Mike Bickle emphasizes that the story of David and Goliath transcends a mere children's tale, presenting profound truths about confronting the giants in our lives. He illustrates how David's courage and faith in God enabled him to face overwhelming odds, symbolizing the inner and external battles we all face against forces that resist God's will. Bickle encourages believers to recognize the giants in their lives—be it personal struggles, societal issues, or spiritual opposition—and to approach them with the same boldness and faith that David exhibited. He highlights the importance of seeing beyond the giants to the power of God, urging listeners to invoke God's name in their battles and to cultivate a private life of faith that empowers them in public challenges.

chapter about David and Goliath. And the problem with this chapter is it's been often reduced to an exciting children's church story, but it is much more than just a fun kid's story. It's a very, very significant amount, a set of truths that are presented. It's how we approach giants. And now we can apply this in our individual lives. As the enemy's wanting to bring us into bondage to many things, there's giants in our own inner life trying to conquer us and defeat us. Then there's giants that are resisting the will of God in our ministry, other people or other forces from economics to people to demonic spirits. Then there's giants resisting our city and our nation. There's giants resisting God's purpose in a generation. So there's many different ways to apply this chapter and the principles that are in it. Paragraph A, in this passage we see the face of David as bold and courageous. We see him many times as tender, as merciful, as generous. Here we see the zealous warrior, the bold, courageous one that is pursuing God's enemies, driving them out of the sphere that God has given to his people. Now a significant information to this chapter is the fact that the Philistines had the most advanced equipment and the most advanced technology of the day. We're about 3,000 years ago, a thousand years BC, about 3,000 years ago, and the cutting-edge technology of the day was the development of iron and the using of iron in weapons. And Israel did not have the the same development of iron, so they were using mostly wooden weapons against the Philistines who had iron weapons. Not exactly. Israel was starting to develop it. They're getting some sorts, some swords and things like that, but not at the same capacity, the same scope as the Philistines had. So the Philistines had this significant advantage in a military way because they had this new cutting-edge technology of the far greater development and use of iron in their weapons. So Goliath comes, and he has the combination of physical size and strength. He's almost 10 feet tall. Literally, this is actual. Not quite 10 feet tall. Had tremendous strength in his humanity, and he had the superior technology of weapons. So he's coming against, he wants to challenge one man in Israel, and it was like winner-take-all. He went before them and said, you put your champion up, and I'll come, and whoever wins, the other nation becomes slaves to the nation that wins. So he's not just like state champion, wrestling, boxer, everything. He's world champion, and he has cutting-edge technology. So he's unstoppable in the human sense. Paragraph B. So it's a full military crisis that's come upon Israel because they have thousands of the Philistines of the Army coming against Israel with the advanced technology. It's a military crisis, and Israel's future was in the balance. This was not a kind of a passing situation. If they lose this battle, they become slaves of the Philistines, who would be brutal in their treatment of men, women, and children. It would be a very, very destructive situation, and they would take over Israel's farms and cities. I mean, that's how it was in the ancient world. Paragraph C. The account of Goliath, the biblical account, we can apply this, as I mentioned earlier, spiritually to many facets, individual giants in our heart, giants in our circumstances, giants in our nation. It's whatever attack is coming against us that requires more than human ability in order to triumph and have success. Okay, let's get right into the story. Roman numeral 2, the conflict with Goliath is now introduced. The Philistines have gathered together their armies. So this mass number of soldiers, and they're mobilizing in Soka, which is a village, which is a village by the Valley of Elah. They're mobilizing together. Verse 2, so Saul and the army of Israel, they're gathering in the Valley of Elah. Now again, verse 1, the village Soka is at the end of this Valley of Elah, so it's just about 15 miles from Jerusalem. But at the other end of the valley, the Philistines are marshaling and mobilizing all of their armies together. They drew up in battle array. Israel did, and says, okay, we're ready. But it's this big valley, so the Philistines are on one side of the valley, on a mountain, and Israel's on the other side. I mean, you can just imagine the drama. I mean, just thousands of soldiers with this, again, cutting-edge technology for the day, and Israel's on the other side. And who's going to, you know, who's going to attack? You know, I mean, no one's going to go down to the valley, because then you would lose the military advantage if you're down the valley. The army with the high position is already in a point of advantage. So it's a 40-day standoff. So what happens is, paragraph B, verse 3, the champion, the number one warrior, I'm in the Rambo times ten, comes down. Now, he's the champion of the Philistines. His name is Goliath. He's from the city of Gath. Now, Gath is one of the five main Philistine cities. And you want to remember Gath, because we find out later, when David escapes from Saul, he goes to the city of Gath. Like, David, don't go to Gath. Not the Gath. Bad city. And as you'll find out when we read this in a couple weeks from now, he's carrying the sword of Goliath when he goes to Gath. Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself. I just want you to gather that Gath is one of the five main cities of the Philistines. It's in the west coast of Israel. Okay, verse 5, it describes his armor. Well, first it describes his height. He's six cubits and a span. That's nearly 10 feet. Just under 10 feet tall. Verse 5, he has a bronze helmet. So he has this, and a coat of mail which is made of bronze. In other words, the weapon that he put around himself was filled with bronze plates, the coat of mail. And it weighed about 125 pounds. I mean, his vest weighed 125 pounds. And he had a bronze javelin. And the end of the javelin, the spearhead itself, is 15 pounds. I mean, it's a serious javelin. And I mean, he's covered in metal, 10 foot tall. And he goes out, paragraph C, verse 8, and he cries out to the armies of Israel. And he does this for 40 days. Every single day he went down into the valley, and he stood up and cried out. He said, Israel, send your main guy. And it is winner-take-all. That's how we're going to do it. Verse 8, he would cry out against the, to the armies of Israel. And the idea was to fill them with fear and despair and hopelessness. And it was working. Israel was filled with fear when they saw him. Now, the enemy always uses the voice of accusation to accuse you so you get filled with fear instead of faith, instead of confidence. Faith and confidence is the same thing. You're filled with fear, so you retreat. Because if you're in retreat, the enemy, you're far more vulnerable to the enemy. If you're afraid, you're drawing back, oh no, that's the position the enemy wants you in. He wants people convinced they can't get free of their bondages. He wants them convinced they can't get free of the negative circumstance. He wants them convinced that all the people resisting them, whether it's a small number or a large number, they'll never get free of that. And so the enemy's accusing, that's his way. And he says here to them, he goes, why have you come out, why have you come out to line up for battle? He goes, why are you even bothering to fight me? You know you're gonna lose. You're hopeless. You're a loser. You're weak. You've already lost. And this is how the enemy literally talks to believers. They look at the the big area in their life, that one issue, that particular appetite they can't get under control, or that relationship, or that situation. And the enemy goes, why are you even fighting? Give up and give in. You know what, no one gets free of this anyway. So the enemy says, why? Goliath says, why? That's, you know, that's what Satan said to Adam and Eve. You know, has God really said this? The enemy says, why are you even trying? I mean, come on, be honest, be real. Look how many years you've been trying to break through and you haven't broke through. Why not give up and give in? And he says at the end of verse 8, choose your man. And again, it's a representative type of a military situation. I guess it was, it happened in various places in the ancient world, where the, again, they would put the represent, a representative champion, and whoever won, it was winner-take-all kind of situation. Because they had this idea that if the champion won, the God behind that champion was superior. And then it would embolden the people of the champion. Our God is flexing His muscles today. Our God is powerful. And, but if they lost, they would say, our God is defeated. And they would run in fear and terror. There was so much idolatry, but this was all connected to their deep beliefs about the gods being and participating in the battle. And what would happen in that representative contest of the two champions would be an indication of how the gods were moving. And it was really created fear in the armies in the ancient world, one way or the other. Verse 9, Goliath said, if your guy is able to fight with me and kill me, we'll be your servants. Not servants, slaves. We're talking about full-on slavery. Not, we're not talking about kind of a polite, you know, indentured servants that pay off their debt and they go back home when it's over. He goes, but if I prevail, and therefore my gods are behind me, and they're stronger than your gods, O Israel, then you will be our slaves. And all of my men will be emboldened. And even, even if Israel lost the battle and said, hey, we don't want this, the Philistines would be so emboldened with the confidence that their God is with them. Verse 10, the Philistines said, I defy the armies of Israel. I challenge you. I insult you. There's not a chance you can win. Give me your men and we'll fight. Verse 11, in his accusing, threatening words, threatening or accusation, they're all kind of flow out of the same reality. Verse 11, when all of the army of Israel heard the words, they were dismayed. They were very, they were despondent. They were dismayed. They lost their hope and they were greatly afraid. They were trembling. The words of the enemy have no place in the Lord's camp, but the words of the enemy find their way into our hearts. And then this is what's really bad. The words of the enemy get into our mouths. So often it's the servants of the Lord giving voice to the accusation and the threats of the enemy. Why are we even gonna try? There's no use. Nothing is gonna change. It always goes bad. Beloved, we don't want the enemy's words in our mouth. Not in our private life, the way we talk to God. We want to bring our words to line up with what God says and not the way we talk to each other or about one another. We don't want the enemy's words in our mouth. His words don't belong in the camp of the Lord. Top of page two. Well, in this verse 12 to 39, David's gonna accept the challenge. Of course, we all know the story. Verse 15. Now occasionally, David would return from Saul, who lived in the city of Gibeah, and he would go back. He went and returned from Saul. He'd go back and he would feed his father's sheep at Bethlehem. So David was going in this several-year period. Remember, he was in Saul's court as a court musician and as one of the armor bearers. Again, I have no doubt that Saul had a number of personal servants, and he would go from Saul, that's Gibeah, that's about ten miles to back to his hometown to Bethlehem. And I just can't get over this. He would go back and mow the lawn. He would go back and tend the sheep. I mean, when you're working at the White House, you're probably not gonna go home and work minimum wage. Probably not. But that's what he would do, comparable, meaning he took on the menial task. I just love this heart of David. You find these clues all the way through the story of David in 1 and 2 Samuel. His graciousness and his servant spirit. And I don't want us to miss that in the drama of the story, because that's one of the great miracles, is that a king with prominence continued with a teachable heart with a servant spirit. I mean, that is, that's as great a miracle as defeating Goliath is. For a man or a woman, a prominence to have a teachable heart and a humble spirit after they've been the head of a nation or a great company, you know, worth millions of dollars or whatever. Verse 16, well, Goliath the Philistine, he would draw near to them, which means he'd go to the valley, and every morning and every night, I mean like unrelenting, 40 days in the morning, 40 nights, the same accusation. Israel, why are you even bothering just give up and give in? I mean, just threatening, accusatory, insulting statements. Again, this is what the enemy's doing, trying to do in our minds and trying to get us to give voice to with our mouths, even to one another and against one another. In the body of Christ, this is how it works in families. Verse 17, now back home in Bethlehem, it's about seven miles away from the Valley of Elah where this battle arrangement is, there's a battle array is happening back home. Jesse says to young David, let's just say David's about 20 now. I mean, we don't know for sure. 18, 19, 20, 21, something like that. It's been several years since he had this anointing. He's been going to Saul's court back and forth to the, from Gibeah, 10 miles back home to Bethlehem, from Saul's court back to the family business, the tending of sheep. So the Lord moves, I have no doubt, verse 17, when Jesse, the father, says to David, go, go run an errand and bring these supplies to your older brothers. The reason I say the Lord moved on him because David's at the right position at the right time again. He just, in this supernaturally natural way, he just ends up at the right position at the right time, and there's human dynamics involved. I call it supernaturally natural, where just things unfold, but the Lord's invisible hand is involved in it. He goes, verse 17, now go take for your brothers some grain and some loaves and run to the camp. In other words, run an errand for me. It's about seven miles away. Go bring them some food. And again, David shows up at the right time on day 40. The battle's been going, I mean, the accusations have been going day and night. Verse 22, so David greets his brothers, hi brothers! Three of them are in the army. Five of them, counting David as one of the five, are not in the army at this time. Then as he's talking to his brothers, his three older brothers, I mean, here's the younger brother. He, you know, he likes his older brothers. He's enjoying it. Hey, what dad's doing home? What's going on? It sounds pretty exciting being in the army. I mean, wow, what's it really like? And all of a sudden, the giant comes, Goliath. He comes down on the, you know, as he has for 40 days and 40 nights. Here's the 40th day. He comes and he talks the same way. He's defying the God of Israel and the armies of Israel. David goes, what is this? Verse, paragraph C. Now let's go to paragraph D. And David hears this. And verse 24, he sees the response of Israel. He saw all the men. They fled from him. They were dreadfully afraid. So the men of Israel said, have you seen this man who's come up against us? Surely he will defy. He's come up to defy Israel. It shall be whoever kills this man, King Saul, will do three things. He'll give him great riches, number one. Number two, he'll give his daughter. Poor daughter. I mean, what if? You fill in the blank. But the idea is that the man that kills Goliath would be in the royal family. That's the point. There's so many advantages of prestige and honor and prominence by being in the royal family. And then David's father would be exempt from taxes. His entire house, his family would be exempt from taxes. That's a pretty good deal. I mean, your brothers and your parents would be pretty excited to be exempt from taxes by the promise of the king. Now it's interesting, Saul didn't really keep his word on these promises, but that's another thing we'll pull out at another time. But it's the way that Israel is looking. All they see is a giant. Because the giant's voice is in their head. The enemy wants his voice to dominate your thinking. And all that Israel saw was a giant. David saw the God of Israel. He saw a king. He says, how can this little giant that's ten foot defeat our king? He goes, it's not possible. David saw the God of Israel and all they saw was a giant. Beloved, it's what you see determines on how you're going to respond and feel emotionally. And of course that was the glory of David's life. The strength of David's life, I'd rather say. He saw differently. Remember chapter 16. He saw his ministry different than other men and women saw their ministry. He said, I'm king for God's sake, for God. He saw his life. That he evaluated his life and heart based on his desire to obey God, not based on his skills or his outward appearance and performance. He evaluated others the same way, which we'll look at in the days to come. David, the way he saw himself is the way he saw others many times. He saw the enemy different than the rest, than many in Israel saw. David saw his future different. He wasn't afraid of losing something. Many men, they're so afraid of their future that they can't hold on to what they have. And David says, it's in God's hands. I'm not afraid of my future. I look at my future differently than I did before the Lord showed me His way. Well, the nation of Israel, they see a giant, so therefore they're afraid. David sees the God of Israel, so therefore he's confident. Top of page 3, paragraph E. So David, he spoke to the men and goes, who is this guy? Well, what's that going on down there? He's mocking the God of Israel. Are you kidding me? What shall be done for the man that kills him and takes a reproach away? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he would defy the messengers, the army of the living God? He goes, who is he? Now, circumcision was the sign of the covenant. So what he's really saying is, who is this man who totally disregards the covenant of God, the God of Israel? Completely disregards it and mocks it. Who is he? That's why he adds the word uncircumcised Philistine, because he's putting it in covenantal language. And Eliab, verse 28, now remember, Eliab was the older brother, tall, dark, and handsome. Nothing wrong with tall, dark, and handsome. The older brother, remember verse 28, the older brother, he was the one that got rejected back in chapter 16. We're now in chapter 17. In the last session, he got rejected, and he's still a little bit, he's got some issues. He comes out here. His anger was aroused. He said, why have you come down here? And he insults him. He taunts him. With whom have you left your few little sheep back home, peewee? Because I know your pride. I get what you're doing. I know the insolence of your heart. That's another word for pride again. You came down to see the battle, to get excited, to have a little bravado. Here you're a tough guy. You haven't even, you've never even been to war. You don't even know what this is about. And here you are, putting us down, saying, who is this guy? You don't know how, what this is like. I've been in the army for some years. You don't get anything. Now this is how Eliab, the older brother, saw David. Now God saw David very differently than his brother did. But the important part is, David, without getting into bitterness or pride or rising up in a wrong attitude, David lines up with what God says. He doesn't insult his brother, but it isn't by his brother's words. You know, there's so many believers that are held in bondage and held back because they have the voice of a family member or a friend or a leader or a coach or a pastor in their head, telling them they're not gonna, they're not gonna make it anyway. Somebody say, you're arrogant if you're pressing it for God. You're just legalistic. I mean, all this going hard after God. What do you think? You're special and they're writing you off. And beloved, don't let that voice get in your head. That voice is all around the kingdom of God for everybody. I mean, it's not specially picked on, nobody's picking on you in a special way. That's just how it is. The enemy's voice is unrelenting and it's vented through many, many different people in the kingdom and outside the kingdom. His brother said, what are you coming down here for? Verse 29. David answers him. He says, well, I mean, David could have said this. Well, Dad told me to bring you some food. That's really why I'm here. That's why I made the ten mile walk, was to bring some food from home. But why am I in the valley? I mean, why am I stirred up in the last few minutes? I'll tell you why I'm stirred up. Because David's answering him a little different. David's answering why he stirred up, instead of why he made the trip. Because he made the trip to bring some good, some food to his brothers. Because I'm stirred up. He goes, is there not a cause? Isn't there a reason to go beyond business as usual? Isn't there a reason to take a stand? He goes, the God of Israel, we're in covenant with Him. Shouldn't we, in relationship with Him, see His glory go forth? Why are we letting the enemy triumph in our thinking? Isn't there a reason to stand up and cast off this wrong thinking, this wrong way, this wrong approach? Isn't there a cause? Isn't there a reason to be bold? Isn't there a reason to do it outside of the business-as-usual style and approach? Business-as-usual isn't getting it done, brother Eliab. Isn't there a cause? Isn't there a reason? Now again, it's obvious to me that Eliab's jealous and insulting and taunting his little brother because God chose the little brother. There's a lot of that that's in the human dynamics, even in the kingdom. Paragraph F, one of the leadership lessons. No matter what sphere of leadership you're in, whether you're leading a ministry, a business, the marketplace, whether education, military, you are going to be insulted and accused if you're in leadership. I know folks say, oh I want to be in leadership, and they're imagining having influence and privilege. And they do have influence, and they do have some privilege. But I want to assure you, you will have many more enemies. The bigger your influence, the bigger the scope of your enemies and the resistance and the issues that will come against you. This is, again, this is true all over the earth. This is not a something particular to you or your life. This is how it works. But if you don't know that, and you're pushing for more influence and a bigger platform because you're thinking you're gonna have more honor and more privilege, and then you get really thrown off when you get the more insults. You know, I've had to talk to some of the guys and gals over the 16 years of IHOP. You know, they get on the one thing stage, there's, you know, 20,000 people out there, and they get on the stage, and it's gonna be exciting, but it's not that exciting. And then they get tons of criticism. I mean, a lot of people like what they do, but people are saying, why'd you sing that song? Why'd you give that message? Why are you doing it? You're not that good. How come you chose this, and why didn't you go there? Oh, now you're filled with pride. Wow, what was this about? I thought I was just singing a few songs and leading some people, and I got all this criticism coming from within the camp and outside the camp. And it's not all that, but I tell you, that goes with it. Some of the preachers, they go out and come back, and people attack them when they're out there, and they're talking, they make a stand. It's like, wow, that's worse than I thought. I wasn't thinking about that. I was thinking that maybe that season will pass. And I said, let me promise you that one thing, that season is not gonna pass. The bigger your influence, the bigger the criticism is coming, and the resistance. So if that bothers you, get out of leadership. But if you sign up to do it for God, you're not taking your cues on how easy it is or how many people like you. If you take your cues from that, you'll be perpetually inside your head, having all these conversations and battles that really you don't need to be having. Get your eyes on the Lord. Know that His eyes are on you. Lay that stuff aside. Know it's never gonna go away, and just keep going hard after God. Be humble, be teachable, have a servant spirit. Let your enemies criticize you, and learn from them. Actually learn, even from people who mean, don't mean well when they criticize you, there's morsels of truth in them. Take them and learn a better way. But if you have this idea of, well, I just want to be an evangelist. I just want to hundreds of thousands of people. I've, you know, been able to be with Reinhardt Bonnke a number of times over the years. And the amount of enemies that Reinhardt Bonnke and Billy Graham have, you cannot imagine. Billy Graham, I'm guessing, has probably been the most criticized believer in the body of Christ in the 20th century in America. Billy Graham was so ridiculed in the 50s and the 60s. I mean, unbelievable. I've read some of the articles of the leaders of the body of Christ that rose up against Billy Graham. We think of Billy Graham now, he's 95, and you know, he's a patriarch, and wow, Billy Graham, you know, it wasn't always like that. And the reason I'm saying this isn't to talk you out of leadership, it's to talk you into reality. We're in leadership for God, not so we can write home to mom and say, I told you I would make it one of these days. That's not why we're going for leadership. Paragraph H, verse 32, David said to Saul, let no man's heart fail because of him. Now David, again, he's 20 years old or younger, because you could become a soldier when you're 20 and he's not a soldier yet, so, you know, he's probably a little bit younger than that. It's hard to know. And he says, let no man's heart fail. Now here's David pastoring the army. He's not even in the army. He's too young to be in the army, but he's giving the pastoral comfort to the army. Not all the soldiers go for that. He says, your servant, he says to Saul, I'll fight him. I'll go. Saul looks at this guy, you know, they say David was, I don't know where I got this information, but I've heard it over the years and you find it in books. I don't know how true it is, but he was of small stature. I'm not trying to lock that in. I've tried to nail that down with credible sources, but he wasn't the picture of strength in the physical sense. He was of small stature. So I can imagine Saul, the head of the army, the king of the nation, looking at him, looking up and down, you know, he's maybe under 20 years old and not in the army. I've heard you sing. Got a good voice. You do well. You got good spirit. You know, I really like it when you sing. You got a great spirit. I think we're gonna need more than that when you stand against a 10-foot giant with all the cutting-edge technology. So verse 33, Saul joins the criticism. Here David's offering himself as a solution. He joins Eliah, criticizes David, and Goliath comes. David gets criticized all afternoon long. I mean, this is, we think, the great victory, but how many criticisms did he overcame? Three major criticisms before the battle happened. How do you, you know, how do you respond when someone criticizes you? I've just, you know, again, over the years, the guy says, well, if they're gonna say that about me, forget it. I'll just forget it. I go, no, no, no, don't do that forget it thing. Put your hand in your pocket and stop that silly talk. The will of God is what you care about, not what they say. Well, forget it if that's what they say. No, you can't forget your destiny in God because a few leaders around you don't get who you are. Well, I'm only gonna serve if everybody around me knows how gifted and good I am, then I'll stay with it. Like, you can't quit God's will for your life because they said it. Are you kidding? David went through three of them today. One of the great victories of his life. But beloved, he weathered three storms before he actually got into the battle. So verse 33, Saul says, you're not able. You're a kid. You're not qualified. You're too young. You're not trained. You have no resume. I'm gonna put you out there. This guy will crush you and then we are the slaves and they're emboldened and they come attacking us with all this courage, this heightened courage from the sense that their gods are with them. Are you kidding? So Saul joins the criticism of Eliab, David's older brother. Not the same tone, but he's going, man, I don't know. I don't think so. Verse 34, David says, well, I do have a resume. You just don't know what it is. I have more than some songs where you felt the presence of God. He goes, when I was keeping my father's sheep, a lion and a bear, two different occasions, came into the flock. Verse 35, I didn't run from the lion. I ran to the lion. Love it. On a personal note, I have the Holy Spirit. I know I do. I'd run from the lion right now, just about there. I mean, it's out in the open field. A lion in the open field is not good. Lion grabs one of the little lambs. David said, I chased him down. No, grabbed him by the beard. The lion, get back here, and just gave it to it. I killed it. And the reason, I mean, but the Spirit's been on David since that anointing, and again, his songs, there's a different dimension of the Holy Spirit when he's singing. Not every time and everything he does, but he has these moments of unusual activity of the Spirit in his life. And David thought, I don't know, a spirit of boldness came on me, and I went after it. It worked. Then a few months went by, and a bear came in. I said, okay, bear, I'm not afraid of you. I mean, bears are big. David, you're little. I mean, I'd go the other way if a bear comes in an open field. Not the zoo, man. I am courageous. You foul bear, get out of here. I mean, I'm so bold at the zoo. You go, I killed them both. And this uncircumcised Philistine, this giant, yes, a giant in the natural, but no covenant. He defies the covenant of the God of Israel? He'll be like one of them. Verse 38, 37. He goes, I give you a prophecy, Saul. I'll kill it. I'll win. I know the Lord's presence. I've got a secret life in God. You don't even know about, Saul. Me and the Lord have interacted in some dramatic ways in a way that none of you even know about. Beloved, the Lord gives you some victories in your private life, out of the eyes of the public, that build your confidence for the other times. I mean, you don't start with the number one national crisis is the first time you operate in the spirit. There are all kinds of healings and salvations and financial miracles and breakthroughs and restored relationships and turnaround events and miracle operations of the Lord can be happening in our lives over the years that are never, you know, well known or, or, uh, published, uh, but they're building our own personal history in God. So verse 37, Saul goes, I mean, there had to be a sense of the Lord's presence when David was talking and Saul says, you know, okay, go. Now this is risky because if David goes and fails, Israel's in trouble. And I think, here's my theory. I think the Lord was touching, moving on David right there when he was prophesying this. I will bring this giant down in the name of the Lord, not in my own strength. And I think that Saul says, you know, David, those times where you came to visit me, because he would come up for seasons at it. I mean, I don't know how many days or weeks at a time when he'd come to give me up to the King's court and play the music when Saul was tormented. Remember it's giving is only 10 miles from David's house. So they would say, David, come, come back to Saul's tormented. He's under this dark cloud again because the man, I mean, you would play and my mind would clear the fog would lift and the brightness would come because God's on you, man. I mean, there's something about you when you, when you do that, when you and the Lord are connecting, I tell you, I love it that the first anointing in David's life was in prophetic music and prophetic singing where the power, and I say prophetic meaning the power dimension of God's moving on Saul's life. Well, I'm glad that David, number one, took God's view of him instead of everybody else's. He's had three major criticisms. How many criticisms could you handle in one day before you said, forget it, I'm out of here. And the answer is I'm never out of here until the will of God is done. I am not lining up with my role based on what someone else thinks. If God's saying I want you to do it, no matter how much resistance we do it because the Lord has pleasure in it. Boy, you get connected to that. You'll have strength in your heart. Number two, the important question of the crisis is what's God say about the giant. Everybody was talking about what everyone else said about the giant and what the giant said about the giant. But David was the only one that talked about what God said about the giant. Israel talked about the giant and the giant talked about the giant. Top of page four, verse 38. Saul goes, okay, you're in. Here's the deal. He goes, I've got the cutting edge technology. I've got the armor because no one else does. Because the iron is, you know, it's newly developed weapons and the king had it and maybe a few of the others had it as well. But here, I'm going to let you use the top technology. You're going to put on my armor on. So David put on Saul's armor, verse 39, and he tried to walk. He goes, you know, like, you know, this is not working. I'm picturing the ten man, wizard of Oz. You know, he's just, this, Saul, I don't think this is going to work. Oh no, David, this is best, best weapons on the market. David said to Saul, yeah, but I can't even walk with these. I haven't tested them, meaning I haven't, I can't take your approach. Well, number one, Saul's approach wasn't working because Saul was filled with fear. But he goes, I can't take your approach. I can't take your technology. None of the wrong with the technology. I can't do it your way till I find the Lord in your approach. He goes, let me test it. If I find the Lord in it, if I can take your approach and experience the presence of God, yeah, I'll do it. But I gotta, I gotta, before I go to this crisis battle, this situation, I can't go in your armor. Beloved, don't, don't take another person's calling or take another person's approach until you test it out and find, I mean, you can imitate people's faith and even imitate people's ways, but see that you can experience the Lord in it before you determine this is your way for the end of the rest of your life. You know, sometimes young people come and say, Hey, how do you do this? And how do you do that? And how do you do the other? And I, I've been asked this for years, you know, I mean, particularly I hop a prayer and I go, why do you want to know? Well, I just want to know. And I go, no, you want to know because you want to know what you're supposed to do. Well, okay. You busted me. That's why I want to know. I go, I know. I understand what you want to know, but I'm not going to tell you what I do because my mandate is I'm the leader of this ministry. You're a student here. We have a total different season of life, a total different assignment, a total different stage of our life. I'm not going to tell you what I do because I can tell you some principles, but I don't want you putting my armor on and thinking that's your way because you might not find God in that way. The verse I think of is Saul's armor. I'm not going to put Saul's armor on you. And I, and I've just had, you know, some disappointed and some grateful go, Oh, good. I said, I'm not going to tell you exactly what I do. Not because it's private, because you're so zealous. I love your heart. You're going to do it. And it might not work for you. I'll tell you principles. That's what I'll tell you. Roman numeral four, David now fights Goliath. We'll just go another, a couple of moments here and leave you with the rest of the notes to read. So verse 40, David chose for himself five smooth stones, put them in the shepherd's bag, his sling. Verse 42, that 10 near 10 foot giant. He said, you insult me. You put this kid up here with a stick and I have all the cutting edge technology and I'm the champion warrior of the land. Verse 43 goes, am I a dog? You come with a little stick, meaning your slingshot, my little dog, you're going to play a game with. He's insulted. He goes, I'll give your flesh to the birds of the air. Verse 44, that's a key phrase. And the reason you'll see that you can read it on at the end, but because this whole Goliath story is going to have its global ultimate expression to the great giant, the eschatological giant called the Antichrist. He's going to have cutting edge technology and he's going to defy the God of Israel. And he'll say, I'll give your flesh to the birds of the air. But we read Revelation 19, I have it on page 6, you can read it, that the birds of the air eat his armies. It goes exactly opposite of what he said, but that's for another time. David said, verse 45, you come to me with a sword and a spear, all your cutting edge iron technology, I come to you invoking the name of the God of hosts, the Lord of hosts, whom you defy. Verse 46, he goes, he's going to prophesy now to Goliath the same prophecy he gave to Saul earlier. Verse 46, he goes, this day God's going to deliver you in my hand and all the earth will know there's a God in Israel. And verse 47, and all of this assembly of the warriors, both sides will know there's a God in Israel. For the battle is the Lord, though you've got the sword and the spear, again that's cutting edge technology, that's what that means in that context. So David spoke his prophetic word. Top of page, I mean page 5, paragraph D, David ran to meet the Philistines. Here are the giants out there, they're out in the valley, I mean they're down in the valley. Thousands of soldiers on each side. Again, one company of soldiers has the technology far superior to the other ones. Goliath's there. David runs towards him like, ah! David, let's maybe, you know, step out of time. No, he goes, no, I ran after that lion and that bear. I know, I know how this works. Goliath must have thought for a second, I don't think he was afraid for a moment, but he thought, this is, I've never ran into this before. Verse 49, he put his hand in the bag, picked out a stone, slung it. God in God's hand directs, God's invisible hand directs the stone. I tell you, a stone that God directs is worth all the weapons in the earth. When God's invisible hand directs the activity of His people, it's far superior to the best that all the earth can come forth with. Struck the Philistine in the head. He fell. He's like knocked out or stunned. He falls down. He's not dead yet. He falls down like completely dazed or knocked out, one or the other. Verse 51, David's still running. He's running at 48 and 51. He's still running to him. He takes his own sword, his own cutting edge technology and cuts his head off. The Philistines saw. Now the Philistines are seeing the God of Israel in His activity. Everyone can now see the God that David was seeing the whole time in the course of these events. And they fled because the idea is the Philistine God is not flexing His muscles today. He's not up for the battle today. Verse 52, the men of Israel arose. That's out where they were emboldened, full of courage. And they'll tell you, you know, in battle, courage and boldness is such a significant part. I mean, this is morale is huge. So they have the morale and they pursue the Philistines. As far as the gates of Ekron, that's about 10 miles away. They are chasing for 10 miles. I mean, mile two or three is like, okay, let's slow the space down a little bit, you know. They're running for 10 miles after the Philistines. And they're killing the Philistines. I mean, imagine a 10 mile pathway littered with dead bodies. Again, that's a little snapshot of what's going to happen on the very end around the battle of Jerusalem in Revelation 19. Verse 54, David's got the head of Goliath walking to Saul's tent. I mean, a head, but a head of a 10 foot guy. That's a big head. Well, the Lord's raising up. I'll just bring it to an end with that. The Lord's raising up. You guys got this giant big head, don't you? I mean, way bigger than a basketball. I mean, the thing is giant. The Lord is, again, at the end of the age, there is an eschatological, which is a fancy word for end times. That's what eschatological means, end times. There's an eschatological giant that is going to rise up in the nations. And there's lots of giants between now and then in our lives and in the nations. And there's giants emerging right now in our nation. God's looking for Davids, men and women, old and young to rise up. Is there not a cause? Is there not a reason to do, to develop our private life in God where no one's watching so we can bring it to the public arena? I'm talking about the reality of the power of God. I'm not talking about some like little showmanship thing on a stage or something. I'm talking about living out the reality with others, what we did in private in our walk with God. Beloved, I want to be a David. Do you want to be a David? I want to, I want to be, I want to be killing the lion and the bear right now and some Goliaths along the way while we're waiting for some big Goliaths to appear in history. But we don't have to retreat because the nations will see that Goliath, but the people of God will see the God of Israel like David did. And even right now in your lives, there's little Goliaths that are attacking you. Get your eyes on the words of promise from the God of Israel, the covenant God. Don't sell yourself out to this is how it's going to be. I'm a loser. I will never break through. It will never happen. The breakthrough in my life, the breakthrough in my ministry, the breakthrough in my family, the breakthrough in our nation, the revival, they're not going to happen anyway. Beloved, it is going to happen. It is going to happen. Now we're going to come against that which assaults the will of God in our life in the name of the Lord. We're going to come invoking His name because we live in relationship with Him in our private life, not just an occasional verbalizing His name. We invoke the name of the God of Israel, not just by words, words are important for sure, but by living a lifestyle and saying those words. Amen. Let's stand.