What If This Is As Good As It Gets?

Is there more to Christianity?

Does God have more in store for us than church on Sunday morning and getting to heaven?

I believe that the fulfilled life that Jesus spoke about is more than what we’re experiencing most weeks in the local church. People are often fearful, downtrodden and spending their energies on trying not to be tossed around by the enemy. Jesus spoke about a life infused with power and authority. I read about people moving in the gifts of the Spirit, I read about numbers being added to the church daily, but I don’t see that today. I believe that God promised more for us and that it is up to us to strive for what has been promised. ‘How’ would be the big question? I believe that we get a picture of the ‘how’ in the story of David and Goliath. A familiar story, but I want to speak about how inaction and a defense mentality will allow the enemy of our souls to control what we accomplish and how far we go.

Goliath was the enemy standing in defiance of Israel. He had brought them to their knees and taunted them everyday, flaunting his control over this army of the Lord. Goliath accomplished 4 things as the enemy: He defined their boundaries, robbed them of their power, made then ineffective, and stopped them from moving forward to victory. He had control, which is what the enemy ultimately wants. The enemy we struggle with today works in the same way and uses sin to accomplish it.

How does sin affect us?

1) Your weaknesses will define your boundaries

2) Failure robs you of your power

3) Lies will confine your effectiveness

4) Sin will stop you from moving forward

1) David’s Conviction (vs.26b, 32)

What I want to focus on this morning is how David reacted to this seemingly unbeatable enemy. Even though David was young and inexperienced on the field of battle, he had a good understanding of what was really going on here. Goliath wasn’t defying Israel, he was defying God. David’s convictions were stirred to the point that he told Saul that he would go and fight the giant. This could not be allowed to go on; David simply would not stand by and do nothing while the enemy of God held control over His people. David was stirred into action because of his convictions.

Imagine for a moment you were in a playground and you saw someone trying to abduct a child, what would you do? I think we would act, without hesitation we would be stirred into action. You would not stand by and let something so terrible just happen. A conviction is a fixed or firm belief. Out of the conviction that kidnapping is wrong you would act. Well we should have this same conviction when it comes to the enemy of our souls, yet so often we do not treat sin with that same conviction. Satan knows to tempt us through our weaknesses and tries to gain control in our lives. We often treat it as the Trojan horse, we welcome it in because it is nice or it makes us feel good, but it will destroy from within. We need to treat sin as evil and protect and fight against it because of our convictions. 1Corinthians 16:13 “Be on guard. Stand true to what you believe. Be courageous. Be strong.” Do not be fooled, Satan wants control and we need to be stirred in our convictions if we are going to have victory. The only one who can stir our convictions is the Holy Spirit, so if your convictions have gone cold, you must call of Him and we invite Him to begin working even now in this service.

2) David’s Faith (vs.34-37)

It’s interesting that this young teen is before the king trying to convince him to let him go out onto the battlefield. David not only had deep convictions, but he had faith in the God that he served and this faith was well founded. David may not have had any battlefield experience, but he had killed lions and bears. I would hire someone who could say that. David says that he would walk up to the lion or bear and take the sheep from it’s mouth. If it attacked him he would grab it by the jaw and then club it to death. How many of you would let the sheep be eaten? The amazing thing is that David was not boasting in his accomplishments, but in the power of God to deliver the enemy into his hands. It was God who saved him from these beasts and God would save him from the giant too; that’s faith. His faith told him that this present situation was not what God had planned for the Israelites; He had more in store for them.