Good morning, Waterpark family. The scripture reading today comes from 1 Samuel 16-17.
The reading is quite broken up, so we suggest you follow along on the screen.
Starting in chapter 16, verse 1.
The Lord said to Samuel, How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel?
Fill your horn with oil and be on your way. I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem.
I have chosen one of his sons to be king.
Samuel did what the Lord said.
When he arrived at Bethlehem, the elders of the town trembled when they met him.
They asked, Do you come in peace?
Samuel replied, Yes, in peace. I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.
Consecrate yourselves and come to the sacrifice with me.
Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.
When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought,
Surely the Lord's anointed stands here before the Lord.
But the Lord said to Samuel, Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him.
The Lord does not look at the things people look at.
People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.
Then Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass in front of Samuel.
But Samuel said, The Lord has not chosen this one either.
Jesse then made Sharmak pass by.
But Samuel said, Nor has the Lord chosen this one.
Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel.
But Samuel said to him, The Lord has not chosen these.
So he asked Jesse, Are there all the sons you have?
There is still the youngest, Jesse answered.
He is tending the sheep, Samuel said.
Send for him.
We will not sit down until he arrives.
So he sent for him and had him brought in.
He was glowing with health and had a fine appearance and handsome features.
Then the Lord said, Rise and anoint him.
This is the one.
So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers.
And from that day on, the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David.
Samuel then went to Ramah.
Now the Philistines gathered their forces for war.
The Philistines occupied one hill and the Israelites another.
With the valley between them.
A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp.
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, he wore bronze greaves and a bronze javelin was slung on his back.
His spear shaft was like a weaver's rod and its iron point weighted 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?
Am I not a Philistine?
And are you not the servants of Saul?
Choose a man.
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 Philistines said, This day I defy the armies of Israel.
Give me a man and let us fight each other.
On hearing the Philistines' words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified.
Now David was the son of an Ephrathite named Jesse, who was from Bethlehem in Judah.
Jesse had eight sons.
David was the youngest.
The three eldest followed Saul.
But David went back and forth from Saul to tend his father's sheep at Bethlehem.
For forty days the Philistine came forward every morning and evening and took his stand.
Early in the morning, David left the flock in care of a shepherd, loaded up and set out as Jesse has directed.
He reached the camp as the army were going out to its battle positions, shouting the war cry.
David asked the men standing near him,
What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel?
Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?
What David said was overheard and reported to Saul.
Saul sent for him.
David said to Saul,
Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine.
Your servant will go and fight him.
Saul replied,
You are not able to go out and fight this Philistine against 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.
I 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.
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.
So Saul said to David,
Go, and the Lord be with you.
Meanwhile, the Philistine, with his shield bearer in front of him, kept coming closer to David.
He looked David over and saw that he was little more than a boy, glowing with health and handsome, and he despised him.
He said to David,
Am I a dog that you come at me with sticks?
And the Philistine cursed David by his guards.
Come here, he said, and I'll give your flesh to the birds and the wild animals.
David said to the Philistine,
You come against 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 defied.
All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves,
for the battle is the Lord's, and he will give all of you into our hands.
As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly towards the battle line to meet him.
Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead.
The stone sank into his forehead and he fell face down on the ground.
So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone,
which had a sword in his hand, and he struck down the Philistine and killed him.
This is God's holy and wonderful word.
Over to you, Moly.
Hi, guys.
Good morning, Watermark.
Thank you, Claire and Kevin, for reading the scripture to us.
As Chris said, I've been at Watermark for the last four years,
and it's just been great calling this place, this church, home.
And it's just an honor and privilege that I get to be with us and just go through God's scripture with us.
Before we start, I just want to give a quick prayer,
just to quiet our hearts and just prepare us going in.
Heavenly Father, we come before you today just acknowledging that you're God.
Father, we thank you for everything you've done for us,
just bringing us together as a community.
Thank you for going to the cross and dying for us,
because that's the reason why we're gathered here today.
Father, we just pray for open minds and open hearts as we go through your word today.
Just pray that you would just allow us to accept and understand the word.
And Father, you would quicken our steps to be able to go forth and practice it
and make it a part of our lives such that we can live lives of worship to you.
We just pray that, Father, as we go through scripture, you be magnified.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
So it's great that we get to go through scripture,
and without much ado, we can just get started.
So we're going to go through scripture today,
and we're going to look at where we focus.
But to start off, we have an illustration.
So the lady you see here, Elizabeth Holmes,
is someone you would call a prodigy tech entrepreneur.
You know, at the age of 19, she dropped out of Stanford
and went to start a tech company in Silicon Valley.
You know, she was able to raise more than $1 billion U.S.
from some of the most prominent people in government and technology.
But it turns out that it was all a sham.
The company and the product that she claimed to build
didn't really work as promised.
And a couple weeks ago, she was investigated
and convicted of multiple counts of fraud.
Now, we've all sinned, and we all fall short of the glory of God,
and so none of us are here to judge her.
But I think there's something interesting that we can take away from her story,
which is to just think about how she was able to pull this off.
You know, she got people to trust her and invest in her,
and some of these people never even got to see financial documents of the company.
So how was this possible?
Well, it turns out that those people, some of them,
were just focused on her outward appearance.
You see, the thing about Elizabeth is that she dropped out of an Ivy League college
and started a company in Silicon Valley.
You know, it was a kind of story that we make movies of, and that's what they saw.
You know, they also saw that some other reputable people
in the heights of government, technology, and investing had invested in the company,
and so they just trusted that, based on what they saw,
they could invest in this company.
And, you know, as you can see here, she was wearing,
she liked to wear Steve Jobs' style of turtleneck, you know,
just to give her that sense of being a visionary tech entrepreneur.
You know, the people who invested in her did so for complex reasons,
but one of them is that they focused on her outward appearance,
and they trusted her.
That's something that we also do,
and we are going to see that in Scripture,
that human beings tend to focus on the outward appearance,
but God does not.
He looks past that, and he focuses on our hearts.
We're going to see this play out in the story of how David became king,
how David was chosen by God and anointed to be king.
We're also going to see a play out in the story about how he went against Goliath.
And what we are going to see are these three things,
that we're going to see God's focus,
we're going to see where we focus,
and then we're going to turn our eyes to Jesus, our focus.
So in the series so far,
we've been going through all that glitters,
let's not go through the story of 1 Samuel.
And what we've seen is that,
while sometimes we may have appearances that look good on the outside,
deep down, there's decay.
And what we also see is that God comes in,
and he turns things around for his glory to be seen.
We saw it in the story of Hannah,
where she was barren,
and she was just pushed aside by the people closest to her.
But God heard her prayer,
and turned her story upside down,
and gave her a son,
who became the last judge of Israel,
Samuel.
We also see it in Eli and his sons,
who were supposed to be priests,
serving the people and leading them to God,
but they really just wanted to serve themselves,
and they abused their power.
And God saw through their outward appearance,
and got rid of them.
The same with Saul,
where Saul was supposed to lead God's people as king,
but he wanted to honor himself more than any other thing,
and so God rejects him as king.
And that's where we find ourselves in scripture today.
You know, what happens is God rejects Saul as king.
And so he tells Samuel to go to Bethlehem,
into the house of Jesse,
because he's chosen one of Jesse's sons to be king of Israel.
And you can imagine,
Samuel goes, he finds Jesse,
tells Jesse to bring his sons.
Jesse as a patriarch goes,
gathers his sons,
and brings them to Samuel.
Samuel knew why he was there.
He knew he was going to pick the next king of Israel,
and so he was looking at the people
that were brought before him,
Jesse's sons,
with an eye looking for the next king.
And scripture tells us that the moment his eyes landed on Eliab,
one of Jesse's sons,
he immediately concluded that Eliab would be the next king of Israel.
Why?
Well, there are a couple of reasons.
You know, Eliab was the firstborn of Jesse.
And we learn from scripture that the firstborn son usually would have the birthright.
And so there was a level of prominence that the firstborn son would have.
And so Samuel saw this cultural reason and immediately concluded that Eliab must be the one who is chosen as king.
Not only that, he was tall and physically good looking.
You know, the people of Israel had been asking for a king,
someone who would represent them.
And so looking at Eliab's physique,
Samuel saw him and was like,
yes, that must be the one.
He just looked good on the outside.
And also he was a soldier under Saul.
See, also the people had been asking for a king who would lead them into battle.
And so just seeing that Eliab had the experience of being a soldier,
it just kind of made sense that this person would be king.
But you know, God is a good God.
He sees past outward appearance.
And so while Samuel was focused on Eliab's outward appearance,
God came in and rebuked Samuel and said to him,
Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature,
because I have rejected him.
For the Lord sees not as man sees.
Man looks on the outward appearance,
but the Lord looks on the heart.
You know, Eliab may have had an outward appearance that looked good,
but God saw past that and saw his heart,
which was a heart that was full of pride.
You know, we learn later on in chapter 17 that,
you know, Goliath had set up camp
and he was attacking the Israelite army, taunting them.
And David saw what was happening.
And David started asking questions.
And Eliab, who had a heart full of pride,
heard his brother.
And the Bible says that his heart burned with anger against David.
Why?
Because Eliab had been rejected by Samuel, God,
and he wasn't anointed as king.
And David was instead.
So out of all that spite in his heart,
he turned against David.
And because of the pride in his heart,
his heart burned with anger against him.
God saw the pride in Eliab's heart.
And so he knew that such a person would not make a great king for Israel.
You know, God looks past the outward appearance.
And that's the same thing that happened with Saul,
as we saw last week,
that God saw his heart,
a heart that just wanted to honor himself.
And so God rejected him
because God looks past the outward appearance
and God looks at the heart.
So coming back to the story,
Samuel looks at Eliab and God rejects him.
So he looks to the other sons,
but God rejects all of them one by one
for all those who are present.
And so Samuel,
trusting God,
just knew that,
hey, something was wrong.
And so he turns to Jesse and he's like,
hey,
are these all your sons?
And then Jesse confesses that
there's one who wasn't present,
the youngest,
David.
You know,
Jesse didn't invite David
over because of the same outward mode
that Samuel had actually looked at Eliab with.
You see,
the thing about David was that
there are a couple of things.
Well,
he was the last born son of Jesse.
And so he was on the other end of the spectrum
when it came to the general idea of a birthright.
And so Jesse was like,
well,
if this is not the son,
if this is the son who's the youngest,
maybe he's not important.
And so for that cultural reason,
he didn't bring Jesse.
I mean,
he didn't bring David in.
David was also young and inexperienced.
And so he had a boyish look about him.
Physically,
he looked young.
You know how we,
as adults,
tend to have dinner
and we gather on the main table
and we have a separate table for the kids
because probably they don't have
anything important to tell us
because they're small.
You know,
Jesse looked at David in the same way.
Knowing that he was just small and boyish,
he probably didn't have a beard at that time.
You know,
and so he didn't invite David to come over.
Also,
David was a shepherd boy.
You see,
at that time,
Israel was going through a time of crisis
and so any man of any repute
was asked to be in the army
serving and fighting for the kingdom of Israel.
And so anyone who was doing anything aside that
was probably the lowest of the low.
And so that's how David found himself as a shepherd boy.
And so he didn't have that status.
David did not have the CV
that would make him important in people's eyes.
You know,
if Samuel was a recruiter,
he would have thought that Elliot had the perfect CV.
And if Jesse was looking at his son,
he'd probably think that David was not qualified
to even be in Samuel's presence.
I think an important thing we can take away from this
is that as human beings who look on the outside,
they're just as inclined to count people out
as we are to include them
based on their outward appearance.
David was not invited
because he did not even fit into the outward centered
more than his own father Jesse had.
You know,
I think this is very similar
to the way we relate to people.
It's easy for us to gravitate towards people
based on their outward appearance,
based on how wealthy they are,
or maybe based on how well-spoken,
or what level of social status they have.
On the other hand,
it's very easy for us to push people away
because they don't fit into an outward mode.
They don't fit into the mode
that we think is important in our eyes.
They might not be as wealthy,
or they might not be as well-spoken.
They might not even,
even in church,
they might not be the people
who are serving all the time,
and so we might just push them aside.
And even worse thing that we tend to do
when we focus on the outward appearance
is sometimes we tend to prop ourselves up
and put on an outward appearance
that covers up the messiness
we know we have inside.
You know, honestly,
I confess that I do this as well.
I focus on the outside
when I relate to people.
So I work for a company
that is mostly centered around tech,
and as a tech person,
man, it's like heaven to me.
But what I realize is that
I've started doing this thing
where in meetings,
people who don't have a tech background,
I tend to tune them off.
You know, I tend to think
that what they have to say
might not be as important
because I focus on the outward appearance.
But as I was going through scripture,
I was just, you know, encouraged,
but also rebuked
in the way I see these people
because now I understand
that God does not look at any of us
thinking about who has a tech background
or who doesn't.
You know, God loves us all.
And I think I'm encouraged
just knowing that God
doesn't look on the outward appearance,
that I need to see these people
as God sees them,
as people he loves.
And every voice is important.
My perspective is changing.
So coming back to the story,
we see how God looks past
the outward appearance
of each person.
And so he rejects
all of Jesse's sons.
But then it's at this point
that we see David
come into the picture.
And I think it's important
to just see how David
is introduced in scripture.
David is introduced
as a handsome guy,
glowing in health.
And I think it's interesting
and scripture is subtly
pointing us to something
that's very important.
You know, David was described
in the same way
that Saul and Elliot
were actually described.
And I think scripture
is just telling us
that God looks past
the outward appearance.
And so looking good
on the outside
or looking bad
on the outside
simply doesn't matter.
You know, Chris shared
a quote with me earlier.
He said,
the quote said that
the outward appearance
neither qualifies
nor disqualifies.
It simply doesn't matter
to God.
You know, so it could be
that we could be
serving in church
putting on the best
possible physical appearance.
But if our hearts
are not with God,
then it's all for naught.
It also could mean
that we might be
at the lowest of the low
in the way we present ourselves
but our hearts are hearts
that God looks at
because we maybe
have focused on him.
Also, another interesting way
that David was introduced
was that he was introduced
as the person
who was tending the sheep.
You know, to be a shepherd
meant that David
would have had to go
into the pasture
with the weak, feeble sheep.
And he would have had
to be reliant on God
in the face of
harsh weather conditions,
in the face of wild animals
who would have tried
to attack him
and the sheep
that he was having.
You know, God was building
trust.
He was building character
in him.
I think another important thing
that we can take away
from this is that
outward appearances
can be so deceiving
because what we might think
is a terrible time
might actually be the time
that God is actually
shaping our hearts.
He's drawing us
to a point of desperation
such that we'll chase
after him
and we'll learn to rely on him
with all our hearts.
You know, sometimes
when we be at work
and we have a very
difficult colleague
who's just pressing
all our buttons
and we're like,
God, why?
And we're like,
God, take me out of this
but maybe God
is just building
patience in us.
So just coming back
to David
and the fact that
he was a shepherd,
you know,
God was building
character in him.
Last two weeks,
Alan took us through
what God expected
the king of Israel to be
and it was someone
who would care
for the people,
someone who would
trust in God
above all things,
someone who would not
try to honor himself
or just use his position
for his own advantage
and that's what God
was building in David
at that time
and so when God
looked at David,
he looked past
his outward appearance
and he looked at his heart.
In choosing David,
he wanted someone
who would chase after him
and so he focused
on David's heart
and I think at this point
we've seen that God
focuses on the heart
over the outward appearance
and so now we can segue
to where we focus.
You know,
so David gets
annoyed at us king
but he doesn't immediately
take up the official role
as king.
He stays serving his father
as a shepherd boy
and sometimes
he even goes to serve Saul
but all the while,
Israel was still
in a time of turmoil
and so in chapter 17
we are told that
the Philistine army
was actually able
to invade the land of Israel
and they set up camp
to fight the Israelite army
and so they do this thing
that's known as
representational combat
where they sent
their best
to face the best
from Israel
and the general idea
is that the two of the best
from either side
of the army
fight with each other
and the person
who is victorious
shows which side
is victorious
and so they send
what we know
as the Philistines
champion,
Goliath.
You know,
Goliath was described
as being huge.
Man,
it was crazy.
Like,
the dimensions
that we mention
in the scripture
equate to about
9.9 feet tall.
You know,
for context,
the average man
is about
5.8 feet
and so you can imagine
this huge giant
and you can imagine
what the Israelites
were thinking
at that point
seeing this person.
They probably thought
that Goliath was big.
Not only that,
Goliath was dressed up
in the most spectacular armor.
Everything that he had adorned
was made from bronze
and you can just imagine,
like,
just try to close your eyes
and imagine
what it would have looked like
where this 9.9 feet tall guy
wearing bronze
was standing in the sun
glistening
and you can imagine
what the Israelite army
and the people there
were thinking.
Not only that,
Goliath would come
and he would throw
all kinds of taunts
at the Israelite army
saying,
hey,
aren't you Saul's army?
Can't you bring someone
to fight me?
Is there no one?
I dare you.
He taunted them
for 40 days
and 40 nights,
the Bible says.
And you can imagine
what the Israelite army
were thinking.
You know,
they were all focused
on his outward appearance.
And so,
the Bible says that
Goliath came against them
and he said,
on this day,
I defy the armies of Israel.
Give me a man
and let us fight together.
And scripture says that
on hearing the Philistines' words,
Saul and the Israelites
were dismayed and terrified.
Some translations say
that they were greatly afraid.
You know,
they focused on
Goliath's outward appearance
and what they perceived
was that they were faced
with an insurmountable problem.
To them,
Goliath was big
and God was small.
But David,
unlike the rest of the people
in the Israelite army,
heard Goliath
taunt the army
and he just could not
accept the fact
that God was being dishonored.
And so,
he decided to rise up
against Goliath.
Scripture says that
he had a focus,
I mean,
so David had a focus
on God
that made God big
and Goliath small.
And so,
it says that
David went up
and said,
hey,
the Lord who delivered me
from the paw of the lion
and from the paw of the bear
would deliver me
from the hand
of this Philistine.
That's where David's focus was.
He was focused on God.
And he was focused
on facing Goliath
to honor God.
And it's unlikely
that he didn't feel fear.
He probably was just
as afraid
as the people
in the Israelite army.
But the difference
is that
he chose to focus
on God
and the way God
had been faithful
in previous problems
that might have seemed
insurmountable to David.
You know,
he didn't trust
in his armor.
He didn't trust
in the army of Israel.
He didn't trust
in anything apart from God.
And so,
he went up
with no armor.
He went up
with just a sling
and a stone.
And the Bible says
that he flung
the stone from the sling.
It hit Goliath
right on the head.
Goliath fell
and gave him the victory,
gave Israel the victory
and got the glory.
David had a focus
on God
that made God big
and Goliath small.
You know,
bringing this story
closer to us,
we may have our own
versions of Goliath.
Things that may seem
insurmountable to us.
Things that will come up
against us
and taunt us
and test our faith.
You know,
it could be with sin
where we probably
have faced the same thing
for so long
time and time again
and we've fallen
and fallen and fallen.
We just resign
to the idea
that maybe
this is something
I just have to deal with.
This is an addiction
I will not be able to pass.
This is something
that I will just have
to live with
for the rest of my life.
You know,
in times like that,
we make sin big
and God small.
It could even be
with relational issues
where we may have
had fractured relationships
with people in our family,
people we once called friends,
people we work with,
people in our lives,
and we just feel like
there's so much pain
and animosity
that there's nothing
that we can do
and so we just resign
and say,
que sera sera
what will be
with this relationship?
We make these fractured
relationships big
and God small.
It could even be health
or financial challenges.
You know,
but it doesn't have
to be the case.
You know,
we can shift our focus
from these things
that seem insurmountable
to us
and we can shift
our focus
to God.
And so how can we do this?
Well,
I think it's important
that the first step
that we take
in shifting our focus
is coming
with a heart of repentance.
It's important
to come to God
with honesty
and say,
hey God,
I'm sorry for believing
in the lie
that you're small
and other things
were big.
You know,
as I was preparing
for the sermon
just reading scripture,
there's a song
by Don Mohan
called Be Magnified
that just kept
playing and repeating
and I think
the words,
the lyrics of the song
just point to how
we can come
with a heart
and do that repentance
and go through repentance.
You know,
the lyrics say,
I'm actually not going
to sing it,
I'm going to read it.
The lyrics say,
I have made you too small
in my eyes.
Oh God,
forgive me.
I have believed
in the lie
that you weren't able
to help me.
But now,
oh God,
I see my wrong.
Heal my heart
and show yourself strong.
And in my eyes
and with my song,
oh Lord,
be magnified.
It's such a great way
that we can pray.
A prayer of repentance
from believing
that God is small
because it shows
how we can start off
and do that 180 turn
and start off
from the point
where we say,
hey God,
I believe that you are big
and I'm sorry
for making you small.
Father,
just heal my heart
and do the final 180 turn
and say,
oh God,
be magnified
such that everything
becomes small.
And as we come
to repentance,
we start to shift
our focus
in a way
that makes God big
and every other thing small.
And coming back
to how we can start
to shift our focus,
the next thing we can do
is just succumb to God
and say we know
who God is.
You know,
if you look at the way
David responded,
you can tell
that he knew
who God was.
God was in every single
utterance that he made,
in every single declaration
that he made.
And I think that it's important
that we invest time
in getting to know God
because we cannot focus
on someone
that we do not know.
You know,
that's why Bible study,
things like Bible study,
study are so important
because we get to know
who God is.
We get to become acquainted
to our maker,
the person who is greater
than every other thing.
And so as we grow
in knowledge of him,
we can start to shift
the focus.
That's why things like CG
are so important
because by doing it
in community,
by building each other
up in scripture,
we can have a focus
that is shifted
because we know
who God is.
And so in the face
of an insurmountable problem
like sin,
we know that,
oh God,
you're the one
who heals our hearts.
You're the one
who turns our hearts
from stone into flesh.
And so we know
that God can take us through.
In times of sickness,
we know who God is.
We know that God
is a healer.
And so we can hold
on to that.
And so we can start
to shift our focus
from a point
where any other thing
is big
and God is small.
The next point is that
faith is not automatic.
You know,
you can imagine
David in the pasture
with the flock.
You know,
David showed that
he knew who God is
and his faith
had been built
by how God
had been faithful to him.
And so you can imagine
David with the flock
in the pasture
and maybe he started off
with a small dog
attacking his flock
and he trusted in God
and God helped him
go over the small dog.
And so the next time
that a lion rose up
against him,
he knew that God
would be good
because God was faithful
in the previous times.
And so he trusted in God
and the Bible says
that lions came
and he was able
to defeat them
because of God.
And so the next time
a bear,
which is bigger,
came,
he knew that God
had been faithful
with the lion
and so God
would be faithful
with the bear.
And so when he's
faced against Goliath,
he has a track record
of God's faithfulness
that he can lean on to.
And so his focus
shifted to how big God is.
I think it's the same thing
that we can apply
in our lives.
Where when we are faced
with what seems
like an insurmountable problem,
we can take how God
had been faithful
in other parts of our life
and bring them
to what might seem
insurmountable to us.
And so if we're dealing
with sin,
we know that God
is a provider
and he's always shown himself
to be true in his word.
And so we believe
that God can change our hearts
from a heart of stone
into a heart of flesh.
If we know that God
has been a healer
in another time of sickness,
we can trust
that he will be
a healer there too.
By focusing on how God
has been faithful to us
and other people
we can trust
and we can start
to shift our focus
in a way that makes God
big and every other thing
small.
And the last one
is that
David,
the last one
is taking action
because we trust God.
You know,
I think one great thing
to take away from David
is the way he responded
before he attacked Goliath.
And the Bible says that
he said,
he said to the people
that all those who,
all those gathered here
will know that
it is not by sword
or spear
that the Lord saves
for the battle
is the Lord's
and he will give
all of you
into our hands.
That's what David said
before he went up
and attacked Goliath.
You see,
the thing is that
we take action
because we know
that the victory
has already been won
for us.
And so that's what David did
and I think we can do the same.
We take action
because we trust in God.
And so when we are faced
with insurmountable problems,
we should not be reduced
to inaction or incapacity.
We can take a step
against it
and so when we are faced
with sin,
we can say,
hey sin,
not today.
Because we know
that the battle
has already been won
against it.
And so with these points,
I think it's great
for us to just ponder
and just take a step
and just think about
where our focus is
right now.
Who is biggest
in our eyes?
And how big
is God for us?
You know,
we've seen God
work in our hearts
in so many different ways.
So can we focus on him?
And at this point,
we can segue
and ask ourselves,
can we focus on Jesus
and look at Jesus
as our focus?
You know,
David,
in many ways,
seems so incredible.
You know,
David had
a heart
of servitude.
He was chosen
by God
to be the king
of Israel
and he put himself
on the line
for the sake
of others.
You know,
David went up
against Goliath
and he won the victory
for the people
of Israel.
Israel.
But David,
in many ways,
is just a pale representation,
a pale reflection
of the true king
to come,
Jesus.
You know,
if we remember,
the people of God,
the people of Israel
had been asking
for a king
who would lead them
into battle,
who would represent them
and David
actually fulfilled
some of that.
But it turns out
that even David
was not infallible.
He was flawed.
And so,
at some point
in his career
as king,
he actually ends up
being selfish
and he ends up
committing adultery
and abusing his power
to orchestrate murder.
You know,
David was not perfect.
Jesus is the only
perfect king.
See,
with Jesus,
he was the ultimate servant.
he came down
to serve all people,
even the people
on the farthest
fringes of society.
Jesus is the king
of the entire world.
You know,
he's equal with God.
And Jesus paid
the ultimate price
for our sake.
He conquered sin
and death
and won the victory
for not just Israel
but all the world.
You know,
ultimately,
our focus should be
on Jesus.
You know,
in the face
of insurmountable problems,
in the face
of things
that we may consider
the liars.
In the face
of sin,
struggles,
pain,
can we focus
on Jesus
through it all?
You know,
we focus on him
not so we can go
do it on our own.
We focus on him
because he's done it
for us.
He's won the victory
against sin,
death,
temptation,
sickness,
anything that we
can think of.
You know,
Jesus is big
and every other thing
is small.
Now,
another thing
that is really
great about the way
David approached
this problem
is he said
something that
was really,
really good.
David said
in scripture
to Goliath
that,
hey,
Goliath,
you come against me
with sword
and spear
and javelin
but I come against you
in the name
of the Lord Almighty.
That's such a great
stance to take
and I think
we can do it
as well.
You know,
when we are faced
with sin,
we can say,
hey sin,
you come against me
with all manner
of temptations
but I come against you
in the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ
in a way that makes
Jesus big
and sin small.
You know,
when we are faced
with all manner
of relational issues,
we can say,
hey,
you come against me
with all this pain
and all this animosity
and all this acrimony
but I come against you
in the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the one who heals,
the one who is
love personified.
It's a great stance
for us to take
because it places
the focus on Jesus
and makes him big
and all other things small.
You know,
Jesus is the better David
who defeats all our glads.
They are small compared to him
and that's why
we focus on Jesus.
You know,
Jesus is in control
of our story.
He's the one
who writes our story
and that's why
we focus on him.
And as we just come
to a close,
we can just look at
scripture that calls him
the author and perfecter
of our faith
in Hebrews.
And I pray that
as we go through
the scripture,
we just focus on it
and we see
how great Jesus is.
And so,
Hebrews 12,
verse 1 and 2 reads,
let us throw off
everything that hinders
and the sin
that so easily entangles,
fixing our eyes
on Jesus,
the pioneer
and perfecter
of our faith.
For the joy
set before him,
he endured the cross,
scorning its shame
and sat down
at the right hand
of the throne of God.
When we are faced
with things
that may seem insurmountable,
things that hinder us,
things that easily
entangle us like sin,
we can fix our eyes
on Jesus
as scripture says.
We can imagine him
sitting at the throne
and by doing that
we make him big
and every other thing small.
Jesus is a perfect king.
He is the only one
who deserves our focus.
He makes every other thing small
and as we focus on him,
God will be magnified.
Let's pray.
Dear God,
we just come before you again
and thank you
for your amazing word.
Your word that comes to us
and it cuts through
Bonamara,
scripture says.
It goes past
our old appearance
and it goes directly
to our hearts.
And so Father,
as we've gone through scripture
and as we've learned
your word
and as we now know
to focus on you
in a way that makes
every other thing small,
Father,
just pray that you'll make
this reality in our lives.
Father,
we just pray that you'll
take us through each day
in a way that you're magnified
and every other thing is small.
Father,
we pray that you'll continue
to show yourself to be true
as you always have
and that we grow
and Father,
for those of us
who need to repent,
we repent for making you small
and we just turn our focus
to you,
Father.
We thank you once again
because you're a great God
seated at the right hand
of the throne.
We thank you for winning
all our battles,
for defeating all our Goliaths
and so we praise your holy name
and we honor you.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.