Heart Series: Vision for the Valley – Part 2 | 1 Samuel 17

You're listening to the Bridgetown Church Podcast with

Pastor Casey Kendall, where our vision is Jesus, our mission is

people, and our cause is love. Thanks for tuning in.

Let's dive in. If you have your Bible handy,

we're in First Samuel chapter 17.

1 Samuel 17 · chapter mention

The title of this sermon is Vision for the Valley Part 2,

all right. Vision for the Valley Part 2,

all right. We are going through the book of

First Samuel as a church. The whole series is called

Heart. And we really believe what God

told Samuel is true, that God does not look at the outward

appearance of man, but the Lord looks at the heart.

And he's focusing on not just Hannah who prayed, not just

Samuel who was given, but he's focusing on three kings.

Throughout the book of First Samuel, the first king we're

going to be looking at is a man by the name of Saul, King Saul.

The second king leads into a man by the name of King David.

King David is pointing us to the greatest king of all, the king

of kings, the Lord of Lords, the name above every other name,

King Jesus. And so as we go through this

time in First Samuel 17, we have put on the brakes.

We are slowing down our process in this chapter and a lot like

you, I like to run through the valley.

I want to get through my valleys in life as quickly as I can.

I want to get through the pain as fast as I can.

I want God to put me, as we like to say, in the microwave in the

valley where it's quick, it's to the point, but God constantly

puts me in the crock pot and it just seems like it's a slow,

simmering, flavorful work that God is doing in my heart and

life. And I just want to slow down in

the valley. That was a good spot for an

Amen. I just want to slow down in the

valley. And I want you to be reminded

today as we've gathered in this place that what happens in the

valley doesn't stay in the valley.

It affects every area of our lives.

Last week we talked about walking through the valley meant

for us. We're going to see the place

that we're at and we're going to see the enemy that we face.

This week we're only going to look at one thing, and this is

what I want you to remember as we go through the valley.

The valley is going to also mean understanding my identity.

As I go through the valley, I want to understand my identity.

And as we've gathered in this place, I just want to pray and

ask that God would open our hearts to his word.

So would you join me? Lord, we ask and pray as we've

gathered, that you would speak not by might or my power or my

coercion, but Lord, by your spirit, that your church would

have an ear to hear what the Spirit is saying.

And Lord, in this moment that we would walk through the valley

with the vision you desire for us to have, and we ask that you

would do this in Jesus name. And everybody said, Amen, First

1 Samuel 17 · chapter mention

Samuel, chapter 17. If you have your Bible handy,

we're just going to pick up the story in verse 12.

The Bible says now David was the son of the Ephrathite of

Bethlehem, Judah, whose name was Jesse and who had eight sons.

And the man was old, advanced in years.

In the days of Saul, the three oldest sons of Jesse had gone to

follow Saul to the battle. The names of his three sons who

went to the battle were Eliab, the first born next to him,

Abinadab, and the third Shema. And David was the youngest, and

the three oldest followed Saul. If you would just stop there and

give me your attention for a moment, and if you would look at

your neighbor and say neighbor, my neighbor, there is a battle

before the battle. There is a battle before the

battle. I'll just say it again.

You don't have to repeat it, but there is a battle before the

battle. The year was 2014 and the

Chicago Bears were predicted to win the NFC North on this

Sunday. Sorry Hector, they were playing

the sad and sorrowful Miami Dolphins in that moment.

On that day, they were not only predicted to win the NFC North

in their division, but they were predicted to win with a

landslide this game on this Sunday.

It was on that day that the Chicago Bears, with an abundance

of talent and a great prediction, had a humiliating

loss to the sad and sorrowful Miami Dolphins.

The interview Sportscasters and reporters had gathered together

in the locker room and they run into the star wide receiver by

the name of Brandon Marshall. They asked Brandon Marshall this

question. How did they lose the game in

the midst of them being predicted to win the NFC North,

in the midst of them having so much talent on the team?

How did you lose this game in which Brandon Marshall replied

to the reporters and he said these words.

We lost in the locker room. Once again, he said We lost in

the locker room way before the team got into this place with

their uniforms on, way before they would step on the grass at

Soldier Field, way before a snap or a play would ever be

rehearsed. Brandon Marshall said these

words that we lost in the locker room.

I don't think this just happens on and in sanctuaries.

I think not only does this happen just in stadiums on a

football field, but this happens to every soul that's sitting in

this place, in that seat. Today.

We often lose the battle in the locker room.

Oh, maybe it's not just football today, but maybe in the area of

your life you are losing in the locker room and you have come

into this place defeated even before the battle begins.

You've come into this place with a mindset that you're actually

not going to win in your marriage.

You come in with a mindset that you will always be like this as

a single. You've come into that final Test

as a college student, and you've come in thinking that you're

going to fail the test way before you even take the test.

You've entered into that job interview knowing that you're

really not going to do that good.

And so you've already lost the battle before the battle has

even begun. Some of us have become so

defeated that now we're depleted in the battle that's about to

approach us. Some of us have found ourselves

so much in a struggle it has sapped our strength.

Even before the intensity of the battle, the pain and the problem

has altered your perspective. And now, because of your wounds,

you're walking into the valley cynical.

And now, because of your hurt, you've come into the valley

skeptical. And now that you're cynical and

skeptical, you find yourself walking through a valley and

your victory has become questionable.

I ask you, as we've gathered into this place, what is the

battle before the battle actually has begun?

Because I want us to have the right vision.

Because if we can see where God has called us to step in

faithfulness, we will experience the success in where God is

calling us to be. But not only where God's calling

us to be, but who He is making us to be in the moment that we

we are in. Did you see what you see with

your eyes? It is very important that as you

walk through the valley that you believe what is true about God

in your mind. Because not only is vision

dealing with sight, but vision is dealing with your mind and

your understanding of who God is and who you are and the

situation that God has placed you in in this moment.

And you might have found yourself into this place.

And I want you to hear this. I want you to write this down.

I want you to remember this for whenever you're walking through

the valley and that is this. Whatever, whatever you bring to

the battlefield will determine what happens on the battlefield

and then it will lead to how you look coming off the

battlefields. Can I say that again?

Come on, Not just the front row. Can I say that again today?

But listen, listen, listen to me.

What you bring into the battlefield will determine what

happens on the battlefield, which will then lead to how you

look coming off the battlefields.

That was another good spot for an Amen.

I need your help this morning. I need you to push a preacher.

All right. Are we in this?

Charles Wyndall said these words.

He said these words in regards to vision.

He said vision is the ability to see God's presence in my

problems. He says that vision is the

ability to see God's power in my pain.

He says that vision is to focus on God's plan.

In my persistence and in spite of earthly obstacles, I have

divine opportunities to grow. This is exactly where you are at

this morning in the San Gabriel Valley.

But more than that, some of you are in a marital valley.

For some of you, you're in the single valley.

For some of us, we're in the emotional valley.

For some of us, we are so dry spiritually.

We're wondering when God will rain down His power upon us.

Some of us are not just dry spiritually, but we become so

bitter and so hardened that it feels like we're going to be

broken by the Lord. And some of us have found

ourselves in this emotional, spiritual valley wondering how

we are going to walk through this in victory.

Listen, you're not alone. You're not alone this morning.

This is exactly where David finds himself today.

You remember last week, some of us, we might be walking into a

valley. Some of us, we might be coming

out of a valley. Some of us, we might be right

dab in the middle of this valley.

Wherever you're at, this message is for you.

And not just for you to help someone else that is walking

through the valley, but for all of us to walk through the valley

with victory. And in this victory, it is here

that one man would make one decision to go into one valley,

and he would find himself in that one valley facing one

giant, depending upon one Almighty God.

And one decision would lead to the victory of generations to

come. These things have been written,

the Bible says for our instruction and because David's

victory. I could cry out like David did

in first Samuel chapter 17, verse 47, that the battle is the

1 Samuel 17:47

Lord's. Listen, turn your attention to

that verse one more time, because I don't think you heard

me today. Then all this assembly shall

know that the Lord does not say with sword and spear, for the

battle is the Lord's, and He will give you into our hands.

When Goliath would come. Oh come on, we can clap in this

place. That's a golf clap.

We can clap in this place. Today God is celebrating all

that God wants to do in our midst today.

Listen, all that God wants to do and bring to us in this moment,

there is a battle before the battle.

And that is, is that Israel, Saul, Goliath is too big to hit

and David saw him as too big to miss.

And it was in this moment that David comes into the scene and

way before he even knew what the battle was all going to be

about, he finds himself in this place with the own battle that

he is facing. And I want to remind you today

of what we said last week, that as you are in this place, Andrew

Murray once said, I am here by God's appointment.

I am here in His keeping. I am here in His training.

I am here for His time. So I will see the place that God

has placed me and I'll experience His grace.

I will see the enemy that I'm about to face and see God's

power. But I also want you to

understand one thing today about where we are at, and that is

this. If you're walking through the

valley, I want you to understand.

Write this down your identity. I want you to understand your

identity. I want you to understand your

identity. I'll just say it again, just

because they say if you repeat things, you will remember them.

I want you to understand your identity.

Notice the Bible says in verse 12.

Now David was the son of an Ephrathite.

We don't hear that word a lot in Glendora.

He's an Ephrathite and Ephrathite was a person.

It was an old term, an old way to describe the old city of

Bethlehem. So notice this, David, his name

means beloved. Isn't that good to know when

you're walking through the valley that you are beloved?

Isn't it to know that when you're walking through the

valley that God's Love Is All over you?

Isn't it good to know that God is so good and so faithful that

His love is still being poured out to you even when we mess up

in the valley? Isn't it good to know, just like

David, that we are beloved by the Lord, that He loves you not

based upon what you can do for him, but what He will always do

for you? Isn't it good to know that God's

love for you is based upon His character that is holy and true

and righteous? Isn't it good to know, man, I

hope there's some David's in this place that know that, that

that this is this is what Jesse called him, but this is also

what his heavenly Father called him.

He is beloved. When I'm walking through the

valley, when I find myself in this place, here is David from

the old city of Bethlehem. And then the Bible says it

repeats it. He's of Ephrathite of Bethlehem,

Judah. The word Bethlehem, if you're

taking note, means the House of bread, and the word Judah means

the place of praise. I feel like I want to be like an

old Southern Baptist preacher right now.

David the shepherd is coming out of the House of bread.

Reminds me of someone, the bread of life, Jesus.

And David is coming into the valley from the place of praise.

Isn't that interesting that you could praise God and enter into

the valley even though it's painful?

Did you see the identity? Notice his dad's name was Jesse.

His dad's name is Jesse. Jesse's name means God's gift.

But notice this David in verse 12.

Jesse had eight sons and the man was old, advanced in years in

the days of Saul. David's earthly father is old,

fading. His heavenly Father is faithful

and enduring. Come on, I want you to see your

identity. The Bible says that Jesse had

eight sons. 8 is the number of new beginnings in the Bible and

that is exactly what the Lord is doing in your life and in this

moment that Jesse comes. It is in the days of Saul.

You remember that Saul was rejected as king because he did

not obey the Lord. And the Bible says in verse 13

that David had three. Jesse had three oldest sons that

had gone to follow in the battle.

So here is Jesse, old his oldest three sons go to the valley of

Elah and they are on Saul's side and they're ready to fight the

Philistines. Remember when we get into this

valley that it's not 2 armies that are against each other,

it's going to be two men who are against each other, one having

the great God, the Almighty God, and the one other man who's

serving the false gods of the Philistines.

So in this moment Jesse's boys follow after Saul.

Now they give us their names. The first name is in the battle

was Eliab. He was the first born.

He was the one that Samuel looked at at 1st and said that

one has to be the king. And then he went to the second

one in the next son was Abinadab.

That must be the king. The third one must have really

gotten Samuel going. Shema.

Now listen, if you take note, I want you to hear their names.

Eliab's name means God is 1's father.

Abinadab's name means that my father is noble.

Shema means astonishment. And then the Bible gives us this

contrast that David was the youngest.

David was. Why did they highlight the

youngest? Why did they go to the back end

of the story and say that David, possibly he's the last son?

Some scholars believe that he's not from the same woman of

Jesse's first wife, that there was a bit of disdain in the

family towards David, that he wasn't really in the same order

as all of his other brothers. It was like in the Bible where

John mentions in the resurrection story that he said,

and I got to the tomb first before Peter.

David is he's the youngest, he's the runt, he's the smallest, he

is the weakest. Everything in Jewish culture

would switch over to the first born son, not the last born son.

But I want to give you David's identity that though the

brothers went out to battle, notice this, that David was the

youngest and the three oldest followed Saul.

But it even gets worse. It gets worse.

So highlight David is the youngest, the run, the weakest,

the smallest. But all the brothers went to go

follow Saul and all of Israel said, yeah, and this is David's

life. But David occasionally he was

playing music for Saul. You remember he was on air one.

His hit song was about to be played all throughout Israel.

Saul has slain his thousands, but David his 10s of thousands.

His Psalms that he wrote would now be recorded as David would

play the harp in The Bible says that as he played the harp that

Saul's spirit was soothed because the demonic spirit would

oppress him and torment him. And David's playing the music in

the background. Men who play music are brave,

not weak. Oh, what's where's David?

Is David really a manly man? He plays the hop.

We'll see that. The guy who plays music can also

not just sing a song. He could sling his sling.

He could gather some stones. And here in this place, notice

if you would, the Bible says that David occasionally went and

returned from Saul. Listen to his job to feed his

father's sheep in Bethlehem. His brothers are out to battle.

They had the varsity Letterman jackets on and David went back

to feed the sheep. Shepherds were not very popular.

They couldn't even during Jesus time enter into the temple to

worship because they were unclean.

David went back to feed his father's sheep.

He had a bad job that this was something that he found himself

here as he went back to do something that was ordinary.

God will often call you to do what's ordinary for a long time,

way before He places something extraordinary in your life.

We want quick success. God wants persistent

faithfulness. We want to see things grow in an

instant, drop it in the water and it just comes into a full

life being. God says what I'm about to

produce in you is going to take the patience of your heart for

me to fully work. And it is in this moment that

David finds himself going back from the palace to feed sheep.

Come on, listen to this story. And the Philistine drew near,

and he presented him for 40 days, morning and evening.

So here is Goliath, and he comes into the valley of Elah.

You could just hear his steps in the valley.

You could see the tents shaking you.

The dust is rising from the ground in the valley of Elah,

and here comes Goliath into it. But not only the tents are

shaking and the dust is rising. The children of Israel,

Israelites hearts are shaking. Give me a man, he says, that

will come and fight with me. If I win, you will be our

servants if you win. If you win, I will be your

servant. Challenging the enemy's lies are

always the loudest in the valley.

The enemy always seems to be the biggest in the valley.

And it is here in this moment that the Bible says that that

Goliath presented himself for 40 days.

Now that's very important in Scripture.

It's don't miss this fact for 40 days and the reason why this is

important throughout all of the Bible we see the number 40

constantly being mentioned and it is mentioned here in our

story. Noah's flood was for 40 days.

Moses fasted for come on church. The Israel was on a journey for

40 years. The spies went into the land of

Canaan for 40 days. Elijah ate one meal and he was

able to have strength for 40 days.

Jesus spent in the wilderness. The Bible says that Jesus had 39

lashes -1 which would equal 40. Very significant.

What does this mean to us? In Scripture?

This is what it means. The number 40 always represents

a season of trial and testing. A season of trial and testing.

And it all happened in the San Gabriel Valley.

No, no, no, no, I know, I know, it all happened in the Valley of

Elah. But the Valley of Elah really

doesn't mean anything to us except the dirt.

In the name of Elah means the line of blood.

The dirt was so red. Don't think of majestic

mountains on each side. I remember going there with

Pastor Chuck Smith and he walked us out into this valley.

It's just rolling hills and off in this you see this flat land

together. On one side stood the Children

of Israel. On the other side was the

Philistines. And, and here is Pastor Chuck

having the sling that that he's now going around and around.

He said, Can you imagine the scene?

But I don't want you to get to that scene yet because there's a

battle before this battle. There's a battle before this

this battle even begins. And this is what David does in

the battle The Bible says in verse 17.

Then Jesse said to his son David, take now for your

brothers and Effa of his dried grain.

He wanted David to bring sourdough mix and, and, and, and

these 10 loaves. He wanted him to have sourdough.

He's simply bringing his brothers lunch.

That's it. And run to your brothers at the

camp. And Carrie, notice this, these

10 cheeses to the captain of their thousands and see how your

brothers fare and bring back news to me.

Check this out. All David was doing was feeding

his father's sheep. And then he hears the father's

word. I want you to bring lunch to the

brothers and cheese to the captains.

That's all David was going to do.

He wasn't going into the valley to fight the giant.

He wasn't approaching the valley of Elah going all right,

Goliath, it's going to be there. And he's working himself up in a

frenzy. All he had was lunch.

That's it. But he was faithful with the

sheep, He was faithful with his Father's word.

He was faithful with the bread, and he's faithful with the

cheese. Oh come on, Give me something

bigger. Pastor Casey, give me something

bigger. What was David about to do?

He took the bread and the grain and the cheese.

No, no, no, no, no. How did David become so great?

He took the sheep and fed them. He took the bread and brought

them. He took the cheese and delivered

them. You want to be great for God's

Kingdom. Wake up on Monday on time and

get to work on time. You want to be great in God's

Kingdom? Respond when people respond to

you through text. You want to be great in God's

Kingdom? Serve the coffee at your coffee

shop with grace and power. You want to be great in God's

Kingdom. Be the electrician that God has

called you to be because you're wiring this for Jesus.

You want to be great in God's Kingdom?

Wipe your baby's butt with grace.

You want to be great in God's Kingdom?

Open the door for somebody. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, Pastor

Casey, I want something significant.

This is not significant enough for me.

But God often calls us to insignificant places to form

something significant within us. They did not call David and say

David, Jesse, what's David's cell phone number?

We got to call him. We need him in the battle.

They weren't calling him. His father sent him.

David was not the first pick. Do do do we see his identity

though? His obscurity did not determine

his identity. Do you see that?

I I think for me, a lot of times it's OK.

Let's get the word out. Let's be known.

But no, no, no, no. How about living in mystery

without anxiety? How about living without being

known in obscurity and still being content to say God you

were at work in this place. How about coming to a place in

my life where I'm willing to deliver the epha of grain, the

bread and the cheese? I'm sure this was non dairy be

because people at that end gluten free I'm sure, but David

brought it. Still, you ever hear those

orders? I'd like my bread gluten free,

air free, dairy free, and sometimes servers get upset.

We have to do that all the time in our family.

And you give someone an order and it's simply taken with an

attitude. What do you mean David does not

give his dad an attitude? Isn't good Really Father Jesse,

is this a joke to who I am? No, no, no.

You want to know why? Because David already knew he

was beloved. So he didn't fight to be loved.

He followed because he was loved.

Did you see that in the text? No, no, no.

OK, let me go a little bit further.

Then he says take this to your brothers and he says run to your

brothers at the camp. Notice David took what he should

have and he did how he should have done it.

His dad said run, David ran, and as David ran, the Bible says

here in verse 19 that Saul, now Saul and they and all the men of

Israel were in the valley of Elah fighting with the

Philistines. David has no idea about what is

going to happen. I love what Chuck Swindoll

writes in regards to this section of Scripture.

He says. I am trying to imagine what it

must have been, what must have been going through David's mind

as he came over the top of the last rise and he saw that the

army spread out below him. I wonder if he stood and stared

with his mouth open as he sized up the scene.

I wonder what went through his mind.

It must have been exciting and frightening all at the same time

for this young man who had spent years out on the lonely hillside

with only the sheep and the other shepherds for company.

Then as he gets to the edge of the Israelite camp, he sees the

troops heading out for battle and he hears the war cry.

You can tell he's excited. He wants to watch.

He wants to see what's going to happen.

And he could would picture the moment he writes.

David is standing there talking to his three brothers when all

of a sudden he hears this loud cry from across the ravine.

And suddenly everyone around him is rushing to the rear and

climbing into their tents. And here is David in this scene,

and he just does what his father tells him to do.

I think we make things more complex because we're unwilling

to be obedient. David moves into this place.

The Bible says, as David rose early in the morning, notice

what he does. He left the sheep with a keeper.

He's faithful with the sheep. He hands them off.

And then notice this. And he took the things, and he

went as Jesse had commanded him, and he came to the camp as the

army was going out to the fight and shouting for battle for

Israel. And the Philistines had drawn up

in battle Loray, army against army.

Now notice this. And David left his supplies in

the hand of a supply keeper. He left the sheep with a keeper.

He kept his father's word and all of the bread, the grain and

the cheese that we would might deem is non significant.

He left it into the hands of the supply keeper.

I believe the greatest attack of the enemy in the valley is over

your identity because when we get in the valley, we begin to

question who God is and who God is making us to be.

I think when we get into the valley, what often times happens

is we could find ourselves in this specific place where I want

you to hear this today, that David did what he did because

David knew who he was and whose he was.

Can I just say that again, David did what he did because he knew

who he was and whose he was. This is important for us to

realize because your identity is going to be attacked in the

Valley. You're going to be wondering

when you're at home, who am I wondering at school, who am I

wondering at the job, who am I driving in the car, who am I?

And, and I think this is often times what happens in our lives.

I, I, in the early years of the church plant, we had to buy a

bunch of gear to launch the church.

We had to buy our whole sound system, computers, speakers,

subwoofers, mics, mic chords. And I didn't realize all that it

would take to facilitate these types of things.

And so I put it on the credit card and it amounted to $7000.

And so at that time, I decided that I would live out Dave

Ramsey financial piece. You pay your credit card off

that month. Why'd it get really quiet?

Pay your credit card off that month.

That's exactly what I did. I put the Wells Fargo visa name

and where the person should be receiving the check.

I put it in the envelope, slapped a stamp on it, put it in

the blue mailbox on San Gabriel Blvd. in Azusa.

Next week I get a letter saying that I'm late on my bill, so I

call. I said I sent the check already.

It was already mailed. So another letter comes.

You're late again, you're late again, you're late again.

It took three to six months to work this out.

Someone got into that mailbox. They grabbed, amongst other

things, a lot of envelopes, mine being one of them.

They opened my envelope. They erased what I had inked

into the name of the person who should have been receiving the

check to pay off my debt. They erased it and they put

their name in that place. That is what we call identity

theft. American adults have lost $47

billion because of identity theft.

And this is what happens. The enemy erases what God is

working to establish. Do you hear that?

The enemy is erasing what God is sinking to establish.

God has spoken things into your life through His Word, but I

don't feel that way. Pastor Casey.

He has spoken these things into your life.

It is the power of the word. And I think some of us, we might

not have lost our money, but but for some of us, we've lost our

peace. For some of us, we lost our

strength. For some of us, we begin to

question all because the enemy wants to erase what God has

established in my life. And here's what I want to submit

to you today, that this is the battle before the battle.

That you have to believe what God has said about you way

before you get into the battle. You have to take hold of what

God has claimed on and over your life before you walk into the

valley. You have to come to a spot.

And I have to come to a spot because I believe we have lost

marriages, we have lost friendships, we have lost

siblings and children. We have lost the future, our

health, simply because we allow the enemy to erase what God had

already inked over our lives. Can, can I, can I encourage you

to do some things? I want you to read.

I want to read to your your identity.

I've done this before, but I just want to remind you of this.

I am strong and mighty. I have the same power that

raised Christ from the dead dwelling inside of me.

I'm a weapon of righteousness in a World of Darkness.

I am not my past. I am not what I did.

I am who God says I am. He says I am forgiven.

He says I am redeemed. He says I am free.

I am not a hostage to unhealthy thoughts.

The weapons I fight with are not the weapons of this world.

I have divine power to demolish strongholds.

I have the mind of Christ directing my thoughts.

I have the word of God guiding my steps.

I demolish every pretension that sets itself up against the

knowledge of God. I take every thought adaptive to

the obedience of Christ Jesus. My God has not given me a spirit

of fear, but a spirit of power, of love and a sound mind.

The Lord is my hepper helper. I will not be afraid.

I am not a slave to my habits. I'm not a prisoner to any

addiction. I've been rescued from the power

of darkness and brought into the Kingdom of God's light.

I am empowered, I am chosen, I am called, I am a masterpiece of

God, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared

before hand in advance for me to do.

My God will bless me abundantly so that in all things, at all

times, I have all that I need. I will abound in every good

work. My God is for me.

My God is with me. No weapon formed against me will

prosper. Nothing can separate me from

God's love. Not death, not demons, not the

present nor the past, nor power on earth will ever separate me

from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus my Lord.

I am not what I have or what I buy.

My identity has been purchased by Jesus Christ and Christ

alone. By God's power, I can change.

I cast my cares on God because He cares for me.

My life belongs to God. Daily I seek Him and daily He

directs my steps. I know His voice and He leads me

to His perfect will. My confidence is in Christ and

Christ Jesus alone. Because the Spirit lives within

me. I can do everything He calls me

to do, and that is facing any giant.

This is the battle before the battle ever begins.

Because if I know who he is, I know who he will call me to be.

And if he is always good, always.

What He says is always true. I don't think we question

sometimes if what God says is true.

We take it a little, Let's go deeper in the root.

We question if God is really good, and because He's not good,

then God's not really true. So what did this mean for David?

This is what it meant for David. Then he talked with them.

There was the champion, the Philistines of Gath, Goliath by

name, coming up from the armies of the Philistines, and he spoke

according to the same words. And so David heard them.

David heard the words of Goliath and noticed this.

All the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him and

were dreadfully afraid. Do you see the contrast?

People ran from where God called them to stand.

Worship team, if you could just make your way up here.

They ran from where God had called them to stand.

I was reading a devotion by Chuck Swindoll and he said these

words in the last paragraph, he says.

I'm not advocating either side of a story, but I'm just amazed

at the unbelievably rapid rise of men and women who escape as

their favorite method of coping. There is not an achievement

worth remembering that isn't stained with the blood of

diligence and checkered with the scars of disappointment.

To quit may feel good now, but it's a bummer when life's bills

come due. And he ends with this quote by

Churchill, who said wars are not won by evacuations, and what

you're fighting right now is not won by simply an evacuation of

it. Stand in the trench that God has

called you to stand in and see all that God has called you to

do in this moment. We hope you enjoyed this message

and we'd love for you to join us in person every Sunday at 10:30

AM. For more information and

updates, visit wearebridgetown.com.

Thanks for tuning in and we'll see you next week.