INTRODUCTION
• VEGGIE TALES VIDEO CLIP
• SLIDE #1
• I do not think it happened quite like that.
• We have a lot of things that happen in life that can put a lot of pressure on us. Each and every day we can be faced with gigantic problems, conflict, stress, failure and even dealing with success. These things are pressure points for us.
• As we face each of these things, how do we deal with them?
• Over the next five weeks we are going to be looking at one of the most fascinating people in the Old Testament.
• As we to look at some of the issues David dealt with I pray that we can learn some lesson from him. All the pressure points we deal with today in life were dealt with by David.
• David was a complex yet simple person; he is a good person to study because God said that David was a man after His own heart in 1 Samuel 13:14 even though David was far from perfect.
• I have always gained strength from the honesty at which the Bible deals with both David’s successes and his failures.
• Today we are going to start with the obvious when it comes to the life of David as we look at facing giants in our life.
• The way we face giants in our life will say a lot about us and our faith.
• As we work through 1 Samuel 17, we will see some things that will help us to overcome the giants we face in life.
SERMON
• SLIDE #2
I. Facing the giants of life can invoke great fear.
• When we come up against difficult problems it can really scare us, we can look at problems and be shaken by fear.
• There are times when we look at problems and they look so big to us that they over take everything else that is before us.
• Have you ever been so fearful of a situation that you could not even think straight?
• In 1 Samuel 17, the Philistines and the army of Israel were poised for battle.
• The Philistines were encamped at SO COOW and the Israeli was encamped in the Valley of E-LAH. The Philistines stood on one mountain and the Israeli army stood on the other with a valley in between where the battle was to take place.
• So far so good, Israel had fought many battles and won them. I do not think the prospect of war was a big giant deal for them, BUT something was about to change to make this battle a GIANT problem.
• SLIDE #3
• 1 Samuel 17:4-10(ESV) 4And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six£ cubits and a span (9’9”) . 5He 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 (126 pounds) . 6And he had bronze armor on his legs, and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders. 7The shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and his spear’s head weighed six hundred shekels of iron (16 pounds). And his shield-bearer went before him. 8He 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. 9If 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.” 10And the Philistine said, “I defy the ranks of Israel this day. Give me a man, that we may fight together.”
• Talk about having to face a giant! Goliath was making a request that was common among the ancient Greeks of which the Philistines were related. We have a similar instance in 2 Samuel 2:12-16 as an example.
• The thinking behind this strategy was that the people felt the gods were actually fighting through the 2 who were doing battle so the stronger god would win.
• One warrior from each side; winner take all.
• SLIDE #4
• 1 Samuel 17:11(ESV) 11When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.
• I wonder why? Here was a HUGE man of War there were no guns, it was basically hand to hand.
• Who would want to be responsible for losing and putting their nation into slavery? Plus this was a fight to the death!
• There are times when we face situations and as long as we feel like WE can deal with it, we handle it, but as soon as the problem gets too big for us to handle, we can become fearful.
• Imagine that the IRS tells you that you owe them $20, are you afraid? What if that figure is $20,000? How do you feel now?
• The army was primed and ready to do battle, they were not afraid to fight because they felt that together they could win, BUT when the GIANT was put before them, they all including the King lost heart!
• Why? Did they not have faith in God’s ability to help them? NO THEY DID NOT!
• So what did they do?
• This leads us to issue number 2.
• SLIDE #5
II. Ignoring the giants of life does not make them go away.
• What do many people do when t hey are faced with a problem that look insurmountable?
• IGNORE it!
• SLIDE #6
• 1 Samuel 17:16(ESV) 16For forty days the Philistine came forward and took his stand, morning and evening.
• For forty days Goliath came out and challenged the army of God and what did Saul and the army do? WISH he would go away!
• Imagine if you got the IRS bill for $20,000. Some people would simply ignore it and hope that the bill would go away.
• The Army of Israel listened to Goliath for 40 days and nights, I guess they thought that if they did not say anything that the Philistines would pack up and go home or they would have a more conventional war.
• They did not fear that, they feared the giant before them and that giant caused they to forget the great God they fought for and served.
• Ignoring giants does not make them go away, ignoring problems in your life does not make them go away nor does it make them better.
• We need to take a different approach to facing giants in our lives.
• SLIDE #7
III. Taking on the giants of life calls for a giant faith!
• The King, the army, none had the faith to take on the giant Goliath. They all saw Goliath as something bigger that the God they served.
• How many times do we let giants defeat us because we forget how big our God is?
• Well, as this taunting is going on, David’s father Jesse sends David to what he thought to the battle and David hears what is going on.
• SLIDE #8
• 1 Samuel 17:23-26(ESV) 23As 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. 24All the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him and were much afraid. 25And the men of Israel said, “Have you seen this man who has come up? Surely he has come up to defy Israel. And the king will enrich the man who kills him with great riches and will give him his daughter and make his father’s house free in Israel.” 26And 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?”
• Here is David, he hears Goliath mouthing off to God and his army, and he is none too happy. He cannot believe someone has not gone after the Philistine.
• Now David saw the same nine-foot plus giant yet he was fearless.
• Look at verse 28 with me.
• SLIDE #9
• 1 Samuel 17:28-29(ESV) 28Now Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spoke to the men. And Eliab’s anger was kindled against David, and he said, “Why have you come down? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your presumption and the evil of your heart, for you have come down to see the battle.” 29And David said, “What have I done now? Was it not but a word?”
• You have to have the faith to overcome criticism. The faith to overcome doubt.
• SLIDE #10
• 1 Samuel 17:33(ESV) 33And 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.”
• Even the King with logical reason doubted David. David had the faith to overcome that.
• His faith was based on a history with God. David explains how God allowed him to kill a lion and a bear while protecting the flock. David surmised that if god would do that then he would deliver Goliath in his hands also for defiling the armies of the living God. (1 Samuel 17:36)
• SLIDE #11
IV. Facing the giants with faith will cast out fear!
• Goliath starts running his mouth at David, telling him he will kill him and feed his body to the birds of the air and beasts of the field.
• David responds in kind.
• SLIDE #12
• 1 Samuel 17:45(ESV) 45Then 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.
• David goes on to say that God will deliver Goliath into his hand so that the whole world will know there is a God in Israel!
• After the smack session between David and Goliath, Goliath moves toward David and then David RUNS to the line of battle and kills Goliath with a stone from his sling. David proceeds to take Goliaths sword and remove his head!
• David had NO fear because he KNEW God was with him! We too can face giants when we know who is with us!
• SLIDE #13
• Finally
V. Taking on the giants with faith will inspire faith in others.
• When David spoke with such confidence before Saul, Saul had the faith in David to allow the fate of the nation to lay in his hands.
• Saul did not start with confidence in David, but when David spoke in faith, Saul let him have Goliath.
• Also, once David struck down Goliath, the whole army went after the Philistines with a renewed vigor.
• SLIDE#14
• 1 Samuel 17:51-53(ESV) 51Then David ran and stood over the Philistine and took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled. 52And the men of Israel and Judah rose with a shout and pursued the Philistines as far as Gath£ and the gates of Ekron, so that the wounded Philistines fell on the way from Shaaraim as far as Gath and Ekron. 53And the people of Israel came back from chasing the Philistines, and they plundered their camp.
• When others see you take on the giants of life with Jesus, they will be inspired to know that there is a God in heaven!
CONCLUSION
• The story of David and Goliath is one of fear verse faith. Many people choose to live in fear instead of living by faith.
• The king and the army saw something they thought was bigger than God, David saw a big oaf who was insulting God who needed to be put in his place.
• David saw the same giant that the King and the army saw, it is just that David knew his God was bigger that 9 foot plus!
• What giant was you afraid to take on? Do you really think it is bigger than God?
