KINGS | Week 1 | Full Service

And you're like, yeah. I think I figured that out. But the but what I realized at the time is what I thought was humility was actually pride. You see, I wasn't being humble as being fearful.

And how does the fearful mean pride? It means like I was afraid of like starting a church means there's a lot of risk. There's a lot like, do I have the ability? I don't have the resources. I don't know anybody with money. How do I get paid? How do I take care of my kids? How do I I don't have any other I can talk. What else? I need a lot of other people and skills, and it just overwhelmed me. And I and and and and so what I thought was humility was really fear,

and the fear was really coming from a place of pride. The opposite of humility. Like, how is fear making you stop something pride? Isn't pride about being arrogant and thinking you do more? No. You see, humility is not thinking less of yourself. They say it's it's it's thinking of yourself less.

And pride is not just the opposite of that. Pride is really just making it all about yourself. And you can make it about yourself in an arrogantly, I'm great and positive way. You can also make it about yourself in that I can't do that because I will fail and it'll be bad.

In other words, when it comes to a relationship with God, it is pride whenever you don't trust him. It is pride whenever you trust your strengths and your plans, arrogance, above him. It's also pride when you trust your fears and your failures and your lack thereof. So what God wants you to do, you can't do.

That's still pride. I call it Eeyore pride. You know, I'm never gonna be able to do this because you're still making it about you, either on the negative or positive. Another way to say it would be an insecure pride or an anxious pride. One's arrogance. One's anxiety.

And the reason I share this is what we're gonna talk about in this new series today. What we're gonna come up here is is this idea that I think there are probably some of us in this room that have that arrogant pride that you are just gonna you can hear a message that God's word clearly says, here's how you live. And you have your reasons why you know better than God to not do that.

Good luck. But what I've noticed in all my years of preaching and leading, more of us struggle with the opposite pride. We don't think we're being prideful, but we are being disobedient to God because of this insecure pride. I can't do what God says to do.

I can't do that because I don't have enough of this. I can't give because I don't have enough money. I can't serve because I don't have enough time. I can't love that person because I don't have enough patience. I can't go down that road because I'm not wired that way. It's not gonna work. I just I can't do it. And we have all these insecurities and these anxieties

that then create this pride that you say, I know better than God knows. And we have to call it what it is because the Bible says pride comes before the fall. And we have to confront that anxiety as what it is. Oftentimes,

it's simply a pride that you're making it about yourself. Where God calls us to go is not about us. He uses us, but it's not about us. And we need to learn to trust that. We need to learn to be willing to go into that moment. And that's what we're gonna see today because the big idea of today's message is simply this,

is humility is the byproduct of trusting God. Meaning, you wanna know if you're humble or not, is are you trusting God right now? If you're not trusting God, you ain't humble. Doesn't matter why you're not trusting God.

It's pride. And and we're gonna see that as we look in this series called Kings.

We just finished Judges. Judges was about that period of in Israel's history in the Old Testament where they didn't have a king. Everyone was doing what they thought was right in their own eyes. Now it enters into this period where they cry out for a king and God says, okay. I'm gonna give you

And and and and what happens is in the first Samuel, we start to hear the story about the first two kings of Israel. One ends up losing his kingdom because he's disobedient to pride. And what we're gonna see today is I believe he had that insecure pride. And insecure pride, when pushed long enough,

becomes angry pride. It becomes defensive pride. And some people, when you're insecure, you won't trust God, and you get pushed enough. Like, some of you are gonna get mad at me by the end of the sermon. I'm just gonna tell you. Tilt your throat up right now because the throat punches are coming.

And you're gonna get angry because you're insecure long enough. You keep telling me you can't. I can't. You can't. I can't trust God. You don't know me. You don't know my story. You know what's going on, and you're gonna get mad. And I'm just calling my shot right now.

That's what insecurity does. You then start beating your chest and and and yelling and getting angry. And that's what happens with the first king of Israel, guy named Saul. The second king of Israel, David, is called a man after God's own heart. He ends up being a Christ type. He's actually in the lineage of Jesus.

He ends up with this thing called the Davidic covenant, a covenant with God's people as their king. He's considered the greatest king. He's actually an illustration of the king of kings to come, Jesus, the true savior. But guess what? David sins.

David doesn't always get it right. Saul doesn't always get it right. But yet David ends up being the manna for God's own heart, and Saul isn't. Why?

And that's what we're gonna be looking at over the next few weeks. We're gonna be looking at these different elements that's here's why David's a man after God's own heart even though he's not perfect and compare it to the similar scenario and what did Saul do as king as opposed to this?

And we're we're gonna look at that and compare it. And what's happening is Samuel, where we're gonna be in, Samuel was the last judge

of Israel. And then God called him to be a prophet and a priest for Israel. So the prophet was the guy that preached the word of God, and mainly he would preach to the king. He became God started using him as you come alongside the king, and you let him know if you're gonna lead God's people, this is what God's word says.

And so he got to anoint the first two kings. And it's interesting as we look at them.

You got Saul. He shows up and he gets anointed and it says when he go to his house, it said he was a good looking guy. He was taller than everyone else. He was he was handsome and smart and a great warrior. Basically, just he looked like me. Okay? So that's

just teasing. But and and so he he had some good things going for him. He was already an adult. He already showed promise. And and and yet, he gets anointed king and starts to struggle with this insecurity. And and I wanna show you. I wanna read in first Samuel 10.

Samuel went to him and said, you're gonna be the next king. You're gonna save your people from the Philistines. That was their biggest problem. Remember that. The Philistines. That's what he was called to. You are gonna be the guy that's gonna take care of these invaders in this this problem. And and he said he anointed him, said, God said this. Well, then then when he go to present him before the people, it says, they brought each family of the tribe of Benjamin before the Lord, and the family of the Matrites was chosen. And finally, Saul, son of Kish, was chosen from among them. But when they looked for him, he had disappeared. Where did he go? So they asked the Lord, where is he? And the Lord replied, he's hiding among the baggage.

That sounds pretty humble, doesn't it? But then it finishes verse. So they found him and brought him out, and he stood head and shoulders above anyone else. It means literally, in fact, he was a great leader. He was popular. He ended up being a good warrior. He had some success in the beginning. He starts off the same way David did. Totally called by God, actually more qualified in many ways than David.

But yet, that little incidence that it wants to show that he hid after he'd been called is not humility. It's fear. And that quality keeps coming back and haunting him. It actually drives him to be tormented by spirits, it says. I think a little bit of psychological, a little bit that spiritual.

And it's it's this you're not good enough. You can't do it. He felt fearful, And that made him fight and not trust God. He wouldn't trust God even when he did something right. One of the times he finally loses his right to be king when God says, alright, you're done. You blew it.

Is he actually offers sacrifices. We'll talk about that next week. But the way he does the sacrifice is an actual disobedience

to how God told him to do it. He wasn't supposed to be the one to do it. He did it at the wrong time. He didn't wait for when Samuel was supposed to show up. We'll see all that next week. And then in Samuel 15, it actually says, God wants obedience over sacrifice.

What that means is this guy, Saul, because of his insecurity, would not trust God and get fearful. And even when he did something that God would like, a sacrifice to honor God in this moment, he would do it his own way out of his fear in disobedience to God, and that got him rejected.

And what God's saying is, I want obedience over sacrifices. Because here's the deal. Obedience will lead to sacrifice. Sacrifice does not guarantee obedience. You can sacrifice without obeying. You can't obey without sacrificing.

So just to set this up, I think there's some of us in this room right now that that's your walk with God. You're sacrificing. You're doing the ritual. You're sitting here right now. You come to church. But you are disobeying God in so many little steps when he said, this is what I want you to do with your time.

This is what I want you to with your money. I want you to take what I've given you, who you are, the gifts I've given you. I want you to use them. You should be using your gifts and serving the body. You should be using your resources and expanding

the kingdom of God. That's what it means to be a part of a church. And a lot of you are saying, well, that's the more advanced stuff. That's the option. That is baby steps. That's the most basic things. And you're like, I'll show up at church. I'll act like a good person. I'll clap at some things. I'll laugh at some of his dumb jokes just to make him feel good. And now I've done this good thing. You've sacrificed without obeying.

And I'm telling you, sacrifice without obedience will end you. You know why? Because you're trying to control how you do your walk and your faith. You're staying in charge. Pride. And it doesn't get you anywhere. We need to obey God even when it makes no sense. So that's what happens with Saul.

Well, then during this time when he God sends Samuel to go anoint the new king. He's not gonna be king right away. He says this guy's gonna be Saul stayed king for forty two years. That's a sad thing. Long after God said you've lost your kingdom, he still lived his life. And that's what throws a lot of stuff off. He didn't just immediately get rid of Saul and bring David in right away.

A lot of you are living your life still living like your king. And God's already said, you're not you're not obeying. And you're just gonna live the rest of your life not experiencing the victory, not experiencing what God wants for you. And I don't want that for you. So here's David.

Samuel sends him. Same thing. I've called him to be king. Go find him. He says, go to the house of Jesse. Go to his village. Do this feast. Do this thing and bring Jesse and say, hey, bring me your sons because God has revealed to me that one of your sons is gonna be king. I'll know him when I see him.

So Jesse goes, alright. He brings all of his sons, and he does right in the order you'd think. Especially in this culture, he brings his first born and his oldest son first. Because that's the guy that's getting the biggest inheritance. He's the one that's supposed to continue on the family line. And his first son, Eliab,

was was actually described like a Saul. He was tall, big, muscular, I thought good leader, great guy. He's so he's the first born, so he's expecting to be the leader. He had all the things that says Sam will even go of he must be the one that God wants to be king. And Gus says, nope. I don't look the on people the way same way people do. I look at the inside, not just the outside. It ain't him.

So he goes to the next son. Wants to be him. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Gets all the way where he's done all the sons. And he's like, it's none of them. And and and and Samuel goes, man, he told me it's one of your sons. I'm confused. So then he asked Jesse. He goes, by any chance, do you have any more sons?

And he goes, oh, yeah. We got the boy, the youngest, but he's out in the fields walking watching the sheep.

So think about it. Saul actually looked qualified and was popular at first and was a good warrior, people thought he could be a good king. David is so not qualified on the surface that his own father, when he's told, I wanna see all your sons, one of them is gonna be the next king. I don't need to bring him.

Think about it. His own dad didn't even believe he was could be king. He goes, go get him. Brings him out. That's him. And here's what's funny. He's like a preteen, maybe a freshman in high school. He's young

when he does this. I don't know about you, but if you're a teenager and you got told you're the next king, wouldn't you act a little bit cocky about that? Wouldn't you maybe demand a few things? He goes right back to the fields.

Right back to watching the the the sheep and obeying and being the youngest son. Matter of fact, it says the next chapter, he ends up getting called over to help Saul because Saul starts having his insecurities, starts to be and it turns out they said this guy David's a great musician. When he played music, it would soothe them and calm them. Like many of you do, music helps calm your nerves.

And and then he became his armor bearer. So he would serve, but he wasn't full time in Saul's court. He'd go back and forth. He didn't demand it. He didn't he didn't run from it. He didn't hide amongst the baggage. He says, alright. I guess I'll be king. In God's timing, I'll be king.

And that's where we wanna I wanna pick up the story where they both collide. And there's this moment that David now steps out of the shadows and starts his rise towards towards becoming king. And it happens in Samuel 17,

which you all know this story. You've heard it a million times. I'm gonna go I'm just gonna read through it and make some points about it and try to help you see something from a different angle than maybe you've seen before. It's a story where he faces this nine foot giant warrior named Goliath. Anybody heard of the story of David and Goliath?

It's really about this idea of do you trust God? And so here we are. So in in the first part of chapter 17,

they end up in this moment. They Saul's had some success as king, like getting rid of certain enemies and all that. But now he's facing the Philistines, which is what Samuel said, God has called you to take care of this primary problem. The the Israelites are supposed to defeat them

and be rid of them. So they already know they're supposed to have victory. God already called it. Saul's supposed to lead. They're now facing them. They're in this Valley Of Elah, and they've been facing each other for forty days.

And what's happening is they've been sending out their champion because this was a common thing back then. It saved lives. And even if you won, it was helpful for the conquerors because it means not as many people died. It's better off of what you're ruling now. And what they would do is you send your champion, your best warrior. We'll send our best warrior, our champion. They'll fight. We figure. We believe our gods will protect our guy, your gods. Whoever has the most powerful god and the best warrior, they win. That must be god the god's way of saying, you're the winners. The others are the losers. We will now serve you, and nobody else has to die.

It's a common thing. Matter of fact, that movie Troy with Brad Pitt and number usually opens up with that happening in one of the scenes, the very opening scene. It's it's a common thing. So they fill scenes, send their champion. And for forty days, nobody steps up for the for for the Israelites. Now think about it.

If you know this historical concept of what you're called to do to have a champion, you know who's supposed to be your champion if you don't have some elite warrior that steps up like a Goliath? You're king. You're king's supposed to fight.

Saul wasn't going out there. Remember, he's a foot taller than everyone else. So, yeah, Goliath's a giant, but the next best and next biggest warrior on the battlefield would be him. And he wouldn't do it.

The one who was anointed by God to do it. The one who was called to be king. The one who was told he would take care of the Philistine problem. The one who God already promised. It even says when when Saul lose his kingdom forever, it says, if you had only obeyed, I would have established your kingdom forever.

Saul had every chance to us talking about the great king Saul and the Saul covenant if he just would have gotten past that fearful pride and trusted God.

So this is what happened. They're out in this valley, and every day is coming up as we're gonna pick up the story. As you you kinda picture in your head, I've been to the Valley Of Elah. So you probably imagine some huge valley. There's massive army way far apart and all that. That that's not what it is. I got a picture here when I was there. This is the Valley Of Elah. It's not that big.

So I'm standing next to this hillside over here. Here's the valley. That's the other end of the valley right over there.

And and and and and where I'm saying taking the picture. Here would be the Israelites. They're all camped on this side. That's actually the Dry Street, creek bed where where David actually gets his stones from. I actually brought some home. I still got one on my desk. I gave the rest away.

And then the the Philistines would have been over here. So they weren't really far away. Matter of fact, you could you could hear someone snoring in the other camp probably. And if they had too many beans, you could hear some other noises from them. And,

and so so what happens is every day, it picks up this guy, Goliath, would walk out in the middle of here and taunt them. And that's where we're gonna kinda that's just to know that as we go into the story. So here we go. Starting verse 12. Says, now David was the son of a man named Jesse,

the Ephrathite from Bethlehem in the land of Judah. Jesse was an old man at the time and he had eight sons. Jesse's three oldest sons, Eliab, Abanadab,

and Yabba dabba doo, and Shemaiah had already joined Saul's army to fight the Philistines. David was the youngest son. David's three oldest brothers stayed with Saul's army, but David went back and forth so he could help his father with the sheep in Bethlehem. He's already been told he's gonna be king.

And he's still going back and forth, and he's he's he's he's blooming where he's planted. He's being faithful in the little things. Is he gonna come back to make him prepared for the big things?

It says for forty days, every morning and evening, the Philistine champion strutted in front of the Israelite army. I wonder what it meant like strutted. You think he walked out like this?

I don't know. What does strut mean? He's nine feet tall. Maybe it's like this. Maybe that's strutting if you're that tall. I don't know. I'm sorry. It's the last service I get this way. You know that. That's why most of you come to this one.

So every day, strutted in front of the Israelite army. One day, Jesse said to David, take this basket of roasted grain and these 10 loaves of bread and carry them quickly to your brothers. And give these 10 cuts of cheese to their captain.

And see how your brothers are getting along and bring back a report of how they're doing. So not only did he stay home, not only has he been told he's been king for a while. This might have been years already now. He stayed faithful in these little things. He didn't demand his right as king. He didn't say this is unfair, God. He's not only watching the sheep. Now he's the Uber Eats guy.

Now he's like, you know, your Uber your bread and cheese will be here in three to six days. You know? Like and he's, like, waiting. That's what he's doing. He's just delivering food to his older brothers.

And it says, so David left the sheep with another shepherd. He sat out early the next morning with the gifts as Jesse had directed him. He arrived at the camp just as Israelite army was leaving for the battlefield with shouts and battle cries.

So so here's this thing. Says for forty days. He gets there on after forty days. And what they're doing is they do what an army does. They get up every day. They're gonna go, maybe today's the day. Maybe the day is the day we'll fight and win. And they do their battle cries, their ooras, and their hoozahs.

Oorah. Yeah. And then they march out to the middle of that field. Then they're like, today's the day. We're good enough. We're smart enough. And gosh darn it. We're gonna win. And then it says they would do that, and this is the fortieth day.

And it says, soon the Israelite and the Philistine forces stood facing each other army against army.

David left his things with the keeper of the supplies and hurried out to the ranks to greet his brothers. As he was talking with them, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath came out from the Philistine ranks. Then David heard him shout his usual taunt to the at the army of Israel.

As soon as the Israelite army saw him, they began to run away in fright. How many days have they been doing this for? So this is, the forty first day now. This is like Groundhog Day. Every day, they get ready for battle, and they're like, yeah. They run out. This guy struts out however he struts, you know, and says, boo.

And they're like, ah, and they run away. Next day, the alarm goes off. I got you, babe, comes on. And then they go and they run out there. Boo. Ah. Boo. Ah. Forty one days in a row. When the king should have just armored up, went out, and did what God called him to do. But he won't do it, and no one else will.

And that's what David walks into when he sees. And he gets upset, really. And and and and what he's about to do, you would think, well, didn't what? Saul hiding was humble. Right? Noah's pride. What David does in here, some people are like, that's some pretty strong flexing he does in here, but he's actually humble.

And we're gonna see by how he says it and what he says and where he's drawing his reasons for and his strength from. And so what happens is he he sees this.

And as soon as they saw him, they ran afraid. Verse 25. Have you seen the giant? The man asked. He comes out each day to defy Israel. The king has offered a huge reward to anyone who kills him. He will give that man one of his daughters for a wife and the man's entire family will be exempted from paying taxes. Apparently, back then, they didn't like paying taxes either.

Who knew? That could be enticing to a teenager. I get a wife who's well known and connected and rich and I don't have to pay taxes. Not a bad deal.

But that's really not why he starts asking this. David asked the soldiers, verse 26, standing nearby. And here's why we know he's not asking Shabbat. He goes, what will a man get for killing this Philistine and ending his defiance of Israel? He's like, wait. What did I just hear? What did you say?

Because he says, who is this pagan Philistine anyway that he's allowed to defy the armies of the living God? So it's not so much about what he's like he can't believe what he's hearing. He's like, what? There's a reward

for killing the guy that's and why is he allowed? When saying aloud, what he's basically saying is, what? Someone's getting ignored. Why hasn't someone already killed him? Is what he's saying. God already declared that we win. God already said we have victory. And you know what David did? He did this weird thing.

He actually believes God when he says something. The rest of them are not believing. They're fearful. They're afraid they can't do it. They're being prideful. They refuse to believe God.

And and and so he's like, what's going on? He asked again, and people give him the same answer. But I love this. Classic family dynamics right here. But when David's oldest brother, Eliab, the one that looked like the king, the one that he

that Samuel thought should be king, the oldest, the firstborn, the one that was prepared to be the leader of the family and all that, hears his baby brother ask about killing the guy. He says he was angry.

And he goes, what are you doing around here anyways? I'm saying this like a brother would. What are you doing around here anyways, man? He demanded. What about those few sheep you're supposed to be taking care of? Doesn't that just sound like a

that sounds like a jealous older brother, doesn't it? Doesn't that sound like an older brother that thought he should be king and watched his baby brother as a preteen get anointed the next king? Doesn't that sound like a false anger?

Because he knows as well as that's like his brother got told he'll be king. They're sitting here too afraid to listen to God. And guess who was one of the ones going, ah, and running away for forty one days? He was.

And now his baby brother, he knows what he's saying. Now he words it in a way that sounds like a brother argument. Because he says he's mad at him and says, what are you doing here? I know about your pride and deceit. You just wanna see the battle. Did David really have pride and deceit, or was Eliab filled with jealousy

and shame?

Because he's jealous that he didn't get to be king, and he's filled with shame because his brother, he knows his brother because he knows what his brother what his brother goes and tells the king in a minute. His his older brother knows that his his younger brother has done the things he's about to say. And he's like, I think he's yelling at him because he's feeling bad because he goes, he's dumb enough. He's gonna run out and fight this guy.

And I'm gonna look bad, and this is making me angry. I see this all the time. I challenge us. I'm I'm gonna rattle some cages today. I already have. And some of you are gonna get mad at me.

And it's because of your fear of trusting God. You need to make me the problem.

It happens all the time, especially with families. This is a classic family dynamic. Just you have a giant and God's will and a battle going on.

So he's angry. And you know what? This is kind of an ongoing family thing. By the way, David answers. Look what he says in verse 29. What have I done now?

Doesn't that that sound like, what have I done? What did I do this time? This is not a first it's not like this has never happened before. His brother has gotten on him and ridiculed him and stuff before. He's like, what did I do this time? He goes replied, I was just only asking a question. And then he says he walked over to some others and asked them the same thing and received the same answer. Now that part, I think David might have been a little bit snarfy back at his brother. Because, you know, he's like, what I do now is just ask you a question. I think he walked over. This is my own interpretation.

Ask a guy, and he goes, hey, pointed to look at his brother. So what does someone get if they kill this loser? Stir the pot a little bit. I don't know. Maybe maybe not, but he asked again. And what happens is because he kept asking, word gets back to king Saul, and they send for David.

And then the very next verse is funny. If this was a movie, it'd be, wow. That was a big jump. It went from him, no hand off. I mean, the very next thing you see David's face looking at the king and saying, don't worry about this Philistine, David told Saul. I'll go fight him.

Now this see, most of it is like, isn't that arrogance?

No. What we're gonna see here by what he says and how he does it is he's not speaking in arrogance. He's speaking with authority. And that's different. The authority of God's call, the authority of God's word, the obedience to God's word that no one else was willing to do.

But then Saul, I think, repeats the same problem he has. He puts it on David when he says, don't be ridiculous, Saul replied. There's no way you can fight this Philistine and possibly win. You're only a boy, and he's been a man of war since his youth. I think that's Saul's fear too.

What he's saying is, you're just a boy. You're just a shepherd boy. You're not qualified. He tells him, you're not qualified. You don't have the experience. You don't have the ability. You don't have the weaponry. You don't have the training. You don't have you're not qualified to do this.

And you know what? I think that's what stopped. That's what drives most of us in the room. That's almost what drives every one of us. Whenever we fall for that insecure,

anxious pride where we will not we won't trust God because we just know we're not qualified, it won't work, is we listen to that voice. We're not qualified. We're not qualified. And here's the problem. I think the enemy then attacks us with that,

but not in the way you think. He's not attacking us with this lie you're not qualified. He attacks us with the truth you're not qualified in order to get us to buy the lie. Since you're not qualified, you shouldn't trust God. That's the lie. Don't trust God.

But we fall for the trick that it's I'm not qualified is the problem. And we think we have to fight that. That happens a lot when God calls you into a scenario that can be overwhelming,

especially when he calls me a scenario that look looks weird like what I do. I'm a perfect example. Preaching God's word, standing up in front of y'all, teaching God's holy divine word, and challenging us with what to do with it. Here's the problem. My own voices and the enemy voices is often common spiritual attack for pastors and preachers and people who lead worship. They feel the same thing. I I I can't I you know, I'm supposed to lead people in worship and holiness and all that, But then their enemy in our own voices tell us, yeah. But I know what you did last night. For

me as a preacher, it says, how are you teaching God's word? You can't even pronounce Yabba Dabba Doo's name in there. You're not qualified. You're not qualified. And the typical person I've talked to people in our own band that struggle with this, with the anxiety of that.

And I go, well, how we were just talking now over Easter because we had to do this 12 times, all the crowds. And I and then there was a group of them talking, and they're like, well, how do you do it? Well, I'm getting there. I'm getting I I what I I talk to those voices. I feel like the spiritual attack, and I just say, no. I don't have to listen to that. God, you know, I'm call and they kinda argue, like, what they're saying is their plan is to try to perfect themselves and feel, no. I am qualified. I am qualified. I go, that ain't gonna work.

And that's why you keep struggling with the same thing over and over again. Like, what do you mean? So see, I'm not afraid to throw punch our own team. So and and and I go I go, well, what do you do? I go, I don't do that

because that's never gonna work. Because if you try to talk yourself into being qualified, what usually it means is I've done well enough. I've done well enough. I've done well enough. I guess I am qualified. The problem is what happens when you don't do well? Are you not qualified again?

So they said, what do you do? I said, here's what I do. Whether it's a spiritual attack or my own stupid voices in my head, I say back to it, I'm not qualified. Tell me something else I don't already know. Now get the HE double hockey sticks out of my way because I gotta go do what God called me to do. You see,

the problem is thinking that you're supposed to be qualified. That's the problem. That's where the anxiety comes from. It has nothing to do with quality. Because if you make it about you being qualified, you just made it about you. And once you make it about you, you're gonna be either be arrogant or anxious.

And you're either gonna run from it out of fear or run into it in your own strength and do it your own way and be obnoxious about it and blow it. The truth is you need to embrace the fact that you're not qualified. I'm not qualified to do this. I am not,

but I'm called to do it. And God uses who I am and how he wired me to do it. He gave me certain gifts and certain things. And even if I don't feel like I could do it, he goes, but here's the fight I want you in. I want you to go do this, and here's what you're supposed to do. You have gifts. You have talents. You have you have resources.

You have time. You have money. And God says, I've given you what I've given you, and you don't need to think about how do I get qualified or I need more of to do. All he wants us to do is to take who we are and what we have and get in the fight he called us to get into. That's what we're supposed to do.

And every time we say I don't have enough of this or I don't have nothing, I get you're being prideful because you're saying, it's about me. And God's saying, where I guide, I will provide.

And you can either do what I need you to do with what you have or along the way, you're gonna get I'll give you what you need. But you're not getting it till you go the way I want you to go. And the other mistake we make in this moment we think we're qualified,

you've probably heard people preach this sermon before on David and Goliath, and you've probably heard something like this. You're going after your dreams in life and you run into Goliath. Well, just call on the Lord and his strength will beat your Goliath. That's a bunch of hooey.

You know what you're saying is? You're deciding which fight you're gonna get into. You're gonna decide. You're gonna create a problem. And then God hey, God. Get over here and solve my problem. That's not what God says.

God will bring the power and defeat the problem in front of you when you're on the battlefield he called you to. He goes, you go face the problem I called you to face. Don't make me run to the problem you created by being disobedient.

He goes, I already took care of the sin by dying on the cross for you. I'm not gonna run and codepend you in your own stupidity. Obey me, and you'll have what you need. And you will get victory and experience life the way I meant it. To try to get God to come to your plans is pride. It's not about us.

Even your purpose in life is not about you solving some purpose. We already know what our purpose in life. We are created to bring glory to God by living in his love and living it out. Everyone in this room, that's your purpose.

Now how you do it? Maybe you're an engineer. Maybe you're in ministry. Maybe you do that. Maybe you're a teacher. Maybe it's like, yeah. The how is the thing you discover. But the what's not up for grabs. It's just not. And that's what we gotta realize.

But Saul is revealing his own security. He's looking at him and says, you can't do this. Because you know what Saul's thinking? I'm more of a worry than you and there ain't no way I'm gonna go out and do that. But look what David says. He says exactly what I said. It doesn't matter

about qualification. It matters about calling. And what's interesting is it matters when you're faithful in the little things that actually comes back to prepare you for the big things. Remember I said he stayed faithful to just watching sheep. His brother made fun of him about it.

And his answer when he says you can't do this is he says, I would care for my father's sheeps and goats. He said, when a lion or a bear comes to steal a lamb from the flock, I go after it with a club, and I rescue the lamb from its mouth. Does that sound like something a 12 year old would be qualified to do?

And he goes, but it gets worse. If the animal turns on me, I catch it by the jaw, and I club it to death.

My brother's making fun of me because I have the lowly job of watching the sheep, and I did it faithfully. But you know what happened while I was out there? I didn't run when it got scary. I figured I got a club. This is my job. It's what I've called to do. And he basically said, I have killed lions and bears with my bare hands.

And what he's telling him is, I know this is a different scenario, but a bear is stronger than even a nine foot man.

And so what he says is, I'd catch it, club it to death. He goes, I've done this to both lions and bears, and I'll do it to this pagan Philistine too. But here's why. It's not out of his arrogance. He goes, for he has defied the armies of the living God. The Lord rescued me from the claws of the lion and the bear.

He will rescue me from this Philistine. Who got who actually does he know rescued him? Even though he clubbed a lion and a bear to death. He knows he doesn't do that without the power and presence of God. See, God brought the rescue, but he used him to kill the bear and the lion and protect the sheep.

God's the one that rescues us. God's the one that saves us. God's the one that that makes us right with him. But he's called you and me as the church to be the one that goes and rescues the sheep. We need to bring our resources, our time, our money, our talent, our clubs, and who we are.

And we need to be willing to go into this world and snatch people out of the jaws of sin and death with the gospel. God does it, but he uses us. And so David is speaking with authority of calling. He's not speaking with the arrogance of what he's done. He has a different view. It's a humility. It's a courageous

humility because it's a courageous trust in the Lord. So Saul finally consented. He says, alright. Go ahead, he said. And may the Lord be with you because I won't. I added that part. But then look, here's the other reason why we make a mistake. We have a hard time trusting God.

Then Saul gave David his own armor, the armor that he used to bear. He's like, you were the bearer. Now you're gonna be the wearer.

But he it doesn't work. He goes, a bronze helmet and a coat of mail. David put it on, strapped on the sword over it, took a step or two to see what it was like for he'd never worn such things before. He goes, I can't go in these, he protested to Saul.

I'm not used to them.

So David took them off again. He picked up five smooth stones from a stream and put them in his shepherd's bag. Then armed only with his shepherd's staff and a sling, he started to cross the valley to fight the Philistine. You catch that?

This we we try to turn this into this big flowery thing, but the idea is we need to do what the job that God's called us to do. We need to obey the simple things. We're supposed to bring the gospel to the world. That's our mission. Supposed to bring glory to God by living in his love and sharing that.

We're called to do that by taking our time, our talent, our treasure, and our testimony and pouring into the kingdom. We're called to be a part of the body of Christ. You're called not called to go to church guys. You're not called to come and sit here called to be here to be a part of the church and a lot of you all you do is do the sacrificing the ceremonies you show up at church. But are you involved? Do you give do you serve?

Even more basic, some of you in this room are Christians. You know Jesus, and you refuse to go get baptized. Why? Because you think you need to be qualified to get in the water. You have the wrong idea.

Baptism is a first step of obedience. It's like feeding the sheep. It's that if you step out in that way and trust God in a way that makes no sense and get over your fear, you'll trust him in the next thing and the next thing.

And the reason you won't do it is you feel like I gotta be more spiritual to do it. You're afraid if I go out there, the water's gonna boil up and lightning's gonna hit you in the head. Maybe. No. Doesn't make me feel any better, Bill.

What you're doing is you're identified with Jesus, death, burial, and resurrection. You're saying, I'm not qualified. But God called me and he rescued me and he saved me. And I need to declare that as a first step of obedience.

And some of you worried like, well, I know if I do that, that means I'm gonna have to listen to this other stuff. I'm gonna feel guilty if I don't. So by not doing that makes you less disobedient or just more disobedient.

You're missing out. You're not able to build this track record. So what he says, he's tried to put him in. So a lot of us won't go because you're like, well, I can't get in this fight. I can't do what you're saying because I don't have the resources. I don't have a sword. I don't have the armor. I don't have this.

It's the same thing. I can't give. I don't have enough money. I can't serve. God didn't ask you to do it the same way everyone else does it. God didn't give us all the same resources.

You think the only way you can do those things is if you have all those things. You have to have I have to be a king with all the armor, and I have to be a warrior to do this. No. You don't. David goes out into this fight in the way God gifted him. He goes out there as a shepherd who's gonna protect the sheep.

He uses what he has and how he's gifted to get into the fight God's called him into. Some of you are like, until I get the sword, the more time, the more money, the it's never gonna work because you're not used to him. That's not what you've been given. You're more comfortable just taking what you have and using it.

Just do it. Just trust them. And that's what David does. He goes, I just gotta go be the shepherd. I've gotta go do this. And so it says that that that and he walks off with a stick and a sling and some rocks in his shepherd's bag to face this giant that has his spear weighs over a 100 pounds.

Says Goliath walked out towards David with his shield bearer ahead of him, sneering in contempt to this ready faced boy. Am I a dog, he roared at David, that you come at me with a stick?

And he cursed David by the names of his gods. He says, come over here, and I'll give you your flesh to the birds and wild animals, Goliath. Yeah. That'd be pretty intimidating.

But look what David says. David replied to the Philistine, you come to me with sword, spear, and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the lord of the heaven's armies, the god of the armies of Israel whom you have defied.

He's not making about himself. He's saying this is something that God has already said you're losing. This battle isn't with me. It's against God, and God's already won this thing.

He says, today and this is the part where it's weird how God uses us. Even the word I'm reading, the Bible. God used 40 different humans to write it, but it's his words.

But what's weird is it's still written with the perspective and the writing style of the particular writers. We know what Paul's writings look like because it sounds and looks like Paul. God was able to take these writers, and then you're not just a typewriter. You're not just addicted when I used you, your experiences, and your writing skill.

But yet, I brought my spirit, my power, and I wrote my word in unison with you. And the best way to explain it in a simple way is what David says next to him. He says, you come up with all this stuff, but you're defying the living God. And he goes, today, the Lord will conquer you,

and I will kill you. There it is. That's how God works. He's being humble because he knows it's the Lord that's doing the conquering. It's the Lord's power. But guess what? I get to kill you. The Lord will conquer you out because this I think of it this way whenever I preach.

The Lord brings the power. I get to give you the throat punch. That's just what I get to do. And then I see the Lord's power work in your life, and I get the privilege of a front row seat on that. David got a really front row seat. God's gonna conquer you because he's gonna let me be the one that kills you.

He's not flexing like he's arrogant. He knows he's because you know which battlefield he's on? The one God called him to be. You know what he's facing? The enemy is supposed to face. You know the promise was he you know why he's doing it? Because of the name of God, the glory of God, submission to God, obedience to God, and he's protecting God's sheep. All the scared sheep that kept running for forty one days behind him. The ones who he's declared he's gonna be king to. And now he's showing in this moment why he's gonna be king.

Unlike the other king that wanted to be king, that stayed king, but would never surrender to the king. And that might be you. You're coming here. You're sitting here. You're still Christian. You're still in the room, but you absolutely just keep disobeying God because of your fears or your arrogance. But he says, no way.

Lord's gonna conquer you. I'm gonna kill you. Then he does say the ultimate flex of this whole passage. And cut off your head. That's weird. You know why? He doesn't have a sword. He has a stick and a sling. How's he gonna cut his head off? You know what he just told him? You know what he just said?

He goes, not only is it's gonna be the lord that conquers, I'm gonna kill you. You know how I'm gonna kill you? I'm gonna kill you with your own weapon. That's pretty confident. Reminds me of my dad, literally.

My dad was a war hero, fought in, you know, three wars. He's literally killed people with his bare hands, as he would remind me when I was a defiant teenager, often. Don't mess with me. You know what I've done with this hand? I'm like, pick your nose, then you get mad.

And as a goer, once I asked him, I'm like, hey, dad, why do you never have a gun anymore? You were an expert firearms. He's like, I was done with war and your mom didn't like them, so I didn't have them in the house. I go, well, didn't you ever want one for home protection? I have, you know, like like people. He's like, nah. I'm alright.

I can protect my home without a gun. Like, really? He goes, yeah. Someone gets to my house. My dad was like a ninja. He would always know that. He could walk anywhere in the house. He knew it inch by inch in pitch dark. So he goes, someone gets in my house, they're stumbling around. I know exactly where to ambush them.

And I'm pretty confident in my skills of how I've been trained in advanced combat, hand to hand combat, that some idiot breaking into my house is not gonna have that same level of skill. And I go, But what if they have a gun?

And I'm not kidding. He looked right at me without blinking, not an arrogant bone in his body. He just said, Well, then I'll have a gun. And I go, What do you mean? He goes, Oh, man, there is nothing more demeaning than getting shot with your own gun. And he said, And I'll have fewer questions to answer to the police.

Because I'm like, didn't that's his gun. He brought it into my house. I just took it from him and shot him with it. I look at my mom, he goes, he can do it. I believe him.

And I go, I believe him too. Now he wasn't saying the Lord, he was being a little cocky there. But really, is it bragging if you can do it? I don't know. But it reminds me, like, that's what he did. He just said, not only am I gonna kill you, I'm gonna kill you with your own weapon.

And and and but yet he's trusting the Lord for this because look what he says. This is right after he says that. He says, and then I will give the dead bodies of your men and to the birds and the wild animals in the whole world. So now he knows it's like the whole army is gonna get wiped out. How's he gonna do that?

He goes he says, this is gonna happen, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. See, this is for the glory of God. This is a God calling thing. It's not about me getting famous. I'm not getting more follows and likes. This is about God's will.

And he goes, and everyone assembled here will know that the Lord rescues his people, but not with sword and spear. This is the Lord's battle, and he will give you to also, he says, us. He didn't say me.

He knew that once he did this, courage is contagious. He knew what God had called him to do. He knew that this army wanted to do the right thing, they just couldn't get past their fears. Their king should have let him in that, but he didn't. He's gonna run out there and he knows that God's gonna allow him to kill him because God promised that he would provide. And he does it with just as a shepherd. He didn't have to wait for army. He didn't have to wait for something. He just took who he was and what he had, and he went out there and he fought. And when he fought, he says, and after I do that, this whole army is gonna rally. They're gonna do what they should have done. And we're gonna route you, and we're gonna know there's a God. We're gonna know that God takes care of us, and that's gonna be the end of the story.

And then what's interesting is normally when you talk like that, if you're thinking about yourself, some of you get a little bit nervous, but I love what it says next. It says, as Goliath moved closer to attack, David quickly ran to meet him. He didn't go, get all nervous. He ran right at him. He's like a chihuahua.

You know, we thought they they're just so overconfident. You come in the house. And I'm like, he's, like, just ran at this guy.

But as he ran, it says he took out the stone, and he's moving. So he's running, and he starts doing this because he knows how he knows how to use this. And he knows the one thing. Yeah. That guy's bigger than me, but guess what? I know how to hit him before he can even get close to me.

And it says as he runs, he spins it. He hurls it. And it says he hurled it with his sling and hit the Philistine in the forehead. The stone sank in. That ain't good for Goliath. And Goliath stumbled and fell face down, they're going, drooling on himself. He's not dead yet.

So David triumphed over the Philistine with the only a sling and a stone for he had no sword. Remember? He said, I'm gonna cut your head off. Had no sword. Says, then David ran over, pulled Goliath's sword from his sheath, and David used it to kill him and cut off his head. Here's the crazy thing.

Here's the crazy thing. Saul told him, you're not qualified, which was true. And David said, doesn't matter. I'm called.

And I'm gonna take what I have and who I am, and I'm gonna go where God called me to. Then he looked at me says, you know what? God's gonna give God's the victory. He's gonna conquer you. I'm gonna kill you, and I'm gonna kill you with your own sword. I'm gonna cut your head off. And he runs over, and that seems like that's so ridiculous. That's so impossible that everything in us would say, I can't trust God in that. I don't have enough power. I don't have enough strength. I don't have the ability. I can't do it. And the craziest thing is this incredible war that taunted

all of Israel for forty one days doesn't even touch his own sword in the battle. The only one that unsheathes his sword and touches it is the little shepherd boy after he lands a rock in his forehead, and he hacks his head off with it.

That is how decisive the victory is that God gives him. And it only happens because he trusted God. He had humble courage. How about you? What is it about being a follower of Christ, about the obvious, just like he had to take care of the sheep. We're worried about all these other weird mysterious things out there.

And so many of you are ignoring the simple things God said. Be a part of the church. Help care for the sheep. Serve. Give. You know, the Bible says the harvest is plentiful. The workers are few. We

act like it's because the world's going to hell. No one wants to know Christ. Jesus seems to have the other way around. If we get in that fight, people come to Christ. The problem is, will we have enough people that already know the Lord willing to serve the Lord, which is the problem I see all the time in our church.

Too many Sauls. And we walk around acting like our problem in the world is too many Goliaths. Our problem is not too many Goliaths. The problem is not enough of us are willing to be Davids.

Step up. Some of you what's that step? What's that thing you need to do? Maybe it's go out there and get baptized. Maybe it's start serving. Maybe it's pull out your checkbook and say, this is my church. I'm gonna start giving to it so we can continue to do the mission of this church. Because you know why?

Because God is going to do something if we get in the fight he's asked us to get it. And yeah, I'm rattling some cages here. Like I said earlier,

I might be rattling you. Some of you are men. Remember I said some you gonna get mad. Some of you probably mad. Some of you men are probably mad at me because I know men. Some of you women are probably mad at me too, but I understand men better. And you know what guys? We are the worst because when we get challenged,

we get arrogantly aggressive. And some of you are mad at me. You know why? I'm poking you with a stick and I'm rattling your cage and I'm doing it on purpose because I'm challenging you to step up and be a man. Men are called to lead. Go first. It's a problem with most churches. Why are more women serving than men?

Come on. Quit being assault. Get out in front of this and lead. Why are a lot of families? Why are there so many women here frustrated? I wish we would give more, but my husband won't let me. Lead. Stop being a coward. And you know what I mean by that.

And you're getting mad at me for calling you a coward. You know why? Because I'm doing it on purpose. I'm rattling your cage on purpose. You know why I'm rattling your cage on purpose? It's because you need to know you're in one, And I'm trying to let you out. I am loving you that much

because otherwise, you're gonna miss out. Because I don't want I want you to experience what I got to experience when twenty one years ago, I tried to not plant this church, and now I get to see here and be see what I've got to see. I've gotten to see this, and I almost missed it.

I almost missed what God has let me be a part of. Totally. I almost missed the chance that last week and when David says us, it'll be our victory.

This is all of you that are faithful here. All of you that say, I'm in this fight. All of you that say, I give here, I serve here, I share the gospel here, I I try to leave my home well, I I try to live like Christ out there in the community.

All of you that are a part of that, this is all of us. We all got to see it. But I would have missed out on this, and we all would have missed out of this if I didn't go first. And you know what? We would have missed out on? The harvest is plentiful. The workers are few. Last week, we had 12,000 people here at church.

12,000.

The cooler part is eleven seventy nine people gave their life to Christ last week.

God did that, but we all got to be a part of that. God led 1,200 people to eternal salvation with him, change their eternities because of his love, but he let me preach it.

God allowed me to lead 1,200 people to Jesus last week. I'm not saying that out of pride because it took all of us. We wouldn't be here if it wasn't for everyone that serves. But he used me.

A guy who didn't want to plant church because I think I didn't have the ability. I think I didn't have the wherewithal. I don't have enough money. I don't know enough people with money. I don't know people with skills. I only know how to do is talk

And and I had no idea. And all I realized is God just said, just get in the fight with what you have and see what I do. And you know how I learned that? And you know why I'm rattling your cages and getting aggressive? Because I learned that because I got my cage rattled by my wife.

I was sitting in Big Bear, California rattling on how I wanted to go to this church that was already established and sit in there and just be happy and just teach and let them do the rest and not care about anything.

And my wife wasn't talking very much. And I just assumed it's because I talk too much. But then I go, she's really quiet. So I stopped and said, what's going on? What do you think? She goes, eating her burrito. She was, I think that's the dumbest idea ever, and you're an idiot.

I'm like, well, thank you. That's really loving. I go, what do you mean? She goes, well, first of all, you are wired with gifts of vision and that and I think you're not utilizing it. I think you're doing this out of fear, not out of humility.

I think you're afraid just like I was afraid. I didn't wanna plant a church either because

I felt like it was pretentious. We're gonna go tell the world that this is we're better. But then we we discovered that we're losing churches at a rapid rate in this country about we're we're we're we're having 1,500 more die than start every year. And most of you understand this because you spend your money that way.

Eventually, when you do that, what happens? You gotta go to credit cards and or refinance your house. And eventually, you're out of money.

And that's what's happening. And she goes, I think we need to have more churches, and I think you're wired to start a church. Because if you go there within six months, you're gonna hate them, and they're gonna hate you. What you need to do is go start a church where you start your own problems and your own headaches.

And I'm like, I know you meant that as a compliment, but it still hurts.

And she rattled my cage and challenged my fear. She challenged my pride with God's word and clarity. Why? Because she loves me. So I'm doing this to you guys too. You know why? Because I love you. And I want us to experience the same thing that the whole of Israel did on that day on that battlefield

that they failed to do for forty one straight days, even though God called it to them. And it took one guy to have the courage to do it first. So if I have to be that guy, I'll be that guy. And it's not because I'm qualified, it's because I'm just called. And I'm saying, get in the fight.

What is the next wisest obedient thing you need to do? And stop talking yourself out of it because you don't think you have enough of or you don't think you can. Or or I did that once before and someone was mean to me, so I have Church hurt. Forget about Church hurt. Run back to Christ and embrace him

and see what happens. Amen? Father God, I thank you, Lord. I thank you for the privilege of being in this room with your people. And Lord, I pray the same challenge for myself, for everyone in this room, everyone online that Lord search our hearts as your servant, King David wrote,

and find the things in our heart that are just not squared up with you. And give us the humble courage to obey you. Forget our insecurities, forget our lack of, forget our worries, forget our own arrogant plans. May we just run and get in this fight and then celebrate when we see you bring victory and blessing.

I pray this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen. Hey. I love you guys. Thanks for joining us online this weekend. Let us know if we can help you in any way. Make sure to follow us on social media and connect with us on the We Are Rock Point app for prayer and everything happening here at Rock Point.