Scripture Reading
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Sermon Text
Today’s scripture is taken from first Samuel chapter 17, verses 19 to 51. It’s kind of a long passage. It is a nice and interesting story. So let us hear the word now. “Saul, and all the men of Israel were in the valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines. David rose early in the morning, left someone in charge of the sheep, took the provisions and went, as Jesse had commanded him, he came to the encampment. As the army was going forward to the battle line, army against army. David left the things in charge of the keeper of the baggage ran to the ranks. And they went and greeted his brothers as he talked with them.
The Story of David and Goliath
The champion Goliath, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name came up out of the ranks of the Philistines and spoke the same words as before. And David heard him all the Israelites when they saw the man fled from him and were very much afraid, the Israelite said, have you seen this man who has come up? Surely he has come up to defy Israel. The king will greatly enrich the man who kills him and we’ll give him his daughter and make his family family free in Israel. David says, the man who stood by him, what shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel, for who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God. The people answered them in the same way. So shall it be done for the man who kills him.
His eldest brother, Eliab heard him talking to the man and Eliab’s anger was kindled against David. He said, why have you come down with whom have you left those few sheep in the Wilderness? I know your presumption and the evil of your heart for you have come down just to see the battle. David said. What have I done now? He was on your question. He turned away from him towards another and spoke in the same way and the people answered him again as before, when the words that David spoke were heard, they repeated them before Saul and he sent for him. David said to Saul, “let no one’s heart fail because of him.” Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine. Saul said to David, you are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are just a boy, and he has been a warrior from his youth.
But David said to Saul, your servant used to keep sheep for his father, and whenever a lion or bear came and took a lamb from the flock, I went after it and struck it down, rescuing the lamb from its mouth and if it turned against me out, catch it by the jaw. Strike it down and kill it. Your servant has killed both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, since he has defied the armies of the living God. David said, the Lord who saved me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will save me from the hand of this Philistine, so Saul said to David, “go and may the Lord be with you. Saul clothed David with his armor. He put a bronze helmet on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail.
David strapped Saul’s sword over the armor and he tried in vain to walk for he was not used to them. Then David said to Saul, I cannot walk with these. For I’m not used to them, so David removed them. Then he took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones from the wadi and put them in his shepherd’s bag and in the pouch. His sling was in his hand and he drew near to the Philistines. The philistines came on and drew near to David with his shield bearer in front of him. When the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him for he was only a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance. The Philistine said to David, am I a dog that you came to me with sticks and the Philistine cursed David by his gods. The Philistine said to David, come to me and I’ll give you flesh to the birds of the air and to the wild.
Animals of the field, but David said to Philistine, you come to me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel whom you have defied. This very day the Lord will deliver you into my hand and I will strike you down and cut off your head and I’ll give the dead bodies of the Philistine army to this very day, to the birds of the air and to the wild animals, animals of the earth, so that all the earth may know that there is God in Israel and that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not save by the sword and spear for the battle is the Lord and he will give you into our hand. When the Philistines drew nearer today to meet David, David ran quickly towards the battle line to meet the Philistine.
David put his hand in his bag took out a stone slung it and struck the Philistine on his forehead. The stone sank into his forehead and he fell down on the ground, so David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and the stone striking down the Philistine and killing him. There was no sword in David’s hand. And then David ran and stood over the Philistine. He grasped his sword, drew it out of its sheath and killed him. Then he cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled. This is the word of the Lord.
When you Have Confidence you can Live out your Potential to the Maximum
Having confidence in life is very important. Without confidence, you cannot do anything right. When you have confidence, you can live out your potential to the maximum. You all have potential. When you have confidence that potential will become maximum. Now when I look at athletes, professional athletes, they all have good skills. They are the best of the best. There are a chosen few baseball or golf or softball or basketball. They are really good at skills. They can do anything, but once they have confidence they can fly, but then when they don’t have confidence, they cannot really fully function to their full potential, but when they have confidence, they really fly. They thrive in the same way with confidence. You can live, you can thrive in your life. You won’t live mediocre life when you have confidence, all your potential will come out and you will thrive in your life, and so I’m wondering where does confidence come from and what does confidence truly look like?
I was thinking about it and I realize that confidence comes from within. It’s not what somebody’s gives me. It comes from within me. It is not something that I can decide, “okay, from tomorrow I’m going to be confident.” You can’t do that. It’s just there. When you have confidence, it’s just there. It comes from within. It is to do with what you believe about yourself. Confidence has lot to do with what you believe about yourself. If you truly believe that you are a very important person, then you will have confidence about yourself, but unfortunately so many people around me don’t believe that they are very important people. That’s why so many people don’t have confidence about themselves. I don’t know where they got that kind of insecurity. I don’t know why they do that. I mean, when I look at them, they’re wonderful.
Everybody was mean to David
Equipped with many talents and skills they’re just wonderful, beautiful people, but they somehow don’t have confidence about themselves. Maybe they have too many negative and unhappy people around them. You know when you’re with unhappy people, when you’re around negative people, you don’t feel very good because they never make you feel good. They’re designed to not to make you feel good, so when you’re around negative and unhappy people, you become negative and unhappy and then you will not be respected in that environment. I don’t know where. Maybe you have too many negative and unhappy people around, why we don’t have confidence about ourselves. In today’s passage. David’s eldest brother, Eliab was one of those unhappy people. I mean, there was, as you read, there was a war between Philistines and Israelites and then this guy from Philistine is a strong man, I mean a powerful, scary man.
He came out to anybody who comes out and challenges me. I’ll kill you. And all the men in Israelites were strong too, but they were all scared they did not have confidence to fight against this Philistine. Until then they boasted about their strength and oh, whatever. But now they saw Goliath. And then they got really, really scared and they didn’t dare to come out. You know, men with pride, you know, when you are standing in front of strong man and you’re scared, you’re scared, but you’re also angry because of your pride right? So they were all scared but they were all angry too. And this little boy David came out and ran around and asked, what’s going on? Why are you guys doing nothing? You know? And he was going and his older brother, Eliab saw that he got really angry.
I mean, as it is, he was angry because his pride was totally smashed. So he let out his anger on David and he made David feel like garbage. This is what he said. “Why have you come down with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness” in other words, you belong to the field. You’re supposed to take care of the sheep. Why are you here? I know your presumption and the evil of your heart for you have come down just to see the battle. He made David feel like he’s just a little curious rat. And he really treated David like garbage. But David never took that garbage as garbage. And this is what he said. “What have I done now? It was on your question” and it looked at. He turned away from him towards another, you’re not worth it.
David Didn’t Back Down
He turned away from and towards another and spoke in the same way. He didn’t back down. He spoke in the same way. And the people answered them again as before. That’s confidence just because people make you feel like garbage. You don’t take the garbage. You don’t think that you’re garbage. I’m an important person. And he was challenging his brother in that way. Even when you came to Saul, Saul did not think much of David. He said to David, this is what is that he said: “you are not able to go against the Philistine to fight with him, for you are just a boy. And he has been a warrior from his youth.”
I mean everybody kind of put down David. David was kind of a young looking and a kind of red on his face and a cute looking boy. So they never thought that he could do anything good. So you’re just a boy and then David without backing down he said this, “the Lord who saved me me from the paw of the lion, from the paw of the bear will save me from the hand of this Philistine.” You know, when I read this scripture this time, and then at the same time I was watching youtube of a lion killing other small animals and also, attacking human being and I realized that David was not a weak man. He wasn’t just a weak boy and unfortunately he somehow threw the stone and killed Goliath, but he was a strong man. He was a strong man. Listen to what is said when is when Saul said he was on your boy. “Your servant used to keep sheep for his father, and whenever a lion or a bear came and took a lamb from the flock, I went after it and struck it down and rescuing the land from his mouth and if he turned against me I would catch it by the jaw, strike it down and killed him. Your servant has killed both lions and bears. I don’t know whether he’s lying or not, I’m not sure, but somehow he said he claimed that he killed both lions and bears with bear hands.
His Confidence was not Empty Confidence
He was so strong, this man. His confidence was not empty confidence.
And I realized that all his life he had built himself. Shepherding was not a glorious job. He belonged to, you know, manual labor and they belonged to a really low class, low quality job. Nobody wants to do shepherding, nobody wants to be a shepherd. But David, all his life, he did a shepherding and his father. I mean, he, he had the other brothers too, but you know, they all said, David, you go going, take care of this ship. And they didn’t do it, you know, it’s an important job. You are the youngest. You’re the smallest. You’re going to do the shepherding, you know. Do you remember when Samuel came to Jessie to find the new King. And he told Jesse, David’s father, why don’t you bring all your sons and all sons sending there? And then Samuel looked at everyone I know.
He said, everything that you have is there every Sunday that you have. Oh yeah, there’s actually one more. But he’s in the field, you know, so what did Jesse do? Your brothers have to have, have to meet very important person today. So you go out and take care of the sheep and then these people have a important meeting. So I’m in, that’s what Jesse did, and so David finally, he called David later. In other words, even his family did not recognize David. Nobody recognized David and his strength, his skill, and what he could do. Nobody recognized him, but it didn’t matter to David. It didn’t matter whether people recognize me or not. That didn’t matter. David was doing what the world did not recognize at all as important.
Right now these days, US presidential nominating conventions are going on, all the important important people are there. All the important singers and actors and then movers and shakers of the world are there, all the important people who make policy and all that. Shepherds were not movers and shakers of the world. They were invisible people in the eyes of the world. Nobody came to them for advice or help, but David, it didn’t matter to him all that mattered to David was that, how can I do the best job as a shepherd? He didn’t say, Oh, this is not an important job. I don’t want to do it. Nobody wants to do it. I’m going to just to get a mediocre job. I don’t care. He did not have that kind of attitude. He was thinking about what is the best way to do shepherding, and he did shepherding passionately when the lions and bears came. He didn’t just run away. He just went after them and fought against the lions and bears and he took the sheep. He did his best in whatever job that he was given to do.
Those With Confidence Prevail over those who Don’t have Confidence
Now ultimately, what killed Goliath was a stone. Do you think? I mean, David was good at throwing stones. Do you think he was born with that talent? I mean, shepherding wild animals doesn’t happen every day. Once in a while. Wild animals come sometimes. What he does is he just a let the sheep eat grass and he had nothing to do. You’re just sitting there all day until they are finished with feeding. During that time, he didn’t waste his time. He thought that throwing stone can be a good skill to learn. So he practiced throwing the stone and ultimately the stone destroyed Goliath. Goliath had a helmet on and in between there was little gap and David had only one chance to throw a stone, and then with laser sharp, sharp focus, he threw the stone right in the middle and destroyed Goliath. In other words, David had skill to do so. He did all this. Why? Because he had confidence about his life because he believed in himself because he believed that God has special plan for him. He trusted that God put special plan for him and God would use him he always knew that I’m a special person, chosen by God to do important things. When you have that confidence, it doesn’t matter what you do, whether you do shepherding or do insignificant work, it doesn’t matter. You can build yourself, you can be strong and you can be good at what you do. That confidence about life continuously builds you up. They never give up. So from the beginning to the end, your life is very different. In the beginning they run much talent. They may not have much talents, but because they believe about themselves, they have confidence about themselves. Day by day they get better and at the end there’s a big difference between the person who has confidence and the person who doesn’t have confidence. The person who lives with confidence ultimately they prevail.
Failure is the Best Teacher
They can be good at it. People who have no confidence, what do they do? What did they do? Probably nobody knows here because we all have confidence, right? But let’s think about this creatively, imaginatively, people who have no confidence, what do they do? They just complain. They complain about their situation, they complain about how people treat them they complain about their lack of ability they just complain and they did nothing to improve themselves. Why? Because they are scared of failures they don’t do anything but just complain, but people who have confidence will not be scared of failures. Why? Because failures are the best teacher they know.
Through failure. They know what they are lacking and go at it and overcome their weakness. Only with confidence. You can do this God called each and every one of you for God’s great purpose. Have confidence in God. Have confidence in yourself. When David went out to fight against Goliath, this was what he said, “you came to me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel whom you have defied. Come in the name of the Lord of hosts. Face your challenges in the name of the Lord of hosts live your life in the name of the Lord of hosts. By the ministry in the eyes of the world they may think it’s nothing, but to me it is the most important and most precious thing that I do.
If I were born again, I will still do ministry. I love ministry. Simon, you’re smart. You chose the right way, the best way to live. It doesn’t matter what you do. If you’re confident you can do well, you can be well. Live your life, one life you have. Why suffer from a lack of confidence. Challenges. You want to do something big beyond your ability? Challenge it, especially high school students. Don’t back down. First think about what you want to do. Doesn’t matter whether you can do it or not. Don’t think about that first, think about what you want to do and challenge it. Have confidence God will give you the strength. Believe about yourself. That’s how we are supposed to live. Live with confidence.
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