Okay, if you've got your Bibles, go back to 2nd Chronicles, 2nd Chronicles chapter 22.
And if you're a little bit confused as to reading that, you're going, what does this
have to do with the family?
Well, it's not about the family.
We're taking a break from the series on the family this time around.
I just, I don't know, mentally I wasn't just really ready to preach it, and maybe the Lord
put this other sermon on my heart anyway.
So 2nd Chronicles chapter 22, 2nd Chronicles chapter 22.
The title of the sermon tonight is From Joash to David.
From Joash to David.
I'm not expecting that to make any sense to you right now, okay?
But as we get toward the end of the sermon, it's going to make a lot more sense to you.
So we read about King Joash, okay?
We read about one of the kings of Judah, and so if the title is called From Joash to David,
we know that David was another king of Israel.
So we're going to be looking at two kings of Israel, Joash and King David, okay?
Now if you go to 2nd Chronicles 22, 2nd Chronicles 22, because the Bible reading was from chapter
24, right?
We're going to just view it in a little bit of context to get us up to the chapter that
was read.
Look at 2nd Chronicles 22 verse 1.
So pay attention to all these names, a lot of names here.
I want you to pay attention so you know what's going on in this story.
Verse number 1, And the inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ahaziah his youngest son king in his
stead.
For the band of men that came up with the Arabians to the camp had slain all the elders.
So Ahaziah, the son of Jeroham, king of Judah, reigned.
So here we start the story of King Ahaziah, the king of Jehoram, reigning in Judah, okay?
Now verse number 2, 42 years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign.
So he was 42 years old when he started to become the king of Judah, and he reigned one
year, only one year, this king, in Jerusalem.
His mother's name also was Ataliah, the daughter of Omri, okay?
So this mother of his, Ataliah, is another important character that we're going to look
at.
Look at verse number 3.
Ataliah also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab, so the house of Ahab was a wicked
king.
He says he walks after that same king, and he says, for his mother was his counselor
to do wickedly, okay?
So this new king, at the age of 40, or was it 42 years old, has his mother as his counselor.
And his mother was a wicked woman, okay?
Ataliah was a wicked woman, and she did wickedly, okay?
Look at verse, drop down to verse number 10, drop down to verse number 10.
Now as we, before we read verse number 10, you need to understand the reason her son
reigned such a short time is because he died in battle, okay?
He was injured in battle, then he was brought before some godly man, and they slew him,
they killed him, okay?
And so we get to verse number 10, it says, but when Ataliah, the mother of Ahaziah, saw
that her son was dead, she arose, and look at this, look how wicked she was.
She arose and destroyed all the seed royal of the house of Judah.
So she goes around, her son's dead, and then those that would be next in the line to be
king, she goes throughout the whole house, we're talking about her family members, we're
talking about people that are related to her, she goes around and kills them.
She goes around and kills the royal seed, okay?
And as we'll soon see, she even tries to kill her own grandson, okay?
So she does not want someone else to take the throne, the reason she does this is because
she wants to be the ruler, she wants to be the queen of Judah, and she succeeds.
For a period of time, she does become the queen of Judah.
Look at verse number 11, but Jehoshabiah, this is another important character, but Jehoshabiah,
the daughter of the king, now when it says the daughter of the king, it's not talking
about King Ahaziah, but the king, his father, so she was actually the sister of King Jehoshabiah.
So the daughter of the king took Joash, now we read about Joash the king, here when she
takes Joash, it's about one year old, took Joash the son of Ahaziah and stole him from
among the king's sons that were slain, and put him and his nurse in a bedchamber.
So she takes baby Joash, because his grandmother is killing all the grandchildren, okay, how
wicked, and she goes and tries to save this child, she takes Joash and gets him a nurse
that can raise him, and hides him in this bedchamber.
So Jehoshabiah, the daughter of King Jehoram, the wife of Jehoiadah, Jehoiadah, that's it,
the wife of Jehoiadah, the priest.
So this other important information about this woman, yes she's the sister of the king,
but she's also the wife of this priest, okay, this priest Jehoiadah, and this priest is
a very important character in the Bible, he's a real godly man, he's a real faithful man,
and then it says in brackets, for she was the sister of Ahaziah, hid him from Ataliah,
so that she slew him not.
So do you get the picture here?
Auntie, what's her name?
Auntie Jehoshabiah takes little baby Joash and hides him from his grandmother, so she
can't kill him, okay, and takes him, look at verse 12, where does she take him?
And he was with them hid in the house of God six years, and Ataliah reigned over the land.
So this little baby Joash is taken to the temple of God, he's raised with a priest,
he's raised with his uncle and his auntie, and with this nurse that's helping him grow up, okay,
and while this happens, his grandmother rules the land, rules Judah for six years, so it's
that one year old when he gets taken, six years later he becomes seven years old, okay,
you following the story so far, okay, he's been raised by godly couple, he's been raised
by his godly aunts and uncles who are protecting him from his wicked grandmother, okay, now
we're not going to look at chapter 23, there's not enough time to go through all that, but
chapter 23 basically reinforces to us that this priest Jehoiada is truly a godly man,
he truly risks his life, and at the age of seven, King Joash is crowned king, okay, and
this priest Jehoiada makes sure that the people of Judah are supportive of this new king,
even at the age of seven, okay, and when the grandmother finds out, she hears all this
celebration, he's being crowned as king, there's all this rejoicing and celebration, you can
read it in your own time in chapter 23, she comes out to find out what's going on, what's
all this sound, what's all this celebration, what's going on, and when she comes out she
sees that a little grandson is being crowned king at seven years old, you know, and she
yells out, um, what does she yell out, I have to look, I won't find it now, but um, you
know, she's obviously very upset, and uh, what happens is Jehoiada, this priest, commands
uh, some men to go and take her away and slay her, and she's put to death, okay, so we see
this priest, you know, risks his life for his nephew, okay, protecting him from his
grandmother, and then crowns him king when he's aged seven, so we pick up the story here
in 2 Chronicles 24, the chapter that was read, let's look at verse number one again, it says
Joash was seven years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 40 years in Jerusalem,
okay, the big difference between a wicked king who reigned for one year, he did not
have the blessings of God, and then we have this little child because he was raised by
godly, well, it wasn't his parents, but aunt and uncle, and he was able to reign for 40
years in Jerusalem, okay, his mother's name also was Zebir of Beisheba, now look at verse
number two, it's very important that you understand the phrase that's used here in verse number
two, it says, and Joash did which was right in the sight of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada
the priest, that's important for you to understand, did he do right, yes, was he a godly king,
yes, did he seek to please the Lord, yes, and as we'll soon see, the Lord blesses his
kingdom, okay, but notice how it said all the days of Jehoiada the priest, this is very
important for you to understand because king Joash had a godly role model, okay, he was
faithfully serving the Lord so long that Jehoiada was there helping him along, okay, he had godly,
he had a godly influence, okay, and some of you, and this is normal, when you get, when
you're saved, and you start as a babe in Christ, when you're, when you just start out new,
it's good to surround yourself with godly examples, with godly leaders, it's good to
find a church that you can be around godly men that can help you in your growth, okay,
because you're more likely to do what's right while these people are around you, okay, and
so things start off really well, it starts off really well for king Joash, you know,
all the days of Jehoiada, look at verse number three, and Jehoiada took for him two wives,
now obviously that was wrong, but he begat sons and daughters, and it came to pass after
this that Joash, look at Joash, after this Joash was minded to repair the house of the
Lord, so what's, what's, what's, what's said on his heart, he obviously loves the Lord,
and now he wants to go and fix the temple, he wants to fix the house of the Lord, because
previously to that, his predecessors weren't worshiping God, they were worshiping false
God, they were worshiping idols, and so the house of the Lord was destroyed, or you know,
needed repairs, and no one was looking after it, and he puts it in his heart, no, we need
to fix this house of the Lord, okay, we need to make sure that we're able to worship God
in our full capacity as a nation, and then verse number five, and he gathered together
the priests and the Levites, and said to them, go out unto the cities of Judah, and gather
all, of all Israel, money to repair the house of your God from year to year, and see that
ye hasten the matter, howbeit the Levites hastened it not, okay, so I'm not preaching
the money today, but obviously, in order to do things for the Lord, in order to look
after, like a building, like we have today, obviously there are finances that are needful,
and so the king takes it upon himself to get the priests and the Levites together, and
says look, we need to start a collection, get everybody to come and give up their offerings,
give up their finances, give up their gold, so we can then repair the house of the Lord.
This is a great task that has been undertaken under the reign of King Joash, drop down to
verse 12, drop down to verse 12, and the king and Jehoiada gave it to such as did the
work of the service of the house of the Lord, and hired masons and carpenters to repair
the house of the Lord, and also such as wrought iron and brass to mend the house of the Lord,
so you see that they get into work, they're hiring the right people, verse 13, so the
workmen wrought and the work was perfected by them, and they set the house of God in
his state and strengthened it, not only did they repair it, they made it stronger, okay,
so that it would last longer, they strengthened it, verse 14, and when they had finished it,
they brought the rest of the money before the king and Jehoiada, were made vessels of
the house of the Lord, even vessels to minister, and to offer withal and spoons and vessels
of gold and silver, and they offered, finally, once it's all done, they offered, burnt offerings
in the house of the Lord continually, and notice the next phrase, all the days of Jehoiada,
okay, so they repair the temple, they get the altar established once again, and they
start sacrificing, bringing offerings to the Lord once again, which was the right thing
to do, okay, and they did so, you know, King Joash and Jehoiada the priest, we're a great
team, okay, and you can see that they're doing it every day, you know, they're truly wanting
to love and worship and serve the Lord, okay, King Joash, at this point in time, was a godly man.
But notice that phrase again, all the days of Jehoiada, why does God want us to tell
us this?
It's very important, because Jehoiada was such an influence in Joash's life, and as
I said, it's a good thing, it's a good thing for you to get around the right kind of people
that will strengthen your faith, that will make you more godly, that will make you want
to serve the Lord more, that's a good thing, but we're going to learn now what happens
if you're not doing this right, okay, look at verse number 15, and Jehoiada waxed old
and was full of days when he died, full of days, look how long he lived, 130 years old
was when he died, I reckon the Lord probably lengthened his days because they were doing
so well together as priest and king, and then it says, verse 16, and they buried him,
look at where they buried him, they buried him in the city of David among the kings,
because he had done good in Israel, both toward God and toward his house, they said, look,
we're not just going to give him the regular burial as a priest, he's done so much good
for us, we're going to bury him with the kings, okay, so you can see that, you know, the nation
truly honored this faithful old priest, okay, and then unfortunately things change, look
at verse 17, now after the death of Jehoiada, what's going to happen, this, before we read
it guys, if you have godly influences, godly leaders, godly examples that you look up to,
there's going to come a time when they're not around anymore, okay, this is going to
happen to you, you're not going to have the godly influences all the time around in your
life, sooner or later they're going to be gone, and you need to stand on your own two
feet, you need to stand on your faith, okay, you need to stop relying on other people and
be ready to take a stand alone for your faith, if that's what it takes, unfortunately Joash
was not ready to stand alone, look at verse 17, now after the death of Jehoiada came the
princes of Judah and made obeisance to the king, and then the king hearkened unto them,
so that word obeisance basically means to revere, to honor the king, and notice they
waited after Jehoiada was dead, okay, because they knew with Jehoiada around, Joash would not listen
to them, okay, they came with bad practices, they came with bad requests, they came with wicked
requests in fact, look at verse 18, sorry yeah 18, and they left the house, so once the king listens
to them hearkens to them, and they left the house of the lord god of their fathers and served groves
and idols, and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this their trespass, Joash what is wrong with
you, you know you've been brought up in a Christian home, you've seen the blessings of god, you've had
the godly example of Jehoiada, and all it takes is for him to be gone, and now you're listening
to the wrong kind of people, you're listening to the wicked people, you can see that Joash was not
faithful on his own, he was too dependent on others, by now at this age he should have been
able to stand up on his own two feet, and he should have been able to tell these guys no
we're going to continue serving the lord the way we started, look at the blessings that god has
given us, okay, and then they worship idols and the wrath of god falls upon them doesn't it,
verse 19, let's have a look at this, and yet, talking about god here, yet he sent prophets to them,
so god just has mercy upon Joash, okay, because he's being a faithful servant to him, he brings
prophets, he wants to correct him, okay, does he listen to the prophets, no he's going to listen to
the bad advice, he brings prophets to bring them again unto the lord, and they testified against
them, but they would not give ear, okay, and you need to make sure that whoever you give your ear to
is someone that is godly, god may send prophets into your life, preachers into your life, teaching
you the word of god, those are the people you need to hear, and the devil will send his minister, the
devil will send his people to destroy your life, okay, and even king Joash who should know better
listen to the wrong kind of people, okay, verse 20, and the spirit of god, so he wouldn't listen,
king Joash would not listen to these prophets, so who does god send, and the spirit of god came upon
Zechariah, it's not the same Zechariah as the book of the bible that you've got, it's another Zechariah,
the son of Jehoiada, the priest, so he sends Jehoiada's son to the king, okay, now you would
think he would listen to the son of his faithful friend, okay, he may have even grown up with the
son of Jehoiada, okay, and then it says which stood above the people and said unto them, thus saith
god, why transgress you the commandments of the lord, that ye cannot prosper, because yet forsaken
the lord, he have also forsaken you, this is the judgment that's come upon king Joash and his
kingdom, the lord has forsaken them, look at verse 21, and they conspired against him, against you know
the son of Jehoiada, and stoned him, they killed this prophet, stoned him with stones, who commanded
this to happen, at the commandment of the king in the court of the house of the lord, king Joash was
the one responsible to have this prophet killed, the king, uh sorry the son, the son of the priest
they looked up to, verse 22, thus Joash the king remembered not the kindness that Jehoiada his father
had done to him, but slew his son, and when he died he said the lord look upon it and require it,
so he killed Zechariah, Jehoiada's son, after he as a baby was protected by Jehoiada, how wicked,
how far back, how backslidden did he become, and why, why, because he could not stand on his faith
alone, he could not do it, he was too dependent on other believers, he was too dependent on other
people of god, okay, and I hope there's always a new life baptist church, I hope there's always
someone godly that you can listen to, and be encouraged, and grow from, but there might come a
time in your life when you don't have these godly influences, okay, and you can either take the root
of king Joash, and crumble, and fail, okay, and destroy your life, it's possible, even as a believer,
okay, king Joash was definitely a safe man, definitely a believer, but took the counsel of the
wrong kind of people, and killed god's people instead, okay, this is uh Joash, now let me say
again, there's nothing wrong, in fact it's recommended that you get godly people around you,
they can encourage you, okay, but you must at some point be able to let go of their faith, and, and,
and stand strong on your own faith in the lord, okay, so we see how king Joash has failed, now we're
going to compare him to king David, go to first Samuel 17, first Samuel 17, first Samuel 17,
we're reading this off, you know, popular chapter in the bible, the story of David and Goliath, okay,
so this is before David was a king, but he's obviously on his road to become a king,
so let's look at, let's look at David, and then we'll compare these two men,
first Samuel 17 verse 1, first Samuel 17 verse 1, now the Philistines gathered together their armies
to battle, and were gathered together at uh Shul, Socotch, which belongeth to Judah, and pitched
between Socotch and Azekah in F.S. Daman, I might get Jason to come up here and read for me,
and so on the men of Israel were gathered together, and pitched by the valley of Elah,
and set the battle in array against the Philistines, and the Philistines stood on a mountain,
on the one side, and Israel stood in a mountain on the other side, and there was a valley between
them, and there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines named Goliath of Gath,
whose height was six cubits and a span, you guys know the story of Goliath the giant, and he had
an helmet of brass upon his head, and he was armed with a coat of mayo, and the weight of the coat
was five thousand shekels of brass, and he had greaves 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, and his spear's
head weighed 600 shekels of iron, and one bearing a shield went before him, and he stood, so this
Goliath stands, and cried unto the armies of Israel, and said unto them, why are ye come out
to set your battle in array, am not I a Philistine, and ye servants to soul, choose you a man for you,
and let him come down to me, if he be able to fight with me, and to kill me, then we will be your
servants, but I will prevail against him, and kill him, then shall ye be our servants, and serve us,
so you see what's going on there, instead of the two armies going to battle, they send their most
powerful warrior, now I don't know if he was the best warrior, or maybe it was just his heights,
and how large he was, that just scared you know the Israelites, and he says look instead of us
all fighting, how about just me, and one of your men, we go to battle, and if I beat him,
you become our servants, hey if he beats me, we'll become your servants, sounds pretty fair, instead
of there being bloodshed of hundreds of thousands of people, you know let it be between two men,
sounds about right okay, and then it says here verse number 10, and the Philistine said, I defy
the armies of Israel this day, give me a man, that we may fight together, when Saul and all Israel
heard the words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid, hey these are the
armies of king Saul, these are the armies of Israel, they have won many battles throughout their
throughout their time, you know king Saul, he should be the leader, he probably should be the one
going out against Goliath, and fighting this, because back then the kings, they weren't just
people that sat on the throne, the kings were the leaders of the armies okay, and so you would think
these battle-hardened warriors would not be afraid of the Philistine, especially when they've seen the
hand of the Lord deliver them from their enemies time and time again okay, but sometimes there will
be a Goliath in our lives, and sometimes the people of God will be too afraid to fight Goliath okay,
you would think somebody from the army would fight him okay, look at, drop down to verse 20,
and by the way this goes on for 45 days, verse 16 explains that to us, uh Goliath day after day
for 45 days a month and a half, uh challenging them, send me a man, send me a man to fight with me
okay, and you definitely see the army is afraid, verse 20, and David rose up early in the morning
and left the sheep with a keeper and took and went, so David a shepherd, he looks after sheep,
he's never fought in a war, he's not a soldier, he's not been trained to fight with a sword and a spear
uh sorry and a shield, or maybe a spear as well okay, but he gets up, uh he leaves his sheep alone
and then as Jesse had commanded him, his father commanded him, he's an obedient son, and he says
and he came to the trench as the host was going forth to the fight and shouted for the battle,
verse 21, for Israel and the Philistines had put the battle in array, army against army, and David
left his carriage in the hand of the keeper of the carriage and ran into the army and came and
saluted his brethren, so he had brothers that were in the war, he had brothers that were soldiers
and he goes and salutes them, he comes and brings them some cheese and some food
to just help them, to replenish them okay, and then verse 23, and as he talked with them, behold
they came up the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, out of the armies of the Philistines
and spake according, according to the same words, and David heard them, and all the men of Israel
when they had saw the man fled from him and were sore afraid, so the armies of Israel afraid of
Goliath, sore afraid, they were so afraid of him, they were lacking faith weren't they, they were lacking
trust in the Lord, verse 25, and the men of Israel said have you seen this man that has come up,
surely to defy Israel is he come up, and it shall be that the man who killed him,
the king will enrich him with great riches and will give him his daughter
and make his father's house free in Israel okay, so David here sees the fear of these men of war
supposedly okay, and not only if they went to fight Goliath, not only would they win the battle
but they would be able to receive as a wife the king's daughter okay, so they would be able to
and they'd have their family free in the land, any debts you know they were owing to the family
would be let go, that'd be you know great blessing for anybody that could defeat Goliath
and then you take the the daughter of the king and so your name would be you know lifted up
I guess in society okay, and nobody wants to take him up on this offer, verse 26
and David spake to the man that's the man that stood by him saying what shall be done to the man
that killeth the Philistine and take away the reproach from Israel for who is this uncircumcised
Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God, David's like who is this guy
you know who's he thinks that he can defy the armies of the living God, how can he how can this
one man stand up against you, you're representing the God of the heavens okay, I love David okay,
he's got no respect for Goliath, it doesn't matter how big this man is okay, it doesn't matter
that all the armies of Israel were afraid of him, David's like who is this guy, we should be able to
take him on you know we're the armies of God after all, verse 27 and the people answered after this
man is saying so shall be done to the man that killeth him and Eliab his eldest brother, so Eliab
the brother of David heard when he spake unto the man and Eliab's anger was kindled against David
and he said why cameest thou down hither and with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the
wilderness, David what are you doing here you know you need to go back to the sheep in the wilderness
that's where your place belongs, why are you here in the battlefield is basically what he's saying
I know thy pride and the naughtiness of thine heart for thou art come down that they mightest
mightest see the battle, now when you see a battle that needs to be fought, when you see
that the people of God are not standing up for the word of God, they're not standing up against
heresies and they're not standing against wickedness and if you decide hey this is not right
you know and you start preparing yourself for the battle, you start thinking hey I need to be the
one that fights this battle, guess who's going to come against you, for David it was his own brother
it'd be your closest friends, it could be your brothers, it could be your own family
that will stand against you when you start preparing to stand for the Lord okay and you're
going to be accused of being prideful, you're going to be accused what else uh that there's
a naughtiness in your heart, they're going to accuse that you're wrong and the reason they do
this is not because they're they're concerned about you fighting the battle they do it because
they don't want to fight the battle and if you go out and you fight the battle if you go out and
stand in faith and they're not standing in faith it makes them look bad it makes them look bad so
instead of them wanting to look bad they would rather put you down okay and say what are you
doing here this is not your fight okay and so we see the difference here with David he is alone
okay like king Joash who was alone but could not stand on his own feet we see king David or no he's
not king David yet but we see David he's able to stand on his own okay he has a faith in God
because what's this giant Goliath who cares okay we're the armies of God all right verse 32
and David so he gets brought before king Saul because nobody else wants to fight him
okay and David said to Saul let no man's heart fail because of him thy servant speaking of
himself will go and fight with the Philistine and Saul said to David thou art not able to to go
against the Philistine to fight with him for thou art but a youth and he a man of war from his youth
and so let me just say first of all for those that are young here especially the children
okay you can fight the battles that God has for you okay don't let anybody uh laugh at your youth
okay like David you can stand for God you can stand for the word of God okay and uh you don't
need to worry about it because God wants to use young people it's often the young people that have
the greater faith in God anyway all right there's a reason why when we go out and knock doors it's
the younger people that are more willing to talk to you about the bible okay because they haven't
been corrupted okay they haven't been uh uh laughed to scone they haven't really been hurt
uh by religious institutions or whatever king David comes straight out of the out of um out of
being a shepherd and now wants to enter into the battle look at how David answers king Saul and
this is the important part that I want you to really focus on this is really the the key to the
message tonight okay and David said unto Saul thy servants kept his father's sheep and there came a
lion and a bear and took a lamb out of the flock and I went out against him and smote him and
delivered it out of his mouth and when he arose against me I caught him by his beard and smote him
and slew him thy servant slew both the lion and the bear and this uncircumcised Philistine shall
be as one of them seeing he have defied the armies of the living God you see the reason David knew
that he could fight Goliath and defeat him the reason why he knew he could stand alone
is because he had done it before this isn't his first fight okay here was a shepherd he looked
after sheep probably nobody even knew that his sheep would be sometimes attacked by a lion or by
a bear and yet when David saw his sheep being attacked he went out and defended it okay he went
out and he killed the lion and he kills the bear okay the point I'm trying to say to you right now
guys is that in order for us to fight Goliath in order us for us to stand firm in our faith
on the great battles we first must fight the smaller ones okay before we can take on Goliath
we need to take on the lion and the bear okay before we can go and deliver an army of Israel
from the hands of the Philistines we first must deliver the little sheep okay God has set in our
lives and in our in our path the small battles to fight we need to start fighting those small
battles in our life one at a time and slowly as you fight the battles and you get victory
your faith will be increased okay so the point when you can face a Goliath and defeat him and
know you can defeat him because you're strong in your faith okay David was alone but because of his
past experience because of his past victories he knew he could win this battle okay very different
to King Joash who failed as soon as he had to stand on his own two feet King Joash was too
dependent on other men of God okay he hadn't worked in his faith he hadn't grown spiritually
but King David we see slowly but surely he uh won victories in his life and got to the point where
he is now you know if you want to be a Christian that wins the great battles you must win the
smaller battles okay before you can fight the big battles you have to fight the small ones okay now
I'm not preaching on family but still you know is your marriage the sweetest it's ever been
you know and if it's not that's a battle you need to win you know are your children the most
obedient and the most respectful that they've ever been if not that's a battle you need to win
all right are you are you reading your bible every day have you read your bible cover to cover are
you continually praying to the Lord you know are you someone that can present the gospel
to a to a lost and dying person you know these are battles that you need to win okay I'm just
talking about the spiritual uh things you know how's your house you know what's your house's
entertainment like you know is it filled with the world's music hey if it's filled with the
world's music that's a battle that you need to win okay if you entertain yourself with the with
the you know all the movies of the world and and all the wickedness and all those kind of things
you know what kind of books are you reading you know does it praise the Lord or does it blaspheme
the Lord hey these are battles in your life that you need to win first if you want to be a man that
can stand like King David and fight against Goliath you need to take care of the little
things first okay you need to take care of the sheep before you can take care of Goliath before
you can destroy Goliath okay and even ask guys as a church you know yes I want to be a church
that wins great victories yes I want to be a church that fights you know all you know all
the first prophets here on the Sunshine Coast yes I want to do that yes I want to take on Goliath
at some point but at first we need to fight the small battles we need to make sure that we have
the small victories first and build from that okay as as we approach our first year we're not
one year old yet but we almost are we're still young we're still young church I'm personally
still a young pastor okay we need to make sure that the things we do in church just the services
the soul win we need to make sure we're constantly doing those kinds of things okay we need to make
sure just like sheep that we're taking care of the sheep of God okay of the um the sheep hold
of Jesus Christ okay doing that just like King David was before we can go and join the battle
of the armies okay we need to start and win the small battles first then we can do the greater
things for God in due time okay because if we as a church and we as families and we as individuals
seek to fight Goliaths without having won the small battles Goliath's going to mop us like
it's just going to take us and wipe us out okay and I you know any new church and we are a new
church needs to make sure we take care of the basic things first let's do the basic things
well let's do them right okay and then surely and I've said this before organically we're going to
grow organically we're going to fight the bigger battles but all along that pathway we're going to
have our faith increased okay and we're going to see the hand of the Lord uh take place he's going
to come and defeat our enemies for us okay he's going to come and help us get the gospel out to
this area on the Sunshine Coast we need to make sure we take care of the small things first look
at verse 37 verse 37 David said moreover the Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion and
out of the paw of the bear he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine and David said
answer sorry and song said unto David go and the Lord be with thee so David goes and fights Goliath
look at us drop down to verse 43 and the Philistine said unto David am I a dog that thou comest to me
with staves and the Philistine cursed David by his gods and the Philistine said to David come to me
and I will give the flesh unto the fowls of the air and to the beasts of the field 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
you in the name of the Lord of hosts the God of the armies of Israel whom thou hast defied
these are some of my favorite words in the bible verse 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 carcasses of
the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth
and all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel and all this assembly shall know that
the Lord saveth no sword and spear for the battle is the Lord's and he will give you into our hands
so we see that as we we take on the battles that God places in our lives
that we need to make sure we we do them one at a time you know they increase slowly they get
greater so we have to fight the life but all that time it's the Lord that does the delivering
it's not at around our own strength and that's why David was so strong so strong in his faith
so strong in spirit because he knew that the Lord was with him all the way okay
uh what am I up to 48 I think 48 and it came to pass when the Philistines arose and came
and drew nigh to meet David and David hasted and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine
and David put his hand in his bag and took thence a stone and slang it and smote the Philistine
in his forehead and the stone sunk into his forehead and he fell upon his face on the earth
so David prevailed against the Philistines with a sling and with a stone and smote the Philistine
and slew him but there was no sword in the hand of David therefore David ran and stood upon the
Philistine and took his sword and drew it out of the sheaf thereof and slew him and cut off his
head therewith and when the Philistines saw the champion was dead they fled now it's verse 32
that I want you to focus on as well so David has this massive victory he stands on his own
in the face of people mocking him okay his own brother in the face of king Saul saying hey you
can't do this you know you've never fought a battle you know and still when he stands with
the Lord he's able to accomplish great things verse 52 and the men of Israel and of Judah arose
and shouted and pursued the Philistines until they'll come into the valley and to the gates
of Ekron and the wounded of the Philistines fell down by the way uh to Sharayim even unto Gath and
unto Ekron so we see these armies that were once afraid they would not fight this battle once they
see David have his victory they stand up they shout they're emboldened they're filled with
courage and they go out and defeat the Philistines they go out and and make war okay the point I want
to say to you guys is that you need to go from being a Joash to a David that needs to come a time
when you stand on your own two feet when you stand on your own faith when you stand on the
Lord and you're no longer dependent on other people to get you there okay and there's going
to come a time you know when you do need to stand alone you know in the face of people mocking you
in the face of people saying you can't do it hey if you stand and you win hey the same people that
doubted you are going to be the same people that rise up and get encouraged you know the faith of
one man goes a long way okay but then it's also so hard to stand alone okay we saw that with Joash
it was so hard for him to stand for the Lord when he started listening to the wrong kinds of people
when he no longer had the mentor in his life that he needed okay so in conclusion guys in conclusion
it's fine to start as a Joash it's fine to start that way you know partnering up with the with men
of God there are blessings to be had you know surrounding yourself the right kind of people
but there must come a time when you can stand alone in your faith okay and I want you to just
examine yourself if you lost this church if you lost the you know influential people around you
you know would you continue serving the Lord you know could you give the gospel out without any
help you know doing the basic things you know will you continue reading your bible and praying
to the Lord if you don't have these influences around you you know it's going to be a test of
character that's truly when we know when someone's faithful and someone's mature is when they no
longer have any help and they need to stand alone now I don't want to stand alone obviously it's
much easier to stand with brethren that are like-minded that are like faith that are wanting
to fight the same battles the same spiritual battles together that's ideal okay but it could
happen in your life when you need to be alone okay and you can see that Joash was weak in the faith
uh weak in the faith and departed from the Lord and yet David was different he was grounded he
was strong he went from faith to faith from strength to strength he went from battle to
battle he got more complicated got more hearted but it was the same faith that he had in the Lord
that got him through all those battles okay so and again when he was alone and he stood up for God
then others other believers were able to rally around him and be emboldened and be courageous hey
we need to go from being Joashes to Davids that's something we need to strive for in our lives
let's pray