Critical Conversations

Joke:  As a boy is walking down the street, he spots a bell tower. Seeing the bell, he makes his way to the very top of the tower. When he gets to the top, he finds a priest, just standing there.

The boy asked the priest “Is it okay if I ring the bell, Father?”

The priest replied “By all means, go ahead.”

The boy tried to pull on the rope to ring the bell, but he was too weak and the rope wouldn’t budge. Then he got an idea. He walks to the edge of the tower, then sprints full speed into the bell, which then lets out a loud boom. Disoriented, the boy ends up stumbling off of the tower, landing on the ground below.

When an ambulance arrives, a paramedic asks the priest “Did you know this boy, Father?”

The priest replies “Don’t know his name, but his face rings a bell.”

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Who do you think are some of the most influential speakers or communicators of our time?

What if I told you that you are?

You are and here’s why, who speaks to you more than you?

Who influences you more than you?

Who decides where you’ll go or won’t go, what you’ll eat or won’t eat, what you post or what you will not post more than you?

You are an influential communicator.

Ok truth is you’re not the greatest communicator that you’ve ever heard but you are the greatest communicator that you are always hearing.

You are always hearing a voice on the inside, speaking to you about you.   Good or bad, truth or a lie.  So, it’s important to hear not necessarily the loudest, but the right one.

Honestly, I realize that even though I will do my best to preach today with clarity, I’m also fully aware of the fact that what’s most important is not just what I’m saying to you. It’s what you are saying to you about what I’m saying to you.

Hear this church,  because this is so important.  I can be saying to you, “God’s going to open up a door for you.”

But you could be saying, “Well, he should have done that last year, because now it’s just too late.”   I missed that promotion, that opportunity.

I could be saying that God is going use your suffering and pain that you’ve been going through, to form you into the image of Christ.

But you could be saying to you, “Well, I shouldn’t be going through this anyway. I’m mad at God because of the pain.”

And if truth be told it is the inner narrative that will often navigate the direction and the trajectory of your life.

So today, let me ask a couple questions.  Who are you talking to?  What voice are you listening to?

And quite honestly, I believe some of you would slap or at the very least least walk away from somebody if they were to talk to you the way you talk to you.

What are you saying to yourself?

Because that voice you listen to is incredibly important in deciding your direction.

Before I get to far let me share a story of this boxer who one day won a championship and as they’re giving him the belt and he’s celebrating excited about his victory.  Unexpectedly, out of nowhere and a surprise to everyone he looks at the camera as they’re handing him the championship belt and he lifts it up and says, “You see, Dad? I am somebody. I’m not a loser.”

And the person that handed him the belt was like, “Who are you talking to?”  And then you find out this boxer’s story how his father was verbally abusive his entire life and the way he would win each match was to picture the face of his father on his opponent.

And then in a championship moment, we realized the inner dialogue that was going on in his life.

And here’s the thing church, I believe life is little about the external confrontation that you face and everything about the internal conversation that you are having with yourself.

Which brings me to my text today in 1st  Samuel 17.

It’s a very familiar passage, If you went to Sunday school at all in your entire life you probably heard the story.

And before you think really I came to church today to hear that story again, I want you to consider that perhaps our familiarity with this passage has actually robbed us of the revelation that the Holy Spirit wants to reveal to us today.

And with that said, I want us to look at David and Goliath, it’s a classic, iconic story.

But I want us to look at it with fresh eyes and maybe, just maybe see that there’s something deeper that God wants to speak to us through it.

Could it be this passage, the fight described has little to do with the actual fight and everything to do with the conversations that preceded the fight?

In other words could this really be about the conversations of who they were talking to.

Honestly, whenever we have talked about David and Goliath we have always made it about the fight between David and Goliath, but I think it’s deeper than that.

Think about it. The fight really could be summed up in four stanzas.

He hit him with a rock. He fell down dead. He cut off his head.  And all the others fled.

That’s the whole fight right there in just four stanzas.

But if that’s it why would we need 58 verses in 1st Samuel 17 to tell the story?

Here’s why.

It’s all that talking. It’s the conversations. When we meet Goliath I want you to notice something, he’s not cutting offheads of the enemies.

What’s he doing?  All he is doing is talking and what he is saying has the people paralyzed in fear.

So, what I want to do today is look at some critical conversations that David had before he ever got to the fight.

And I think there are principles from these conversations that if you haven’t already done so you can and probably should apply to your life.

The first conversation, I will call the DoorDash dialogue.

This is the first conversation and it is found in 1st Samuel 17 verses 17 and 18.

1 Samuel 17:17-18 (NLT) – One day Jesse said to David, “Take this basket* of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread, and carry them quickly to your brothers. 18 And give these ten cuts of cheese to their captain. See how your brothers are getting along, and bring back a report on how they are doing.”

Jesse comes to David and says, “Hey, I want you to go to the     battlefield and take your brothers some bread and some barley and give the captain some cheese as well”

In other words Jesse says, “Do a door dash and deliver some food to them.  And while your at it just see how they’re doing in the battle.”

That is the first conversation that he has.

And maybe you read that and think that’s such a small detail, but truth is church this is a critical conversation.  And the reason why is because if David rejects this request of his father, he would never have positioned himself for the battle that he was ordained to fight.

It looks like it’s a small thing, but it’s so much more.

And here’s something I have learned and that is that often times big things are packaged in little requests from God.

Quite often the big doors that everybody wants God to open generally has a little door knob. And God wants to see how can you steward the little thing? How can you steward the small thing before He will ever bring you into the big thing?

Imagine if David said no to a Door dash request from his father to go bring cheese and bread to his brothers.

And maybe your thinking well why would David refuse to do the door dash thing.   Well consider what happened in 1st Samuel 16.

If you remember it was in that chapter that the prophet Samuel came to Jesse’s house and said, “I’m looking for the next king. Bring me all your sons.”

All seven sons come out but God rejects all seven of them.

So, Samuel maybe a bit confused, has to ask Jesse a question that you should never have to ask a father, “Do you have any more kids?

And listen as a dad I’ve never forgotten when asked how many kids I have never have I given it a second thought.  I just say 3.   Kidding it’s 4

But Jesse’s like, “Oh yeah, sorry almost forgot I do have another one.

But it’s just David. . .he’s out there in the field with the stinky sheep.”

And I love what Samuel says, he says “We’re not going to sit down until he comes in.”

So, all seven of the brothers just stand in rejection. How long did they have to wait before David made it from the field into the house?

I’m not sure to his brothers it may of seemed like eternity.   But all of a sudden David walks in and Samuel goes, “You are the one. This is God’s anointed.  He’s going to be the next king of Israel.”

It was a destiny moment.    He anoints him as king.  And David is now well aware of the fact that he’s going be king.

And it’s after that, that he gets that door dash request from his father.

And I wonder if David thought even for a moment, “Oh, he’s going apologize for not calling me with the others when Samuel had everyone line up.”  Or he’s going to say, so sorry that I didn’t deem you worthy to be the next king.”

But that’s not what Jesse does or says. He says, “Hey, can you go take your brothers some cheese and some bread?”

Now if I’m being honest I’m not sure how I would have handled that.  If that was me, knowing what I was going to become.  I might’ve been like, “Um, excuse me do you know who you are talking to? Don’t you know I’m the next king of Israel? And you want me to do what. . .go make a Door dash run?

But David doesn’t say that. What does he say? He says, “My pleasure.

My father has a request for me, and it’s my pleasure. I am not too prideful to deliver this meal to my brothers, even though I’m going to be the next king of Israel.

So, the thing that David is teaching us in this conversation is he’s teaching us that you have to have a heart of humility.

So let me ask you, when God requests something of you, is your response “My pleasure”? Or is it, “Who are you talking to, God? You want me to serve in the church? They should be glad I even showed up today.”

And church some people will never step into the their purpose, or destiny not because  they can’t knock down a big giant like Goliath, but because they can’t knock down a big giant like pride.

David is showing us a heart of humility and he tells his father, “If  this is the assignment you have for me, then it’s my pleasure.

I know I’m the next king, but I’ll go ahead and drop offthis Door dash order for you.”

And look at what happens when he drops it off. He drops off the order to his brothers. And right at the moment that he drops offthe order.

I’m talking about right at the moment he’s about to take the picture and send it to Jesse and say, “Order delivered,”

At that very moment, it just so happens that’s the moment that Goliath comes out and starts taunting the children of Israel like he’s been doing for last 40 days.

And as soon as David hears that, he’s like, “Wait a minute. That’s not right.  What is going on?”

And here’s what I find interesting he heard the same thing that the other soldiers heard, but he had a completely different response?

He heard the same words from Goliath, but he had a completely different reaction.

What caused them to be stuck in fear caused David to rise up to the moment.

I want you to hear this church, when you have been talking to God, you walk into rooms differently. When you know who you are and whose you are, you respond differently.   You act differently, you think differently.

David was responding because his ear was tuned in to the right frequency.  He had talked with His God.

Truth is, when you are walking by faith and not by sight, you respond differently than other people.   When you are led by the Spirit and not the flesh you act differently.

And He’s like, there’s no way I’m going to let you talk about my God like that.

He heard the same thing but he had a completely different reaction.

When you realize what God can and wants to do in you and through you because you’ve been talking to your God.  It changes how you respond to the situations and circumstances you find yourself in.

You can have peace in the midst of your storms.   Hope in the midst of difficult situations.

So, he drops off the order and then all of a sudden he has the next conversation.

And this too is a critical conversation. He has it with the soldiers. I want you to hear what he says to the soldiers. He says. . .

1 Samuel 17:26 (NLT) – David asked the soldiers standing nearby, “What will a man get for killing this Philistine and ending his defiance of Israel? Who is this pagan Philistine anyway, that he is allowed to defy the armies of the living God?”

What will be done for the man that defeats this giant?”

Don’t miss that David hears Goliath talking and immediately goes, “What will be done for the man that defeats this giant?”

You must have missed it again, because that would have been a great place for an amen.

One more time, he hears Goliath talking and his immediate response is “What is going be done for the man that defeats him?”

In other words, David already sees himself defeating the giant.

He wasn’t cowering in fear, he was preparing for battle.

And we see that not only does David have a heart of humility, but he also has a vision of victory.

He is not stuck in fear. He already sees himself defeating the giant.

1 Corinthians 15:57 (NIV) – But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

So, David asks, “I want to know what does the man get who defeats this giant?

I don’t know who this message is for today, but God wants me to tell you, you have to get a vision of victory.

You have got to see yourself defeating the giant you might be facing.

He had a vision of victory. He could already see it.

The soldiers, they were focused on something much different.

In fact, the writer in 1st Samuel, talks about Goliath’s helmet and his shield. And the reason he’s going into great detail about it, is because he’s showing us what the soldiers have been focusing on.

It’s sort of like Hebrew poetry, he’s letting you know that they’re looking at his helmet and their all thinking I’ve never seen a shield that big.  As a matter of fact I never saw a man that big.

And church understand something, whatever you focus on the most, that’s what’s going to grow in your life.

To all the soldiers Goliath just appeared to be the big guy nobody was willing to stand up too.   But David just say a bully and trusted in his God.

And David says, “I don’t care nothing about his shield. I don’t care about his sword. I just know one thing, that the God that I serve is able to bring me victory and that giant is going to fall.

And because I know whose I am and what my God can do I already see myself winning the battle.

What does the man get for defeating that man.  He asks  because he knew I’m that guy.”

He’s got a vision of victory.

Church can I ask you something?   It might be a tough questions, but can I ask them anyway?

Do you see yourself winning? Do you see that relationship being restored? Do you see your children coming back to God? Do you see it? Because if you don’t see it, it’s going to be hard for you to step into it.

Do you see this church growing?  Do you see yourself doing what God is calling you to do?  Do you see doors opening for you?

David had a vision of victory.

He says, “What do you get for defeating this giant because I’m about to defeat him.”

And right after the vision of victory, his older brother, Eliab, runs up to him.

I can almost picture it.  This is the third conversation.

His brothers angry and he runs up to him and says. . .

1 Samuel 17:28 (NLT) – But when David’s oldest brother, Eliab, heard David talking to the men, he was angry. “What are you doing around here anyway?” he demanded. “What about those few sheep you’re supposed to be taking care of? I know about your pride and deceit. You just want to see the battle!”

What are you doing around here anyway?  What about those few sheep you’re supposed to be taking care of?

Have you ever had somebody just disqualify you because you didn’t meet their expectations or they felt you had nothing to offer?  I have.

Where have you left those little sheep?

He’s angry with David and says, “I know the pride in your heart. You just came here to see the battle.”

And I love what David says to him. He says. . .

1 Samuel 17:29 (NLT) – “What have I done now?” David replied. “I was only asking a question!”

My guess this isn’t the first time Eliab has done something like this.

And I love the Bible because the Bible gives us clues as to why Eliab feels this way.

If you remember when Samuel came to anoint the next king, guess who the first person he looked at. . .it was Eliab.

He thought he looked the part. Even the prophet thought he looked the part.  Eliab was the first person that got rejected as the next king of Israel.

Eliab is the reason this verse is in your Bible, “man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart.”

So you can almost hear the jealousy in the voice of Eliab in his conversation with David?

“What are you doing here? I know the pride that is in your heart.”

If I was David, I would’ve been like, “Who you talking to? I only came to bring you food, dad asked me to.”

And David says, “What have I done now?

But watch what he does. I love this. . .

1 Samuel 17:30 (NLT) – He walked over to some others and asked them the same thing and received the same answer.

He turns his back on Eliab.

And by turning his  back on Eliab, he is saying that he knows his real enemy and it isn’t him.

He understands, “Eliab, you are not my real enemy. There’s a giant behind you that is the real enemy. And I refuse to start wasting my energy fighting my brother, when God called me to fight and defeat a giant.

The Apostle Paul put it this way. . .

Ephesians 6:12 (ESV) – For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

He turned his back because he knew his real enemy and it wasn’t his brother.

Hear me church, We need to have a heart of humility. And we need to have a vision of victory. But you also need to know who your real enemy is.

And let me tell you, your brother and your sister in Christ is not your enemy. There is a bigger devil to fight.

And I wish the church would wake up and stop fighting each other.

We have an enemy that’s trying to kill, steal and destroy.

But just look at the wisdom of David. He turned his back. He says, “I  don’t have time to waste energy fighting my brother there’s bigger fish to fry.

And somebody here today or watching online needs to stop fighting your brother and know that there is a bigger enemy behind them.

Oh, the devil would love for you to start or keep fighting your brother or sister in Christ.

But there’s a bigger enemy.

Can you imagine, if David would’ve gotten mad and said, “I just came to bring you food,” and pulled out a slingshot and started swinging it at his brother.

David would’ve missed his destiny.

He would’ve missed his assignment. He knew his real enemy, and it wasn’t his brother. He turned his back on him, he’s ready to fight just not that one.

Let me add this because there are some people that need to hear this,  do you want to win an argument or win a friend.

And honestly we don’t have to attend every argument we are invited to.

Listen I’m not talking about compromising what you believe, I’m talking about not thinking you need to win every conversation you have.

Oh and one more thing.  I could agree with you but then we’d both be wrong.

Let’s get back to our story.

David goes to Saul and essentially says to Saul, “Hey, you’ve been looking for an answer. The answer just walked in the room.

I’m the one God sent to defeat this giant.

And Saul well he’s not encouraging at all, he says. . .

1 Samuel 17:33 (NLT) – “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.”

Have you ever had somebody project their own fears onto you?

It’s like just because they were scared to do it, now they want to tell you how you can’t do it either.

He starts giving David a history lesson about Goliath.   He’s been killing people since he was a youth.

And church, that’s what the enemy will do. He’ll start giving you a history of the giants in your family and the things that have taken other people out. You can’t defeat alcoholism. Do you know how many people in your family it’s taken out? You can’t be a good father. You never saw one.

And Saul starts giving him a history of Goliath.

But I love David, because he knew who he had been talking to. He had a deeper history. He had a history with God.

And he said let me tell you about my history. . .

1 Samuel 17:34–37 (NLT) – But David persisted. “I have been taking care of my father’s sheep and goats,” he said. “When a lion or a bear comes to steal a lamb from the flock, 35 I go after it with a club and rescue the lamb from its mouth. If the animal turns on me, I catch it by the jaw and club it to death. 36 I have done this to both lions and bears, and I’ll do it to this pagan Philistine, too, for he has defied the armies of the living God! 37 The Lord who rescued me from the claws of the lion and the bear will rescue me from this Philistine!” Saul finally consented. “All right, go ahead,” he said. “And may the Lord be with you!”

I can almost see Saul going, really?  And David’s like ya I didn’t post it so all my friends could push like, but it happened.

David had a history with God and he said, I just am convinced that the same God that helped me defeat the lion and the bear is the same God that’ll help me defeat this giant.

So Saul was like, “All right, the Lord be with you.”

And as he is getting ready to send him out, he says, “Oh, but how about you put on my armor, your going to need my armor you can’t go out there and fight this giant without my armor.”

And can you imagine being David in this moment? I mean, he’s been out in the field, now he’s with the king and the king puts his armor on David.

And this is what the Scripture says. . .

1 Samuel 17:38–39 (NLT) – Then Saul gave David his own armor—a bronze helmet and a coat of mail. 39 David put it on, strapped the sword over it, and took a step or two to see what it was like, for he had never worn such things before. “I can’t go in these,” he protested to Saul. “I’m not used to them.” So David took them off again.

it would be like me going into a store to buy a new shirt look at the tag and see it’s triple X and then I go try it on to see if it fits.

It won’t and I can imagine David looking in the mirror and thinking “Wow, might lok good, but I’ve never seen armor like this and I’m not used to fighting in somebody else’s armor.

So, David looks over at the king and says. . .

I can’t go in these, I’m not used to them.”

And when he took offSaul’s armor, do you know what he was teaching us from this conversation?

He was teaching us that you have to work with what God has already given you.

You cannot fight your giant in somebody else’s armor.

You have got to be who God uniquely called and created you to be.

I don’t know who this message is for today, but God wants you to know you have to work your weapon.

Please hear this, until you take off the armor of other people, you will never grab your own weapons.

It was after David removed the armor of Saul that the next verse tells us. . .

1 Samuel 17:40 (NLT) – He picked up five smooth stones from a stream and put them into his shepherd’s bag. Then, armed only with his shepherd’s staff and sling, he started across the valley to fight the Philistine.

He took them off. And then he was able to grab his own weapons.

I cannot grab my own weapon until I take off trying to be somebody that God did not call me to be.

Can I make a confession?  I am a horrible pastor TD Jakes, I am a terrible pastor Billy Graham, I am a pathetic pastor Chuck Swindoll, but I am pretty good at being pastor George Kantz.

And anytime I get in a battle, I have to work my weapon.

David says, “I have to work with what I got.”

Then he goes up to Goliath and Goliath laughs at him,mocks him. “Am I a dog? Did you come at me with sticks?

How many of you know that the enemy loves to mock you?

His native language is lying, but if he had a second language, it would be mocking.

And David feels the mock of the giant.

And you know the story. He throws the rock. Goliath falls down.

But before he does that look what he says. . .

1 Samuel 17:45 (NLT) – 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 Heaven’s Armies—the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.

He says to him, this is the conversation, “You come at me with sword and spear, but I come at you in the name of the Lord God Almighty.”

Then he threw the rock, which got me to thinking, did David throw a rock or did he throw a name?

Because it makes sense to say, “You come at me with sword and spear, I come at  you with slingshot.”

But he doesn’t say slingshot. He said, “I come at you in the name of the Lord God Almighty.” Then he threw the rock.

So what did he throw? A name or a rock?

Some people would say it was just a rock. And there’s actually some scientists, who debated the veracity of this story. And they say that it’s no way that a boy could have killed a giant with a rock, and they have a whole report on how it’s impossible.

And this is what the report says, they said that David, with the rock the size of a baseball and with the slingshot, the fastest that he could have released it would’ve been with the trajectory of about 90 miles per hour.

And if you take a projectile going 90 miles per hour and use Newton’s second law of motion and take into effect the coefficient of restitution, a projectile at that size at 90 miles per hour would generate about 3,000 pounds of force as it was released.

That is if it was traveling the distance of a pitcher to the home plate, which is 60 feet and six inches. But since Goliath is at least   twice that far, one also has to take into effect the drag of the distance of the ball that’s working against the velocity of force.

Therefore, since he’s further away, what was generated at 3,000 pounds has now reduced itself arguably to at least 1,000 pounds.

That is, if David is throwing it straight. The problem is Goliath is taller than David, which means the angle of the projectile from which he launched, had to be around 45 degrees, which means that now the ball is also working against gravity, which has also reduced the force that the rock has been released.

So what was 3,000 pounds of force has now been arguably reduced to about 500 pounds of force. But you must remember that there’s an armor bearer who stands in front of Goliath, who would’ve lifted up the shield to take the projectile off course, which would’ve reduced the force to at least  50 pounds and taken it off course of the direction headed towards Goliath’s head.

But if David could throw it, and if it did work against the drag, and if it did counter the weight, and if it did go against the coefficient of restitution, if it was not off course and still aimed at Goliath’s head, Goliath is wearing a helmet and a projectile that started with 3,000 pounds of force and ended at 50 hitting a bronze helmet, would not have been enough to kill a giant.

So how can a young boy with one rock working against gravity, working against Newton law of motion, working against the coefficient of restitution, working against the drag and being deflected by an armor bearer, hitting a bronze helmet, how could he kill a giant?

And I came to tell the scientist, I hear you.

But he didn’t just throw a rock, he also threw a name.

And the power wasn’t just in the rock, the power was in the name.

Philippians 2:9–11 (NIV) – Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

And even if all the scientists say were true Scripture tells me that with God all things are possible.

Let me give you one last point.   Whenever you’re facing a giant, don’t just have a heart of humility, don’t just have a vision of victory, don’t just throw your rock, you need to have a name that you throw as well, a name that is higher than every other name.

And you can throw that name against fear. Throw the name of Jesus against worry. Throw the name Jesus against anxiety.

There is power in that name.  Amen.

He didn’t just throw a rock. David threw a name.

And long before he had the confrontation, there were conversations that preceded them.

But when it got down to it, he knew the power is not just in the rock. The power is in the name that is above every name.

And if you call on that name today, no matter where you are, he’s    able to save you, he’s able to heal you, and he’s able to deliver you.

And church you need to realize that nobody talks to you more than you, and you may need to adjust what you say to you, especially when you’re not always speaking the truth of God to yourself, you might need to change what you say so you can change how you think.

Let’s pray.

Father, thank you for the power  that is in your name.  I’m grateful that it has never lost its power.

And thank you that no matter what the giant is, it can fall by the name that’s above every other name.

God renew our minds with your truth.

And the church said. . .Amen

Before we go let me add this. . .

I need to tell you about the name that is above every name, the name of Jesus the Son of God who is without sin.

And the voice inside may tell you, you’re too bad for God. You’re not good enough for God.   Your too far gone.

And I’m convinced the church has an identity crisis. . .

I need you to hear this. . ,

If you remember in the garden Satan the enemy went after Eve first and not Adam.   Ever wonder why?

Let me share a little something about that with you.  Do you know what Eve was called before the fall?   Spoiler alert it wasn’t Eve she was always referred to as the woman.  Adam is called Adam but Eve is only the woman.

And may I purpose to you that Satan went after Eve because she didn’t have an identity.

And that is what Satan is still doing today.   He’s going after people who are not rooted in their identity in Christ.

Listen church, it matters who you believe you are.

And no matter what lies the enemy tells you, the truth is God is a good God and God loves you. And He has a plan and purpose for your life.

And because of his love, he sent Jesus who was without sin, perfect in every way who gave his life on a cross, so that we could be forgiven and free.

Don’t believe anything the enemy says about you.  God speaks His truth over you and He says you are forgiven, that you are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, more than a conqueror, a victor, redeemed and new.

Just to name a few.

And what God says about you is truth.