Killing Lions-Fear Series

Title: Killing Lions-Fear

Date: 8/2/15

Place: BLCC

Text: Psalm 34.4-14, 1 Samuel 17

CT: Kill the Lion of fear keeping you from God’s ideal.

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The phrase "Be afraid, be very afraid" was a tagline from the 1986 horror flick The Fly. Google the phrase and you'll get about 183 million results for that phrase. But the trick is to be appropriately afraid of the right thing. What people commonly fear is not always what should be causing that spike of adrenaline. Here are some examples:

Are you afraid to fly? You have a 0.00001 percent chance of dying in an airplane crash. On the other hand, the car insurance industry estimates that the average driver will be involved in three or four car crashes in their lifetime and the odds of dying in a car crash are one to two percent.

Are you afraid of heights? It's the second most reported fear. Your chance of being injured by falling, jumping, or being pushed from a high place is 1 in 65,092.

The chance of having your identity stolen is 1 in 200.

Do you fear being killed by a bolt of lightning? The odds of that happening are 1 in 2.3 million. You're much more likely to be struck by a meteorite—those lifetime odds are about 1 in 700,000.

On the other hand, your chance of being injured while mowing the lawn is 1 in 3,623.

How about sharks? You're much more likely to be killed by your spouse (1 in 135,000) than a shark (1 in 300 million).

-What fear is keeping you from seeking God’s ideal for your life?

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I.A. We are in our 4th week of the sermon series, “Killing Lions.” So far we have dealt with despair, doubt and Tyler dealt with pride last week. [Screen 3]

We have learned that Satan is the Lion King of his pride of lions trying to devour us as Christians and tear us away from God’s ideal for us. [Screen 4]

We have also made it clear that only by sticking together as a community of believers, can we drive the lions away from our church and ourselves.

We want all of Satan’s lions to look like the one in this picture running from the water buffalo.

This week we are going to slay the Lion of Fear.

B. If there was anyone in the Bible we can look at who stood up to fear, it would be David. Here is a young shepherd boy who showed a king and an entire army of men how to face fear. [Screen 5]

Let’s look at his story from his youth in 1 Samuel 17.

This was like the standoff at Gettysburg between the north and the south. Both armies lined up to face one another. The Philistines on one side and the Israelites with king Saul on the other.

We pick up the story at verse 4. A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. His height was six cubits and a span. He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing five thousand shekels; on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung on his back. His spear shaft was like a weaver’s rod, and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels. His shield bearer went ahead of him.

Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me. If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us.” Then the Philistine said, “This day I defy the armies of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other.” On hearing the Philistine’s words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified.

Now while all of this was going on, young David was going back and forth from the battle area to tend his father’s sheep. His father, Jessie, sent David one day with some food for his brothers who were on the battle line with Saul.

David watched as Goliath stepped out from his lines and shouted his usual defiance to the Israelites. David watched as all the Israelites fled from this Philistine giant of a man.

David learned that Saul had decreed that anyone who could kill this Goliath would receive great wealth, his daughter and live tax-free.

David’s brothers rebuked David for even being nosy about what was going on. But David was not deterred. He went to Saul himself and said,