We all have our own Giants to face. They can come in the form of economic crisis, a death in the family, moral challenges, intense disappointments or a host of other things. Like David, we need to depend on God for our strength when we face our Giants. This is the source of true courage.
True courage is simply doing the right thing regardless of what might happen to us. God’s grace can give us the necessary strength, determination and wisdom to do the right thing in any circumstance. We know that God will take care of us as we seek to do His will in all situations. David demonstrated this when he fought the giant, Goliath. Let’s follow this example.
Scripture
1 Samuel 17:1a; 4-11; 19-27; 31-49
Now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle……And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. 5 He had a helmet of bronze on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze. 6 And he had greaves of bronze upon his legs, and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders. 7 And the shaft of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and his spear's head weighed six hundred shekels of iron; and his shield-bearer went before him. 8 He stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, "Why have you come out to draw up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. 9 If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants; but if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us." 10 And the Philistine said, "I defy the ranks of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together." 11 When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid. ……Now Saul, and they, and all the men of Israel, were in the valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines. 20 And David rose early in the morning, and left the sheep with a keeper, and took the provisions, and went, as Jesse had commanded him; and he came to the encampment as the host was going forth to the battle line, shouting the war cry. 21 And Israel and the Philistines drew up for battle, army against army. 22 And David left the things in charge of the keeper of the baggage, and ran to the ranks, and went and greeted his brothers. 23 As he talked with them, behold, the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, came up out of the ranks of the Philistines, and spoke the same words as before. And David heard him. 24 All the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him, and were much afraid. 25 And the men of Israel said, "Have you seen this man who has come up? Surely he has come up to defy Israel; and the man who kills him, the king will enrich with great riches, and will give him his daughter, and make his father's house free in Israel." 26 And David said to the men who stood by him, "What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine, and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?" 27 And the people answered him in the same way, "So shall it be done to the man who kills him."…… When the words which David spoke were heard, they repeated them before Saul; and he sent for him. 32 And David said to Saul, "Let no man's heart fail because of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine." 33 And Saul said to David, "You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are but a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth." 34 But David said to Saul, "Your servant used to keep sheep for his father; and when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock, 35 I went after him and smote him and delivered it out of his mouth; and if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him and killed him. 36 Your servant has killed both lions and bears; and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God." 37 And David said, "The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." And Saul said to David, "Go, and the LORD be with you!" 38 Then Saul clothed David with his armor; he put a helmet of bronze on his head, and clothed him with a coat of mail. 39 And David girded his sword over his armor, and he tried in vain to go, for he was not used to them. Then David said to Saul, "I cannot go with these; for I am not used to them." And David put them off. 40 Then he took his staff in his hand, and chose five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in his shepherd's bag or wallet; his sling was in his hand, and he drew near to the Philistine. 41 And the Philistine came on and drew near to David, with his shield-bearer in front of him. 42 And when the Philistine looked, and saw David, he disdained him; for he was but a youth, ruddy and comely in appearance. 43 And the Philistine said to David, "Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?" And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44 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." 45 Then David said to the Philistine, "You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin; but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 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 the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, 47 and that all this assembly may know that the LORD saves not with sword and spear; for the battle is the LORDS and he will give you into our hand." 48 When the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. 49 And David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone, and slung it, and struck the Philistine on his forehead; the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground.
Summary and Function
Summary: We all have our own Giants to face. They can come in the form of economic crisis, a death in the family, moral challenges, intense disappointments or a host of other things. Like David, we need to depend on God for our strength when we face our Giants. This is the source of true courage.
True courage is simply doing the right thing regardless of what might happen to us. God’s grace can give us the necessary strength, determination and wisdom to do the right thing in any circumstance. We know that God will take care of us as we seek to do His will in all situations. David demonstrated this when he fought the giant, Goliath. Let’s follow this example.
Function: To encourage the congregation to rely on God to give them the courage they need to face the challenges of life.
Sermon
I. Introduction: ‘Fear Factor’ reality T.V. show
A. Debut in 2001: Contestants competed against each other while facing common fears. The following are a few examples of the various competitions. (Source is http://www.nbc.com/Fear_Factor/files/index.shtml and http://www.petersreviews.com/fear_factor.html)
· Fear of heights: Contestants crawl out of a car suspended 500 feet in the air to pull out flags at the front and rear of the car
· Fear of snakes: Contestants had to escape through a tank of water filled with snakes by cutting their way through a rubber portal.
· Fear of blood: Female contestant was handcuffed under a stream of blood while the male contestant used an axe to rampage through the room to find the key to free the female.
· Fear of critters: Contestant had to eat two live camel spiders
B. The fear on ‘Fear Factor’, however, is an artificial fear. It’s not the type of fear people face on a day to day basis.
· The fear of heights becomes artificial when you know every safety precaution has been taken and you are receiving lots of money for doing the stunt.
· The fear of snakes becomes artificial when you know none of the snakes are venomous and you will receive lots of money for doing the stunt.
· The fear of blood becomes artificial when you know the blood will not hurt you and you will receive lots of money for doing the stunt.
· The fear of critters becomes artificial when you know they can’t hurt you and you will receive lots of money for doing the stunt.
C. Real, every day fears are much worse than anything produced on ‘Fear Factor’. Real fear is….
· Going to Afghanistan or Iraq as a soldier, not knowing if you’ll make it back home. That’s real fear.
· Being the wife of a soldier in Afghanistan or Iraq. Instead of welcoming him home, you receive news that he was killed in action. Now you’re wondering how you will raise your three children as a widow. That’s real fear
· Receiving a diagnosis of cancer and told you have 1 year to live. Now you’re wondering who will take care of your family when you’re gone. That’s real fear.
· Living from pay check to pay check and reciving a notice of termination at work. Now you’re wondering how you will provide for your family. That’s real fear.
· Being told that you will be fired if you don’t do something that is morally wrong. That’s real fear.
D. All of us will face fear sometime during our lives.
· We all must learn how to face and conquer our fears. If we don’t, it will consume us and prevent us from being the people god created us to be.
· Fear leads to worry leads to incapacitation leads to the selfish ‘woe is me’ attitude and that leads back to fear. A vicious cycle that prevents us from being the loving people God created us to be. We must break this cycle by conquering our fears.
E. As a teen-ager, King David had to face fear. Let’s see how well he faced it.
II. David and Goliath
A. Story begins when young David delivers food to his older brothers who are serving in the Israelite Army. When David reaches the Israelite battle lines, he looks across the valley and surveys the Philistine’s battle line.
B. A 9 foot tall giant named Goliath steps out from the Philistine battle line and declares, “Why have you come out to draw up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. 9 If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants; but if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us." 10 And the Philistine said, "I defy the ranks of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together." (1 Samuel 17:8-10)
C. The entire Israeli army was to scared to respond to Goliath’s challenge but David said, "What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine, and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?" So…
D. David was brought to King Saul and he allowed David to fight Goliath.
E. When David stepped out in between the two battle lines with only his sling shot, Goliath said, "Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?" And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44 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." (1 Samuel 17:43-44)
· Note that Goliath was depending on his own strength and skill.
F. David responded with, “"You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin; but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 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 the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, 47 and that all this assembly may know that the LORD saves not with sword and spear; for the battle is the LORDS and he will give you into our hand." (1 Samuel 17:45-47)
· Note that David relied on the Lord and not on his own strength and skill. That makes all the difference
G. David hurls the stone with his sling shot, hits Goliath between the eyes and kills him.
III. As stated earlier, we all have our own Goliaths to face. We successfully face our
Goliaths by depending on God rather than our own strength. God will do two things
to enable us to face our Goliaths.
A. First: God will prepare us before hand to face our Goliaths. At the time, we may not even know God is doing this.
· When Saul questioned David about his ability to fight Goliath, David Replied, "Your servant used to keep sheep for his father; and when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock, 35 I went after him and smote him and delivered it out of his mouth; and if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him and killed him. 36 Your servant has killed both lions and bears; and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God." 37 And David said, "The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." (1 Samuel 17:34-37)
B. Second: God will supernatural empower us to face our Goliaths. It was no accident that David hit Goliath between the eyes on the first try.
IV. Real life example: The loss of my wife
A. A little over two years ago my wife was killed in a car crash. I became an instant single father. My Goliath was trying to be a single father, a full-time student and pastor at the same time. I didn’t know how I was going to do it.
B. God prepared me for this by giving me the faith to trust in Him. When I heard that my wife had died, the first thing I did was go to the hospital chapel to pray.
C. God provided me with a wonderful mother and members of my congregation. These people supported me and watched Joshua whenever I needed a baby sitter. God also provided support through the caring staff at Asbury seminary. God has recently provided me with another loving wife to be Joshua’s mom.
V. Conclusion
A. You will face several Goliaths during your lifetime. You can either face them with God or without God. It’s your choice. As for me, I choose to face them with God.
B. The ability to depend on God to face our Goliaths starts with faith in Jesus.
C. If you have not already accepted Jesus as your Savior and Lord, you can do so right now. Decide that you want to live a Godly life, accept Jesus as Savior and Lord and receive God’s forgiveness. Once you do this, the Holy Spirit will enter your heart and empower you to face your giants.
