[MUSIC PLAYING] [APPLAUSE] A special thanks to
our worship group. They did such a good job. That was so inspiring
and faith-building. Did you bring one of these? Yeah, hold it up. Let's see them. Let's see those babies. Oh, come on, that's beautiful. OK, let's turn in our Bibles to
1 Samuel, 1 Samuel, chapter 17. It's in your Old Testament. If you're not quite sure where
that is, somebody around you will help you, I'm sure. 1 Samuel, chapter 17. The Bible says, God has not
given us the Spirit of fear but of power and of love
and of a sound mind. I want to talk to
you today about that. I suppose that everybody
has a certain amount of what they would call
caution, healthy fear. It keeps us alive. I happen to have a fear
of oncoming traffic, so I won't be walking
out in that anytime soon. Some people have
a fear of heights. That, to a certain degree, can
be good for obvious reasons because gravity still works. But fears can become irrational. They can paralyze us. They can cause us to think and
act in a frantic kind of a way. And I suppose that whatever
fears that people have, that they have been added
to this past year, year and a half, by a
number of things. So now there's a
fear of a virus. There's a fear of
economic free-fall. There's fear now of
terrorism resurfacing because of the events of
the last couple of weeks. Fear starts when we're young. Kids have all sorts
of irrational fears from fear of the dark, to fear
of monsters under their bed. They might be fearful
of crocodiles, even if they live in Rio Rancho. You know, it doesn't
make sense, but-- but kids have those fears. We learn them,
and we carry them. One little boy, 12 years old,
seventh grader named Quentin, said, my biggest fear is a test. He goes, "I'm afraid
of it because it's like you know the material. But when it's in front of
you, your brain shuts off." An 8-year-old girl
named Cheyenne said, "My greatest fear is my future. Now that I'm in third
grade, I'm afraid my future will start happening. Soon I'll start getting
scholarships and free enrollments in college. It's just that life is
rolling by way too fast." Besides fears, there are
what mental health experts call phobias, and they call
that a type of anxiety disorder. And according to
the best literature, 30% of all Americans
have a phobia. The number one-- I found this very
interesting-- the number one phobia of the American public
is called trypanophobia. It's the fear of needles. And I think that's interesting,
especially right now, right? They're trying to
roll out vaccines. They should just keep
in mind, 30% of people are dealing with phobias. And the number-one
phobia people have is they don't like needles. There are others. There's-- second on
the list is called-- I'm going to try
to work this out-- pteromerhanophobia, which
is the fear of flying. Then claustrophobia, the fear of
enclosed spaces; entomophobia, the fear of insects;
ophidiophobia, the fear of snakes-- my son and wife do
not have that phobia-- cynophobia, the fear
of dogs; astraphobia, the fear of storms. There is even something
called phobophobia. The fear of fear. It is the fear of fear. It's the-- it's the
fear of being afraid. I don't want to laugh these
off or marginalize it if you have one of these phobias. It comes at a cost. It comes at a
physiological response, typically raised heart rate,
shortness of breath, sweating, adrenaline rush. All those things are real
things that happen in the body. We've been looking
at Hunting Giants. That's the name of our series. We've sort of looked at giants
analogously, metaphorically. But today we consider a
real giant named Goliath. You know the story. You know it so well and
this chapter is so long, I'm only going to give
you elements of it because I believe you
know it that well. Everybody does who has been in
church for any length of time. It is the most famous
battle in the Old Testament. It's not between two armies. It's between two individuals. And the people of
Israel in this battle-- it has told us twice-- are fearful. It says they were
greatly afraid. Then they're
tremendously afraid. And then-- you know the story-- in walks this kid,
a teenage kid. David was no more than a young
teenager when this happened. And he comes in almost
like he's whistling, and he's, like, what, a giant? So what? And it's that kind of unusual
faith in the midst of fear that makes the
story so noteworthy. Did you know that 63 times
the Bible tells us "fear not," "fear not" or "do
not be afraid," 63 times if you count them. If you look at all the
derivations of that command, over 300 times we are told
not to be controlled by or gripped by fear. I was reading the other day
an article in the Huffington Post that said 85% of all the
things we are afraid of never happen. 85% never happen. One man said, my
life has been filled with terrible misfortune,
most of which never happened. Of the 15% that
happens, we discover we can handle it better
than we thought we could. That it's not that bad,
or there are great lessons to be learned by it. What I want to do in
looking at this chapter is give you four truths about
fear, four truths about fear. First of all, fear
is intimidating. Now I'm just going to kind
of ease you into the story and pick out a few verses. So on one side of a valley-- I want to set the scene
for you in your mind-- on one side of a valley, and
the valley is about a mile wide. You can visit it today,
the Valley of Elah. On one side is a hill, and
the other side is a hill. The army of Israel
was on one hill. The army of the Philistines
was on the other hill. They would go down the
hills into the valley and choose each other off,
until one day a huge guy comes walking onto the scene. The champion, he is
called in verse four, a champion from Gath,
a Philistine city. His name is Goliath. And chapter 17, verse 4,
tells us how high he was, how tall he was. It says six cubits and a span. Now six cubits and a span is
anywhere from 8 and 1/2 feet to 9 and 1/2 feet tall, the
envy of every NBA team around. The original
Bigfoot was Goliath. And then-- and
here's where we're going to jump into
our reading-- verse 8 says, "he stood and he cried
out to the armies of Israel, and said to them, 'Why have you
come out to line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and
you the servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves,
and let him come down to me. If he's able to fight
with me and kill me, then we'll be your servants. But if I prevail against
him and kill him, then you're going to be
our servants and serve us.' And the Philistine said, 'I defy
the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we
may fight together.' And when Saul and
all of Israel heard these words of the Philistine,
they were dismayed and"-- here it is-- "greatly
afraid," "greatly afraid." Who wouldn't be looking up at a
big old 8 and 1/2 to 9 and 1/2 foot beast? Now some people have
problems with this story. They go, oh, come on. You don't really
believe that literally, like that actually happened. That's like a myth. People don't grow that tall. Well, you need to do your
history if you think that way. Because back in 1918
in Alton, Illinois, a baby was born
named Robert Wadlow. And when he was born, he was
eight pounds, five ounces, a little on the big side
but not out of normal range. By the time Robert
Wadlow was 13 years old, he was 7 feet, 8 inches. That's a tall 13-year-old,
wouldn't you say? He had a certain condition
that rendered him that tall. When he was fully grown, he
was 8 foot, 11 inches, roughly this size, Goliath's size. When he died, it took 12
men to carry his casket. The casket was 10
feet, 9 inches. So it happens, even
in our modern times, so let's just kind of push that
it's a myth-- push that aside. But to be fair, let
me also tell you that there are some translations
of the Old Testament that give it a different
rendering of height. So if you were to look
at the Masoretic text of the Old Testament, if you
were to look at the Septuagint version of the Old Testament,
if you ever look at the Dead Sea Scrolls or you were to look
at the writings of Flavius Josephus, they don't say
he's six cubits and a span. They say he's four cubits and
a span, which would make him-- if that's the
accurate translation-- would make him 6 foot 9". Now I had a brother
that was 6 foot 8". I'm 6' 5". That would make
Goliath 6 foot 9". You go, come on, that
didn't sound very dramatic. That ruins my whole
Sunday School concept. And that's-- I mean, you'd get a
lot of guys in Israel who would fight that guy. No, you wouldn't,
especially when you realize that at 1,000 BC-- that's when this takes place-- in 1,000 BC, the average
height of the Israeli male was 5 foot 3 inches. So picture in your
mind LeBron James. He's 6 foot 9", fully
clothed with a coat of mail for a battle,
next to Danny Devito. [LAUGHTER] Right? You've got the picture? You'll never unsee that. So this guy,
however tall he was, comes with a coat of
mail that is 125 pounds. The head of his spear,
we are told is-- and converting it-- 15 pounds. That's the head of
his spear, so it's like a sledgehammer
with a point. He comes into the valley, and
he has a whole different idea of how to do a battle. He goes, you know, let's
not do army to army. Let's do man to
man, mano a mano. Let's just do hand-to-hand
combat, one on one, winner takes all. If I win, you're
all of our servants. If you win, one guy, one
man, we'll be your slaves. Now there was one
man in Israel who was taller than everybody else. What was his name? King Saul. King Saul, King
Saul, we are told was head and shoulders
above everyone. He should have been the
guy, but he is not the guy. He has got his tail
between his legs, and he is hiding somewhere. He is not up for this battle. By the way, just a
thought, maybe that's how nations should do battles. Maybe we should-- leaders are
so quick to commit young men and women to the battlefield. Maybe-- maybe these nations
who don't get along, the leaders should
just fight each other. [CLAPPING] Now I'm not recommending that
during the current leadership that that happen. We would be in big trouble. But it's a thought. [LAUGHTER] Now what they saw that
day overwhelmed them. It intimidated them. Goliath had everything you
would need to intimidate people. I read an article
in Psychology Today. It was an article about a man
by the name of Bill Stratton. They used him as an example. Bill Stratton is a poet. He teaches writing. Now how intimidating
does that sound? I'm a poet, not
very intimidating. But Bill Stratton is also
6 feet, 5 inches tall, very broad shouldered, a
deep powerful voice, and a pretty large beard. So here's the story
in Psychology Today. He was like running
through a park one day, noticed a couple, an
elderly couple who looked like they needed help. They needed first aid. So he goes over to
them to help them, and he said, I could see
the fear in their eyes as I approached. I tried to stand at a distance,
put my hands in my pockets. But, you know, here's a guy,
6 foot, 5", broad shouldered. Can I help you? No! So he went on to find somebody
less intimidating looking than him to go help them. And the article in
Psychology Today simply said that
people who are tall or loud or smart or outgoing,
type A personalities, often bring
intimidation with them, causing others to be afraid. Now David will
come on the scene, and he will not be intimidated. He will see the
same thing they see, but he is not going to have the
level of fear or intimidation that they have, and here's
one of the reasons why. You remember when Samuel
came to the house of Jesse-- this is the chapter
right before; I know you know this as well-- and Samuel is there
to find the next king. He says-- God said, go
to the house of Jesse. You're going to find a king. So Samuel has all of
Jesse's sons line up. David is the last. He's out in the field. He finally comes in. The first guy that's
standing before Samuel is the oldest boy named Eliab. He's tall. He's good-looking. Samuel thinks this is the guy. He's got a horn of oil. He's about to pour it on Eliab,
and God stops him and says, stop. I've rejected him. This is not the king. And then God explains for
God does not see as man sees. Man looks at the
outward appearance, but God looks at the heart. God looks at the heart. Man looks at the
outward appearance. God looks at the heart. Now there's a lot of
truth in that statement. Man does look at the
outward appearance. We do look at people,
and we size them up. We are impressed
or not impressed. And when we're around
them and we meet them, if they outthink us or
outsmart us or outdress us or whatever it might be, we
might feel a little fearful and intimidated. David comes on the scene,
sees what they see, but he doesn't have the
same reaction they have. And here's why. What we see is often a
matter of how we see. What we see is often a
matter of how we see. You can have two people see
the same thing exactly and have two different responses. Ever been in a movie
theater at a 3D movie? Anybody ever see a 3D movie? Raise your hand. Remember, we used to go
to movies at one time. There were movie theaters,
they were called, in America. Anyway, 3D movies, you
have-- what do you wear? You wear glasses. So when you wear glasses,
you see things differently than if you take
off your glasses. Or if you're sitting
there with glasses next to a guy who is
looking at the same thing without the glasses,
you're going to look at the same
thing, but you're going to see two
different things. One of my favorite stories
is about three people at the Grand Canyon. One was an artist. One was a pastor, a minister. One was a cowboy. They're looking down into the
beautiful chasm of the Grand Canyon, and they start
telling their impressions of what they see. So the artist
looks, and he first says, wow, what a
beautiful scene to paint. And the pastor says,
wow, what a magnificent display of the glory
and majesty of God. The cowboy looks
down and says, wow, what a terrible
place to lose a cow. [LAUGHTER] They all saw the same thing,
but they saw it differently. So when David arrives,
he doesn't see a giant. He sees a big target. He's-- I can't miss that. That'll be easy
because that's so big. Even I can hit that. Anybody can hit that. That's how he sees it. But fear is intimidating. A second thing to
note about fear, not only is fear intimidating,
fear can be debilitating. We go on in this story. You have to notice
this in verse 16. The Philistine drew near and
presented himself 40 days morning and evening. Now let's do the math. 40 days morning and
evening, how many times did he present himself? 80 times, right,
that's the right math. So in the morning, he got
up, had his breakfast, go down-- goes
down to the valley, shouts, chooses people up. Give me a man. Come on. Let's fight. What are you waiting
for, you cowards? Let's go. That's once. Goes back, has lunch,
maybe a little siesta. Goes down again before
dinner, says the same thing. Goes back up, next day repeat,
repeat, and repeat, 80 times, 40 days. Would that wear on
you if you heard that? Absolutely. It would be demoralizing
to hear that. So keep going, verse 21. "Israel and the
Philistines drew up in battle array,
army against army"-- they're in the valley. "David left his supplies in
the hand of the supply keeper, ran to the army, came and
greeted his brothers." Now stop there for a minute. Let me give you the back story. David is not in the army. David is a teenager,
keeping sheep in Bethlehem. His brothers, however,
his older brothers are all in Saul's army. So his dad sends
him-- sends David to the battle with food
for the older brothers and to get a report of
how the battle is going. That's what David is doing here. He's not in the army. He's too young. So David leaves the supplies,
greets his brothers. Hey, bro, what's up? Verse 23, "as he talked with
them, there was the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath
by name"-- now watch this-- "coming up"-- that's very important that
you notice that-- "coming up from the armies of
the Philistines; and he spoke according
to the same words. So David heard them. And all the men of Israel, when
they saw the man, fled from him and were"-- here it is again-- "dreadfully afraid." "Dreadfully afraid" in Hebrew
is [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH],, which is to be
overcome with fear. The NSV, the New Skip Version,
they were freaked out. They were freaked out. They were crippled with fear. Why? Because they notice
this guy coming up. Now, again, the
geography is important. There's a valley here in the
middle, a mile wide, a hill and a hill on either side,
an army on each hill. Typically, they come
down, yell at each other. Nobody's really fought yet. Go back, come down, go
back, come down, go back. Goliath gets into the mix,
starts yelling, 80 times, come on, come on, give me a man. Finally, Goliath gets
closer, crosses the creek-- the little brook in Elah. Again, if you come
to Israel with us, we'll point this out to you. You can see the whole
valley scene right there. And he starts coming
up the other side. So now he's not
just intimidating. Now he's aggressive. Now he's getting
closer and closer. He is coming up. Goliath is so much
like our adversary. I'm talking about the adversary
of our soul, the devil. He tries to intimidate and
intimidate and intimidate. And then he-- he'll get closer. He'll come up. He'll move in. He'll take advantage. Frances Thompson said,
"The devil doesn't know how to sing, only how to howl!" But if that howl goes unmet,
unchallenged, then he'll come up closer and
closer and come after you stronger and stronger. And that's how fear works. Fear works the same way. It grows. It comes up. It becomes irrational, and
it keeps you awake at night. If you don't deal with the
howling during the day, it comes to you at night. It wakes you up. It plagues your thought life. And counselor after
counselor will write or say that the typical question that
will come at night like this are questions to begin
with, "what if," "what if." What if this happens and
then what if he does that? And then what if I and-- all that, it just gets closer
and bigger and debilitating. There's a great little poem
by Shel Silverstein called, "The Whatifs." It's a children's poem,
but it's just fun. I thought you should see it. "Last night while I
lay thinking here, some Whatifs crawled
inside my ear." You've all had that. "And pranced and
partied all night long, and sang their same
old Whatif song. Whatif they've closed
the swimming pool? Whatif I'm dumb in school? Whatif I get beat up? Whatif there's poison in my cup? Whatif I start to cry? Whatif I just get sick and die? Whatif I flunk the test? Whatif green hair
grows on my chest?" That wouldn't be good, would it? "Whatif nobody likes me? Whatif a bolt of
lightning strikes me? Whatif I don't grow taller? Whatif my head starts
getting smaller? Whatif the fish won't bite? Whatif the wind
tears up my kite? Whatif they start a war? Whatif my parents get divorced? Whatif the bus is late? Whatif my teeth don't
grow in straight? Whatif I tear my pants? Whatif if I never
learn to dance?" That'd be OK, but anyway. "Everything seems swell, and
then the nighttime Whatifs strike again!" Every kid has had
that experience, and many adults continue
to have that experience. What if I lose my job? What if I don't
find another job? What if the disease gets worse? What if the check doesn't come? Fill in the blank. Fear is intimidating. Fear can be debilitating. Let me give you a
third truth about fear. Fear breeds squabbling. When people are afraid, they
do something with their fear. So look at verse 28. Now Eliab, he's in the army. He's part of this whole set-up. "Eliab, his oldest
brother, heard when he"-- David-- "spoke to the men." So David comes. Younger brother, sheep guy
comes, talks to everybody. Eliab sees this. Eliab, his oldest
brother, "heard when he spoke to the
men; and Eliab's anger was aroused against
David, and he said, 'Why did you come down here? And with whom have you
left those few sheep in the wilderness?'" Now this is a dig. He's trying to put him down. I'm in the army. All you do is keep sheep. What did you do with those
"'sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride and the
insolence of your heart, for you have come down to see
the battle.'" Now if I'm David, I'm going to be saying,
really, what battle. I don't see no battle. I don't see any of you
getting up and fighting. You're just, ah, scared,
crawling, running away. But he didn't say that. "David said, 'What
have I done now? Is there not a cause?' Then he turned from
him toward another and said the same thing; and
these people answered him as the first ones did." Now keep in mind who Eliab is. Eliab is the oldest brother. He was the guy who stood
in line when Samuel came to pick the next king. And so that means Eliab was
the first one in the family to be rejected as king. He never forgot that. And he never forgot when David
came in from watching sheep, and Samuel said, that's it. He's the kid. He's the king. He held it against
him all that time. Now in a moment of battle,
now in a moment of fear, he lashes out. This is called infighting. He's fighting his brother. Why? Because he's afraid. Fear will do that. Mental health expert
Kristen Fuller said that fear
can turn to anger. She said, when you're in a
stressful environment combined with a perceived threat,
you experience frustration. In that condition, people often
lash out at people around them. Keep that in mind if
people are unloading on you and getting angry at you, it
could be that they're afraid. During this last year
and a half, I have-- I've seen so many freaked-out
people, so afraid. And what they do,
they get angry at you. How come you're not
wearing the mask? Don't get too close to me? OK, whoa, yeah,
so, you know, you can get tempted to
lash out back at them. I mean, I think David-- most brothers would have
said, like, really you want some of this? I tell-- I'll punch
you in the nose, Eliab. But he doesn't do that. He recognizes that this
is coming from fear. In fact, notice what he does. It says, he turned from him. That's what he did, just
turn away, just walk away. David wasn't there
to fight his brother. David was there to fight
a beast named Goliath. So he turned from him. He knew who to fight
and who not to fight. Now, listen, if
you don't watch it, you'll end up
spending all your time fighting a Christian
brother or sister, while the real
enemy of our souls keeps coming up,
coming up, coming up. And he wants you to not
think of his coming up. He wants you to
just have infighting with everybody else around you. Don't let it happen. Finally, I'm going to
take you to a fourth. This is really the
best part of the story. This is the crux of the story. Fear requires conquering. Fear requires conquering. So we go down to verse 45. David comes on the scene. He's there with a few rocks,
five stones, and a sling. I mean, not even a
slingshot, I hear people say, David, all they had
was a slingshot. No, he did not. That was invented
a long time after. He came with just a sling,
a little leather strap that you go around your
head or off to the side. He comes, and verse 45,
"David said to the Philistine, 'You come to me with
a sword, 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." Wow. I mean, the best
part of the story is a teenage kid talking
smack back to this warrior. Why does he do that? And I don't know that he's-- I don't think this is hubris
or he's puffed up with pride. Somebody once said,
courage is just fear that has said its prayers. I think he probably went
out there, mm, gulping, but he realized something. So he says, I come to you in
the name of the Lord of hosts. Look at verse 46. "This day the Lord will
deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and
take your head from you. And this day I will
give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines
to the birds of the air and the wild beasts
of the earth"-- I love verses like this-- "that all the earth may know
that there's a God in Israel. Then all this assembly shall
know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear; for
the battle is the Lord's, and He will give you
into our hands." Amen! Wow. [CHEERING] You know that experts will tell
you that fear can be unlearned. That's good. You know why that is? Because fear is learned. We learned it when we're young. Some of it's healthy, good fear. But so often, it
becomes irrational. So often it controls us. And what you have learned that
has become unhealthy and bad can be unlearned. And the Bible talks
about renewing your mind. Don't be conformed
to this world. Romans 12, verse 2, "Don't
be conformed to this world but be transformed by the
renewing of your mind." You need to learn to
think differently. You need to unlearn
certain things. So what I want you to do,
I want to get specific now. David was victorious because he
did three things, three things. We can conquer by
doing three things. Number one, by remembering
past victories, remembering past victories. So I want you to
see something here. Look at chapter 17,
look at verse 33. Now David says, I'll
take the giant on. I'll do this. No, everybody's scared. I'll-- I'm ready to fight. So he stands before King Saul. Look what King Saul says to him. "Saul said to David, 'You're
not able to go against this Philistine.'" I mean, this guy
is meaner than a junkyard dog. You're a kid. You're a boy. You can't do this. That's what fear says. You can't do this. Don't try. Stop. You're not-- you can't do this. "'For you are but a youth, and
he is a man of war from his youth.'" So David hears that,
thinks about it. "David said to Saul," well,
"'your servant used to keep his father's sheep, and when a lion
or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, I
went out after it'"-- you're picturing a little
kid chasing a bear. Your servant, he said, "'I
went out after it and struck it and delivered the
lamb from its mouth.'" You've got to get
pretty close to a bear to deliver it out of its mouth. "'I caught it by the beard,
struck it, and killed it. Your servant has killed
both lion and bear; and this uncircumcised
Philistine will be like one of them, seeing that he's defied
the armies of the living God.'" So he remembered something
that happened in the past. He said, look, King,
with all due respect, I've seen God vanquish lesser
enemies, lions and bears, top of the food chain animals,
right, lions and bears, top of the food chain animals. I chased them down. I clubbed them to death,
and I took my lamb home. So here's the point. Fear in the present is
conquered by recalling victories in the past. Fear in the present is
conquered by recalling victories in the past. I want you to remember this. Look up here. I want you to remember this. If you have a good memory
and a sound theology, you're ready to fight
right now, right now. [CLAPPING] If you have a good memory
and a sound theology, you're ready to fight right now. Because the good
memory will remind you of what God has
already done in your life, and the sound theology
will remind you that the battle belongs to God. And what He's done in the
past, He can do it again. So if you have those two
things, you are ready to fight. If you can handle lions
and bears, lesser trials, you're ready for Giants 101. You're ready. You're in the club. So by remembering past
victories, that's number one. Number two, you conquer fear by
realizing your personal assets. See, God made you
different than He made me. He made us very unique. And you have a certain
makeup and certain advantages and certain gifts
that enable you to do what nobody else can do. So it is with David. So David-- finally,
Saul says, OK, go ahead. God be with you. Go to battle. But look at verse 38. "Saul clothed David
with his armor, he put on a bronze
helmet on his head; he clothed him with
a coat of mail." Now keep in mind how tall
is Saul, head and shoulders above everybody else. David's a little teenager. It's like putting 52 long
on 38 regular, you know. It's like a little 12-year-old
wearing his dad's suit. It's, like, this really
looks ridiculous, and it was. "David fastened his sword to his
armor, and he tried to walk,"-- couldn't even walk. "For he hadn't tested them. David said to Saul, 'I
can't walk with these, for I have not tested them.' So David took them off." Here's King Saul trying to
turn David into an armadillo. It's, like, man,
you need protection. So he clothes him. David said, I can't do this. I'm much better with a
sling and these stones than with your sword
and coat of mail. So the principle is this. Never do what God has
not called you to do. Never try to be somebody else. Never fight like
somebody else fights. Don't try to use a sword if
you're better with a sling. What works for one may
not work for another. Find your own gifts, your
own personal abilities, and go in that strength
that God has given you. See, David had certain assets. Yeah, he was unprotected,
but he was fast. He was young and agile. Yeah, Goliath was pretty
big, but he was also slow and lumbering. So David just figured
out that pretty quickly and goes, don't need that. I'm going to realize
my personal assets. And then the third thing
he did and the third key to our victory over fear is
by relying on a powerful God. And that's verse 45. That's the king verse. "'You
come to me with a sword, 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.'" Now I want you to
compare something. Remember what I said. What you see is
determined by how you see. It's really a matter
of how you see it. So with that in mind, I want
you to compare two verses. Look at verse 25. Now this is the army,
the Israelite army. "The men of Israel
said, 'Have you seen this man who has come up? Surely he has come
up to defy Israel.'" Now compare that with
verse 45, where David said, "'the name of the Lord of
hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have
defied.'" Here's the point. David realizes Goliath isn't
just attacking an army. He's attacking God's army. He's attacking God's people. Do you know that when
God's people are attacked, that God takes it
very personally? He does. God said of Israel--
the Lord said of Israel in the Old Testament,
"whoever touches you touches the apple of My eye." I will get hot and bothered
when you mess with My people. Want to see that in action? Saul of Tarsus in
the New Testament was out to persecute
Christians, hunt Christians, kill Christians. He gets knocked off his horse
on the road to Damascus. Jesus says, "Saul, Saul,
why are you persecuting Me?" He's thinking, You? I don't even know who You are. I don't even know
who's talking to me. That's why he said,
who are You, Lord? I'm not after whoever You are. I'm after them. No, you're persecuting Me. I'm taking what you're doing
to them very personally. You're messing with them? You are messing with Me. Something else. David compares weapons. It's sort of interesting. He goes, you come to
me with-- and he starts rattling off what Goliath has. He's got a sword. You got a spear. You got a javelin. Most people go, that's a lot. I got nothing. No, he says, you got
all that, but I've got something you don't have. I have a name. I come to you in the
name of the Lord. The word the "name"
means the reputation, the authority of the Lord. You don't have that, Goliath. You just got a sword and
a spear and a javelin. I come to you in
the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel. So you've got size. You've got strength. You've got a sword, but I
have the name of the Lord. Listen, if you're
going to slay giants, you need a healthy respect
for the size of your God. [CHEERING] If you remember nothing
but this from this sermon, I was going to say I'd be happy. I wouldn't be happy,
but I'll settle for it. If you just remember this,
when God is magnified, fears go away. Whenever God is
magnified, fears go. You've heard that before. Let's magnify the Lord. Paul said, I magnify
Him in my body. What does it mean
to magnify the Lord? You know what a
magnifying glass does. Does a magnifying glass
make anything bigger? No, it makes it appear
bigger, makes it look bigger. When God is magnified,
when you remind yourself Whose side you're on and Who
God is, when God is magnified, fears can't live there. You can't live a
fearful existence if you understand that. And that is why
Israel was scared. Israel was scared when they saw
Goliath because they compared Goliath's size to their size. LeBron James, Danny Devito. LeBron James, Danny Devito, eh. Fear, if I'm Danny Devito, I'm
scared if that guy's my enemy. David comes on. He is unafraid because he
compares Goliath's size not to his size but to God's size. So Israel is going, poor us. David's going, poor Goliath. He's been doing this 40 days. This is day 41. This is his last day to
breathe on the planet, and he goes after him. Martin Luther said,
"With God, one is always a majority, always a majority. I want to close with a fun
little story, true story. This happened in
a philosophy class at USC, University of
Southern California. For 20 years, a professor
of philosophy at USC, a devoted atheist,
used every opportunity to scorn the existence of God. All of his students,
every year for 20 years, they were always
afraid of this guy. So every semester on
the last day of class, the professor would stand
before like 300 students in the lecture hall. And he said, if anyone
here still believes in God, stand up. In 20 years, nobody
dared stand up. They were all afraid. And then he said, if you
believe in God, you're a fool. If God did exist, He could
keep this piece of chalk from hitting the
floor and breaking in pieces, a very simple
task for Almighty God. Yet He can't do it. The professor would
then drop the chalk. It would hit the hard tile
floor and smatter into pieces. Well, surely, there
were Christians over 20 years that were in
that class, but none of them dared speak up or stand up
because they were afraid. But one year, a
freshman took the class. He had to take it to
complete his major. He was a Christian student. And the professor stood
up on the last day, said, is there anybody here
who believes in God, stand up. So he stood up, stood up,
faced off the professor. The professor looked at
that lone student and said, you are a fool. If God is real, then He could
keep this piece of chalk from shattering when it hits
the floor, but He can't. Just then, as he
said those words, the chalk slipped out of
his hand, hit his sleeve, bounced on his shoe,
rolled onto the floor across the room unbroken. [APPLAUSE] And all the students
predictably snickered. It was just so funny. It was just perfect. Well, the professor
got so red and angry, he just stomped out
of the classroom. And when he did, that
one student who stood up walked to the front
of the room and began to share his testimony
with 300 students that were now a captive audience. [CHEERING] Fear is the greatest barrier
to you fulfilling God's plan in your life, fear. God hasn't given us
the spirit of fear. Perfect love casts out
all fear, the Bible says, because fear has
torment, and some of you know that torment. But perfect love casts it out. I'm praying that not only
would we be a bold church, we would be a church of sound
mind and thinking clearly, but we would be fearless,
unafraid, unafraid. Father, I pray that
for Your people. We know what fear can
do to us, Lord, what it can do to the best of us. It is intimidating. It can be demoralizing
and debilitating, and it can hurt relationships
when it turns into an argument. Lord, I pray that
we would remember what You've done in
the past, that we would realize how
You made us and who we are uniquely crafted by You. We're not a mistake. Who we are and what we have and
how we think is not a mistake. But we have to think Biblically. We have to be conformed--
we have to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. And I pray that we would
realize that the name of God, the reputation and
the authority of God, is so much bigger and so
much grander and so much more powerful than any
system of thought. And I pray that we would not
be quiet, that we would not be intimidated. We would stand strong. In Jesus' name, Amen. We hope you enjoyed this special
service from Calvary Church. We'd love to know how
this message impacted you. Email us at
mystory@calvarynm.church. And just a reminder, you can
support this ministry with a financial gift at
calvarynm.church/give. Thank you for joining us for
this teaching from Calvary Church.
