Theme: Optimism
Text: I Samuel 17: 1-58
Place: FBC Kodiak, Alaska
Date: January 8, 2k6
Intro:
Illus: a man lost a leg in an accident and when he was picked up and discover what
had actually happened, he said to those around him, “Thank God it was the
leg with arthritis.” –copied (unknown)
What is optimism? The doctrine or belief that good ultimately prevails over evil.
Tendency to expect the best outcome.
What is pessimism? The doctrine or belief that the evil in life outweighs the good.
Practice of looking on the dark side of things
Illus: “The optimist recognizes a responsibility in every crisis; the pessimist sees a
crisis in every responsibility.” – copied
Focus: Ingredients for Optimism
I. Be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind. (vv 23; 26; 28-33)
- Do not allow negative comments to discourage you.
Illus: “The pessimist sees only the dark side of the clouds and moans; the
philosopher sees both dark and bright side of the clouds; and the
optimist doesn’t even see the clouds – he’s walking on them.”
– Leslie B. Flynn
David din not allow people to rob him of his faith and destiny through their
negative comments. His elder brother was angry and wished that David had
remained with the sheep. He accused him of pride and wickedness. Even
King Saul discourage him by saying that he would not be able to defeat
Goliath. David did not allow people to rob him of his destiny through their
unbelief, doubt, jealousy and negative comments.
We should not allow other people to rob our blessings through their unbelief, jealousy and negative words. We should ignore the negative voices and press on to fulfill our destiny. We cannot expect everyone to rejoice in our progress and prosperity nor can we expect everyone to believe in our vision and potential. Just as David faced Goliath without any encouragement from people, we should be willing to face our challenges alone with our faith in God and get the victory.
II. Be a man who undertakes a seemingly impossible task in a spirit of
A. Unbounded determination. (v. 11)
Meaning … uncontrolled firmness of purpose.
David’s courage was amazing when he faced Goliath. The entire Israeli
army including Saul was terrified of Goliath. Even when he was
surrounded by fearful people. David stood out with his fearlessness.
Nothing including Goliath’s appearance, strength, armor, experience or
threats could make him afraid.
We should be bold and fearless when we face our Goliaths. None of those who were afraid of Goliath were able to defeat him. The only one who was able to defeat Goliath was the one who had no fear of him. Therefore we should be absolutely fearless when we face our challenges in order to get the victory.
B. Unbelievable Excitement (vv. 23- 27)
There was absolutely no doubt in David’s mind about the outcome of the
battle. In fact the first words that David spoke after seeing and hearing
Goliath was to find out what reward he would get if he killed Goliath. David
saw Goliath as a great opportunity to get rewards in his life. He did not think
of Goliath as a danger threatening to destroy his life but as a golden
opportunity to receive great blessings in his life.
We should be strong in faith expecting the victory in our battles. We should not allow doubt and unbelief to rob us of our victory and destiny. We should consider our challenges as blessings in disguise. We should look forward to the blessings that we would receive as a result of overcoming these challenges instead of losing hope and getting discouraged when we face trials in our life.
C. Indestructible Confidence with God. (vv. 33- 37)
illus: When Goliath went to the Israelites the soldiers all thought, “He so
big, we can never kill him.” But David looked at him and thought,
“He is so big, I can’t miss.” –copied (unknown)
David confessed God’s faithfulness both in the past and also in the
present situation. He remembered the past battles he faced in which
God had delivered him and it inspired his faith to believe God to give
him the victory on this current battle with the giant. He did not speak
a single word of doubt or unbelief when he faced Goliath. All his
words were positive and filled with faith and confidence.
In our lives we should constantly speak positive words of victory in the challenges that we face. We should totally avoid speaking negative words of doubt, fear, unbelief and defeat when we face our battles. We should remember all the victories that the Lord has given us in the past and be strong in our faith that the Lord will do the same even in our current battle.
III. Always remember that in every battle in Life, God always there to fight. And
He’s fighting for you. (vv. 38-40; 45-47)
David did not think that this was simply a human battle between him and the
giant. He knew that God was involved in this battle on his side and would
deliver Goliath over to him. The giant came with worldly weapons but David
had a spiritual weapon which was the Name of the Lord. He refused to wear
Saul’s armour but instead used the sling and the stone. His faith was in God to
give him the victory. Goliath was totally blind to this spiritual battle. He could
only see a youth coming against him. He did not realize that he was coming
against the God of Israel and the invisible spiritual weapons that David was using.
We should have the revelation that we are not facing our battles alone. The Lord is on our side and He fights our battles. We have the invisible spiritual weapons in the name of the Lord which the enemy does not realize. We need not fear the worldly weapons of the enemy because we have spiritual weapons which are vastly superior which will bring us victory.
Conclusion:
Goliath was a giant with great physical strength. He was trained warrior with powerful armor. In contrast, David was only a youth and a shepherd boy who had never been in battle before. It appeared a total mismatch in which David had no chance of defeating Goliath. No one would believe he would defeat the giant.
Lessons:
We may face challenges which appear so overwhelming and we may feel that we are no match against such great odds. But the victory of David over Goliath should inspire us and give us great confidence in the battles that we face. Remember, the greater the battle, the more glorious will be the victory.
We should not run away in fear from the challenges but boldly go forward to face the enemy and triumph over the enemy. When Goliath fell, the entire Philistine army lost courage and fled in terror. Even in our lives, often when we break a major stronghold, many other battles are also won through that. When the major stronghold is broken, all the other challenges which were connected to it also falls away. Not only that, just as David’s victory mobilized the Israeli army, our victory can be a great inspiration to others who have been bound by fear.
We can be a source of inspiration and a bondage breaker in the lives of others when we set the example by defeating the enemy and as a result many others would rise up in faith and accomplish great things for God.
