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[0:00] Good morning. Greetings. In the name of Jesus, the only name by which man may be saved, Mein Holtz.

[0:16] Grace be to you and peace from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ. As we have heard in so many ways already through song about worth and I think that is so much when you come up here and you feel your unworthiness but you know that your worthiness is in Jesus.

[0:39] It is only in Him. That is why we can do what we can do. And it's been a while since we've been here and I see a lot of new faces and I don't remember faces very well anyhow.

[0:53] And for those of you that don't know me, my name is Peter Neustetter as was mentioned and my wife Helen is with me as well. And we are from Cornerstone Church in the Creed area.

[1:08] And we've been serving for a while already. My theme for this morning is battles, fighting battles of the Lord.

[1:21] And this story, this David and Goliath story, it is a story that a lot of us have grown up with as children's stories.

[1:34] And we naturally gravitate to stories like that. And I do anyhow. And it is a beautiful story of a young man, how he conquers.

[1:51] King David was a man after God's own heart. And he was a man of war. In his later life, he had a lot of time fighting.

[2:05] He fought a lot of battles. And he was very accustomed to war at a very young age. And this story that, this 1 Samuel chapter 17, talks about how he got into that mindset or that thought of who he was.

[2:24] And one thing we will see is that David did what he did in the battle against Goliath.

[2:36] 90% of that battle against Goliath had already been conquered. He had already won that battle somewhere else. There's a lot.

[2:50] His mindset was prepared for the battle with Goliath. In essence, there was no battle. This battle that, or these stories that we have, that we read to our children about David and Goliath, it never was, that was never the battle.

[3:10] And we want to look at that today, that other part, what was going on. There's a quote that I read somewhere, and it says, my mind is a bad neighborhood, and I try not to go into it.

[3:28] You might think, what is that quote about? What, what might not? And the concept is that the minds, our mind, can be a very treacherous place.

[3:42] It is easy to fall into discouragement. It's easy to fall, to, to become confused, and things like that, when we, when our mind takes control of, of who we are.

[3:59] The passage I want to speak on is 1 Samuel 17, and I just got you to read a few verses, but I want to kind of go through the whole story.

[4:11] And, and there is, there's so much in it, and so often, as I said already, we often take the main characters as David and Goliath.

[4:22] But there's a lot of other characters that are behind the scene, and that is what we want to look at this morning. And I have titled this mass, this message, The Battles Before Goliath.

[4:37] And before we go into that, let's open in a word of prayer. Lord, Heavenly Father, Lord, again, we just thank you so much for who you are, and, and Lord, the opportunity to come into your house, and, and to sing, and to worship you, and, and Lord, also to come under your word.

[5:01] And Lord, I just pray that your word would speak to us, and Lord, that you would give me clarity of thought, and, and this, this passage that has been repeated over and over again, maybe even worldwide.

[5:14] And, and Lord, may you just give us new insight. We thank you in Jesus' precious name. Amen. I, I, I want to look at four points this morning, in, in chapter 17 of 1 Samuel.

[5:39] I want to look at number one, the fear of man promotes inactivity. And, here, we see that in the first 11 verses.

[5:49] And, the first 11 verses talk about King Saul. And he is a very, he is a very important character in this story.

[6:01] And, and how different he is from David. I want to read verses 1 to 11. Now the Philistines gathered together their armies to battle, and were gathered together at Shokoth, which belongeth to Judah, and pitched between Shokoth and Aztec in Ephesdamin.

[6:26] 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.

[6:39] And there was a valley between them. And there went out a champion, out of the camp of the Philistine, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.

[6:52] So here, this six cubits and a span, it is nine, it's calculated to be nine feet nine inches. That is the size of this Goliath that is standing there, wanting someone to come and fight him.

[7:07] And he had a helmet, a jacket of brass upon his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was 5,000 shekels of brass. And this coat that he had on is calculated to be 125 pounds.

[7:24] So we see this big man, he's totally covered in brass. And he had greaves of brass upon his legs, and a target of brass between his shoulders.

[7:35] And the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and his spear's head weighed 600 shekels of iron. And one bearing a shield went before him. And he stood and cried unto the armies of Israel, and said unto them, Why are ye come out to set your battle in array?

[7:50] Am not I a Philistine, and ye servants of Saul? Choose ye a man for you, and let him come down to me. If he be able to fight with me, and to kill me, then we will be your servants.

[8:04] 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.

[8:16] Give me a man that we may fight together. When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid. So here we have two armies.

[8:31] They are one on one side of the valley, and one on the other side of the valley. And the Philistines, they send out this huge mountain of a man. Into the middle of the, bottom of the valley, and he's yelling and cursing at Saul's army, and telling them, Send me one man, and I will fight him, and if he takes me down, then we will be your servants.

[8:55] And if we, and if I take him, then you become our servants. And when we, when we think of that concept, that, that would, that would strike fear into any human being.

[9:08] To think that this, this man would now become our, we would become their slave. And, and the last verse, what I read was, and Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistines.

[9:25] They were dismayed and greatly afraid. So, going back, into this story a little bit, if we could back up a couple chapters, and I don't know if you know the story, but when you look at King Saul, when you look at King Saul's background, he was, he was a very big man.

[9:48] He was, a head taller, than all the men in Israel. He was a big man, but he wasn't hardly as big as, as Goliath. King Saul was a chosen man of God.

[10:01] God specifically chose him, to lead the children of Israel. And the children of Israel, willingly followed him. He, he was a man that they wanted, as their leader.

[10:14] And King Saul, he had fought many battles already. And he had won a lot of battles. He had, when he went into the, into war, he took God with him, and he always prevailed.

[10:29] That's what King Saul was. And, just a little bit more history, in, of, of, of these battles, the way that, the battles used to be fought, in that, in those days.

[10:45] When a king would take his army, to battle, he would always be in the front line. He would always be leading, the charge. He wouldn't be, back there somewhere, sending out, his men.

[10:59] When I, when I think of that, and I, think of all the, wars in the world today, we have our, the people that are making, the decisions about war, they're sitting in a nice, air conditioned room, and they're sending, all of these men into battle, and they're getting killed.

[11:16] If war would have been, if a war today, was like it would have been, back then, we would have a lot less war. So why isn't, Saul out fighting Goliath?

[11:28] Our, verse in 11 says, that he's great, he's gripped, by fear. He's afraid, of this man, this mountain, of a man.

[11:39] In previous chapters, we would also have seen, that, that Saul was, well liked. He wanted, people to think, well of him.

[11:53] He wanted, people to honor him. They wanted, he wanted to be lifted up. That is the kind of man, that Saul was. And, he's come to a point, in his life, he's not out there, in the front, fighting the battle.

[12:08] He's, he's get, trying to get some of his men, to go out there, and, and do the fighting. In this, in the previous chapters, we would also have seen, that, the spirit of the Lord, came upon him.

[12:25] So he had the Holy Spirit, with him, for the time, that he was, this fighting man. But in the very last, in chapter 16, we see that, the spirit of the Lord, had left him.

[12:39] Verse 6, chapter 16, verse 14 says, but the spirit of the Lord, departed from Saul, and an evil spirit, from the Lord, troubled him. So, Saul has lost sight, of what, what the Lord's battle, is all about.

[12:55] He's totally, he can't see it anymore. He can't see the Lord, in the battle. So if we're a person, that is always concerned, about what everyone else thinks, or mind, or our mind, is engulfed, with fear, it's easy to fall, in the same trap, that Saul was in.

[13:16] Where, what will people think of me? Or what does this person think? That is where, Saul was. He didn't want to take a chance, in losing this battle, against Goliath.

[13:30] He could not go there. So we see that, the fear of man, promotes inactivity. When, when we are so gripped, with the fear of man, what we see in Saul's life, he was just doing nothing.

[13:46] And the second point, I want to bring out today, is, is to defeat your enemy, you first have to overcome, your friends. And as I, as I saw this concept, I, I was just really struck by it.

[14:02] That this is, part of, how David, fought Goliath. And I want to read, verses, uh, 12, to 28.

[14:12] Now David, was of, was the son of the Ephratite, of Bethlehem, Judah, whose name was Jesse. And he had eight sons, and the man went among, and he, the man went among men, for an old man, in the days of Saul.

[14:30] And the three eldest sons of Jesse, went and allowed Saul, to the battle. Followed Saul, to the battle. And the names of, his three sons, that went to the battle, were Eliab, the firstborn. And the next, unto him, Abinadad, and the third, Shema.

[14:45] And David was the youngest, and the eldest, 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.

[15:02] And Jesse said, so here, Samuel is writing about, putting in a little bit of a, a thing about, about Goliath.

[15:12] He says, and the Philistine drew near, morning and evening, and presented himself, forty days. So this, standoff had happened now, had been there now, for forty days, where this Goliath, had always come, and yelled at, at the, Saul's army.

[15:30] And then in verse 17, it says, and Jesse said unto David, his son. So this is, David's father. Take now for thy brethren, an ephah of parched corn, and these ten loaves, and run to the camp, to thy brethren.

[15:45] And carry these ten cheeses, unto the captain, of their thousands. And look, how they, 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.

[15:59] So they're not, they're not really fighting, they're just in a standoff. They're just standing there, looking at each other. But it is a fight. It is a, it is a, it is a more of a fight in the mind, trying to, to wrap their head around, what is happening.

[16:15] And so David arose 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 the fight, and shouted for the battle.

[16:28] 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.

[16:40] 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 Philistine, and spake, according to the same words, and David heard them.

[16:52] So as David is coming, to this camp of the army, of the Philistines, of Saul's army, this giant is coming out, and he's making his statement.

[17:03] And David is standing there, and listening to this Goliath, of a man. And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him, and were sore afraid.

[17:16] 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.

[17:33] So Saul has already, tried to, to dig up a plan, to see if someone, isn't going to, risk his life, to go and fight, this Philistine. And then verse 26 says, And David spake, to the men, and stood by him, saying, What shall be done, to the man, that killeth this Philistine, and taketh away, the reproach from Israel?

[17:55] 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.

[18:07] And then in verse 28, And Eliab, his eldest brother, so Eliab, his eldest brother, is standing right there, listening to this conversation. And then it says, And Eliab, his brother, heard when he spake, unto the men, and Eliab's anger, was kindled against David.

[18:24] And he said, Why camest thou, down hither? And with whom hast thou, left those few sheep, in the wilderness? I know thy pride, and the naughtiness, of thine heart. For thou art come down, that thou, might see the battle.

[18:38] Thou mightest, see the battle. So here we have, David, he's coming.

[18:58] He's been feeding, his father's sheep, and his father is, curious about, they've been gone now, 40 days. He's asking David, to go out there, and see how they're doing.

[19:10] And he brings some gifts, some food, for his brothers, and their captain. David is doing exactly, what his father, wants him to do. Well, what does his brother do?

[19:24] How does his brother, see this? And we see this, in verse 28. David came there, David came there, to serve him, to bring him food, and to see how they were doing.

[19:48] It doesn't tell us, how far David had traveled, but he had left in the morning, and he had gone on foot, pulling a carriage. So how does, his brother respond?

[20:02] Does Eliab, say to his brother, David, I'm so excited, to see you. I'm so excited, to have some fresh bread, after 40 days, of this, intense struggle, that they were in.

[20:18] No, that's not how, he responds. Eliab rebukes David, and tells him, that it's because, of his pride, and his naughtiness, and his, or wickedness, that he has come.

[20:34] If we put ourselves, in a situation, how would we have responded? How would we have responded, in that situation, where Eliab was in? It seems like, there was such, fear, and anxiety, in the camp, that there was, nothing positive, going on.

[20:53] David could have responded, in a very negative way. He could have said, something like, you have no idea, what I went through, to get here. I'm hot, I'm thirsty, I'm tired.

[21:06] You can't speak, to me like this. That's, that's how brothers, often respond, to one another, right? When, when a brother, responds negatively, we often respond, negatively back.

[21:22] That could have, that could have been, the end of, David's story. He could have, gone home, back to feeding his sheep. Because of this negativity, that he got, from his brother, he could have easily, fought his brother, and his brother, was way bigger than him, and he would have, gotten a licking, and walked back home.

[21:44] That could have been, the end of the story. It's very easy, when there's, internal fighting, to take our eyes, off the real enemy. The real enemy, David's enemy, was standing, across, the valley, and his name, was Goliath.

[22:02] David, so easily, could have, gotten caught up, with his, fighting his brother, and, who would have won? Goliath, would have won, right?

[22:15] But David, doesn't do that. David, David came there, for his brother. He didn't come there, to be against his brother.

[22:27] When things get heated, it's very easy, to confuse, who the enemy is. And we all go through, things like this, where, where there's a, battle brewing, and, and we think that it is, could be our brother, our sister, or a friend, a dear friend, that is, becoming our enemy.

[22:50] But David, wasn't confused, at all. He knew exactly, who his enemy was, and he was, across the valley. It would have been, very different, if David had fallen, for this.

[23:05] Then in verse 29, and 30, we see how David, responds. And David said, what have I done? Is there not a cause? And he turned from him, toward another, and spake, after the same manner.

[23:19] And the people answered him, after the former manner. So in verse 29, it says, what have I done? And then in verse 30, he says, and he turned, from him.

[23:33] He simply turned away, because he knew, that his brother, was in such a, frame of mind, there was nothing, that he could have said. And sometimes, we are in those situations, where, a friend, says something, that, there is no, response, to that.

[23:52] It is like, we need to do, what David did. He turned, from him. Because he knew, the enemy, wasn't his brother. He knew, that he had not, come, to fight his brother.

[24:06] The situation, that David, would have found himself in, would have been very, would have been very stressful, as those few verses, that we see, that they were, they were greatly afraid.

[24:18] So all of these men, they were just fearful. All of, the whole army, was in great fear. They had listened, to Goliath, cursing them, for 40 days. Morning, and evening, this man, he came out there, cursing the armies, of Saul.

[24:34] So this was a big test, for David, on the path, toward his real battle. To defeat, for David, to get to that battle, that God wanted him, to be in, he first had to overcome, his friends.

[24:50] And his friend, was his brother. So, the third point, that I want to look at, this morning, is victory is birthed, in right words, and thoughts.

[25:02] And I want to read, verses 31 to 33. And the one, the words, were heard, which David spake, and when the words, which, when the words, were heard, which David spake, they rehearsed them, before Saul, and he sent, for him.

[25:22] So, it sounds like, Saul has, or David has, has been asking, to see Saul. Like, maybe I can fight him. I don't know, it doesn't tell us, what David actually said.

[25:32] But then, verse 32 says, And David said to Saul, Let no man's heart fail, because of him. Thy servant will go, and fight with this Philistine.

[25:44] And Saul said to David, Thou art not able, 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.

[25:57] So, victory, this point, victory is birthed, in right words, and thoughts. So, here we have, King Saul.

[26:09] He's, the king, of God's chosen people. As I mentioned, before already, he's a big man.

[26:26] He's a head taller, than all the men of Israel. He's a seasoned warrior. If anyone knew, what it would take, to take down Goliath, Saul, should have been the man.

[26:41] Saul, should have been the one, that knew, what it would take, to take down Goliath. It should have been obvious, to David, if Saul says, you can't do it, then he would just, okay, Saul, if you say, I can't do it, then I guess I can't do it.

[27:04] That would have been, the normal reaction, for any youth, coming up against, this big man, Saul, the king of Israel. He says, Saul, David, you're a youth.

[27:16] This man has been, a warrior, a warrior, from his youth. He's nine feet tall. You can't fight him.

[27:28] Maybe you're here today, and you're facing a situation, that you have your heart set on, and some wise, person is telling you, you can't do it.

[27:43] Maybe that's, part of your life, right now. David, David, came his older brother, now he has to overcome the king.

[27:56] How easy it would have been, for David, to just turn around, and go back home. He did. He tried, right? But David, David didn't do that.

[28:09] How does David respond? We see that in verses 34 to 36. And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father's sheep, and there came a lion and a bear, and took the lamb out of the flock, and I went after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth.

[28:28] 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 has defied the armies of the living God.

[28:48] He starts off with a very, very fitting term.

[29:01] We know who Saul is, right? We know he's a man that wants to be looked up to. He wants to be honored. He wants to be praised. He wants to be the king of Israel because that's who he is.

[29:15] And David starts off with, Thy servant. He puts himself under Saul. David gives Saul the respect that he deserves.

[29:26] This is a man of war. He's the king of Israel. God's chosen man for the job. And David comes to him, and he puts himself under him.

[29:38] He gives him the respect that he needs. David gets right to the heart of Saul. He does exactly what Saul needs.

[29:49] He needs someone to respect him. When we look at Saul, before we saw that he was very bound up in what people thought of him, that is, that is, this man.

[30:04] So when David addresses him as thy servant, I believe that he has Saul's full attention. Saul is now listening to him. Then in verse 36, he addresses Goliath, the man that needs to be fought.

[30:21] And he says, uncircumcised Philistine. Again, he gets right at the heart of who Saul is. What does this mean?

[30:35] Saul understood exactly what David was saying. But we can easily miss this when David addresses the Philistine, when he calls him an uncircumcised Philistine.

[30:46] He is saying that Goliath is outside of the covenant of God. When God made a covenant with Abraham, circumcision was part of that. Uncircumcision means that Goliath is outside of God's will.

[31:03] He's a nobody. This man that is wanting, that needs someone to fight him, he is nobody. He's outside of God's will. Saul gets what David is saying.

[31:17] Then listen to how Saul, how David addresses Saul's army. In verse 36, he says, the armies of the living God.

[31:31] So here, this big army that has already tried to dissuade him, one of the men that is his brother has tried to, David, just go home. We're all scared and afraid, and this, nobody can fight this man.

[31:48] He's come through the army, and now he addresses that army as the armies of the living God. I think we also need to ask ourselves, how do we see the men and women that are fighting around us?

[32:05] Do we see each other as the army of the living God? Even his brother, the one that tried to dissuade him, that told him, just go home, David.

[32:25] You're not wanted here. He's part of that army of the living God. I think we sometimes treat our sisters and brothers like Eliab treated his brother, David, as enemies and not friends, as enemies that we need to fight when we're actually fighting the same battle.

[32:51] We have the same enemy. David and his brother Eliab, they had the same enemy, and he was Goliath. Verse 37, we see that David ends by bringing in the Lord.

[33:07] Verse 37 says, And 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 the Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go, and the Lord be with thee.

[33:21] David sees the big picture. David was secure in his knowledge of God and what he could do. David looks back into his past and takes experiences that he has had with God.

[33:41] We can too draw on what David is doing here. When something big is in front of us, may it be health issues, may it be whatever, we can look at our past and see what God has done.

[33:56] I believe that's what David is teaching us. Look at your past. Look what God has done. King Saul and his army were locked in fear because they had forgotten what God had done.

[34:10] They had forgotten who God was and how he fought. Proverbs 23, verse 7 says, For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.

[34:23] Basically, this tells us that our sum, that the sum of our thoughts is who we are. Then we are also constantly moving in the direction of our strongest thoughts.

[34:38] Whatever our thoughts are thinking, that is the direction that we are going. The vocabulary that we use in whatever situation that we are in portrays either faith or fear.

[34:52] And I just know for myself how often I don't find myself just like Saul, crippled because of fear of the unknown, not trusting God.

[35:05] All that Satan has to do is to plant a thought in our mind and then we repeat it over and over again hundreds and thousands of times and that is who we become.

[35:16] That is what had happened in this camp. Forty days. Goliath only had to come out morning and evening and these men, they were planting that or saying that over and over in their mind.

[35:31] They were just deathly afraid. everybody, everyone else saw this mountain of a man and David saw the one that can move mountains.

[35:48] That was the difference between David and all of the rest of Saul's army. It's a lot easier to see the mountain than it is to see the one that moves mountains because mountains they tend to rear up right in front of us and there's no way of looking past unless there is a past that is looking forward.

[36:13] Jesus says in Matthew 17 verse 20 and Jesus said unto them because of your unbelief for verily I say unto you if you have faith as the grain of mustard seed you shall say unto this mountain remove hence to yonder place and it shall remove and nothing shall be impossible unto you.

[36:31] This is this is what David was seeing. He saw that there was nothing impossible about this battle. Goliath was a mountain that a faith like mustard seed could remove and David had that kind of faith.

[36:47] I want to read a few verses out of Psalms 103 because a lot of these battles and I think especially this battle that David was fighting it had the big part of the battle had happened in his mind had been won there.

[37:12] Psalm 103 is a psalm of David and we see him rehearsing things he's creating a mindset. Psalm 103 verses 1 to 5 Bless the Lord O my soul and all that is within me bless his holy name bless the Lord O my soul and forget not all his benefits for who forgiveth all thine iniquities who healeth all thy diseases who redeemeth thy life from destruction who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies who satisfies thy mouth with good things so that thy youth is renewed like the eagles and he goes on and we see so many of his psalms they are just like this they are repeating words that will become positive thoughts David's view of the whole situation was from God's perspective he he could see the big picture when David saw Goliath he didn't see a giant of a man he saw a dwarf by rehearsing the victories over the lion and the bear he also remembers

[38:27] God's promises David's mind had already told him he had won this battle my last and final point is to fight the battle the Lord's battle we must do it God's way and we see that in going back to 1st Samuel in verses 38 to 40 and Saul armed David with his armor and he put his helmet of brass upon his head also he armed him with a coat of mail so Saul has just told David okay if you want to fight this giant go and the Lord be with thee but then Saul reverts back to not understanding what this battle is about he arms David with his own armor verse 39 says and David girded his sword upon his armor and assayed to go for he had not proved it and David said unto

[39:38] Saul I cannot go with these for I have not proved them and David put them off it seems like David when we see who David is and who what he was what he had just talked about he just put this on for a show just so that he could obey Saul he knew that this armor would be way to make for him but he puts it on and he shows Saul you know what this armor is not going to work for me this is I can't fight Goliath in this so he takes it off and then in verse 40 he says and he took his staff in his hand and chose 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 which was in his hand and he drew near to the Philistine Goliath was way too big and way to protect it for him to go out there with a sword a little man

[40:44] David was a youth David needed a different kind of armor and I want to turn to Ephesians chapter 6 passage that we're probably all familiar with where the apostle Paul gives us a picture of the armor that that David needed David needed the armor of God I want to read verses 10 to 17 Ephesians chapter 6 finally my brethren be strong in the Lord and the power of his might put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wilds of the devil for we wrestle not against flesh and blood flesh and blood had tried to dissuade David his brother and the king both in their fleshly mind they had tried they had tried to make a fight with him but it says but against principalities against powers against the rulers of the darkness of this world against spiritual wickedness in high places wherefore take unto you the whole armor of

[42:00] God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand stand therefore having your loins gird about with truth and having on the breast parade of righteousness and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace above all taking the shield of faith wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit which is the word of God this is David's armor he was strong in the Lord and in the power of his might his fight was not against his brother but his fight was against the rulers of darkness to fight the Lord's army to fight in the Lord's army we need this battle and David recognized that truth righteousness the gospel of peace shield of faith and the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit which is the word of God and he had that covered in prayer

[43:08] David understood this there's many thoughts about the five smooth stones that David took and that could be a message on its own but it resembles something bigger I think it resembles that God doesn't need anything big to fight in the army in his army let's turn back to 1st Samuel verse 17 chapter 17 one more thought I want to take out of here verses 41 to 51 talk about the battle and I want to read that for us as well and the

[44:08] Philistine came on and drew near unto David and the man that bear the shield went before him and when the Philistine looked about and saw David he disdained him for he was but a youth and rudy 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 is this is his army this is his armor he says I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts verse 46 says 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 to the host of the

[45:16] Philistine this day unto the fowls of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel and all this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear but the battle is the Lord's and he will give you into our hands and it came to pass when the Philistine arose and came and drew nigh to meet David and David hasted and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine and David put his hand in his bag and took hence a stone and sling it and smote the Philistine face to the earth so David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone and smote the Philistine and slew him and drew and there was no sword in David's hand and then 51 as well therefore David ran and stood upon the

[46:16] Philistine and took his sword and drew it out of the sheath thereof and slew him and cut off his head thereof and when the was dead they fled David didn't need a sword he says the Lord does not fight with sword and spear David understood that this wasn't a battle between flesh and blood this was a battle between principalities and powers so to summarize this passage we see that the fear of man promotes inactivity people that are gripped with the fear of man don't accomplish much or anything for the Lord and I think we can all understand that when we are afraid we just don't do anything and my second point was to defeat your enemy you first must overcome your friends fighting the

[47:23] Lord's battle is never against fellow workers it's never against our friends or brothers or sisters in Christ and then thirdly we saw that victory is birthed in right words and thoughts and I will be the first one to admit to have the kind of mindset that David had is no simple feat it doesn't come overnight there are neuroscientists that study the brain it's a big word for me but I saw that somewhere they I guess they study the brain and they tell us that we have trillions of cells in our brain I don't even know what trillion is but that's what they say there's trillions of cells in our brain they say that changing our thought pattern is like moving millions of rocks one rock at a time they picture our brain like a big pile of small rocks and you have to take one rock carry it away take another rock and carry it away we are living in such a fast paced world we all would just want to go there with a wheel loader and move it right we want our mindset changed right away but that's what scientists tell us that to change our thought pattern it has to happen one piece at a time now that is why so many people they give up long before they have changed their thought pattern changing our thought pattern can take a lifetime that is why it's so so very important for you young people to build this thought pattern into such a way that you won't one day have to change it have the right thought pattern from the time you're young

[49:37] David was a youth he was a young man and he already had his thought pattern to such a place where he knew who God was he knew what it took to overcome enemies David was a youth with the right kind of thought pattern once we get older we start moving all these rocks one at a time a lot of people never get around to it they just have this saying we've always done it like this we've always thought like this we will always think like this and that is very very true that thinking cannot be moved unless we really really want to and the fourth thing we saw is that the

[50:37] Lord's battle must be done must be fought his way in Christ we have everything we need to fight this battle whatever that is that we are fighting with and we are all either in a battle or we are coming through one second Corinthians 12 verse 9 and 10 where the apostle Paul has begged the Lord to remove a thorn in his flesh he says we read like this and he said unto me the Lord is speaking he says my grace is sufficient for thee for my strength is made perfect in weakness most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me therefore I take pleasures in infirmity and reproaches and necessities and persecutions and distresses for Christ's sake for when I am weak then I am strong this was David's mindset he knew that in his flesh he didn't have what it took to fight Goliath

[51:38] God is looking for men and women like that today David was a man after God's own heart it doesn't take strength or statue or beauty or smarts or whatever you want to put in there it doesn't take none of that all it takes is a heart of humility before the Lord allowing him to fight our battles when we are weak then are we strong that is David's story that is how he fought Goliath it wasn't with a sword wasn't with a spear none of that the Lord fought his battle and he knew that wasn't his brother and wasn't the king he knew who it was let's pray Lord father in heaven Lord again we just thank you so much for your word we thank you for your spirit we thank you for stories like this in your word and

[52:47]  Lord we see how David a young man a youth how he had already built a thought pattern that honored you and Lord that gave him the strength to fight your battles because he did it in his weakness Lord may that also go with us as weak as we are that is who you use you don't use us in our strength use us in our weakness may you Lord Jesus go with us in Jesus name amen him us to him to time to how to