

You're gonna tend, hey, hey, you're gonna go, you're not gonna go ten sheep, you're gonna be right where the action is.

But it shows you David's obedience in the little things.

Hello.

And his honor to his dad and his authority.

So there's so many lessons here.

You could preach, I could preach a whole month just on this one chapter.

But here we see the armies, they were coming out every morning.

Every morning.

They would come out of their tents and they would stand, attention, and stand in army formation.

On both sides, there was the valley, the Chimrod Valley there, and then we'd the Philistines on that side, the Israelis on this side, and no one was wanting to go down.

They had had a few skirmishes down in the valley because whoever made it down to the valley first and started across the ravine, the other army had major advantage over them.

They would so neither one wanted to come down and try to cross over because they knew the moment they did, or whoever started crossing first, the other one could pick them off quite easily.

So it was a standoff, basically.

But every morning for 40 days, there was a man named Goliath.

He was the champion, never lost a battle.

Ten foot.

You heard me.

His spear weighed 150 pounds.

Hello.

I couldn't even pick it up, much less throw it.

That's how big he was.

I call him Bigfoot.

There's a real Bigfoot in the Bible called Goliath.

And here he is, and he's challenging him.

He comes out because he had made a challenge if instead of us fighting because either army didn't want to convene into the valley.

They didn't want to take the lower position.

So they give Goliath says, I'll make a challenge out anybody that will fight me.

And the winner then takes all.

The other army surrenders.

We'll only lose one life today, not thousands of lives.

And you know what was happening?

They would stand there and they would hear when Bigfoot would come out.

Goliath would come out, and he would stand there and he would challenge them.

He would call them names and he would humiliate them.

And we're gonna see that.

He was just letting them have it.

And he would say, You hey, he'd call them, he'd call them cowards, he'd call them uh useless soldiers.

He was just letting them have it.

And you know what they'd do?

They'd come out and they'd say, Jehovah.

But once he started shouting, they'd turn around and go and run back into the tents.

They were cowards.

And that's exactly what Satan wants to do to you and me as Christians.

He wants to make us cowards.

He doesn't want to, he wants us to be politically correct.

I'm sorry, I'm too old to start being politically correct now.

Hey, years ago I was too young to know better, now I'm too old to change.

I'm just gonna stick with the book.

The B-I-B-L-E, that's the book for me.

There's four words that Goliath shouted out.

One, he says in verse 10, I'm gonna defy you.

Look at what he says.

And the Philistines said, I defy the armies of Israel this day.

Give me a man that we may fight together.

The word defy there literally means to bring reproach.

It means to humiliate.

It means to shame you.

That's exactly what Satan wants to do.

He's come to kill, steal, say it with me, and destroy.

John 10 10.

He wants to bring shame on your life.

And boy, is he doing a good job of it in the church, isn't he?

Notice the next word he uses is found in verse 11.

And when Saul and all Israel heard the words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.

The word dismayed there, powerful word.

It literally means to bring panic, it means to terrify.

It literally means to, hey, make powerless or another synonym, coward.

That's what it means.

Panic, terrify you.

And that's a powerful statement.

Then verse 42, look at what he says.

And when the Philistine looked about and saw David standing in front of him, he disdained him, for he was but a youth and a ruddy and unfair countenance.

In other words, he belittled him, he brought despise upon him.

He devalued him.

He scorned him.

He called him names.

Every situation on the media front with dealing with Christians, it is to humiliate us, it's to scorn us, it's to make us look like we're very uneducated, that we're nothing but ignorant, uneducated backyard Christians.

Amen?

Like we don't, we're just crazy.

Isn't it amazing in this election that they've got the you know, I grew up being a conservative.

I'm a conservative.

That means I just believe in what's right's right and what the Bible says right's right.

That's a conservative.

That's my definition of conservative.

I hope you happen to be one.

Now in this election, they got to say the real conservatives don't have a chance.

And you know what they're saying?

They're doing exactly what Goliath said.

They're telling us that we are just really out of touch.

I got news for you.

Bless God, the Christians in America that love God and not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ, they're the ones that are in touch.

They're in touch with Him.

And his book.

Can I get an Amen?

And then the last D word, verse 44, He wants to destroy us.

Look at what he says.

And the Philistine said to David, Come to me, and I will give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air and to the beast of the field.

Wow.

So that's the context that I want us to now dive into this unbelievable message.

In order for you and I to be courageous Christians, David was a courageous Christian.

Number one, fill it in right in the blanks.

We definitely have to be distinguished, and God distinguishes the courageous Christians.

And look at how he does it.

Number one, he does it by employing us, he calls us, he employs us to his service.

Can I get an amen?

He employs us to his army.

Look at what David said in verse 32 to King Saul.

Then David said to Saul, let no man's heart fail because of him your servant will go and fight this Philistine.

The significance of this becomes apparent when we realize out of the whole army of Israel, no one, nobody was willing to take on Goliath.

Nobody.

Not the trained soldiers, not, hey, not Saul.

By the way, Saul was seven foot.

He was the king.

The reason he was chosen king, because of his stature, because of his ability to fight.

He was a great warrior at one time.

He was handsome.

Oh, he was the man.

Well, the man now is sitting back in his tent crying out for somebody to go fight the giant.

If anybody should have fought the giant, it should have been Saul.

Will anybody go fight him?

You coward.

I meant Satan was humiliating him.

Little David gets on the scene, one little shepherd boy.

And after he hears all that you're gonna see, and it's a great story, he goes to the king, he says, Hey, I'm fighting.

Huh?

Who are you?

You little red-faced, freckled, red-hai, freckled face.

Who are you?

He didn't have any armor.

Hey, he didn't have armor.

He wasn't a trained soldier.

But I'll tell you what he did have.

He had a staff.

And he had the fastest sling in the West.

Wider.

Mm-hmm.

Oh, yeah.

Let me tell you, man, you just hang over there.

But he had no fighting experience with a soldier.

He had never trained in the soldier's army.

These were the trained Israelis, which is one of the greatest fighting army, hey, today.

These guys knew how to fight.

So why weren't they fighting?

I'll tell you why.

Because they were frightened to death.

And one reason they were frightened to death is their leader was scared.

When your leader's scared, you'll be scared.

Hello.

God's not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind, 2 Timothy 1 7.

The righteous are bold as a lion.

Proverbs 28.1.

So notice, young David.

He's the only one standing.

Why did God employ him?

Ready?

Three things.

Number one, he was ready for any call.

Woo! He's ready for any call.

Watch this.

This is so good.

He starts out ready.

He starts out that early that morning as a shepherd boy.

He's tending the sheep.

He's a shepherd boy.

Then all of a sudden his dad says, Come here, David.

Your brothers need food.

They've been there 40 days.

I'm sure they're hungry.

They need some supplies.

Load up your little wagon and you and your servant go and take the cheese and the bread and the meat to your brother and to the army, to his captain.

He started out.

He was ready.

He was ready to, and by the way, we know that he was very responsible because we know he left.

And we'll see that in a minute.

He was a very responsible young man.

He started out as a shepherd boy.

Now he's, hey, that's the first call.

Now he's called to be a servant.

Hello.

Go serve.

Go serve your brothers.

And then he gets to the battlefield, and now under the circumstance, he starts out as a shepherd boy.

He's now greatest, the greatest among you shall be your servant, Jesus said.

He's now serving, doing what his dad tells him to do, and he gets to the battlefield, and next thing you know, whoo, he's about to become a soldier.

Ready for any call.

Let me ask you, are you ready for any call?

So you're minding your own business right now.

Hello.

You're doing what you think you're supposed to be doing.

And God bless you.

God bless me.

We're doing what we're supposed to do.

But just think, Harry was here doing what he was supposed to be doing.

Next thing you know, he's going to Honduras.

Hello.

He's ready for any call.

I'm telling you, you don't know what's gonna.

You may start out as a shepherd boy this morning, but before the sun sets, you may be taking down the enemy.

Amen.

Someone's uh-oh.

Do you see that?

That's important you understand that.

That's why he was a man after God's own heart.

That's why God employed him.

He was ready for the call.

But there's something else he was ready for.

Not only was he ready for any call, he was ready for any circumstance.

Look at verse 20.

David rose early in the morning and went as Jesse had commanded him.

There's nothing to indicate that David knew what was before him that day.

I didn't, hey, it's beautiful.

He didn't know what lay before him today.

In spite of that, he was not taken by surprise as a man of God.

He had learned how to react to any circumstance.

Now, watch this.

This is very important.

God showed me this, and I did have a spell.

The truest test of courageous Christianity, the quality of Christianity, it's not only our action.

Now don't miss this.

It's not only our action, but it's our reaction.

See, if we know ahead of time what we're supposed to do, our action's okay.

But what if you get to a situation and next thing you know, you are ready to take action, but all you get is opposition.

How do you react?

Do you quit?

Do you give up?

Do you run?

Or do you say, If God be for me, who can be against me?

The others were running back into their tent.

David said, I'll go.

And then you're gonna see in a moment the opposition he got and how he reacted.

Whoa, this is good, and how he reacted.

I need this because sometimes I just want to punch the lights out.

Okay, forgive me, Lord.

Bam! That's not right.

But now watch.

He's ready for any circumstances.

That morning he's a shepherd boy, he's a servant now, he's a soldier.

Look at a third thing.

He's also not only ready for any call, he's ready for any circumstance, he's also ready for any cost.

Look at verse 32.

Then David said to Saul, let no man's heart fail because of him your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.

Now watch.

When David told Saul that God would deliver him out of the hand of the Philistine in verse 37, he was not pursuing on God.

Rather, he was resting in the will of God.

He knew he was in the will of God.

You know why he knew he was in the will of God?

He had been obedient.

Let me tell you how you know when you're in the will of God.

When God speaks, you promptly obey.

Woo! Hey, what do you mean?

Here's an example.

He's at the battle.

He doesn't want to leave the battle, but his dad says, Come, I need you to take care of the sheep.

Boom.

Promptly.

He obeys.

Boom.

Then he's taking care of the sheep, and all of a sudden his dad says, Hey, I need you to go take supplies to your brothers and to the army.

Bam! He obeys.

And then he gets, hey, he gets to the battlefield and he sees what's going on.

God speaks to his heart and says, Go tell Saul or go tell the soldiers you'll fight him.

And immediately he obeys.

He didn't pray about it, he didn't think about it.

He obeyed.

Now that's when you know you're walking in the will of God.

You don't have to see my problem is I want to discuss it with God.

Hello?

Anybody like that?

And try to justify to him why I think this might be a better way to do it.

I mean, instead of me, Lord, taking on Goliath by myself, why don't I get the green beret or the seals of the Israeli army and then let me guide them to go whip him.

I mean, I'm not even trained.

You could give him a lot of excuses.

No, there was not one excuse.

He just said, in fact, he got so upset that he was, hey, that the nation Israel, God's chosen people, was lying one bigfoot, and you know what he you know what he called him an uncircumcised Philistine.

You know what that means?

It's a means you dog.

Dirty dog.

Amen.

And now you say, how do you know that?

Well, that's what the word means, and how do you know that?

Goliath himself, hey, when he takes him on, he says, Who are you, you little ruddy?

No good, so he used other words.

Shepherd boy, you come to me like I'm a dog.

And I believe David was all my.

I can't wait to see David.

I believe David said, Yeah, you big old dirty dog.

That's what you are.

You're not a God chosen, hey, Israeli.

You're not God's chosen people.

Who are you to define my God, Jehovah Jirah?

Who are you?

He put it right back in his face.

I meant unbelievable.

But he wasn't willing.

Hey, listen.

Hey, you know what he said?

He said, Look, I'll take him on, Saul, King.

I'll take him on.

Hey, and I'm not worried about it.

Hey, if God wants me.

To die today, I die.

But if not, he'll deliver.

But I don't believe I'm gonna die, and I know I'm not because God's told me to do this.

And if God be for me, who can be against me?

Amen.

I'm going.

I'm going with God.

I'm not worried about the circumstances.

Because God's told me to do it.

Listen to what D.L.

Moody said.

I'm only one, but I am one.

I cannot be everything, but I can be something.

And that which I can do, by the grace of God, I will do.

He brought revival to both sides of the Atlantic.

And he started one of the greatest Bible schools ever.

Moody Bible Institute in Chicago.

An uneducated man.

So God distinguished this courageous young man by employing him.

Notice number two.

He distinguished this young man by enabling him.

Oh boy, this is good.

Oh, look at what he says in verses 45 through 47.

Then David said to the Philistine, You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin.

But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom ye have defied.

Hey, he didn't sugarcoat it.

He wasn't politically correct.

He said, You have brought, hey, damnation against our God.

You brought reproach against God Jehovah.

I think he was leading, he said, boy, you just don't even understand who you're really fighting.

He put it right in his face.

Then he said, and I love it, this day the Lord will deliver you into my hands.

I will strike you.

Now watch, I will take your head from you, and this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the bird.

He said, Not only I'm going to take your head off, we're going to take the whole bunch.

We're just going to, hey, we're going to just wipe them all out.

And he says, and we're going to give their carcasses, hey, to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there's a God in Israel.

Then all the assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with the sword or the spear of the devil, for the battle is the Lord's.

What a powerful statement.

David was a very young man, humanly speaking.

He was not equal to what was demanded of him.

He was not trained.

However, David had learned in verses 34 through 37, had long learned that little as much when God is in it.

Say that with me.

Little as much.

Amen.

See, I don't care what you are, who you are this morning.

Right now, Satan's trying to tell you, you're just little.

There's no good thing about you.

I've got good for, hey, I got good news for you.

That is true.

There is no good thing about you or in you.

But when you allow Jesus Christ to come into your life, that little that you have and that little that you are becomes much when God is in it.

And nothing, Luke 137, is impossible with my God.

Nothing.

Nothing.

Wow.

If God be for me.

Nay, in all things, we've been made more than conquers.

Now watch.

With the Lord of hosts, David knew that he was always in the majority.

Did you hear that?

With the Lord of hosts, the Lord Jehovah, he was always in the majority.

Now watch this.

Yep, that's it.

Now watch this.

Number one.

Look, the four things he fought.

Now let me tell you something right now.

Once you say, God, I'm going, you're going to get great opposition.

I'm going to show you four areas of where your opposition's come.

It's worth you listening if you don't hear anything else.

If you're a Christian, you're, hey, your opponent, hey, your opponent who's not a Goliath ten foot, but he's the same one behind Goliath, his name's Satan.

He wants to take you out.

He wants to discourage you.

He wants to defeat you.

And here's how he's going to do it.

He's not going to come at you with a 10-foot Goliath, Bigfoot.

But let me show you how he's going to come at you.

You ready?

Number one.

Look what happened the moment David said, I'm going.

Number one, he fought disheartening cowardness.

He was so disheartened because of the cowardness of the army.

Starting with his big brother Elihab.

He's the big warrior, the big hero.

His brother was a coward.

His other two brothers were cowards.

The king that he honored so much and loved so much, he was a coward.

You're going to have people that are going to tell you you can't do it.

Hello.

His brother said you can't do it.

Eliab said you couldn't do it.

King Saul said you couldn't do it.

Jesus tried to equip me, just like a told him.

You can't.

But that's after he got convicted because David said, I don't care what you say, King, I'm going anyway.

Amen.

Isn't it amazing?

People that can't do it don't want to do it.

Once you say you're going to do it, then they try to tell you how to do it.

Hello! Hello! Man, give me a break.

And then they even said, Well, here, take my armor.

Hello.

He's already said you can't do it.

He's not doing it, but yet now you're gonna do it.

Okay, well, let's say how to do it.

And by the way, here's what you need to do to you to do it.

You old hypocrite.

Why don't you do it?

But he's not gonna do that because he's the king and he's gonna honor the king.

Talking about who the king was, hello, little shepherd boy.

Now watch.

He fought this disheartened cowardness.

Proverbs 29, 25.

Now here it is.

Don't miss it.

The fear of a man, look, brings a snare.

Now this is illustrated throughout scripture.

Without doubt, it was largely because of the fear of man that Peter denied the Lord three times.

It was because of the fear of men that the disciples locked themselves up in the upper room and wouldn't come out.

It was the fear of man.

Do you know why most of you don't witness and we don't witness?

We are afraid of what the people are gonna think.

Well, they're gonna think I'm weird.

They already do.

Amen.

Watch the news.

Amen.

Hello.

I mean, so at least do what you're supposed to do.

Tell them about Jesus.

Because chances are God's gonna get a hold of their hearts and change their lives.

Because God sent you there.

God put you in that position situation.

God literally put David in this situation to perform what God wanted David to perform, even though he didn't have a clue.

Most of you or most of us are put in situations every day that if we are sensitive, God can use us to do things that we wouldn't even have even believed would happen that morning when we walked out the door.

That's usually what happens to me.

I walk out, Lord, I know where I think I'm going, but Lord, I want to go where you know I need to go.

Jesus.

And he always I always get caught up in something.

And my first inclination, watch, is this.

I need to be over there.

And I'm trying to run out of where God's just put me.

I just need to chill out.

Say, God, here's the situation I'm in.

This is the circumstances you place me in.

Now use me in a great way today.

Use me to be a lighthouse to this situation.

Amen.

Use me maybe to be a deliverer to this situation or comfort to this situation.

One of the true evidences of the anointing of the Holy Spirit that we've been preaching about in the early church was in uh Acts 4.31, they assembled themselves together and they prayed, and the place was shaken together, and then watch, and they hey, they spake the word of God with boldness.

Ephesians 3.12 says, we have confidence and boldness.

What?

In an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ.

Man, that's good.

Ephesians 3.12.

Man, that's good.

I was doing my research and I found a columnist in the Chicago News by the name of Harris.

What's this?

A man who acquired a large reading following by his frank and often caustic comments.

And here's what he wrote.

He called.

And I thought, boy, this would be a good prayer for our president right now, too.

A prayer for the president is what he wrote.

Oh Lord, and sent it to the president.

Oh Lord, give him the courage, not of his convictions, but of your commandments.

Boy, is that not good?

Let me repeat that.

Oh Lord, give him the courage, not of his convictions, but of your commandments.

Wow, that's good.

Number two, not only did he fight the disheartened cowardness that he saw in the army and in all the people he admired, but number two, he fought, ready, destructive criticism.

Woo! Put a big star by this.

This is the one that really stops you.

This is the one that really stops you.

Because when you start trying to accomplish something God's told you to do, everybody criticizes you.

What are you doing?

When I surrendered to ministry, they looked at me like I was crazy.

When I said I was going to leave an open door and going to liberty, my church thought I was crazy, especially David.

David said, if God's not, he says, I hope God's in this.

If not, David said, You're crazy.

He didn't want me to leave.

And I really didn't want to leave.

But I knew this was what God was going.

In fact, I thought I was going to Washington, D.C., to a pretty large church up there.

And he closed the door overnight to that door.

And next door, next morning I got a call from Liberty University and said, Dr.

Falwell wants you to come up here, head up a pastoral training evangelism.

And he said, Don't be late.

Hurry up.

He didn't ask me to pray about it.

That's Dr.

Falwell.

You know, he just I mean, overnight, I soon I Dorothy resigned, and we thought we were going to another place.

Next thing no pan, we're at Liberty University.

When I went to Tennessee Temple, oh Lord.

He said, Oh my soul, what have you done?

I said, I'm just doing what God told me to do.

And if I had not made it to Tennessee Temple, I wouldn't be at CCW.

It all works.

Ready for any call, any circumstance, any time.

I did the only thing I told God about coming here is you gotta sell my house in a week.

And really in the back of my mind, I thought, well, he probably won't do that, so I won't have to go.

He didn't, he didn't wait a week, he sold it the next morning.

Where's Chelsea?

I'm going to Chelsea.

Westover, here I come.

So, ready for anything, anytime.

And guys, that was at 58 years old.

I mean, I wasn't ready to start from scratch again.

In fact, when David said we're going to start a church, I said, from scratch?

He said, Well, I got a Sunday school class of 35 people.

I said, Wow, good.

That means we'll have 35 people.

You know how many came the first Sunday?

None.

I said, Thanks, David.

Well, no, Bob.

Bob and Jewel, no, Bob and Jewel came the next week, I think, and been with us ever since.

Amen.

I meant tremendous.

In fact, out of the bunch, I would have not thought Bob and Jewel would have come.

Really, if I'd have been going by what I thought and personality, I'd have thought Bob and Jewel, because they're so quiet.

But that, see, Bob's one of those like Bob, hey, like uh, I had a deacon at Open Door Baptist Church, Jack Wade and Clemmy.

They remind me so much of Bob and Jewel back there.

Because I'm up here, woo-woo! One day Brother Jack stopped me.

He said, Brother Danny, I know you think Clemmy and I sit back here and we're dead.

I thought for a minute, yeah, I do, but I knew that wasn't right.

Because I knew Jack.

He said, but when you're up there going, whoo, hallelujah, amen, he said, we're sitting back here and our hearts are going, whoopee, whoopee, whoop-ee, whoopee, whoopee, whoopee.

And that has so helped me over all these years because now when I see some of you like here, I'm gonna think the best.

Your heart's going, whoopee, whoop-ee, whoopee, whoopee.

Just a thought.

But we see the destructive, look where it came.

Eliab, his oldest brother.

Look at what he said in verse 28.

Why did you come down here, and with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness?

I mean, he's slamming him, baby.

I know your pride and the insolence of your heart, for you have come down here to see the battle.

Woo! Eli Eliab ignores David's mission, delivering the food.

He insults David's ministry.

Hey, the few sheep, and he interprets David's motives.

Now you tell me that's not judging.

If I was here and he's watching, he'd say, that's good preaching, preacher.

I mean he left.

Now who's his hero?

Who's David's hero?

His big brother.

And his big brother just slams him, body slams him.

Now watch how he answers him.

This is great.

We see the destructive criticism, but then we see how he answers him in verse 29.

David answers his brother with one of what I call God enable challenge.

He challenges his brother.

What have I done now?

Undoubtedly he'd heard this criticism before.

What have I done now?

And look what he says.

Is there not a cause?

In your face, brother.

In other words, he said, What are you doing?

Is there not a cause here?

And you're sitting here and you're lamb blast to me and you're doing squat.

That's all he said.

Is there not a cause?

Well, criticism comes again.

What's this?

What's this?

David's reply was as sound as it was shattering.

The honor and glory of God had been brought into question, and it was his duty to answer the challenge.

It was his brother's duty to answer the challenge.

What effect has destructive criticism on our inner convictions and determination to stand true?

It stops us in our tracks because everybody says you ought not to talk like that.

You ought not to say that because it's not politically correct.

And we shy back.

Notice the second criticism.

By the way, not only did it come, now watch, it came from Eliab.

But notice where else it came.

He fought, number two, I mean, uh, number three, he fought this discouraging concern.

Look at it.

Look at it from Saul.

Look at what Saul says.

And Saul said to David, verse 33, you are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are but a youth, and he, a man of war from his youth.

David's answer to this was one of God enabled confidence.

God enabled concern.

Now God enabled confidence.

Look at what he says.

I think he had about had all the criticism right here about how him being a little shepherd boy he could take.

And you know what he says?

He says, he says, King, wait a minute.

King, first of all, I don't see anybody else standing around volunteering.

Hello.

You know you stand out when you're the only one.

Hello.

Talking about being put on the spot.

And so listen to what David says to King Saul.

And he does it in a lovely way.

David said to Saul, verse 34 Thy servant kept his father's sheep, and there came a lion and a bear and took a lamb out of the flock, and I went out after him and smote him and delivered out of his mouth.

And when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and smote him and slew him.

Woo! We're talking about Simba.

We're not talking about a little bobcat.

We're talking about a lion.

Woo! I told you, remember the quickest sling in the West?

How do you think he killed that lion?

How do you think he killed that bear?

Now, have you noticed he grabbed the lion by his beard after he took the lamb out and broke his neck?

Now let me ask something.

Do you think David, that little bitty red-haired frecker face, went up there and just started fighting that lion and broke his neck?

No, no, no, no, no.

He's not that stupid.

That lion had that lamb.

Okay, buddy.

Okay.

Dead bear.

Don't laugh.

That's the way it happened.

You wait till you get to heaven and see.

That's David.

Now watch.

He already knew what God had done for him, so he tells that he tells the king, he says, King, I killed a bear and I killed a lion, and I will kill that old big dirty dog.

Who is he?

To defy my God.

Now, are you ready?

You know what Saul says?

I think he got his attention.

And there's no doubt the Holy Spirit grabbed a hold of Saul.

You know what I think?

I think Saul started crying.

Because I think Saul remembered when God had called him.

Well, actually, God didn't call him to people pointing, but then God accepted him and anointed him and used him for a great while.

And I believe he remembered that excitement.

He remembered that passion.

He remembered that enthusiasm.

And he remembered that power that God has when you totally surrendered and totally obedient.

And he saw it in that little shepherd boy.

And he said, Go.

And David said, moreover, verse 37 the Lord will deliver me out of the paw of the lion, out of the paw of the bear, he would deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine.

And Saul said unto David, Go and the Lord be with thee.

Now we know he armed him with his armor.

He tried to help him.

David 5 8, he seven foot you you see the picture didn't take david long he took that off he said king now he wasn't ugly he didn't say king that's too big he was very honorable he said you know what I've no I have not tried this armor I can't use this I didn't have armor when I killed the bear I didn't have armor when I killed the lion he says all I need is my sling all I need is my stake and oh by the way I'll pick up five smooth stones when I go down over the brook is that not good folks that not good and then look what happens not only do we see man that's good by the way remember how Peter tried to stop Jesus when he was said I gotta go to the cross I got to go to Jerusalem I gotta die for you and he said no you can't do that no not you master and what did he tell him he turned and he looked him in the face he says Peter that's not you that's Satan get thee behind me Satan I must accomplish what God's told me I must do what I'm saying motherly uh oh fatherly figures Saul could be one of them a very honorable adult that we love and respect sometimes can be the tool that Satan uses to discourage us and keep us from going to Bible college or keep us from going to the mission field hello you know what's the normal now back when I surrendered to ministry everybody said go go go go you know what it is now when you when one of our young people say we feel like God's called us into ministry we want to go to Bible college or Bible school oh wait a minute wait a minute wait a minute wait a minute uh you mean ministry you're gonna get a degree in ministry Bible yeah but how are you gonna make a living?

Don't you think you ought to get a degree in this and this and that and that something that you can fall back on?

I got news for you when God calls you you don't need anything you don't need anything to fall back on.

You're falling in his arms if God calls you when they told me you can't do that you don't need I just packed the U-Haul trailer and I was out of town the next morning for I didn't want to hear another another negative saying I was gone and I burned every bridge behind me.

It's hard to go back across the bridge if it ain't there.

Hello and then the last thing he fought he fought depressive or despair a despairing challenge the enemy himself and you know how he fought that with God and able conquest look what David said so David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities against powers against the rulers of the darkness of this age against spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places Ephesians 6 7 I meant 612 here is Satan with the myriads of supporters here organized ready to take us out David looks at Saul and he says I will fight the giant with what God's given now when David sees the giant the Philistines facing off against Israel now there's just one person named Goliath David sees the giant nation Israel sees the giant and they say whoa he's too big to take down David sees the giant and he says no he's too big to miss big difference the giant says I'm gonna take you out little boy and I'm gonna feed you to the birds David says okay David just walking toward him bends down and he gets takes him out at this time he's coming he's coming down David crosses over so David's gonna be going up in a little bit coming now the question you ought to be thinking why did he get five stones?

You know what most commentators say in case he missed read the books read all the commentary I got news for you God doesn't miss why did he have five stones?

Goliath had four brothers big boys too not quite as big as him he's gonna take them all out that's my thing here he comes remember the bearing line do you realize that a slingshot thrower if you read the Old Testament they were the sharpshooters of their day in the armies they were like our snipers today proven fact look it up do your history about the slings with the velocity of the rock at about at about 30 feet to 40 feet it's like the velocity of uh of uh Todd of 357 uh hollow point hello so david after he crosses over warms his arm up old big boy's coming David says okay now a bit closer this time he starts running read the text I'm not making this up he runs toward the giant there's a reason you run with a sling to get the maximum velocity of the bullet of the stone so he starts running toward you big boy only place that wasn't covered with armor guess where the stone is then the Bible says I believe David said face down it doesn't stop there he goes over pulls his big sword out there goes his head abner the king's right arm grabs his head grabs David runs him to the king and says look king what David has done guess what David says well first of all you know what the king says who is this guy who is this boy he's the son of Jesse Benjamin David and I close with this that's the most humbling thing after the greatest victory written about in the Bible one of them he doesn't take credit he could have said oh yes king oh by the way I was picked out of all my brothers to be the next king oh by the way king I was anointed of God he said I'm the son of Jesse I'm just a little shower boy I'm just a little shower boy and because of that three things in our clothes God did this for him one David because of the victory God is honored number two others are helped they they ramshack the Philistines get all the food and all for their army and number three self is hidden he doesn't exalt himself God is honored others are helped and he gives all the credit to God that is courageous Christianity is that not good is that not a story and a half you almost don't if you weren't reading with me you wouldn't believe it'd happen like that now here's what I want to ask you World War II the British Army had this in fact I wrote it down it was so powerful because I don't want you to I don't want you to ever forget it.

And here's what they said if I can find it I put a star let me find it it's awesome so here it is write down the words RFA RFA in the British Army during World War II and it means this ready for anything ready for anything here's the invitation now you got think through this don't just say yes go ahead are you ready this morning for anything you know why David was ready for anything he was filled he had God all over him he wasn't filled with the Spirit because as we said New Testament but he had the presence of the Holy Spirit all over him he was anointed for a task and this being one of them by the power of God are you obedient this morning are you ready for anything you came to church this morning as a shepherd boy but before your head lays down tonight on the pillow you may be a champion see we got we got a choice today you know what our choice is today two C's we can be a coward or we can be a champion which is it gonna be champion here coward here and by the way it's really more acceptable and easier to live over here let me ask something here's a test at work are you that coward or are you that champion if you're work or student wherever you are would you the people that you're that you're influencing what would they say about you would they say man he loves God she loves God they're champion they talk about Jesus they talk about the Bible I mean they they're pray with me they're for me they're there with me I mean all the time they're ready they're they're there they're blessing or would they say you know Danny's not a bad person he's pretty he's a pretty good worker but never says anything about the Lord never challenges me about the Lord he just does his eight hours and goes home good man let me tell you the ones that God's gonna grab and employ RFA ready for anything spirit filled Bible filled lovingly filled caringly filled kindly filled ready to help others instead of themselves those are the ones that are ready for anything that God's gonna start out early that morning you may start out as a shepherd boy as a servant but before the day ends you'll be a soldier and you'll be a champion it's your choice.

If I could do it for you I would but I can't it's your choice you're gonna be Eliab and the brothers or are you going to be a David?

You're gonna criticize or you're gonna hey energize it's up to you.

Every head bow, every eye close you know what let's stand our feet this morning.

Let's just stand in fact I know the team you know what I want the team Jesse before y'all come I want the team back down here that's going to Honduras can you come back down here stand up here with me.

Come on over here Deedra I want y'all up here hey they're standing they're standing that hey they they're starting right now y'all leave Saturday Saturday morning they're standing right now you know what they are they're good church members good church members but when they leave Saturday morning and they get on that airplane they don't know what challenge they're gonna face they don't know what circumstances that they're gonna encounter but if God be for them who can be against them amen and we're gonna be praying with them we're gonna be asking God to use them in a way that they don't they don't even have a clue yet David he was going in a little horse no probably a mule pool little chariot a little wagon with cheese and bread and hey not having a clue that he was facing to hey take on the champion of the Philistines before daylight and tell him he was just going to take cheese and bread the little lad went to hear Jesus with five loaves and two little fishes not knowing that he was gonna stand up and hear hear Peter running up and I mean Peter's brother Aaron Aaron running up and down does anybody got a lunch anybody got a lunch anybody got a lunch anybody got a lunch and all of a sudden this little boy says I got one I got there was over five thousand men there and only one little boy says I gotta lunch you you you more people had lunches than that that was stingy this is my lunch this is my twigs this is my moon piece come with me he brought him to Jesus you guys are taking Jesus to a third world country he brought it you going with nails and guns gun nails I'm gun nails nails nails gun nails gun gun nail guns whatever nail guns thank you I'll be being locked up revolution pastor all right but nail guns but God's got something better I mean that little boy all he wanted to do was go see Jesus and now he's standing in front of Jesus with Aaron and Aaron says Jesus I got this little boy he's got a lunch it's not much you know what that five loaves he had little bitty pieces of bread and two fishes you know what it equals out to a subway sandwich to feed 5,000 men 2000 people and you know what he said listen to me here's what he said little is much when God is in it.

He said go tell them sit down in 50s to 100 you know the rest of the story they fed them so much that they took up 12 baskets after everybody had eaten till they couldn't eat anymore that's a God thing.

But you know why?

That little boy we don't even know his name he went to see Jesus but he was RFA ready for anything so this morning when you leave will you be ready for anything thanks again for tuning into this week's message we pray that your life has been changed.

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