(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Alright guys, just in light of we don't have any air conditioner today, I don't want to preach for too long. So please take your Bibles and go back to 2 Chronicles and we're going to be looking at two kings today. We read about Joash a little bit, they're in 2 Chronicles 24. The title of the sermon tonight is From Joash to David. The title is From Joash to David. Now as we read through chapter 24, we read about Joash and obviously you guys are familiar with King David. David is a very common character that you should be well aware of. So we're going to be looking at these two kings and comparing their faith. And then applying this to our situation. Now we read through chapter 24, but where I really want you to go to first is chapter 22. Go back two chapters back, 2 Chronicles 22 and let's get a bit of backstory about King Joash. A little bit of a backstory so you know what his history is. And if you notice in verse 24, he was seven years old when he began to reign in Judah. So look at 2 Chronicles 22 verse 1, let's get a bit of history here. So this is the story of his father, when his father would. It says, And the inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ahaziah his youngest son, king in his stead. And the band of men that came with the Arabians to the camp had slain all the eldest. So Ahaziah, the son of Jehoram, king of Judah reign. Forty and two years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. So Ahaziah is the father of Joash. There's going to be a few names here and I want you to try your best to remember who these names are and who they are in this story. Now Ahaziah had his mother there, look at verse number 2, the second part of verse number 2. His mother's name also was Ataliah, the daughter of Omri. So this king Ahaziah has his mother as a counsellor while he rules for one year in Jerusalem and her name is Ataliah. So remember that name, the name of Ataliah and she was a very wicked woman, a very wicked woman. Now let's look at verse number 3. He also, speaking of the king, he also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab. Now if you know the Old Testament, the king Ahab was a wicked man. He turned his heart against the Lord and that's what the Bible says, he walked in the ways of the house of Ahab. He didn't walk in the ways of God in other words, that's what the Bible is saying there. For his mother, but why? For his mother was his counsellor to do wickedly. So he gets his mum thinking, hey mum's going to help me out, mum's going to help me rule and reign over Judah. And she teaches him, she instructs him to do wickedly. And no surprise to me that he only reigns a whole year, having his mother teaching him to be a wicked king. But drop down to verse number 10, 2 Chronicles 22 verse 10. So Ahaziah dies after ruling for one year and when Ataliah, the mother of Ahaziah, saw that her son was dead, look what she does. She arose and destroyed all the seed royal of the house of Judah. If you don't know what that means, the seed royal, she goes and organises the murder of all the potential kings that would replace her son. The seed royal, that would be all the little children. And we'll see soon, even her grandson she tries to kill, she tries to murder. I mean this is a wicked, wicked woman. She's killing, she's murdering her own kin, her own family. Whoever it would be next to take up the lineage of being the king of Judah, she goes and she murders them all. Or almost all, almost all. Look at verse number 11. And this is a hard name to pronounce. But Jehoshabeath, the daughter of the king, took Joash, remember Joash, the king of Joash? Joash 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 do you understand that she kills her own grandkids, right? As she's killing her own grandkids, this Joash is saved, which you'll soon see is his auntie. So Jehoshabeath, the daughter of king Jehoram, the wife of Jehoiada the priest. Now that's another name that you need to keep in mind of. Jehoiada the priest. As we read through chapter 24, you may have noticed we mentioned Jehoiada a few times. She's married, the auntie of Joash is married to Jehoiada, the high priest of the temple in Jerusalem. And then it says in verse 11, So he's just starting to come together now. Joash, as a little baby, to be saved from his grandmother, his auntie steps in, hides him, and she's married to Jehoiada, the great high priest, and you'll soon see where she hid him. Look at verse 12. So what is the house of God in the Old Testament? It's the temple, right? So she takes him with the high priest, and he hides little Joash, little baby Joash, in the temple for six years. And then later on you see that he reigns when he's seven years old. So he was at least one year old when this took place. And then he's hidden for the six years. Meaning that at the line of his grandmother, that wicked woman was reigning in Judah for these six years. And she was not well liked at all. Now we don't have time to go through chapter 23. But chapter 23, you can do this in your own time, please have a read of it just to get the whole story in your mind. But Jehoiada, the priest, is a real godly man. He's a real strong man that hides little baby, that has great victories. He's one of the few in the land of Judah that's standing up for the Lord. And then when Joash is seven years old, with great crowds of people, they crown Joash to be king of Judah. And Atzaliah, you can read about it in the chapter, she comes out, she sees all this celebration, she hears all this noise. She's like, what's going on? And then she sees little Joash, seven year old Joash, being crowned king. And she yells out, treason! Treason! Obviously she wants to have the authority and power there. And they take her out, they kill her. And Joash then, as we picked it up from chapter 24, he now becomes king over Judah. So go back to 2 Chronicles 24 verse 1. I hope that's given you sufficient backstory so you know what Joash is all about. Why was he reigning from seven years old? At least you understand now his history. But 2 Chronicles 24 verse 1, it says, Joash was seven years old when he began to reign. And he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was a buyer of Bathsheba. Now look at verse 2, this is very important. And Joash did that which was right in the sight of the Lord. So he's not like his grandmother, he's not like his father, who do wickedly against the Lord. He's someone that does right in the eyes of the Lord, right? Someone that does really well, but notice the second part of that verse. It says, right in the sight of the Lord, all the days of Jehoiada the priest. Remember Jehoiada, he's the one that hid him in the temple with his aunty. Jehoiada is his uncle, you know, you want to put it that way. But all the days of Jehoiada the priest. Now this is very important for you to just remember as we go through this sermon, alright? Now we know Jehoiada was a great man of God. We know that as Joash was brought up in the temple, hidden from his grandmother, obviously he was brought up in a Christian home, heard great things about the word of God. And as he comes and rules and reigns, he has a great love for the Lord, a great desire to go back to the way that things were when Moses was in charge. Now the laws that God brought in when Moses took Israel out of Egypt. Look at verse number three. And Jehoiada took for him two wives and begat sons and daughters. And obviously that's not right. I shouldn't take two wives, we won't go into that today. And it came to pass after this that Joash was minded to repair the house of the Lord. So you see that Joash is himself in his own mind, in his own heart. He says, look, we need to repair the temple. Okay, it's been used and abused. You know, my father and grandmother, they were worshipping the devil, they were worshipping idols. You know, the house of the Lord was falling apart, they weren't looking after it. So in his heart he says, you know, the right thing to do is to fix the house of the Lord. All right? So we see that his heart's in the right place. And 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 of all Israel money to repair the house of God, of your God from year to year, and see that ye hasten the matter, howbeit that Levites hasten them not. He says, look, this is important. This is primary number one. Let's do it, right? But they don't rush to do it. And that's not something important so much, but let's go to verse number 12. Drop down to verse number 12. And when they had finished it, they brought the rest of the money before the king and Jehoiada. So they're a great team, right? King Jehoiada and Jehoiada together making changes in Israel. They're fixing the house of the Lord. And then it says they have left over money. So it says, we're made vessels for the house of the Lord, even vessels to minister and to offer with oil and spoons and vessels of gold and silver. And they offered burnt offerings in the house of the Lord continually. And notice the next words, all the days of Jehoiada, similar to last time, right? All the days of Jehoiada, the priest. So now they're sacrificing once again. They're sacrificing the animals to the Lord. They're back on track. They're pleasing the Lord. Everything's going super well. You know, Jehoiada should do it so well. Now, God tells us twice that it's in the days of Jehoiada that this all took place, okay? And this is very important because I want you to notice why. Look at verse 15. This is so important. Verse 15. But Jehoiada waxed old and was full of days when he died. And 130 years old was when he died. So 130 years old, he lived a long life. No doubt God sustained him to help Judah and Joash get right with the Lord, all right? No doubt about that whatsoever. Verse 16. And they buried him in the city of David among the kings. So he's a priest, but they bury him with the kings. Why? Because he had done good in Israel, both towards God and towards his house. So you see the people. They love Jehoiada. You know, he's a godly man, a strong man. They got back now serving the Lord once again. And they said, you know what? He doesn't deserve a burial of a priest. He deserves the burial of a king. And that's where they buried him. So, you know, good stuff for Jehoiada, all right? But now, now this is where things change. And this is really what I want to drive home to you guys and apply this to your life. Because look at verse 17. Now, after the death of Jehoiada came the princes of Judah and made obeisance. Now, if you don't know what obeisance is, that's to revere, to honor, all right? Obeisance to the king. And now look at this. Then the king hearkened unto them. All right? Now, we don't know yet what these people are, but they're wicked people. And let me say to you, especially children, all right, you guys have godly parents, all right? Or if you're a new believer, you might have godly examples, a godly pastor, maybe godly leaders that you look up to. But like Jehoiada, one day they're not going to be there. One day there'll be others and they're waiting. They're waiting for a Jehoiada to pass away. They're waiting for Jehoiada to go before they come and put, hey, listen to us. You know? And you need to make a decision then, am I going to listen to God? Am I going to listen to godly men? Or am I going to listen to the world? Okay? This is a decision that needs to be made. And unfortunately for Joash, he made the wrong mistake. Look at verse 18. 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 they trespass. Can't believe it. You know, Joash is doing so well. Gets the nation back on the Lord, you know? Fixes the house of the Lord, doing great things, a great scene with Jehoiada. Jehoiada dies. Then what? He hears other people. Now they're worshipping the idols again. They're going back in the old ways and God brings judgment upon them. I mean, it's just crazy to think that Joash could see these great blessings come his way. And still his heart was turned against the Lord because he listened to the wrong people. Listened to wrong people. You know, and the lesson here, guys, is that Joash, yes, he was a strong king. But he was only strong while Jehoiada was around. Okay? You know, and we need to understand, you know, we have, hopefully, you know, godly men. Godly examples. Like the children, you have, you know, parents that love you, that want to serve the Lord, that want you to grow up knowing the word of God. But we're not always going to be around. All right? And you have to make a decision. One day you're going to be left alone. And you're going to have to decide. You know, Jehoiada's gone. You know, all these godly examples that I once had, they're not here anymore. So what are you left to do? You know, now you're left to stand on your own faith. Okay? Yes, it's fine to rely on the faith of others at some point. Yes, it's a good thing when you have godly leaders and you have godly people around you encouraging you. Yes, that's wonderful. But when the time comes for you to stand alone, are you going to be like a Joash and fail? No matter what, even if you're standing alone and serve the Lord. I mean, Joash should have said to these princes, he said, look, shut up. We've done such great work with Jehoiada. We've turned the nation back to the Lord. We've got these blessed from the Lord. You and your idols, get out of here is what he should have said. But instead, you know, he listened to their obeisance, their honour, their respect. They came with flattering tongues, flattering lips. And they turned his heart against the Lord God. So we see this poor Jehoiada, what happened to him. But it gets worse guys, look at verse 19. Second Chronicles 24 verse 19. Speaking of God here, So you see what God does, he sends his prophets to Joash. You know, listen, you're doing wrong. You know, God wants them to fix things once again. But they don't listen to the prophets. Verse 20. And the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah. Now this Zechariah is not the same Zechariah that wrote the book of Zechariah. It's a different Zechariah. But look who Zechariah is. The son of Jehoiada, the priest. So if Joash is not going to listen to all these prophets, surely you would think he would listen to Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada, who was his great friend, who saved his life, who hid him in the temple of God, and probably grew up with Zechariah. Probably grew up with him, they probably knew each other very well. So God sends Zechariah to Joash. And then it says in verse 20, And this is what's surprising about verse 21. And they conspired against him, against Zechariah that is, and stoned him with stones. But look, who commanded it? At the commandment of the king in the court of the house of the Lord. They killed Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada. Joash will kill him. In the temple, in the court of the house of the Lord. I'm sure this is symbolic of the Lord Jesus Christ. God the Father sent in the Lord Jesus Christ to warn Israel, and they kill him. And they want anything to do with him, and they kill him. I'm sure that's some similarity there. But anyway, verse 22. So we see that Joash, he does the wrong thing. He kills this prophet. But he recognises he's wrong. He recognises that, you know, he goes, look, the Lord will look upon it and require it. I'll let the Lord take revenge. It's essentially what he says. And yeah, if you read the rest of the chapter, we don't have time to go through that now. You know, he gets betrayed, he gets killed, and Joash, you know, he was a saved man. He was a godly man, he was a saved man, but he ended his life in disaster. Why? Because he could not stand on his own faith. He relied too much on the faith of others. Okay? So now, I want you guys to turn to 1 Samuel. Turn to 1 Samuel 17. 1 Samuel 17. So I hope that's given you, if you're not really familiar with Joash, I hope that's given you a bit of a background to him. And it's a very sad end for his life. But 1 Samuel 17. Sorry, 1 Samuel, I did say the right thing. 1 Samuel 17, verse 1. 1 Samuel 17, verse 1. This is the story of David. Well, before he was a king. The story of David and Goliath. We all know it very well, don't we? Okay? Now, let's look at verse number 1. 1 Samuel 17, verse 1. And pitched by the Valley of Elah, and set the battle in array against the Philistines. And the Philistines stood on a mountain on 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 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 a spear like a weaver's beam. And his spear's head weighed six hundred shekels of iron, and one bearing of a shield went before him. And he stood and cried out unto the armies of Israel, and said unto them, Why ye come out to settle your battle in array? Am not I a Philistine? Are 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, and 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, that's King Saul, and all Israel heard those words of the Philistines, they were dismayed and greatly afraid. So we see this story, famous story, of David and Goliath, you know the armies of the Philistines against the armies of Israel, and instead of the whole armies going to battle, the Philistines send the giants, right? Goliath the giant says, Look, instead of the whole armies fighting, how about just one man? You know, one versus one. You know, just a battle of the best of your warriors. And Goliath comes, you know, with his heavy armour, with his great weapons, and he's asking for Israel for a man to stand up and fight him. Now you're saying, Well, who's going to fight him? Well, if anyone was going to fight him, it should have been King Saul, okay? Because, you know, the kings in the Old Testament days, guys, the kings of the Old Testament days, they were the leaders of the armies. They weren't just kings like we have kings today, and monarchs today. You know, they were leading the army, okay? And so if any man was going to stand up against Goliath, it should have been King Saul. But he was too afraid to do that, all right? Now you guys know the story. Drop down to verse 20. Drop down to verse 20. 1 Samuel 17, verse 20. And David... So this is David when he was a little shepherd. And David rose up early in the morning and left the sheep with a keeper and took and went as Jesse had commanded him, and he came to the trench as the host was going forth to the fight and shouted for the battle, okay? So he's not a soldier, he's a shepherd, right? He's a shepherd. Look at 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. 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 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 is come up? Surely to defy Israel is 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. All right, so David comes up, sees Goliath, you know, threatening the armies of Israel, and he sees the armies of the Lord afraid of this one man. Now look, yeah, if there was a giant, I'd probably be afraid, all right? But I'm not a seasoned warrior. You know, I've not fought in an army before. These guys served the army of Israel. God had given them several victories time and time and time again. If you were ever going to find the bravest men in the world at this point in time, it would have been the soldiers of Israel. And even then, they were afraid to stand up to one man, to one Goliath. So we have the shepherd boy. He comes out, he sees what's going on, right, the shepherd boy. He's probably never fought in an army, or he definitely hasn't, you know, he's never fought in the army before. Let's look at verse 26. And David spoke to the man that stood by him, saying, What shall we done to the man that killeth the Philistine and taketh away the reproach from Israel? And who is, I love what he says, he goes, And who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God? Who is this guy? Yeah, he's big, who cares? What's so good about him, that he would defy the armies of God? I love David's, you know, zeal there. Verse 27, 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 men. So this is Eliab, one of David's brothers. 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? Because look, why have you come to the battle, David? You've got sheep in the wilderness, you've got work over there, and obviously he's angry that David is saying, Hey, what's wrong with you guys? Why is anyone going out there and fighting this Goliath? All right, now let me just say something to you. When you make a decision one day to stand up, strong in your faith, to stand your ground on the word of God, when there's a Goliath that you're facing, all right, and maybe, maybe your fellow brethren, maybe churches, maybe the people of God are too afraid to tackle it, too afraid to fight against Goliath, if you stand up and go, you know what? Who's this guy? What is this giant? Let's take it on. When you have that zeal, when you have that faith in the Lord, don't be surprised when your own brother, the Eliab, says, What's wrong with you? And gets angry at you. All right, many times when you make a decision for the Lord, it's going to be your loved ones, it's going to be your own family, it's going to be fellow Christians that attack you. Okay, it's going to happen. All right? But how strong is your faith? Is it like a Joash that fails? Or is it like a David, as we'll see soon? Let's drop down to verse number... Well, actually, look at verse 28 again. I don't think I finished it, just the end of it. Look what he says about David. He goes, I know thy pride and the naughtiness of thine hearts, for thou art come down that thou mightest see the battle. You know what? There's been a time that I have to stand up... I'm not trying to burst into myself because I'm nobody, but there's been a time that I've had to stand up for a certain doctrine and I was told, You're prideful. Just like the brother here says, I know thy pride and the naughtiness of thine heart. I know you're up to no good, David. I know you're full of pride. This is why you're saying these things. And I love how David responds because he goes and actually does the fight. He puts his... What's the saying? Puts the... I don't know. Ah, forget the saying. But he actually goes out and does the task. Look at verse number 32. And David said to Saul... So he goes to King 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. Hey, King Saul questions the ability of David. Instead of seeing David's faith, which was strong, he says, Look, you haven't even fought in battle, you know, David. And again, same thing for you guys. When you stand up for the Lord, people are going to say to you, Who are you? You've never fought before. You've never passed out of trade before. You've never had to take a strong stand before. Instead of just encouraging you in your faith, they're going to be asking you all kinds of questions. But that shouldn't stop you. It didn't stop David. All right, let's look at verse 34. And David said unto Saul, how he answers. I love how he answers, and this is the key, guys. If you're going to remember anything from the sermon today, please remember this, the next few verses. 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 have defied the armies of the living God. So why was David confident that he could take on the lion? He's never fought in a battle before, like that. Why? Because he has protected his own sheep. When he was a shepherd, just doing the basic things that God had for him, just going about life and doing the basic things, whenever the battle came, he went and fought it, and he won. Hey, he went for the lion, he went for the bear, long before he even tacked with Goliath. All right? Now the point is this, guys. If you want to be great Christians, with great faith, that you can stand alone, even when your family, and your brethren, and Christians are putting you down, if you want to stand strong, and there's a Goliath, and you go, you know what? We need to take down this Goliath. You can't start with Goliath. You've got to first have fought the bear and the lion. You first, before you can save Israel and the armies of Israel, the first thing you need to save is the little sheep that David did. He went and delivered the little sheep out of the mouth of the lion. What I'm trying to say to you guys is, in order to win the big battles, we must first win the little battles in your day-to-day life. If you want to be someone that's strong in faith, God's given you a family, God's given you work, God's given you a place to rest your head at night. Just in the basic things of life, just doing day-to-day things, the battle's going to come your way. Just the little things. Nobody knew about these battles of David. Nobody knew that he had fought the bear and the lion and delivered a sheep. But you're going to have to face them. The devil's going to come into your house. He's going to try to teach you the world system. He's going to try to get you to love the world's music. He's going to try to get you to have the pride of life and the lust of the eyes and the lust of the flesh. He's going to try to get your heart to love the things of the world instead of the things of God, instead of the word of God. And these are the battles that you need to win. You need to win this verse in your house. Save your family, your marriage, make it strong. You need to ask yourself these questions. Is my marriage today the sweetest that it's ever been? And if it hasn't, that's a battle that you need to win. Are my children the most obedient they've ever been? And if it's not, then that's a battle that you need to win. Am I reading the most Bible that I've ever read in my life? And if you haven't, that's a battle that you need to win. If you say, have I done as much soul winning that I've ever done in my life? Or are you doing less soul winning or are you doing no soul winning? That's a battle that you need to win. You need to win the small battles first, guys. And as you start winning those small battles, then you're going to increase in faith. And then when Goliath comes and all the other Christians are too scared, then you'll be ready to take him on. You'll be ready because the Lord has guided you all the way through. You'll be like, who is this guy? I've really tackled all these other things. He's nobody, right? In the sight of the Lord. Verse 37. David said, Moreover, the Lord that delivered me out of the port of the lion and out of the port of the bed, he will deliver me out of the hand of the Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go, and the Lord be with thee. So I love that. It's the Lord that's going to do it, right? He's not full of pride. His brother said, You're full of pride, David. No. He says the Lord's going to be the one that does the job. He's going to deliver me. Look at 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 thy flesh unto the fowls of the air and 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 carcass 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 saith not with a sword and spear, for the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hands. And he came to pass when the Philistine rose, and came and denied 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 the stone and slang it, and smote the Philistine into his forehead. And the stone sunk 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. David didn't even have a sword, right? So then look at verse 51. Therefore David ran and stood upon the Philistine, and took his sword, the Philistine's sword, and drew it out of the sheaf thereof, and slew him, and cut off his head therewith. And when the Philistine saw the champion, Philistine saw the champion was dead, they fled. Now we see the great courage of David. We see how the Lord comes through. Standing strong, the strong faith that David had, God rewards him, right? And he's a strong man, he's a courageous man. But I want you to notice verse 52 as well, okay? Very important, verse 52. We'll read it in a minute. But remember, when David said, I'll take him on, the armies were laughing at him. His brother was against him. King Saul was like, how can you do it? You've never fought before, right? And remember, they were all afraid. They did not want to fight this battle. But when one man stands up, strong in faith, we'll see what happens in verse 52. And the men of Israel and of Judah arose, and shouted, and pursued the Philistines, until they came into the valley, into the gates of Ekron, and the women of the Philistines fell down by the way of Sherem, even unto Gath and unto Ekron. So you know what? The one act, one man, King David and his faith, was enough to energise, to encourage even those that were afraid to begin with. They saw how the Lord had done great works, and all of a sudden they're filled with courage, all of a sudden they're filled with zeal, all of a sudden they're willing to go and fight. And they go, and you know, the hundreds of thousands, I don't know how big these armies were in those days, but they go out and they pursue against those Philistines before they were all afraid. You know what? You might be the one man, or one woman, that has to stand alone at some point in your life. I hope that's not the case. I hope that there's always a Jehoiada, as we saw in King Joash. I hope there's always godly men, godly examples, good churches that you can be a part of. But sometimes guys, just like Joash, there's going to come a time when you've got to stand alone. Just like King David, he had to stand alone, and how strong is your faith? We saw the faith of Joash. He failed. He turned his heart against the Lord. He took the wrong advice and he failed. And God poured out his wrath upon him. But hey, with King David, he was a different man. His faith had gone stronger and stronger. He had gone from faith to faith, from strength to strength, from battle to battle. He'd learned to fight the little battles, and he got harder and harder, and he kept fighting them until he got to Goliath, defeated him, one man, and then all the armies are encouraged, and they go and fight. Hey, sometimes when you stand alone, it's so important because there's other brethren watching you, and you can encourage them to make the right decision, and encourage them to go into the fight. So guys, in conclusion, I told you guys that the time of the sermon was from Joash to David. There's nothing wrong with being a Joash. Nothing wrong at all. If you're a baby in Christ who's seven years old, he needed a Jehoita. He needed a godly man. Children need godly parents. They need good pastors. They need good preachers. If you're a baby in Christ, you need good, godly examples. Go for it! I encourage you to surround yourself with godly men and godly leaders. It's awesome. But there comes a time as well that Joash didn't learn. Now that I've had good influences, I need to make sure that my faith in the Lord is strong. I need to make sure my understanding of the Scriptures is sound. I need to make sure that I can stand alone, even when everybody else is against me. Even when I don't have any godly leaders around me, I can still stand strong. You need to go from being a Joash to a David. Like I said, I hope there's always godly men around you, but you never know. There may come a time when there's no new Life Baptist judge. There may come a time when there's persecution and great hatred for the Word of God in this world. I don't know. But when that time comes, I hope you've taken this teaching on board and your faith is stronger than ever. I hope that when the battles come in your life today, you recognise them. Instead of ignoring them, you recognise them as small battles to win so that way the Lord can use you to eventually fight the Goliath, to fight the bigger battles and influence hundreds of thousands of other Christians around you. Alright, let's pray.