Summary: David showed us a good example of courage and bad example of being a coward. Which one will you follow?

David

Do You Have the Courage? Or Are You a Coward?

Introduction

A. Remember back in 1995 we had this Young QB on the Steelers names Stewart

B. In 95 we made him Slash

C. And Slash was great

D. Everyone loved slash

E. Well eventually he became the starter

F. And well now, everybody does not like Stewart (to say the least)

G. It is funny how someone can go from great to awful

H. In a way that is what happened with David

I. David started of chosen by God

J. And then showed great courage by beating the giant

K. However, he became a coward with the whole Bathsheba mess

L. We are going to look more closely at these events

M. We are going to see

a. The Choosing of David

b. The Courage of David

c. The cowered ness of David

I. Choosing 1 Sam 16:13

A. Explanation

1. But on your thinking caps

2. Remember back when Samuel came to choose David,

3. Well Samuel did not know that he was going to pick David

4. After Jesse (David father) displayed all his kids, Samuel asked him are your sure this is all

5. David was out attending to the sheep

6. He was the youngest and surely would not be the one Samuel was looking for

7. Samuel tells Jesse to go and get him

8. Jesse agrees and David appears before Samuel

9. Samuel then hears the Lord say to him “Rise and anoint him; he is the ones (16:12)

10. With that Samuel anointed David in presence of his brothers and father

B. Application

1. What can we learn from all of this?

2. We quickly see that David was the last person that should have been chosen

3. When Samuel say Eliab he said that most be the person

4. Finally Samuel gets to the least likely person and chooses that one

5. In mans eyes David was a bad choice

6. But God is wiser and smarter then we are and knows how to use anyone

C. Illustration

1. Think about some of the people God has used to do his work. My Dad, he is not the smartest, strongest, talented. Yet God Choose him

2. Jim Alis, is a pastor that when he talks he studers, yet God choose him

3. God can choose whoever

4. And if God Chooses’ you to do something you are guaranteed that you can do it

5. Do not think the work of the Lord is for the few, the proud, the Marines. It is for everyone

II. Courageous 1 Sam 17:34-36

A. Explanation

1. This is the famous story of David and Goliath

2. Goliath might I remind you was over 9 ft tall

3. David was not 9 feet tall

4. He was not fully physically developed yet

5. So David begin arguing to Saul to let him fight Goliath

6. Now at first Saul was against the idea, why send a nice young boy to die, cant blame Saul for that one

7. David then tells his great hunting stories, how he defeated both bear and lion

8. He then explains this giant is not much different

9. So Saul agrees to let David fight the giant

10. We all know what happens after that

B. Application

1. The question we need to ask our selves is how do we have this same type of courage?

2. Do we get this from our physical size?

3. Nope, David would have run away then

4. Do we get friends give us encouragement?

5. Nope, They told David to leave

6. So how did David have the courage

7. Read 17:45

8. David got his encouragement form the Lord

9. David was able to conquer the Giant not based on man’s strategy, but based on the Lord’s

C. Illustration

1. What Giant do you need to have courage to go against?

2. Who is making your life difficult that you need to stand up to?

3. What giant is blocking your life from becoming what God wants you to become?

III. Coward 2 Sam 11

A. Explanation

1. Now I bet you are confused, We just learned about how David had courage

2. Now we are going to talk about David the Coward

3. David and Bathsheba Remember that one

4. David was up on his roof and spots Bathsheba

5. Bathsheba was hot, she had it going on

6. Well David used one of his executive privileges and slept with her

7. She became pregnant

8. He thought that is her husband would come home from the war for a night that he could cover it up

9. The husband would not go home

10. He then put the guy on the front line where he surely would be killed

11. And that is what happen,

12. However this made God upset. And David was punished severely

13. The Child died

B. Application

1. What can we learn from this?

2. We have to understand this same person that displayed courage became a coward

3. David who was willing to battle the Giant, was not willing to control himself

4. Was not willing to tell Uriah the truth

5. Was not willing to let Uriah live.

6. He was a coward

7. You want to know where the difference lies?

8. The difference is caused from relaying on the Lord

9. Our Strength our hope our Courage, comes from the Lord

10. Our weakness, doubt, coward ness, come from ourselves

C. Illustration

1. At the Lighthouse somehow I ended up being in charge of all technology. One of the projects that I had to tackle (Probably because it was my idea) was to create a computer room. In this room there was to be 7 computers all networked together with access to the Internet. Now for someone who knew what they were doing this probably would not have been that tough. But for me this seemed impossible.

2. I worried about it, stressed about, yes even procrastinated until the very last minute. Finally, I stopped worrying about it and Let God take control. God knew that I had to have it up and running by 7:00 that day. So a peace came over me. Sure enough I was able to have it all done by (keeping in mind it had to be done by 7:00) 6:45. I even vacuumed the room

3. God gives us courage

4. We give ourselves coward ness

5. Look what David Coward ness cost him

6. Don’t be a coward

Conclusion

A. Once again I feel bad

B. I have tried to cover David’s life in 20 minutes. That is not fair

C. I encourage you to read about the life of David.

D. Fascinating stuff

E. David, out of all people, was chosen by God

F. David, when led by the Lord, showed great courage

G. David, when led by himself, showed great coward ness

H. God choose you

I. When you are led by the Lord, you can show great courage

J. If you are leading yourself, you will end up showing great coward ness

K. You the chosen are you being led by the Lord, or Yourself

L. If there is an area that you are leading yourself, give it over to God today

M. Do you, chosen one, have the courage, or are you a coward?

N. (Pray)

O. Blessed Assurance, that should give you courage