Title: Be Willing To Enter The Valley (Part 2)
Text: I Sam 17:1-58 (Key Verse is 38-48)
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Introduction:
- (Recap from last week’s message (Fighting Bears and Delivering Cheese))
- There was 3 points that I gave from this message about how God prepares us in life for Spiritual greatness.
1. God uses our present circumstances for future glory
2. God directs our steps
3. God uses our life to bless others.
- We see this in David’s life as he was working tending sheep for his family.
- David killed lions and bears and all the time God was using those situations to build character, bravery and skill for Spiritual greatness and deliverance for Israel.
- My point from last week is God does the same thing in us today. All that we go through, the job we have, God has placed us there to grow and mature in Him so that we will lack nothing.
Part 2: Be Willing To Enter The Valley
- We are going to continue in our sermon series, “Developing A Hear After God” and speak on Be Willing To Enter The Valley.
- At times in our Christian walk we are going to experience problems that come our way that need to be dealt with.
- David when he came to the battle field saw a man defy the living God and it prompted him to action.
- This message will encourage you to action.
- Today Christians are afraid of difficult situations, but we need to learn from David and run to those difficult situations or those Goliath problems and believe that God will deliver us.
- So in order to develop a heart after God, let us learn to trust in God as David did and run to the difficult situation rather then run from the difficult situation.
- The armies of Israel didn’t fully trust in God because they were not willing to enter the valley and defeat there problem which was Goliath.
- David was willing and it brought more then just victory it advanced the armies of Israel.
- If the church wants to advance the Kingdom of God, then we must be willing to enter the valley and fight the enemy which is the devil today and not stand on the hill like Israel was doing.
- Let me give you this problem story that will help me show you where I am going this morning:
Let’s suppose that I bought a horse from a man, and for that horse I had to pay, in cold hard cash, a grand total of six dollars.
When I get home with the horse, everyone’s excited. My kids think I’m a hero. And my spouse, who’s a penny-pincher, thinks I’m a great bargainer. The horse is a definite hit with the family.
But after a while, problems arise. Calico the horse is too big for the house, even though I’ve told the kids, “No galloping in the living room.” It’s getting expensive to feed this animal, too. Finally my spouse declares, “That horse has got to go.” I take the horse back to the man who originally sold it to me, and he’s gracious enough to buy the horse back for eight dollars.
But I miss that old horse. A lot of times at night, after the kids have gone to bed, I can be found staring up at the moon and playing my harmonica, singing cowboy songs. My spouse, bless her heart, can’t stand to see me mope over old Calico, so she finally gives in and says, “Oh all right, go back and buy that horse again.” This time I buy the horse from the same man for ten dollars.
You can guess what happened. No sooner did we get the horse back to the house that we began to face all the old problems again. The kids were still horsing around and the horse was doing a major number on the carpet. I could see the handwriting on the stall. I was going to have to get rid of old Calico. So, I took the horse back to the same guy and sold him my horse for twelve dollars.
I no longer have the horse, but I do have a question. After all my wheeling and dealing on that horse, did I make money or lose money? Not counting feed, or gas back and forth to the farm—did I come out ahead? Did I go in the hole? Or did I break even? And if I did gain or lose—how much did I gain or lose?
- The answer is 4 dollars.
- Now that problem came from a second grade math book, and it was down right confusing.
- Well life can be that confusing; things that seem simple aren’t so simple.
- Here’s the point, we are all going to face things in our Christian walk that aren’t so simple to understand.
- We are going to face our Goliath’s that seem impossible to overcome.
- How do we know what to do? Again it all depends on how much we trust in the Lord to deliver us.
- We don’t want to depend on bad advice, like David had received from Saul about how to dress for battle. (Vs 38)
- Rather we need to grow in our trust and faith in God.
- I want to explore David’s answer to the problem Israel faced that will help you and I develop further a heart after God.
- David’s answer to the problem was a willingness to go down to the valley and fight the problem that keeping the armies of Israel from victory.
- As Christians we don’t like being in the valley, we would rather stay on the mountain top where it is more comfortable.
- Israel and the Philistines where on two hills, (Vs 3)
- They had both occupied two different hills and neither armies wanted to go down and do battle, except for Goliath.
- They would draw battle lines and go only so far but then be found retreating back to where it was comfortable and safe.
- That’s a picture of the church today, we like our comfortable lifestyle and we don’t want any real big problems.
- But the church needs to take a stand like David and recognize that God is with us. The church need not fear.
- How is the enemy defying God and the church today?
- The enemy is defying God in the schools, the workplace and in general, society and Christians retreat sometimes in fear that there lives will be disrupted.
- David’s answer to the problem was to go down to the valley and fight the enemy head on.
- The nation of Israel was afraid and unwilling to face Goliath, because he was intimidating to them.
- The Israelites where not equipped to face Goliath because he was so big and strong.
- And that’s true for us today, we cannot defeat the enemy in our own strength, we need God to do it through us. But How?
- In FAITH and trust in God being willing to enter the valley to fight the enemy understanding that we can not fail because God is with us.
- David still prepared himself, by taking his staff in his hands and choosing 5 smooth stones from the stream and putting them into his shepherds bag.
- He then picked up his sling and with faith in God went into the valley to face the enemy. (Vs 40)
Transition:
- In order for Christians today to grow in God, we need to enter the valley and face our difficult situations.
- Not shy away from the valley and be motivated by fear, intimidation, or comfortableness, but rather faith and trust in God enter the valley knowing that we are going to grow in our walk with Him.
- Why did David go down to the valley, he wasn’t a part of the armies of Israel.
- He didn’t have to prove anything, why would he go and face Goliath?
- For 3 reasons and these 3 reasons should also motivate us to enter our valley so we can grow in God.
Point 1: David Moved From The Hill To The Valley To Defend God’s Honor (vs 26 and 45)
- This motivated David to action.
- Hearing this Philistine speak about God and the nation of Israel bothered David greatly.
- Did it bother the nation of Israel? Not enough to do something about it.
- Fear does many different things to people, but one thing it does to all people is it paralyzes people to do action.
- I believe this was David’s mindset:
“Whether I live or die it doesn’t matter, this must stop”
- Jesus did the same thing when He overturned the tables in the sanctuary and said “my Father’s house will be called a place of prayer”
- This first point speaks of our attitude toward God and how much we love Him and desire to please Him.
- We see that David had a zealous and deep concern for the honor and reputation of the Lord God (Vs 26, 36, 46)
- He also recognized that Goliath was defying not just the armies of Israel, but the Lord Almighty.
- People in our society today that speak against the church, are not only speaking trash talk about the church they are defying God Almighty, and we need to become indignant about that fact and try to hide from it.
- Ask the Lord to put into you a distasteful feeling about what people say towards the church and God.
- We will only move from the hill to the valley if we love the Lord enough to defend His honor.
- The Bible says in Jude to contend for the faith, not argue or debate, but to contend for the faith.
Point 2: David Moved From The Hill To The Valley To Defeat The Enemy
(Vs 46)
- David had one purpose and one goal in mind and that is total victory.
- We are moving towards Remembrance Day (Nov 11th)
- And I am reminded through my Grandfather and people who fought in the war the sacrifice that was made for the cause of freedom.
- When I think about WWII further, I think about how we almost lost the war, and I wonder how freedom was won.
- I find the answer to why we won WWII and it’s found in the words of Winston Churchill to Adolph Hittler, “we demand absolute surrender!”
- He would settle for nothing less than total victory.
- Today the church is in a culture war for the soul of this nation.
- It is a war of light vs darkness, of Christ vs antichrist, the Word of God vs secular theories.
- There will be a winner and a loser!
- Quoting John Hagge, “To the winner go our children and our grandchildren. There is no compromise with the enemy. There is no neutrality in this war!”
- We need to take a stand on the issues of the day based on our spiritual convictions.
- Jesus said, we are the light of the world. And we need to continue to speak up in the name of Jesus.
- David spoke up with words and action.
- David was committed to nothing less than total victory.
- What if he didn’t go? What if fear overtook David? What would have happened to the nation of Israel?
- We are at that same crossroads in our nation and the church must be willing to go down to the valley and face the enemy.
- But not until it equips itself for service.
- There is where Bible study is important, church attendance, prayer meetings and worship services.
- As the pastor I need to equip you to enter the valley and take on Goliath, because we are at war, and someone needs to believe God for complete victory, let it be me and you this morning.
Point 3: David Moved From The Hill To The Valley To Develop In His Walk With God. (Vs 52)
- In order for Israel to advance in there fight with the Philistines, they needed to defeat there hero.
- In order for the church to advance they need to defeat the enemy.
- It’s only after we defeat the enemy then the church can advance and move forward.
- So many areas we can defeat the enemy in by there is one that stands out the most:
Christian Unity – We need to pursue love for one another not to divide one another.
- All Christian churches need to unite with one purpose in mind to defeat the enemy if we are to see the church advance and press on.
- Again in light of Remembrance Day the allies in WWII came together in unity to defeat the armies against them.
- The church needs to do that, because we are in a culture war for Canada.
- Some examples of small groups of people that are in unity concerning a cause are the homosexual agenda.
- It is now law for them to marry and have the definition of marriage changed to include this practice.
- Terrorist cells around the world are willing to strap bombs around their bodies to advance their cause, they are all unified for one purpose.
- I have said it and I will say it again, unless the church is unified in one purpose they will never advance the cause of Christ to a dying generation.
- The church needs to arise and unify itself.
- The truth is we spend time fighting each other and with other denominations because, they are wrong and we are right.
- The point is we don’t have to agree on everything to walk together in love.
- Let the church stop attacking each other and start attacking the enemies of righteousness.
- The Bible says, “Behold how good and pleasant it is when brethren dwell together in unity…for their the Lord commands a blessing” (Psalm 153)
Closing:
- David was willing to enter the valley because he had a heart for God.
- He entered the valley because they defied God, he wanted absolute victory and He knew it was the only way to advance the armies of Israel and himself with God.
- It is God’s desire for your life that He say about you, “So and So is a man or woman after my own heart.
- If we want to be a person who has a heart after God we need to realize from this message, that we need to enter the valley.
- Don’t look at your valley experience as dreadful, but realize in the valley, that’s where the miracles happen and that’s where you grow in God and develop a heart for Him.
Lets Pray!!!
