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join James and Teresa Merritt for the 6th annual
Mountaintop Conference, featuring "Overwhelmed,
but not broken," three power-packed teaching
sessions from Dr. James Merritt.
We'll have special evenings with Luke Zamperini, Will Graham,
and musical entertainment at the Smoky Mountain Opry.
There's even an optional day at Dollywood.
Meet us on the mountain November 30th through December 4th
in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.
Call 800-523-3919 or visit mountaintopconference.com
for all the details.
Today on Touching Lives.
You know why we're afraid of the giants in our life?
Do you know why we fear the giants in our life?
Because we remember what we ought to forget,
and we forget what we ought to remember.
You know what we remember?
We remember the low points in our life.
We forget the high points in our life.
You know what we remember?
We remember our failures.
You know what we forget?
We forget our victories.
With hope and encouragement for life, this is
Touching Lives with James Merritt.
What I want to do this morning is
I want us to study a man.
You're very familiar with him.
As a matter of fact, he is the second most mentioned person
in all of the bible.
He's talked about more than anyone else except
Jesus Himself.
And to give you a little clue, all I got to do is say one word.
You'll know who I'm talking about.
And the word is Goliath.
And so we're talking about David.
Now anybody that's anybody knows the story of David and Goliath.
as a matter of fact, there are people all over the world who've
never read the bible but they know about David and Goliath.
I have met people overseas who've never even seen a bible
yet they know the story of David and Goliath.
And in case you don't, if you have a copy of God's word
or a smart phone or a tablet or an iPad, I want you to turn
to the book of 1 Samuel.
It's in the Old Testament.
1 Samuel 17.
You say, "I don't know where 1 Samuel is."
Not a problem.
Right before 2 Samuel.
So if you'll just turn to 1 Samuel 17,
we're going to look at this story together.
Now you may have been in a medically induced coma
for all of your life or you may be an Auburn graduate
and you don't know this story, you're just not real familiar
with how this story works.
So let me just kind of give you a refresher.
The story takes place in a valley called Elah.
If you ever go to Israel with me, we will go to
the valley of Elah.
I've seen this valley many, many times.
And so you've got this valley and Israel's mortal enemies,
the Philistines, they're camped on one mountain
and a valley away, the army of Israel
is camped on the other mountain.
and the heavyweight champion of the Philistines,
this giant named Goliath, is challenging anybody in Israel,
somebody in Israel, to a one-fall,
winner take all match to see who's going to
leave victorious.
Well people all over the world are paying on pay-per-view
to see the rally in the valley.
Everybody wants to see how's this fight going to come out.
Tickets are being sold at a record pace at a record price.
The only problem is nobody wants to fight Goliath.
Nobody wants any part of the giant.
Every day, everybody has a headache.
Every day, people are calling in sick.
As a matter of fact, things had gotten so bad that King Saul --
who by the way is the guy that should've fought him --
King Saul has even put out a bribe.
He's put out a reward for anybody
that will fight this giant.
We read about it in verse 25.
"And the men of Israel said, 'Have you seen this man
who has come up?
Surely he has come up to defy Israel.'
And the King," now listen to this, "Will enrich the man
who kills him with great riches and will give him his daughter
and make his father's house free in Israel."
Now here's what was being offered:
fortune, fame, freedom.
To rock your world, you've got to face giants.
What David knew are the same things we ought to know.
And what David realized are the same things
that we ought to realize.
Because it's those things that motivated David to do what
nobody else was willing to do.
And everybody in this room faces giants.
You're in a marriage that may not make it.
That's a giant.
You've got a diseases that's debilitating.
that's a giant.
You're in a financial situation that looks like it's all
but insurmountable to get over.
You've got a giant.
And the truth of the matter is, life is a battle for everybody.
And every day when you get up out of your bed
and you take your shower and you get your clothes on
and you go out to fight another day of the battle called life,
you will either experience the agony of defeat
or the thrill of victory based on whether or not
you realize and remember the three things
that David did that enabled him to fight his giant.
And I want to share with you what those are.
Number one: David realized, "I have God's power behind me."
I realized I've got God's power behind me.
Now we're gon' pick up the story in verse three.
"And the Philistines stood on the mountain on one side.
Israel stood on the mountain on the other side,
with a valley between them.
And there came out from the camp the Philistine's champion named
Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span,
he had a helmet of bronze on his head, he was armed with
a coat of mail and the weight of the coat
was 5,000 shekels of bronze, and he had bronze armor
on his legs and a javelin of bronze
slung between his shoulders.
The shaft of his fear was like a weaver's beam.
And his spears head weight 600 shekels of iron
and his shield bearer went before him."
Now let me tell you why people can't find Bigfoot.
He lived about 3,000 years ago.
Okay?
This was the original Bigfoot.
This was the incredible Hulk.
Nine feet, six inches tall.
The guy's so big, his t-shirt weighs 175 pounds.
He's carrying a spear, the head of which weighed 25 pounds.
This guy was so big, he didn't take steroids,
steroids took him.
I mean this guy is a big, big, guy.
So when you read verse 24, it shouldn't be
too surprising, right?
All the men of Israel, when they saw the man, they fled from him
and they were much afraid.
Reminds me of a supervisor I heard about that was talking to
the president of his company and the president looked at him
and he said, "Do you have any problems with your department?"
And he said, "Well I've just got one."
He says, "What's your problem?"
He said, "Well in my department there are six people
and they're all afraid of me."
And he said, "I've got a small secretary.
She's afraid of all of us."
He's not got no problem controlling them.
He said, "Well what's your problem?"
He said, "I've got one other person working for me.
She's not afraid of anybody.
She's not even afraid of me."
And the president said, "Well why don't you fire her?"
He said, "Because I'm afraid of her."
Now everybody was afraid of Goliath.
Nobody wanted to fight him.
And to add insult to injury, Goliath was not only a big man.
He had a big mouth.
And he was really letting them have it every day.
And they had to hear the same song on his radio
every single day, same words, same lyric, same tune.
Verse eight.
"He stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel.
'Why do you come out to draw up for battle?'"
In other words, "What are you doing out?
You keep coming out here but nothing happens.
Am I not a Philistine and you not servants of Saul?
Choose a man for yourselves.
Let him come down to me, for if he is able to fight with me
and kill me, then we'll be your servants.
But I prevail against him and kill him,
you'll be our servants and serve us."
And the Philistines said, "I defy the ranks of Israel
this day.
Give me a man that we may fight together.'"
And how long has this been going on?
Verse 16.
"For 40 days the Philistine came forward and took his stand
morning and evening."
For 40 days, almost six weeks, they can't find one man
to fight this giant.
They can't find a general.
They can't find a captain.
They can't find a major.
They can't find a sergeant.
They can't find a book private.
They can't find anybody.
Nobody.
The king wouldn't fight.
The commander wouldn't fight.
The generals wouldn't fight.
The special ops wouldn't fight.
Nobody would fight.
And then one day everything changed.
"And David said to the men who stood by him,
'What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine
and takes away this reproach from Israel?
For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy
the armies of the Living God?'"
And the people answer him in the same way.
"So shall it be done to the man who kills him."
Now verse 26 is a turning point in the story.
This is really key to understanding this story.
Because it's the first time that God is ever mentioned.
You read 25 verses, nobody says a word about God,
and then God is mentioned.
By the way, these are the first words David ever spoke
in the bible.
And I find it so cool that the first words out of
David's mouth, he's talking about God.
He walks into this camp.
He hadn't been there in 15 minutes.
Everybody else is talking about the giant.
David says, "Why don't we talk about God?"
Everybody else is focusing on Goliath and David says,
"Why don't we focus on God?"
Everybody else is mesmerized by the giant.
David says, "Why don't we get mesmerized by God?"
And finally somebody shows up that cares more about
the glory of God than they do the girth of this giant.
Well as you can imagine, word gets out pretty quickly.
Verse 31, "When the words that David spoke were heard,
they were repeated.
They repeated them before Saul and he sent for him.
and David said to Saul, 'Let no man's heart fail because of him.
Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.'"
At last, good news.
Spread throughout the camp.
Hey, have you heard?
Somebody has finally shown up that's stupid enough to go out
and fight this giant.
That's the good news.
The bad news is, he's 19 years old.
He's skinny as a rail, red hair, fair skin, freckle face,
never fought a battle, never wielded a sword,
never picked up a shield, has no military training whatsoever.
And that still raises this big question: What would move David
to say yes when everybody else said no?
What would make David go into the fight when everybody else
ran from the fight?
Why was he so courageous and everybody else was so cowardly?
All right?
Listen to verse 34.
"But David said to Saul, 'Your servant used to
keep sheep for his father.
And when there came a lion or a bear and took a lamb
from the flock, I went after him and struck him
and delivered it out of his mouth.
and if he rose against me, I caught him by his beard
and struck him and killed him.
Your servant has struck down both lions and bears,
and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be
like one of them.
For he has defied the key armies of the Living God.'
And David said, 'The Lord who delivered me
from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear
will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.'"
Now here's what amazes me.
It takes a shepherd boy to go to a king and says to the king,
"Hey, you remember the God that made you the king to begin with.
What about that God?
What about Him?"
He has to go to the king and say, "Have you forgotten
how powerful this God is?"
Now I want to show you something.
Watch this.
Do you know why we're afraid of the giants in our life?
Do you know why we fear the giants in our life?
Because we remember what we ought to forget
and we forget what we ought to remember.
You know what we really remember?
We remember the low points in our life.
We forget the high points in our life.
You know what we remember?
We remember our failures.
You know what we forget?
We forget our victories.
And the reason why David could face the present was because of
what he remembered from the past.
Because with nothing except a staff and a slingshot,
David said, "I've killed bears."
David said, "I've killed lions."
And see, in doing that, God taught that little shepherd boy
one of the greatest lessons you'll ever learn about you
and one of the greatest lessons you'll ever learn about God.
Listen to this.
If you remember what God has done for you, you will trust
what God will do for you.
But if you forget what God has done for you, you will doubt
what God will do for you.
See hindsight gives a lot of insight.
And David said to Saul, "You know what I've learned
about God" What's that David?
"God has a perfect track record."
But there's a second reason, something else he knew.
He said, "I have God's presence beside me."
I don't have just God's power behind me.
I've got God's presence beside me.
Okay?
It's time to get it on.
I tell you, I love this scene.
You can't help but love it.
Even Hollywood could not do justice to the drama
of the moment.
Verse 40.
"Then he took his staff in his hand and chose
five smooth stones from the brook and he put them
in his shepherd's pouch.
His sling was in his hand and he approached the Philistine
and the Philistine moved forward and came near to David,
with his shield bared in front of him.
And when the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him,
for he was but a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance.
And the Philistine said to David, 'Am I a dog that you come
to me with sticks?'"
You can't get away from Georgia.
They're everywhere.
"'Am I a dog that you come to me with sticks?'
And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.
The Philistine said to David, 'Come to me and I will give your
flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field.'"
Now here's what I want you to do right now.
I want you to leave the building mentally, telepathically.
Leave the building, go back 3,000 years.
You're in the valley of Elah.
You're right there at this moment.
I mean, everything's dead still.
There is a hush.
Both armies are shocked and stunned at what they're seeing.
The Philistines are looking at each other saying,
"Is that the best they got?"
And the Israelites are looking at each other and saying,
"Is that the best we got?
Is that all that we have?"
The Israelites looked at this kid and they covered their eyes
because they can't watch.
The Philistines, they get out their cameras
because they can't wait.
I mean they are excited.
Because both sides knew one thing: This fight's not gon'
last very long.
It's going to be over pretty quick.
I mean there's no doubt about this.
Now the reason why the fight didn't last very long
is not because of the power of David.
The reason why the fight did not last very long was because of
the presence of God.
I want you to listen now to what David says in verse 45.
"Then David said to the Philistine,"
first time he's ever even said anything to this guy.
"He says to the Philistine, 'You come to me with a sword
and with a spear and with a javelin,
but I come to you in the name of the Lord of Hosts,
the God of the armies of Israel who you have defied.'"
Here's Goliath.
He's got his sword, he's got his shield.
He's got his armor.
He's got his army.
and here's David and all he's got is a stone
and a slingshot and God.
That's all he's got.
But David understood something that nobody else
on either side understood.
Watch this.
"For the battle is the Lords and He will give you into our hand."
Now listen.
There's some of you that have never understood this story.
You've got it all wrong and I want to help you today.
David had a totally different perspective than everybody else
on that battlefield.
Here was the difference.
David was not fighting for God.
God was fighting for David.
David was not fighting God's battle.
God was fighting David's battle.
Verse 45.
"David said to the Philistine, 'you come here with a sword,
a spear, and a javelin.
I come to you in the name of the Lord of Hosts,
the God of the armies of Israel whom you have defied.
This day, the Lord will deliver you into my hand.
I will strike you down and cut off your head.
I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines
to this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts
of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God
in Israel and that all this assembly may know that the Lord
saves not with sword and spear but for the battle
is the Lord's, and He will give you into our hand.'
When the Philistine arose and came and drew near
to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line
to meet the Philistine.
And David put his hand in his bag and he took out a stone
and he slung it and struck the Philistine on his forehead.
The stone sank into his forehead and he fell on his face
to the ground.
So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling
and with a stone and struck the Philistine and killed him.'"
There was no sword in the hand of David.
David takes a slingshot, takes a stone about the size
maybe of a tennis ball, a half of a tennis ball,
and he hits Goliath right between the eyes
and he drops him like a bad habit.
This is where too many people leave the story.
Most preachers leave the story right here.
They say, "Okay, let's pray."
All right, we're gon' do that in a minute but not yet.
Because we haven't even gotten to the real meaning
of the story.
We haven't gotten to the deepest part of this story.
Because there's one last thing -- we'll be brief --
there's one last thing we need to remember.
Here it is.
I have God's purpose before me.
I've got God's power behind me.
I've got God's presence beside me.
I've got God's purpose before me.
Now let me tell you why so many people, and a lot of you --
I'm not trying to talk down to you, but I want to
tell you why a lot of you have never really understood
the real purpose of this story.
Why do you think the story's in the bible to begin with?
You think this story's in the bible just to show that
a little boy could beat a giant?
That's not why the story's in the bible.
You say, "Well I know why the story's in the bible.
To show that I can beat my giants."
That's not why the story's in the bible.
The purpose of the battle was not to prove that David
could kill a giant.
It wasn't even to prove that we could kill our giants.
Because when you see the reason why David was willing to risk
his own life and how he did it, then you'll understand
what this is all about.
Let's go back two verses.
"That all the earth may know," this is why I'm going to fight
this giant, "that there is a God in Israel and that all this
assembly may know that the Lord," what's that word?
Saves.
"That the Lord saves not with sword and spear, for the battle
is the Lords and He will give you into our hand.'"
Now watch this.
This'll be worth the whole trip this morning.
This story is much more than about a little shepherd
that beat a big giant.
This story's not even primarily about David.
It's not primarily about Goliath.
It's not primarily about you.
It's not primarily even about me.
I'm going to be very, very specific.
This is a story about God.
Because what David said is this: "Let me tell you why
I'm going to fight that giant.
And let me tell you how I know I'm going to defeat that giant.
Here's why.
I want all the world to know there is a Lord that saves."
In other words, you know what David and Goliath's all about?
It's not abut a shepherd.
It's about a savior.
It's not about David.
It's about one of his descendants named Jesus.
Because by the way, have you noticed the parallels
between David and Jesus?
Why do you think that we're told specifically the giant
came out 40 days?
Why not 38?
Why not 46?
Why are we specifically told that this giant came out
40 days?
How many days do you think Jesus had to fight Satan
in the wilderness?
Somebody tell me.
40 days.
And then I'll tell you something else that's kind of interesting.
So how does David start to fight?
How does David go into the fight?
Because remember, David had never been to
this valley before.
He had never seen this brook before.
He had never seen this giant before.
He'd never fought in a battle before.
You'd think he'd start drawing up battle plans.
You'd think he'd start thinking about strategy and tactics.
He doesn't do that.
Here's what he does.
Notice that you go back and you read,
the bible says David knelt.
He couldn't bent over and picked up the rock.
He didn't bend over.
He knelt and he picked up the rock.
Why did he kneel?
Because he was saying to his heavenly Father at that point,
"You know, in my flesh, I'm not an idiot.
I really don't want to fight this guy.
But I know this is what you're calling me to do.
So not my will but yours be done."
And 3,000 years later, another shepherd knelt down
in a garden called Gethsemane.
He said, "You know, I really don't want to fight this battle,
but nevertheless not my will but yours be done."
The only difference is He didn't pick up a stone.
He picked up a cross.
And he went and died on that cross.
And unlike his ancestor David, who died,
He died but He came back from the grave.
And see here is the beauty of this story.
You read this story and you go, "Well, how does that
help me man?
I don't have David to fight my battles."
You're right.
We don't have David to fight our battles for us.
We got one far better than David.
His name is Jesus.
And every morning when you get out of bed, He's standing
right there saying, "Yeah, I've seen the giant.
I know the giant.
I got him.
I can handle it.
I can do this.
You just put your faith in me.
I'll take care of the fight.
Don't worry about the giant.
You focus on me."
And let me tell you why?
You don't get up every day and go outside and say,
"well I sure hope I win the victory today."
The victory has already been won.
When Jesus came out of that grave 2,000 years ago,
He's already won our victory.
He's already whipped every giant that you face.
You put your faith in Him and He takes care of the fight.
Because every day when you get out of bed, I don't care
what you face, here's what Jesus is telling you:
"You've got my power behind you.
You've got my presence beside you.
You've got my purpose before you."
Now look, I'm gon' wrap this up.
I don't know what giants you guys face today.
I know everybody is out there facing something.
Here's just a few.
Here's an example.
You're sitting there and you're saying,
"Well I'm not worthy to be forgiven."
That's a giant.
You're not good enough to be used.
That's a giant.
You can't work this marriage out.
That's a giant.
You'll never get control of your temper.
That's a giant.
You'll never overcome all those bad habits you got.
That's a giant.
You can never be forgiven of that.
That's a giant.
And you can never change.
That's a giant.
You're sitting there today and you're saying,
"Nice try doc, but you know what?
I've been fighting this giant for five, ten, 15, 20 years
and I hadn't whipped him yet."
I got some bad news for you.
You're not going to.
Good news is, Jesus already has.
When you place your faith and trust in Him and you look at Him
and say, "Lord, I can't fight that giant," and Jesus looks
at you and says, "You know what?
It's not your battle, it's my battle.
You give me your faith and I will give you the victory."
Because when Jesus said yes to the cross, it made us able
to say yes to Him that frees us to say yes to everything
that God has for us.
So this is the last thing I want to share.
There's a daddy that took his little girl to the carnival.
And she'd take him on several rides.
And they came to this booth where this man
was making cotton candy.
He looked at his daughter and he said, "Honey, would you like
some cotton candy?"
She said, "Yes daddy, I really would."
So this guy spins out this huge ball, almost as big as she was,
this huge ball of cotton candy.
And he give sit to the little girl and the daddy says,
"Honey, are you sure you can eat all of that?"
With a big smile on her face, she said,
"oh daddy, don't worry.
I'm a lot bigger on the inside than I am on the outside."
Let me tell you something.
If Jesus lives in you, He is a lot bigger on your inside
than any giant you face on the outside.
And every time you say yes to Jesus, you will whip your giant.
Have you ever wondered what it must have been like to be
in David's shoes when he faced Goliath?
to be so full of faith and courage that all you
could see was victory?
No matter what giant you are facing today,
Jesus has already won your victory.
Call Touching Lives at 800-413-113.
We want to pray with you as you overcome
your giant once and for all.
Building on the insights of this best-selling book,
52 Weeks with Jesus, Dr. James Merritt
has written a brand-new devotional to bring renewal
to all who want more of Jesus, a great companion devotional,
or perfect on its own.
Spend time with the One who changed everything.
Get your copy of 52 Weeks with Jesus Devotional
from Touching Lives for $13 or get both books for just $20.
Call 800-413-1131 or go to touchinglives.org.
November 30th through December 4th join
James and Teresa Merritt for the 6th Annual
Mountaintop Conference.
Featuring Overwhelmed But Not Broken,
three power-packed teaching sessions
from Dr. James Merritt.
We'll have special evenings with Luke Zamperini, Will Graham,
and musical entertainment at the Smoky Mountain Opry.
There's even an optional day at Dollywood.
Meet us on the mountain November 30th through
December 4th in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.
Call 800-523-3919 or visit mountaintopconference.com
for all the details.
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