TAKING GROUND: It`s Bigger Than You

Welcome to the Celebration Church Orlando podcast.

We are so glad you've joined us, and we hope you are encouraged by today's message.

All right, all right.

All right, man.

I'm so, so excited, thank you so much, um, to be with you guys today.

I think um the guys did a wonderful job at it it setting the tone.

I believe worship set the set of tone.

I believe your worship, your your anticipation and expectation of what God can do today, I believe that that also set the tone.

I just I just got here from from College Park.

Me, you guys know that we have two different locations.

Uh we have a location at College Park and our location here.

And man, I'm I'm so fired up, I almost ran here directly.

I didn't want to get in the car.

So here's my disclaimer.

I want to go ahead and put this out there just so you all can understand the context of where I'm at.

Um, I've been I've been fasting and praying, so I'm already fired up.

So I'm hoping y'all can keep up, but I'm not gonna slow down.

So we're gonna jump into this word.

We're gonna jump into this word.

So if you have your Bibles, I want to invite you to join me um in 1 Samuel chapter 17.

1 Samuel 17 · chapter mention

1 Samuel chapter 17.

1 Samuel 17 · chapter mention

I want to give you some context of the passage as we step into it.

It's one that's that's fairly familiar, and I think as I start to read it, um you'll you'll you'll recognize um the parts that you that you know.

But I just want to I want to paint the picture for you.

Last week we we talked about David, and so over the next couple of weeks, that's that's who our that's who our subject matter is.

We want to look at the life of David because I believe that his life beautifully illustrates a person who had to literally take ground, that he started in one place and he had to take ground aggressively at times in order for him to move forward and get what God has for him.

David is a perfect example of someone that he had a calling but he had to fight to walk in it.

And so I believe that's the same thing for us.

And so last week we talked about identity because I think it's very difficult to truly take ground if you don't know who you are, if you don't know that you're called, if you don't know that you're anointed.

So last week we we talked about that, that we can take ground when we take our place.

And so at that story ends, we we find ourselves turning the page, and now we're in 1 Samuel chapter 17 to give you some background on what's going on.

1 Samuel 17 · chapter mention

Not many of us know how much time has passed between chapters 16 and 17, but what we know is that that David is still a shepherd boy, he's still just serving as a shepherd, even though he's been anointed as a king.

And so for David, his his dad sent him out onto the front lines of the battlefield because back in those days, whenever the Israelites would go to war, that each family was responsible for taking care of whatever family members that were in the war at the time.

So so David's dad sent him out on the front lines to provide some resources for his three brothers that are at war.

And what we learn when we look at the passage, we find that David shows up.

And when David shows up, he's he's confronted with this with this evil.

He's confronted with something that makes him feel incredibly uncomfortable.

He's confronted with this giant obstacle.

What we know is that there's a giant there named Goliath.

The Philistines are there, the arch rivals of the children of Israel.

And and and as we begin to dig into the background a little bit, we see that they had been there for 40 days.

And for 40 days, two times a day, Goliath would get up and kind of give this speech.

This speech about, hey, I don't, we don't, all of our armies don't need to fight today.

But you send out your best fighter to fight against me, and whoever wins will be the one that that rules over the other ones.

So Goliath would go on to do a little bit more trash talking.

So for 40 days, two times a day, Goliath would get up and give this speech, but yet no war has broken out yet.

I think some of us probably can imagine what it feels like for 40 days, two times a day to hear the same speech over and over again.

For 40 days, two times a day, it almost becomes something that you memorize.

If you know it word for word, you actually end up believing it.

And so what we can find sometimes is that if we hear the same thing over and over again, we can actually begin to believe what it is that's being said.

And so for God's people at the time, they had heard this these rants of fear and condemnation and defeat.

So they began to nod their head and listen to it.

Many of you can think right now about a song that you absolutely despise, but you know every word to it.

Why?

Because you heard it long enough that you actually began to memorize it.

It's so interesting that we got to be careful of what we listen to because if we hear the wrong thing on repeat, we actually can end up going in the wrong direction.

But then David shows up.

David didn't hear, he didn't hear the past 40 days of that playlist.

He didn't hear it.

So when he shows up and he hears that speech, he's hearing it for the first time and he's just like, I don't like that.

So he begins to look around, like, yo, like, what are y'all doing?

Do y'all do y'all know who we are?

Do y'all know whose we are?

How are y'all just gonna let this ride?

His brothers, they may have still been bitter because their younger brother was anointed right in front of them.

So they told him to shut up.

They thought that he was stepping out of line.

You could again, you can see the way that he was treated.

They thought that he was that he was that he was looking for the limelight.

But then David just went on to the next person that was willing to listen.

I don't know who this is for right now, but listen, don't wait for someone's permission to follow your passion.

Don't wait for someone to give you permission to pursue what God has placed on your heart.

David's very faintly tried to shut him down, but he's like, I'm gonna move on to the next person.

So now he finds himself in the presence of the king, and as he's having this conversation with the king, he convinces the king, like, hey man, like I'll go and fight this battle.

If you won't do it, if they won't do it, then I will do it.

So David brilliantly convinces the king to allow this teenager.

Many believe that David was 15 to 16 years old.

This teenager, David convinced this king to allow a teenager to go and fight on behalf of an entire nation against a giant who we know that has never saw defeat.

So picking up here at 1 Samuel 17, verse 38, we step into the text and it says this Then Saul clothed David with his armor.

1 Samuel 17:38

He put on a helmet of bronze on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail.

And David strapped his sword over his armor, and he tried in vain to go, for he had not tested them.

Then David said to Saul, I cannot go with these, for I have not tested them.

So David put them off.

David took off the armor.

Then David took his staff in his hand, and he chose his five smooth stones from the brook, and he put them in a shepherd's pouch, his sling in his hand, and he approached the Philistine.

And the Philistine moved forward and came near to David with his shield bearer in front of them.

And when the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him.

He was but a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance.

I'm not sure if you guys are keeping track, but this is the second time we're told how attractive David is, in case anybody's interested in that.

Second time.

Verse number 43.

And the Philistine said to David, And I am a dog that you will come to me with sticks, and the Philistine cursed David by his gods.

The Philistine said to David, Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field.

He said, I will kill you and dishonor you.

Because back in those days there still was this idea of honor that when someone died, you will still take them and bury them.

But but what he was saying is that I'm going to kill you in the most embarrassing and inhumane way, and you're going to nourish the vultures.

There's a lot of weight to this.

But David has a response, and in 45 he says, This then David said to the Philistine, You come to me with a sword and 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 you have defiled.

David wanted to let him know, man, it's bigger than me.

You're actually coming against something much bigger than me.

And this day, the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head, and I will give your dead body to the hosts of the Philistines, to the birds this day of the air and the beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.

David's like, I could talk trash too.

And that all the assembly may know that the Lord saves not with the sword and with the spear, the Lord saves not with our own strength and with our own strategy, the Lord saves not with our own gift sets, for the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hand.

And when the Philistine arose, he he came near to David to meet him, and he ran quickly towards the battle line to meet the Philistine.

And David put his hand into the bag and he took the stone and slung it and struck the Philistine in the forehead.

The stone sunk into his forehead and he fell on his face to the ground.

So David prevailed over the Philistine with a slingshot and with a stone, and he struck the Philistine and killed him.

Now there was no sword in David's hand.

Then David ran, stood over the Philistine, took his sword, and drew it out of its sheath, and killed him, and cut off his head with it.

When the Philistine saw that their champion was dead, they fled.

We're closing up with this.

And when the men of Israel and Judah rose with a shout and pursued the Philistines as far as Gath to the gates of Ekron, so that the wounded Philistines fell on the way of Shemrah as far as Gath and Ekron.

And the people of Israel came back from chasing the Philistines and they plundered their camp.

And David took the head of the Philistine and brought it back to Jerusalem, but he put his armor in his tent.

I know it it's it sounds slightly barbaric, but I'm hoping we can we can read into this.

But when we look at this passage, it is it is a beautiful picture of the responsibility that each of us has, that when we are confronted with our giants, that it compels us to respond, that we don't shrink back, that we don't play the lies of the enemy on repeat, but we shut it down and we step into it.

The text said that David ran to the battle line, he didn't run from the confrontation.

I know that we're a people that believes in turning the other cheek, but every now and then God will lead us to lay hands.

So my prayer is and my belief is that God is activating something inside of all of us for us to take ground.

If you're writing this down, I want you to write this title down.

It's bigger than me.

It's bigger than me.

Let's pray.

God, we thank you so much for your word.

We thank you for your people, God.

We thank you for your your ecclesia, your church, your called-out ones, God.

Those that you've anointed and ordained even as you spoke to us last week.

Father, I pray.

I pray, God, that I get out of the way.

God, I I shrink, God, so that you can be magnified.

Lord, I pray for open eyes, God, that we can see you.

I pray for open hearts that we can receive everything that you have for us, God, and I pray for open ears that we can be receptive to your truth.

We commit this time to you in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

You know, as I as I was thinking about um just different milestones in my life.

My my my grandchildren actually came over to our house last night.

They they live up in Jacksonville, so they came over last night and they're spending some time with us.

And so, and I and I and I'm I'm just pausing and just celebrating these milestones because sometimes like life can happen so quick that we that we actually forget to pause and and live in the moment.

We can take pictures of the moment, but we don't often live in the moment.

So me sitting with my granddaughters on, sitting on my lap and and watching television and watching them watch shows that I watch with my kids, like it was just really, it was really a heart-touching moment.

And oddly enough, it kind of brought me down this like memory lane journey for me, where I began to just think through these milestones that that maybe I need to put down and document just to remind myself of the of the varying seasons that I've gone through.

So I began to recollect of when I had my my first car, my first job, my first paycheck, these these milestones that kind of remind you of where you've been and and and where you're going.

And some of those milestones are good, and some of those milestones are not so good.

So for me, I remember this milestone.

I don't know why it came to me, but I remember this milestone of when I had my encounter with my very first bully.

It was awful.

Let me let me walk you guys through it because this is better than therapy for me.

I was um I was in about fifth grade.

Now, I I have up until this point, I have never had to deal with any bullies in my life.

See, I have a I have an older brother, an older brother who's a bigger brother.

And he he was definitely a protector.

So he was the neighborhood bully.

He was the one that, like, so he no one messed, no one messed with me.

So my entire life, I always had a bigger brother that went before me.

So everyone in our community know, okay, that's that's Reggie's little brother.

Like, they wouldn't even give me eye contact.

Like, you grow up with a great deal of confidence for that.

So in my entire like childhood, never had any conflict, never had any drama, never had any problems.

But then one summer we went on vacation to go spend some time with my aunt who lives in in Hampton, Virginia.

And I quickly learned this lesson that street cred doesn't cross straight lines, state lines.

So I'm I'm in a different community, and these kids don't know me and they don't know my brother, and so we're trying to kind of get acclimated to this new environment.

Well, my brother's a little bit older, so he immediately goes and finds his peer group and he's hanging out with them.

I find the younger kids, I find my peer group, I'm hanging out with them.

But then there was like this middle nebulous group.

And there really wasn't but one person that was in that group.

It's a guy named Brent.

Now, Brent was too young to hang with my brother's crew, he was technically too old to hang with our crew, but he gravitated to us because he knew he could bully us.

So the entire summer, we're playing games, he's changing the rules, because you know, whenever like bullies, if they don't like something, they just change the rules because that's what bullies do.

Like he would do whatever he wanted to do, he would say whatever he wanted to say to us, and it just became our normal.

It was our normal rhythm.

I never complained about it, I didn't even know it was really that big of a deal.

Well, there is this one, there was this one Saturday, we were all outside, and it was like all the friend groups were kind of like in proximity.

So me and my friends were over here, my brother and his friends were over in the other section, but we all were like kind of in proximity.

And there was this moment where Brent started doing what he always does, and he was talking trash and calling us stupid and ignorant and all kind of other names, and you know, we just kind of like took it for what it was.

So my brother overhears this.

So he he comes up to me, he's like, Yo, you wanna let him talk to you like that?

I'm like, What?

That's just Brent, man.

He don't need anything by it.

I'd become numb to the abuse because what can happen a lot of times when we hear the same thing and we're exposed to the same thing so often, we can begin to dismiss it as normal.

Oh, it's okay.

You just don't understand.

That's just the way he talks.

He didn't mean anything by it.

That's just that's just the way he is.

You just gotta get to know him a little bit better.

That's just how he is.

So my brother was like, no, bro, like that's not okay.

You need to you need to speak up.

I'm like, bro, like just calm down.

It's all good, it's it's not that big of a deal.

But my brother, he insisted.

He just kept asking me, like, bro, are you gonna continue to let him talk to you like that?

Again, I didn't think there was anything wrong with it.

So I just continue to move forward and ignore what my brother was saying.

So I saw this moment in my brother's eyes where he looks at me, and Brent had said this one comment to me, and my brother looks at me, he looks at Brent, and he just says, like, okay.

So then he walks away.

So when my brother like does like that, okay, you literally never know which way it can go.

You have no clue.

Like it can go bad, it can go good.

You just know, you just know that he's ready for action.

So I'm thinking, like, okay, I don't want him to go and beat Brent up.

So I'm about to go and like inner see, like, hey bro, it's not that big of a deal, like, let it go.

He said, No, I'm not, I'm not gonna lay a hand on him.

So he goes over to Brent and he whispers in his ear, and he looks back at me, and Brent's standing there.

He's listening to my brother, and he looks at me, and he looks at my brother, and my brother just kind of like looks at him and gives him this nod.

So he looks at my brother, almost like saying, Are you sure?

To which my brother said, Okay.

So it was it was very clear.

So now Brent looks at me.

Now I'm trying my best to gauge it, my memory's a little bit fuzzy, but we're probably about 10, probably about 10 feet apart.

I'm here doing what fifth grade kids do, playing, you know, before like, you know, when kids actually used to go outside and play.

Like we're outside, we're we're playing, we're having fun.

And then I hear Brent, he said, Hey, Keith, I kind of pick my head up and I look over at him, and he says, Something that someone should never say to someone like me.

And he said this, your mama is so fat, they have to weigh her at Sea World.

Listen, if I see Brent right now on site, like that's that's how I feel about this.

See, here's the thing.

My brother, my brother knew.

I was raised, my I was raised in a single mother home until my stepfather came into the picture.

So I was a younger brother, I gravitated to my mom.

So my brother understood the context that I am very, very close with my mom.

So he knew that even in the days where you could just have your mama jokes, everybody knew, like, hey man, you don't do that with keys.

Like it's it's actually a problem.

Like, don't say anything about his mom.

So my brother giving him that that that ammunition, like, he knew that that would that would push me over the edge.

So he says, So I my response was I was like, because I was confident I didn't hear him.

I said, I said, what you say?

Because I'm trying to give him an opportunity to change his mind.

And this is how you know it was bad.

He didn't even repeat the whole thing, he just said, Your mama.

Now here's the thing as the 44-year-old version of me looks back at all of this, it's really not that big of a deal.

My mom's not even fat.

Like, it's not even that big of a deal.

But you're talking the 12-year-old version of me where all logic is out of the window.

All I remember is that this dude made a comment about my mom and I lost it.

All I remember doing, and I wouldn't advise this if there's any young ears in here, listen, turn the other cheek, get other adults involved, but as for me in my house, you talk slick.

We laying hands.

So, so he he makes the comment, and this was literally my strategy.

I literally just jumped up, I yelled at the top of my voice, like I was like Braveheart.

Freedom! Like I just yelled and I just ran after him with every ounce of energy that I had.

I wish I could I wish I could tell y'all what happened.

I literally blacked out.

I I don't know what happened.

All I remember is waking up out of a fog, Brent's running home with his shirt off.

I got a shirt in my hand and he's crying.

I may have pulled his shirt over like it was hockey.

I don't know what I did, but what I can tell you is I won.

But it ain't over.

If anybody knows Brent who lives in Hampton, Virginia, tell them to come see me.

I'm in Orlando, I'll give you my address right now on the podcast.

I ain't forgotten.

But here's the thing.

When I when I when I think back on it, like what activated it is because it got beyond me.

It's almost like I was okay with the insults, I was okay with the attacks, I was okay with the ridicule as long as long as it was about me.

But the moment that you came for my family, the moment that you came for people that I love, it it activated something to me.

In other words, when it became personable, it became practical.

When it becomes personal, it becomes actionable.

Sometimes when we when we look at things and it becomes personal to us, it activates something inside of us.

And for some reason, when Brent, when Britt came for my mom, I it compelled me to respond.

You know, when I when I think about the world that we live in right now, I think that we can look out and see a society where people are being bullied every single day.

People are being bullied by poverty, people are being bullied by sickness, people are being bullied by by injustice, people are being bullied by all types of things.

And if we're not careful, we can have the same posture of the children of Israel where we're so used to seeing it that we become numb to it and we don't even do anything about it.

Listen to me.

Recognition of the problem is not the solution of the problem, it's actually you doing something about it.

See, this is why I love the church because I believe that God has equipped and activated the church for such a time as this, so that we don't sit back and watch the oppression and the brokenness and the struggle of other people and we don't make it personal.

I want to let you know that you're part of a church that takes it personal.

That every time I see a person that is disenfranchised or broken, we take it personal.

That every time I see and hear about a marriage that's struggling, I take it personal.

Because if you don't take it personal, then sometimes it's not practical.

But we are part of a church that lets you know that we take those things personal.

Please understand, I love the lights, I love the smoke, I love the screens, but this is not a social club, that this is nothing more than an army that is equipped to go after and take ground from the enemy.

That is who we are as a church.

This is not a cruise ship, we're a battleship that God has equipped to go and take ground from the adversary.

And when I look at the nuances of who we are and the way that God has wired us, it caught, it compels us to recognize that it's bigger than us.

See, when David spoke, he recognized that this is so much bigger than me.

This is bigger than my ambition, this is bigger than my ideas, but if we allow him to continue to stand and talk and do what he's doing, it's going to impress our entire people group.

What are the things in your life that maybe it's not hitting you directly, but if we can begin to make it personal, it can garner a response from us.

There's a couple of observations in this text that I think can be an encouragement for us, inspiration for us, but also challenge us.

Because for David, when he goes onto the battlefield, there's some things that I think begins to activate him.

Let me give you some background about David.

We know that that David is a man after God's own heart.

1 Samuel 13 tells us that.

We know that David is a worshiper.

We know that he wrote many of the Psalms, that David has this drive for worship and praise.

He has so many psalms that he instructs us on how to do it.

But I want you to recognize something here.

That's not a coincidence.

That the battle took place in an environment that belonged to Judah.

Judah means praise.

So what the children of Israel would do is that before they would go into battle, they would literally send Judah first.

They would go in and perform a concert before they actually began to fight their battles.

Because here's what scripture says, and David's the one who told us this that God inhabits the praises of his people.

So they really believed that if we can allow Judah to go first, if we can praise God even when we're in a storm, if we can praise God even when we're in a battle, that God shows up and now we don't even have to fight in our own strengths because God is going to do it for us.

We're working this, we're working this.

Watch this.

So I don't think that it's ironic that the Philistines.

Position themselves in an environment that was designated for God's praise.

Are you catching that?

Don't be surprised when the enemy begins to position himself in areas of your life that you should be praising God for.

Let me make it practical.

It shouldn't surprise you that when the enemy shows up in your marriage, because that very thing that you should be honoring and worshiping God with is the very area that He's trying to strip your praise from you.

Don't be surprised when He shows up at your job.

Have you ever been in a spot where the thing you prayed for becomes the thing you pray about?

Okay, I told you I've been fastened.

The thing that you've been praying for now turns into the thing you're praying about.

God, I'm praying that you give me a job.

God, I'm praying that you give me another job.

God, I really want to get married.

God, I am not certain that I heard from you when I got married.

God, I really need you to move.

God, I wish you would stop moving.

Have you ever been in that spot where you've been asking God and inviting God, but the very thing that you've been asking God for, it's in your hand, and now you got to pray about it.

The enemy positions himself in areas that God should be getting glory from.

The name Goliath literally means to strip.

So let's put it together.

The enemy positioned himself in Judah because he wanted to strip the Israelites' praise.

If I can keep them from worshiping God, if I can keep them from honoring God, if I can keep them from exalting God, then I know they're gonna have to fight in their own strength and they're not equipped to do it.

Why do you think that every Sunday that when we come in here, we're not performing?

We're not trying to, we're not trying to get you excited, we're trying to lead you so that you can worship God because what we're aware of is that when you walk in these doors, that there's all types of baggage that's with you.

There's a baggage of the week, there's an argument that you had with your spouse on the way in and determining who's gonna check the kids.

And I checked them in last week.

No, it's your turn.

Like I understand all of that stuff.

But when we come into this place, we worship Jesus and we lift up his name because we truly believe that no matter what my struggle may be, no matter what's waiting for me outside of these doors, I am not gonna allow the enemy to strip me of my praise because my praise is my biggest weapon.

So every now and then you got to give God some praise, even in the middle of your war.

I know that your boss is getting on your nerves, but can you give God praise?

I know that your spouse is getting on your nerves, but can you give God praise?

I know the kids are driving you crazy, but can you give God praise in the midst of it?

I know your accounts are negative right now, but can you still give God some praise?

Because the Bible declares that God inhabits the praises of his people.

And if God shows up, then the enemy has to go put a flight.

I don't know who I'm talking to right now.

Come in here, church.

I'm telling you right now, if you can learn to activate your praise, even in the time of pain, that you will begin to experience victory and peace.

It's it's understanding that I gotta invite God into this situation.

So, so for the Philistines, they needed to position themselves in a place that would literally that would literally neutralize their effectiveness of war.

David shows up and he recognizes this, like, man, you're not gonna strip us of our praise.

So now that he begins to to ask some questions and he begins to get some perspective on all of it, there's there's another thing that I want us to see in all of this.

That David determines that you're not gonna steal my praise.

So he begins to ask some questions.

So he finds himself in the presence of the king now.

So the king looks at him and he's like, Man, you're nothing but a teenager.

You haven't even been to battle.

You've you've literally done nothing in your life.

You're not equipped, you don't have the experience, you don't have the skill set, you don't have the aptitude, you you don't deserve this opportunity to step into this.

Have any of us ever felt like there's an open door, but then there's these voices telling you that you're not fit to step into it?

This is where David's at.

So David said, Oh man, like let me I know that my I know that I may look small.

I know that I am handsome.

Scripture says it's made that clear.

That's David talking, not me.

However, I do agree with that for myself.

Anyway, I get I get all of that.

I get it.

But but here's the thing David's like, man, but I've been through some things.

David then begins to tell Saul his resume.

He's like, bro, let me tell you something.

Man, I've I've seen some things in my life.

Let me let me break down my resume for you real quick.

Like, I'm a shepherd.

My job description is to protect and to provide for the sheep.

And a lot of times what that meant is that the shepherds had this responsibility that whenever a predator would show up, is to stand between the predator and the sheep because the sheep are defenseless.

So that was the job description.

So what that means is that there are times that maybe our predator shows up, and if they had their staff, they could scare it off.

But what David tells us is that there was a time where a lion shows up.

He literally grabs one of the sheep in his mouth and is on his way.

Now, I have the calling of a shepherd.

That's why they call pastors and shepherds.

It's it's the same thing.

You're just standing, you're standing before God, you're standing on behalf of the people.

That's that's the responsibility that I have.

I love everyone in this room, and I say that with all sincerity.

If a lion comes in here and grabs a hold of you right now, I'm like, yo, somebody notified our family.

Real talk.

Like, we'll do everything we can.

We will, as a church, we will pay for every amount of your hospital bills.

But I don't know if I'm gonna chase a lion down.

I don't know if I have it in me.

We'll see.

We'll see what happens.

But but David says this David says that a lion showed up and that when it grabbed one of the sheep, that he personally chased it down and killed it with his bare hands.

That's gangster.

I'm not sure.

I'm not sure if you know that or not, but that's just not normal.

David chased it down and killed him with his bare hands.

That's crazy.

So David says, like, listen, it wasn't just it wasn't just a lion, bro.

I had the same scenario happen with a bear.

Bear showed up, same situation.

Got in, got involved, killed a bear with my bare hands.

So David's now, he's like literally talking wizard of ours.

Lions and tigers and bears, all my life.

David is saying, like, you could bring whatever you want into my world and I'm gonna shut it down.

So David begins to basically say, I've been through some things and I survived it.

I've been in some battles and I survived it.

It may not, it may not have reached your ears, king, but I've I've had some battles in my life and I survived it.

I fought against a lion and I won.

I fought against a bear and I won.

I've had to deal with some um some obstacles with my own family and I won.

In other words, what David was saying is I'm a survivor.

What David was saying that please don't let my good looks fool you.

I've been through some things.

Please, please don't get it twisted, Saul.

I got I got some I got better skills than you think.

Don't sleep on me.

Don't sleep on me.

Listen, every now and then we need to just remind ourselves of the things that we have been victorious over in our past.

Because here's the beautiful thing about it: you are a survivor.

Get that in your heart, get that in your spirit, get that in your mind.

You are a survivor.

Because this is how I know this.

The Bible says this about the enemy's job description found in John 10 10.

That the enemy comes to steal, to kill, and destroy.

Which means this he doesn't play games.

That when the enemy shows up, he's not just trying to get you and your spouse to argue, he's trying to kill your marriage.

But yet you have survived it because you're still here.

I want somebody to get a hold of this.

When the enemy showed up and he struck your child with sickness, he wasn't trying to give you debt, he was trying to bring death into your world.

You may got some expenses, but your kid is still here.

You are a survivor.

I'm gonna keep working this, I'm gonna keep working this.

When the enemy shows up and you're dealing with all hell breaking loose at your job, but somehow, through it all, you're able to show up.

That somehow, through it all, that you're able to be a beacon of light.

The enemy is not trying to frustrate you at work, he's trying to get you to stop providing for your family, and yet you are still there.

You are a survivor.

Please understand that the enemy is not playing games with you, he has hit you literally with his best shot, and you are still here.

You are a survivor.

You are doing better than you think you are.

Some of you have been fighting against the adversary, thinking that I shouldn't even make it to church today.

But guess what?

You did.

You are a survivor.

So every now and then we got to remind ourselves that no matter what I am facing, I can look in the rearview mirror and see the places that God has delivered me from.

You are a survivor.

David made this statement.

He said, Man, I've I've survived some things.

I've been through some things, man.

Like, let me let me get my shot, put me in, coach.

So Saul says, Okay, man, fine.

You can go.

Let me give you this armor.

This is this is so this is so powerful.

He said, Let me give you this, let me give you this armor.

So Saul proceeds to give David his armor.

Now that's that was armor that was specifically made for the king.

Now, far be it from me to speak to the the motives of Saul's heart.

But I think I've learned enough about the nature of Saul by looking at the pattern in scriptures that I can at least submit this to you for something to consider.

It's possible that because of the way that the battle was set up, that Saul was thinking to himself, the battle is in the valley.

We're on one side of the mountain, the Philistines are on the other, but the battle is taking place in this valley, which means you really can't see that clearly what's going on.

So it could it be that maybe in the mind of Saul, if I can put my armor on David, that when the masses see him fighting the battle, and if he does win, they'll think it was me.

Could it be that every now and then people will try to put their armor on you so they can take credit for your success?

Did I tell you how I was fascinating?

Listen to me.

We gotta be careful that we're not trying to wear somebody else's armor.

We gotta be careful that someone is not trying to shoehorn us into their calling, into their preference, into their grace.

See, David says, I I can't go in these.

Do you know the amount of the boldness that it takes for a teenager to look at a king and say, I'm not wearing this?

This isn't me.

Like David, we are so consumed with comparison.

We're in a world right now where we're so hungry for affirmation.

Please like my picture.

Even if I have to compromise my character in order to get me to like it, please, please comment on my like we live in a world where we're just so hungry for affirmation from man.

And here's my concern in an effort to get likes from man, we can miss the well done from God.

We we we end up missing what God is calling us to do because we're trying to get somebody to pat us on our back.

But but David had the he had the wisdom and the knowledge saying, Man, I can't I can't go in these.

This isn't me.

Here's the other side of that coin.

Being in a position of leadership as a husband, as a father, as a pastor with teams all around me, I gotta be careful that I'm not putting my armor on people around me.

Because it's possible that my preference, my perspective, the way that I think, I can begin to force that onto people, and that's just not who they are, and I'm actually stripping them of the thing that God has made them to do and to be.

Here's the question we have to ask Am I Am I wearing someone else's armor or am I putting my armor on someone else?

It's a conflicting question, I understand it, but we have to lean into it.

We have to be mindful of those things.

We have to be careful that we don't find ourselves at a place where we're stepping into something that God has never intended us to walk in.

David said, Man, this isn't this isn't me.

I'm I got I got a lot of gifts in me, but this isn't me.

I I got a lot of things that God has wired me to do, but this isn't me.

There's a lot of things that God has invited me to be a part of, but but that right there, that's not me.

I truly believe that when you embrace who you are, you can let go of who you're not.

You can let go of the of the ideas of what someone else thinks that you should be.

And as a and as a father, I've recognized more and every time my kids reach that teenage stage where I feel like I want them to do certain things, I gotta pause myself and say, man, like, but that's my armor, not theirs.

You gotta give people room to step in the calling that God has uniquely wired and given them.

So David is in this moment where he's looking at, he's looking at the king and and he has to deal with this this compromise and comparison and character and make this statement that it's not me.

I believe some of us have to do some evaluation in our lives right now because I believe that the Holy Spirit is revealing some things to you that you're compromising in.

And maybe when you make that statement that this isn't me anymore, that you may lose some friends.

But here's something that I want to encourage you with.

If your friends don't like where you stand, and maybe you need to stand with new friends, but recognize that these things just aren't me.

I used to do those things.

I used to go to those places, but that's not me.

I used to talk like that, but that's not me.

Those are things that I used to do, but that's in the rearview mirror of my life.

I've got to move forward.

I'm not going to wear the armor of culture.

Isn't it interesting how Saul was sitting down, but he was giving David instructions on where he needed to go?

I've learned never to take fashion advice from a nudist.

Some of y'all will catch that later.

You're not going to battle, but you want to equip me for battle.

You're not doing what I do, but you want to tell me how I did.

Okay, let me move on.

I know it's challenging some of us, but we gotta be careful of the voices that we allow to speak into our minds and to our worlds.

God has uniquely wired you to do exactly what you're doing.

So now David is in this spot where he now has he now has on Saul's armor.

And this is one thing that I want you to know that the biggest way that you can tell if you are being inspired somebody or if you're imitating somebody is the amount of energy that it takes.

Because being somebody else is exhausting.

And if you find yourself at these places where I'm exhausted every time that I have to perform this or do this, then maybe you're going in someone else's armor.

I remember when I got early into ministry, I was so inspired and influenced by so many different preachers.

And I went to my very first like T.D.

Jakes conference, and bro, I knew it.

I was like, okay, that's that's me.

I'm called to be the next bishop T.D.

Jakes.

So the next time I preach, I kid you not, I hope there's no video footage of it.

But I I literally began to talk like T.D.

Jakes.

Get ready, get ready, get ready.

Like I even gained weight and went bald for a moment.

Like it was.

But I literally thought, like, man, like uh, this is me.

So I began to speak and pontificate and articulate and do all these things because the spirit of the living God.

Like I did, I did all that stuff.

But then I recognized that, man, that's not me.

I began to wear a couple of other people's armors, but that's not me.

I had to I had to try on a bunch of things and I became a spiritual schizophrenic because every time I preached, I didn't know who I was.

I was all over the place.

But I finally got to a point where I had to look in the mirror and God said to me, You are wearing an armor I never ordained you to wear.

That's not you.

So I've learned over the years that when people say, Hey, you should try this, that's not me.

That's one of my favorite statements now when someone tries to project, that's not me.

I understand that, but that's not me.

Maybe every now and then you can recognize what you won't do and you can begin to walk in the authority of who you are.

Because sometimes you just gotta say, that's not me.

I'm not called to do that, I'm not called to walk in that.

I won't walk in someone else's armor, I won't walk in someone else's grace, I won't walk in someone else's anointing.

I've got to be me.

You've got to be yourself, church.

I wanna I wanna close with this.

I want to invite the worship team out because now we're at this moment where where David, David is now finally confronting his enemy.

He's finally confronting this giant.

He's on a battlefield now, and the giant is over there and Goliath sees him and he's offended.

We've seen all that in the text.

But David now sizing him up, he knew that he still couldn't run away.

I want you to write this down.

We can take ground when we face our giants.

Because there's this moment where, man, he's a lot bigger than I thought he was.

There's this moment when Goliath begins to speak.

Wow, he's a lot, he's a lot louder than I thought he was.

Man, he's he's a lot more intimidating than I thought he was.

There's a moment where you can you can look at the evidence of something and it can cause you to shrink back.

But we will never take ground if we don't face the giants that's in our lives.

And here's the thing about giants some giants are ones that they invite themselves into our world, and some giants we've invited.

When you look at David, David has lived a life where he's had to deal with both.

When he was living out his calling, the giants of jealousy and and fear that came from Saul, that they stepped into his world.

He didn't ask for that, and he had to learn how to face it and deal with it.

But then David, a man after God's own heart, still made mistakes.

He committed adultery, had a man killed, had to deal with the consequence of it, but he had to face it.

So you know, every now and then we find ourselves in these spaces where I may have created this or it may have created itself, but the response is not any different either way.

I have to face it.

I have to take responsibility and I have to lean into it and face it.

And the best way that we can face a giant is by speaking the truth.

See, Goliath began to speak and he began to size David up, he began to talk his trash.

He was looking at he was looking at the evidence of what was there.

And you know what?

If we really were to think about it, the giant, he was probably speaking some very strong facts.

But we have to make sure that we don't think that facts and truth are synonymous.

Because there may be some moments where you may be looking at the facts, but that doesn't mean that that's what God says.

And as long as I have read through scripture, God has the one who has the final word.

The fact of the matter may be you may have made a mistake, but the truth says, but there's no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.

The facts may say that you may have dealt with some setbacks, but but the truth of the word says that, but God's mercies are renewed every single day.

The facts may say that you're standing in the middle of something right now, that it looks like you won't have any victorious opportunities in front of you.

But the truth of the word of God says that if God before you, then who can be against you?

We gotta be careful that we're only responding to the truth of God's words and not the facts that the opportunities and the world will put into our face.

Every now and then we gotta look at the difference between the facts and the truth.

And maybe you're dealing with a giant fact right now.

It doesn't look good.

You got some things that you gotta deal with, but the truth of God's word says that I am for you.

I am for you.

Greater is he that's in me than he that's in the world.

You take ground when you face your giants, church.

When I can lean into recognizing the way that God has wired me, I'm taking ground.

When I can face my giants, I am taking ground.

When I don't back down, I'm taking ground.

When I take responsibility, I'm taking ground.

I'm taking ground by not shrinking back, and I take ground by speaking the truth because the truth is the very thing that sets us free.

What truth do you need to be reminded of today?

You are a son and daughter of God.

So no matter what facts, no matter what giant, no matter what things are yelling as loud as they can, respond with the truth that God sees you and that he's for you.

You know, as I as I as I process through all of this, it actually does make me think back.

It actually does make me think back to my encounter with Brent.

Because oddly enough, like for the next couple of weeks, I ended up like staying in a house, I ended up getting punished because I won.

It's okay.

He went and told his parents, they came back, made it seem like I was a bad guy, so whatever.

But I remember, like my friends, they would still come over.

And and when they would come over, they were they were so excited.

They the fear of the neighborhood bully was gone.

Because I've I've seen that if you can behead the bully, it lets him know that he can bleed, and it creates confidence for everybody else because you realize that man, if he can do it, then so can I.

It inspired the entire neighborhood.

Now, church, I didn't set out to be a hero that day.

I didn't.

But but somehow, somehow, my response changed everything.

You know, when we look at this text, there were there were three responses that the children of Israel had that I think we should have.

First and foremost, the Bible says that they they arose, they stood, they stood up.

That by David's response, that when David took a stand, that everybody else was able to take a stand, it was bigger than him.

When you can take a stand, you're taking ground.

That every time you show up at church, you're taking ground.

That every time you trust and give, you're taking ground.

That when you make a decision to start serving, you're taking ground.

That every time you make a decision to honor God, you're taking ground, it's taking a stand.

And when you take a stand, maybe the people around you can begin to take a stand.

The next thing that the text says is that the Bible declares that there was a shout.

They all began to shout.

In other words, they got their praise back.

Because for the past 40 days there had been no worship.

For the past 40 days, there had been no shouting, there had been nothing but silence.

But when David, when David behead the enemy, then not only did they have the ability to take a stand, but they got their praise back.

See, we read a scripture that tells us that God inhabits the praises of his people.

And what I believe is the time for some of us in this room, it's time for you to get your praise back, it's time for you to recognize that if I can just worship God, even in my uncomfortable seasons, then I gotta believe that God's gonna show up.

I'm getting my praise back.

Devil, you cannot have my praise.

Devil, you cannot have my family.

I'm gonna give God praise.

They began to shout, and then the Bible declares that they pursued, they chased after the Philistines and they came back and plundered their camp.

And what I believe is sometimes we see the back end of that statement.

They plundered the camp, but they couldn't plunder the camp until they pursued the enemy.

Some of us that we know what God's calling us to do, we see we see the rewards on the other side.

But have you taken a stand?

Have you got your praise back and have you chased the enemy off your territory?

Because until you do those things, you cannot get everything that God has for you.

You got to chase the enemy out.

You chase the enemy out, and you will take ground.

You know, when my friends came to me after that fight, and he literally brought me Brent's t shirt, it's like a reward.

Like, hey man, you need to keep this.

And I remember those two weeks where I was sitting in the house, I would look, I would see it sitting on a bed, and I would just smile and like that's right.

I literally still think about it right now.

I remember it so vividly.

It served as a reminder.

It served as a reminder that even a little guy can win.

It served as a reminder that you can be victorious.

You see, for David, when he fought that battle, the Bible says that he he cut off Goliath's head, he cut off his authority, he cut off his influence.

My concern is that sometimes we see the giant fall, but we never cut off his authority.

So he still has a presence in our lives.

But when David cut off the enemy's head, he cut off his influence in his life altogether.

After he took his head, he gave it to Jerusalem so they could be inspired.

But he took the sword and he kept it for safekeeping.

He took he took the armor.

And so we'll find in 1 Samuel 21, there was a moment when David was he was on a run.

He was afraid.

He thought he was going to be killed.

And so he finds himself going into the temple and going into a place where he's like, okay, like I don't have any resources.

Like Saul's trying to kill me.

I didn't get a chance to get my armor.

I didn't get a chance to get my sword.

Like, what can I do?

And the priest said to him and said, We still have the sword that you killed Goliath with.

So David's now able to look at this sword that is a reminder of the victory and the goodness of God and God being for him.

He he took that sword.

Many many scholars believe that that was the inspiration of what David created, what's called the Tower of David.

We only see one reference of it in all of scripture, and that's found in Songs of Solomon, chapter 4, verse 4.

But what it does is it paints this picture of the Tower of David, where when David would go to war, that every time after he defeated an enemy, an enemy, he would take their swords, he would take their shields and put it up on a wall.

And what would happen is all the children of Israel, whenever they would go to battle, they would first go through the Tower of David and they would look and see.

Oh, I remember when we fought them and we won.

I remember when we fought them and we won.

Okay, I remember that battle and we won.

They literally became the museum of victories, which inspired them to know the same God that got us through this is the same God that'll get us through what we're about to go through right now.

They it was a reminder that it's bigger than us.

The battle's not mine, it's the Lord's.

And what I want for some of us to do is to begin to develop our own tower of victory and be reminded of the victories that God has already brought into our lives so that as we go into battle, we can say, the battle is not mine, it's the Lord's, it's bigger than me.

I remember when, I remember when I thought I was losing my mind, but God showed up.

I remember, I remember when I thought that my marriage was gonna fall apart, but God showed up.

I remember when I got that sick diagnosis and they said that there was no chance of recovery, but God showed up.

I remember when my kids were away from God, but God showed up.

I remember when I lost my job, but yet I am still providing for my family because God showed up.

What I'm telling you is there's these moments where we can look back into the rear view mirror of the goodness of God and we can say, but God, the enemy had a plan, but so did God.

The enemy wanted to destroy me, but God said no, that God is for me, but God.

Every now and then we gotta take a stand, we gotta begin to shout, and we gotta arise and say, But God, God is too good, God is too good.

The enemy is strong, but my God is stronger.

God is coming after you.

So I gotta make a decision in my mind that no matter what I am facing, I know who's standing with me.

No matter what's in front of me, I know who's inside of me.

Greater is he that's in you than he that's in the world.

The adversary is giving you everything he's got, but God is with you.

It's bigger than you.

God is bigger than any mountain that you may be facing.

So, Father, in the name of Jesus, as we go into worship God, I pray that you remind us that you inhabit our praises.

We declare your goodness, and we know that you're gonna fight on our behalf.

Come on, church, let's give God some praise.

Thank you for tuning in to today's podcast.

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