David v. Goliath - 1 Samuel 17
SERMON TRANSCRIPT
I'm excited to continue in our new summer series today. we are talking about impossible moments. And Pastor Andre kicked us off last week. It was great talking about the story of Moses, who was saved as a baby, through just an incredible God moment that he then raised up this guy Moses, who would eventually lead the people out of slavery in Egypt and to the promised land. And so I am excited to continue this morning with a probably a classic that you guys might be familiar with. Anybody heard of the story of David and Goliath? Anybody? Yeah, yeah, we got some takers in here, sweet. So I am really pumped to be able to share. This is one of, not my favorite Bible story I'll say, but one of, I have a couple of different ones that I enjoy, but David and Goliath is one of my favorites. Who doesn't love an underdog story, right? That's the best part about this. But this summer series is taking time through this season to look into the Old Testament 'cause it is chocked full of some incredible stories, maybe familiar like David and Goliath and Moses, maybe unfamiliar with some of these different prophets we're gonna get into and talk about. But the idea of this is when all seemed lost, when your back is up against the wall, The odds are completely stacked against you. There's no light at the end of the tunnel. You have no hope, nothing, and yet God. And that's what I want our theme to be within this series of impossible moments is that, and yet God, God did something. He shows up in a person's life. He shows up in a people's life. We're gonna read about a story today, not just a story, but a historical event that actually truly happened where God showed up and beat the impossible odds. And I'm excited to share this morning. And I hope that you're ready to hear this morning. Anybody ready to hear a word from God today? Amen, let's go, come on, I love it.
So this story takes place in the 11th century or around the day of 1040 BC. We come into the scene here of the Israelite people, are facing a powerhouse of an army called the Philistines. And they are under their first king or a big king of the three big kings that we know of Saul, David and Solomon. And King Saul is leading the Israelite army into battle to take on the fierce Philistines to be able to really try to punch through from where they are into the Mediterranean Sea. So, because in that day, in that age, everything was driven by water. That was the fastest way of travel, it was the fastest way to connect with people. And on the edge of the Mediterranean Sea, if the Israelites were able to get there and to get one, capture one of these port cities, they would have incredible opportunity to have trade, to have like agricultural forward movement. They were able to have so many advancements to be able to travel even the Mediterranean Sea itself, to visit so many different cultures and countries, but to open up doors for an opportunity for the Israelite people. And so they are marching towards the sea and they come up against the Philistines. And the Philistines are this like ragtag, like just group of random people of like five different random cities that had decided to kind of band arms together and to fight and to protect this land because they do want to have this water opportunity at the edge of the Mediterranean Sea for their own society. And so we come on scene, not at the first time that these two have run into each other, they're neighbors. And as you might have neighbors yourself, you have run-ins, right? Do we not? I have some fun neighbors and I have some not so fun neighbors. I'll tell you, in the name of Jesus, I love them, but they're not so fun neighbors. We're in a situation right now of a dog that keeps breaking down fences and it's really fun. So I have not so nice neighbors. No, I'm just kidding. She's really nice and she's trying to help, but she can't deal with this dog. God bless her. But the Philistines, but not my story today, but the Bible, okay? I'm processing through it. Thank you for coming to my session.
All right, so we come in, if you wanna turn your Bibles to 1 Samuel 17 is where we're gonna be. And if you have heard the story of David and Goliath, maybe you were a kid, maybe you're new to it, maybe you've heard it a thousand different times, I want to take time, and we're not gonna read it in one swell felt through, I'm gonna break it up. But I want us to read this together today. Am I together? It means I'll just read it to you, you just listen. You don't have to read it with me. You're like, "Oh my gosh." But this idea that sometimes when we have stories like these we hear them and maybe we mix some stuff up. Maybe remember things a little bit differently. Maybe we add some things to the story. It happens, we all have that. You think of a memory back in the day and you start telling the story again. And if you're like me, I have a wonderful person in my wife that'll correct me as I tell the story 'cause she remembers everything better than myself. And so I want us to have the Bible be the record for the story today so that we can hear how God moved in this impossible moment. It starts all 1 Samuel 17 verse one. It says this, it says, "Now the Philistines gathered their forces for war and assembled at Sokoh in Judah. They pitched camp in Ephes Dammim between Sokoh and Azekah. Saul and the Israelites assembled the camp in the Valley of Elah and drew their battle line to meet the Philistines. The Philistines occupied one hill and the Israelites another and the valley in between them.
So this is the opening scene of the movie, all right? I can see it, the camera comes flying in from one side. You see all over the armies and they're all lined up and there are horses and the chariots and they're all ready to go and then it swoops over to the other side of the valley and the Philistines are lined up and everybody's shouting, "Ah, we're all pumped up." And then they just like pans out and just like here it is set. On one side of the valley, you have the Philistines, on the other side, you have the Israelites and you just have this empty space, no man's land in between the two of them. Are you guys excited about the movie so far? Yeah, you pulled in, you pulled in, cool. So here's what it looks like. Here's a map of the situation of where we're at. We have five different of these cities associated with the Philistine Confederation. You have Gaza, Ashkelon, Arshod, Ekron, and Gath. And then the Valley of Elah is in between Azekah and Sokoh. And you have a Gibeah, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and Hebron. Okay? I just say it faster, the more it sounds like convincing that I know what I'm saying and we just roll with it, okay? So right here, the Israelites, They're moving from Bethlehem and Jerusalem. Jerusalem is where the temple is, where the kings are at in their empire. And they're moving towards this big blue thing over on the side, that's the Mediterranean Sea. And the Philistines over here are saying, "We ain't giving this to you, we're not giving it up." And they butt heads right at each other, right in the valley of Allah. And this is where our story begins. So if you were to have, here's a photo of present day, so you guys can kind of understand a little bit more. You have Gath all the way out there, in the far distance and Socoh, which you guys saw on the map. And then you have where you have the Philistine camp and then right behind them, that's the Mediterranean Sea. And then you have the Elah Valley and then you have the Israelite camp. So these guys clearly see each other. They see every single movement. They both have elevated positions. They can both look right down. There's nothing in the valley. It's completely wide open. So any move that either party makes, they can see coming from a mile away. And so they had the camps back up in the hills a little bit, and then every day they would ride down into the valley and they would line up to face each other and just hurl insults at each other.
And this is where we come into the story. Verse four, "A champion named Goliath, who was from Goth," remember Goth, far off in the distance, but associated with the Philistine. "A champion named Goliath, who was from Goth, came out of the Philistine camp. His height was six cubits and a span. He had a bronze helmet on his head. He wore a coat of scale armor, a bronze weighing 500 shekels. On his legs were bronze graves and bronze javelin that was slung on his back. His spear shaft was like a weaver's rod and its iron point weighed 600 shekels. And his shield bearer went ahead of him. Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of the Israel, "Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine? Are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me. If he is able to fight me and kill me, we will become your subjects. But if I overcome him and kill him, you shall become our subjects and serve us." Then the Philistines said, "This day I defy the armies of Israel. Give me a man and let us fight each other." on hearing the Philistines word Saul and all the Israelites, that's King Saul, King Saul, their fearless leader here supposedly, and Israelites were all dismayed and terrified. So they line up, everybody charges down to the battlefield, they all line up and they're staring at each other, and then comes this behemoth of a dude. He just comes out. So does anybody know what six cubits is equivalent to? nine feet and a span which is considered nine inches. So this dude, just under the height of a basketball hoop, marches out from, like, I don't think he like marches out or like sneaks out. You see him coming from Goth, like miles away. He comes out and basically the idea is, I know as Goliath, I can defeat anybody. There ain't anybody tall as me, there ain't anybody as strong as me, or anybody as big or as fierce or as crazy as Goliath. And he says, "Instead of letting you guys fight, let's do a one-on-one duel." A little Western, wah, wah, wah, just like you come out, this town ain't big enough for the both of us. You guys get the picture. The old school, Old Testament showdown. And so they're standing out there and Goliath comes out twice a day in the morning and the evening and taunts the Israelite people saying, "You don't have anybody that can beat me. Your God is not a God. I have my gods of Philistines behind me. I'm better than you, I'm stronger. I mean, the dude is wearing four pieces of like a brass armor. The guy has the helmet, he has all of the, what is it, he has the helmet, he's got the two like shin guards, he's got the chest plate, he's wearing a coat of chain mail that weighs like, what is it? It's like 155 pounds, okay? Then he has this shield with a guard, which I think is hilarious. Like this dude needs protection, really? This poor guy brings out the shield. It's probably as tall as him. And then he has this spear that weighs almost 20 pounds on it with a giant big old tree attached to it that I would assume, I don't know for sure, but I would assume this dude could probably wall up this thing across the football field. So like if I'm the Israelite people, yeah, I'm terrified. I'm scared, I'm afraid. I don't know what's gonna happen. My fearless leader, my King Saul is terrified as well. What are we supposed to do? We're stuck in this valley. If we run the Israelites back to Jerusalem, they're just gonna chase us back. If we try to fight them, we're probably getting walloped. And there's no way that we can even move forward whatsoever.
But the story continues. David was the son of an Ephrathite named Jesse, who was from Bethlehem in Judah. Jesse had eight sons. And in Saul's time, he was very old. Jesse's three oldest sons had followed Saul to war. So the three oldest brothers are already there at the valley. The first born was Elab, the second Ananabeb, and the third Shema. David was the youngest, the little brother. The three oldest sons followed Saul, but David went back and forth from Saul to tend to his father's sheep in Bethlehem. For 40 days, the Philistine came forward every morning, every night, and took his stand. Now Jesse said to his son David, "Take the epaph of roasted grain and 10 loaves of bread to your brothers and hurry to their camp. Take along them 10 cheeses to the commander of their unit. See how your brothers are and bring back some assurances from them. There was Saul and all the men of Israel in the Valley of Elah fighting against the Philistines. Early in the morning, David left his flock in the care of a shepherd, loaded up and set out as Jesse had directed. He reached the camp as the army was going out to its battle position, shouting the war cry." So David shows up right as everybody's running out. Israel and the Philistines were drawing up their lines facing each other like they had every day for the last 40 days, twice a day. As he was talking with them, Goliath, the Philistine, the champion from Goth, stepped out from his lines and shouted his usual defiance and David heard it. Whenever Israel saw the man, Goliath, they all fled from him in great fear. So every day they keep going out, They line up, they shout and yell at each other. Goliath comes out, Israelites get scared. They run back to their camp. They do it twice a day. I don't know why they keep doing this, but they keep doing this. Maybe they're hoping like Goliath like oversleeps his alarm and they're like, hey, we can take him while Goliath's sleeping. I don't know. But they do this every single day. And Goliath, he had given this title champion. You guys notice that in there? That word champion actually means the one in between. And the Israelites see Goliath and the Philistines see Goliath as this one that stands in between the two armies. But it's also understood that Goliath as man was the one who stood in between the gods and man. That Goliath himself was some sort of part God or like the gods because of his stature and his strength and no one had ever defeated him. And so they viewed him as this amazing godlike figure that lived on earth. And so David shows up and he's just trying to do something that good old dad told him to do. hey, go down to the battle. We don't have mail or email or text messages, just phone calls. You gotta send somebody old school on foot, get a note to my sons, let me see how they're doing. Let me know if they're still alive. Like that's the reality. Like we didn't even know if they were still living. And so David being the good son that he is, loads up and goes down there and shows up just as everybody is rolling out into the valley. And what's super important about this moment is because it isn't just any person who shows up, It's David. And prior to this, Samuel, who was kind of the head priest, the head pastor of the Israelite people in Jerusalem, had previously, if you read in chapter 16, he gets a word from God that the next king is gonna come soon and replace Saul, and it's gonna come from the family of Jesse. They didn't know it was gonna be David specifically, but there was this gonna be a new king in town, and it infuriated Saul. And I'm curious if part of this is why Saul decided, you know what, if I'm gonna keep my kingship, I'm gonna show everybody who I am, and I'm gonna march all the way to the Mediterranean Sea, and I'm gonna make the Israelite people put them on the face of the map of earth, and to say, I am king, look at me. And then he finds himself in this place, up against the battle of the Philistines. And so this is the point in the story, I believe, where Hans Zimmer would change the score to a minor key. 'Cause like, this is where like the tension starts building just even more in this moment.
We continue on. Now the Israelites had been saying, "Do you see how this man keeps coming out? He comes out to defy Israel. The king will give great wealth to a man who kills him. He will also give him his daughter in marriage and will exempt his family from taxes in Israel." Pretty legit payout if you ask me. David asked the men standing near him, "What will be done to the man who kills the Philistine and removes the disgrace from Israel?" Who is this uncircumcised Philistine? You want an old school like comeback from the Old Testament? This is it right here. "Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God? They repeated him what had been said and then told him, This is what we done to the man who kills him. When Elab, David's oldest brother, heard him speaking with the men, he burned with anger at him and asked, "Why have you come down here? And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the wilderness? I know how conceited you are and how wicked your heart is. You come down only to watch the battle." So like a good older brother, he marches in seeing little bro in the campsite going, "What are you doing here?" And I think there's probably a little like a pent up frustration from the past 40 days, little anger and what is he allowed to do? He takes it out on the little brother and just comes out and is like, "Why are you here? You're supposed to be home. What are you doing? Why are you in here?" And David, he's like, "Dude, back off, bro." He doesn't hold himself. He's like, "Who is this Philistine punk? Who is this dude that comes out and says all this slander, says all this blasphemy, says all this junk about my God. Who is this dude? And so he shows up and little does Elab know that little bro just didn't show up to watch a battle. Little bro showed up to battle. And so David here, and word's starting to get out in a camp of this guy, David, who's shown up.
It says now in verse 29, "Now what have I done?" said David, "Bro, what are you coming out? I didn't do anything. Can I even speak?" He then turned away to someone else and brought the same manner. And the men answered him as before. What David said was overheard and reported to Saul and Saul sent for him. David said to Saul, "Let no one lose heart on account of the Philistine. Your servant will go and fight him." Saul replied, "You are not able to just go out against this Philistine and fight him. You are only a young man. and he has been a warrior from his youth. But David said to Saul, "Your servant has been keeping his father's sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it. I struck it. I rescued the sheep from its mouth. And when it turned on me, I seized it by the hair, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both lion and the bear. This uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them because he has defied the armies of the living God. The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of the Philistine. Saul said to David, "Go, and the Lord be with you." When Saul dressed, then Saul dressed David in his tunic, and he put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head. David fastened his sword over the tunic and tried walking around because he was not used to them. "I cannot go in these," he said to Saul, "because I am not used to them." So he took them off. Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd's bag, and with his sling in his hand, he approached the Philistine.
So Saul brings in this kid who's talking smack in the camp, and word's getting out about who's this little bro showing up, mouthing off. Okay, well, let's put some money where his mouth is. Let's see who this dude is. So Saul brings him in and David's like, "Hey, don't worry. I got this." And I can only imagine Saul, like, seeing this kid, which he probably, he's probably in the range of like 13 to 15, because we know that his oldest three brothers were allowed to be in the army, and you could get in the army between 18 and 20. And so if you do the math on how many kids, and every year and all this, So you get to the point where he's in his middle teens, let's say. So yeah, this is a kid rolling in going, "Hey, I'm gonna take care of this giant." And Saul's like, "What?" And I think Saul here in himself is a little bit, even just tired himself. He's been going up against this dude 40 days, twice a day, exhausted. And he's like, "You know what? Fine, whatever. If you wanna do it, it sounds like there ain't gonna be anybody stopping you and me. I might as well put some armor on you so it looks like you might live 10 seconds longer than what you would just being out there wearing nothing. And so he comes to this point and David, he's getting bolder. You guys notice that? He's getting bolder. The more that he talks to these people, the more that you see this passion and this heart that he has for God. And he's like, "I've been there. I fought the lion. I fought the bear. I've taken out beasts, which if you could, honestly, a bear standing on its leg is probably nine feet tall as well. So David's taken out some legit stuff. Like he's given Saul his resume here. I took this out and that was okay. I took that out. And so Saul's like, "Okay, maybe this kid might have something. Maybe he might not. I don't know." But he gets to this point where that even when it seems like from the eyes of the world that all hope is lost, that the battle was already over. Saul didn't have any hope in David. Saul said, "I'm gonna cover my butt for a lawsuit, and I'm at least gonna put Jesse's boy in some armor, so at least he can't get mad at me for just letting his son run out there in a goatskin." But like, he's kinda given up. And I can only imagine the murmurs in the camp of just like, "Are you serious? This is our fearless fighter? This is the guy who's gonna go into the valley by himself. We're all going to line up and just watch this guy die. And then they're going to come after us. There's probably people in the camp packing up already. They're like, yeah, this is over. This is a good 40 days. Wasted my time. Guess I will get used to being in the Philistine control and under their slavery. I can't imagine what is going on. The odds are completely stacked against David. This is not looking good.
But yet, God. Remember that part? But yet, God. Verse 48. "As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him, reaching into his bag." Did I jump ahead? I did. Oh, jumped ahead. Back up. "Meanwhile..." This is a little flashback. You know, you watch those episodes. It was like five hours earlier, 30 minutes earlier. We meanwhile, the Philistine and the shield bearer were in front of him. They come closer to David. Then David looked over and saw that he was little more than a boy glowing with health and handsome. And he despised him. He said to David, "Am I a dog that you come at me with sticks?" And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. "Come here," he said, "and I'll give your flesh to the birds and the wild animals." David then said to the Philistines, his boldness here, "You come against me with sword, spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom have defied. This day, the Lord will deliver you into my hands and I will strike you down and cut off your head. This day, I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. All those gathered here will know that this is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves, for the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you all of it into your hands." So here's the movie scene. It comes down, the camera is right in David's face. I think of the, oh, what is it? The movie scene of, oh, who's the Scottish guy? Braveheart, Braveheart. He's like, "You might take our lives, but you will never take our Freedom." And they charge in a battle. I see this like being this epic, like this would have been a Grammy. Like it would have won every award, even like a Tony. Like they would have made a musical about it and it would have won it. Like it would have won everything. They would have swept the awards that year.
But this movie scene and Goliath comes out and he's like, "Who is this punk of a kid? Are you kidding me? This is a fly. I'm gonna flick him and he's gonna be gone." And then what are you gonna do Israel? And David steps up and gives this most epic speech in the world. Like I'm fired up right now. Like, can you tell? I'm fired right now. Just like I can take on anything for God right now. It's like, if you ever need like some fire at me, like eye of the tiger, like this is the original eye of the tiger in the Bible. And it's like this moment where God's like, I know and I serve this God who can do anything. And I know that because you've been sharing just flippant blasphemy against my God, I know that my God is gonna defeat you. And I don't care what God you come from, I don't care who you are, I don't care what background you are, I am 100% beyond confident that I know my God can take you out.
And as the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly towards the battle line to meet him. Reaching his bad, he took out a stone and he slung it, and he struck the Philistine in the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead and he fell face down on the ground. So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone. And without a sword in his hand, he struck down the Philistine and killed him. David ran and stood over him. He took hold of the Philistine's sword, drew it from the sheath, and after he killed him, he cut off his head with the sword. When the Philistines saw their hero was dead, they turned and ran. Then the men of Israel and Judah searched forward with a shout and pursued the Philistine to the entrance of Gath and the gates of Ekron. Their dead were sluned along the Sharon road and to Gath and Ekron, then the Israelites returned from chasing the Philistines who plundered their camp. David took the Philistine's head and brought it to Jerusalem. He put the Philistine's weapon in his own hand. As Saul watched David going out to meet the Philistine, he said to Abner, commander of the army, "Abner, whose son is that young man?" Abner said, "As surely as you live, your majesty, I don't know." The king said, "Find out whose son and young man this is." As soon as David returned from killing the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul, with David still holding the Philistine's head. "Whose son are you, young man?" Saul asked. And then he said to him, "I am the son of your servant, Jesse of Bethlehem." And at that moment, Saul knows he's in trouble. (chuckles) This is like part one of this story. It's just like, that's like the after scenes credits from a Marvel movie of you bringing him in. He's like, I am son of Jesse. And then just to look on Saul's face, 'cause he knows this is the new king and I am done. So this whole scene is absolutely incredible. It's the underdog versus the champion. It's just the story that we love from our movies and TV and books that we read of just this God coming along, the one who is least likely to win.
But there's actually something bigger going on here. There is actually a God battle going on here. Because before this, the Philistines and Israelites had gotten into it with each other on multiple occasions. And just before this, the Philistines had actually beaten up the Israelites and stole the Ark of the Covenant. If you know from the story of the Bible, the Ark of the Covenant was where the tablets from Moses were the 10 commandments. I believe the staff from Aaron and Moses were in that. It was the treasure place. And it was the place that God physically dwelt on earth and the Israelites carry God with them. And so think about the most precious thing that you have has been taken from you. And you just are fuming with fury for these Philistines. And Philistines and their cockiness and their pride take the Ark of the Covenant actually into their temple with all of their many, many gods and put it below the God of what they call as Dagon or Dagon, Dagon. And they put the Ark of the Covenant below Dagon in a sense to mock this God of Israel, that our God is greater than the Israelite God. And God has some fun with them. They leave in the temple, they go home, they fall asleep, they wake up the next morning, they come in and Dagon has actually fallen down and is laying bowing towards the Ark of the Covenant. They think, oh, some little kid ran through here and bumped it and it fell over, let's set it back up. So they set it back up, they go to sleep, they wake up the next morning, they come in. Dagon has not just fallen over, but Dagon has fallen over, he's broken off his head and his arms, and God chose the Philistine people. I am God. So when we come to this battle, there's backstory and back history of this God fight. And David himself is representing God of Israel, Yahweh. And Goliath comes out and he represents the God of Dagon, who's actually the father of Baal, if you know any of your Old Testament gods. He is actually a father of Baal. And so he's kind of like their national God of Philistine. And so this story takes us to a place where there is a secondary battle. God has already showed the Philistines what's going to happen of your God, your champion, the one who stands in between, Goliath, is going to fall, and he's gonna lose his head. And it's gonna be by the power of the God, of the name of the God of Israel, Yahweh, that this victory will be brought about. And I sit here and I read this story and this account, and I'm just absolutely blown away. Because I think the reality is with some of this stuff is we follow what we worship. We follow what we worship. Goliath followed Dagon and fell down and was decapitated like Dagon. David followed the God of, he knew the God of Israel, the Yahweh, and was brought victory.
And David came in this boldness in the name of the Lord. I love what 1 Samuel 16, who Samuel himself is talking about the new king. And he says this, he says, "The Lord does not look at the things that man looks like. Stature, wealth, physical, strength." Just look at that. "The man looks at outward's appearance, but God looks at the heart." I think this is the piece that Saul knew he was in trouble because he was so focused on what David would look like when he went out to battle. Looking like what we would think would be the man, the strength, the strong warrior, the battle, but it was a kid. It was a kid and he didn't even have any traditional weapons. He had a sling with a stone. And I think in this, we see this incredible truth that God empowers faithful servants to beat the odds. God empowers faithful servants to beat the odds because it's more than just an underdog story. And the reality is that the odds don't matter. The truth is that God raises up underdogs for his mission and his glory. David wasn't about David. David was about God. David didn't care about himself. David was the one who burned with the most righteous anger in the camp to say, you guys have heard this for 40 days. I've heard this once and I know that this isn't right. And yet he's the one that steps up. He's the one that steps forward. He's the one that says, this is not okay because my God is God of all. And I don't care what God you come with. I don't care what strength you come with. I don't care what armor you come with. I don't care whatever you come with. It doesn't matter because nothing is a match for my God. My God is God of all. And David had this consuming concern for the cause of God to prosper. I think for us, maybe sometimes we read the story and we think, well, you know what? That's a huge thing. But I wanna tell you today that victory doesn't need to be dramatic to be real. This is an incredible dramatic story. It's one for the record books. It's told since the 11th century and will be told until the ends of the earth and throughout history in heaven of giving glory to what God has done. But victories don't need to be dramatic to be real. There's been times where I found myself in life against the odds. When I felt my back against the wall, when all hope seems lost, when everything seemed to be over and there was no coming out of it. And God showed up. God showed up in such powerful ways that I never saw coming. That's why I love these stories we're gonna talk about this summer.
Because God shows up in a creative, dramatic way that we can't even ever think about or understand. That's how creative our God is. And that's how all things are possible with God. Because we have a finite limited thinking about how we think God can answer our solution. God goes, "Ha ha ha, just wait." The Israelite people were thinking, "We're gonna have some warrior come forward and our King Saul, he's gonna be the one." God's like, "Ha ha ha, just wait. I'm bringing you a kid who's gonna take it out. And I'm gonna bring him to be an incredible leader and a king over my people, my Israelite people, who will lead them forward in battle and victory." And I think the reality is we don't fight with weapons of this world, right? I love what 2 Corinthians 10 reminds us about, that we fight with the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And there's a spiritual war that's going on around us. And we fight with the power of prayer. We fight with the power of community. We fight at the feet of Jesus. And there is victory that is brought in our lives, not for us, but for the glory of God. And that's what this story is about, is remembering that Jesus is fighting with the gospel of truth, no matter what the odds are. That's what's happening. And we have to ask ourselves the question of what are we called to? What are we called to? 'Cause I think when we read this story, we like to put ourselves as the hero, right? We like to think we're the one that shows up at the camp like David. No, no, no. I think we are the Israelite people in Saul from verse 11 that says on hearing the Philistines words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified. All too often, we're the one terrified. We're the one afraid. We're the one dismayed. We're the one scared. And Jesus is just standing there saying, "Come to me, I got this. I am the God of impossible moments. I am your God. I am the God. I am Yahweh. And so I want you to be encouraged today that at the end of this and this moment, we are like the Israelite people that get to rush forward into the valley after Goliath falls and his head is chopped off. We share in the victory of Christ today. We get to share in the plunder and the riches and the spoils of eternity and heaven forever because of the sacrifice of God going before us, taking on the greatest enemy, death and Satan and winning. What Christ has done against the greatest enemy is nothing more than done with two pieces of tree. In Christ, the young king, we come before the gods of this age that they bow and defeat. Christ alone is the true son of David. And in his victory alone, we find our peace.
So how can you live more in the impossible moments that God wants for your life today. I think for some of us, it's taking time to remember those impossible moments that God rescued us from before, right? Remembering those victories. I think the Israelite people carried this through every single battle going forward for ages upon ages. The story was passed down. The story was told. The story was never forgotten because it reminded the Israelite people that the God that they serve is greater than anything that they could ever face. So how do we remember who is the source of our rescue? It's for us to decide. We remember who rescued us. 'Cause the reality is that we serve the same God, the God of Jacob, of Joseph, of David in this story. this story.
Let's pray. Jesus, we thank you for this morning. God, we worship you. We live in your victory. God, help us to remember the truth that your servant David shouted back against that horrible Goliath. That when all hope seemed to be lost, when all seemed to be forgotten and gone, God, you showed up in such a way that nobody ever saw it coming. And that's you God. I love it. Thank you Jesus for who you are in our lives. Let's remember to share in the victory of you, not for us to be able to say look what we did, but to remember and to point back to you and say, that's the God who I serve. It's the God who loves me. It's the God who saved me. It's the God who went to the cross and died for my sins so I could be saved in a way that there's nothing ever I could do myself. That's the gospel, and that's the God that we serve today. We love you, Jesus. We praise you, we thank you. Amen.