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Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Welcome to our services tonight here at Faithful Word Baptist Church. It's very good to see you all here this evening. If you're all pleased to find your seats, take your hymnals and begin with our song service tonight. So let's go to hymn number 116 to begin. Number 116. He leadeth me. Hymn number 116. We'll start together on that first verse. He leadeth me, O blessed thought. Number 116. Let's sing it out on this first verse together. He leadeth me, O blessed thought. Oh, worketh that we comfort from. What e'er I do, where'er I be. He leadeth me, O blessed thought. Oh, worketh that we comfort from. What e'er I do, where'er I be. Oh, worketh that we comfort from. He leadeth me, O blessed thought. Oh, worketh that we comfort from. What e'er I do, where'er I be. Oh, worketh that we comfort from. He leadeth me, O blessed thought. Oh, worketh that we comfort from. What e'er I do, where'er I be. Oh, worketh that we comfort from. For by His hand He leadeth me. For I will last by hand in mine. For ever and ever glory high. God's hand, whatever thought I see. Since this my God hath leadeth me. He leadeth me, He leadeth me. By His own hand He leadeth me. His faithful follower I would be. For by His hand He leadeth me. And when my task on earth is done. When my grace of victory's won. In His holy line will I'm free. Since God through Jordan leadeth me. He leadeth me, He leadeth me. By His own hand He leadeth me. His faithful follower I would be. For by His hand He leadeth me. Amen. Good start to the singing tonight. I've asked Brother Elias Servoy if you would open this up in the Word of Prayer, please. Father and Heaven, Lord, thank you for letting us gather here this Sunday evening. Thank you for the soul orders that went out today, Lord, and please bless all aspects of this sermon. And Jesus, we pray, amen. Amen. Number 121 is next. Like a river glorious is God's perfect peace. Number 121. 121. Like a river glorious is God's perfect peace. Over all victorious in its bright increase. Perfect yet it floweth polar every day. Perfect yet it groweth deeper all the way. State upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blessed. Finding as He promised, perfect peace and rest. Hidden in the hollow of His blessed hand. Never folk can follow. Not a surge of worry, not a shade of care. Not a blast of hurry, touch the Spirit there. State upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blessed. Finding as He promised, perfect peace and rest. Every joy or triumph fallen from above. Traced upon our diode by the Son of Love. We may trust Him fully, but from Christ to You, they who trust Him fully might and will be true. State upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blessed. Finding as He promised, perfect peace and rest. Amen. Good singing tonight. Alright, this time we will go through our announcements together. If you don't have a bullet, then slip up your hand nice and high. We'll get to you with one. On the inside we have our service time. Sunday mornings at 1030 is our preaching service. Sunday nights at 6. Wednesday nights at 7 is our Bible study. And this Wednesday will be in Ezekiel chapter number 46. And then we've got the soul-winning times listed there below, as well as salvations and baptisms. And then across the page we've got the mission strip up to the Hopi Reservation on August 5th and 6th. So we're going to leave on Friday morning and come back on Saturday evening. You can see Brother Raymond for the exact details. Also there's more detail over here on the wall to my right. Got kind of a schedule and a place to sign up and everything for that. And then thank you to everyone who was faithful to the mega conference. For those that have perfect attendance, there is going to be a special catered dinner this Saturday at the church building at 5 o'clock. This is only for those who had perfect attendance during the mega conference. So you should know who you are. And of course if either parent in the family had perfect attendance, bring your spouse, bring your children, bring the whole family, okay? So as long as one person in the family had perfect attendance, you know, that brings the whole family, okay? And then on the back we've got the note about FWBC Tucson's four-year anniversary. So this is an exciting milestone for them down there. And they're going to be having a special day that Sunday. So if you want to head down there, we'd love for you to go down and celebrate with them. And Deacon Oliver Gonzalez is going to be coming out from Verity Baptist Church. So I'm sure that's going to be a great sermon. The morning service at 10.30. There's going to be a potluck lunch at 12.30. Afternoon service at 3.30. So it's kind of a whole day out of it. And it's not absolutely necessary, but if you could, just let Brother Corbin Russell know that you're planning on going. Then, you know, if you know you're going, let him know. But it's okay to just show up as well, of course. And then below that we've got the ladies that are expecting, keep praying for them to have a safe and healthy pregnancy and delivery. And that's about it for announcements. Let's go ahead and count up the soul winning for the past few days. So anything from Thursday? I should probably, these are kind of impairing my vision a little bit, so. But I really appreciate the balloons and everything. I just need a little more space here. All right, so I can see the hands. All right, Thursday, what do we got? All right, got one there, gotcha. Anything else I'm missing? I got a lot of obstructions to my view here. All right, what about Friday? All right, got it. Anything else from Friday? How about Saturday? Anything from Saturday? All right, and then what about today? Brother Scott? One group with Brother Scott, got another one over here. Anything else? Got it, got it, okay. Okay, anything else? Somebody help me out if I'm missing something? My vision's a little blurry. It's a hot day. All right, very good. Keep up the great work on soul winning. With that, let's sing our next song. Come lead us. All right, in the front of your hymnals you should find the insert of Psalm 24, if you would. Raise your hand if you don't have one. And we'll sing it on that verse. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. The world and it that dwell therein. For he hath outended upon the sea, And established in upon the flood, Who shall descend into the hill of the Lord, Or who shall stand in his holy place, He that hath clean hands and of your heart, Who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity nor sore distinctly, He shall receive the blessing from the Lord, And righteousness from the God of his salvation. This is the generation of them that take him, That seek by faith, O Jacob, see in love. Lift up your hands, O ye gays, And give in love the everlasting thought, And the king of glory shall come in, Who is his king of glory, The shoulders strong and mighty, The Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your hands, O ye gays, And give in love the everlasting thought, And the king of glory shall come in, Who is his king of glory, The Lord of hosts. He is the king of glory, see in love. Amen. Good singing, everybody. Let's go in your psalm books now to hymn number 373. So send I you, hymn number 373. Really focus on these words as we sing them out together. Number 373. So send I you, to labor unrewarded, To serve on faith, unloved, unsought, unknown, To bear renewed, to suffer scored and scoffing. So send I you, to toil for me alone. So send I you, to bind the bruised and broken, Or wandering souls, to work, to weep, to wake, To bear the burdens of a world of weary. So send I you, to suffer for my sake. So send I you, to loneliness and longing, With heart of hungering for the loved and done, Forsaking home and kindred friend and dear one. So send I you, to know my love alone. So send I you, to lead your lives and vision, To die too dear in peace ourself will resign. To labor long and long where men revile you. So send I you, to lose your life in mine. So send I you, to hearts made hard by hatred, To eyes made blind because they will not see, To send the wimpy blood to spend and spare not. So send I you, to taste of Calvary, As the Father hath sent me. So send I you. Amen, good singing tonight. Alright, this time we'll pass our offering plates around. As the plates go around, let's turn our Bibles tonight to 1 Samuel chapter 17. 1 Samuel chapter 17, as we always do. We'll read the entire chapter, beginning in verse number 1. Follow along silently with brother Dan as he reads. 1 Samuel 17, beginning in verse number 1. In 1 Samuel 17 the Bible reads, Now the Philistines gathered together their armies to battle, And were gathered together at Shoko, which belongeth to Judah, And pitched between Shoko and Azekah, in Ephes-dameen. And Saul and 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 on 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 in a span, And he had a helmet of brass upon his head, And he was armed with a coat of mail, 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 six hundred shekels of iron, And one bearing a shield went before him. And he stood and cried unto the armies of Israel, And said unto them, Why are ye come out to set your battle in array? And not I a Philistine, and ye servants to Saul? 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 will we be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, Then shall ye be our servants and serve us. And the Philistines said, I defy the armies of Israel this day, Give me a man that we may fight together. When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, They were dismayed and greatly afraid. Now David was the son of Aniphothite, of Bethlehem Judah, Whose name was Jesse, and he had eight sons, And the man went among men for an old man in the days of Saul. And the three eldest sons of Jesse went and followed Saul to the battle. And the names of his three sons that went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, And next to him Abinadab, and the third Shammah. And David was the youngest, and the three eldest followed Saul. But David went and returned from Saul to feed his father's sheep at Bethlehem. And the Philistine drew near morning and evening, and presented himself forty days. And Jesse said unto David his son, Take now for thy brethren Aniphoth this parched corn, And these ten loaves, and run to the camp to thy brethren, And carry these ten cheeses unto the captain of their thousand, And look how thy brethren fare, and take their pledge. Now Saul and they, and all the men of Israel, were in the valley of Elah fighting with the Philistines. And David rose up early in the morning and left the sheep with the keeper, And took and went as Jesse had commanded him. And he came to the trench as the host was going forth to fight, and shouted for the battle. 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. And as he talked with them, behold, there came up the champion, The Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, out of the armies of the Philistines, And spake according to the same words, and David heard them. And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him, and were sore afraid. And the men of Israel said, Have ye seen this man that has come up? Surely to defy Israel as he come up. And it shall be that the man who killeth him, the king will enrich him with great riches, And will give him his daughter, and make his father's house free in Israel. And David spake to the men that stood by him, saying, What shall be done to the man that killeth this Philistine, and taketh away their approach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God? And the people answered him after this manner, saying, So shall it be done to the man that killeth him. And Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spake unto the man, And Eliab's anger was kindled against David. And he said, Why camest thou down hither? And with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride, the naughtiness of thine heart, For thou art come down that thou mightest see the battle. And David said, What have I now done? Is there not a cause? And he turned from him toward another, and spake after the same manner. And the people answered him again after the former manner. And when the words were heard which David spake, they rehearsed them before Saul, and he sent for him. And David said to Saul, Let no man's heart fail because of him. Thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine. And Saul said to David, Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, For thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth. And David said unto Saul, Thy servant 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 after 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 hath defied the armies of the living God. 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 Saul said unto David, Go, and the Lord be with thee. And Saul armed David with his armor, and he put on a helmet of brass upon his head. Also he armed him with a coat of mail. And David girded his sword upon his armor, and he assayed to go, for he had not proved it. And David said unto Saul, I cannot go with these, for I have not proved them. And David put them off him, and he took his staff in his hand, And chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, And put them in a shepherd's bag which he had, even in a script. And his sling was in his hand, and he drew near to the Philistine. And the Philistine came on and drew near unto David, And the man that bare the shield went before him. And when the Philistine looked about and saw David, he disdained him, For he was but a youth, and ruddy, and of a fair countenance. 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 thy 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 thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, The God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. 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, And to 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. And all this assembly shall know that the Lord saith not with sword and spear, For the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hands. And it came to pass, when the Philistines arose, and came and drew nigh to meet David, That 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, that the stone sank into his forehead, And he fell upon his face to the earth. So David prevailed over the Philistine 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 his sheath thereof, And slew him, and cut off his head therewith. And when the Philistines saw their champion was dead, they fled. And the men of Israel and of Judah arose, And shouted, and pursued the Philistines, Until thou come to the valley, and to the gates of Ekron. And the wounded of the Philistines fell down by the way to Shearaim, Even unto Gath, and unto Ekron. And the children of Israel returned from chasing after the Philistines, And they spoiled their tents. And David took the head of the Philistine, and brought it to Jerusalem. But he put his armor in his tent. And when Saul saw David go forward against the Philistine, He said unto Abner, the captain of the host, Abner, whose son is this youth? And Abner said, as thy soul liveth, O king, I cannot tell. And the king said, inquire thou whose son this stripling is. And as David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, Abner took him, and brought him before Saul, With the head of the Philistine in his hand. And Saul said to him, whose son art thou, thou young man? And David answered, I am the son of thy servant, Jesse, the Bethelite. Father in Heaven, thank you for this beautiful Sunday, Lord. Thank you for blessing Pastor Anderson with another year, Lord. Please continue on blessing him. Thank you for your son, Jesus, Lord. Without him there would be no ransom paid, And we would not know true freedom. Yes, in his glorious name we pray. Amen. Amen. Well, tonight I'm preaching about the story of David and Goliath, one of the most famous stories in the Bible. And the reason why it's so famous is because it's such a great story. And we start out at the beginning of the chapter here, and we have the Philistines gathered together to fight against Israel. And a lot of times when there's fighting going on, you just lament at how much blood we shed on both sides, and just so many people are going to be killed. So the idea here is, well, let's just have two guys fight. You know, you guys send out your best guy, and we'll send out our best guy, and that's how we're going to settle this. And so the Philistines have their great champion that they are sending out to fight against Israel. But no one is willing to go up against him because he is just such a giant of a man. So the Bible says his height here is six cubits in a span. In our modern measurements, that would be about nine feet four inches tall. So there are still some people, even in the last hundred years, that have been that tall. I think in the Guinness Book of World Records, the tallest guy is like ten feet tall or something. But anyway, this guy is nine feet four inches tall approximately, and that's really tall. Because if you ever even just get around people that are like six foot five or something, or six foot eight, I mean, they're huge. Think about how Pastor Thompson is such a giant of a man. But yet, what is he? You know, six and a half feet tall or whatever he is? Maybe he's more than that. I don't know. But he sure feels like he's more than that. And you've got these NBA players that are, you know, seven feet ten inches tall or something like that. And I mean, they're gigantic. They're huge. They're literally giants. This guy's over nine feet tall, so he's just so gigantic. He's been training his whole life. He's an expert warrior. No one in the Israelite camp is willing to go out and face this guy. Day after day, he puts forth the challenge. Hey, let's just end this right now. If you can defeat our guy, Goliath, then we'll be your servants. And nobody will answer the call. Now, David and Jesse, they don't know that this is going on because they're back home. They're not in the military. But David's three older brothers are in the army, and so they're down there fighting. And Jesse, David's father, he wants to just send David down there to see how his brothers are doing and to bring gifts unto the captain of the host. He's obviously worried about his sons. He wants to check in on him. And so David is usually a shepherd of the sheep, but he gets pulled off of those duties, and he's sent to bring a gift of food unto the commanding officer and to see how his three brothers are doing. And when he gets down there, he sees this spectacle of Goliath coming out and demanding that someone fight with him. And when Goliath comes out there, he's talking all kinds of trash, and he's defying the armies of Israel, and by extension, he's defying the God of Israel, and he's out there blowing off his mouth, blaspheming, and this gets David fired up. You know, David wants to do something about it. And David starts asking questions. You know, what's going on here? And they explain to him what's going on, and David says, well, what is going to be done for the man who defeats this guy? Like, what would the reward be? Let's say someone, you know, I'm asking for a friend, but let's say someone were to go out there and defeat this guy. What is going to be done for him? And then, of course, they tell him, oh, yeah, you know, you'd be able to marry the king's daughter. I mean, you know, you're going to be tax-free for the rest of your life. You know, you're never going to have to file taxes with the IRS ever again. And, you know, they're telling him, he's like, whoa, can you repeat that, he says? And he's getting all this, okay? And, of course, then his brothers get mad at him and rebuke him and accuse him of having the wrong motives. Long story short, he ends up going out there and fighting against the Philistine. Saul tries to dress him in his own armor and sword, but it was just, the stuff doesn't fit him. He's not used to it. He's not really a trained fighter, so he doesn't really know how to use those accoutrements, so he just goes with what he knows. You know, he's used to being a shepherd with a stick and a sling and some stones. That's how he's always done business in the past, and so that's what he does, no armor, no sword. And when he goes out to fight Goliath, you know, Goliath thinks it's a joke, like that they're just kidding, because here he is just this gigantic warrior. He's got armor. He's got a shield that's so big and heavy, he's got like another guy just holding a shield for him, okay? And Goliath comes out, no equipment, no weapons, doesn't even look like a soldier. He looks like a little kid, basically, you know? He's probably a teenager. Maybe he's 17 or something, but he's got kind of a baby face, you know, some guys that just look young for their age. He's got kind of a baby face, and he's not dressed for the part, and he gets out there, and David really talks a big talk. He says, you know, you're coming to me with a sword and a shield. You know, I'm coming to you in the name of the living God, and I am going to kill you. You are going to die. And he says, I'm going to feed you to the birds of the field. I'm going to cut off your head. He doesn't even have a sword. But he said, and he makes this powerful statement. He says, you know, that all the world may know, that all the earth may know that there's a God in Israel. And you know what's interesting is that it kind of seems hard to believe that this one little fight could basically resound throughout the whole world that the whole world would hear about. But, you know, here we are in 2022, and the whole world has literally heard about this fight. So when he said, hey, this is going to be testimony for the whole earth, was he telling the truth or what? Because here we are talking about it on the literal other side of the earth right now. Literally 3,000 years later, we're talking about it, okay? And so he, of course, just runs toward the Philistine, just no fear. He's trusting in God. He's just sprinting toward him. He puts a stone in the sling and just slings that thing and just nails him right between the eyes, so hard that the stone sinks into his forehead. And the guy just comes toppling down. He runs over, stands on top of Goliath, pulls out Goliath's own gigantic oversized sword, and chops off Goliath's head with his own sword, carries Goliath's severed head back to King Saul, who, if you remember, thought that it couldn't be done. And he brings that head to Saul. He's just like, who are you? Who is this guy, right? Whose son is this guy? Now, what's funny is that, you know, he had already met David before. Because in chapter 6, these things are kind of getting in my way, sorry. Thank you for the beautiful decorations. I got to be able to see who I'm talking to here, all right? Just go ahead and make a few adjustments here. All right. There we go. All right. I'm a creature of habit. Okay, much better. In chapter 16, if you remember, Saul was having some spiritual problems. God's punishing him. And he's kind of losing it a little bit mentally. And this evil spirit from the Lord is troubling him. And so he's kind of ranting and raving and throwing stuff. And so they bring in a musician to make him feel better, to soothe him, to calm him down. And David is that musician. Because David is not only a shepherd, but he's also a skilled player of the harp. And he can sing and play the harp and so forth. And so he's brought in to play the harp and soothe King Saul. And so King Saul has already met him in chapter 16 and known him as this musician, okay? Now, what's funny is that some people will try to bring this up as like a contradiction in the Bible. They'll say, well, if he already knows him in chapter 16 because he came and played for him, how come all of a sudden in chapter 17 he's interacting with him, he's talking to him, he's giving him the armor, and then he's just, who is this guy? It's funny, he didn't really care who he was until he succeeded. If the guy's going to die in five minutes, I'm not going to bother learning his name. But, you know, once he wins, he's like, okay, what's his name? Who is this guy? Some people pointed this out as a contradiction in Scripture because that part is removed from some Bibles. Like the East Orthodox Church with their Septuagint Bible actually removes literally about half of 1 Samuel 17 is missing, you know, in that Bible version of the Septuagint and things that are derived from it. Literally half the chapter's gone, okay? That's what I'm telling you, you know, other versions of the Bible can often make Swiss cheese of the Word of God. And they pointed out and said, well, you know, the Hebrew Bible is contradicting because he meets him in chapter 16, he doesn't know who he is in chapter 17. Now, I wondered the same thing when I was growing up. As a child reading this story, I kind of wondered, like, what's the matter, Saul? You don't remember this guy? You just learned about him in chapter 16. You know, nine months ago or whatever, six months ago, he was playing music in your house. But now that I'm a pastor, I do not question this at all anymore because I constantly meet people and then six months later have no idea who they are. And the reason is because I meet a lot of people. So, like, for example, think about how I just went on this road trip and visited 11 churches. And at some of those churches, you know, the first half of the road trip, there were very few visitors, like maybe four or five visitors to service. But by the end of the road trip, it was picking up steam. The last five churches, it started picking up to where the last, like, three or four churches, there were literally, like, 50 visitors. And so I was just meeting so many people, like 40 or 50 visitors at each service toward the end, just jam-packed, record-breaking attendance. And so I'm just meeting people, meeting people, meeting people. And when you just meet hundreds and hundreds of people, it's easy to lose track of who they are, what their names are. So it's easy to just say, like, oh, how can you not know so-and-so's name? It's like, unless you've been in somebody's shoes, you don't really know what their life is like. Now, that's me as a pastor. Don't you think a king probably meets a lot more people than a pastor does? So even as a pastor, I meet a lot of visitors at church, I meet people when I go preach, but a king of Israel is going to be meeting way more people. And so I'd be shocked if, now knowing what I know now, I'd be shocked if he did remember his name, knowing what I know now. And that goes to show that oftentimes, when we think that there's something wrong in the Bible or there's a contradiction in the Bible, it's not that the Bible's wrong, it's just that we haven't lived life long enough, we haven't had enough experience and learned enough about the world to realize that the Bible is actually accurate and that we're just not that experienced or we just don't know much about the world. You know, I remember there was this one guy, and he came out and visited our church. You've got to forgive me, I've got to drink a lot of water. I'm really dehydrated right now. Sorry, I just have to take the lid off here and get a little more serious about this drink here. Do you mind if I dump this on my head? No, I'm just kidding. But anyway, you know, this guy came out and visited our church, and he came on one of our Indian soul-winning trips. So it was like a two-day overnight trip, and this guy was riding in the church van with me. I'm hanging out with this guy. He's my soul-winning partner. Then we go to the hotel. We're swimming in the hotel pool. We're hanging out together. We're having breakfast. I mean, I hung out with this guy for two days on this trip. He's at church. He's visiting. Nine months later, he came to the church, and he's like, do you remember me? And I'm like, I know I know you from somewhere, but I have no idea where. And he's like, you remember? And then I'm like, oh, yeah, I remember you. And then I knew his name and where he's from. But do you see what I'm saying? And that's just little old me. Think about the king of Israel. I mean, he's got people coming to him every day for judgment. He's probably meeting 10 or 20 new people every day, just coming to him with issues and problems and judgments. He's dealing with all the troops. He's dealing with so many people, so it actually makes sense that he doesn't know who David is, okay, if you actually know about the way life works. And you get a little older. And by the way, he's also having mental problems, okay. So that's probably not helping either, okay. That evil spirit troubling him from the Lord probably got a little distracted. He didn't learn the name of all the musicians that he dealt with, okay. But anywho, this story is obviously just a great story just right on the surface of just trusting God, having faith in God, how God can just make any victory possible, even against all the odds. He can allow us to be victorious against the wickedness that's out there because the Lord is going to fight for us, and there's so much right on the surface. But I also want to talk about, like, a little bit of the symbolic meaning in this passage as we go through this and read about this. You know, one of the first things I want to point out is that David is a shepherd, and another word for shepherd is pastor. All right, pastor literally means shepherd. And if you think about it, you know, the pastor is the one who cares for the flock, right. He feeds the flock of God, the church members, and so forth. And so if you think about it, David is trying to just feed his flock. He's just going about his business, feeding the flock. And then Jesse sends him on this mission to bring this food stuff to the captain of the host and to his three brethren and to check on his brethren. And yet when David shows up, he finds this enemy of God blowing off his mouth and humiliating the people of the Lord. And just somebody needs to stand up to this guy, right. So if you think about what that represents in our life is that, you know, let's say me as a pastor, for example, you know, I'm just trying to feed the brethren. I just want to bring the bread and the cheese and the food on Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night to feed the flock of God. I want to take care of the sheep. I want to take care of my brethren. And that's what he has set out to do. That's what his father is telling him to do. That's what God has called me to do, is to feed the flock, to feed my brethren, to take care of people, to be a servant, to be a minister, and to just do a humble job. But here's the thing. If you love doing the Father's will, whether it be shepherding or whether it be feeding your brethren in some way or helping your brethren in some way, you are going to be confronted with a fight, spiritually. Because the Bible teaches that all who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. And the Bible says that we are to fight the good fight of faith and that there are many adversaries. We need to be sober and vigilant because our adversary, the devil, is walking about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. You know, the Bible tells in the book of Psalms that all these wicked people are just privately putting their arrow in the bow, just ready to shoot at the upright. So you've got all the enemies out there. The devil's at work. The fight is going to come to you. You don't have to go looking for the fight, okay? And so even when David was just going about his business as a shepherd, he tells the story to Saul. Because remember Saul says, like, don't do this. You are not able to fight Goliath, David. You cannot do this. And so then, you know, David wants to explain to him why he's qualified and he talks about how, well, there was a lion. When I was a shepherd and I was taking care of the sheep, you know, a lion came and I killed the lion. And then a bear came and I killed the bear. And he said, you know, if I've been able to kill a lion and if I've been able to kill a bear, you know, I'm able to kill this Philistine as well. And Saul isn't necessarily convinced, but Saul says, well, okay, whatever, you know. If you've done some killing, you know, I guess you're not as green as I thought you were. So yeah, go with God. And then he's like, don't even bother telling me your name because, you know, this is probably going to be a short friendship. And so, you know, David, even when he was just shepherding, got attacked by the lion, got attacked by the bear. And you know what? Here's the thing. Let's face it. In 2022, a pastor is going to be attacked and he's going to be in fights. If he's actually doing the job of being a shepherd, the fight is going to come to him. He doesn't have to go looking for the fight, but the fight will come. Not only that, but in the course of ministering to God's people, ministering to the people of the Lord and his brethren, he's going to see the enemies of the Lord blowing off their mouths and blaspheming God and blaspheming the people of God. And you know what? His heart is going to be stirred within him and he's going to want to do something about it and not just sit back and let the world say whatever they want and let everybody just say whatever they want about the Lord and about God's people. No, he's going to want to get in and fight and take them to task. And that's what we see David doing. Now when we as Christians take a stand for what's right and take the battle to the enemy that's blowing off their mouth, you know, there's going to be criticism. Now that criticism you would expect to come from unsafe people, worldly people, but where does the criticism of David come from in this passage? It comes from his own brethren. And let me tell you something, to every man, woman, boy and girl in this auditorium, you know, when you try to do something big for God, when you decide to fight the Lord's battle in whatever way, maybe you decide you're going to become a sole winner, maybe you decide that you're going to go on a mission strip, maybe you decide that you're going to start cleaning up your life and living a life that would honor God. Whatever spiritual steps you decide to take in your life, let me tell you something, there are going to be some people that oppose you and it's often not just going to be from the unsafe. Even your fellow Christians will sometimes oppose you. And it's sad, but oftentimes we face persecution not just from the world out there, but even from our own brothers and sisters in Christ that would try to discourage us and drag us down. And look at exactly what they say to David when they try to drag him down. It says in verse 28, Eliab, his eldest brother, heard when he spake unto the men, and Eliab's anger was kindled against David. Now this makes no sense. Why would Eliab get mad that David is interested in killing Goliath? David is thinking, you know what? Maybe I'd like to be the one that kills Goliath. Maybe I'm willing to go out there and fight this battle. That, by the way, Eliab's not willing to fight. And Eliab is a taller, bigger, stronger, more impressive man than David. Because if you remember when David was first anointed by Samuel, when Samuel looked at Eliab, Samuel said, surely this is the Lord's anointed right here. This is going to be a great king of Israel. So Eliab was an impressive guy. But isn't it interesting how he's so angry that David wants to do something for God? And sometimes it's hard to even understand because it makes no sense. Wouldn't you think other Christians would be excited that you're doing something for God or that you want to do something for God? But unfortunately, sinful as we are as human beings, we have this thing in our human nature called envy, and we don't always like to see other people succeed or do more than us because it makes us feel bad about ourselves. Because in our wicked hearts, in our flesh, there's this ego mentality that says, like, well, I want to be the best or I want to do the great things for God. Folks, that's wickedness. That's not the Holy Spirit talking. That's not the new man talking. You need to get that attitude out of your life. It has no place in the Christian life. We need to get an attitude that says, hey, I don't care who gets it done. I just want the work of the Lord to get done. It's all about the mission. It's all about the team. It's all about Christ being glorified, souls being saved, the Gospel being preached. It doesn't need to be me doing it or anyone else. It can be anybody doing it, and we ought to rejoice. You know, I've kind of enjoyed over the past few years not necessarily being in the limelight as much as I used to be. You know, because it used to be that I was kind of the one that was really in the limelight in this new IFB movement and doing all these big things and being in the news and all these different things. But, you know, I'm kind of enjoying the fact that I'm not in the limelight as much as I used to be, and I'm enjoying some other preachers and seeing them getting out there and doing great exploits for God, and I like to just cheer them on and applaud them and support them and get behind them, because guess what? I don't always have to be the one doing it or front and center or whatever. Hey, I just want somebody to be getting it done. Amen? Who cares who's doing it? Let's get it done. You know, I get just as much enjoyment out of watching Pastor Shelley at those city council meetings taking those guys to task than if I were doing it myself. I'd just as soon watch him do it. And then I can eat popcorn and just enjoy, you know what I mean? And watch him just chewing them up and spitting them out. You know, it's great. You know, it's great to see other pastors and other guys, you know, getting in there and doing great things for God and, you know, they're being in the news and they're hosting big soul-winning events and soul-winning marathons and mission strips. You know, I'd just as soon support someone else's exploits as spearhead my own. Why? Because it's not about me. It's not about our church versus theirs. It's about the Gospel. It's about the truth. It's about the Word of God. It's about slaying this Goliath out there when Hollywood is defying God and when the Sodomites are defying God and when all the governing officials are defying God. Hey, you just want to see somebody out there slinging the stone into their forehead. And you know what? It doesn't have to be me. You know, I'm happy to just say, all right, David, get her done. Amen. And you know what? That's the mentality that we need to have is to realize, hey, we're all on the same team. We're all serving God. We all want the same things. Let's all work together. It's not about vainglory or personal aggrandizement. It's about the mission. And that's what Eli didn't understand. I guarantee you that that's why Eli is mad here. You know, he doesn't like his younger brother showing up and talking big and getting all in the center of everything because he feels bad about himself because he should be out there facing Goliath. And look, I get it. Facing Goliath is pretty tough. I don't really fault Eli for not necessarily wanting to face Goliath because if I were there, I wouldn't be out there facing Goliath either. You know what I mean? I'd probably be pulling back too. You know, I'm probably not going to be the guy who just wants to be the first victim out there with some nine-foot tall guy. You know, I'm just glad that there was no war going on when I was that age, you know, because now I would never be drafted or anything because I'm 41 years old. But, like, you know, I'm just glad I never got drafted into war or something because I did paintball one time in Canada. I did paintball. And here's what I learned in paintball. I learned that if I were ever in a war, I would die. Now, I don't know if this was just because people especially enjoyed shooting Pastor Anderson with a paintball. Like, I don't know if people were targeting me. I don't know if in the enemy camp they got together and said, you know, fight neither with small nor great, but only with the King of Israel, you know. You know, I don't know if they were targeting me, but all I know is this, is that I got shot a lot. And I was like, man, if these were real bullets, I'm not cut out for this. You know, because I'm like, cover me! And then I run, and I'm shot, like, ten times. I'm like, man, I need more training, you know. So, you know, the point is that I'm not saying that everybody, you know, is necessarily cut out for going out there and fighting against Goliath. But how about this? How about if you're not willing to do it, why don't you at least get behind the guy who is? And, you know, I've fought against the Sodomites. Excuse me, I've fought against the Sodomites. You know, I've fought the battles that some people didn't want to fight. And I can understand if some of these old IFB preachers are too scared to take on the Sodomites because they don't want all the persecution that comes down on you when you do that, but you know what? I'm disgusted by the fact that they pull an Eliab and go like, ah, what are you doing? You know, and then they actually talk smack about the guy who is having the guts to fight the battle. And look what he says. Eliab, his eldest brother, we're in verse 28. When he spake unto the man, Eliab's anger was kindled against David, and he said, Why camest thou down hither? And with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? Now, this is the same kind of criticisms that you'll get today when you try to fight the Lord's battles is like, well, shouldn't you be just ministering to your people and pastoring your church? Or how about this? You know, you try to fight against sin. You try to fight against the wickedness of this world. It's like, well, shouldn't we just be out soul winning? Shouldn't we just be outreaching people? And I'm like, why can't we do both? We can raise hell and fight the Sodomites and win souls all in a single week. We don't have to choose. I don't know anybody who's going soul winning 24 hours a day. You know, we do some soul winning. We do a little of this. We do a little of that. We read our Bibles. We pray. We go to church. We do our jobs. Folks, we live a balanced life. We do all these things. It's not like you can't do both, you know, with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? Well, you know, the Bible says in verse 20 that David rose up early in the morning and left the sheep with a keeper. So David made sure that somebody was there to watch the sheep. He put the sheep in good hands. He took care of his responsibility. He wasn't sleeping in and being lazy. He was up early. He got the new guy lined out. He's got the keeper with the sheep. He's doing the will of the Father. The Father told him to go to that battle. And God, yes, he's called us to win souls, but he's also called us to fight the good fight. And so David is right where he's supposed to be. But that's the criticism, right? You know, you're neglecting the sheep by fighting this battle. No, my friend, because it's possible to do both. Right? We don't have to choose. And then he says, I know thy pride. And by the way, any preacher who preaches strongly against sin or stands up for what's right publicly is often accused of being prideful. Like, you're just trying to get attention. You're just trying to get the limelight. Isn't that what they're accusing David of doing here? And you and your Christian life, man, woman, boy or girl, you're going to face the same thing. You know, you start living for God. You start showing up for soul winning. You start going to church three times a week and getting really serious about the things of God. And people will start to attack you and criticize you and say, you know, well, what about your family? You know, what about this? What about that? And then they'll sit there and say, well, you know, you're just showing off. You're all, you're so holy and righteous now. Let me remind you of your sinful past. You know, who are you all of a sudden living for, you know, I was just talking to somebody recently and they talked about this being thrown in their face of, you know, oh, well, all of a sudden you're real spiritual now? What's all this talk about God? What's all this talk about reading the Bible and doing things God's way? Oh, now all of a sudden you want to do things right, huh? Yeah. Yeah, I do. Because you know what? If people have lived a really sinful life at some point, don't we want them to change and start doing it right? So don't throw their sinful past at them. Don't say like, oh, well, what about, you know, six months ago you weren't talking like this? Well, I'm talking this way now. Hey, folks, it's not too late for anyone who's living a sinful life as a Christian who's backslidden. Maybe they're saved, but they're living a sinful life. They're backslidden. They're worldly. Hey, to all of a sudden decide, hey, you know what? I'm going to get right with God. And you know what? We ought to get behind that person and encourage them, help them, and motivate them, not sit there and say, well, I know, you're just showing off. Now you're just putting on a show here. No, maybe they're just legitimately getting right with God. And David here, we know David's heart is right because we're reading the Bible, we know the whole story. David's there for the right reason, but he's being accused of being there for ego and pride and everything like that. Who's got the real pride? This is what's ironic. I'll bet you Eliab's the prideful one, which is why he's envious, and it's his ego that's bothered by David being there and getting attention. And so ironically, Eliab says David is filled with pride, and in reality, David is humble, and Eliab's filled with pride. Often the people who are constantly accusing you of being prideful, they're the ones that are prideful, and they don't like the fact that you're getting right with God. They don't like to see you out soul winning and reading your Bible and getting right because it makes them feel guilty because they know they need to be doing the same thing. And so they feel guilty because maybe you're passing them up spiritually or you're leaving them in the dust spiritually. What they ought to do is get encouraged by what you're doing and say, you know what, I need to get in gear as well and serve God as well. You know, why didn't Eliab, when he sees David talking this way, either encourage David, help David, or even say, hey, let's go do this as a team? You know, although I guess it had to be a one-on-one fight. But if Goliath's got somebody holding his shield for him, you know, maybe Eliab can hold David's shield. But you know what? There's no way Eliab wants to hold David's shield. You know why? Because he's too prideful for that. He's not going to play second fiddle. But we as Christians should always be ready to play second fiddle all the time. You know, I'm the pastor of the church. I love to go out soul winning and be a silent partner and play second fiddle to someone else. Why? Because we're on the same team. It's about winning souls. We're working together. I don't always say, hey, I'm the pastor. I'll do all the talking, buddy. No, it's like, why don't you do the talking? Why don't you do some doors, you know? Why don't you get this door? I'll get the next one. In fact, you can get all the doors because you know what? I'm all here. Let me carry the water for you. Hey, I'd rather be a spiritual water boy than to be on the devil's team as a starting center. I'd rather be the team manager, team statistician, team water boy on God's team than to be the starring point guard on the devil's team, okay? And so we need to make sure that we're not filled with pride and realize, though, that if you serve God, you can be the meekest man in the whole world and people will accuse you of being prideful. Because who got accused of being prideful in the Bible? David. How about Moses? The Bible says Moses was the meekest man on the face of the earth. And yet, what did they accuse him of? Pride. You're lifting yourself up above everyone and it was a lie. But all that will live godly in Christ Jesus are going to face this kind of criticism and sadly, it often comes from your brethren. This isn't the Philistines talking smack to David. This is his brother. And the symbolism here is that our brethren in Christ sometimes can be discouraging to us. I know thy pride. No, he doesn't. It's a lie. And the naughtiness of thine heart. How does he know that? For thou art calmed down that thou mightest see the battle. And you know, here's what else people will accuse you of when you start taking a stamp of what's right. They're like, well, you're just trying to raise hell for the sake of raising hell. You're just trying to just stir up trouble. You're a troublemaker. You know, why don't you just leave well enough alone and just be quiet and not pick a fight. You know, you're just contentious. You're just a brawler. That's what they'd try to say, wouldn't they? And say, you know, you're just one who's looking for controversy. Folks, just being a normal person in 2022 makes you a subject of controversy. Okay. And David said, what have I now done? David's basically saying, you know, what is the basis for this accusation? Supposedly I'm prideful. Supposedly I've got all this naughtiness in my heart. You think I'm just here just because I just want to be a spectator of the battle. I just like fights. I just want to watch some fight happen. What have I now done? You know, like what did I do? But you know what? Jesus said they hated me without a cause. And so even if you do all the right things, you're never going to avoid being criticized. And again, you know, this isn't just for pastors. Man, woman, boy, and girl. You know, you serve God, you're going to face criticism. Family members, fellow Christians are going to criticize you. I remember as a teenager when I first started Soul Winning being criticized by people. Having my friends laugh at me and say that I was like the Mormons or the Jehovah's Witnesses and say that I was cult calling and everything just because I just started Soul Winning at a Baptist church. I mean, I got ridiculed by a lot of people. And then other people would tell me like, well, I'm not saying that what you're doing is necessarily wrong. It's like, oh, wow, thank you. It's not just that it's not wrong. It's a command of God. We're commanded to go preach the gospel to every creature. God has commanded us to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. It's like, well, okay, we'll let you. It's okay. And I remember people would always, this is what my smug, fake Christian friends used to tell me when I first started Soul Winning as a teenager. Every time I'd go to Soul Winning, they'd be like, have fun, have fun. And I remember just thinking like, what? Like, do you think I'm going to go down a water slide or something? Like, what do you mean have fun? But you know what it was, was that they're trying to make light of it and mock me and act like it was dumb because they knew that their butts needed to be out there doing it too. And, you know, and they didn't like to see someone else doing what they and their whole church is failing to do. You know, they should have just been like, wow, it's so great. Somebody's going out and preaching the gospel. I hope somebody gets saved. You know, I hope somebody can find the gospel and be saved and believe on Jesus. But instead, it's like, it's like, have fun. Yeah, like I'm just going out there for my health, right? I'm just like, like knocking doors is just like the funnest thing ever. Now, look, sometimes it is fun. Amen. But but is that primarily why we're out there? Like, all right, guys, I've got some fun for you. We're going to go out there and we're going to go out in the heat. We're going to knock doors. And yeah, now look, and again, it can be fun because you know what? God allows us to have a good time. And we, you know, you get a soul winning partner. You get some good conversations going. You're joking around. You're talking. You're having fun. You share those experiences. And yeah, these these trips up to the reservation. They're fun. I've every single one I've ever gone on. I had fun. But this smug little have fun. You know, it should have been like, hey, let's pray for you. God bless you. Hey, let's pray for the power of God to be with you. Let's pray for the fullness of the Holy Spirit for you, not just have fun, because what you're doing is a game, because what you're doing is silly, because what you're doing is a joke. But I'm telling you, my friend, that's the way it is with a lot of people. Thank God you're a faithful word Baptist church where everybody is encouraging you to go soul winning. But it's not like that in every church. And it's not like that among all of God's people, because, like I said, that's what I experienced when I first started soul winning. People that didn't go to the soul winning church, they didn't get it. They were like Eliab in that sense. It says, you know, what have I now done? Is there not a cause? I mean, isn't there a legitimate reason for me to be here and for me to be asking these questions and for me to want to go up against Goliath? Is there not a cause? Is there not a reason to be here? And he turned from him toward another. And, you know, that's all we get. When people criticize us and give us flack, you know what the best thing to do is just to walk away. Just turn away from those people. Just say, you know, and you know what? Those people that are just dragging you down and just making fun of you and they're trying to discourage you spiritually, you know, it's better just to cut those people loose. And so basically, you know what David did? He turned away and you know what he did? He goes back to talking to somebody who is actually encouraging him to do what he needs to do. Because originally he was having a conversation with a guy who was telling him what would be done for the man who succeeds, right? And it says in verse 25, toward the end, it says that the man who killeth him, the king will enrich him with great riches and will give him his daughter and make his father's house free in Israel. So this guy is encouraging him with like, hey, here's all the rewards. And then Eliab is messing with him. He turns away from Eliab and he goes back to having the conversation with the brother that encourages him. You know, we need to have some brethren in our lives that can encourage us, right? And this is why the local church is so important because we don't want to just be going solo through the Christian life as a commando. No, we need to be in church because if we get in church, other people are going to encourage us to do what's right and motivate us and help us versus people dragging us down. Want to get in a church where people are encouraging us to do more for God, not discouraging us. And so this guy's bringing up the rewards. And you know what? There are great rewards to serving God. And having those rewards in front of us and thinking about the rewards will motivate us. You know, why was David motivated? Why is he risking his life? Well, he wants to do it because it's the right thing to do and somebody needs to do it, but he seems to be a little bit motivated by these rewards too, doesn't he? Because he wants to, he asks about the reward and then he says, okay, repeat it for me. I want to hear about the rewards again. And you know, there's nothing wrong with getting excited about the rewards in heaven or even the rewards that God gives us on this earth because God said that he'll reward us on this world and in the next world. So you say, well, I'm serving God and I'm doing it for the rewards. Amen. There are lots of reasons to serve God and rewards from God, that's a very legitimate reason to serve God. No issue there. And so that's the opposition he faces. So you're going to face opposition from the Eliabs of this world, but then the other kind of discouragement that David faces is the discouragement from Saul, okay? Now Saul's discouragement is not as bad. I mean, Eliab, he's just being wicked. You know, false accuser, he's a slanderer, he's just a toxic person, he's just dragging him down. You know, Saul is not necessarily a toxic person at this stage. You know, he's going to have some issues later, more, but he just says, you know, I just don't think you can do it. And this is a more subtle kind of criticism and opposition that we're going to face from our brothers and sisters in Christ sometime that just tell you, you know, the vision is too big. Your vision is too big, your goal is too big, the dream is too big, right? I just don't think you can do this. I just don't think that it's going to work. And, you know, I've had a lot of crazy ideas over the years and, you know, let's face it, I've had a lot of wild ideas and some of them worked out great and some of them were a complete disaster or a flop. You know, I've had some really bad ideas over the years. Now, most of the time, though, when I have a really bad idea, usually after talking to a few people and they explain to me why it's a bad idea, then I, you know, pull the plug on it. But, you know, sometimes I've had some ideas and had people telling me it's not going to work, it can't be done, and yet, you know, it worked out great. And I'm not afraid to try things, you know. When things fall through, when we have a ministry idea, a missions idea, something that we want to do as a church and it's a flop or it doesn't really work out, you know, it doesn't really bother me because I know that that's what life is like. In life, you try things and some things work and some things don't. You know, there's some people that just don't try anything and then they never fail at anything. But you know what, you got to be willing to get up and try. You know, and there are some people that could probably preach but they're afraid to try. There are other guys who get up and try to preach and they completely bomb a sermon. You know, there have been guys who came to the preaching class and just bombed it. I mean, there have been guys who came to the preaching class, they got up and after 30, 40 seconds, they just said, I'm sorry, I have to quit, I can't do this. This is harder than I thought it would be. And they literally just sat down. But you know what, at least they got up and they tried. You know, and they're going to be, you know, look, I have bombed some sermons. I've preached some sermons that were just, afterward I just felt like a complete idiot and you know, I just felt like it was a disaster. But you know what, that's life, okay. You're not always going to win every fight. Everything you do isn't going to always work. You're going to try and fail, try and fail. But the just man falls seven times and rises up again. And so you're going to have these people that try to discourage you by just telling you it can't be done, it's too hard. But you know what, if you're trying to do something for the Lord, you know, obviously we should listen to people's advice maybe if we're really proposing something absurd. But in general, you know, don't let that stop you just because someone tells you, I don't think you could ever preach. I had people tell me that. You know, I had several people tell me, I don't think you're cut out to be a preacher. Like they heard me preach and they said, I don't know if you're cut out to be a preacher. I don't know if you're good at preaching. I don't know if you have the aptitude. Now you might be sitting there tonight thinking, yeah, you should have listened. But the point is that, you know, I had people tell me that and yet here I am. And I'm not saying that I'm a great preacher, but here I am like I have succeeded at starting a church and preaching and pastoring a church. And I had people tell me, you will fail. Or the kind of preaching that you're doing, even after I started the church, I had people tell me, you know, the kind of preaching that you're doing, you can't build a church on that kind of preaching. Like that will not work. Like you can't preach that hard. Like that's like something you do as a guest preacher. You kind of go in, set off a nuke, and then the pastor has to spend the next few weeks kind of doing damage control for that like firebrand evangelist that comes through and just really just brings down the house or whatever. But they said, you know, you can't just preach that hard on Sunday morning. I had a pastor call me in the early days and say, let me give you some advice. Like, you need to, you know, you need to tone down those Sunday morning sermons. He said, save those for Sunday night. The diehards. Save those for Wednesday night. You know, the Sunday morning sermon, you need to mellow that out, okay? You know, you're going to have people that come to you and tell you it's not going to work. You can't do it. But you know what? Sometimes these people's intentions might be good. I think Saul's intentions were good. He just doesn't want to see David just get shish kebabed out there by Goliath's sword. But you know what, though? Just because people's intentions are good, you know, you can't just always listen to every naysayer who tries to tell you I don't think you're cut out to be a soul winner. I don't think you're cut out to preach. I don't think you could be a missionary. I don't think you can go on this trip. You know, I don't think this is a good idea. You know, hey, just sometimes you just have to just get out there and try to do something for God. You know, get out there and try to preach a sermon. Get out there and try to do the talking out soul winning and just see what happens. You know, and just get out there and give it a shot. And don't let the souls of this world drag you down by telling you that you're not good enough. Because you know what, here's the thing about not being good enough is that that actually sometimes makes you a prime candidate for God using you. Because God likes to use the people that aren't really good enough. You see your calling, brethren, not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. God has chosen the foolish things of this world to confirm the wise. You know, I remember my former pastor. He talked about how back in California the pastor that, you know, Brother Jimenez and I learned so much under and learned soul winning under and we went to that church for like, I went there for like five years and learned so much. I remember him talking about, and he was a great preacher. I remember sitting in that church thinking I will never be able to preach as well as he can. Like he's such a great preacher, you know. And I remember him talking about how when he went to start a church, he had someone take him aside and say I don't think you know the Bible well enough. Do you really think you have a good enough handle on the scriptures? And he specifically said you don't know any Greek and Hebrew and so I don't think you know enough and you need to, you know. But you know what, I'm glad that he didn't let that drag him down. Because that church was instrumental in my life and Pastor Jimenez's life. And so would we be here without that church? Probably not, you know. And so God used him in our lives and God used him to minister to a lot of other people but you know he had people telling him you're not smart enough. You don't know the Bible enough. You didn't learn Greek and Hebrew or whatever trying to just drag him down. But you know what, he may not have had all of these academic achievements or all of these intellectual achievements but yet God was able to use him to do a work in many people's lives, my own life included and Pastor Jimenez's. You know so God, God's not always going to use the most educated smartest one. God's not always going to use the intellectual. God's not always going to use the one who's the best looking. God's not always going to use the one who is the strongest and the most powerful speaker. God will use the foolish to confound the wise and God's strength is made perfect in weakness. And so the story of David and Goliath is not just a one time deal where God performed a miracle because honestly I'm looking at this story and I don't see a miracle in this story. What's the miracle? I mean to me a miracle is like a suspension of the laws of nature. A miracle is like Jesus walking on the water. Feeding the 5,000 with five loaves and two fishes. Bring a dead body back to life, right? Touching the leper and the leprosy is gone. You know here what we have is a young man running toward a very tall man and slinging a stone into his head. Now here's the thing, you know, that would actually work. Humanly speaking, if you actually fired, I mean even just if you went down to Walmart and got a slingshot and you put a stone in that slingshot and you just fired it directly into the forehead of, you know, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar or whatever and you just nailed him in the head with that, you know, do you think it's possible that it would knock him down? And that you could then take a sword and decapitate him? Now look, I'm not taking away the glory from God in the story here because obviously we know that David was on the Lord's side and because David was fighting the Lord's battle and that the battle belonged to the Lord that God will work through the circumstances of our life. He doesn't necessarily have to perform a miracle but yet he can work through the circumstances just to make sure that we let go of the stone at just the right time. You know, obviously God was at work there to make sure that the stone flies true. You know, he brought five stones but he only needed one because the first shot just lands right between the eyes. And so what we see here is that God is able to do great things with ordinary people. We don't want to get discouraged and it's not a one-time miracle where God just did this miracle of, you know, Elijah calling down fire from heaven or something. Folks, we today can be David. We can slay the Goliaths of this world. We can go out and do great things. We can win the souls. We can preach the sermons. We can go out and minister and be used greatly by God and take a stand in our school or take a stand in our community or take a stand wherever and do whatever God has called us to do. And, you know, God can be with us because think about how many times was God with the armies of Israel. He's just kind of with their army and they win even though there's not necessarily a miracle. It's not always a Red Sea type miracle. Sometimes he just sent hornets to sting the enemy. You know, he could just cause it to rain or something and mess things up for the enemy. I mean, it's not always a suspension of the laws of nature. It's not always some big grandiose miracle, but he will give us the victory one way or the other. And so we need to understand that David and Goliath is not just a story, it's a pattern where we can be David if we will get out there and do what God has called us to do, not be too scared to go knock a door, not be too scared to witness to a family member, not be too scared to witness to a co-worker or something like that. But if we can do something for God, he can give us the victory. And there are going to be people who try to tell you no and they're going to outright slander you or maybe just more subtly tell you, hey, you know, it's just not for you. Or even try to bring up your past. Oh, I know the naughty, I know what you're like. All of a sudden you're so spiritual now. Hey, don't listen to the naysayers. Get out there and do what God has called you to do. Let's bow our heads in a word of prayer. Father, thank you so much for this great story, Lord, that can encourage us that even if we don't have great intellect, even if we don't have great physical strength or speaking ability or super great people skills, Lord, we know that you can use us just the way that we are in some capacity. Lord, help us all be out there on the battlefield, in the harvest, winning souls to Christ and standing up for what's right in this world. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Let's go ahead and take our sun books, please. Let's go to hymn number 154. We'll end this evening. Number 154. Bless be the tide that binds our hearts in Christian love. Number 154. Let's sing it out together on this verse. Hymn number 154. Sing it out now. Bless be the tide that binds our hearts in Christian love. The fellowship of kindred thought, is the light to that above. Before our Father's throne, before our Lord in prayer, our fears, our hopes, our aims, our own, our comforts and our cares, we share our mutual hopes, our mutual burdens there, and of them for each other flows, the sympathizing tear, when we asunder part, it gives us inward pain, but we shall still be joined, and heart and whole, to meet again. Amen. Good singing tonight. You are dismissed. Thank you.