GOOD NEWS | God is Greater than Your Giants | Pastor Brodie Kalamen

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All my life you have been faithful.

And all my life you have been so so good.

With every breath that I am able, I will speak of the goodness of God.

I love your voice.

And in darkest night, you are close like no other.

With every breath that I am able I will see how the goodness of God And I will see how the goodness of God.

For eternity we will sing of all you've done.

For eternity we will sing of all you've done.

Nothing come against Noah stand between us.

God with us God for us nothing come against.

For eternity we will sing avoidance, and we say God with us.

No one stand between us.

God with us God for us nothing can come against.

I'm not gonna be afraid, cause these waves are only waves.

I'm not gonna be afraid.

I'm not gonna be afraid.

For you are greater than its roar.

I'm not gonna fear the storm.

No, I'm not gonna fear it up.

Peace be still, say the word, and I will turn my feet upon the sea.

Till I'm dancing in the deep.

You are here, so it is a will, even when I can see, I will trust the boys that sweep.

Oh heart, believe, let faith, rise up in me, yes, Lord, let faith, rise up, oh heart, believe, let faith, rise up in me, hold your faith, rise up, oh heart, be, rise up, big, rise up, oh, it's well, we do it as well.

Peace all me.

Oh, peace on me, yes, Lord Let faith, rise up, oh heart, believe, let faith, rise up, feel me, oh Lord, let faith, rise up, oh heart, believe, let faith, rise up, feel me, oh, still it up, let that rise up, oh heart, let's up, oh, I'm stuck, well, you know, it's the body.

Hey, welcome to KCC Church at Home.

We're so glad you're joining us from the comforts of your own home.

And I just want to take a moment to encourage you to just share that this church has gone live.

KCC has gone live.

Go ahead, message someone, share it on your timeline on Facebook, give someone a call.

We want to be able to rally people together, and we just believe that together we can be blessed.

Together we can have conversation and engage online.

This is such a great opportunity for us to be able to encourage one another this day.

So I want to just talk to you about a few of the things that are changing in the church.

Number one, technology has made it so that we can get connect groups happening through Zoom.

So many of our groups are just meeting each week.

We're so grateful for that.

If you're not a part of a connect group, get connected.

Also, for all of those who've been continuing to faithfully give, I want you to know that we so appreciate it.

Without your generosity, we wouldn't be able to have the type of reach that we're having right now.

You're literally allowing us to go into thousands of homes during this season, and we couldn't be doing it without your help.

So thank you.

Next week, it's Easter, and I'm so grateful for Easter.

Easter is one of my favorite times of the year, and COVID can't take that away from us.

Next week, we're gonna be doing something really special on top of our exciting Easter uh experience.

We're going to be sharing a communion together.

So start preparing now for next week.

Just a reminder have some bread, have something to drink, have uh a cracker, have something there, and gather your family together with you so that you can experience and share, and we can celebrate together the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus and celebrate the power of the cross.

It's going to be an exciting time next Sunday.

So, this series we've called Good News.

It's a series that we have launched leading us up into Easter.

And today I'd like to start with 1 Samuel in the scripture, 1 Samuel chapter 30.

1 Samuel 30 · chapter mention

And this story is related to David and his mighty men, who at one point were really like a group of riffraff that were depressed and broken.

They were now being called a band of mighty men.

And it's so interesting and amazing to me how people like to frame or title others.

And at one point, these were the outcasts of society, they were the misfits in society, but now they are called the mighty men.

And what's important for me to realize is that it's not what people say you are, it's who God says you are.

And it doesn't matter what people call you, it's really what you answer to.

And so anyone can call you anything, but to realize what God has called you and to respond to that call is what's really important.

And we're gonna see this come to life in this story.

Now they're called mighty men who answer the purpose.

They answer to the purpose and to the call and not their pain.

And they're coming back from battle.

They were in the midst of battle, they were traveling, and they've been traveling for about three days, approximately 50 miles, and they were coming back to their safe place, their refuge, their home, their place where they could rest and relax after a long journey and battle.

And they were coming back to their kids and they were coming back to comfort.

And when they got to that space, they were met with some really terrible news.

And it starts off in verse 1 here in 1 Samuel chapter 30.

1 Samuel 30 · chapter mention

It says, David and his men reached Zig on the third day.

Now the Amalekites, who were their enemy, had raided Ziglag.

They had attacked Zigleg, the city, and they burned it.

They had taken captive the women, the children, everyone in it, both young and old, and they killed none of them, but they carried them away.

They were using them, they were going to enslave them.

And when David and his men reached Zigleg, they found it destroyed by fire, and their wives and sons and daughters captive.

So David and his men wept aloud until they had no strength left to weep.

This is a terrible place.

It's a terrible space.

They didn't have communications, they didn't have FaceTime, they didn't have Zoom calls, they didn't know what was happening on their way back home.

But when they got home, when they crested that one last mountain and they looked upon their city, they see that it's burned to the ground.

No one is there.

None of their goods are there.

None of their the wives, the children, their cattle, any kind of goods that they had, they were just gone.

And they were in an emotional place.

And I understand that emotional place.

They had real feels.

They had uh they were experienced something that was real in that moment.

And when you find yourself faced with this bad news, there has to be a way for you to respond.

When you find yourself floored, when you find yourself crushed, and I know that all of us have experienced bad news.

It's been so readily available every morning, every night, every time you turn on uh the TV and watch the news or go online or go on Facebook, you're seeing it, and the weight of it is crushing.

Well, David has experienced this, his family's gone, his legacy is gone, his leadership is in question.

And the Bible says this in 1 Samuel chapter 30, verse 6.

1 Samuel 30:6

It says, David was greatly distressed because the men were talking about stoning him, that's killing him.

Each one was bitter in spirit because their own sons, their own daughters, their own wives were taken.

But, and here's the important piece that I'd like to just land on today, but David found strength in the Lord.

He found strength in the Lord is God.

And in my view, there could have been no worse news.

There could have been no worse news.

And when you're in a world when you're facing bad news, we need to know how to respond to this bad news.

The family's gone, ministry is gone, life is gone, uh, work is put on hold, financial security is gone, independent security is gone.

What do we do when you feel distressed, when you feel paralyzed, when you feel slowed right down to a stop?

This is what we need to learn.

The power of this, this moment in David's life where it was virtually like a cut scene, uh, a scene that where we have to come back to at points in our life and be reminded that even though there's bad news, there is something else that we can grab onto if we choose to.

It's in that moment David found strength in the Lord.

And at that point, he said, Hey, Lord, he had to rouse himself, he had to focus himself, and he said, Should I pursue them?

And the Lord said, Go ahead, go pursue them.

And so he got up and he began to chase them down, chase them down to be able to recover all the things that were taken from him.

It wasn't a negotiation.

God said, Go get it.

And at that point, he just stirred himself up, he stirred up his army, he stirred up his friends, his mighty men, and they went after the things that were stolen.

In the face of this news that we're experiencing today, we're left with the question: how do we respond?

What kind of spirit, heart needs to be in us so that we can respond in such a way that we run forward in such a way that we're actually going and achieving victory.

We're overcoming in moments where things are going to be crushed on top of us, we're able to stand and and actually raise the support.

I've found in my life there are things that that over time have become of more value to me.

And one of the things that I've actually come to find that's of value to me are people who carry a spirit of tenacity.

And I love what one of the girls in our youth group and one of the girls from our church actually wrote.

She was she posted it online, like many of you.

I'm spending a lot of times online these days.

But how she wrote to one of her friends who's dealing with isolation.

She had this picture, and on this card, and on the back of the card, it was posted.

She said, Um, God is bigger than your giants.

And then she used uh a scripture there in John chapter 4.

John 4 · chapter mention

It said this, You, dear children, are from God and overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

God is bigger than your giants.

God is bigger than the bad news.

And this reminder in our time right now and where we're at right now, we can't forget it.

That if we have God, we have something bigger in us than the news that is trying to impose itself upon us.

The spirit of this will take you places where others will never be able to go because when you realize that you're not alone, that you are partnered with God, and that God in you is stronger than anything the world can throw at you, the opportunities are limitless.

And the older I get, the more I begin to value this heart.

Because this tenacious spirit says, hey, we can do it.

When other people are falling to the side, the tenacious one says, Let's go, because we can recover everything that was taken if we realize that we're with God and God is in us and He's given us the ability to overcome.

I when I was a kid, I used to enjoy things that kids enjoy.

I love my Nintendo, I love my bike, I love my dirt bike.

As I grew older, I loved my car, I love cool tech, I love my Nokia phone that probably still is around today.

I love all these things, I love beautiful things.

But what I've realized that's of real value with my wife and our family and my friends and our team is that tenacious heart that says, no matter what is thrown at you, we can we can overcome it.

It's that G.I.

Jane mentality.

Okay, show me how a week, I'll get through.

I'll get through to the other side.

In our culture today, it's all too common for people to be uh melt like a snowflake in the face of calamity, in the face of difficulty, in the face of challenge, because they aren't aware of who they have in them.

And as Christians, we have to be aware that no matter what we face, we're not fighting alone.

In fact, the scripture says that there's no weapon that's formed against us that can prosper.

And that no matter where we go, we've got a God who's with us, who loves us, who won't forsake us or reject us or neglect us or leave us floundering on our own.

But all the resources of heaven are available to us and that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.

It's such a powerful lesson, and I know this message is for someone who's listening today.

When other people step back and melt like a snowflake, there are others who step in and lean in and realize that this provides an opportunity for them to get back what was taken.

It's where they become stronger.

It's a tenacious heart.

This tenacity actually means the ability to overcome challenges and setbacks in the presence of obstacles.

And I pray that God will help us develop this type of tenacity so that we can be the type of people who can get through.

With God in us, we are a majority.

And I know it just sounds even cliche that that this language, but I truly believe it that if God is with us, who can be against us?

Amen.

So David at Zikleg, it's one of the most incredible examples of an individual's tenacity in the presence of pressure.

And what David does is he he goes right to his knees.

He at that point he doesn't rely on his budget or his bank account, he doesn't rely on his uh his followers or his fan base, he doesn't rely on his office or his title, he doesn't rely on any of those things.

The Bible says he went before the Lord.

And in these times, it really comes down to an individual decision.

Where are you going to go when the pressure hits?

Where are you going to do go when bad news strikes?

And we see it in our culture today where people are opting out to get in high or getting drunk or even burying their head in the sand.

And yes, it's easy even to do the small things like Netflix, like binge a show on Netflix, or play video games all day and just kind of like escape into your own world.

We we believe that God has given us a way out.

And it's a true test of leadership in those times.

Where do you go?

And it's important for someone here today that when we go to God and we encourage ourselves in the Lord, God will help us find a way out.

He's the one who's there to help us, and he's the one who will give us that strength and remind us of who we have with us, that we can go and actually recover all that was taken.

So, how do we get this tenacity?

How do we get this same spirit that David had?

I'd like to take a few moments here and just take us back to a time when David was younger, a time when uh probably one of the most well-known stories uh of David and of the Bible, even, is a story where David had to confront one of his greatest challenges, and that was a giant named Goliath.

And how did he learn as a child, a teenager, to confront a giant in that moment?

What kind of spirit was in him, and how did he get it so that we can again realize who's with us, and when we are confronted with this bad news, we can step up and we can actually oppose it.

So the first thing we do, the first thing we do to overcome these giants in our life, to grow tenacity in our heart, is we have to first see trials as our training.

Now, David, he wasn't always known as the giant killer.

He wasn't always known as the warrior king.

David was forgotten as a child.

Literally, his father forgot about him, his brothers rejected him, scorned him, pushed him off to the side, just kind of treated him as the small, the runt of the litter.

They the people in his life, even authorities, the king, said, you know what, why are you even here?

Why, why are you even around when it came to his interest of being with the army of Israel?

He was he was put to the side.

And it was David who had to actually had to actually regroup himself and he had to actually step back and say, because I know that we all experience this, that there are times in our life where we just want to escape, and then there are times in our life where we need to cope, we need to deal with it.

If we could see our trials as something that that we don't have to run from, but that we can run to, our lives will actually move forward.

We can actually move forward in our lives.

In 1 Samuel 17, David goes to Saul and says, Saul, I want a shot at this.

I want to go up against Goliath.

And he begins to share with Saul why he is a good choice.

Because this trial in his life, the trials in his life were actually training.

And so he goes to David, he goes to Saul with this resume.

He says, get this, Saul.

I was a shepherd, and I went and I was taking care of sheep, and a lion came, and the lion grabbed one of the sheep, and I decided, you know what?

You're not gonna get away with one of my sheep.

And I went after the lion and I recovered the sheep and I killed the lion.

And then a bear tried the same thing, and I went and I recovered the sheep and I killed the bear.

Your problems yesterday will and can become your promotion for tomorrow.

Those bears, those lines in our lives that we try and reject and neglect, they can be opportunities for us to actually build strength.

The trials can be the weights in our lives to help us make gains and build strength in us.

Those trials that were meant to kill you could become your promotion tomorrow.

And I I I want that tenacity in me.

I want that tenacity to say, even those small things, those small things that I have to become tenacious about, I have to step up to instead of backing away from, I have to deal with.

Like he could have left a sheep.

No one would have accused him of neglecting his responsibility if a lion got away with a sheep, like to put his life on the line for a sheep, but he went after it.

He proved himself in a way.

He proved himself against the lion and the bear.

And when he went to Saul, he said, Listen, I've got this resume.

I can do this.

I did it with a lion, I did it with a bear, and I know that the Lord will work with me to do it with Goliath.

The second thing we do is we put a face to our fight.

David, when he walked up to his brothers, he began to ask them, you know, what do you get when you take down this giant Goliath, who's screaming on the other side of this valley, all this bad news for 40 days and 40 nights, they'd wake up and they'd go to bed listening to him yell out, send me a warrior.

And if if I kill him, then you'll become our slaves.

And if you kill us, we'll become your slaves.

And and everyone from Israel began to run away in fear, and there was this trauma that came over the whole of Israel.

And David said, He needed to put a face to his fight.

He said, he needed to realize, why am I fighting?

So he went to Saul and he said, Saul, like what do I get if I take him down?

And Saul said, Well, you'll get tax-free living virtually, and you'll you'll get access to the royal home, even the royal lineage, opportunity is for you.

And David stepped back, and I'm sure he thought of all those great things, but I believe he actually put a face to his fight.

He started to think, well, what happens if we lose?

Then everyone will become enslaved to the Philistines, to Goliath and his army.

And I bet he started to think of his children and his wife and his future wife and his brothers and his dad and their land and all their work that they had done becoming a part of the Philistine uh hold, stronghold.

And I think about that, and I think he had to put a face to that fight.

And sometimes I think we need to put a face to it because when we put a face to it, there's that tenacity that comes up inside of us.

I'm gonna fight for this because I've got something to lose, there's something at stake.

My children.

My children are at stake.

My community is at stake.

My family is at stake.

My children's children are at stake.

And so I'm not going to bury my head in the sand when bad news comes.

I'm going to step up and actually put a flag in the ground and say, No more.

I'm not going to give up anything more.

I'm going, you're not going to take anything from us.

I'm going to shut your voice down.

I'm going to shut this bad news down.

And you're going to shout from the other side of the valley, but the time is going to come, I'm going to meet you in that valley, and I'm going to take you down.

He put a face to the fight.

And I'm just going to encourage some of you today.

Some of you need to remember what you're fighting for.

You need to step up and just remember what you're fighting for.

Like lift up your head, make a phone call, make a zoom call, get face to face with someone, and just be reminded of what you're fighting for.

This is not the time to step back.

This is the time for us to push forward.

The third point here is we need to be true to ourselves.

In 1 Samuel 17, as David's preparing to go against Goliath.

King Saul says, Here, wear my armor.

And Saul gives him probably some really good armor, some good, good solid armor that would protect him against a seasoned warrior like Goliath.

But the problem was that once David left the tent in that armor and he walks into the middle of the valley, people would think it was Saul.

It would have his emblem, it would have his signet on the armor, and it would look like Saul.

But David said, no, if I'm going to do this, I'm going to have to do it the way I need to do it.

And it's important that we do it the way God has called us to do it.

Many of us, I'm sure, have tried to do things the way other people have done things, and it just hasn't worked.

But how many times do we try to do it like someone else and it just fails?

And we have to realize that God has given us an individual way of doing things.

We've got our own armor to carry.

And we've got our own armor to that will carry us through.

And I need to realize that.

And each one of us needs to realize the gifts, the talents, the skills that we've got in us, and realize that God put them in us on purpose.

So that when the days where you need to stand up come, you can stand up in the gift, knowing that you're fully equipped with whatever God has given you in order to fight your battle.

God will take the things that you've got.

And for David, it was a sling, it was a little bit of courage, it was a tenacity, it was a bit of a testimony.

I've taken down a bear, I've taken down a lion, I can take down this giant.

And he knew that he had to be himself.

He needed to be true to himself.

God will take what you have to offer.

And whatever it may be, whatever you have, whatever skill set you have, even at this time, I think of all the great people who are making even today possible the video, the cameramen, the editors, the lighting guys, the audio in the front of the house, all the people they're doing, all the work, the stage designers to get this message out.

Everyone has their own skill set, and I'm so grateful for them.

If we bring a little to God, God can do a lot with our little.

So be true to you and don't ever underestimate what you have to offer.

The fourth thing we do to build tenacity in our own heart and to build tenacity in our spirit and to stand up against bad news, anyone or anything that puts bad news against us is we need to do what David was prepared to do, and that's keep throwing.

The Bible says that David, when he went down to the creek, he went down with his sling, and he had his pouch on his side where he held onto his ammo.

And his ammo, he went to the river, and his the Bible says he found five smooth stones.

And when as Christians, we kind of have this idea that, you know, he swung the sling and he released the rock, and the angel somehow guided this rock towards the center of uh uh Goliath's forehead and knocked him down.

But I I believe that David didn't know that that was gonna happen.

I don't think David really knew exactly what the outcome of this fight would be.

I believe that he believed that Goliath would go down, but I don't know if he knew it was gonna be the first shot.

I believe he picked up five stones, and some people say, well, it's because Goliath had five brothers, but I think he picked up five stones because he was just prepared.

If one missed, I'm gonna take another shot and another shot and another shot and another shot until I'm out of stones, and even at that point, I'm gonna pick up whatever I've got around me and I'm gonna go at them.

We need to keep throwing.

It's that spirit in us that says, when there's when there's tr challenge against us, when there's opposition, uh, it's the Lord in us, greater is he that it is that is in us than he that's in the world.

We need to stand up and we need to keep going.

And if that means praying a little more, if that means taking a moment and just fasting for a day and and stepping in, if it means making a phone call, we need to keep going.

If it means engaging in devotion and getting up early in prayer, if it means putting on worship and and raising your hands and and coming before the Lord with that that honest heart and that contrite heart again, we need to do it.

Whatever it takes, David kept throwing in in this situation, he got one rock off.

He got one uh one rock out of the sling, one stone out of the sling, and it took the giant down.

It's amazing, these smooth stones.

The Bible says they were smooth stones, and smooth stones are created because of the the waves that continually pound upon them.

They it it wears them down, it smooths them out.

And I think there are times in our lives where we're just faced with the pressure and the the pounding that happens in life that happens over our lives.

We just keep getting taken over and rolled over and over and over and over.

And we need to realize that that's creating in us something that's a smooth stone.

We don't stop.

He's that smooth stone is the kind of stone that will fly true and fly strong.

His hope, David's hope, wasn't in his talent, wasn't in his ability, it was in his tenacity.

And I'm not leaving here.

I'm gonna fight you.

And you could hear it in his words when he he confronted Goliath.

He said this, he said, You come against me with a sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty God, the Lord, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you've defied.

This day the Lord will hand you over to me.

I'll strike you down, I'll cut off your head.

Today I will give you cart your carcass to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field, and the whole earth will know that there's a God.

This is pretty aggressive language for a 13-year-old.

I'm gonna cut off your head with what, David?

You're walking up there with a sling and a bunch of stones.

And he knew as part of our small group.

I was just walking through this story with our Kinet group this week over Zoom.

And and one of the guys said, at this time of the year, it's so important to have a vision.

The Bible says, without a vision, people perish.

And David had a vision here.

He had a vision.

I'm gonna get up there and I'm gonna chop off your head.

With what, David?

With your own sword, and that's what he did.

He knocked Goliath down, he ran up to him, he took the sword out of Goliath's own sheath and he took off Goliath's head.

In our lives, sometimes we've got to push.

We've got to push, and we've got to have that vision in our spirit that I'm gonna get through this, I'm gonna get through this.

Greater is he that is in me.

Encourage myself in the Lord.

I'm not alone.

Lord, you're with me.

You're with me, you're not gonna forsake me, you're not gonna leave me alone, and I'm gonna get through it.

I look at the scripture when David had come back from Ziggleg, and the Bible says, Go and chase down your enemy.

You're gonna recover everything that was lost.

And the Bible says, He went and he recovered all.

Not a woman, not a child, not an item was left unreturned.

I'm praying for that whole same spirit in you.

That same spirit that gives us power at this time of the year.

It's such an incredible time of the year.

We think about the same power that rose Christ from the grave.

It lives in us.

And don't ever underestimate your ability during this time, during hard times.

Don't underestimate what you have in you.

You've got Christ in you, he's the hope of a future, he's the power, it's power in us.

We don't greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world.

There's a strength that is uncomparable in this world.

And today I believe that we can we can just remember and receive that and be encouraged by that and return to God that that praise for who he is and be reminded that we're not alone.

So today, if you're watching from home, as I'm sure you most of you are, I just want to be able to take a moment and just pray for you.

I want to pray that you would be able to uh be able to have the same tenacity that was in David, that same spirit that was in David, that it would reside in you, and that you would be able to take next steps and and be able to go through your journey this week, realizing that you've got a greater one who lives in you.

So for a moment, would you just bow your heads where you're at, at home, and we're gonna pray together.

Father, we thank you today that we're not alone.

We thank you for your greater heart, your greater strength, your greater power, and Lord, that that we aren't uh left to ourselves, but but we can do all things through Christ, through you who gives us strength.

And so, Father, today, thank you for your message, thank you for your word, thank you for this encouragement that we don't have to uh bow down to our obstacles, bow down to our giants, but you've given us the ability to overcome them.

That is good news.

Through Jesus, we have that strength to overcome giants today.

And if you're here today watching online and you you may have never received Christ before, you don't even know about this power, but you want it.

You don't know about this perspective, but you want it.

I'm gonna pray for you as well.

Just bow your heads with me.

Say, Father, today I receive you as my Lord and my savior.

Accept my sin, accept my mistakes, accept it today.

I give them to you.

I say, wash me clean, make me right.

I confess you as my Lord and my savior.

Give me a fresh new start today, as I walk today in my future with you.

Thank you, Lord, for your Holy Spirit, for your spirit that will live in me, teaching me, leading me, directing me in my life.

Give me that strength and that comfort of knowing you in Jesus' name.

Amen.

If you prayed that prayer with me today or this message ministered to you, would you just comment below and would you connect with us?

You can do that on online or you can go to our website, kcc.net.

We want to be able to celebrate with you, but help that you take those next steps in your journey.

Amen.

God bless you.

Look for Hiddles.

Will grow straight Love is glory.

It's the best choice that you could ever make, and we want to connect and celebrate with you.

Greater days are ahead.

We give because Jesus gave everything so that we may have life and have it more abundantly.

Partner with us to see growth in your own life, community, church family, and missions worldwide.

As we said before, you can give by visiting our website at kcc.net.

With the touch of a button, you'll be able to give on our homepage.

Along with that, you can text KCC Now to 77977, or you can download our app through the App Store and give through that as well.

Thanks for being a part of our church this morning.

Wherever you may be, we're glad that you chose to join us online.

Until we return to our on-campus Sunday services, we love to connect with you through email, connection card on the website, or through our social platforms.

Follow us on Facebook and Instagram to keep up with all of our latest news on Sunday services, events, and opportunities to be together.

We hope you have a great day and we look forward to seeing you next week.