Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2: I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
Speaker 2: I wanted to thank you for joining us today.
Speaker 1: Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith.
Speaker 2: Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving
Speaker 2: in your life.
Speaker 1: Enjoy the message.
Speaker 2: First Samuel, chapter seventeen, verse fifty. Just one scripture today
Speaker 2: that I want to share with you.
Speaker 1: But it's a good one.
Speaker 2: It says in One Samuel seventeen, verse fifty, So David
Speaker 2: triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone,
Speaker 2: without a sword in his hand. He struck down the
Speaker 2: Philistine and killed him.
Speaker 3: There's power in the mighty name of Jesus. Every war
Speaker 3: he wages, he will win.
Speaker 2: So David triumphed over the Philistine, and I'm not backing
Speaker 2: down from any giant with a sling and.
Speaker 1: A stone, without a sword in his hand.
Speaker 2: He struck down the Philistine and killed him. Would you
Speaker 2: look at your neighbor and sing my sermon title, Tell
Speaker 2: him I know how this storys Come on, tell your
Speaker 2: other neighbor the safet one.
Speaker 1: Tell them I know how this story. Father. We thank
Speaker 1: you for your word.
Speaker 2: The power of it, and that he who began a
Speaker 2: good work is faithful to complete it.
Speaker 1: In Jesus' name.
Speaker 2: Amen, you may take your seat, God bless you.
Speaker 1: I know how this story ends.
Speaker 2: Because Holly and I have a rule in our marriage
Speaker 2: that when she's telling me a story, if it's a
Speaker 2: negative story, then I need her to tell me the
Speaker 2: ending before she gives me the details, because sometimes she
Speaker 2: tells expanded stories.
Speaker 1: You like, I said that that was real.
Speaker 2: PC, How I said that that was really cautious. How
Speaker 2: I said that she tells She tells stories and puts
Speaker 2: in all the deleted scenes it's the director's cut. But
Speaker 2: sometimes I just need to know when she says today
Speaker 2: was a terrible day, I need to know how this ends.
Speaker 1: You know, Oh, how how was your day? Oh? And
Speaker 1: then she starts with breakfast.
Speaker 2: But I need to know, like, well, how much does
Speaker 2: it cost at the end of it, Like, you know,
Speaker 2: is it seven thousand dollars or do we both have
Speaker 2: to go to the kids' school this time or just
Speaker 2: one of us. I need to know how this ends,
Speaker 2: or I'll just get lost in the middle. It's different
Speaker 2: when you know how it ends. If you tell me
Speaker 2: how it ends, you know, don't worry, it's not that bad.
Speaker 2: We got it all worked out well. Then I can
Speaker 2: find follow you on all of the twists. But I
Speaker 2: just need to know how it ends. I need to
Speaker 2: know that this is going to be all right. I
Speaker 2: need to know that it's not fatal. I need to
Speaker 2: know that they didn't quit. You just had a bad meeting.
Speaker 2: Because she'll be telling me something about something at the office,
Speaker 2: and she'll she'll want to put it. You know, she
Speaker 2: has good storytelling technique, and she's a great storyteller, but
Speaker 2: that works against us in marital communication because I'm not
Speaker 2: looking for suspense and drama.
Speaker 1: I just need the bottom line.
Speaker 2: She's be like, oh, I had a meeting with so
Speaker 2: and so today it went terrible, And I'm thinking, like,
Speaker 2: we are they moving back to Nebraska where their famili's from.
Speaker 1: Do we have to replace them on staff?
Speaker 2: But just tell me how it ends, and then you
Speaker 2: can get me all the details. Then you can tell
Speaker 2: me that eggs were on sale when you went back
Speaker 2: home on the way to the thing, and then the
Speaker 2: thing with the thing, and then the car cut off,
Speaker 2: but then it cut back on and it's not in
Speaker 2: the shop. Just tell me how it ends, and then
Speaker 2: I can listen to the story. I want to show
Speaker 2: you something real quick. This is a picture from our
Speaker 2: summer vacation a few weeks ago.
Speaker 1: Just a picture of some family time that we had. Yeah.
Speaker 1: See that's how it ended. I don't know. Can they
Speaker 1: see it at the campuses? Yeah, that's how it ended.
Speaker 2: That's how it ended, with Graham smilet, with everybody breathing,
Speaker 2: with Elijah making some questionable sign with his hand.
Speaker 1: Notice there is only one or.
Speaker 2: There were two when we set out and embarked on
Speaker 2: this family adventure.
Speaker 1: But it ends like this.
Speaker 2: Thankfully for me, as I've already mentioned, I have a
Speaker 2: great wife who when she saw us struggling on the kayak,
Speaker 2: because contrary to my knowledge, sand bars are temporary.
Speaker 1: They don't just stay there.
Speaker 2: The sandbar that is there one minute might be gone
Speaker 2: in thirty minutes. There's this thing called the tides. You
Speaker 2: think I would know this stuff. You would think you
Speaker 2: would drag the kayak further than just the very edge
Speaker 2: of the sandbar before you walked all the way out
Speaker 2: to the middle of it to have a family memory.
Speaker 2: But thank God for my wife because when she saw
Speaker 2: us struggling, when the tide came in.
Speaker 1: How many notes?
Speaker 2: When God gives you a great wife? When she sees
Speaker 2: you struggling, she picks up the iPhone and records it.
Speaker 2: So check out this video she took real quick from
Speaker 2: the shore.
Speaker 1: All right, here's the boys paddleled to this sandbar.
Speaker 2: But the tiling is coming in minutes away from floating,
Speaker 2: no minutes, and they're not even they don't know when
Speaker 2: they're honey, who worried about it?
Speaker 1: Oh there's Graham.
Speaker 2: He's running every.
Speaker 1: Floating Yep, that's Graham running. How could I love you
Speaker 1: like that?
Speaker 4: You're stuck?
Speaker 1: So, you know, Graham said it best.
Speaker 2: He said when we got back and we were telling
Speaker 2: everybody what had happened, he said.
Speaker 1: That could have ended a whole.
Speaker 2: Lot different, you know, because you obviously have the leisure
Speaker 2: of laughter because you know how it ends. I mean, well, hey, pastor,
Speaker 2: I mean it's pretty funny. Actually the monoculars. You're dry
Speaker 2: now you're not dead, because it's different when you know
Speaker 2: how it ends. But if the man on the jet
Speaker 2: ski hadn't come by, it could.
Speaker 1: Have ended This is what Graham said.
Speaker 2: It could have ended a whole lot different. Or if
Speaker 2: he wouldn't have had southern hospitality to go get my
Speaker 2: kayak and.
Speaker 1: Bring it back to me with his jet ski. It
Speaker 1: could have ended. Look at somebody say, it could have
Speaker 1: ended a whole lot different. How many know there's some
Speaker 1: things in your life that could have ended a whole
Speaker 1: lot different.
Speaker 2: That drunk driver swerved right into your lane, but some
Speaker 2: kind of angel'll just pull that car back over. It
Speaker 2: could have ended a whole lot different. Come on, you
Speaker 2: know I'm right about it. If you had got stopped
Speaker 2: by the police at the wrong time when you were
Speaker 2: in college, it could have ended a.
Speaker 1: Whole lot different. Some of us.
Speaker 2: It's not that we never did anything wrong. We just
Speaker 2: didn't get caught. If we would have been at the
Speaker 2: wrong place at the wrong time, it could have ended
Speaker 2: a whole lot different.
Speaker 1: Polisher Halo.
Speaker 2: If you want, I'm gonna turn to the heathen section.
Speaker 2: This where the heathens sit it could have ended. Come on,
Speaker 2: stand up and testify if it could have ended if
Speaker 2: it had not been for the Lord on my side,
Speaker 2: you better give him praise right now before he pulls
Speaker 2: up your search history.
Speaker 1: It could have ended all whole You know I'm right.
Speaker 2: Tell somebody you know that preacher is right. So it's
Speaker 2: funny now. And when I read David and Goliath as
Speaker 2: my text, there's some Bible nerds sitting out there, maybe
Speaker 2: watching online, going like.
Speaker 4: A really, David and Goliath, all the stories in the Bible,
Speaker 4: you want to pick this one. Oh boy, already know
Speaker 4: this one.
Speaker 1: David kills Goliath. The lie. It goes down every time
Speaker 1: you read it.
Speaker 4: I already know about the sling shot in the stone.
Speaker 4: He had five smooth stones, buddy old ne no one.
Speaker 4: The giant king had a big heavy helmet, Jesse. He
Speaker 4: called David, said take this bread down to your brother's
Speaker 4: jack on them. And Baby got down there and golith
Speaker 4: was shoone and David heard it, and Baby said you
Speaker 4: want no smoke, and day the grab his sleigh and
Speaker 4: it threw a stone at the giant, and the giant
Speaker 4: went down.
Speaker 1: I already know how this story ends.
Speaker 2: So since you already know how it ends, let me
Speaker 2: suggest something to you. David never read first Samuel seventeen,
Speaker 2: verse fifty.
Speaker 1: It's different when you know how it ends, so we
Speaker 1: can shout.
Speaker 2: But David was shaking, shaking in his sandals, holding his slang, trembling,
Speaker 2: wondering how this ends, wondering will this jet ski get
Speaker 2: my kayak? Wondering preaching to somebody today. And you have
Speaker 2: not read for Samuel seventeen fifty yet about this situation
Speaker 2: in your life, and you are still looking at a
Speaker 2: giant that is bigger than you. And since we know
Speaker 2: how David's story ends, I want to spend just a
Speaker 2: few moments today thinking about how it could have ended,
Speaker 2: because it could have ended whole.
Speaker 1: Lot different.
Speaker 2: Had I had I gone to that one school and
Speaker 2: married that other girl. How many No, it could have
Speaker 2: ended a whole lot worse for Holly.
Speaker 1: She could have missed the whole buffet. But now think
Speaker 1: about it.
Speaker 2: If David makes some different decisions, the story ends a
Speaker 2: whole lot different. And see, God is writing your story
Speaker 2: right now, for your family, right now, for this season
Speaker 2: of your life, right now. And although we know that
Speaker 2: Goliath goes down, David has to do it in the
Speaker 2: face of uncertainty. And yet, no matter how many sermons
Speaker 2: you hear about David defeating Goliath, you must recognize that
Speaker 2: there were three things that David had to face before
Speaker 2: he even.
Speaker 1: Ever got to Goliath.
Speaker 2: And if any of these three things had gone differently,
Speaker 2: It could have been a whole lot different. If David
Speaker 2: had been a typical teenager when his father came in said,
Speaker 2: you know, he's only seventeen when he kills Goliath. And
Speaker 2: if he had had a response to Jesse's instruction when
Speaker 2: Jesse said, I want you to run these snacks down
Speaker 2: to your brothers.
Speaker 1: If David had rolled his eyes, you know, God, Dad
Speaker 1: seriously like a future king. Dad.
Speaker 2: Samuel has already annointed David. He already knows he has
Speaker 2: a great future.
Speaker 1: But now if.
Speaker 2: David refuses to be faithful in his present because he's
Speaker 2: too focused on his future, this story ends a lot different.
Speaker 1: How many you heard this story of David and Goliath
Speaker 1: raise your hand? Yeah? No, Because it's even a sports analogy.
Speaker 1: People use it in the NBA, the NFL. It's an
Speaker 1: archetypal story.
Speaker 2: It's so famous, is so wonderful, it's so fun to preach.
Speaker 2: I bet I've preached it fifty times, at least fifty times.
Speaker 1: In this one church.
Speaker 2: But watch how the story could have gone. It could
Speaker 2: have been a whole lot different. Jesse wakes David up
Speaker 2: one morning, he says, I got a task for you.
Speaker 2: I want you to run this cheese and bread down
Speaker 2: to your brothers on the battle lines. They're in the
Speaker 2: Valley of Ela fighting with Saul. David wakes up slowly.
Speaker 2: David rolls his eyes. David checks his phone. David post
Speaker 2: on his Instagram story the fake account, the one that
Speaker 2: Jesse doesn't follow, and David puts that on Instagram.
Speaker 1: God, my dad makes me sick. This is ridiculous. God
Speaker 1: hate my parents. I hate my life.
Speaker 2: David goes to the battle line, but he gets there
Speaker 2: forty five minutes late. He gets there after Goliath came
Speaker 2: out to shout his usual defiance.
Speaker 1: He didn't know Goliath was on the battle line. You
Speaker 1: don't know what day God wants to use you.
Speaker 2: You don't know what converse is going to turn things around.
Speaker 2: You don't know what moment is going to be holy.
Speaker 2: You don't know when a bush is going to burst
Speaker 2: into flames and spontaneously combust with the presence of God
Speaker 2: and the direction for the next step of your life.
Speaker 2: You don't know this. But if you don't show up,
Speaker 2: watch this and do the ordinary with a good attitude,
Speaker 2: it could have ended a whole lot different. Do you
Speaker 2: really think they would have taught us this Bible story
Speaker 2: in Bible School in Sunday School. If the story went
Speaker 2: like this, Jesse woke up David, David got up, David
Speaker 2: went down to the battle lines with the bad attitude,
Speaker 2: dropped off the food, threw it at his brothers, and
Speaker 2: went back home. And yet it could have ended like that.
Speaker 2: That could have been the very end of the story.
Speaker 2: It could have ended a whole. It could have ended
Speaker 2: with David. It could have ended with this David feeling
Speaker 2: slighted because he was asked to do something that he
Speaker 2: deemed in significant. You know who I am, Dad, Really,
Speaker 2: you're asking me to be a delivery boy to take
Speaker 2: this food down to my brothers.
Speaker 1: You're serious, right now, God Dad?
Speaker 5: Okay, Oh okay, Oh go.
Speaker 2: But I'm not gonna run to the battle lines, and
Speaker 2: I'm not gonna have my eyes open for up.
Speaker 5: To Oh okay, i'll go, but I don't have to
Speaker 5: like it. Okay, I'll go to church, but I'm not
Speaker 5: lifting my hands. That's what the weird people do.
Speaker 2: Oh okay, i'll go, but we're leaving early. That parking
Speaker 2: lot gets crazy and I want to be at the
Speaker 2: restaurant before the Methodist church.
Speaker 1: Lesson.
Speaker 2: Oh Okay, could have been a hole, come on, work
Speaker 2: with me with a value. It could have been Ah,
Speaker 2: you don't even have to buy a vow, just say it.
Speaker 2: It could have been a whole lot different. I'm David.
Speaker 2: I'm not door dash what you think. I am uber eats,
Speaker 2: I'm not dropping nothing off. My name is David. Say
Speaker 2: my name David King, David Crown, David Samuel.
Speaker 1: Put the oil on my had David.
Speaker 2: It could have been a whole lot different if David
Speaker 2: had tripped over the ordinary. So here's what I'm learning
Speaker 2: is that opportunity presents itself as ordinary. There is not
Speaker 2: going to be you know, I want to kill my goliath.
Speaker 1: I want to breakthrough in my life. I want to whatever.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 2: We use goliath to mean anything, by the way, in church,
Speaker 2: if you're new here, Goliath could mean anything. It could
Speaker 2: mean we want a good parking space. It could mean
Speaker 2: we want a healing in our body. It could mean
Speaker 2: we want to stop beating so many chips. Goliath can
Speaker 2: mean almost anything. In this particular instance, it means anything
Speaker 2: that opposes the purpose of God. He was standing against
Speaker 2: the people of God, opposed the purpose of God, defying
Speaker 2: the armies, of the Living God. That's what Goliath was
Speaker 2: and it usually won't be physical. But before David ever
Speaker 2: got to the real battle, he had to face the ordinary.
Speaker 2: There's not going to be one conversation with your kids
Speaker 2: that is going to change their life. It is going
Speaker 2: to be picking them up and dropping them off and
Speaker 2: trying to get them to say more than three words
Speaker 2: to you at a time.
Speaker 1: That is going to change their life.
Speaker 2: Is three words on top of three words on top
Speaker 2: of three words on top of three words on top
Speaker 2: of three words. You are not going to take your
Speaker 2: son on one trip to Ireland and reenact Braveheart or
Speaker 2: Scotland or wherever that overrated movie happen, and he's going
Speaker 2: to come.
Speaker 1: Back shouting freedom and he's a warrior now.
Speaker 2: For Jesus Christ, it's not going to be one trip
Speaker 2: when he turned sixteen. It's going to be many trips.
Speaker 2: It's going to be many, back and forth, back and forth.
Speaker 2: And David went back and forth and back and forth
Speaker 2: and back and forth.
Speaker 1: See, we know how the story ends. David didn't.
Speaker 2: He didn't even know there was a giant in the
Speaker 2: Valley of elaw Not when he sets out that day,
Speaker 2: and if he refuses to do the ordinary. It could
Speaker 2: have been a whole lot different. What a boring story
Speaker 2: this would have been. David's dad said, go, David went,
Speaker 2: did it with a bad attitude, came home, slept for
Speaker 2: eight hours. Could have been a whole lot different if
Speaker 2: David had been typical. So then he gets there right,
Speaker 2: he does the ordinary. In fact, the Bible says this
Speaker 2: is amazing. He ran to the battle lines. He left
Speaker 2: his things with the keeper of supplies. He's very responsible.
Speaker 2: He runs to the battle lines. So he's there in
Speaker 2: position with the attitude to see the opportunity.
Speaker 1: And when he hears Goliath shouting.
Speaker 2: See if Dad goes down like most of us go
Speaker 2: around and just gets through his day, he's not gonna
Speaker 2: be in the frame of mind to seize the opportunity.
Speaker 2: And even when he gets there and gives the brothers
Speaker 2: the food that he brought for them, one of his
Speaker 2: brothers has such a bad attitude with him that the
Speaker 2: second thing that David had to deal with before he
Speaker 2: even got to the real opponent, was of fence. Now
Speaker 2: I want to show you this. It's very powerful. How
Speaker 2: some of us are fighting the wrong battle. We are
Speaker 2: fighting a preliminary battle and missing the real one because
Speaker 2: when David gets there, he's like, what's up, guys? You know,
Speaker 2: David is that dude. He's like, hey, guys, what did
Speaker 2: I miss? And they're like, it's not then new man.
Speaker 2: This dude is nine foot two. He keeps coming out
Speaker 2: every day and keeps saying the same thing. He keeps
Speaker 2: telling us, send your best man, I'll kill him and
Speaker 2: you will be our slaves. But we can't do anything
Speaker 2: with him because I mean, look at him, Look how
Speaker 2: big he is.
Speaker 1: And David's like, look how big he is. One country
Speaker 1: preacher said this.
Speaker 2: He said the rest of the army saw Goliath and
Speaker 2: said he's too big to kill. David looked at Goliath
Speaker 2: and said he's too big to miss.
Speaker 1: I wonder what's your perspective today. I'm preaching for fifteen people.
Speaker 2: God said, this challenge in front of you is an
Speaker 2: indication of the power within you. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah. David's like, so what do I get if I
Speaker 1: kill him? It's like, well, Saul said, like at first
Speaker 1: he was like, does anybody want to fight him?
Speaker 2: But it's been forty days now, and so Saul keeps
Speaker 2: opping the ante like the airlines do when they got
Speaker 2: to overbook flight. You know, we need two volunteers, from
Speaker 2: the kindness of your heart to give up your seat.
Speaker 2: We need two volunteers. We'll give you two hundred dollars.
Speaker 2: We're gonna need you two volunteers. We'll give you five
Speaker 2: hundred dollar. We need two volunteers. We'll give you a
Speaker 2: thousand dollars voucher for travel. The more desperate they get,
Speaker 2: the more the reward becomes. Now you can only use
Speaker 2: thee thousand dollars every seventeen Thanksgiving on this voucher, and
Speaker 2: blackout dates apply. But now Saul has gotten so desperate
Speaker 2: he got to the point where he says, look, I'll
Speaker 2: give you my daughter in marriage the hot one, and
Speaker 2: you don't have to pay taxes. So David's like, for real,
Speaker 2: Now somebody verified this. Now here's the difference. Here's the difference.
Speaker 2: It could have been a whole lot different. But David
Speaker 2: hadn't been out there forty days, and he hadn't gotten
Speaker 2: used to the dysfunction, and he hadn't got used to
Speaker 2: standing there defeated in a dead block, and so he
Speaker 2: comes up and to them, Goliath just sounds normal. But
Speaker 2: to David it sounds different. Wait a minute, he's not
Speaker 2: supposed to talk like that. You know, you can get
Speaker 2: comfortable in your dysfunction when you've been in it long enough,
Speaker 2: when all your sick friends are lying around in five
Speaker 2: covered colonnades, it can.
Speaker 1: Be easy for you to start making excuses. And David
Speaker 1: was like, hold on, So he said, what about God?
Speaker 1: And I get what if A kill him?
Speaker 2: I love this though, because this is what always happens
Speaker 2: when God is trying to do something in your life.
Speaker 2: The enemy will always present another enemy that is not
Speaker 2: the real enemy, to keep you distracted from fighting the
Speaker 2: one that you're called to defeat. In David's case, it
Speaker 2: was his brother, his big brother. His name kind of
Speaker 2: sounds like Goliath, but it's not Eliab.
Speaker 1: He was tall.
Speaker 2: For a minute, Samuel thought he was supposed to be
Speaker 2: the king Becausaul was tall. And he saw in Samuel
Speaker 2: saw in Eliab what he had seen in Saul, which
Speaker 2: is height, not heart. And God said, don't look at
Speaker 2: his height, look at his heart. Stop judging your situation externally.
Speaker 2: It's what's inside the counts. It's what's inside the counts.
Speaker 2: And a live starts judging David's motives. He's like, look
Speaker 2: at this. In verse twenty eight, he goes, why have
Speaker 2: you come down here? And with whom did you leave
Speaker 2: those few sheep? Now, all of these things David had
Speaker 2: taken care of. He's a very responsible young man. But really,
Speaker 2: what's happening here is I believe the enemy is trying
Speaker 2: to trigger David to get him to fight the wrong person.
Speaker 2: Because watch, if he stands here and argues with his brother,
Speaker 2: he will never even see his enemy.
Speaker 1: This might be the whole sermon for somebody. Now just
Speaker 1: look straight ahead.
Speaker 2: If you're married, sometimes you're fighting against what you're supposed
Speaker 2: to be fighting for, and you have to call a
Speaker 2: time out. Sometimes you have to sometimes be like, wait
Speaker 2: a minute, you're not my enemy. Wait a minute, you're
Speaker 2: you're You're not who I'm supposed to be fighting. And
Speaker 2: if David gets caught up fighting Eliab, he never sees Goliath.
Speaker 2: If he gets distracted, some of us are defeated simply
Speaker 2: because we're distracted.
Speaker 1: Now you know how the story ends, but think about
Speaker 1: how it could have ended.
Speaker 2: David for the next two hours defends himself to Elia.
Speaker 2: I was the other day checking on some Instagram post
Speaker 2: seeing if they were touching people's lives. You know, I
Speaker 2: would like to say that I always do it with
Speaker 2: a pure heart, But sometimes I'll scroll to look for
Speaker 2: people who say mean things to me, and that's a dysfunction.
Speaker 2: And I'm not saved all the way yet I am saved.
Speaker 2: I was saying a big saved. This is the part
Speaker 2: that's in progress. Sometimes I'd just like to imagine the response.
Speaker 2: I could say, you know what the Spear of the
Speaker 2: Lord told me the other day. First of all, it's
Speaker 2: one out of three hundred people who say something negative.
Speaker 1: That's number one. Number two.
Speaker 2: If you would invest a fraction of the energy into
Speaker 2: blessing people that you put into defending yourself, you would
Speaker 2: be Mother Teresa, you would be Saint Paul. You could
Speaker 2: change the world if you would stop trying to defend yourself.
Speaker 2: And I'm coming right for you because some of us
Speaker 2: trip over an offense, and so we never defeat the
Speaker 2: real opponent, because we stand and argue with Eliab and
Speaker 2: we never even get to Goliah.
Speaker 1: You that's so powerful.
Speaker 2: It could have had a whole different ending. It could
Speaker 2: have been a whole lot different. And I bet in Jackie,
Speaker 2: you wouldn't have taught me that Bible story in Sunday School.
Speaker 2: If David had stood there and argued with Eliab, now
Speaker 2: here's the thing that's practical about this. Some of you
Speaker 2: are fighting Eliab today, and because you're fighting Eliab, Goliath
Speaker 2: continues to go unchallenged in your life. You know you're
Speaker 2: fighting Eliab if you're still blaming people.
Speaker 1: David did this move that.
Speaker 2: I want to learn how to do when I realize
Speaker 2: I'm fighting the wrong enemy, when I realize I'm fighting
Speaker 2: something outside when I really need to be dealing with
Speaker 2: something inside. When I realize I'm trying to control how
Speaker 2: other people are versus trying to have self control the
Speaker 2: fruit of the.
Speaker 1: Spirit for myself. This is a word today. This is
Speaker 1: a word today.
Speaker 2: It said that David did something very strategic, and this
Speaker 2: is like the turning point of the story. It said
Speaker 2: in verse thirty that when Eliab was going back and
Speaker 2: forth in David, David hit him real quick with an insult,
Speaker 2: just to let him know I'm not a punk. And
Speaker 2: then after he said what he had to say, watch
Speaker 2: what he did. David turned and asks somebody else.
Speaker 1: And watch this.
Speaker 2: When he turns away from Eliab. It positions him to
Speaker 2: face Goliath. So whoever is for, you'll never even get
Speaker 2: to Goliath. You will never even get to the insecurity
Speaker 2: that is causing the issue if you keep blaming the
Speaker 2: people who are bringing it out for you to look at.
Speaker 2: Eliab wasn't the giant. Eliab wasn't the enemy. Eliab was
Speaker 2: his brother that he was supposed to fight for. So
Speaker 2: now we've watched David two different alternate endings. If he
Speaker 2: argues with Eliab, then he misses Goliath. If he doesn't
Speaker 2: obey his father in a simple thing, then he misses Goliath.
Speaker 2: It Graham was so prophetic. He said it could have
Speaker 2: ended oh lot different. I was so mad at my
Speaker 2: mom for forgiving my dad. I didn't think he deserved it.
Speaker 2: What would that funeral have been like if she had
Speaker 2: listened to me rather than listening to God, If we
Speaker 2: weren't even on speaking terms when he died, it could
Speaker 2: have ended up. And I only bring it up because
Speaker 2: every story in this room is still being written and
Speaker 2: sometimes you think you know how it ends. But what
Speaker 2: if it's not over yet? What if it's not over yet?
Speaker 2: I'm gonna preach it through that little facade that you
Speaker 2: have right Now, what if it's not over yet. What
Speaker 2: if you've wasted a lot of time. But what if
Speaker 2: God really is able to redeem the years that the
Speaker 2: locusts have eaten. What if it's not over yet. I'm
Speaker 2: just posing a question. What if it's not over yet?
Speaker 2: What if your best days are not behind you? What
Speaker 2: if the devil is a liar? What if everything that
Speaker 2: you have been through can serve a greater purpose. What
Speaker 2: if a generational curse was being broken through your battle?
Speaker 2: What if God brought you to the Valley of Elah
Speaker 2: because he's the God of a turnaround, the God.
Speaker 1: Of a second chance, the God.
Speaker 2: Of a new beginning, and the God of a new Indeed.
Speaker 1: Mary and Martha said, I know how this story is.
Speaker 2: But one thing they didn't know is that Jesus doesn't
Speaker 2: provide resurrection. He is resurrection. So if he's on the scene,
Speaker 2: watch this. When David showed up, he said, I come
Speaker 2: against you in the name of the Lord.
Speaker 1: Now, one more thing I gotta show you, y'all. Calm down.
Speaker 2: It's a Bible study, not a football game. There's not
Speaker 2: a basketball game. There's nothing to be excited about in here.
Speaker 2: It's not like the blood of Jesus is enough for you.
Speaker 2: It's not like depression is defeated. It's not like the
Speaker 2: devil has to back up when.
Speaker 1: You call on the name of your God.
Speaker 2: It's not like worship can push back darkness.
Speaker 1: It's not like praise can break shade.
Speaker 2: No'all sit down, because now he has to go through Saul,
Speaker 2: the one that should have been celebrating him, the one
Speaker 2: that should have been supporting him.
Speaker 1: David kills Goliath.
Speaker 2: Stop being so boring when you read the Bible. The
Speaker 2: Bibles boring or bored, read it better. This thing could
Speaker 2: have had so many endings. It could have ended when
Speaker 2: David had a bad attitude toward the ordinary. It could
Speaker 2: have ended when David was fighting against who he was
Speaker 2: supposed to be fighting for.
Speaker 1: He could have got offended. It could have ended with ordinary.
Speaker 1: It could have ended with the fence. And it could have.
Speaker 2: Ended with only do you know only the spirit of
Speaker 2: lack and limitation? Do you know only what Saul said
Speaker 2: to David. David was like showing Saul his resume. He's like,
Speaker 2: I'm pretty good at beating stuff that's bigger than me.
Speaker 2: I beat a lion one time, I beat a beer
Speaker 2: put me in coach and Saul said, you're only a boy.
Speaker 2: I wonder what you're only in your own mind. Remember,
Speaker 2: Saul wasn't the enemy. Saul was supposed to be a friend.
Speaker 2: You ever had something inside of you turn.
Speaker 1: On you, You're only I had it. This week.
Speaker 2: I was thinking that I'm just a preacher because I
Speaker 2: was thinking how really influencing culture is done.
Speaker 1: Through rappers and fashion and others.
Speaker 2: And I was thinking about changing a generation, and I
Speaker 2: felt discouraged about it, like I'm only a preacher. But
Speaker 2: there's this one verse that always comes up when I
Speaker 2: think that way. And God told Jeremiah one time, he said,
Speaker 2: do not say I am only.
Speaker 1: Well, I was thinking about that.
Speaker 2: I know this isn't exactly what the text means, but
Speaker 2: I was thinking, how God's name is I am. So
Speaker 2: when you say I am only, and you're supposed to
Speaker 2: take God's name, you mess up the name that he
Speaker 2: gave you by diminishing it in your own sight.
Speaker 1: I am only. Do not say I am only. Do
Speaker 1: not say I am only. I'm only a boy.
Speaker 2: But David said, no, no, no, I've never faced this
Speaker 2: giant before.
Speaker 1: Get ready to shout. But I brought the same god
Speaker 1: to this.
Speaker 2: Valley that I brought to the last valley, because the
Speaker 2: only reason I'm preaching it is because you're standing in
Speaker 2: front of something. Right now, You've never seen this before,
Speaker 2: But David said, here's the common pattern I've noticed.
Speaker 1: Okay, I dropped the lion, I dropped the bear.
Speaker 2: It only stands to reason that if the lion didn't
Speaker 2: stand a chance, if the bear didn't stand a chance
Speaker 2: because they opposed my father's business, if this giant opposes
Speaker 2: the purpose of God, I predict and upset victory over
Speaker 2: everything in your life that is thicker than you that
Speaker 2: opposes the purpose of God.
Speaker 1: Then you come on.
Speaker 2: He's the god of a turnaround.
Speaker 1: So I know. Somebody said, I know how this story
Speaker 1: ends because I know who wrote it. I know who
Speaker 1: wrote it.
Speaker 2: He is the author and the prefector of my faith.
Speaker 2: She looked at me last week and on our date night,
Speaker 2: and this movie was gonna have a nice ending. But
Speaker 2: then she remembered that the writer of this particular.
Speaker 1: Movie is noted for everybody dying in the end. And
Speaker 1: she looked at me, Now, I want you to get
Speaker 1: this when I say it.
Speaker 2: Okay, she said, it can't be over I just remembered
Speaker 2: who wrote it. Come on, you know it's a word
Speaker 2: for you. You know there's some things because we tell
Speaker 2: our selves these stories. But if God wrote it, it's
Speaker 2: not over till we win. It's not over until the
Speaker 2: light over comes the darkness. Come on, my Robie, come on, Caston,
Speaker 2: Come on, Balaton.
Speaker 1: It's not over. It could have been a.
Speaker 2: Whole different story, and I want to suggest that maybe
Speaker 2: it still can be, because I.
Speaker 1: Know in church we talk a lot about new beginnings.
Speaker 1: What about new endings?
Speaker 2: What about putting two more periods behind that one that
Speaker 2: you thought ended the sentence and making it an ellipses?
Speaker 2: What about new endings? What about to be continued? What
Speaker 2: about the third day? What about Sunday morning? What about Jesus?
Speaker 2: I know how the story ends, so when I see
Speaker 2: him on the cross, I'm not worried.
Speaker 1: The disciples didn't know that.
Speaker 2: This is the challenge to know how the story ends,
Speaker 2: even when you don't know how it's gonna get. There
Speaker 2: might not be a straight line, it might not be perfect,
Speaker 2: it might not look like somebody else's situation. You get
Speaker 2: in the worst trouble of your life trying to wear
Speaker 2: Saul's armor, trying to fight like everybody else fights.
Speaker 1: Yours might be messier.
Speaker 2: Can I say something for somebody that God put.
Speaker 1: On my heart?
Speaker 2: Yours might look laughable. I'm only high school educated. Good
Speaker 2: God's gonna get that much more glory because you didn't
Speaker 2: have a college degree.
Speaker 1: Now when people look at you, they're gonna have to know.
Speaker 1: It had to be God. I know your GPA.
Speaker 2: It had to be God, God's purpose advances. I know
Speaker 2: your GPA. You weren't smart enough, good enough, pretty enough.
Speaker 2: You didn't pray enough, do the right things. It could
Speaker 2: have been a whole different story, but the grace of
Speaker 2: God stepped in just in the nick of time.
Speaker 1: Spoiler alert, Goliath goes down.
Speaker 2: Plot twist. Goliath goes down and guess what, that's not
Speaker 2: how the story ends. I'm sorry.
Speaker 1: I know it looks great on the flannel graph. David's
Speaker 1: awfully cute with a.
Speaker 2: Slingshot, especially especially when it's one that you pull back,
Speaker 2: you know, like it's a spitball, like it's God's like
Speaker 2: it's a spirit spiritual spitball.
Speaker 1: Boom.
Speaker 2: You know, I know it's the it's the cartoon version,
Speaker 2: here's the grown up version. You're ready David never read
Speaker 2: for Samuel seventeen fifty Most of us never read for
Speaker 2: Samuel seventeen fifty one. All apologies to all the children's
Speaker 2: Bible teachers, but you don't really know how the story
Speaker 2: ended because David, when he hit Goliath with the rock
Speaker 2: is stunned him. But then David had something else that
Speaker 2: he had to do, in the spirit of Mortal Kombat,
Speaker 2: look at your neighbor and say, finish him. The Bible
Speaker 2: says that after he knocked him down, because some of
Speaker 2: us are content just to stun our enemy. Do you
Speaker 2: know what I'm saying, Just to come into church, feel
Speaker 2: good for a few hours, get a little word, go home,
Speaker 2: forget about it. Go right back into the same stuff,
Speaker 2: go right back into the same cycle, go right back
Speaker 2: into the same death block, go right back into the
Speaker 2: same pretending, go right back into.
Speaker 1: The same image. But David said something. He said something.
Speaker 1: He says something. He said.
Speaker 2: I didn't just come down here to bring cheese and bread. See,
Speaker 2: I always thought that David was the delivery boy. But
Speaker 2: it turns out that the way the story is, David
Speaker 2: wasn't the delivery boy.
Speaker 1: Goliath was. So now I'm gonna preach us home, you're ready.
Speaker 2: What did Goliath have that David needed that David didn't
Speaker 2: know that he would need.
Speaker 1: It's right in verse fifty.
Speaker 2: It's right in verse fifty is said he came to
Speaker 2: the battle without.
Speaker 1: A sword in his hand.
Speaker 2: Spoiler alert, he left with one who was carrying it
Speaker 2: his enemy. I declare, Come on, y'all, I'm trying to
Speaker 2: be good, but I declare, I know how this story is.
Speaker 2: Goliath has got your sword. Goliath has got your and
Speaker 2: if you want to see the victory, you're going to
Speaker 2: have to defeat what's standing in front of you.
Speaker 1: But you don't have to do it on your own.
Speaker 2: Come on, let's start something out all over the whole Church, University, City, Blakeney.
Speaker 1: I'm on every single warrior, every.
Speaker 2: Single worshiper, to declare, I know how this story is.
Speaker 2: Tell the person next to you, I know how your
Speaker 2: story is.
Speaker 1: Tell them your story. It's with glory.
Speaker 2: God's gonna get the glory out of every situation in
Speaker 2: your life.
Speaker 1: I know how it is.
Speaker 2: Some jet ski is gonna bring need the kayak. I
Speaker 2: don't know who God's got in the water, but even now, somehow,
Speaker 2: the sister said to Jesus, God will give you what
Speaker 2: you want.
Speaker 1: So David stands over the giant. I always read it.
Speaker 2: As being the final sequence in the battle, that after
Speaker 2: he knocked him down, he looked at the verse.
Speaker 1: He took the sword from the scabbard.
Speaker 2: Anybody ever said scabbard in the last ten years, he
Speaker 2: took the sword. Little things like that keep me preaching,
Speaker 2: you know. And after he killed him, he's already dead.
Speaker 2: He cut off his head. Why'd he do it for
Speaker 2: a trophy? Because this wouldn't be his last giant Now,
Speaker 2: I always thought that the story was over when David
Speaker 2: cut off his head. How much more savage can you be?
Speaker 2: The head is off the giants now. But that's not
Speaker 2: how the story ends. See, we only think we know
Speaker 2: how it ends. You tell your story. You're like and
Speaker 2: then I got a divorce. That's not the end of
Speaker 2: your story. That's not the last time you can love
Speaker 2: or be loved. That's not the end of your story.
Speaker 2: You know, they were doing pretty good and then they
Speaker 2: did this. That's not the end of the story. That's
Speaker 2: just character development. It can't be over because I know
Speaker 2: who wrote it. I said, it can't be over because
Speaker 2: I know who wrote it. It's not the end of
Speaker 2: my story. I know how this story ends. Oh, I'm
Speaker 2: leaving this battlefield. I'm not leaving him the hand. I'm
Speaker 2: leaving with the sword. I'm leaving with a lesson. I'm
Speaker 2: leaving with a testimony. I'm leaving with a brighter day
Speaker 2: on my mind. I'm leaving with a new praise in
Speaker 2: my spirit. I'm leaving with the prophecy. I'm leaving with
Speaker 2: a word from God. You know what's so crazy is
Speaker 2: that the whole point of the story has nothing to
Speaker 2: do with David to begin with.
Speaker 1: It says that after Goliath died that all of the Philistines.
Speaker 2: Do you see it, When they saw that their hero
Speaker 2: was dead, they turned and ran. Your story is not
Speaker 2: even about you. What you're going through right now might
Speaker 2: not even be about you. You know how many people
Speaker 2: I've seen come out of grief and released their greatest
Speaker 2: gift from their greatest grief.
Speaker 1: Goliath has got your sword. Goliath has got your sword.
Speaker 2: You're gonna be sitting across from somebody who needs it
Speaker 2: in five years and telling them I've been right there
Speaker 2: in the battle.
Speaker 1: But here's what I've found out.
Speaker 2: The sword that came to kill you is gonna be
Speaker 2: the one that God uses to deliver you, and he
Speaker 2: killed Goliath.
Speaker 1: With his own sword. Your giant has got your sword.
Speaker 2: But that's not how the story ends, cuts off his hand,
Speaker 2: sends the sword to the temple at Knob, which was
Speaker 2: where a Hemelect was the superintendent.
Speaker 1: A little while later, David goes back to Saul's palace.
Speaker 2: Saul starts going absolutely crazy, trying to kill David. David
Speaker 2: has to run from Saul. Remember now, Goliath was not
Speaker 2: the last giant that David would face. You don't want
Speaker 2: to stay stuck in just one victory of your life,
Speaker 2: The Bible says.
Speaker 1: He leads us from glory to glory, from strength to strength.
Speaker 1: Stand up. I'm trying to close. I'm trying so hard.
Speaker 1: Don't leave, but.
Speaker 2: Stand up and clap your hands. If you know this
Speaker 2: is not my last one. This is not my last victory.
Speaker 2: I come against.
Speaker 1: Midlife crisis in the name of the Lord. There's more
Speaker 1: for you to do. You have a legacy to pass on.
Speaker 2: You're gonna make a bigger difference in your future days.
Speaker 1: Your latter days shall be greater. Zan No this story
Speaker 1: your soun so okay, hang on a second.
Speaker 2: So David runs down to the temple right he's running
Speaker 2: from Saw. He's already killed Goliath, and he has to
Speaker 2: leave so quickly that he doesn't have a sword.
Speaker 1: He runs to the temple attendant. He says, hey, man,
Speaker 1: I need a weapon.
Speaker 2: How many of you need a weapon to fight something
Speaker 2: in your life today? You need a strategy, you need
Speaker 2: an insight. Come on, you need a breakthrough you to
Speaker 2: turn on? All right, David said to a Himlek, don't
Speaker 2: you have a spear or a sword here? I haven't
Speaker 2: brought my sword or any other weapon because the king's
Speaker 2: business was urgent. Priest said, man, I'm sorry, David, I
Speaker 2: mean I got one sword. It's the sword of Goliath,
Speaker 2: the Philistine, at least it used to be until you
Speaker 2: killed him. But now, the very weapon that you took
Speaker 2: from your enemy, the very strength you gained from the
Speaker 2: thing you survived, the sword of Goliath, the word that
Speaker 2: God spoke over your life. How many no, his word
Speaker 2: is a sword is sharper than any double edged sword
Speaker 2: he Brews four to twelve. The sword of Goliath, who
Speaker 2: you killed in the valley of elaw is here is
Speaker 2: wrapped in a cloth. The Ephi, if you want it,
Speaker 2: take it. There is no sword here but that one.
Speaker 2: And David said, there is none like it.
Speaker 1: Give it to me. He started with a sling, he
Speaker 1: ended with a sword.
Speaker 2: And the difference was the enemy that he was willing
Speaker 2: to confront.
Speaker 4: And I know.
Speaker 1: How this Oh.
Speaker 2: Now, I don't know exactly how long this story's going
Speaker 2: to take, and I don't know all the details of.
Speaker 3: It, but I know how this story is.
Speaker 2: We got the drop on David. We read verse fifty.
Speaker 2: We got the drop on David. We've been to the
Speaker 2: empty tomb. We got the drop on David. We know
Speaker 2: how this story is is. I know that the sufferings
Speaker 2: of this present time are not worthy.
Speaker 1: Do you hear me preaching to you right there in
Speaker 1: your living room? Do you hear me preaching to you
Speaker 1: right there in your kitchen? You hear me preaching to you.
Speaker 2: You're in a hospital room with a loved one right now,
Speaker 2: with the God of all healing, Jehovah Rufica is in
Speaker 2: the hospital.
Speaker 1: Room with you. I know how this story I love.
Speaker 2: I know no weapon that is formed against me south rossword. Now,
Speaker 2: the Bible doesn't say that the weapon won't be formed.
Speaker 2: It just says that it won't work. So watch this.
Speaker 2: The weapon was formed by my enemy. Isaiah fifty four
Speaker 2: seventeen is on the screen right now. The weapon was
Speaker 2: formed by the hand of my enemy. What you're going
Speaker 2: through it might not have been from the hand of God.
Speaker 2: But you got to read verse sixteen to understand verse seventeen.
Speaker 2: Because verse sixteen, God says, behold, I have created the
Speaker 2: blacksmith who made the weapon.
Speaker 1: So God said.
Speaker 2: The enemy might have formed the weapon, but I formed
Speaker 2: the enemy. And there is nothing that an enemy can
Speaker 2: bring against you.
Speaker 1: Come on, there is nothing. Get your.
Speaker 2: Get your hands, get a fake. Yes, come on, Goliath.
Speaker 1: You come against me with the decent.
Speaker 2: You come against me with anxiety. But sup in the name,
Speaker 2: thank you for joining us. Special thanks to those of
Speaker 2: you who give generously to this ministry. Is because of
Speaker 2: you that this ministry is possible. You can click the
Speaker 2: link in the description to give now, or visit Elevation
Speaker 2: Church dot org slash podcast for more information, and if
Speaker 2: you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe.
Speaker 1: You can share it with your friends.
Speaker 2: You can click the share button, take a screenshot and
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Speaker 2: Elevation Church.
Speaker 1: Thanks again for listening. God bless you.