Whew, we were singing and I'll tell you all, I have some crazy thoughts sometimes, but this is what came to my mind. In my almost 30 years of either being a part of the South Union or having close ties to the South Union, what's one unique thing about this church to me is I have never ever heard of a fight that's broken out in this church. I mean, other churches fight all the time, they fight and they split off into other churches and things like I've never heard of a fight breaking out in the South Union, baby's church. But I could not, this is what I imagine, I said, I thought, you know, if Brother Chad gets in this pulpit once in the morning, if he'd have done it today, I said, hey, the bless for heaven is outside and it's fixing to leave, go get on it.
I think there'd be a fight breaking out in the South Union, Memphis church. We'd be fighting to get on that bus. If you can't get excited thinking about going to heaven, just get out of here right now, just go. I mean, think about how great heaven's gonna be.
There is nothing of this earth that can begin to compare to me and I am serious when I say this. The closest thing I can think of here on earth that could just the closest to heaven is Sunday morning right here at South Union, Memphis church. I mean, isn't it wonderful? And we're gonna be there one day.
And I know the Bible says that there're gonna be no tears in heaven, we're not gonna have any wishes. I just wish there were more, but this is my fault. It's thinking about these messages and just just saying, if we did, we got to heaven, we saw how wonderful it was. It was beyond our wildest dreams and like, man, this is so great.
But if we had a wish, if there were regret in our mind, I know it was, it's gonna be this. I wish I would have brought more people with me. Okay, just think about that. In September of 2006, the movie, Facing the Giants was released in theaters.
Anybody remember that movie? I know that's been a long time ago, but it came out in theaters and it was a Christian movie. That surprisingly became a very popular movie. It was well attended and it was about a high school football team and a high school football coach who overcame just impossible odds to become the state champions of Georgia by literally beating the giant of Georgia state football at that time.
And I vividly remember the locker room scene just right before that championship game was about to take place. And coach Taylor, he gets his team together there in the locker room and he says, you're about to face the best team you ever faced. They're big, they're strong, they're fast and they're undefeated so far. And then he goes on to say, but I want you to remember how far God has brought us so far.
We weren't supposed to have a winning season, but we did. We weren't supposed to advance in the playoffs, but we did. We aren't supposed to be here, but we are. So if there's anything within you that feels this is a losing effort, I want you to throw it out right now because as I stand here today, I believe that as long as we seek to honor God, nothing is impossible, nothing.
Now who will go and fight the giant with me? I was in that theater and I was watching that scene listening to it and I got so into it and so pumped up that when he asked who will go and fight the giant with me, I jumped up and said, I will, and started to rush the field. I didn't really do that. I almost did, but I remember when I was in a crowded movie house and not a locker room.
Did you know that there's a place in scripture that's kind of mimics this scene in 1st Samuel, chapter 17. We're gonna just read verse 32, most of your familiar with the story of David and Goliath, but this scene here in scripture is much like the scene that I just referenced, the nation of Israel, specifically the army of Israel, was just up against impossible odds. The Philistine army, they had their champion and he was a giant of a man and he challenged the Israelite army and he stood before them with a proposal and really honestly, it was a pretty sensible proposal. His proposal was, why should the whole army's fight and many men die when just two of us can fight and one can win the battle for all?
You pick your man and you send your man out to face me. If your man wins, then the Philistines will be your servants, but if I win, then Israel will be our servants and this went on for 40 days. You see the Philistines had their man. They had their giant, but not one man of the Israelite army was willing to go out and face that giant.
This went on for 40 days and finally one day, a shepherd boy named David happened upon this scene and he heard the giant presenting his proposal. He heard of King Saul's undi-ly, plie, plie, plie, plie, plie, plie, will go and fight this giant for me. And we find the answer right here in verse 32 of 1 Samuel 17, it says there, and David said to Saul, let no man's heart fail because of him, thy servant will go and fight with this Philistines. And we're the Father, we come to you again and we want to thank you for always being here.
We thank you for that promise of heaven. And God, this is what we ask that along with that promise of heaven, you give us the power to carry out our mission here on earth until that day and that promise of heaven is fulfilled because God, we know when we get there, we're going to want to have brought as many people with us as we possibly could. We ask all of this in Jesus name, amen. So I think back to last week's message and how inspiring it was.
I said I listened to that message and especially as it got toward the end, I kind of caught myself feeling like I fell in a theater that when I was watching that scene and facing the giants, and I hope I'm not the only one, maybe you felt that same way. But if you were also like me, once Monday morning came and I got up and I got ready to go and I ran out on that field, I saw a giant. And that's kind of the way it is in our lives. We really come here on Sunday morning and we have our pet rallies and we get excited, but then we get on Monday morning, we rush out on that field and we're ready to go with a shout, but we always seem to run up against this giant.
I think about these Israelites and I can just see and I can just hear those Israelite warriors the night before they were going out there on that field of battle to meet this Philistine army and I am sure that they had their pepperalee. I can just hear that pepperalee going and I can hear them and they're beating their swords against their shields and they're shouting in cadence, here we go Israel, here we go, here we go Israel, here we go. You know, they're going and they rush out on that field of battle, but then they saw the giant and everything stopped. They were just stopped in their tracks.
I think about us today as God's people and I can't help but feel that the same thing happens to us in our disciple making efforts. You see as we try to go out there and let our light shine as Jesus has commanded us to do, as we try to tell, as brother Channing presented it, as we go out there and we try to tell his story, our story and what their story can be. And as we rush to that valley's edge, we all to only to see this giant and one of the biggest being the one he mentioned last week, just a giant of fear. Jesus has commanded us to make disciples as we go.
But so often as we go, we're met with resistance on every side. It's like these giants of life just surround us and they're all around us throwing stuff at us and throwing stuff on us on every side. They're laughing at us and shouting, you and your God are nothing. You have no effect.
You will never change a thing. This world is still just as dark today as it ever was. And it seems like as we seek to make the disciples in today's world that we're just up against impossible odds, Satan and all those who are influenced by it, stand daily and they just oppose our efforts and they defy our God just like the lion did there on that day. But here's the thing.
And I hope what brother Chan freaks, I hope that stuck in our hearts. I hope that wasn't gone as soon as we left. I hope you're still thinking about it today because here's the thing, the presence of the giant does not change the importance of the mission that brother Chan presented us with last week. Does it change it one day?
As he said last week, the mission carries eternal weight. You see, our mission can make a difference in not only the life that a person lives here on earth, but the life that a person lives makes in eternity the size of the giant does not lessen the seriousness of the mission. Remember, man, we're all excited to get to heaven. But when we get there, man, I wish I would have brought more people with me, this place is great.
So today, I want you to just, let's just imagine, maybe try to have a wild imagination like I do. Let's imagine this sanctuary, it's a locker room. And God, he's standing before us and he's preparing us for battle. He's preparing us to reach the people of our communities and win the people by the hundreds just like they did in the book of Acts.
And he says to each and every one of us, you can do all things through Christ who loves you and who stands with you. And as long as you seek to honor me, nothing will be impossible, nothing. Now who will go and fight the giant with me? Huh?
How many David's do we have that are willing to jump up and say, hey, I will. So just think about this thought this morning, facing the giant. David made that choice. And there are lots involved in David making this decision to face this giant.
We're gonna look at just three this morning and the first one being the wisdom. There were some wisdom involved in David making this decision. When he made this decision to face the liar, it wasn't because he was just young in the age. David wasn't just some young cocky youth out in the mouth when he told King Saul, I'll go and face this giant.
We look at verses 29 to 37 and those verses show us that David's decision was made in wisdom. In other words, it was based on life experience and life lessons, especially with his God. So David considered some things before he made this decision. One, he considered the purpose.
You go to verse 26 and we see there in that verse that David's asking these warriors of Israel, they're refusing to face this giant and he's asking them, who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God. Now I don't know if the men of Israel really understood what was going on here as this giant stood with his proposal, but I know David surely did. He understood exactly what was going on. We could see it in his wordy.
David understood who this giant was. He called him an uncircumcised Philistine, not just a Philistine, certainly not a giant. He called him an uncircumcised Philistine. He was referencing the fact that this giant who was standing in the way of the army of God was not a God.
He was against God. He was standing in opposition to God. You see this giant was a source of anxiety toward the people of God. He was just a huge mass of difficulty in the way of God's people.
He was a giant distraction, drawing away their focus from God. You see they were focused on the giant. Instead of being focused on their God. They were worrying about God.
Instead of worrying about this giant. Instead of worshiping their God. Do we have any giants in our life that are doing that to us? Do we?
David understood who this giant was. He understood what this giant was doing. He said, who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God. You see he's laughing at them and he's mocking them as they're coming out there for battle.
He's standing in the way of God's plan for his people. Just like the giants of today, staying in our way as we go out and we try to carry out our mission of reaching this world and reaching people in our lives for Christ. So David's looking at all of this and he's considering it and he's thinking, this has to be stopped. Someone needs to face this giant and put a stop to this.
He's waiting what he's seeking to do. So David considered the purpose before he made his decision. So yeah, he made this decision to face this giant in wisdom because he didn't just consider the purpose but as he was considering this purpose, he also considered the person. Verse 26, who was he think of this person now?
Who's this giant to fight? Verse 26 refers to him as the living God. Verse 37 refers to him as the Lord. So just think of those two terms in reference to this person that's being defied by this giant living.
Did you know that the unique thing about our God is not that he's a God? I mean, there are a lot of gods. There are this world is filled with gods. There are a lot of gods in this world that are worshiped as much or even more than our God is worshiped.
That's not really what's unique about our God is that he's a God. The unique thing about our God is that he is a living God. You see, he is the only living God. I think of a song that these Hebrews, these Israelites used to sing this recorded in the book of Psalms in Psalm 115, four through seven, it says, their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands.
They have mouths but they speak not eyes have they, but they see not they they have ears but they hear not, noses have they but they smell not they have hands but they handle not feet have they, but they walk not neither speak they through their throat. In other words, they're not living. They're gods to somebody but they're not living. The God of Israel whose army this giant was defined is the only living God.
You see, he is the only God who can truly make a difference in a person's life. He is the only God who can actively work in a person's life. He's the only God who can actually help in a person's life. We think about this world and what kind of shape it's in.
We think about our own lives and that's why we get so stirred up when we talk about going to heaven. I don't know about you but I want to go and I want to go right now. So see, I'm not going to have to deal with anxiety in heaven. I'm not going to have to deal with heartbreak in heaven.
I'm not going to have to deal with so many of the things I have to deal with on a daily basis here. I want to go to heaven and I want to go to heaven now. But here's the thing, we're here now and we're there are people here now who don't have our God and are God. Oh, they have gods but they don't have our God.
Our God is the only one who can actually help because he's the only living God. So David understood all of this as he made his decision to face this giant, the person that he was going to be carrying out this purpose far but not not only is he the living God that he referred to him as Lord. What does that really mean? It just says to be Lord needs to possess a preem power, authority and ownership over others, serving as a master or an owner.
No one can be allowed to deny this of the only living God. The creator of this world, certainly he is Lord. Revelation 4 and 11 explains it this way, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power for Thou has created all things and for Thy pleasure they are and were created. But that's exactly what this giant was seeking to do.
He was seeking to deny God of his rightful position as Lord as he stood before God's own people, defying not only them but defying God himself. It just wasn't right. It should not and it could not be allowed. And David saw all of that and he understood all of that.
And so in wisdom he made this decision to face this giant. So understand that before David ever made his decision he could use some wisdom and he considered not just the purpose for facing this giant but he also considered the person for whom he would be facing this giant far. And as he was considered this person, we see in verse 34 through 37 that he couldn't help but consider what this person had done for him in the past. David stands there before the king and he simply says, the king tells the king, he says, hey, King, I'll go.
In fact, this giant for you. Something that not one warrior of the Israelite army had been willing to do for 40 days, the shepherd boy named David says, I'll, King Saul, I'll let no man heart fail him. I'll go and fight the giant for you. Now you think that King Saul would have shouted out a heart fail, thank you, wouldn't you?
But that's not his response. Here's his response in verse 38. And Saul said to David, thou art not able to go against this field of steam to fight with him, for thou art but a youth and he a man of war from his youth. And I can just hear Saul and I imagine Saul emphasizing this as he said it, emphasizing, did you hear me?
He has been a lean, mean, fighting machine since he was your age. You can't face him, you can't win. Well then David just simply began to speak of past battles and past victories. And he tells the king of the times that he was watching his father's sheep, that he fought with lions and bears.
And I'm gonna tell you, they were bigger and they were stronger and they were faster than David. And David was not supposed to be able to kill them, but you know what, he did. David knew with God that he could do the same to this giant as he spoke of these things. He spoke of not just past battles and victories, but he was filled with a present assurance.
Look at verse 37, it says, David said, moreover, the Lord that delivered me out of the palm of the lion and out of the palm of the bear, healed and delivered me out of the hand of this Philistine. You see, is David considered his purpose for facing this giant? This cannot be allowed. He's seeking to rob my God of his rightful position in the lives of people.
It can't be allowed. He didn't just consider the purpose, he considered his past with the person. And so he made this decision to face this a giant because he was assured, you know what? If God did it once, he'll do it again.
So I know that, I wonder, how many David's do we have here today? I don't know if y'all know this or not, if you've ever been told this, but we were made from a world. We were made for a purpose. We have a job to do.
We have a mission that's given to us by the mission giver, a mission with eternal weight. People's eternal destinies are, they're dependent on whether or not we carry out our mission. And our mission is just simply to seek the laws, it's to make disciples, it's to grow our small groups, it's to add to the Lord's church, it's to always continuously be more than what we are, adding people that are out there in this world. And that is a mission that it would be oh so simple, if not for the giant that's out there seeking to defy our God and anything of God.
He's seeking to nullify any and destroy anything that we may try to do in an effort to carry out our mission. He's seeking to take God's lordship away and this shouldn't be allowed, it can't be allowed. God sits on his throne and maybe today as he sits there, cause he knows what direction he's leading South Union in. He knows how he's putting all the pieces together.
And so he sits there on his throne and maybe today he's saying, who will fight this giant with me? And I'm wondering how many David's do we have that are willing to stand? And based on their wisdom, their life experience, their past experiences with their God are willing to make this decision to go and fight that giant. We understand that he made it with wisdom but that wasn't all David considered in making this decision.
We see that he also had a weapon. Look at verses 38 through 40. They tell us that David, he didn't just rush out on that field full of wisdom. No, once he got out there, he had a weapon in his hand.
In other words, David had something to fight that giant with. Look at those verses again and it tells us some things about David's weapon and his battle gear. They tell us about, let's start with this weapon, it was one, it was practical. Just think about his shepherd's suit, what he was wearing that day as he faced this giant.
We go to verse 39 and we learn from verse 38, that Saul must have, when David said, hey, let no man's heart fail him because of this giant, I will go and face the giant for you. Saul must have finally given he and after he heard David's sale pitch and he goes, undyingly he says, well, if you're gonna go fight this giant, you're gonna need some armor. And so he takes his own armor and he puts it on David. Verse 39 tells us that David said that Saul's battle armor was not proven.
Now, weren't you just simply, it wasn't something that he had worn before. Saul's battle gear and his sword, it may have been just fine for Saul, but for David, it just wasn't practical for him. So he decided that his very own shepherd suit would be just fine. But you think about what else David had, it wasn't just the closest shepherd suit that he was wearing, David also had a sling and a stone.
You see, Saul's a armor wasn't practical and neither was Saul's sword. To David, his very own trusty sling was much more practical as a weapon of war as he faced this giant. You think about this, David, he's gonna be facing this giant, this man who is much bigger and he's much stronger than he is. He's a man whose grip David would never be able to break.
If this giant ever got a hold of David, it's over with. And so in order for David to be able to use Saul's sword, he's gonna have to get within a arm's length of this giant. That's probably not gonna turn out very well. Besides the fact that this giant is covered in armor from his head to his toes.
So no matter if David were able to strike a blow with this sword, it would be futile, it would amount to nothing. So David, for him, his trusty sling was much more practical than Saul's sword. It doesn't make sense to us, but it made perfect sense to him. But not only was it practical, it was powerful.
You go to verse 49, look there and it says that this stone sunk into the forehead of Goliath. That means it did more than just leave a mark. I mean, it's so there, the Hebrew word means to sink down or to actually penetrate. You see, this stone didn't just hit and bounce off this big giant's heart, head.
It broke the skin and it even broke the skull and actually stuck there in place. And scripture tells us that this giant failed to the ground on his face. Then verse 50 says that David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone. He slew the giant.
He kills this giant with a sling and a stone. Now that is a powerful weapon, isn't it? So David's weapon, it wasn't just practical, but it was also powerful. But there was one more thing about this weapon, probably the most important thing.
David's weapon was precise, meaning it was just accurate. That stone hit in the only place it would have done any good. If that stone would have hit anywhere else on the body of Goliath, it would have just bounced right off. It would have been deflected by the armor.
Maybe it would have been denied by just the muscle of this giant. But David let that stone fly and that stone flew with precision right to the center of Goliath's story. That's the way I imagined it. I'll imagine it right here just above the bridge of his nose and just sucked in there, probably because I saw a picture like that.
I don't know. Somewhere we just know it hit at the only place it could have hit to have done any good. Maybe the only place on that giant's body that wasn't covered in armor. So this is what we understand.
The weapon of David that David used as he faced the giant, it was practical and it was powerful and it was precise. But did you know that the weapon David used, everything David's weapon was to him, our weapon is to us as we make this decision to do the same and face the giant? And I know you're thinking, well, wait a minute. What's our weapon?
Well, if he's in 6,8, 17 says for us to take up the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, you see, that's our weapon. The word of God is our weapon against Satan. It's our weapon against the non-belief and the hard hearts of me. And it's our word of God is our weapon of choice as we fight these giants of disbelief and defiance against anything that's of God and that rule over the hearts, maybe even our own.
I want you to listen to how the writer of Hebrews describes the word of God. Hebrews 4, 12, he says, for the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing of the soul and spirit of the joints and that and moral. And as a discerner of the thoughts and the intense of the heart, everything David's weapon was to him, our weapon is to us, our weapon today, this word of God is practical. See, it's referred to as the sword of the spirit, right?
It's a spiritual weapon. It works in spiritual ways. So we still may be thinking, well, why is it practical? Because our battle is a spiritual battle.
We're facing a spiritual giant. If he's in 612, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Remember verse 12 of Hebrews 4 speaks of that sword, piercing, and dividing, not the flesh and blood, but soul and spirit. So for us to use any other kind of weapon, other than a spiritual weapon, would not be practical.
It would be like David trying to use all sword. It wouldn't get the job done. You see, the word of God is like our sling. You know what's inside this sling?
It's the Holy Spirit of God. So the word of God is like our sling, and the Holy Spirit of God is like our stone. And we put that stone in our sling and we let it fly. And it is amazing, the precision in how that stone flies.
It is amazing how powerful that stone is. When it hits, you see, when we do that today, that stone flies out and it hits into the hearts of men and it pricks and it cuts into that heart just like it did on the day of Pentecost. That is something that the words of men could never do. That the words that come out of God are powerful words.
Scripture is filled with the effects of God's word. The Spirit says by the word of God that the heavens and earth were framed. It talks about, it says by the word of God, the sinner is transformed as their spirits are brought back to life. It says by the word of God, broken hearts are mended and cold hearts are melted.
By the word of God, spiritual enemies are defeated and Satan's influence is crushed. By the word of God, Satan cannot stand against the word of God. There is no giant of this life and of this earth that can stand against the word of God. The word of God simply gets the job done because it is so practical, it is so powerful and it is just so precise.
It hits exactly where it needs to hit. It used the word there, it says it's the sinner of the heart. You see the word of God as our sleen and that Holy Spirit as our stone. And when we're out there facing this giant and fighting with this giant and we let it all go and we sleen the sleen and let that stone go, that Holy Spirit goes out and it hits in exact, the exact spot that it ever is ever gonna do any good and that is into the heart of man.
That is something our words could never do. We cannot defeat this giant in anything of this world. We can defeat this giant in our own physical strength, in our own mental capacities. It's a spiritual giant and it has to be faced with a spiritual weapon which is the word of God.
So David makes this decision based on his wisdom but also on his weapon. And even though he was facing a giant, David was able to do what no one but him, thought he could do. David faced this giant and he came away with a win. Looking at verses 50 and 52 again, I love the words of verse 50.
I want you to just think of the impossible odds. I want you to think of the words of doubt and rebuke that David heard before he ever walked down on that valley floor. You can't win but David faced that giant anyway. And verse 50 says, So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sleen and a stone.
You see, David wasn't supposed to win the fight but he did. David, no one believed that David could win this fight but he did. And those verses tell us some things about David's win. The win was just improbable.
I want you to Sony, I want you to get it. Verse 50, look at it again. So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sleen and a stone. Folks, this literally happened.
It's real. There was a day, this shepherd boy named David stood before nine foot nine inch giant with a sleen and a stone anyone processed that. I mean, it may not have been the most practical weapon for David to use but the win was still, it was the most practical but the win was still improbable even with this practical weapon. I mean, to anybody standing off to the side, watching all of this play out, I mean, their thought had to be, man, their part of the day, I don't know what you think but this is not looking good for David.
This is just not gonna turn out good. There's not a sports bookie around who would have given David the odds to win that fight. I mean, he would have been 2001 or even more odds of David winning this fight. Yet despite the improbability of the win, verse 50 says, David prevailed over the Philistine with a sleen and a stone.
Well, you see, David's win wasn't just improbable but it was also insurmountable. Look at what else it says in those verses after that, verse 51, it was just too much for the Philistine army to overcome. It was insurmountable. David won and this Philistine army could not overcome.
Verse 51 says that when those Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled and they ran for the heels. I mean, that's all they could do. Deligh it, he was their only hope. He was their source of power.
He was their source of strength. They simply could not overcome the loss of their champion, Deligh it, so they had no hope and they ran. But we also see that David's win didn't just affect the Philistine army. The verse 52 shows us that it may have been, his win may have been insurmountable to the Philistine army but it was very inspirational to the Israelite army.
I mean, David's win inspired these Israelite warriors to finally get up and do what they had been trained to do and what they had signed up to do. Listen to the contrast in these verses. Early up, verse 24, it says, and all the men of Israel when they saw the man, this giant fled from him and were so afraid. But in between this shepherd boy named David says, King, I'll go and fight the giant for you.
And then we get down to verse 52 and the men of Israel and Judah arose and shouted and pursued the Philistines until they come to the valley into the gates of Echron. These Israelite warriors, I can imagine them. They're just kind of peeking out over the top of their foxholes as David and they catch a glimpse of David rushing toward this giant running toward this giant. And I can just see them not, you know, not wanting to look but can't help but look.
And they see that they're gonna hold man. This is just gonna be bad. This is not gonna be good. This is not gonna be good.
And then all of a sudden they see that giant fall and they jump up out of their foxholes just in time to see David hoisting up the head of this giant and seeing the rest of the Philistine warriors fleeing for their lives. And they come up out of those foxholes with a shout and with a roar and they take off after that Philistine army. It reminds me of a little fox terrier dog named Herman that we had growing up. We'd be coming down the road coming up on our driveway and we could see our yard and there'd be a dog out in our yard.
Where was Herman? He's backed up into garage hiding somewhere. That dog's doing whatever he wants to in our yard. Herman's nowhere inside he's up in that garage and we'd put up in the driveway.
The dog sees us and he takes off running. And when that dog takes off running, all of a sudden here comes Herman out of the garage and he's bulking, he's barking like a doberman paintcher boy. He's going and he chases that dog all the way to the end of our yard and then he comes back. Well, he's just a stratton.
You know, like he's the one who defeated the giant. That's what these Israelite warriors remind me of. But you know what? At least they got out of their foxholes and they took off after the army and did what they had signed up to do and what they were trained to do.
Scripture tells us that David takes this head of Goliath. He takes it back to Jerusalem like a super bowl trophy. Says it goes before King Saul and he's still holding the head of this giant. The army comes back from chasing after these Philistines and they ransacked the enemy's tents.
And here's the thing, what seemed to be an unbeatable giant shouting in a valley. It became the sight and the scene of one of Israel's or really God's greatest victories. You see David faced the giant and he won. Now, may we up to this point, we still may be sitting here.
Okay, that's a good story brother Curtis. I enjoyed listening to it. But what does all of that have to do with us? How does this apply to our lives as the cycles of Christ?
Well, we were giving this mission over 2000 years ago. And in that 2000 years, very little has changed. Nothing of importance has changed. Our mission certainly has not changed.
You know what God's power has not changed. And here's something else, the giant standing in front of us, standing in defiance of us has not changed. But I'm gonna tell you, just like 2000 years ago in the Church of Jerusalem turning the world upside down, lives can still be changed today. The lost can still be saved today.
There are families and marriages that can still be healed and made right. Communities can still be turned upside down today. I mean, we look and we think about all of this and that we in may look improbable, but it's not impossible. It just takes a David who's willing to go out and fight the giant with God.
And here's the thing, it doesn't take a lot to be a David. I'm looking around and I'm gonna point this out because I'm looking around, I'm seeing heads already there. I want everyone of you to pick your head up because I want you to understand this. It doesn't take a lot to be a David.
It doesn't take a lot of Bible knowledge to be a David. It doesn't take a lot of warrior mentality and boldness to be a David. All it takes is somebody with a sling and a stone willing to stand up and say, I'll go and fight the giant with you. So I'm just wondering how many David's do we have?
Folks, that's how close we are to winning. It's just having some David's. The giants are there, they're gonna always be there. But we are this close to a continuous flow of lives being changed and hearts being turned to Jesus Christ, this close to being that continuous flow like in the church at Jerusalem.
I tell you just about every time I get in a pulpit, I've never been a part of a church like South Union Baptist Church. I have never been a part of a church who I felt had a chance to win. Like I do, South Union Baptist Church. We can win and we're this close and it just takes a David willing to go out and win.
Think about winning and exciting. Well, here's the bottom line. You can't have a win without a fight. You see, everybody wants to win.
But there are very few who want to fight. There are very few who want to put in the time and the effort it takes to truly win in our spiritual walk with Christ. We all want our lives changed. We all want our marriages healed.
We all want our walk with Jesus to be better. We all want to get out of this sinful lifestyle that's weighing me down and is doing nothing good for me. See, we all because we're children of God, we're saved and just we're not where we need to be. We all want to get out of that.
But very few of us want to fight. Very few churches have members who want to truly become not just a disciple, but a disciple makers. We're just not willing to face those giants that stand in our way, defying us and keeping all these good things from happening. So I'm just gonna say it again.
You can't have a win without a fight. And we sit here today as the South Union Baptist Church. And we're charged with a task of reaching outside these walls that end up people's lives for the purpose of winning them to Jesus and his church. Having them become a part of all of this that we hold so dear and that we love so much.
We hold for us to come in here every Sunday morning and experience what we experience and the thought being, man, I wished I would have brought more people with me. And certainly when we get to heaven, I wish I would have brought more people with me. And we come here and we're inspired. But then we go out there and there's a giant standing in our way.
They're just huge obstacles standing between us and the task at hand and those giants stand defying us and our God and they laugh as we struggle in our walk and our work, they laugh as we remain hidden in our foxholes of faith instead of getting into people's lives and spreading the word of God and showing them the love of Jesus. I'm standing before you today and I'm kind of like coach Taylor. I stand here today and I believe with everything that's in me as long as we seek to honor God, nothing is impossible. Lives can be changed.
Dangerfield, Texas, Lone Star, this whole community can be turned upside down. We can see things here that we've never seen. Students, I'm telling you, you can turn Dangerfield High School upside down. We can win, but you can't have a win without a fight.
So maybe God's standing before us today. Maybe he's reminded us of who we really are in him and right now maybe he's asking who will go and fight the giant with me. If we stand and we get ready, I wanna ask you, if you're here today and you've never accepted Jesus as your savior, you've never truly admitted that he's your Lord and given him the rightful position in your life, you just week after week, you've allowed that giant to deflect you and to deny you of what you can have in Jesus Christ. I want you to understand that giant standing there and that giant is death and hell and it doesn't matter how much you try, how much you struggle to live here in this life, you're gonna always be dead.
But here's the thing, you can come and you can fight that giant and you can come and you can kneel before Jesus Christ and you can ask him to forgive you of your sins and admit that he's your Lord and savior and the giant is lost. You're here today and maybe you're already saving, but you're just struggling, you're struggling, you're fighting, maybe you're one of those, man, you desperately want to be this disciple maker. You desperately wanna reach people, but every week as you go and the opportunities are there, that giant of fear just pops up and you've got all these thoughts and all these worries. Folks, we can have our pepper alleys.
We can get all excited week after week, after week, but sooner or later, somebody is gonna have to go out there and fight the giant. We're gonna sing and this is your time. God is asking who will go and fight the giant, baby. Will it be you?
Will you come fighting here on your knees for self-eating and baddest church in our mission today?