[0:00] Well, good morning to you all and welcome to Union Baptist Church. Whether you are here or tuning in online, you're really, really, really welcome amongst us. I wonder as you come this morning, are you recognising the one we come to worship, the God who is able, able to do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine? Listen to these verses from Exodus 14, verses 13 and 14.
[0:30] Moses answered the people, do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring today. They're standing in front of a sea with the Egyptians bearing down on them. And the Egyptians you see today, you will never see again. The Lord himself will fight for you. You need only be still. Shall we ask the Lord just to help us to do that this morning as we come in worship?
[1:02] Let's draw near to him in prayer. Father, there are so many loud voices that deafen us at times in this world. We want to draw near to you this morning to know your powerful and loving presence with us. Help us, Lord, to be still and to know that you're God. Amen. Well, can I invite you to stand and we're going to bless the Lord and think of the 10,000 reasons we can praise him. Let's worship God together, shall we?
[1:37] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Unc Amen.
[2:24] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. All again, whatever may pass and whatever lies before me, let me be singing when the evening comes.
[2:48] Bless the Lord, O my soul, O my soul, worship His holy name. Sing like never before, O my soul, I'll worship Your holy name.
[3:11] You're rich in love and you're slow to anger. Your name is great and your heart is kind. For all your goodness I will keep on singing.
[3:25] Ten thousand reasons for my heart to find. Bless the Lord, O my soul, O my soul, worship His holy name.
[3:42] Sing like never before, O my soul, I'll worship Your holy name.
[3:55] And on that day when my strength is failing, the end draws near and my time has come.
[4:06] Still my soul will sing Your praise unending. Ten thousand years are there forevermore.
[4:16] Ten thousand years are there forever, O my soul, I'll worship Your holy name.
[4:28] Sing like never before, O my soul, I'll worship Your holy name.
[4:39] I'll worship Your holy name. Yes, I'll worship Your holy name. Now, do take a seat.
[4:56] And just want to introduce you to a friend of mine. This is Wally White Sheep. It's a very carefully named sheep.
[5:07] So if you would, do you mind just waving to him? Just making sure everybody's waving. That's marvellous. Very good. That makes him feel more at home now. Wally and I have been having a chat this week.
[5:20] And he's agreed that I can share some things with you. So Wally's been having a bit of a hard time. He's been very, very, very scared.
[5:33] He's been very, very, very anxious. And he's been feeling very, very, very alone.
[5:54] So I've been talking to Wally and we've been having a chat about things. And I just wanted to ask him one or two questions. And perhaps you can just be praying for him during this time.
[6:09] So, Wally, you mentioned that you're feeling very alone in your field. But I did see you in your field and you weren't actually alone.
[6:25] He said, that's true, Malcolm, but it felt like I was alone. Well, there were lots of other sheep there. Did you notice that? He says, now you come to mention it, that is true.
[6:40] Now, I thought it might be helpful just to maybe help Wally not to feel alone. And perhaps somebody could come and sit on this little stool here and just hold his foot.
[6:51] Would anybody want to do that? Could you come and do that for him? Yeah? Yeah? Come on, Ruben. Thank you.
[7:03] And then he'll really know he's not alone, won't he, Ruben? So you come and sit on there and you can hold his foot. Is it a foot?
[7:15] A hoof. You're quite right, Ruben. It's a hoof. Have you got his foot? Oh, it's a hoof. His hoof. Sorry, yes. Good. Now, the other thing Wally was telling me was that he had a terrible, terrible situation where he had a bad encounter with brambles.
[7:32] Has anybody else had one of those? A bad encounter with brambles? It would help him to know if you have. Yeah, yeah. A few people have. Some of them I had. Oh, there we go. Now, how did you get out of the brambles?
[7:44] Hold on. I think he's got... You have to let go just as he talks to me. You can hold him again now. He said the good shepherd actually took all the brambles off.
[7:58] Oh, that's good, isn't it? Who's this good shepherd? He said, you know, the good shepherd who looks after the sheep.
[8:11] So hold on a minute, Willie. I just want to get this clear. You are feeling really alone, really scared, really frightened. But in fact, you're with a whole load of other sheep.
[8:25] And the good shepherd was looking after you. He says, now you come to mention it, that is true. Well, I think we should...
[8:37] Does anybody... I wonder if some of us sometimes feel really alone, all on our own. And we're not. And we think that God is far away. And he's not.
[8:49] He's promised he's never going to leave us or forsake us. So what we're going to do is... This evening, George is going to be preaching on Psalm 23. But we thought we'd say Psalm 23 together to one another and to Willie.
[9:04] Is that all right? I think it's going to come up on the screen. Thank you very much, David. So, shall we say this together? The Lord is my shepherd. I have everything I need.
[9:16] He lets me rest in green pastures. He leads me to calm waters. He gives me new strength. He leads me on the path that...
[9:28] For the good of his name. Even though I walk through the very dark valley, I will not be afraid, because you are with me.
[9:40] Your rod and staff comfort me. You prepare a meal for me in front of my enemies. You pour oil of blessing on my head.
[9:52] You fill my cup to overflowing. Surely your goodness and love will be with me all my life. And I will live in the house of the Lord forever.
[10:07] Amen. Thank you, Reuben. Has that been good, holding his paw? Oh, his hoof? Lovely. Bless you. Shall we give Reuben a clap? Let's turn to God in prayer, shall we?
[10:27] The Bible says to us, do not worry about anything, what you will eat or drink or what you will wear. Your Heavenly Father knows that you need all these things, but seek first God's kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you as well.
[10:42] Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, forgive us for our worry-filled lives. Even though our needs have always been met, we fear losing what we already have, and we don't always trust you to provide.
[10:58] Many of us are already worried about tomorrow. We daily wait for bad news. Forgive us for fixing our eyes on our own health and our own comforts.
[11:08] Lord, we want to thank you for the example of your son, Jesus, who has shown us how to seek first your kingdom above all things. Thank you that because of his obedience, bearing our sin, and every fear on the cross, we can know peace with you, peace with others, and peace with ourselves.
[11:28] We are so grateful. We ask for you to remind us, Lord, of the many ways in which you meet our needs on a daily basis, and help us to be filled with joy that you have overcome our final enemy, death, and are preparing an eternal, perfect home where there'll be no more worry and fear.
[11:48] We praise you. Amen. We're going to sing together a song which is our verse for the year. I was thinking we must do this, and somebody else in the congregation said, hey, I think we ought to sing this song, so it's confirmed.
[12:05] May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him. Shall we stand and worship God? May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him.
[12:33] As you trust in him. May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace. May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him.
[12:44] As you trust in him. So that you might overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
[12:58] So that you might overflow with hope, with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
[13:11] May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace. May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him.
[13:25] May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him.
[13:36] As you trust in him. May a woman and peace as you trust in him. May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace and peace. May the power of the Holy Spirit. So that you might overflow with hope, with hope, by the power of the Holy Spirit.
[13:57] Father God, I love you Father God, I trust you Father God, I need you every day Fill me with your hope, Lord Fill me with your joy, Lord Fill me with your peace Let your love flow Good morning, good morning What a lovely, lovely crowd of people And if you're watching at home, I can see you, lovely I can tell though some of you have not signed up for the weekend away yet So if you're struggling on how to sign up Please see me afterwards and I'll introduce you to somebody who can Or actually I've got it on the phone here You just go on the website, press the button that says home If you can find it
[14:58] And there it is, you can sign up That's lovely Do you know what's on the weekend coming? It's a great weekend with a lovely program There's some really good teaching from Paul Woolley Coming to teach us about confidence in our everyday life Have you got confidence for tomorrow?
[15:17] Some people have lost a lot of confidence over these last few days Here's a good teaching for us So the morning sessions will be on teaching And there'll be special sessions for young people So bring your children along Bring your grandchildren along Bring your grandma along as well They can go all in the same group There'll be some videos for the very young ones There'll be games for the older ones And some teaching for the older ones too There's various little groups that you can go to If you like doing craft work I think you will find that Judith has some wonderful crafts ready Which will then be seen on Sunday Probably around the church Hope you'll be part of that If you prefer to play games There'll be some good games It might be team building things All sorts of stuff With the Youth for Christ They're going to be helping with that And with the young people as well If you like drama Hopefully Karen Bates will be leading a group on A story on Daniel
[16:18] Looking at his front line If you just want to come for chatting and a coffee And meet people There'll be coffee and tea all day long And there'll be a room where you can meet with other people and chat If you'd actually just rather come and do prayer Just have a time of prayer to be with the Lord that day The prayer room is going to be open as well There's going to be a little bit of teaching in the afternoon On looking at the Bible What it means to us If you'd like some exercise If it's a nice day Dawn will be taking you for a 50 mile walk Is it?
[16:49] Oh, five One mile walk There'll be a walk If it's pouring with rain Don't worry you won't miss up Because we hope that Kim Mullard might be doing some I'm not sure, is it Pilates?
[17:02] Or something to get you moving So a really fun packed afternoon There'll be a morning There'll also be Syndesis Doing our singing What's their name?
[17:14] Syndesis Thank you, Syndesis So if you haven't signed up Please come and see me afterwards If you don't know how to sign up If you do know how to sign up Please could you do it Because we need to know How many people are here You'll be there Just in case you were wondering Paul Woolley is not related to woolly white sheep Just in case So if you want to take away one of the leaflets About the weekend at home Then please do so They're just over here on the table And also if you didn't pick up a pledging form For the Living Stones project There's some there as well And finally on your pews You may well have seen This little card About bereavement service A brilliant thing to come to If you have lost a loved one recently And would like to know more of the Lord's comfort But also If you could Got people that you know Have lost loved ones Wouldn't it be a brilliant thing To say I think you'd find this really helpful So they may not have come to church For many many years
[18:14] But really helpful Lots of people have found these services Really really good So God bless you As you And perhaps we'll ask him now Just to help us To think of people we could invite Let's pray shall we Father You love to comfort those who mourn Particularly pray for Karen As she mourns the loss of her mum this week And we pray for those we know Who've lost loved ones Over the last year or two Place them on our mind Show us who we could ask To come along to this little service We pray Lord You go before us And prepare their hearts In Jesus name Amen Well as the children go out We're going to watch a worship video You can hum along Or sing if you like That was recorded during lockdown So perhaps we can just ask the children And the young people To go to their groups now God bless you The grace of God has reached for me
[19:26] And pulled me from the raging sea And I am safe On this solid ground The Lord is my salvation I will not fear when darkness falls His strength will help me scale these walls I will see the dawn of the rising sun The Lord is my salvation Who is like the Lord our God Strong to save faithful In love my death is pain
[20:30] And the victory won The Lord is my salvation My hope is hidden in the Lord He flowers each promise of His word When winter fades I know spring will come The Lord is my salvation In times of waiting In times of need When I know lust When I am weak I know His grace Will renew these days The Lord is my salvation
[21:31] Who is like the Lord our God Strong to save faithful In love my death is pain And the victory won The Lord is my salvation And when I reach the final day He will not leave me in the grave But I will rise You will call me home The Lord is my salvation The Lord is my salvation Who is like the Lord our God
[22:34] Strong to save faithful In love my death is pain And the victory won The Lord is my salvation The Lord is my salvation Glory be to God the Father Glory be to God the Son Glory be to God the Son Glory be to God the Son Glory be to God the Son Glory be to God the Son Glory be to God the Son
[23:41] Glory be to God the Son The Lord is my salvation The Lord is my salvation The Lord is my salvation The Lord is our salvation The Lord is my light and my salvation Whom shall I fear?
[24:21] The Lord is the stronghold of my life Of whom shall I be afraid? We come together before the Lord Our light, our salvation And our stronghold in prayer Lord, we pray for the world For those for whom the world seems a very dark place Not one of light We pray for the many nations of the world Torn apart by war, poverty, natural disasters and dictatorship We know, Lord, that you are not the author of confusion But of peace So we pray for a ceasefire in Ukraine A withdrawal of Russian forces And for peace to prevail We pray for the innocent The women, men and children who are displaced Those lives that are disrupted Who live in fear of the atrocities of war
[25:23] We pray for those with power That they may make a resolute and public decision To never use force To actively work for peace And seek peaceful solutions to dispute and disagreement We pray for the women We pray for the women who are For the women who are
[26:39] For the women who are in the church May we be real and authentic Being available and committed To spend time with those in need Not bringing attention to ourselves But to point everyone to the good And loving, saving God that you are Lord, we pray for all those who will find today Long and hard For those in hospital Or ill or at home Those struggling with despair or desperation Those waiting for important news Or waiting for a friend to call Those struggling to pay their bills To feed their children The rough sleepers and the unemployed We pray for all in need We pray for all in need May we sit alongside them Being prepared to listen And to give our time As we serve you in faithfulness
[27:39] We name in our hearts Any people we know in special need Comfort and heal all those who suffer In body, mind or spirit And give them courage and hope And shine your light on them As they face each day And gracious God We pray for us, your church family Here at UBC For your presence to be seen vividly In what we do And what we say each day We pray that your joy and love Will flow freely in us and through us And that we might never be seen By those around us As falling short of the teachings Of Jesus Christ our Lord Father, help us to hold high The standard of your teaching Even when it's hard to apply To our modern way of life
[28:40] May we strive to never lower your standards Or to change what you teach But to pray diligently For a realistic understanding Of what you want for us In every aspect of our lives That we may honour you And live lives worthy Of the calling we have received So Lord, as we begin a new week May we daily invite your Holy Spirit To grow within us To help us to love and serve To help us to shine In ways that reflect your character Your truth Your grace Mercy, love And salvation Amen Good morning everyone
[29:44] Now it's time to open your Bibles To 1 Samuel chapter 17 In these Red Church Bibles That's on page 288 1 Samuel 17 David and Goliath Now the Philistines Had gathered their forces for war And assembled at Soco In Judah They pitched camp At Ephes Damim Between Soco And Ezekiah Saul and the Israelites Assembled and camped In the valley of Elah And drew up the battle line To meet the Philistines The Philistines Occupied one hill And the Israelites Another With a valley Between them And a champion Named Goliath Who was from Gath
[30:44] Came out of the Philistine camp His height His height was six cubits And a span He had a bronze helmet On his head And wore a coat of scale armor Of bronze Weighing 5,000 shekels On his legs Were bronze greaves And a bronze javelin Was slung On his back His spear shaft Was like a weaver's rod And its iron point Weighed 600 shekels His shield bearer Went ahead of him Goliath stood And shouted To the ranks of Israel Why do you come out And line up for battle?
[31:30] Am I not a Philistine? And are you not The servants of Saul? Choose a man And let him come down to me If he is able to fight And kill me We will become your subjects But if I overcome him And kill him You will become our subjects And serve us Then the Philistine said This day I defy the armies of Israel Give me a man And let us fight each other On hearing the Philistine's words Saul and all the Israelites Were dismayed And terrified Now let's look at verse 25 Now the Israelites had been saying Do you see how this man Keeps coming out?
[32:20] He comes out to defy Israel The king will give great wealth To the man who kills him He will also give him His daughter in marriage And will exempt his family From taxes in Israel David asked the men Standing near him What will be done For the man who kills this Philistine And removes this disgrace From Israel?
[32:44] Who is this uncircumcised Philistine That he should defy the armies Of the living God? Now look at verse 32 David said to Saul Let no one lose heart On account of this Philistine Your servant will go And fight him Saul replied You're not able to go out Against this Philistine And fight him You are only a young man And he has been a warrior From his youth But David said to Saul Your servant has been keeping His father's sheep When a lion or a bear came And carried off a sheep From the flock I went after it Struck it And rescued the sheep From its mouth When it turned on me I seized it by its hair Struck it And killed it Your servant has killed Both the lion And the bear
[33:45] This uncircumcised Philistine Will be like one of them Because he has defied The armies Of the living God The Lord Who rescued me From the paw of the lion And the paw of the bear Will rescue me From the hand Of this Philistine Saul said to David Go And the Lord Be with ye Reading that And I was very grateful For you to read The particular verses One and two That was very well done Excellent Shall we ask the Lord To speak to us Through his word Father this is a Really well known story That we've had read To us No doubt As a child We pray That by your spirit You would speak To us this morning You would allay Our fears And we would see The champion
[34:46] He would fill Our gaze Amen Well friends We exist in a very Anxious world At the moment I think I don't think In my life I've seen anything Like it The last few years It's noisy It's complex And if we didn't Realise it before The world is Pretty dangerous Viruses Wars Shortages Of raw material And energy Even institutions Built to allay Our fears Have sometimes Caused us to Be really concerned Institutions like The NHS Where we're Just not sure When treatment Will be available What has been The impact Of these things In our lives Many are feeling Overwhelmed In our society And some in our church The complexity And the turmoil Seems unending
[35:47] For some The giant Of worry Greets them Each morning And fear Tucks them in bed At night Mental health Problems Are rising It seems That worry Of fear And fear Are deafening Deafening The people Of God To the promises Of God And to his Powerful presence Promises like These To Timothy 1 verse 7 God has not Given us A spirit Of fear But of power And of love And of self Discipline What a beautiful Statement Or 1 John 4 Verse 4 Greater Is he Who is in you Than he Who is in the world As we turn To our passage In 1 Samuel Verse 17 We see Israel At war Against Their arch
[36:47] Enemy The Philistines Or the Philistines Israel Is scared No doubt They are regretting Failing to do What God Had asked them To do When they Went into The land To drive The nations Completely out And they Failed To do that So they're Left with this Thorn in the flesh The Philistines Israel had begged The Lord To give them A king They didn't Want to have They wanted To be like All the other Nations Whereas the Lord Wanted to be Their king So in the end He relented And of course They have Their king As mentioned In the text King Saul But sadly He is a Failing king In fact We're told In verse 11 I don't know Whether you saw It there Just turn to that Verse 11 It's a terrible sight This king Who they put All their trust in It says this They The Israelites And the king Are dismayed And terrified
[37:49] By Goliath As he taunts Them day and Night Everyone Even the king Is too scared To face Goliath And into this Scene We see A shepherd boy David Little David The youngest son Of Jesse He turns up He's a shepherd By the way He doesn't understand What's been going on David asks Lots of questions Of the Israelites What is this Philistine doing How dare he Speak To Israel And the armies Of the living God In this way He doesn't As we look at him Look equipped To face Goliath Does he Yet What is hidden From sight Is that just one Chapter earlier Samuel has anointed Him as king And when he was Anointed The spirit The spirit Of the living God Fell upon him
[38:50] In great power He's ready He's been prepared In the wilderness With the lion And the bear He is now Anointed By the spirit Of God He is ready For battle Picture the scene Though Picture the scene I'm just under Six foot I feel like I'm getting Smaller These days But Goliath Is nine foot So where does That take him I don't know Halfway through That screen Maybe He was a giant And he's covered With armour He's got a javelin He's got a spear Now look at The Israelites Can you see them In your mind's eye Scared Quaking In their boots Even Saul You can almost Smell The fear In the ranks Of Israel And then look Can you see David Can you see him No armour
[39:50] No war experience Just a shepherd No size Compared With Goliath But Notice No fear Either Now I wonder Where you position Yourself In this scene Anybody see Themself As a Goliath Here Perhaps Sometimes we do When we roar Any Any Davids Here I'm ready No fear I suspect Many of us See ourselves Amongst the Israelites Rather Scared Sermons Titles On this Particular text As I had a look At them Are things like this Seven principles For facing giants Or Secrets Of slaying giants Or How about Pebble power I quite like that one Most seem
[40:50] It would appear To position Ourselves Position Congregations In the place Of David Be David Or at least Imitate David Well no pressure then Is there I remember I remember I remember leading A holiday club At Cheney's Baptist Church And we were Teaching on David and Goliath And I remember The punchline At the end Of the story And I Having spent time In God's word On this now I'm a little bit Embarrassed by this Poor children Anyway This is This was the punchline So Boys and girls You can see That it doesn't matter How small you are You can still do Big things for God Ta-da It's good Good Sort of Motivational talk Isn't it Are you ready To go and do Big things for God I'm sure there's Some truth in it But As I have Studied this Narrative I I see something
[41:51] Different here And I offer These thoughts To you As New Testament Believers And I pray That God Will bless you With Perhaps a Different revelation Of this Particular text In this text The Camera angle Is focused Upon Two champions Do you notice There is The champion For the Philistines Goliath At this point You go Boo Kind of thing And then The champion On the other Side Is little David The underdog Don't we Just love him And he is There for the People of Israel Are you ready To cheer Very good So we got The two champions The two champions Are before us Champion number one For the Philistines An unworldly Philistine warrior Called Goliath Who is huge And dangerous
[42:51] God Goliath Goliath Has We're told Scaled Armour Like some Kind of Serpent He is Presented as Wicked God cursing And almost A supernatural Enemy We're told In verse 16 He came out Every day And every night Threatening And cursing The Israelites And their God Does Goliath Remind you Of anyone Who is mentioned In the Bible Does he remind you Of that great enemy Of God's people Throughout time Satan Himself Shall we have a look At the other champion Champion number two For Israel David Yes He looks so small And so weak Compared With Goliath But David Has been Schooled In the wilderness Did you notice That Jesus Went out
[43:52] Into the wilderness For 40 days How long Has Goliath Been shouting In the narrative We're told He'd gone out For 40 days I think That is not An accident David Has just Been anointed By God In 1 Samuel 16 Verse 13 And the spirit Of the Lord Has come upon Him In great power Does David Remind you Of anyone We read about In the Bible Does he remind you Of a humble Carpenter Who was filled With the Holy Spirit After he'd After And at his baptism And was ready To do the works Of God Two champions Goliath And David I want you To notice That the Israelites Don't feature In this battle The two champions Alone Face one another
[44:52] Whilst the general Soldiers Well Stand and watch As far as I can see Now it's possible That some of those Israelite soldiers Were motivated Go-getters I wonder Is that you today A motivated Go-getter Some of those Soldiers May have been You know People who were Just kind of Ready to give up Really Some of them Might have been Asleep It matters little Because They are not Fighting Only the champions Are fighting Listen To the champions As they face One another Do you remember When I don't watch Boxing I don't really like Boxing very much But I remember They have These in heavyweight Titles They have These kind of Conversations On the news Where they kind of Have a go at each other Do you know The kind of thing And hear the Narrative Before the fighting Begins Let me highlight it You might want to Open your Bible Because we didn't Have this read
[45:53] Goliath says In verse 43 Am I a dog That you come at me With sticks Speaking of David With his sling Or verse 44 I'll give your Flesh to the Birds of the air And the beasts Of the field That's Goliath's Offering How about David What's he going to say Verse 45 You come at me With sword And spear And javelin But I come against You In the name Of the Lord Almighty The God Of the armies Of Israel Whom you Have defiled This day The Lord Will hand you Over to me And I will Strike you down And cut off Your head Says David No fighting Has yet happened That's the scene Then the fight Begins Well When I say The fight begins Actually Goliath
[46:53] Throws No javelin He doesn't Even get near To be able to Get the sword At David In fact Only one weapon Is used Before One of them Falls David throws A pebble Which hits Probably the only Part of Goliath's Body that wasn't Covered In some kind Of covering To protect him And he falls And he falls Face down Elsewhere in the Bible People who fall Face down Often fall down In worship Don't they Well he's falling Down Dead I think Well if he Wasn't dead When he fell Down He was Shortly Afterwards Because David Then went And got Goliath's Sword Which was I don't know Whether you Could get this Picture of this Very very heavy Sword And he cuts And he cuts off Goliath's Head So I'm Going to tell You who won And I think There should be A somewhat Large cheer
[47:54] Okay I know it's in The sermon But okay David has Won And the reason And the reason Why you're Cheering Is because If David Has won Israel Has won Do you get It Israel is Victorious Because their Champion Has won Over the Arch enemy And what Of this Israel This Philistine Army That seemed So confident Before Verse 51 Have a look When the Philistines Saw that Their hero Was dead They turned And what Did they Do They ran That's what They did Yet they Looked so Confident Before Didn't They They looked Like they Were the Strongest And now They're running For their Lives Then what Happens Then the Men of Israel That were So scared And so Nervous The men of Israel We're told In verse 42 Surged
[48:54] Forward What did They do Did they Whisper Did they Cower No they Shouted And they Pursued The Philistines To the Entrance Of gad Verse 52 Wow What a Great Narrative You excited By this Can you See though It's all About the Champion It's all About David And seeing His great Victory And living In the Light Of that Victory Please notice That prior To them Seeing Their Champion David's Victory Over Goliath Israel Was Terrified And dismayed It was in Pieces They were Joyless And they Were despondent But what a Difference What a Difference When you See the Victory Of your God Suddenly They press Into the Victory Their Champion Has won On their Behalf Their Change of
[49:55] Heart Is all To do With the Success Of their Champion Can you See that Friends Let's Link it As New Testament Believers Our Champion Jesus Christ Has Gone Before Us He Looked So Weak Didn't He So Humble So Insignificant Before The Might Of Rome And He Died On a Cruel Cross In Our Place To Bear Our Sin Our Fear Our Worries Our Anxieties And He Took Them All Down Into The Grave And They Thought They Won I Think Goliath Thought He Won When He Saw David Don't You You Come At Me As A With His Dog With Sticks He Thought He Won But He Hadn't On The Third Day Jesus Rose And He Defeated Even That Final
[50:55] Enemy Death Itself Truly We Have A Victorious Champion In Christ Don't We Isn't That Beautiful He's Won The Victory Over The Enemy The Bible Tells Us He Has Defeated Satan Sin And Death Yes There's Some There's Some Sort Of Messing Around On The As The Enemy Flees I Suspect There Were A Few Injuries As The Philistines Fleed And The Israelites Pressed In The Advance I'm Sure There Would Have Been And That's What We're Experiencing Today But Brothers And Sisters Can You See That Victory Is Secure Our Champion Has Won Jesus Christ People Of God Are You Despondent Today As I Look Out I See Despondency In My Own Heart In The People Of God Let Me Just Highlight A
[51:55] Few Things Where I Think We're Feeling Sometimes Sometimes A Dispondent Perhaps You Are Fearful Of Our Ungodly Secular Culture Pressing In On Us Like Some Goliath Does It Feel Like That Perhaps You're Fearful For God's People The Church Which Seems So Weak Like Some Little David Perhaps You're Fearful That You'll Let The Lord Down You Won't Go The Distance Does That Sound A Bit Like A Description Of The Israelite Army Before They'd Captured Sight Of Their Champion I Think It Does I Fear Brothers And Sisters That We Have Forgotten That He Has Won A Great Victory He Is Lord And King Of All He Is The Victory The Victory Always Won And We Are His People He's Won A Victory That We Participate In I Was Thinking
[52:55] Of I Planned Out The Service Before I Done The Sermon It's Always Dangerous To Do That And Do You Remember That Song On The Victory Side Some Of You May Do On The Victory Side No Folk Can Haunt Me No Folk Can Daunt Me On The Victory Side I'm Probably Showing My Vintage Here It's A Beautiful Song May You As The People Of God Start Singing It I Think It Would Be Wonderful To Do So It's Understandable To Be Despondent And Fearful But It Is Not Understandable When We Consider Our Champion When We Consider Our Champion There's There's No Place For Despondency Without Hope In The Light Of His Glorious Victory There Should Be A Shout And A Pressing In To Press Home His Victory In Our Land So Can I Suggest That We Stop Looking So Attentively At
[53:56] The Goliaths Around Us There's Plenty Of Them To Look For Isn't There And Instead Can We Fix Our Eyes On Our Champion Jesus Christ Our Champion Has Won The Victory Over Satan Over Sickness Even Over The Final Enemy Death Christ Is Risen Jesus The King Of Love Can Overcome Every Fear Love Conquers Fear He Can Help You To Overcome Your Fear Of Coming Back To Church If You're At Home And Would Love To But Are Worried He Can Overcome That Fear He Can Allay Fears Of Every Enemy Whoever They May Be So Can I Suggest You Don't Grit Your Teeth And Try To Be David That Would Be Difficult Instead Can I Suggest Instead We Celebrate Together The Victory That
[54:56] Jesus Has Won For Us Don't Try To Be David Instead Look To Jesus Who Is Your Champion He He He He He He He He He Won A Great Victory So Raise A Shout And Whatever It Looks Like Advance This Is The Call For The People Of God And At The End Of The Day To Him Be All The Glory And All The Praise And All The Renown As I Shared Some Of These Thoughts With Our Preaching Group Yesterday Tim Suggested I Finish With A Verse Don't Do That So I'll Read Them But It's 1 Corinthians You Might Want Just To Turn Through To It 1 Corinthians Chapter 15 And Verses 57 And 58 It Says This And Perhaps This Is A Verse You Can Take Into The Week But
[55:57] Thanks Be To God He Gives Us The Victory How Through Our Lord Jesus Christ Therefore My Dear Brothers What Are We To Do Advance Fight No He Says Stand Firm Then Let Nothing Move You Always Give Yourself Fully To The Work Of The Lord Because You Know That Your Labor For The Lord Is Not In Vain Let's Just Take A Moment To Just Be Still And Allow His Word To Speak To Us As The Worship Group Come Up Oh Loving Father Father The Goliaths Of
[56:57] This World Have Had Far Too Much Air Time And We've Listened Too Carefully Forgive Us Lord As We Have Heard Your Word This Morning We Pray It Would Be Like A Sword Cutting Deep Into Our Lives Into Our Thinking Into Our Willing And Our Being We Pray Father That You Would Strengthen Us By Your Word In The Victory That Jesus Has Won May Your Love Dispel Every Fear We Pray This In Jesus Name And For His Glory Amen Now We Often Sing The Next Song Speak O Lord Just Before A Sermon But We're Going To Sing It Speak O Lord After The Sermon Asking God To Apply That Word To Our Lives Over Recent
[57:57] Weeks We've Had Opportunity For Prayer Ministry If People Would Like It And At The End Or Even During This Song Perhaps Those Who Are Going To Offer Prayer Could Come Out And Just Be At The Front Here If You Would Like You Don't Have To It's Just An Option If You Would Like Live In The Victory Of Lord Jesus Then I Encourage You To Come And Be Prayed For You May Just Want To Sit In Your Seats Or Just Respond As You Are Where You Are So Can I Invite You To Stand We're Going To Sing Speak O Lord And Then After That There'll Be Several Minutes Where We're Just Going To Listen To Some Music And Have Opportunity To Respond In Prayer Let's Worship God Holy
[59:10] Word Take Your Truth Plound It Deep In Us Shape And Fashion Us In Your Likeness That The Light Of Christ Might Be Seen Today In Our Acts Of Love And Our Deeds Of Faith Speak O Lord And Fulfill In Us For Your Purposes For Your Glory Teach Us Lord Full Obedience Only Reverence To Humility Test Our Thoughts And Our Attitudes In The Radiance
[60:12] Of Your Purity Cause Our Faith To Rise Cause Our Eyes To See Your Majestic Love And Authority Words Of Power That Can Never Fail Let Their Truth Reveil Over Un Believe Over Un Believe Speak O Lord And Renew Our Mind Help Us Grasp The Heights Of Your Plans For Us Dreams Unchanged From The Dawn Of Time That Will Echo Down Through Eternity And Thy Grace Will Stand On Your Promises And Thy Faith
[61:13] Will Walk As You Walk With Us Speak O Lord Till Your Church Is Built And The Earth Is Filled With Your Glory Amen Do take a seat and if you'd like to come forward for prayer please do so otherwise just focus on the cross and listen to this music being played and respond to God in your heart pray for me pray for me just like yeah yeah yeah yeah oh yeah yeah
[62:28] Amen. Amen.
[63:28] Amen. Amen.
[64:28] Amen. Amen.
[65:28] Amen. Amen.
[66:28] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
[66:40] Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you for praying, for praying during that time for yourself, perhaps for those who are coming forward.
[66:54] And it may be that after the service you'd appreciate prayer, please ask. There's people with little praying badge, praying hands badges, that would be happy to pray with you. And you know, many of you, the people here that you'd love to pray with, then do ask.
[67:09] We are the people of God, and we want to strengthen one another as we call upon the Lord together. Well, our final song is just a beautiful one. So many of the songs we sing are so wonderful.
[67:21] In the darkness we were waiting. Praise the Father. Praise the Son. Let's worship God together. In the darkness we were waiting.
[67:33] Without hope, without light. Till from heaven you came running. There was mercy in your eyes. To fulfill the law and prophets. To a virgin came the word. From a throne of endless glory.
[67:44] To a virgin came the word. To a virgin came the word. From a throne of endless glory. To the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord. In the darkness we were waiting. Without hope, without light. Praise the Father. Praise the Father. Praise the Father.
[67:55] Praise the Father. Praise the Father. Praise the Father. When you came running. There was mercy in your eyes. To fulfill the law and prophets. To a virgin came the word. from a Swedish King un accidental trail. When you came sun. And the wind came from a god.
[68:06] From a primeiro similarly by the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord. And kepadabaum, to a throttled In the cold, suchly has continued fear. When you came to the Lord, when you failed to all death. Dr shuttered of silence. Then you came the灯 and pardigal.which You came to the Virgin. The baptist says, Please, A present you billion. Debbie, A present you, O Holy One, has led the Lord, to you and the divine will define happiness.
[68:26] Praise the Holy, O Holy, O U. Spirit, three in one. God of glory, majesty, praise forever to the King of kings.
[68:49] To reveal the kingdom coming and to reconcile the lost, to redeem the whole creation, you did not despise the cross.
[69:04] For even in your suffering, you soar to the other side, knowing this was our salvation, Jesus, for our sake you died.
[69:17] Praise the Father, praise the Son, praise the Spirit, three in one.
[69:36] God of glory, majesty, praise forever to the King of kings.
[69:50] And the morning that she rose, all of heaven held its breath, till that stone was moved for good, for the Lamb had conquered death.
[70:08] And the dead rose from their tombs, and the angels stood in awe. For the souls of all who'd come to the Father are restored.
[70:22] For the Lord of God was born, then the Spirit lit the flame. Now this gospel truth of all shall not kneel, shall not faint.
[70:34] And the name of His name, in His freedom I am free. For the Lord of Jesus Christ, who has resurrected me.
[70:48] Praise the Father, praise the Son, praise the Spirit, three in one.
[71:05] God of glory, majesty, praise the Lord of glory, majesty. Praise forever to the King of kings.
[71:18] Praise the Father, praise the Son, praise the Spirit, three in one.
[71:31] God of glory, majesty, praise the Lord of glory, majesty. Praise forever to the King of kings.
[71:44] For in ever Jesus' name, King of kings. God is good.
[72:01] Very good. Do join us for tea and coffee upstairs. If you don't know the way, follow other people. And hear these words as a blessing as we go into the coming week.
[72:12] May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him. So that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
[72:29] Amen. Thank you.