The Giant of Fear - 1st Samuel 17 - Skip Heitzig

lobby i'm nate and this is matt we are so excited to be hosting you this weekend for what is going to be an incredible service that we think is really going to help some people some of the fears and struggles that they have in life but right now if you're just joining us this is the perfect time to invite some people to a weekend that could change their life and add some security in jesus to their life so if you're watching on facebook or on youtube would you just click that share button and let everyone you know to tune in if you're watching on our website at live.calvarynm.church so easy just copy that link send it to as many people as possible and let's get this trending as many people as possible every week we hear from people all across the country all across the world that the message of the gospel is piercing through it and that's what the word says it pierces through bone and marrow faith comes by hearing and so we welcome you if you're joining in for the first time we want to give you a gift and you can let us know as a pastor we often hear of different fears and insecurities and we've been going through hunting giants the giants of apathy the giants of silence and the giants of a lot of different things that we face in our culture the giant jack and the giant bean the stock the beanstalk the giant the beanstalk or david and goliath david that's an action that's an actual one jack is not and that's an actual giant too this is the first time this in the series we're actually talking about a literal giant i it's almost like you you're a giant i mean comparatively comparatively to some people right i mean if you stood on a box you could be the same height as me i could be and we're not going to do that but we attack different giants in this series and as a pastor we talk to people all the time who come in for counseling and uh nate what are some fears that people have when they come in that are common yeah i think this is a fun question actually as we're answering this i would encourage you guys in the chat maybe let the team know maybe some fears that you that's good maybe some irrational fears maybe some literal fears i know when i was a kid i was terrified of clowns irrational fear i was then there's more rational fears when i was a kid i was terrified every night when i came home my parents checked every closet and under my bed for murderers literally i was scared that there was murderers hiding in my house but i think you know as adults we have different fears we have fears of fitting in we have fears of peer pressure we have fears of being able to financially provide for our families um i think a lot of people have maybe some more true what they would call phobias fear of spiders fear of high places fear of enclosed spaces i think those are some fears but but i find the fears that really get to you and cause anxiety are those fears that we have that relate to society and how we fit in right and ultimately a lot of it comes down to people what people think i remember is it psalm proverbs 29 25 that the fear of man proves to be a snare a trap but those who trust in the lord will be kept safe well throughout the messages of this series we've been coming up with discussion questions and we're covering a wide variety of people in your family we're covering adults young adults students in high school middle school and even children and we want to attack these questions we want to start a discussion wherever you are in life with what types of giants are in your life if it is fear let's discuss that let's start a discussion and see what can we do what truths can we hold on to that god has given us so good if you're just tuning in say hi to our team online miguel and our entire calvary church at home team is in the online lobby they would love to greet you say hey to miguel and the team let us know where you're from how you're tuning in we'd love to hear your story we're talking about right now this week's installment of hunting giants as we talk about david and goliath and how we hunt the giant of fear but last week we had an incredible message that pastor skip gave here's a little recap of that you know we are so quick to point fingers at people especially in this divided age in which we live it's their fault they're the problem and you know when you point your finger at somebody there's always three pointing back at you and nehemiah believed that he should identify himself he saw himself as part of the problem so that he might become part of the solution you know it's easy to say you know our country is in such a mess today because those sinners out there and those people can i just say i added to that sin there was a time and i didn't walk with christ before my conversion i added to the filth and corruption that this country is guilty of so i'm just as guilty when you pray you get clarity you're allowing god to move and god to speak and so in this prayer he he gets clarity he kind of sizes up the whole situation sees himself as part of both the problem and the solution well welcome back to our online lobby in calvary church at home what a great recap from last week's message and it was so encouraging to me we had a great discussion in our connect group about what this looks like this this giant sea of complacency is a lot of us getting this this funk of just letting things go and and we had a great discussion our connect group about asking some of those difficult questions and sometimes you have to make a big ask to see big results and i found that so true in my walk in my life with christ is that the big things that god does usually requires a big ask for me as well right well we're not only giving discussions for adults and connect groups we've been providing you discussion questions for calvary kids the children of our church and we recognize that there aren't children only here locally but there are children represented in the the viewers watching and so we want to introduce someone who's special a part of our family here gina she's our calvary kids director so come on do you want to come in hooray thanks for joining us on a busy weekend when you've got a lot of things going on and you're ministering to the kids here on campus but we recognize we've got a lot of kids and families watching online that might not even know that we have a calvary church at home kids experience that we're developing every week what does that look like and what can parents and kids expect from the calvary church at home kids experience well we have dynamic worship we still have our calvary kids team doing the worship online so your kids will get all the songs that they're getting here on campus we also have the same message a great message david and goliath super um fun and super important for them to learn about uh slaying the giant of fear so they'll get the message and they also get discussion questions on those on online platform and so we're excited to roll that out for them so good have you heard any stories from families who have used the discussion questions i have um it's kind of cool that you know not only from our shepherds but also from um older children and our servants that serve in calvary kids who have said you know for the first time i'm in a connect group and i can actually participate in the discussion because we have the same questions it's the same lesson and so we're talking about collective we're talking about spectrum we're talking about calvary kids so that's been a real cool addition to their um group discussion it's so good it's a heartbeat it's like a tuning fork the tuning fork hits the piano and all of us play high notes low notes so good well gina thank you so much and for all the info of how you can be a part of the calvary kids online experience here's a video with more information and there will also be a link shared in the chat check it out [Music] hi everybody hey there everyone hi friends hey guys welcome to calvary kids and we're so glad that you've joined us this week [Music] [Applause] [Music] we will see you guys next week as we learn to take on a new giant we'll see you later conquerors bye [Applause] well welcome back to our online campus our online lobby for calvary church at home what a great video highlighting all the work that calvary kids is doing and i love this idea that whether someone lives in new mexico and come to one of our online campuses or if they live across the world they can still get the same experience albeit in a different way they can get that same experience not just for themselves but for their kids to truly make sure that they're all in fellowship and they're getting ministered to what an incredible opportunity right well the most important thing is to engage people god's people in the word well if you're tuning in for the first time we want to know we want you to get connected to our team we also have a gift for you if you just let us know wherever your chat is that you're new and also we want to be available for prayer requests we want to come alongside you wherever you are whatever you're going through so that we can pray with you or even praise with you if god's answering some prayer let us know that's encouraging when god answers prayer so good we're just about to start worship together as a body of christ in many locations but in one heart and in unity but before we do that this is your last chance a great opportunity to invite someone to tune in this weekend if you're on youtube or facebook click that share button if you're watching online at live.calvarynm.church just go ahead and copy that link text it to a few friends invite some people to tune in for a truly incredible weekend as we take on the giant of fear we're going to pummel the giant fear like some elbows to the face of fear and we're going to open up with an incredible song the battle belongs and we're going to sing and we're going to declare from the bottom of our hearts with faith in the midst of fear that the battle belongs to god and as long as god is on our side who can be against us come on church if you believe that stand up let's worship together well good evening we're so glad your choice to be with us tonight we want to remind you the battle belongs to the lord singing with us when all i see is the battle you see my victory [Music] when all i see is the mountain you see mountain move and as i walk through the showers your love surrounds me [Music] and there's nothing to fear now for i'm safe with you so when i fight sick so when i fire fight on my knees with my hands lifted high oh god the battle belongs to you every fear i lay on your feet i'll sing through the night oh god the battle belongs to you if you are when if you are for me who can be against me there's nothing impossible for jesus there's nothing impossible for you but when all i see are the ashes [Music] [Applause] is [Music] [Applause] is [Music] fortress you go before us nothing can stand against the power of our god you shine in the shadows you win everybody nothing can stand against the power of our god nobody fortress you go before [Music] nothing can stand [Music] foreign [Music] nothing can stand against the power of [Music] the battle belongs to [Music] that'll be [Music] you're undefeated it's your unstoppable god nothing can stand against you [Music] there's no one like you beyond compare he's bigger than your fears he's bigger than you think he is come on sing it with us you know sing our god and our god is an awesome god he reigns from heaven above with with dumb power and love our god is an awesome god our god is an awesome god he reigns from heaven above with with dumb power and love our god is an awesome god oh sing that it's your [Music] yes [Music] is [Music] [Music] is an awesome god for our god is [Music] god [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] from heaven above [Music] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] lest we forget we sing again our god is love our god is [Music] yes he's worthy [Music] [Music] i've tried so hard to see it [Music] took me so long to believe it that you choose someone like me to carry your victories perfection could never know you give what we don't deserve it you take the broken things and raise them to glory come on every voice you are my champion giants for when you stand undefeated everybody [Music] [Music] conquered [Music] now i can finally see it teaching me how to receive it so let all the striving season this is [Music] [Music] i am who you say i am you crown me with confidence i am seated in the heavenly place undefeated [Music] you've conquered [Music] my voice and shout every wall comes crashing down i have the authority [Music] jesus has given me [Applause] when i open up my mouth let your words start breaking now i have the authorities jesus has given me come on what a beautiful sound we sing when i lift my voice and [Music] jesus has given [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] i am who you say i am [Music] see [Music] oh [Music] come on we gotta lift our voice in this place [Music] [Music] [Music] crashing down [Music] [Music] jesus [Music] you've won [Music] i'm seated in the heavenly place undefeated by the power of your name i am seed in the heavenly place undefeated with [Music] [Applause] oh you conquered it all [Music] [Applause] you surround me with a song come on you know it love deliverance from my enemies till all my fears [Music] oh i am a child of god we praise you and i'm no longer alive to fear thank you lord oh i am a child of god come on there's worshipers in this house [Music] and i've been born again into your family your blood flows to my bed [Music] oh [Music] the devil can't stop me cause i [Music] i am a child of god [Music] and i am surrounded [Music] by the arms of the father [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] and the daughters so we see let us sing our freedoms [Music] we [Music] see free in this place [Music] so i could walk right through it you rescued me child of god always with the seal you split the sea so i could walk right through it my feet [Music] [Music] of god of god of god [Music] [Music] i'm no longer just alive to fear i am a child of god i'm no longer i'm no longer [Music] come on that's a beautiful sound church lift him up in this place hallelujah oh it's all for you lord thank you so much for watching with us you guys sound great please turn your attention to the screens take a seat hello church i want to update you on reload love's critical work to help children women and fellow christians in afghanistan our many partners on the ground are risking it all to get some of the most vulnerable people out of afghanistan in particular girls and women are at a great risk of being raped kidnapped or falling victim to sex trafficking and forced marriage at the hands of the taliban you may have seen in the news that there is an international effort to rescue the afghanistan national girls soccer team and their families reload love is part of that coalition as well as a more broad effort to provide emergency relief and family relocation services this church along with donors across the country has generously given over two hundred and sixty thousand dollars god is so good the need is greater than anyone can calculate and we aim to raise as much as possible you can still give to help afghanistan's most vulnerable [Music] hey church i'm pastor antonio we have an amazing lineup of guest speakers at weekend and midweek services this month sean mcdowell will be here with a message about cancer culture and theology joel rosenberg will teach us from his latest non-fiction book enemies and allies graham lynch will be here for an in-person interview with pastor skip and our friend levi lesko will teach the last wednesday of the month all the details about these special guests are on our website don't wait to invite someone to the god loves you tour along route 66 the tour stops here in albuquerque at the end of the month the news boys will be here franklin graham will be here it's going to be a great night so bring someone who needs to hear the gospel and if you're part of our online campus check out the website for a tour stop near you well it's hard to believe that we're coming up on the 20th anniversary of september 11th next weekend we'll remember the incredible sacrifices that so many men and women made on that date we'll honor our military and first responders and will take communion to remember jesus sacrifice for us that's next weekend at all services [Music] we are so excited to be putting together a bilingual team as we make plans to start a spanish language service online this fall if you're bilingual in english and spanish and want to serve in this ministry and if you write translate or have media skills email us at spanish calvarynm.church [Music] well welcome to calvary church at home to our online campus we are so excited that you're joining us as you just saw we're looking to start the spanish online service this is an opportunity for us as a church to not just do a spanish translation of the message but have the entire service be in spanish including the announcements including the hosts as we welcome people spanish-speaking online hosts but as you can imagine this requires a lot of needs that we have for volunteers and people who speak both spanish and english and have a heart to serve the incredible part is it doesn't matter where you can live where you live you can be a part of this if you're tuning in from mexico city maybe you're tuning in from south america maybe you're tuning in from spain and you're like man i would love to be a part of this and putting this service into my native tongue you can serve if you email spanish calvarynm.church we will get info to you and get you to be a part of this incredible opportunity amen this is a way for us to reach many more people with the gospel of jesus well if it's your first time we want to welcome you would you just let us know that it's your first time in the chat and we have a small gift for you we want to bless you welcome you into our home into our family even though it's a digital environment we want to get connected with you and we also want to celebrate here at our campuses and this is including online that we have 1 110 people serving across all of our calvary campuses which includes at home and so that's something to celebrate that people it's a lot of humans that's a lot of humans real people who experience the life change of jesus are saying yes i think these people have answered the question and took the challenge that we talked about last week where they're not apathetic with their faith they're ready to get the armor on and do things that makes it make a difference and there's so many ways that you can serve and be a part of what god is doing whether you're in new mexico and can serve in person at one of our campuses or online we just talked about that incredible spanish translation service opportunity but there's also a lot of other opportunities online that you can be a part of making a difference and life tracks step one is starting this week and this is the perfect time for you to become a part of what god is doing it's wednesday at 10 a.m and saturday at 2 p.m you can tune in and be a part of what god is doing at calvary church and the link is on the screen step one happens and starts on saturday so it's the first saturday of every month and the wednesday following well lives have been changed every single week and some of those people who've experienced the life change of jesus have written into us and so we just want to share some some quick stories there's a man named grant who simply let us know that he decided to follow jesus today on i think for every one of these we need to put our hands together because we can get complacent we can get used to hearing life change stories but these are people's lives who have been changed by the power of the gospel for the glory of god and everyone deserves celebration so as we read these we want you and your homes to cheer for these yeah for these people because it's exciting patty said thank you for your message i heard it clearly god is everywhere amen patty amen to that and it is so affirming that god's word is clear and if we just stick to the exposition of god's word god will speak to his people and so there's another woman named amy she said this quote i have not owned a bible since i was a child i would have liked to have a bible and i i would like to have a bible today as i'm interested in learning about god amen to that our team was able to send amy a bible because of your generosity because of your faithfulness and giving we're able to provide anyone who wants a bible with a free bible we don't think anyone should have to live life away from god's word and not only that but your generosity helps us get this message out further and farther than ever before lives are changed every week and that's fruit to your account so thank you for giving and partnering with us if you want to continue to give of your ties and offerings just go ahead and go to our website calvarynm.church and click give on our home page and you can be a part of making a difference all across the world amen and we also want to come alongside you with prayer prayer is working it's our way of asking god god invites us to ask it's our way of asking god but also last weekend it's our way of acknowledging to whom we speak where we might think there's a giant in front of us but god is behind that giant and he's a lot bigger and so we want to come alongside you and pray with you also praise with you if god has answered your prayer we want to also rejoice with those who rejoice but right now grab your bible get ready for a power packed message as we hunt the giant of fear here's pastor skip [Music] the artillery [Music] [Music] right but i am [Music] um [Music] i may [Music] me well greetings to you and greetings to those of you who are watching online at calvary church at home also greetings to our campus in santa fe and on the west side those who are watching by social media those who are hearing this on the radio we all want to welcome them and say we're glad they're a part of us thank you for that then i trust that you brought one of these and if you're at home you would get one of these but it's a bible of course you know that let's turn in our bible to first samuel chapter 17. first samuel in your old testament chapter 17 if you have a hard time finding that somebody around you will maybe give you a hand first samuel 17. most people live with a healthy fear some fear itself is healthy it's what keeps people alive most people are afraid of oncoming traffic most people are afraid of violence most people are afraid to die not of death itself but it's the dying part that bothers most people these are the fears that keep us upright and moving and alive but fear can become irrational it can paralyze people and it can cause us to be frantic there's a lot of fears that people have this last year and a half has added a few more fears to our society to our world there's now fear of a virus there's fear of losing a job or getting a new job because you already have lost it there's fear of the breakdown economically not just in our country but as i said around the world there is now fear of terrorism that is resurfacing because of the events of the last couple of weeks kids are afraid as well and oftentimes their fears are irrational they are afraid of the monster under the bed they're afraid of a crocodile even though they live in rio rancho they might be afraid of the dark so we learned that from an early age a 12 year old boy named quentin he's in seventh grade said my biggest fear is a test i'm afraid of it because it's like you know it but when it you get it in front of you your brain shuts off and then eight-year-old cheyenne said my greatest fear is the 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 the life is rolling by too fast gotta love that but then there are phobias and phobias are a type of anxiety disorder and get this most mental health experts say that a full 30 percent of americans are affected by phobias and of all the phobias that exist the number one phobia in america is what is called trypanophobia which means the fear of needles so that's just an interesting fyi given that everybody's trying to vaccinate everybody that americans suffer number one phobia is the fear of needles there are others as well there's a phobia called terro mera anaphobia called the also called the fear of flying there's claustrophobia the fear of enclosed spaces there's uh entomophobia the fear of insects there's uh of ofidiophobia the fear of snakes there's cyanophobia the fear of dogs astrophobia the fear of storms and get this there's even a fear called phobophobia and you guessed it it's the fear of being afraid all of those what they call legitimate phobias all do the same thing they will cause a person to have their heart race shallow breathing there'll be an adrenaline surge it'll be accompanied with sweating these are real conditions people face we have been doing a series called hunting giants and we've been looking so far at metaphorical giants we look at giants figuratively speaking like the giant of apathy the giant of silence in this text in our story here we have a literal giant named goliath most of us know the story very very well and because we know the story so well and because this is a long chapter 58 verses we're just going to highlight a few elements of it i think it goes without saying that it is the most famous battle in the old testament but it's really not a battle between two armies even though the israelites and the philistines are involved it's a battle between two people a giant or of enormous man will be introduced to him in a moment and a young boy really he's just a strapping teenager at this point in his life and that is david now what israel will see when they see this man come on the scene this enormous giant is they will be greatly afraid and desperately afraid that's what the text will tell us greatly afraid desperately afraid david on the other hand comes in and surprisingly is as cool as a cucumber and is ready to choose this guy on now if you were to take odds on that day as to who's going to win the battle i'm i'm guaranteeing you that nobody would vote for david they would all have their money on the big guy who's a philistine david exhibits faith in the midst of fear you know the bible says fear not or do not be afraid 63 times fear not fear not fear not don't be afraid don't be afraid and if you look at all the derivations of that command it's over 300 times we are not to be living in fear fear is one of the most destructive human emotions and that's because so often it is irrational i read an article in the huffington post that said according to a university of cincinnati study 85 of what most people worry about are things that never happen so just just remember that that'll be useful in your future when you worry 85 percent of the time never going to happen and of the 15 percent of the time that it does happen you can handle it much better than you thought you could one man said my life has been filled with terrible misfortune most of which never happened well let's look at our chapter chapter 17 of first samuel and i want to i'd like to show you four things about fear fear is intimidating first of all fear is intimidating now let's let's get introduced to the story in chapter 17 but i'm going to begin in verse 4. it says and a champion went out of the camp of the philistines the armies are there israel and the philistine army a champion went out of the camp of the philistines named goliath from gath whose height was 6 cubits and a span now go down to verse 8. he stood and he cried out to the armies of israel and he 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 let him come down to me if he is able to fight with me and kill me then we will be your servants but if i prevail against him and kill him you shall be our servants and serve us the philistines said i defy the armies of israel this day give me a man that we may fight together when saul and all of israel heard the words of the philistine now notice this they were dismayed and greatly afraid first of all his size six cubits and a span that would be between eight and a half and nine and a half feet tall every nba team would go after him am i right because he's just like just below the 10 foot mark of the hoop he just pops it in so this is an enormous sky this is the incredible hulk this is the original bigfoot now a lot of people read this and go this is mythological these people don't exist that tall well in recent history there was a man named robert wadlow who was born in alton illinois when he was born he was about eight and a half pounds a little bit larger than normal but that's pretty normal on his 13th burst birthday robert wadlow was seven feet eight inches tall that's a tall 13 year old when he was fully grown he was eight foot eleven that's almost a nine footer when he died it took twelve men to carry his casket which measured ten feet nine inches so it happens even in recent history but just an fyi there are a few different texts of old testament translation like the masoretic text the dead sea scrolls the septuagint and the writings of josephus which give a different number they say four cubits and a span now if that happens to be the accurate height of goliath that would mean that goliath wasn't nine and a half feet tall he was six foot nine inches tall my brother was six foot eight inches tall so just just an inch taller than my brother bob i know you you read that go now i i i don't believe that because that doesn't fit a into my sunday school belief system of all the pictures that i have seen of goliath and not only that but that that doesn't seem like a giant that would intimidate people well it does when you realize that the average male height in israel in a thousand bc was five foot three so now you have to picture lebron james he's six foot nine fully clothed in a coat of armor against danny devito see it's pretty formidable but goliath has a different battle plan he goes why why waste troops and energy let's do mono amano hand-to-hand combat it'll be me against whoever just pick a man now the best suited man in israel to do this there was only one guy the bible tells us was head and shoulders above everybody else king saul king saul would be the perfect guy to fight this guy but king saul is on the run he's got his tail between his legs he is not coming out for nothing but you know it's sort of an interesting concept maybe it would be a better plan of leaders of nations rather than committing troops to their death if they have a disagreement they go out and fight the other king or the other leader i don't suggest we do it these days because we would be desperately in trouble if that happened but it's not a bad concept and what they saw that day overwhelmed them because goliath had everything he needed to intimidate anyone by his sheer size i read an article in psychology today they featured a man by the name of bill stratton who is a poet he's a writing teacher that sounds very unintimidating what do you do for a living i'm a poet okay but he's also six feet five inches has a deep booming voice he's pretty large muscularly and a large beard so he tells the story that he was in a park and he noticed a couple that was having an emergency and he went over to help them and said can i help you and they he he said i could see the fear in their eyes they did not want me to help them so i ended up getting somebody else to help me and the article simply went on to explain that people who are tall or loud or smart or outgoing type 8 personalities are often people who bring fear they bring intimidation to people so they look up at this giant and they are intimidated whether he's six foot nine or nine foot and a and six inches he's he's a big guy but there is a principle that we don't have time to really explore but it's in the previous chapter when the prophet samuel is looking for a king in the house of jesse and he anoints david before he anoints david he looks at the oldest and tallest named eliab and says this is the king elect and god interrupts him and says it's not the king i have rejected him do not look at his appearance or the height of his stature for man looks at the outward appearance god looks at the heart now that's an important principle because we do people do look at the outward appearance we look at people we size them up we all do it we make judgments based upon what we see we are either impressed or not impressed because of what we see if they outperform us or if they outsmart us or if they out dress us or if they out verbalize us we can get intimidated we get afraid but i want you to remember something what we see is often a matter of how we see what we see is often a matter of how we see you know that you can have people looking at exactly the same thing but they see it differently if you go to a theater and you are seeing a 3d movie and you have the glasses on and you take the glasses off or you have somebody who doesn't have the glasses and you do you're seeing the same thing but you're seeing two different things i've always loved the story about three people who were at the grand canyon one was an artist one was a pastor and one was a cowboy they're all looking at the grand canyon and they're all making remarks based on what they notice as they look into this beautiful chasm and the artist said what a beautiful scene to paint and the pastor predictably said what a wonderful example of the handiwork of almighty god and the cowboy looked down into that canyon said what a terrible place to lose a cow they're all seeing the same thing what you see often depends on how you see so when david arrives he also sees exactly the same thing they see goliath but he doesn't see a big giant he sees a big target he says this guy is impossible to miss he's that big and the bigger they are the harder they fall that's how he viewed it so fear is intimidating let's look at something else in this story fear is not only intimidating fear can be debilitating i'm going to take it down to verse 16 where it says the philistine drew near and it says he presented himself 40 days morning and evening so if i'm doing my math right that's 80 times 40 days in a row morning gets up has breakfast goes it goes down in the valley of villa starts mouthing off everybody choosing them off goes home has lunch has a siesta comes back later before supper does the same thing again and he repeats that for 40 days that would demoralize anybody choosing you off choosing out give me a man give me a man come on let's fight nobody's stepping forward it would wear on you now go down to verse 21 for israel and the philistines had drawn up in battle array army against army and david left his supplies in the hand of the supply keeper ran to the army came and greeted his brothers real quickly here's the back story david is not in the army he's too young he's in bethlehem watching sheep his dad sends him to the front lines of the battle because his older brothers are in the army and his dad wants to give them some food some supplies and hear a report on the battle so david is there leaves his supplies greets his brothers verse 23 then as he talked with them there was the champion the philistine of gath goliath by name 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 for they were and notice this dreadfully afraid in hebrew yade yad overcome with fear paralyzed by fear a crippling kind of a fear and here's why not only does this guy come and stand in the valley twice a day for 40 days there's a change after a while he starts coming up the other side of the valley toward the high position where the children of israel were notice in verse 23 as he talked with them there was the champion goliath by name coming up from the armies of the philistine and he spoke according to the same words now the geography is important an army is on one hill an army is on another hill there's a one-mile valley in between them you can visit that valley today on a tour to israel they come down in the valley they yell at each other but nobody really engages in battle they go back home goliath comes into the valley every day but now he's starting to come up the other side so he's not just intimidating now now he's being aggressive because he is coming up the slopes he's aggressive and it needs to be said that goliath is so much like the enemy of our soul the adversary of our soul he is so much like the devil the devil tries to intimidate the devil tries to debilitate to demoralize you francis thompson said the devil doesn't know how to sing only how to howl and when he howls and challenges if his challenges go unmet he'll come up a little further and then a little further and then a little further and he'll get stronger and stronger and that's what fear does fear has a tendency to grow it grows it becomes irrational it eventually keeps you awake at night it starts plaguing your thoughts in the still of the night and several counselors that i've read say the question that often comes in the middle of the night when fear becomes irrational are all the what-if questions what if this and what if that and what if they and what if i there's a children's poem called the what ifs by shel silverstein let me throw it up just because it's fun and you can relate to this last night while i lay thinking here some what ifs crawled inside my ear ever had that and pranced and partied all night long sang their same old what if song what if they've closed the swimming pool what if i'm dumb in school what if i get beat up what if there's poison in my cup what if i start to cry what if i just get sick and die what if i flunk that test what if green hair grows on my chest come on that'd be horrible wouldn't it what if nobody likes me what if a bolt of lightning strikes me what if i don't grow taller what if my head starts getting smaller what if the fish won't bite what if the wind tears up my kite what if they start a war what if my parents get divorced or if the bus is late what if my teeth don't grow in straight what if i tear my pants what if i never learn to dance everything seems swell and then the nighttime what ifs strike again it happens to kids and it happens to adults happens to us what if i lose my job what if i don't find another one what if the disease gets worse what if the check doesn't come in the mail what if what if what if what if fear can become irrational so fear is intimidating fear can be debilitating i want to show you a third truth about fear fear breeds squabbling it produces infighting i'm going to take you over to verse 28. david is on the scene his brothers are in the battle now 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 i don't know if you picked up on that but that's a chop that's a cut he's just trying to put the knife in and say what you do isn't important and twist it a little bit i know your pride and insolence of your heart you've come down to see the battle and david said what have i done now is there not a cause and then he turned from him toward another and said the same thing these people answered him as the first ones did now let me frame that for you eliav was the oldest son of jesse eliab when samuel came to find the next king for israel eliab was first in line and he was the one the prophet samuel fought was the king he was about to pour oil on his head and then god said well actually he didn't say that but in effect he called it off which means eliab not only was he the oldest not only was he in samuel's mind the first most logical successor the king he was the first one rejected that day and he never forgot it what i want you to note in our reading is not only is eliab along with everybody else afraid of goliath he takes it out on his younger brother david there's infighting there's infighting fear does this fear never lives alone fear produces other bad things mental health expert christian fuller said fear and anxiety can turn into anger if a person is in a stressful environment combined with having a perceived threat and they are frustrated they will often lash out at other people and that's what's happening here fear intimidation they're struggling day in and day out there's somebody choosing them off for a fight nobody's responding it's wearing on them he lashes out of david now most people in david's position would have just rolled up their sleeves and yelled back at their brother or punched him in the nose but david didn't do that now if i were david and eliab said what have you come to just see the battle i think i would have said really what battle last time i checked you guys are running scared there's not even a battle to look at but he didn't do that because he was not there to fight his brothers he was there to fight a beast named goliath he was hunting giants so you'll notice what it says in verse 30 it says then he turned from him that's his he turned from his brother eliap his brother gets in his grill and yells at him and unleashes on him and he just turns away mark that that's a good tack to take when you get attacked you see david knew who to fight and david knew who to leave alone listen if you don't watch it you're going to spend all your time fighting other christians in the body of christ and you're going to forget all about the real battle and the real enemy of our souls who's coming up coming up coming up taking more ground while you're in fighting with other believers so fear will do that fear breeds squabbling i want to take you to the fourth and final thing to make a note of and really this is the heart and the bulk of the message fear requires conquering take you all the way down to verse 45. we have to skip a lot of this material because it's a long chapter besides you already know it verse 45 then david said to the philistine you come to me with a sword with a spear 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 you can just hear the courage dripping from his words this day the lord will deliver you into my hand and i will strike you and take your head from you i love verses like this 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 that all the earth may know that there's a god in israel i love that part then all the 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 wow i know you've heard it you've heard it so many times your whole life but if you can just picture a teenage boy saying these words to the one everybody else has been intimidated and demoralized by it's like whatever come on you've been doing this 40 days this is day 41 it's your last day on earth i'm going to feed your carcass to the birds of the air incredible statement you know experts do say that fear can be unlearned we learn it it's a conditioned response typically um and and we get into bad habits i know it can be a good thing it can save us from a lot of bad stuff but if if it becomes irrational or we start playing with it too long it becomes a bad conditioned response that we learn so immediately something seems out of our control we start panicking we freak out like perpetually and they tell us that you learned that you can unlearn that and one of the ways you unlearned that is what paul said to us in romans chapter 12 i beseech you therefore brother and by the mercies of god that you present your body a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to god which is your reasonable service and do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind the renewing of your mind your thinking needs to be cleaned washed renewed set straight given new parameters kept in check the renewing of your mind now i want to get specific david was victorious and if you're wondering how how could a kid like that say these kind of things he was victorious because he did three things and you and i can be victorious we can conquer these three ways number one by remembering past victories remembering past victories now look in chapter 17 look at verse 33 for a moment so this is david he comes to the battle has a little altercation with his brothers now he's standing before king saul and king saul looks down at this little teenage boy verse 33 saul said to david you're not able to go against this philistine so that's the first thing out of his mouth he looks at him size them up goes you can't do this you're not the guy this is big old oaf king saul taller than everybody else you can't do this you're not able to go against this philistine to fight with him for you are but a youth and he's a man of war from his youth but david said to saul your servant used to keep his father sheep and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock now watch this i went out after it he's bear hunting he's running after bears as a kid and i struck it and delivered the lamb from its mouth and when it arose against me i caught it by its beard and 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 has defied the armies of the living god incredible scene king saul looks down and goes you can't do this you're a kid this kid this big oaf is meaner than a junkyard dog he's a beast you're a boy david's response is but i have a history i have watched god vanquish lesser enemies i've gone bear hunting king now bears and lions are like top of the food chain and this kid was running after them to deliver a lamb from out of its mouth you got to get pretty close to take it and then club it to death which is the implication here here's the principle 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 hear this if you have a good memory and a sound theology you're ready to fight because if you have a good memory you're going to look back and remember all that god has done so far in your life and if you have a good theology you're going to know that the battle belongs to the lord and what he did in the past he can do again so if you have a good memory and a sound theology you are ready to fight if you can handle lions and bears whatever lesser trials you have had you're ready for giants 101. you're going to do fine somebody once said every tomorrow has two handles the handle of anxiety and the handle of faith most people that i see these days you know what handle their grabbing anxiety anxiety fear what if what if what if what if what if or the handle of faith and every time you watch god perform show up answer a prayer it should move you to the handle of faith it did for david david says i have a history i've been up against lions and bears victoriously so he's remembering past victories and this is why in the old testament god tells the children of israel deuteronomy chapter 8 you shall remember all the way the lord god led you these past 40 years in the wilderness i want you to remember what i did in your past because when you face giants in your present and future the past is going to help you out it'll be your friend so by remembering past victories second thing is by realizing personal assets realize how god has equipped you personally individually now the story continues verse 38 so saul clothed david with his armor that is saul's armor remember saul is head and shoulders above everybody in the army the bible tells us that david is probably a teenage kid so he closed david with his armor and he put a bronze helmet on his head funk and he clothed him with a coat of mail yeah size 52 long on size 36 regular and david fastened his sword to his armor and he tried to walk for he had not tested them and david said to saul i can't walk with these for i have not tested them so david took them off king saul thought the only way this kid is going to go to battle is i have to dress him up like an armadillo i i got to put so much body armor on this kid because there's no way that kid is going to stand one round with the philistine so david puts it on it's cumbersome and frankly he must have appeared ridiculous here's the point never do what god has not called you to do never try to be what somebody else is or has just find out your unique gifting your unique calling your unique assets and operate within the parameters of that mix of your assets david was not good at coats of mail and helmets and swords but he was really great with a sling and a few rocks and that's what he's going to go with that's his assets he knew that goliath was big but he was slow david was young he was agile and so those were his assets and then there's a third way we conquer by relying on a powerful god not just figuring out how god made me not just remembering my past but facing my present and realizing as as daunting and as big as this trial as god's way way way bigger way bigger and so he says the great verse verse 45 once again david said to the philistines you come to me with a sword and 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 you know somebody once said courage is just fear that has said its prayers because you know you're wondering how can this kid unclothed with body armor and just a little sling you know talk smack like this to a big guy very well seasoned and equipped again it's it's a matter of perspective depends on how you see it's not just what you see it's how you see it so i want you to compare a couple verses and actually there's several verses to look at but i'm just going to look at two go back to verse 25. the men of israel said have you seen this man who has come up surely he has come up to defy who what does this say israel have you seen this guy he's come to defy israel that's not how david sees it verse 45 once again you come to me with a sword a spirit and a javelin i come to you in the name of the lord of hosts the god of the armies of israel whom you have defied so here's here's the difference goliath wasn't just attacking people he's attacking god's people that's how david frames it if you're attacking god's people you're attacking god himself that's how david identifies himself and the people as the people of god when god's people are attacked you need to know god takes it personally whether the unbelieving world comes against us or you come against a brother or sister god takes that kind of activity very personally remember what he said about israel in the old testament whoever touches you touches the apple of my eye when saul of tarsus was out hunting christians and trying to destroy them jesus said saul why are you persecuting me who are you i'm not after you i'm after them no you're after me i'm taking this very personally because you're off hunting my people something else to look at david compares weapons i mean he kind of names he goes okay let's see what you got here you come to me with a sword and a spear and a javelin it's like okay you're just like making it really bad against yourself you're listing the obvious assets that guy has you got nothing but he comes right back and he says but i've got something you don't have a name a name you come to me a sword spear javelin i come to you in the name means the reputation or the authority of the lord of hosts whose armies you have defied that's what you don't have that's what i have and that is what i come to you with listen if you're going to kill giants you need a healthy respect for the size of your god that's how you live your life not how big the virus is how big the economy is falling how big the taliban is how big is your god that's how you view your life you need a healthy vision of the size and the power of the living god now the reason israel is scared is pretty simple they're comparing goliath size to their size and goliath right lebron james next to danny devito no go i'm not going david on the other hand compares goliath size to god size so the children of israel are going poor us and david is saying poor giant poor guy this is day 41 this is your last day to breathe i'm taking you down in the name of the lord martin luther famously said with god one is always a majority with god the name of the lord god i want to close with a story of a philosophy class at usc university of southern california there was a professor who taught that for 20 years a very devout atheist and every opportunity he got he scorned god in front of the class i had a zoology professor like that and the students were very afraid of this philosophy professor because every semester for 20 years on the last day of class he would issue a challenge he stood in front of the lecture hall of about 300 students and he said if anyone here still believes in god stand up nobody stood up for 20 years nobody stood up they were all afraid i'm sure there were some christians in the class but they they didn't want to stand up so he said if you believe in god you're a fool if god did exist god could keep this piece of chalk he held one in his hand he could keep this piece of chalk from hitting the floor and breaking in pieces it's a very simple task for almighty god but he can't do it and then he'd unleash the chalk drop it it would hit the floor smash into a whole bunch of different pieces that's how he ended his class now on the one of the years like year 21 or so a freshman entered his class he had to take this for his major he had to take the class in philosophy he was a christian and uh the teacher said does anybody here believe in god still if you do stand up same old challenge so the young freshman kid stood up and the professor said you're a fool if god did exist god could keep this piece of chalk from hitting the floor and breaking in pieces but he can't and just as he said that the chalk slipped out of his hand bounced off his sleeve hit his shoe and rolled across the floor unbroken the kid's still standing there well when that happened everybody snickered in the class and that young freshman christian kid just smiled and the professor stormed out of the class just walked out the door so as everybody was silent the student went to the front of the room faced 300 young students and gave his testimony of how he came to jesus christ [Applause] fear is the greatest barrier to you entering into the fullness of what god has for you the bible says perfect love casts out all fear because fear involves torment god hasn't given you the spirit of fear god's given you the ability to think straight a sound mind power love sound mind the clearest way to think these days with so many opinions about politics and and afghanistan and viruses the clearest way to think is biblically and if you think biblically you'll think this way you live without fear father we thank you that these stories in the bible are not fiction they're not mythology they are reality there's really nothing miraculous about a big guy who mouths off and about a kid who was very skilled as a shepherd guided by you it was his faith it was his trust that enabled him to stand courageously swallow his fear his fear said its prayers and stood up to something that was daunting and intimidating and to everybody else overwhelming also lord i can't help but think how it's a story of one man who fights and wins on behalf of a whole group and what a picture that is of jesus who came to this earth and tasted death for every man he fought the battle we didn't he's the one who saves us we didn't help or add anything to it it's all done by the son of david the lord jesus christ who fought the giant of death and the giant of sin and brought us into the kingdom of your dear son thank you for that lord we we can only worship in gratitude with worshipful hearts and we do that just now in jesus name amen how many of you stand up and we're going to close together if you're watching by um any other form you're watching online and this is part of your weekly gathering and instruction again we're glad that you have done that and just a challenge to you if you don't know the lord if you've never really trusted him personally do that now do that today wherever you're seeing this knowing that jesus fought for you won the battle for you [Music] and will save you if you call on his name so do that let's use that song to call out to the lord [Music] belongs to you in every [Music] belongs to you so when i fight i fight [Music] oh [Music] belongs to you [Music] and wherever you're joining us from those who are here at one of our campuses in person those of you who are online we will see you next week again if god has spoken to you through this message and perhaps as pastor skip was sharing you want to make a personal commitment to jesus christ it's so easy all you have to do is text the word saved s-a-v-e-d to 505-509-5433 or if you're watching at live.calvarynm.church just click know god at calvarynm.home and we'll get in contact with you but god bless you guys have a great rest of your week and we'll see you next week as we continue hunting giants [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Calvary Church with Skip Heitzig

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Length: 95min 26sec (5726 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 05 2021