I unfortunately, in my line of work, find out that I'm having to spend even more and more time on the internet looking stuff up. It's like, is that really a law? So even as I was trying to get ready for this, doing some study, coming up with this message, and just searching other things, I was blown away by how many Google responses on this topic come up with, those that doubt that David was the one that killed Goliath. Like, I didn't even know that was, like, is that a thing? To even doubt that? But there were all these, like, oh, did David really kill Goliath? I didn't know that was a debatable topic. So it's unfortunate, folks. It's unfortunate of how many more and more sources are out there doing whatever they can do to create doubt in God's Word. And Brother Jim was hitting on that this morning, the importance of God's Word. So folks, be careful. Even if you're looking up stuff online and looking up stuff for a good reason, be careful what you come across. It's unreal, it's unfortunate how much misinformation's out there. And the thing is, it's gonna be misinformation that's disguised as good information. That's the scary part, right? Is you can tell that a lot of these things were coming from quote unquote Christians. All right, so be careful what's out there, all right? But 1 Samuel chapter 17, we're going to start a few verses into this. We're actually going to start in verse 49. So 1 Samuel chapter 17, we're going to start in verse 49. The Bible says, And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and sling it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead, and he fell upon his face to the earth. So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and smote the Philistine, and slew him. But there was no sword in the hand of David. Therefore David ran, and stood upon the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it out of the sheath thereof, and slew him, and cut off his head therewith. And when the Philistines saw their champion was dead, they fled. And the men of Israel and of Judah arose and shouted and pursued the Philistines until thou come to the valley and to the gates of Ekron. And the wounded of the Philistines fell down by the way to Sharam, even unto Gath and unto Ekron." All right, let me pray. Father God, once again, Lord, it is an honor, a privilege, a blessing to be able to stand up here in front of your people today, Lord God, to attempt to fill in the gap for Pastor Grissom while he's away and they're all coming back from camp. And again, Lord, we pray that you please continue to give them safe travels on the way back. Pray that it was a blessed time for him and Miss Teresa and all the campers down there. Well, Lord God, I pray that you please be with us here this morning. Lord God, please be with me. Help me, Lord God. Help me to say what it is that you need said today, not anything in and of myself. Lord, these folks don't need to hear anything from me. They need to hear from your word. So I pray that I can just be a faithful messenger this morning. Lord God, I pray to be an encouragement. I pray that if there are those that are here today that are maybe visiting for the first time maybe hurting, Lord God, I just pray that you would bless them today, that they would hear something that they need to just help them get through this life as we try and navigate things. Lord, we love you, we thank you and praise you in Jesus' name we do pray, amen. I think of how many messages have, how many messages, how many Bible studies, how many Sunday school lessons have we all heard that have centered around this idea or this passage when it comes to facing your giant? facing your problems, facing your sins, facing your enemies. And look, I think we all know that. I think that's a given fact in the Christian life that no doubt there are giants and there are storms that are going to come up in our lives and the ones that even seem completely insurmountable. And then, you know, maybe on the other side of that, you'll hear the messages and the sermons and the studies that then talk about the victory that can come out of that. You know, the victory that's waiting on the other side of that problem or that giant or that sin. And so don't get me wrong, folks, those are absolutely valuable lessons. And we will have those things. We will have those problems and those giants in our Christian life. And prayerfully, we will have those victories. And we certainly need to grasp a hold of those lessons when we read, again, as we've already, a real life story. I hope that you... visualize David and Goliath as a real life story. This wasn't an analogy. It wasn't a myth that was passed down like the telephone game and Goliath just kept growing and growing and growing. Again, when I was like searching pictures and it's like, man, you see some of these pictures, like you would think Goliath was 30 feet tall and that David was two. He practically looks like he's in a diaper or something. I get that he was young, but I'm not sure he was that young. I don't know. So it's almost comical the way that even the telephone game can creep its way into scripture. Yes, he was big, but he wasn't 30 feet tall. So let's keep things in perspective. but also remember that it was a real thing. It was a real story and there are some real lessons to be learned from that. But as I was going through at this time and also as I've been kind of finishing up this Bible course that I've been taking, I came across this passage and I just, I picked up on something different this time. And I think that's the point. I think anytime that you read through your Bible over and over and over again, hopefully you're picking up on different things. Things that maybe you didn't notice before. So this was definitely one of those things for me. One of those things that I just never really stopped to think about before. And enough to where I'm saying, I'm not going to say that I've missed the point, but I do think that I've missed or maybe we've missed a significant point. throughout this story that I haven't heard get hit on a lot. So now let's back it up a few verses and look at 1 Samuel 17. Now we're going to go back to verses 8 through 11. I'm going to read those real quick, 8 through 11. Bible says, and he stood, so this is Goliath, 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? Am not I of Philistine? And ye, servants to Saul, choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me. If he be able to fight with me and to kill me, then will we be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then shall ye be our servants and serve us. And the Philistines said, I defy the armies of Israel this day. Give me a man that we may fight together. And when Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid. So one thing I want to kind of hit on this morning, is it really your giant? Is it really your issue? Is it your problem? Because let's face it, that's typically what we hear with this message, facing your giant. If I read back through this, this wasn't David's giant. It was the armies of Philistine, or it was the armies of Israel's giant. In fact, it wasn't even about Goliath specifically right there in that moment. He just happened to be right there, their big man on campus that stood out. And in a weird way, I mean, you gotta give the guy a little bit of credit. He was being pretty valiant himself in that he was willing to take the entire fate of the Philistine army on his shoulders. I mean, he was willing to say like, hey, let's not kill everybody here. At the end of this thing, somebody has got to serve somebody. So he stood up. He stood up and said, I'll be the man on this side, you give me a man on your side, and let's come out here and settle this between man to man. But either way, it's not that it was all about David's Goliath. It's not about you facing your giant. It's not about you facing your problem, you facing your sin. I mean, let's face it, when this whole scene started, David wasn't even there. Remember, he was still back tending the sheep. He wasn't even there yet. He didn't know this thing was going on. Goliath was coming out to pick a fight, sure, with one guy, but he was there to fight for the sake of his nation. Again, right, wrong, or indifferent? We're not talking about that just yet. So sure, he was suggesting this fight, but ultimately to determine which nation would serve which nation. So here's what I'm proposing today is sometimes your giant, it's not yours at all. It's just you happen to be the one that the Lord picked to stand in the gap or to deal with it on the behalf of others. But it's not yours. To go so far as to say maybe you are the one that God just may have handpicked for such a time as this. I mean, does that sound familiar at all? You mean the story of a single Jewish woman who was handpicked by God to put her life on the line for an entire nation? And does that sound at all familiar like what our Lord Jesus Christ did for us? That one person literally put his life on the line for the sake of an entire mankind. Now, look, I get it, folks. And please do not think that I'm throwing anything away. Do not think that I am trying to put Mike's interpretation that we've had it all wrong on this message. It's not what I'm saying. There is absolutely a time and a place for making things personal. For example, we all need a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Personal. We must understand that, yes, while Jesus Christ certainly died for all, for all man's sins committed by all men, we must stay focused on the fact that there is a requirement in salvation of accepting what He did for us personally. Yes, He died for all man's sins, but He died for my sins. I have to accept that and trust in that wholly, individually, personally. Because folks, I've heard that, and I know that many of you have heard that. Oh yeah, I agree that Christ died for sins. Yeah, He did. Did He die for your sins? Well, I think that He died for sins. Whoa! Quit answering a question with a question or quit trying to skirt. Did you make it personal? Did you accept that on a personal level, that he died for your sins, that he died for my sins? So we can't forget that part. But when it comes to something like this, and talking about this passage, talking about the story of David and Goliath, I think so many times that we have tried to over personalize this, over spiritualize it, to a standpoint of saying that, oh, you've got to face your giant. You've got to face your Goliath. So as I had to stop and think about this week, is that not even a little bit closer to the overall world's philosophy of me, me, me? It's my problem. It's my issue. Leave me alone, let me just do my thing. Let me follow my dream. Let me go out and make my money. Let me go out, okay? And then let's not even talk about how social media has only multiplied that to the nth degree. Right? The whole, look how many friends I have, look how many likes I have, look how many views I have, look how many I, I, I, me, me, me. So again, trying to do some applicable research to this message. YouTube, right? I think we're all familiar with YouTube. I think, let's face it, half of us in here have some sort of degree from YouTube University at this point. All right, learn how to build a car, watch YouTube. Okay. Don't go to trade school, just watch YouTube videos, you'll be all right. YouTube has over 2.49 billion monthly users. In 2023, YouTube generated $31.5 billion. I mean, folks, look around us and look at the sad state of affairs our country is in and think about if just a fraction of that money was put back into things like groceries. I don't know. Maybe a loaf of bread shouldn't cost $7. Maybe we need to get off YouTube, start baking more bread. I don't know. But is that not a scary number? 31.5 billion dollars because people can go stand out in the middle of the street and do this. A certain influencer on YouTube that has the most followers. So a single individual on YouTube has the most followers, the most videos, the most views, making the most money on YouTube with over 300 million followers and over 10 billion views. And he just so happens to go by the moniker of Mr. Beast. Now how scary is that? A guy that refers to himself as Mr. Beast has 300 million followers. Folks, there's only 340 million people living in the US. That's a scary thing. That's a scary thing. And the millions and millions of dollars that that guy is making, and he's like 25, 26 years old, it's ridiculous. But this is what we've become. It's all about me. Let me actually get into the message here. All right, 1 Samuel chapter 17. I'm not going to read the whole things. A lot of you guys, look, you know this story. If you've been saved for any length of time, you've read the story of David and Goliath. You've heard it in Sunday school. So I'm not going to read a lot of these verses. Write them down. Go check them back out for yourself. But there in verses 15 through 20, mostly what we're talking about is, yes, we have David. But David went and returned from Saul to feed his father's sheep at Bethlehem. And now he's coming back on scene because his dad said, hey, I need you to go up there, go check on your brothers, and take the bread, and take the cheese, and take all this stuff, and see how they're doing. I heard it like this. David did not go to fight with Goliath. He was just trying to take his brother some grilled cheese sandwiches. And then Goliath got in the way. I mean, that's what it was. He was just Uber Eats or DoorDash. He was just DoorDashing it. I mean, that's what he was doing. He was just going to deliver the food and then like, hey, whoa, get out of the way, dude. I'm just trying to go see my brothers. It's not your giant. So the first thing that we got to understand is as Christians, we just simply need to go. It may not even be about having a specific calling. It may not be about having a specific direction. It's just simply the need to go and be a help. Be a help to others. Be a help to others that maybe they have that specific calling. Look, just like some young people here in our church that went down to camp this last week. Did those young people, did those teenagers... You know, I just really need to sit and pray about if the Lord would have me go to camp or not. Oh, bless your spiritual heart. Is that something you really need to stop? No, you just get up and go. Go to camp. It's not complicated. We don't need to over-spiritualize every single decision we make in our lives. We have had some people in this church. We've had some people from our sister church up at Blessed Hope that have made some amazing trips over the last couple of years to places like Brazil and Mexico and Malawi, Africa. And yes, I get it. Sometimes, maybe especially as you're an older teen, and man, it's time for you to start making the next steps in life, then sure, I get it. Maybe you really need to sit and pray, not about praying that you're going to Malawi, but praying that the Lord would call you to be a missionary while you're in Malawi. Do you see the differentiation there? If you have the time and the money and the resources, quit mulling around. Get on a plane and go. And then be willing to let the Lord show you something while you're there. Just go. David didn't have to sit here and debate about why he was going to take the bread and the cheese and stuff to his brothers. But because he was willing to just go, then all of a sudden an amazing opportunity just happened to pop up in the way. That's what happened there. The next one, intercede. Be willing to intercede. It just means intervene on the behalf of another. That's all it is. Now yes, we have great verses like that right there. I exhort therefore that first of all supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men. And again, I don't have to sit there and belabor that all men thing. And folks, I get it. You know, we're living in this crazy time. We've got elections coming up. Man, exactly. I mean, what do you say about that? Other than the fact that, number one, now more than ever. I mean, I'll be honest. I'm not going to try and get too political here, OK? I thought like the last elections, we really needed to pray. This one is even worse. When we look at the choices that we have in front of us, folks, the only thing that we've got left is, number one, pray. And number two, I'm going to encourage you to get out there and do your part and vote. Like, make your voice heard. So that in and of itself, though, to say that we need to remind ourselves to still make supplications and prayers and intercessions and giving of thanks for all men, you know what? Regardless of what happens in November and who ends up being in there, we still have a responsibility to pray. As hard as it may be. There is still a responsibility that if we don't want this country to completely go down the toilet, we've got to pray. And it's taken the time to step in on the behalf of others and pray. You know, you think about even as we look at this passage in 1 Samuel 17 and we look at everything that's going on, yes, of course, David ended up being the one who decided to take a stand. Yes, it was David who essentially interceded on the behalf of the entire army and was willing to face the giant. However, don't forget the fact that at least Saul tried to say, well, hey man, at least put on my armor. I understand it's 14 sizes too big, but don't go out there on your own. I mean, things were still done that it's not like David just single-handedly marched out there on his own with no support system, with no network. Provisions were made. Now, yes, he still had to make that personal decision with God to say, hey, look, man, I haven't tried this stuff on. I don't know how your armor works. So you know what? I'm just going to go out there with God's provision and protection. Yeah, OK, I get that. But let's not get so hyper-focused on the fact that he just went storming out there on his own with no help, no resources, no nothing. Look, I see that all the time when I get called. You know, as I'm out at work and I get called out all over the county, maybe I'm going to a domestic on one call. Maybe I'm going to a rec on another call. And hopefully, in a lot of those situations, you have more than one officer that's showing up. But when you have three or four officers show up, and if it's a high stress level situation, let me tell you, it only gets worse when there's three or four different guys all trying to say something slightly different. Bad things happen when one guy says, get on the ground, and another guy says, show me your hands. You can't have that. So even though you've got three or four people there, one person has to take a stand, step out front, and give clear directions, or commands, or instructions, or whatever. You have to have it. Somebody has to be out there, out front, making a clear picture of what needs to happen. Okay? So make intercession, folks, for others around you, okay? Then, sure, there is a time to arm yourself. I think it goes without saying, if we're gonna go do something for the Lord, if we're going to engage in the spiritual battle, then yes, we need to put on that spiritual armor. Okay, we need to, then maybe that is a time to over-spiritualize things as far as Ephesians 6, 11 through 18, right, the whole armor of God. What we need to understand, again, right, they're not about putting on physical pieces. They're about going through that process, going through that prayer, realizing what each one of those pieces mean, what it does for you, what it does for your mindset, what it does for your heart, what it does for your preparation. You've absolutely got to have all those pieces. I was about half tempted to show up wearing all my gear today. If you guys saw all the layers of stuff that I had to wear, and I stepped on the scale, I wear over 35 pounds of gear on a nightly basis. Between my vest and all my other stuff, I step on the scale, it's 35 pounds worth of stuff. But everything is there for a reason. I'll be honest with you. I pray this, as I'm getting ready to go out, I pray that I don't ever have to use some of that stuff that's on that vest. I'll be honest with you, I do. I pray that the Lord puts me in situations where I don't ever have to grab that thing, or that thing, or this thing. Other stuff, okay, I need to use my pen and paper every night, and I might need to use some other stuff, but I'll be honest. I pray I don't ever have to use some of it. I'm ready to, though, if I have to. And I won't hesitate. And I don't say that with any kind of regret. I've been trained to use it. I will use it. I just pray I don't have to. But it does me no good if I don't say that prayer. Does that make sense? It does me no good if I don't spiritually get myself in a place every night to not have to use some of that stuff. And so I think then that's another part of that armor that we can't forget to put on. And that's there in verse 18 when it talks about, and above all, we're supposed to do what? Pray. We're supposed to pray. Pray for the situations that you may face. Pray for the situations that may come up. Pray for that problem. Sure, pray for that giant, whatever it is. But we can't forget that yes, while that giant, while that beast, while that devil may not be yours specifically, it is having its way with the world. 1 Peter 5.8, "...be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour." Now look, I get it. Yes, that verse right there says, your adversary. I get it. However, now let's go back to our rules of Bible study. Who's writing? Who are they writing to? Who's the audience? All that good stuff. Was Peter writing that epistle? We talked about epistles this morning. Was Peter writing that epistle to an individual person? Can you apply your adversary spiritually, devotionally? Can you apply that to yourself? Sure. But Peter was writing that epistle for a whole audience of people to read, so when he said your adversary, he's talking to a group of people. Okay? We, though, as that recipient of the epistle, have to decide whether we're going to apply that congregationally, collectively, whatever word you want to use there, to say, yeah, that is our adversary, and we're going to bound together to fight that adversary. The lessons that we're typically taught with this passage here that it's your giant. It's your adversary. And we've been ingrained to take that attitude. It's my problem. Leave me alone. I got this. You go handle your giant. I'll handle mine. Folks, that's a dangerous place to be in. So as an example, right here in this church body, I am thankful that we do things like on Sunday night and Wednesday nights where we have prayer requests. Because from this very room, from people in this room, I have heard a lot of prayer requests go up of people asking for prayers for salvation of loved ones around them. That is a perfect example of making intercession, and that is a perfect example of recognizing how your adversary is wreaking havoc on others around you. But if that prayer request doesn't go up, you know what that is? That's you trying to face your giant to make a difference in one person's life. And I'm not saying it can't happen. But when those prayer requests go up across an entire church body, and now you've got a whole room full of people that are willing to help you pray against your adversary on the behalf of someone else who needs to be saved, folks, there's power in that. And those are prayer requests that I hope that we don't go home on Wednesday night, first thing Thursday morning, and completely forget about them. Those are the prayers, and I get it, folks. I mean, there are many, many important prayer requests I am not trying to take away from anybody else's prayer requests that go up on a Sunday night or a Wednesday night. But the ones where someone is asking for salvation for a loved one, someone you don't even... I don't care if you don't know their name. Forgive me, Larry, your brother. I don't know his name. Forgive me. But I'm praying for him. Billy? You see what I mean? The Lord knows his name. But it's all right, Lord, please be with Larry's brother. He needs to get saved. So those are folks that are willing to face their adversary for the sake of saving others. That's such an incredible thing. And so, folks, the message today, it's not complicated. It just literally comes down to what are we willing to do? Are we willing to engage in a fight on the behalf of others, all for the sake of someone else? Because it's not merely your giant. It's a giant that affects everyone around you. It's a problem that affects everyone around you. before you church me and kick me out of the fellowship or whatever. I like Westerns. I like Western movies, more so than all the new movies with superheroes, whatever. I just like, pew, pew, pew. It's good stuff. I love the fact that people actually have to stop and reload. Although, it's still amazing. I've done it. There's one old Western that I've watched a lot, and I still, I swear, I heard a guy shoot eight times with a six shooter. I don't know how that worked, but anyway. But I was watching this Western the other day, and I just, I don't know, I'd never heard this quote, and I loved it. The guy said, to be in the service of others with men that I respect, like you all, Well, I shouldn't have to ask for more than that. And man, I just kept rewinding it and kept watching. I even pulled my phone out and like, I just, I loved it. And it's like, I even kind of choked up a little bit. It's because that's what it's about. It's being willing to be in the service of others, but knowing that you can't do it alone. You can't do it by yourself. I need guys with me on a nightly basis that I know they've got my six and they know I've got theirs. I may not agree with you and everything that you do in your personal life, but when it comes down to it and we've got to go to that call, I've got your six. And you better have mine. Because if you don't, then we're going to go talk about it later. But folks, magnify that to a power of 10 when it comes to our Christian service. If you don't have people that have your six in the Christian walk, you're going to find yourself in a bad place on your own with a problem that you can't handle. The last thing that you want to do is be facing a problem in your Christian life, and then you realize it, and you turn around, and there's nobody there. For whatever reason. I think of, and for the sake of time, I won't go through all of them, but turn to 1 Corinthians 12. Turn to 1 Corinthians 12. Better put a mark over here in 1 Samuel 17 or I'll lose it. 1 Corinthians 12. A lot of verses here that just kind of emphasize this. You know, I've heard a lot of good messages lately on Final Fight. I've heard a couple, I've heard like two or three different preachers all basically have a real similar message talking about, you know, serving in the ministry is not about trying to shove everyone to fit inside one little box. Everybody doing the same thing. One preacher said it like, look, you've got to determine or you've got to understand what the Lord is calling you to do. for the sake of the church. And he was even talking about within the church setting, within the body of Christ. And so look, we know it. We have that going on here in this church. Some go out and street preach. Some door knock. Some pass out tracks. Some teach Sunday school. Some preach. Some go out and sing. But one that I think that gets overlooked, and let me at least try and be one to say thank you for those that do this. But folks, you know, to me, as I've gotten older, and especially getting back into law enforcement and things like that, what I find out is some of the most important ones are the ones that are always there on the other end of the phone when you're at the end of your rope. You need to know that there are brothers and sisters in Christ that are right there on the other end of the phone when you're at the end of your rope. When you're sitting there thinking like, this giant is about to take me out. And you need to call a brother or sister in Christ. Folks, that is such a crucial ministry. And I'm not saying that then you need to figure out how to put a sign-up sheet on the back that says, yeah, I want to be on call this month. That's not what I'm talking about. Folks, that's a level of trust thing. That takes so many different things to build that camaraderie, to build that trust. But we've got to have that within the body of Christ. that no matter what's going on, you can call that person. Look, there are certain times that, yes, maybe I need to call another officer, another deputy, because of a problem that I'm dealing right there. And I got to make sure I'm following the letter of the law. OK, yes, goes without saying. You might need to have those other people in your life, not because they're necessarily a brother or sister in Christ, to help you through a situation, help you through a problem or whatever. But when it comes to facing that spiritual giant, when it comes to facing that spiritual problem, you've got to be able to have that brother or sister in Christ that you can call. And whether that's your pastor, whether that's a deacon, whether that's a Sunday school teacher, it doesn't matter whoever that is. But if the devil has got you so convinced and got you backed up so far into a corner that you've allowed yourself to be convinced that there's no one to call, that's a bad place to be in. And I think, and I'm saying this because I've been guilty of it. I've been guilty of convincing myself that there was no one to call. that there was no one who understood my problem. You don't know what I'm going through. And I'm not about to try and spin you up and get you caught up on all the details. So you know what? I'm just not going to bother someone with that. I'm just going to sit here and deal with it. Don't do that. Don't do that. It's only a matter of time before that bottle bursts. So 1 Corinthians chapter 12, even look at verse 12. For as the body is one and hath many members, and all the members of that one body being many are one body, so also is Christ. For by one spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free, and have been all made to drink into one spirit. For the body is not one member, but many. And you can go through all that. And even Paul does a great job talking about, hey, the hand can't say to the mouth and this. OK, we get all that. Everybody in here, pick a body part. I want to be a finger. I want to be a nose. I want my finger to pick your nose, whatever. But we all are part of that body. 1228, 1st Corinthians 1228. And God hath set some, okay? So now, yes, here are some of those different offices and those different positions. And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues. Okay, we've got all those different things. We also see that list in Ephesians 4, 11 through 13, right? And how God gave the church These gifts. And those gifts are the apostles, and the teachers, and the preachers, and all those people. But ultimately, why does he say that he gave those gifts to the church? For the edification of the church. Not to have someone up here ruling over you. telling you how to make every decision in your life, not someone up here who, well, because they're the pastor, because they're the preacher, surely it's because they're on some other spiritual level. So I just, I'm like, I've got to call pastor because I can't figure this thing out on my own. Ah, wrong answer. They're there for the edifying of the church. Yes, they're there to help you. They're there to help shepherd you. No doubt about it. So we've got to understand that also in this, you know what folks, we're not alone. Even as, what was it there in 2 Kings 6.15, if you wanna just take the note, won't go there for the sake of time, but in 2 Kings 16 there, no, I'm sorry, 2 Kings 6, verses 15 through 17, right, you've got the big battle, or the army that's all set in array down there, and Elisha's servants, oh my gosh, oh, what are we gonna do? Right, and Elisha has to pray to the Lord to say, hey, Help him out, Lord. Open up his eyes. And he looks up and he sees that army of the horses and the chariots of fire on the mountainside. There's so great a cloud of witnesses encompassed around us that we don't even take the time to stop and realize that they're there. Never anywhere has God tried to convince us to face this giant alone. There are those around us. There are those behind us. It's why he wants us to not forsake the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but to be together in fellowship. It's that roaring lion that wants to isolate us and convince us that we're on our own. And so this time, as I was going through this, now I'll kind of get to the one thing that really stood out to me different this time as I was going through the real life account. I shouldn't even say that. Do you ever catch yourself sometimes saying, oh, the story of David and Goliath? Well, no, it's not a story. It's a real life account. So I'm even trying to be careful not to say that. It's not a story. It's real life. Story usually indicates like a fairy tale or something. But this time, as I was going through it, and I read something different. So look at 1 Samuel 17, 7. 1 Samuel 17, 7. Bible says, and the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and his spear's head weighed 600 shekels of iron. And then what does it say after that? I had never really paid attention to this before. and one bearing a shield went before him. You know how many hundreds of pictures I had to look through? Like, you find these pictures of Goliath all day long. You don't hardly see many of this. How did we forget this guy? He had, for as big and mighty and powerful as this guy was, he still had someone standing out in front of him with a shield. I never really stopped to pay attention to it. It even says it later on there in verses 40 and 41 of this chapter. Look at verse 41. And the Philistine came on and drew near unto David, and the man that bare the shield went before him. What in the world? Where did this guy come from? Why was he needed? And where did he go after Goliath got a splitting headache? Did he go run to get the Tylenol? I don't know. Now look, I'm not going to sit here and belabor these points. I'm not worried about answering these questions. Here's the point that I had to stop and look at for a minute. Sometimes when we have this problem, when we have this giant first, we need to realize that it's not our problem. It's not just our giant. But another time is we really got to stop and pump the brakes and assess the situation to realize for as big as that problem is, it clearly has a weak point. It clearly has a very identifiable vulnerability. for as big and bad as you think that problem is, it ain't so big and bad that it still didn't feel like it needed somebody else standing out in front of it with a shield. Now, I'm not gonna get into heights and whatever. I read, and again, right, this is where you gotta be careful with goofy stuff you see on Google. One guy was trying to propose, he's like, well, if this guy was standing in front of, you know, the giant, well then clearly he had to be a giant to hold up a shield big enough to cover the giant. Whatever, I don't know. Maybe because this is the most, kind of like when I wear a vest, you know the majority of that vest only covers like this part of my body. Like this, still an issue, okay? So maybe the guy was just tall enough to cover Goliath's vitals with a shield. I don't know, I don't care. I'm not going to over-spiritualize or scripturalize that. But the Bible clearly says that this guy was standing in front of him. Maybe this guy was right at David's eye height or something. So let's make the lesson out of that. Folks, sometimes we get so focused on what's way up here that we lose sight of what's right here. we lose sight of the vulnerability that's right in front of us because we're too busy looking at how big the problem is. So clearly Goliath had some sort of weak point. And I'm not taking away from what God accomplished. Do I still think that God absolutely orchestrated this fight for David to pick up the stone and hit him right in the forehead? Yes, obviously that happened the way that it was supposed to happen. But this guy was still there for a reason. And maybe there was a weakness there that could have been exposed. I don't know. And I'm certainly not gonna take away from, we've all heard it. We've heard the messages on the five smooth stones, what that means spiritually, but we've also read the lessons further on to where, hey, yeah, probably a pretty good indication that David picked up five stones because there were five giants, right? You had Goliath and all of his sons and Kinfolk back there. So David picked up five stones because he needed a reload. I'm sure David's wishing he had a, 15 round capacity mag, whatever. So I'm not taking away from all that stuff, folks. I'm just saying, how many times have we worked on a problem? Maybe it was some sort of major mechanical problem. Brother Jim, how many times have you worked on some big elevator and then you came to find out it was probably some little spring, some little bitty thing that fixed an entire problem? And we look over that stuff and we glance over it because we're convinced that it's some big major problem. And it all comes down to this little bitty thing. And we probably looked over it time and time and time and time again. I'm going to skip ahead. How many of you remember this? That was a sad day. Space Shuttle Challenger. Seven people. Lost their lives 73 seconds into the launch. Do you remember what brought that thing down? O-rings. O-rings. Now, granted, these weren't your normal O-rings, okay? They said these O-rings were 38 feet in diameter, but they were still only a quarter of an inch thick. Now you think about, I mean, how many of you, like O-rings are pretty easy to snap on their own, but you imagine an O-ring that's 38 feet around but only a quarter inch thick? That is a vulnerability. But O-rings, little bitty problem, is what caused that right there. We get so focused on the bigger picture that we miss the smallest thing. that can be our biggest detriment. So now to go back one. So folks, the last thing we got to do is, yes, there does come a time in all this that we have to be willing to take action. Blessed be the Lord my strength with teacheth my hands to war and my fingers to fight. I get it that this is a very physical verse. It's a very applicable verse that we know that David was a warrior king. We know that David had an amazing ability to fight and strategize and do all those things. So this is not my way of trying to encourage everybody to go out there and start taking judo lessons and arm yourselves to the hill. OK? Not a bad idea, but just saying. Not telling anybody to do that. But there is a point that we actually do have to fight. We can't just talk about it. I've seen it happen not only in wartime. I've seen it happen in Iraq. I've seen it happen out on the streets, that even though you have someone who has been trained, they have a weapon, they have all the things that they need, and then when bad things happen, they just They just vapor lock. And they just stand there. And all of a sudden, they can't perform. And folks, it's training. It's time. But it's the prayer. It's making sure that not only have you been through everything that you need to go through, but that in that moment, you're asking that the Lord will give you the ability to actually do what you need to do, to actually be able to take that action. And so when it comes back to the concept of being in the church body and the church family and everything, and we have that roaring lion, guys, look, you've heard it. You know how lions hunt. They're sitting there watching that entire herd of wildebeest or giraffes or zebras or whatever it is they like to eat, and then what are they doing? They're picking out the weak one. They're trying to find that one. They're trying to find that newborn, little baby zebra, or whatever they're finding the one that broke its leg and it's walking. They're going to find the one that is the easiest prey. They're going to isolate it. They're going to watch it. And they are going to maneuver themselves in such a way that when it's go time, it's go time, and they try and make it the quickest kill as possible. What we've got to remember is let's apply that herd mentality. I've seen this when I've been out hunting, especially out hunting elk out in Colorado because they're a herd animal. Man, you're sitting here and you're trying to stalk, you've got this one elk, it's in your sights, and you're so focused on that that you didn't see the one that was over here standing at your side the entire time, because it's looking at you. And that's all it did. That one's sole job was to be on the lookout. And you didn't even see it. And that's what they do. There is part of that herd that even though it's a herd, I don't care if it's a herd of buffalo, I don't care if it's a herd of zebra or whatever, that the main body of that herd is right here, but there's some that are out there on the edges and they look like they're just out there being stupid eating grass too. No, no, no, no, they're watching. They're watching. They're looking for the stuff that's going on so that they can sound the alarm. They'll stomp their hooves, they'll make all these weird noises, and that's their sole job, is to sound the alarm when they see something happening down there on the herd. So folks, we've got to apply that herd mentality in the church. Maybe you can be the one out there on the edge that sees a brother or sister is about to go down. Devil's got you in his sights, and he is doing everything he can to isolate you. I may not be able to help you because you're clear down at the end of the valley, and you got a broke... I may not be able to run over there, but I can be like, hey! Brother, look out, man, he's coming. He's got you in his sights. Hey, sister, I see you. You're hurting. He's coming for you. We've got to be part of that church family that can look out for one another. So I'll close with that. Let brotherly love continue. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. But I like this part. Remember them that are in bonds. as bound with them and them which suffer adversity. In other words, when we see that brother or sister in Christ going through some stuff, we need to imagine that we're right there in the same condition. We need to imagine that we're in a similar situation so that we can know how to pray, know how to help, know how to pick up the phone and call. But I've just got to focus on that number. Well, lots of numbers. But what I mean is, folks, remember, it's not always your giant. And we've got to quit trying to take on that mentality. Sure, there's a time and a place. And there's a time and a place. If you're dealing with your sin, then deal with your sin. Don't make it my sin. I got my own sins. And it's none of your business, whatever. But there's also, Tom, that we're going through problems where we're forcefully isolating ourselves. And it's not your giant. It's a giant that affects everybody. But you guys know I like my acronyms. Go, intercede, arm yourself, you're not alone, take action. all when it comes to facing a giant. Not your giant, a giant, somebody's giant, everybody's giant, everybody's problem. And let's just remember that we need each other to keep each other in this race. Can't do it alone. Can't do it alone. With that, let's go ahead and stand. Have the piano player come up. Appreciate everybody being here this morning. Hope this has been an encouragement. Hope it's been a reminder. I hope that if there is someone in here today that needs to take the message personally to understand that you need a personal relationship with Jesus Christ because you do have your giant, the devil, as your current father, I hope you will take that part personal today, that it is going to require you having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ to overcome your personal giant of sin and realize that Jesus Christ put himself in David's position and he slew that giant. He took death and he took sin and he took all that and he took it out of the way and he paid that price for you. But if there's anybody in here today that has been convinced that it is their giant, that it's a giant that you can't share with your brothers and sisters in Christ, I pray that maybe today, maybe today you'll reach out to someone, you'll talk to a brother or sister, you'll let your church family know how we can be praying for you. But as some of you in here are also trying to battle your adversary, the devil, on behalf of others that need to be saved, check in on those folks. See how they're doing. Let's check in on them.