1Sa 17:45 Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.
1Sa 17:46 This day will the LORD deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.

"God is Still in Control"
INTRODUCTION:
The story of David and Goliath is one of the most popular in the entire Bible. David faced a physical giant "Goliath", but we face giants of our own all the time, whether they are mental, physical, emotional, or spiritual giants. So we must ask, how do we defeat the giants in our life? What can we learn from David that we can use ourselves?

We have all been to the place where we had to deal with giants; giants like worry, doubt, fear, anxiety, depression, or insecurity. You must approach the battle head on. In our battles, we must recognize who the enemy is, we must recognize where the enemy is: acknowledge what the effect is on your personal life, your family life. Understand Satan wants to keep you paralyzed in your journey for Christ, and acknowledge that Jesus Christ does not want you paralyzed. He wants your faith active and is willing to use you for His Kingdom and His purposes! You will never conquer any enemy, any habit, any unforgiveness, any disciplines, you will never tithe, never win anyone to Christ, never learn the Bible, never have an influence on your co-workers or family, if you do not begin to do God's will in your life and face the battles head-on! For in Christ Jesus our Lord, no force can separate us from his love. Isa 54:17 No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn.

This Morning, for just a few minutes, I would like to reopen case #1113. The case of Saul, the King ? David, the shepherd ? Goliath, the giant ? and our faith.

?History

1. When the people of Israel had settled in the Promised Land, they had no king.
a. They wanted a king like the other nations around them.
b. God did not want them to have a king since it would make them rely on the king rather than on God Himself - relying on human power rather than God's power.
c. They persisted and God finally told Samuel to let them have their king. Saul.

"Israel vs. the Philistines"
Let's first picture the battle scene. According to 1 Sam. 17:1 this crucial conflict takes place in a vast valley, enclosed by hills on both sides. The thinking is that the Philistines are up on this hill and the Israelites along the smaller hills and on the valley floor. So you have both armies, huge in number, like blankets of humanity thrown across the shoulder of the hills. Now Israel's opposition, the Philistine army had a mighty warrior by the name of Goliath who paraded across his hilltop belching out blasphemies and taunting the Israelite soldiers to send out their champion to meet him. But Goliath, the pride of the Philistines, was not only frightening in looks, his words were threatening. The moral of the Israelite army was at an all time low. They were down and discouraged. Facing giants can be a discouraging experience! Giants are tough. But you see we all face giants of one type or another from time to time. There are those moments when it seems that everything gets in the way, when every one of Murphy's laws comes true, all at once.

Saul King of Israel:
Chapter 16:23, we discover something that is very surprising. The section begins with the statement, "And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul." Saul was afflicted by an evil spirit, not sent by Satan, but by God. Here's a surprising thing. You may have thought that evil spirits were the sign of Satan at work but here we discover that Saul has rebelled against the God and so God sends an evil spirit to torment him.

At Gilgal, Saul was to wait for Samuel to come and make sacrifices and receive instructions, but the Philistines had gathered to fight and after waiting 7 days, Saul's men began to scatter. Saul makes the sacrifice himself, he had disobeyed the man of God, and taken matters into his own hands rather than wait on the Lord. As a result, Saul won the battle, but the Philistines captured all the blacksmiths and Israel was no longer able to make armour. Samuel had fallen out with Saul and forsaken him, and no longer assisted and advised him, and that Saul had grown melancholy and unfit for business, Samuel also rebuked Saul and told him God would remove him as king and find a man after His own heart.

Saul facing Goliath and how he deals with his enemy is the story that makes us look at how we deal with the Goliath's in our own lives - enemies and situations that threaten us or challenge us, perhaps struggles with one another, perhaps circumstances that we have no control over. Perhaps enemy's within-fears, worries, lack of faith and courage.

Goliath:
Goliath, of Gath, The Bible describes Goliath's imposing stature, whose height was six cubits and a span. (9 ½ feet) And he had an helmet of brass upon his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail (Middle Ages) flexible armor made of interlinked metal rings ; and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of brass (over 125 lbs). And he had greaves (armor plate that protects legs below the knee) of brass upon his legs, and a target of brass between his shoulders. And the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam refers to the heavy shaft of a loom that holds the threads taut.); and his spear's head weighed six hundred shekels of iron (about 15lbs): and one bearing a shield went before him. For forty days he terrified the people by challenging, morning and evening, to single combat any of Israel's warriors.

David, the shepherd:
1. Son of Jesse
2. No history of any battles, other a lion and a bear
3. David takes cheese and 10 loaves of bread for his brothers and for the soldiers.
4. Ask Saul to take on Goliath, Saul grants David the request to fight Goliath. "Go and the Lord be with you" Saul is not an ungodly man; He knows the Lord, but doesn't rely on Him.
5. Saul's Armour is to big and heavy for David, it would have hindered him rather than helped him. We too in battles may rely on Lord, but when the battle start we rely on self. The Armour to rely on ourselves hinders us because we fail to trust in God and seek His strength - and then we loose confidence and are defeated before the battle even begins.
6. David calls Goliath an uncircumcised Philistine (Uncircumcised is someone who has no relationship with the living God. Someone who relies on dumb idols.
7. David went forward armed with a sling and five smooth stones from a brook. (Why five stones? One scholar stated that Goliath had 4 brothers, and if David kill Goliath, the other brothers might step in.) He answered the giant with, "This day the Lord will deliver you up into my hands." He struck Goliath in the forehead and, by slaying the fallen champion, cut off his head. "When the Philistines saw that their champ was dead, they fled" and were pursued by the Israelites, who slaughtered them. David relied on the Lord - it gave him courage to face Goliath and to defeat him.

Faith: Turns our weakness into strength. Faith is not saying God will take care of problems but facing them in His power.

The outcome of victory. You were sure when you started the battle, and God proves himself faithful again.

Some of us know people who like giants, just intimidate us. Not because they are so big physically or that they are awesome or that they are threatening. It's just that their personality is so strong; their tongue is so biting, their position so powerful or their ability so great that we feel like dwarfs in their presence. And then there are some giant-like problems that can stand before us and just melt us into deep discouragement. Maybe you have family problems that are dragging you down, children doing drugs, children that defy you, parents that are overly demanding or a mate that is unresponsive and you just don't feel like you can cope. Or maybe you have an illness that's wearing you down and there seems to be no answers. Or maybe you have financial problems, and you just don't see how you can overcome that giant stack of mortgage payments and car payments and doctor bills. We say like Paul in Rom. 7- "I don't understand myself at all, for I really want to do what is right, but I don't do it. Instead, I do the very thing I hate." But let's remember something very important: Facing the giants in this life is tough, but they are also inevitable. In fact, although we should not live in constant fear, wondering what's going to befall us next, we do need to be realistic. No one is immune to crisis, no one is exempt from heartache and struggle; it comes to all of us. Even the Son of God knew what it was like to get knocked down, Jesus said in Jn 16:33 "In this world you will have trouble."(NIV) 1 Peter 4:12- "My friends, do not be surprised at the troubles which comes to you. Do not think that something strange is happening to you." And one of the things we learn from David here is to expect from time to time that we are going to have to endure problems. He faced the large difficulties of wild animals and rustlers when he was with his sheep so he wasn't that off balance when he got to the valley of Elah to see another kind of giant. And he teaches us that the timing of when the giants come is not nearly as important as how we handle them. The difference was David's perspective on the problem. You see when he looked at the situation and didn't see a giant, as much as he someone defying God Almighty. God was as real to David as Goliath was to the soldiers.

Confronting giants takes a courageous response! You see, the normal reaction to a giant is to run away. When the Israelites saw Goliath they ran in great fear, and that's what we tend to do. Rather than face an intimidating person we ignore them, rather than confront a difficult problem we use all kinds of ways to escape, by using drugs, alcohol, pleasure, losing sleep or even suicide. Rather than get help for our temptations we give in or just somehow hope it'll go away. It takes courage to confront a giant. It takes courage to confront the fear. And I believe that it is impossible to live a victorious life without David's kind of courage. But the important question is: "How, do we get that kind of courage? How do you overcome fear of giants?"

Let's look and apply 3 steps in the development of David's courage that are found in this passage.
1) Reject human or worldly solutions. Now, when you face a giant there will always be those who give you human solutions. They'll advise you, "go ahead and fight them," "sue him," "let's just go tie one on," "dump them, get a divorce." There will always be those who suggest to you to use the world's armor, do things the world's way. Paul wrote in 2 Cor. 10:3 "We do live in the world, but we do not fight in the same way the world fights. "We fight with weapons that are different from those the world uses... We capture every thought and make it give up and obey Christ." So, seek Christian counsel, search the Bible and do as David did: reject the human solutions and search for God's

2) Remember past victories and give God credit for them. David told Saul that he'd killed a bear and a lion, "The Lord who saved me from the claws of the lion and the bear will save me from this Philistine!" We tend to forget our past victories. We can document every prayer that God didn't answer the way we thought He should, but we tend to forget about all the blessings that God has given us.

3) Verbalize your confidence in God before the battle. "You come to me with sword, spear, and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD Almighty Phil 4:13 "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." Ps 23:4 "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me" Listen, God will not lead you where His grace will not sustain you.

All giants that we battle are designed to bring us closer to God. You've got an anointing on your life that means you do not have to allow your circumstances to tell you who you are. But sometimes we cannot see God's hand at work, until we step out on faith and put it all on the line. Be prepared for the attack that's coming

There is always somebody around to remind you of who you are, and how you think you are just so much better than anybody else, when they know what you are really like. Unfortunately sometimes these people will be your friends and even your family members. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Had David attempted to fight Goliath wearing the King's armor, he would have taken away the natural assets God had given him. There is a lesson here....Sometimes in our desire to take on the forces that are against us, we decide we need to use the same methods...their same armor. We don't. God equips and arms us. Paul wrote in Eph 6:10-18 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. We need to realize that because our battles are really spiritual battles against Satan, we need to fight differently. Battles against the giants in our life have to be fought with truth, righteousness, faith, prayer, and trust in God. It doesn't matter how religious we may be. If we don't rely day by day on God in faith and dependent prayer, we are unprepared to face the giants in our lives.

It's not possible to slay Goliaths at a distance. When Jesus defeated death, He didn't do it from the comforts of heaven. He had to get up close to it and face the battles head-on while being crucified on a cross.

God has provided ... The Lamb
Who walked on water.
Who overcame the enemy
Who overcame temptation
Who overcame bitterness
Who overcame the pains of life.
Prepare ourselves for the battle
Gather the Stones.
Grasp hold to the Vision.
Go at the enemy Head On.
Gain the Victory.
When we put our faith in God, he will allow us to win.

To God be the glory. The difficulties, trials, challenges you face in life are much bigger than you are. Spiritual battles, spiritual places. Your enemy (without God) is also much bigger than you are. You are truly stronger because with God all things are Possible. Days are brighter, your perspective is clearer. Don't go around with your head hung down, Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory.