Part 8 - Wwdd What Would David Do? Series

They Must be Giants

7 – What Would David Do?

Pastor Bruce A. Shields

House of Faith Ministries

www.PS127.org

WELCOME

INTRODUCTION

Most of us are all familiar with the story of David & Goliath.

1 Samuel 17

We are completing our series entitled “They Must be Giants!”

We have spoken on;

† David & Goliath

† Unforgiveness

† Fear

† Anger

† Hate

† Flesh vs. Spirit

† Self-Esteem

The battle between the Israelites and the Palestinians this day was a spiritual one.

The devil had brought his people up against the children of the Living God.

Just as we are reminded in Ephesians 6, the battle is not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual forces, principalities and powers.

Goliath was Satan’s champion this day.

And David was God’s.

And fear had enslaved the Israelites.

Fear caused them to act irrational, and they were helpless.

They forgot who they were.

Over the past few weeks we’ve talked about how these spiritual battles rage on today in our lives.

Orchestrated by the devil to enslave us as well, to cause us to fall, and fear, and forget who we are, so that we cannot effectively serve our God.

We are held captive by the giant named Unforgiveness.

We are forced into making irrational decisions by our giant named fear.

Our fear, if unresolved will grow into anger as it did with Cain.

And that anger will grow into hate.

We lose the battle with our flesh because of fear.

We have low self esteem because the devil’s giant is at our heels.

But if David could defeat Goliath because of the Lord, we too can be victorious in our spiritual battles!

We too can defeat WHATEVER the devil throws at us!

Greater is He that is IN us, then he that is in the world!

Today we ask the question, What Would David Do in our situation?

We are going to look at the life of David up to the point of Goliath and see what made it possible for him to defeat the giant that the devil had thrown at the Israelites.

1. David’s life as a shepherd

2. David’s anointing of the Holy Spirit

3. David’s purpose made known by God to David

4. David recognized the situation

5. David trusted in the Lord for victory

DAVID’S LIFE AS A SHEPHERD

At this time in history Saul was King.

When Saul became King he was given a warning from the Prophet Samuel.

The warning was to nation and King not to forget God.

Saul made three mistakes that led to him being replaced.

1st – Saul was humble in the beginning, but his success quickly went to his head. His humility turned into pride.

He offered sacrifices, which was instructed by God to be done by the priests.

This was the first sign of Saul’s growing sense of self importance.

2nd – His ridiculous order for the army to abstain from food, and his senseless death sentence for Jonathan, showed the people what a fool they had for a King.

3rd – Saul deliberately disobeyed God. For this, Samuel spoke the words, “Because you have rejected God, God has rejected you from being King.”

Saul’s incapacity to be king is rooted in his inability to hear God’s word and act on it. He substitutes human calculation for divine leading.

While all this was taking place, David was the shepherd over his father’s flock.

Spending time with God in the country, he had built a relationship with the Lord.

Songs and prayer became a way of life to David.

Many times in the fields he had to rely on God’s protection and strength in watching over the flocks.

With God’s help, David had defeated wild animals, such as a lion, from attacking his sheep.

David knew God intimately and knew God’s protection.

David had a relationship with God.

This relationship is the foundation of God’s working in David’s life.

DAVID’S ANNOINTING

David was anointed to be king.

This anointing came from God through Samuel.

But it was done in secret.

Because Saul would have killed David had he found out David was God’s replacement for him.

The reason David was anointed at the age of 15 as we see in Chapter 13, was to give David a chance to train himself for the office.

When we read of David we read the following, David was short in stature, of fair complexion, and handsome, of immense physical strength and great personal attractiveness, a man of war, prudent in speech, very brave, musical and religious.

His fame as a musician brought him to the notice of King Saul, who did not at the time know that David had been anointed to be his successor.

David became Saul’s armor bearer.

This brought David into close association with the king and his counselors, so that unknowingly Saul helped train David for his future responsibilities as King.