Sermon Central
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Part 1 - David, Goliath & The Power Of God Series
Contributed by Pastor Bruce A. Shields on Mar 24, 2007 (message contributor)
Summary: Part one of the "They must be GIANTS!" focuses on the story of David and Goliath as a springboard for the rest of the series. In understanding the situation that day, we can have a clearer perspective in our own lives and the things that come against us
They Must be Giants
1 – David, Goliath and the power of God
Pastor Bruce A. Shields
House of Faith Ministries
www.PS127.org
WELCOME
INTRODUCTION
Most of us are all familiar with the story of David & Goliath.
Today I want to begin a series entitled “They Must be Giants!”
This is a reference to Numbers 13:33 when the Israelites saw the Giants and said they must have looked like grasshoppers to them, and left in fear.
However, you will not find the word “giant” in your NIV Bibles; it has been left in the original Hebrew tongue, “Nephilim”, which means giant. Nephilim was the name of one of the tribes of Canon.
Over the next few weeks we will be examining how the devil puts giants in our lives to try destroy us.
But for us to understand what odds we are up against, or rather, what odds the devil is up against, we need to look at the Story of David, Goliath and the power of God.
SCRIPTURE READING
1 Samuel 17:2 – 11
“Saul and the Israelites assembled and camped in the Valley of Elah and drew up their battle line to meet the Philistines. 3 The Philistines occupied one hill and the Israelites another, with the valley between them.
4 A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. He was over nine feet tall. 5 He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing five thousand shekels; 6 on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung on his back. 7 His spear shaft was like a weaver’s rod, and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels. [c] His shield bearer went ahead of him.
8 Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, "Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me. 9 If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us." 10 Then the Philistine said, "This day I defy the ranks of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other." 11 On hearing the Philistine’s words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified.”
PRAYER FOR THE HOLY SPIRIT AND UNDERTANDING
Goliath
6 Cubits & a Span (About 3 meters tall) or About 9 feet.
I have been asked many times if I think this is a literal or figurative figure.
I feel it is both, it is Goliaths literal size, but figuratively it represents the spiritual things that come against us in our lives today.
Robert Wadlow, who died in 1940 was over 8’ 11” tall and weighed 439 pounds, so I believe that Goliath was as big as the Bible says.
Goliath was the Palestinian champion and veteran Warrior.
We’ve talked about spiritual warfare;
Devil attacks where you are weakest.
He establishes footholds that grow into strongholds in you life if not dealt with.
He’s methodical in his preparation.
Here we see the same situation.
Goliath struck fear into the Israelites.
Face to Face no one would challenge him.
This tactic with Goliath and the one-on-one challenge drove the Israelites into a state of cowardice.
This took place for 40 days, which is the Biblical number for testing.
God’s people were tested for 40 days, and fear kept them silent.
How many of us stay silent during our trials?
How many of us fear to face the giant that the devil has placed before us?
When will we stand and realize that the battle is the Lord’s, and we have nothing to fear!
But fear was the Israelites master this day, and Goliath’s taunts continued.
One thing about the enemies taunts and attacks.
When he sees something working, guess what, he does more of that one thing.
Once he finds a weakness in your defenses, you better believe that all of his forces and attacks are going to be focused on that one area of your life!
Oh, how the devil continues this today!
He can cause us to shrivel up and fear him by challenging us with a one-on-one battle with him.
And we look at this giant, so much bigger than us.
We see a seasoned veteran who knows how to fight.
He appears to us in our lives as this thing that is so big, we could never defeat it!
Drugs
Alcohol
Sickness
Fear
Anger
Bitterness
The list goes on and on.
And he taunts us.
And out of our shock at the size of the giant, out of our fear his taunts create in us, out of the one-on-one challenge he makes, drawing the line in the sand and commanding from us, “give me your best, and if you lose, you will surrender to me!”, we forget, like the Israelites forgot, this isn’t our battle.
