Hall of Faith: David - Full Service

welcome to sagebrush church we're so glad that you're here with us small groups are the best way to make a big church feel small and so if you've never experienced being in a small group we would love to sign you up today because we believe that life change happens best when you find a group you can find out all the information about our small groups on our website or our app in hebrews chapter 11 god lists his hall of fame but who are these men and women and what do they have to teach us about our own lives today we're continuing our series the hall of faith and we're talking all about david so right now go ahead stand on up to your feet and let's get ready for some worship as we sing together let's focus in on this one truth that jesus is madly in love with you what if we embrace that today i think it would change everything let's sing people come together strange as neighbors our blood is one children of generations of every nation the kingdom come [Music] don't let your heart be troubled hold your head up i don't feel no evil fix your eyes on this one true god is madly in love with you so take courage hold on be strong remember where help comes from [Music] oh [Music] jesus our redemption our salvation is in his blood [Music] jesus [Music] light of heaven friend [Music] hold your head up i don't fear fix your eyes on this one truth god is manly in love with you but take courage hold on be strong remember [Music] [Music] we're singing [Applause] [Music] creation everything with breath repeat the sound all his children clean hands pure hearts good praise good god his name is jesus [Music] [Music] his name is jesus oh [Music] swing [Music] [Music] [Music] his name is jesus [Music] oh jesus our redemption [Music] our salvation is in his blood jesus light of heaven friend forever his kingdom comes [Music] arise my soul [Music] remember this he took my scent and debated [Music] my soul all else is lost the grip of fear has no hold on me [Music] [Music] now jesus lives in me for i was dead in sick but i woke up to see the light [Music] oh [Music] of this for your glory [Music] all of this for your glory [Music] [Applause] glory [Music] but i woke up to see the lights [Music] oh [Music] glory [Applause] [Music] oh the weight of his glory all the wonder of his grace the power of salvation [Music] this hope is [Music] to shame oh my soul sing to the god of the ages sing to the lord of creation sing his praise again [Music] oh my soul sing like the heavens [Music] [Music] i have never been the same when his love took me captive and my sin was washed away now i stand here forgiving and i know that i am [Music] sing love [Music] [Applause] [Music] remember how our god has never felt us remember that his name will make he'll make the grave he is [Music] ages sing to the lord of creation sing his praising death [Music] [Applause] [Music] and sing his praise again [Music] we sing his praise again [Music] sing his praise again sing his praise again sing his praise again [Music] [Music] remember how our god has never failed never failed us remember that his name would make a way he'll make a way and from the course to the grave he is risen and he reigns praise the lord and sing his praise again oh remember how and can you remember how our god has never failed he's never failed us remember that his name will make the way he'll make [Music] praise the lord [Music] [Applause] [Music] sing to the lord of creation see him [Music] [Applause] [Music] sing his praise again sing his phrase again [Music] sing his praise again [Music] sing his praise again [Music] [Applause] who am i that the highest king would well [Music] i was lost but he brought me and know his love for his love for [Music] [Applause] [Music] yes [Music] his grace [Music] [Applause] sets free [Music] [Applause] [Music] father's house there's a place for me i'm a child of god yes i am who am i afflicted but won't be broken perplexed yet still i have hope struck down but not destroyed now hear this don't be mistaken jesus said we would face tribulation but take heart don't be dismayed jesus may have died on the cross but on the third day by the power of god he was raised now he holds the victory over sin and death and the wretched man i used to be who am i i'm who he says i am he calls me son he says i'm righteous his strength is made perfect even in my weakness more than a conqueror because i've called on his name his name is above every other who is he he is jesus who am i i'm a child of god [Music] i am [Music] [Applause] i am [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] there's a place [Music] [Applause] [Music] let's pray to your heavenly father because of you because of you we are called children of yours because of the precious blood of your son jesus who died on the cross and who rose again from the dead we can know you we can make you known we can walk with you and do life together with you we don't have to be limited by what other people think of us or other people say about us your opinion your voice is the only thing that matters lord we're more than conquerors because of you we could do all things because of you and nothing is impossible because of you so lord i pray that our our time of worship has put a smile upon your face and as we open up your word i pray that you would open up our eyes and open up our ears to your truth that the limitations that we have somehow put on ourselves along the way that we would understand that we are more than because of you god i pray that we would go after the life that you have for us more than ever before and i ask this in jesus name amen you can have a seat i'm so glad that you're here with us today i'm also thankful for those of you who are watching us at home on the stream maybe on the treadmill i don't know where you're at but we're glad that you're part of the sagebrush family as well we're very thankful for you we love to see the family of sagebrush be expanded and extended upon and that's what happened in last past weekend we got a phone call sunday morning that my daughter's water had broke and so they went immediately to the hospital and on monday morning this little guy was born it's my first grandson pretty excited about it his name is kade uh he is named after his dad he's the fourth in the family line he comes in at six pounds 13 ounces 22 inches long he's a lean mean fighting machine i'll tell you right he's already learning his math facts it's just been a week but he's already got multiplication down up to nine so it's pretty impressive he's a chip off the old blog that's what he is yeah so we're excited to bring him into our family and i want to say a big thank you for all you who prayed for my daughter and i also have been praying for my daughter cami who just underwent some back surgery we really won't know the situation of how well the nerve surgery went until the doctor said about a month or two months but she's still home resting well taking her meds and and doing quite well and she feels your prayers and your words of encouragement and and they mean the world to her i think that's an appropriate thing we talk about that because we're talking about adversity today we're talking about overcoming things that other people try to put on us try to make us feel like we are less than see i believe that there's something deep inside the human spirit that when god's spirit gets a hold of us that we can become overcomers that we can become something beautiful that we can become something great think about this bury him in the snows of valley forge and you get george washington raise him in poverty and you get abraham lincoln stricken him with infantile paralysis and you get franklin delano roosevelt label him as too stupid to learn and you get thomas edison death in him and you get ludwig van beethoven call him dull and hopeless and flunk him in the sixth grade and you get winston churchill and then my favorite one tell him he's not imaginative enough tell him he's not creative tell him that his sketches are infantile and you get walt disney friends adversity is the grindstone of our life isn't it and adversity will do one of two things for you it'll rough off the rough edges around you smooth those rough edges off get you ready prepared for what god has ahead for you and for other people adversity will defeat them it will discourage them it will make them believe that they are lessened it all has to do with your attitude towards it will your problems be your pitfalls or will your problems be the possibilities of god doing exceedingly more than anything you've ever dreamed or imagined will the obstacles in your life stop you from being all that god wants you to be or will the obstacles be opportunities for god to do something absolutely amazing with your life friends we were born in adversity and we must rise to the occasion to become the people that god wants us to become i read a story this past week about a girl named wendy stoker one of my all-time heroes wendy worked really hard in high school she got on the diving team for the university of florida she worked twice as hard as all the other students got to be the second person on the team she was absolutely a phenomenal diver and while she was doing that at the university of florida she carried a full load of classes she also enjoyed going bowling and she was an avid water skier as well but the thing that impressed me the most about wendy is her ability to type she can type 45 words a minute oh did i fail to mention that wendy was born without any arms this girl overcame one obstacle after another after another it just makes you wonder how many times did somebody say you can't do it i wonder how many times she heard you know i don't see you in that role i don't think you should attempt that i think that might be too dangerous for you know after all you've got a handicap here i don't know if that's for you and yet she rose above it believing that god had greater things for her she refused to settle in life so here we are up to the next person we're inducting into god's hall of faith in hebrews chapter 11 and we're gonna look at a guy by the name of david now let me set this story up for you last couple of weeks we've been talking about a period of time in israel's history called the judges remember they were military men or women that god would raise up to go against the enemies of the dead against the israelites you had people like samson people like gideon people like deborah these were the judges that period lasted for 300 years well guess what the people wanted a king they wanted to be like all the other nations and it really wounded god that they wanted a king to rule over them so god said fine if you want a king to rule over then i'll get you a king. and so god chose a man by the name of saul now saul was a handsome guy he was a head and shoulders taller than everybody else he looked like he was going to be an incredible leader for the people of israel but here's the problem for saul he have half-hearted heart towards god he's what we call a picker and a chooser he would pick the things he wanted to follow god with and he would ignore the things that he didn't like whatever whenever god told him to do something he didn't like he just wouldn't do it he didn't have wholeheartedness towards the lord well the lord said this isn't good and so god rejected saul as the king and so god tells a prophet of his a man by the name of samuel he says i want you to go to the house of jesse and when you get to that house you're going to see that i have anointed a new king over israel now imagine rumors gotten out that samuel's coming your way and that one of your boys or jesse one of your boys is gonna become the new king i bet he swept i bet he cleaned i bet he got those boys making that place look and span don't you think and then when it was time when samuel would come in he'd walk past all of his sons he placed every son up on the stage that he felt like had king qualities let's look at the passage first samuel chapter 16 start with verse 6. it says when they arrived samuel saw iliab and thought surely the lord's anointed stands here before the lord but the lord said to samuel do not consider his appearance or his height for i have rejected him the lord does not look at the things man looks at man looks at the outward appearance but the lord looks at the heart then jesse called abinadab and had him pass in front of sam it's like a beauty pageant didn't it had him pass in front of samuel but samuel said the lord has not chosen this one either jesse then had shama pass by but samuel said nor has the lord chosen this one jesse had seven of his sons past before samuel but samuel said to him the lord has not chosen these so he asked jesse are these all the sons that you have jesse had one more son didn't he you know the story he had a son by the name of david but he didn't see any king potential in david so what's he do he leaves david out in the fields why because he says oh david's no king he's a ruddy kid that's what he is he's a decent looking kid but i tell you what he's he's not the one there's no way there's no potential in him let me ask you a question is there anything more devastating than when you find out that your mom or dad don't believe in you when they don't see anything significant in your life when they when they say mean things to you to try to limit you to be come less than than what god wants you to be you see he got really quiet in the room and you know why i got quiet in the room because there's probably some of us in this room probably some of us at home that's exactly what happened to you your mom or your dad wounded you with their words they compared you with a brother or a sister they said that you were less than that you'd never amount to anything that your best simply wasn't good enough we talked about this a few weeks ago right we talked about favoritism we said let's be careful that we're not showing favoritism from one child to another child let's believe in each of our kids let's hold each of our kids in high esteem let's build them up so they might see what god placed inside of him every one of our children is euk every one of our kids can do something great for the things of god and for the kingdom of god but that wasn't the way jesse was jesse finds out samuel's coming he lines up all of his boys all of them except for one the one that he felt like didn't have any king potential at all and some of you understand exactly what i'm talking about in fact some of you are continue to walk in the wounds because you never could hear your mom or dad say that they loved you you never could hear your mom or dad say you know what i'm really proud of you you do that really well i think you're going to be great i think you're going to be highly successful one day you never heard those words come out of your mom or your dad's lips and even to this day some of us some of us you're living in the shadow of that aren't you you're still trying to prove yourself you're still trying to prove your worth because you still long to hear mom say it or dad say those words that you rarely got to hear if ever i'm proud of you you are a success and so what do we do we work ourselves to the bone we ignore our families we're trying to somehow gain the acceptance that we never could get and i know people you ready for this their parents have already died and they're still trying to live for the approval of a mom or a dad that wouldn't even give it to him on their deathbed so if that's the lot that you had in life if you had a cruddy mom or a credit dad i want you to hear me i want you to hear me very clearly god believes in you god believes in you god knit you together in your mother's womb you are fearfully and wonderfully made and god put gifts and talents and abilities inside of you and he sees things in you that you don't even see in yourself he believes that you could be something significant that you could be something great that you could be something difference-making oh friend listen to me let go of the baggage of whatever alibi else has said about you were done to you and fix your eyes upon jesus the author and perfecter of your faith and run the race that he set before you with endurance friends if we're going to overcome the limitations that other people put on us the first thing is this we have to see ourselves the way god sees us and i said it last week and i'm going to say it again god doesn't just see who we are today but god sees what we can become god sees what your potential is and god wants to help you rise up and realize that potential and see that potential actually become a reality well the story continues jesse answered samuel he said well they're still the youngest but he's tending the sheep and samuel said sin for him we will not sit down until he arrives so he sent and had him brought in he was ruddy at the fine appearance and handsome features then the lord said rise and anoint him he is the one here's the question why did god choose david to be the next king over israel because we know that jesse didn't see anything kingly in him so he's not taller than the brothers and not more muscular than the brother he's a good-looking kid he's not exceptionally good-looking he's not exceptionally talented or gifted why choose him would do you remember what god revealed to samuel when he looked at eliab he said man looks at the outward appearance but god looks at the heart god cares more about your availability than he cares about your ability let me say that again because that was good god cares more about your availability than he cares about your ability see what god's looking for is someone who wants to be used god's looking for somebody whose heart is wholly devoted over to him so we got to pause here for just a second we got to ask ourselves a question is our heart wholly devoted to the lord do you really do i really love the lord my god with all my heart and all my soul and all my mind and all my strength or somewhere along the way has something else begun to rival my relationship with god and it could be something good right david just he just loved god with every fiber of his being think about this from god's perspective he's already anointed another king guy named saul and he was wishy-washy he had one foot in one foot out he he had a divided heart and god said this isn't going to work this guy's not going to be obedient this guy's not going to do the things i want him to do so i'm going to choose david now it's interesting that david wasn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination now was he later in his life he will commit adultery later in his life he'll be an accessory to murder i mean david he got off track really bad but one of the things we can always say about david is that his heart was always with the lord even though he got sidetracked because nobody's ever going to be perfect he loved god he wanted to please god sometimes he put that on a shelf but for the most part that's what he wanted even god said there's a man after my own heart when i think about david i think of a guy who was zealous for the lord now that's not a word that we use much anymore but i came across this in a book and i thought it was really good this is a great definition of what it is to have zeal for god this is what it says zeal is a burning desire to please god to do his will and to advance his glory in the world in every way possible a zealous man is preeminently a man of one thing he sees only one thing cares about one thing lives for one thing swallowed up in one thing and that one thing is to please god whether he lives or dies has health or has sickness whether he's rich or poor pleases people or gives offense whether he's thought wise or foolish gets the blame or the praise whether he receives honor is given shame he burns for one thing and that one thing is to please god it doesn't do it perfectly by any stretch of the imagination because none of us can do that but that's the one thing at the end of the day even when he blows it he comes to god says oh god i'm so sorry i blew i just want to live for you i just want to please you you look at the psalms that most of the psalms are written by david and you think about the passion and the intensity that he has for his relationship with god one of my favorite psalms psalm 27 says one thing i ask this is david one thing i ask and this is what i seek that i may dwell in the house of the lord my god forever and ever and ever that was the desire of david look what the bible says here in ii chronicles chapter 16 verse 9 the eyes of the lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him so let's just imagine that that god is now searching searching the earth all right searching the world now his eyes are coming through this auditorium and his eyes are coming through your home wherever you're at watching this he comes upon you does he find someone who's available to him does he find somebody who loves him with everything that they've got someone who's wholehearted whose mission in life is to please god with everything that they say and everything that they do if that's where you're at friends god will use you in a significant way god will use your life to make an impact and i don't care what anybody else says or anybody else thinks because the only opinion that matters is god's well guess what jesse doesn't see anything kingly about his son david and guess what his brothers don't think much of him either one day david's dad says hey once you go check on your brothers who are fighting against the philistines and when david is there he hears this loud mouth of a giant by the name of goliath defying the armies of god and defying god himself let's look at it this is first samuel chapter 17 verse 22 says david left his things in the keeper of supplies and ran to the battle lines and greeted his brothers as he was talking with him goliath the philistine champion from gath stepped out of the stepped out from his lines and shouted his usual defiance and david heard it when the israelites saw the man they all ran from him in great fear and david asked the man standing near him what will be done for the man who kills the philistine and removes this disgrace from israel who is this uncircumcised philistine that he should defy the armies of the living god they repeated to him what they had been saying and told him this is what will be done for the man who kills him when eliab david's oldest brother heard him speaking with the men he burned with anger at him and asked why have you come down here and with whom did you leave those few sheep in the desert i know how conceited you are how wicked your heart is you came down only to watch the battle now what's going on here why is eliab giving david such a hard time well eliab's embarrassed and why is he embarrassed well he's the oldest he's the strongest he's the most handsome he's the first person that samuel looked at when he had the lion of all who was going to be the next king right so this is the guy that you would logically think is going to take on the giant but eliab doesn't weigh part of that giant he's cowering in fear he's scared to death then his youngest brother comes up and begins to ask different people hey what would be done what's the king offering for the guy who shuts this loud mouth up and eliav is embarrassed because david is willing to do something that he's not willing to do so what's he do tries to limit him he says what's the matter with you you should be back in the field nobody you should be talking like this you should be back in the fields with those few sheep i know how conceited you are i know who you really are what's really going he's trying to keep him down you ever have people in your life that try to keep you down that dog you that slam you that say all kinds of evil things against you and these are people that you respect people that you admire but you want to do something great for the lord and they say no you can't do that we've tried that before it won't work they just kind of push you down push you down push you down push you down i remember when i was first starting off in the in the work field i was 16 years old got a job working at macy's on the dock and while i was working at macy's on the dock i was trying to do my very best my dad told me you show up you give your very best you stay out of the drama you keep your nose clean and you get your job done so that's what i did i went in there i had my task list i started working through my tasks and my boss was always impressed because i was the first one to get all my tasks done and you know i did it with excellence well guess what the other guys i was working with didn't appreciate it and they put it on me and they said what are you doing you're making all of us look bad slow down what are you doing they're trying to limit me they're trying to make me less than why because i'm showing them off that's what's happening and they don't want to rise to the occasion they just want to coast now let me ask you a question why are you listening to people who we just want to coast in life why would you ever let somebody who's not doing anything with their life stop you from doing something with yours i mean consider the source who is the person that's saying these things to you are they over achievers are they overcomers are they doing something great for the things of god in the kingdom of god because if they are they're not going to put you down they're going to build you up they're going to say follow me but for those people who don't go after great things who don't risk their lives you know what they do when somebody else wants to do it kind of puts a spotlight upon them they say listen i don't see you in that role i don't think you should do that i think it's too risky you shouldn't go after that it could be something stupid like losing weight you say what in the world you talking about i've got a friend of mine he was overweight so he lost a lot of weight lost it fast lost it good he looked excellent well he had some golf buddies and guess what the golf buddies were large and they didn't like the fact that he had lost weight so every time friday would come rolling around it was time for them to go golfing guess what the golf buddies would put it on him they'd say you're too skinny you look like a wuss what's the matter with you you got cancer what's the matter with you you need to bulk up again you need to get bigger why did they say those things to him because they had no desire to be healthy themselves and he made them in their minds look bad and so what they want him to do gain the weight back and he did friends who are you listening to who's trying to tell you that you're less than that you'll never amount to anything consider the source because god has great dreams for you god has great plans for your life and that brings me to point number two if you're going to overcome the limitations of others you've got to listen to the only voice that matters and the only voice that matters is the voice of god and you've got to fine-tune your ears to the voice of god because there are plenty of critics out there plenty of people want to keep you down and make you believe that you're not going to accomplish anything great do not listen to them don't let anybody give you a less than kind of life keep your ears in tune with the voice of god well guess what king saul hears that there's somebody in the camp that's actually willing to take on this giant of a man by the name of goliath and he is so excited so he calls david in thinking he's going to see a mighty warrior and then comes this shepherd boy and saul is discouraged this is not the kid that he was hoping that was going to come and fight the giant look at what happens here saul takes one look at david and says you're not able to go against this philistine to fight with him for you're a youth and he a man of war from his youth again too many people listen to people with no vision and no drive and no passion but david wasn't having any of that see david's father saw nothing more than a shepherd and david's brother saw nothing more than a loser and king saul saw nothing more than a boy but god saw a king make no mistake about it god's still looking for someone anyone who still believes that god can do something significant in their life at some point in time you've got to get mad and you've got to stop believing the lies that people are trying to tell you and you've got to believe the truth of the word of god that you are more than a conqueror because of christ jesus that you can do all things through christ who gives you strength that nothing is impossible with god at some point in time you've got to say enough is enough and with the defiant faith you've got to rise up and say i am not what others say i am i am what god says i am i can't stand it to hear people say i guess this is the way i'm always going to be i mean this is about as good as it's going to get and they settle in their life years ago my wife and i took the kids down a few blocks away from our house there's a little pond that's there and sometimes ducks will be out there my wife would always bring bread crumbs to feed the ducks and you know you normally feed the ducks you have the kids over here and the ducks are over there and you kind of throw the bread crumbs over where the ducks are at but my wife has a strange sense of humor so she would throw the bread crumbs at my kid's feet and so the ducks would kind of waddle up there and they would kind of peck around at the kid's feet and the kids would scream and they'd run around they would actually not so my wife just laughed and laughed and she just thought it was so funny to this day my middle daughter hannah has a phobia of birds and i think it started right there with the bread crumbs is to be honest with you because on this particular day she was peppering bread crumbs peppering them and peppering and peppering at all three of my kids and they're running around they're screaming the ducks are having a great time but hannah's not hannah is scared to death for her life and my wife just keeps peppering the breadcrumbs at her and hannah's i can see that she's about to panic she's about to cry so i scoop her up and i think that duck you ain't gonna catch my daughter right there i'll tell you what i grabbed a hold of myself i got you my wife starts peppering me with bread crumbs and i'm like what in the world now the ducks are coming at me and they're pecking around at my feet and i'm like whoa whoa whoa whoa and then there was this big duck bigger duck than the other ducks and he was more aggressive than the other ducks he came closer and closer and closer became more and more intimidating and i hate to admit this but i turned and i ran from the duck now what in the world am i doing running from a duck i don't know if you know this or not but i'm six foot tall with my shoes on and i weigh more than a duck i remember turning around thinking this is ridiculous i'm scared to death of a duck and so i said okay jesus we're going against the duck and i headed back you know what that duck did he ran away and i thought you better run away i will drop kick you in jesus name i'll tell you that right now get away from me how many of us are running away from a duck you make so many excuses why you can't be significant well you can't be something great why you can't take a risk it's as if your god is so small so tiny that he can't accomplish anything great you're running away from a duck you used to have great dreams when you got married you said we're going to have the best marriage ever we're going to the greatest marriage we're going to show everybody else what marriage is all about somewhere along the way you settled somewhere along the way you stopped doing the hard work you stopped showing up you stopped putting the needs of the other person first you stopped putting jesus as the centerpiece of your relationship you settled some of you you think that the addiction that you've got is always going to be a part of your life you're never going to be able to get away from the porn you're never going to get away from the pills never get away from the alcohol this is the cycle that you're in no matter what you do no matter what you're just kind of stuck some of you you once believed that god could do something significant with your life and you you really wanted to be a part of something significant but somewhere along the way you kind of looked around and said well nobody else is really that excited about the things of god so i don't want to be a jesus freak i don't want to stick out like a sore thumb and so along the way you just kind of kind of settled didn't you for some of us you had these dreams of who you were going to marry and you took the pastor's advice one day and you wrote down all the things that you're looking for in a person you want to spend the rest of your life with but now you're in your upper 20s your lower mid 30s and nobody has shown up on your radar that meets that criteria and so what what do you do you start to mentally just okay well can't find anybody with that so i'll get rid of that and i can't find anybody with that and what are you doing you you end up settling in your life at some point in time you've got to say i've got to do what god wants me to do and i don't want to settle any longer i want the best life that i can possibly have and i don't care what anybody else says i don't care anybody else does god will be with me and god will help me one of my favorite verses is deuteronomy 31 verse 8 it says the lord himself goes before you and will be with you he'll never leave you nor forsake you don't be afraid don't be discouraged i think some of you are discouraged today because life hasn't turned out the way you hoped that it would have because somewhere along the way you kind of settled for a less than kind of a life you kind of looked around say well this is why everybody lives their life but you long for something more the lord himself wants to go before you and he will be with you he'll take you by the hand he will lead you one step at a time to the life that you desire deep inside your heart and soul to go after the third point that i got to make is we got to do what god's called us to do we got to do what god's called us to do if god's place to dream in your life about should be and what could be then you've got to go after that dream and you've got to fight for it you got to fight for your marriage you got to fight for that dream you got to fight you got to fight against that sin compare the size of your god to the size of what you're facing your god can handle it is there anything our god cannot do so so saul says listen you're just a boy you can't fight him he says listen david says i fought the the lions and the tigers and the bears oh my i can take on this uncircumcised philistine for the battle belongs to the lord and saul tries to give david his armor and dave's like i don't need this stuff all i need is my slingshot all i need are a few rocks and all i need is the power and the presence of god and the bible says that david ran out onto the battlefield he wasn't afraid he wasn't intimidated because the battle belongs to the lord so he runs out to face the giant believing that god's going to do something significant and this giant was scary and over nine feet tall he had a suit of armor that weighed over 200 pounds he had a javelin and on the point of the iron tip was 25 pound iron tip and he had a shield bearer that went out before him and in the hebrew the word for shield bearers is a adult-sized six-foot tall shield that he's got coming in front of him towards david you think that's not intimidating and when goliath sees david coming his direction look at what he says it says meanwhile the philistine with his shield bear in front of him kept coming closer to david he looked david over and saw that he was only a boy ruddy and handsome and he despised him he said to david am i a dog that you commit me with sticks and the philistines curse david by his gods look at david's response come here come here i'm going to give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of this field david said the philistines you come against me with sword and spear and javelin but i come against you in the name of the lord almighty the god of the armies of israel whom you've defied this day the lord will hand you over to me and i'll strike you down and cut off your head today i will give the carcass of the philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth and the whole world will know that there's a god in israel all those gathered here will know that it's not by sword or spear that the lord saves for the battle is the lord's and he'll give all of you into our hands who's the battle belong to the battle is the lord's and i said it last week and i'm going to say it again your life is the lord's and your hopes they're the lords your dreams that the lord's your future is the lord's your marriage is the lord's your singleness is the lord's your sin is the lord's i remember when i was a kid the preacher that we grew up in he was boring and uh i would sit in the back and you know he'd talk about this that and listen to things and say i always hold my bible up and i'd read first samuel 16 and 17. by the time i got done reading first samuel 16 and 17 he was pretty much done at that point i love this story as a kid because here you are you got your whole world in front of you you got all these dreams and all these hopes of what could be and what should be and what you believe god wants to be in your life but you have all these people that tell you that you're less than that you'll never amount to anything that you're never going to rise above it all and it comes in so many different ways we take so many hits and yet here's a guy who just wouldn't listen to anybody else except the lord and he pushed through it the limitations his dad had on him the limitations of his brothers the limitations that the king had he believed that god went before him and that god would take care of him and i just got to ask you something do you believe that because the same god who ran out in the battlefield with david is the same god that runs to run out into the battlefield of your life as well and he wants you to see something significant with your life he wants you to believe him for something significant in your life you facing adversity you are not alone the lord our god is with us the battle belongs to the lord so stop looking at your problems as your pitfalls and look them at them as possibilities of what god can do and stop looking at the obstacles that are before you to give you some excuse to be less than and you see those obstacles as opportunities for god almighty to come through for you in ways you never dreamed or imagined because your life is the lord's and the battle belongs to him so don't settle no matter what anybody else says or anybody else does you fix your eyes on jesus and you live your life for an audience of one and when you get to the end of your life in the end of your race at least you can look back with no regret because you ran the race with everything you had for the king of kings and for the lord of lords let's pray dear heavenly father give us that kind of perseverance to never give up to never quit and lord i just think that there's some people here today and people watching at home and that's where they're at they just want to give up they want to quit life has not turned out the way they hoped their dreams have not come true they've settled along the way lord put your arms around them you say in your word that even youths grow tired and weary and young men stumble and fall but those who hope in you you'll renew their strength you'll renew their strength god i pray that you would renew our strength that we would get back up again and we would look at any area of our life where we've limited ourselves where we've listened we've listened to the cheap seats making us less than god tune our ears to you to your voice help us to see what you see help us to accomplish the things that you've set forth for us to accomplish and lord when fear rises its ugly head please whisper in our ears that everything is going to be all right because you'll never leave us and you'll never forsake us give us the strength and the courage to run out to that battlefield knowing that the battle belongs to you i ask this in jesus name amen there's a name that can silence every fear there's a love that embraces the heartache the pain and the tears through my faith and my doubting i know one thing's for sure his word is unfailing his promise secured [Music] [Music] the trials he's faithful and he's true the whole world's in his hands he thought of us [Music] father you say everything is gonna be all right but my circumstances say i won't mess through the night i need your word to hold me now i need you to pull me through i need a miracle a breakthrough i need you they say you hold the whole universe in your hand but my words falling apart like it is made of sand am i small enough to slip through the cracks can you take my broken pieces and put them back give me faith to believe you're on my side open my eyes to see you working in my life let the past remind me you never fail tell my soul it [Music] in the darkness and the trials he's faithful and he's true the whole world's in his hands [Music] he's got the whole world in his hands he's got the whole world in his hands he's got the whole wide world in his hands [Music] god never wanted us to do life alone and in everything that we face both the good and the bad we always need prayer so if you need prayer right now you can call or text us at 505-922-9200 and a member of our pastoral team will connect with you or you can visit us at sagebrush.church forward slash connect and we'll connect with you soon if you are joining us from outside the albuquerque metro area we want to let you know that we've got host groups that meet all around the united states and actually all around the world we have groups of people who gather together to watch the service to pray for one another and every once well they'll even do one of our small group studies if you'd like to get more information on leading a host group it's real easy you just go to sagebrush.church forward slash host group and they'll give you all the information on how you can connect lastly follow us on instagram and facebook and youtube to stay up to date with the latest on everything that's going on at sagebrush thanks so much for spending some time with us today we would love to see you next week as we continue our hall of face series

Channel: Sagebrush Church

Views: 1,399

Rating: 4.8400002 out of 5

Keywords: daily devotions, christianity, bible study, church social media, pastor, social media pastor, youtube pastor, sagebrush, sagebrush church, Albuquerque church, New Mexico church, todd cook, pastor todd

Id: Bsh5e6hW-oo

Length: 61min 13sec (3673 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 18 2021