The Fight in the Dog
Scripture Reading: I Samuel 17-28-39
28 Now Eliab his oldest brother heard when he spoke to the men; and Eliab’
s anger was aroused against David, and he said, “Why did you come down
here? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I
know your pride and the insolence of your heart, for you have come down
to see the battle.”
29 And David said, “What have I done now? Is there not a cause?” 30 Then
he turned from him toward another and said the same thing; and these
people answered him as the first ones did.
31 Now when the words which David spoke were heard, they reported
them to Saul; and he sent for him. 32 Then David said to Saul, “Let no man’
s heart fail because of him; your servant will go and fight with this
Philistine.”
33 And Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to
fight with him; for you are a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.”
34 But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep his father’s sheep,
and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, 35 I went
out after it and struck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth; and when
it arose against me, I caught it by its beard, and struck and killed it. 36 Your
servant has killed both lion and bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will
be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God.” 37
Moreover David said, “The LORD, who delivered me from the paw of the
lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this
Philistine.”
And Saul said to David, “Go, and the LORD be with you!”
38 So Saul clothed David with his armor, and he put a bronze helmet on his
head; he also clothed him with a coat of mail. 39 David fastened his sword
to his armor and tried to walk, for he had not tested them. And David said
to Saul, “I cannot walk with these, for I have not tested them.” So David
took them off.
David comes into this situation because he was simply taking his older brothers
some food since they had been away at the front for so long. He comes up to the
front lines and he can’t believe what he sees. It was not a big surprise that the
enemy of God was throwing out insults against God and His people, but what was
shocking to young David was that none of God’s people had stood up to the
Philistine.
I Samuel 17:23-24
23 Then as he talked with them, there was the champion, the Philistine of
Gath, Goliath by name, coming up from the armies of the Philistines; and he
spoke according to the same words. So David heard them. 24 And all the
men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him and were dreadfully
afraid.
It shouldn’t surprise us that they enemy of God is out in the world today pitching a
fit. What should surprise us is if we and other servants of YHWH, the Living God,
do nothing. Sure evil is prevalent out there but no matter what we see, the God we
serve is more powerful.
II Corinthians 5:7 - For we walk by faith, not by sight.
What we see should not influence how we respond. David did not respond to what
he saw. He responded to what he knew by faith. He was certain that His God was
bigger and more powerful than this uncircumcised Philistine.
Revelation 12:11 - And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by
the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.
We spoke about overcoming last week and in this passage David sought to
overcome the Philistine, Goliath. He had a testimony and we can see within the
passage that he encourages himself by rehearsing what God had already done for
him. He had given him victory over the lion and the bear, which gave him
confidence that since God had worked through him to give him the victory there, he
would do it again here. But even if he perished he was not going to allow this man
Goliath continue to defy God and he had been, completely unchallenged.
I Samuel 17:41-45
41 So the Philistine came, and began drawing near to David, and the man
who bore the shield went before him. 42 And when the Philistine looked
about and saw David, he disdained him; for he was only a youth, ruddy and
good-looking. 43 So the Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come
to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44 And the
Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds
of the air and the beasts of the field!”
45 Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, with a
spear, and with a 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.
Goliath must have thought this was some kind of joke. For forty days he had called
them out and told them to send out their best warrior and this is whom they have
sent; a young boy with no armor? But what the Philistine didn’t know was that the
armor he had on was much power than anything he knew. David had tried to put
on Saul’s armor but he couldn’t walk in it. He said he couldn’t wear it because he
hadn’t tested it. You see, it was not his. God hand designs armor for each of us to
walk in. Paul speaks about this armor in Ephesians chapter 6. I cannot walk in
your armor and you can’t walk in mine. We each must pick up what has been laid
out before us and walk in it.
Too often people spend so much time comparing their lives to the lives of others,
that they don’t take the time to be comfortable in their own. The walk that I have
with Him is not the same as yours, nor can it be. We each have our own burdens
and obstacles and challenges and trials. And we each have our own testimony.
And each of our testimonies are valuable. There’s no comparison, one to the
other. The kingdom does not work that way. And the sooner we each recognize
that and focus on being comfortable in our own skin, the better it will be for the
kingdom.
So, Goliath sees this youth with no armor coming out against him and figures that
this is no contest. But contrary to what he is thinking, it is not the size of the dog in
the fight, it is the size of the fight in the dog. And David had the Spirit of the Living
God within him.
Psalm 27:1 - The LORD is my light and my salvation;
Whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the strength of my life;
Of whom shall I be afraid?
He was not afraid of this giant of a warrior that stood before him. He knew that his
strength did not come from his height or his physical strength. He was the
youngest of eight sons. Like young Joseph who we’ve been reading about in
Sunday school, his brothers obviously disrespected him. You can tell by the way
Eliab responds to him. He tries to belittle what he does (his purpose) which is as a
young shepherd by saying he has ‘few sheep’. And then calls into question his
honor and his heart. If you serve God long enough, this will happen to you too.
Psalm 20:4 - May He grant you according to your heart’s desire,
And fulfill all your purpose.
People will try to break you down by acting as if what God has purposed you to do
is insignificant. But this goes back to us not trying to compare ourselves to others.
Whether God has purposed you to preach before thousands and tens of
thousands or to simply raise up godly children, or whether he prepared you to
mentor a few youths in a youth group or just to witness to you unsaved friends, you
need to take your job seriously and do it well. Do not let the enemy pull you down
by making you feel unimportant in the kingdom. Remember what it is that causes
us to overcome.
I Samuel 17:49-51
49 Then David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone; and he slung it
and struck the Philistine in his forehead, so that the stone sank into his
forehead, and he fell on his face to the earth. 50 So David prevailed over
the Philistine with a sling and a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed
him. But there was no sword in the hand of David. 51 Therefore David ran
and stood over the Philistine, took his sword and drew it out of its sheath
and killed him, and cut off his head with it.
And when the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.
David had overcome because YHWH was with him. It was not a big sword or a thick
shield that had wan the fight, but a small stone. Many times God will use what the
world considers small and insignificant to accomplish big things. That’s the type of
God we serve. If you ever feel tiny and inconsequential, remember that little stone.
Of all the lofty mountain ranges and humongous boulder that might seem much
more impressive, God was able to accomplish His purpose through this little rock.
Isaiah 54:17 - No weapon formed against you shall prosper,
And every tongue which rises against you in judgment
You shall condemn.
This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD,
And their righteousness is from Me,”
Says the LORD.
As servants of the Most High God, we have got to be confident. Not in ourselves
but in our God. We cannot continue to allow the Goliath’s of our time to spout off
against the servant of YHWH uncontested. We must remember that nothing they
can bring against us will prosper as long as we are in Him.
I Corinthians 15:54-57
54 So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has
put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
55 “ O Death, where is your sting?
O Hades, where is your victory?”
56 The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. 57 But
thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Yeshua has won us the biggest victory possible, over the one for we all will have to
face; death. Scripture tells us that it is appointed unto men once to die. We all are
going to be like David on the battlefield against what appears to be an impossible
foe. But he has lost his sting. He no longer holds the victory. We have overcome
even death in Messiah. And now that we have overcome this enemy, how can we
not tell those who like the army of Israel behind David, who had been shivering in
their boots for forty days, that the victory is theirs too? It is the word of our
testimony along with what God has done that will complete the victory. That’s why
we fellowship one with another. We do not come here to punch a ‘go to church’
timecard. That’s not the point. We come here to testify and to edify one another.
Proverbs 27:17 - As iron sharpens iron,
So a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.
And so we should be sharpening and strengthening one another by our testimonies
and the testimonies of those biblical saints, like David, that have come before us.
I Samuel 17:52-53
52 Now the men of Israel and Judah arose and shouted, and pursued the
Philistines as far as the entrance of the valley and to the gates of Ekron.
And the wounded of the Philistines fell along the road to Shaaraim, even
as far as Gath and Ekron. 53 Then the children of Israel returned from
chasing the Philistines, and they plundered their tents.
We should have the enemy fleeing from us because it is God that goes before us.
And as watching God's victory through David encouraged the Israelites who had
been shaking in their sandals for 40 days, then be confident enough to chase down
the Phillistines. So we as believers should be encouraging our brothers in Messiah
to chase down our spiritual enemy and plunder his tents.
Sermon by: Denise Baxley
Date: September 14, 2008
Scripture Reading: I Samuel 17-28-39
28 Now Eliab his oldest brother heard when he spoke to the men; and Eliab’
s anger was aroused against David, and he said, “Why did you come down
here? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I
know your pride and the insolence of your heart, for you have come down
to see the battle.”
29 And David said, “What have I done now? Is there not a cause?” 30 Then
he turned from him toward another and said the same thing; and these
people answered him as the first ones did.
31 Now when the words which David spoke were heard, they reported
them to Saul; and he sent for him. 32 Then David said to Saul, “Let no man’
s heart fail because of him; your servant will go and fight with this
Philistine.”
33 And Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to
fight with him; for you are a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.”
34 But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep his father’s sheep,
and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, 35 I went
out after it and struck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth; and when
it arose against me, I caught it by its beard, and struck and killed it. 36 Your
servant has killed both lion and bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will
be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God.” 37
Moreover David said, “The LORD, who delivered me from the paw of the
lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this
Philistine.”
And Saul said to David, “Go, and the LORD be with you!”
38 So Saul clothed David with his armor, and he put a bronze helmet on his
head; he also clothed him with a coat of mail. 39 David fastened his sword
to his armor and tried to walk, for he had not tested them. And David said
to Saul, “I cannot walk with these, for I have not tested them.” So David
took them off.
David comes into this situation because he was simply taking his older brothers
some food since they had been away at the front for so long. He comes up to the
front lines and he can’t believe what he sees. It was not a big surprise that the
enemy of God was throwing out insults against God and His people, but what was
shocking to young David was that none of God’s people had stood up to the
Philistine.
I Samuel 17:23-24
23 Then as he talked with them, there was the champion, the Philistine of
Gath, Goliath by name, coming up from the armies of the Philistines; and he
spoke according to the same words. So David heard them. 24 And all the
men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him and were dreadfully
afraid.
It shouldn’t surprise us that they enemy of God is out in the world today pitching a
fit. What should surprise us is if we and other servants of YHWH, the Living God,
do nothing. Sure evil is prevalent out there but no matter what we see, the God we
serve is more powerful.
II Corinthians 5:7 - For we walk by faith, not by sight.
What we see should not influence how we respond. David did not respond to what
he saw. He responded to what he knew by faith. He was certain that His God was
bigger and more powerful than this uncircumcised Philistine.
Revelation 12:11 - And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by
the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.
We spoke about overcoming last week and in this passage David sought to
overcome the Philistine, Goliath. He had a testimony and we can see within the
passage that he encourages himself by rehearsing what God had already done for
him. He had given him victory over the lion and the bear, which gave him
confidence that since God had worked through him to give him the victory there, he
would do it again here. But even if he perished he was not going to allow this man
Goliath continue to defy God and he had been, completely unchallenged.
I Samuel 17:41-45
41 So the Philistine came, and began drawing near to David, and the man
who bore the shield went before him. 42 And when the Philistine looked
about and saw David, he disdained him; for he was only a youth, ruddy and
good-looking. 43 So the Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come
to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44 And the
Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds
of the air and the beasts of the field!”
45 Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, with a
spear, and with a 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.
Goliath must have thought this was some kind of joke. For forty days he had called
them out and told them to send out their best warrior and this is whom they have
sent; a young boy with no armor? But what the Philistine didn’t know was that the
armor he had on was much power than anything he knew. David had tried to put
on Saul’s armor but he couldn’t walk in it. He said he couldn’t wear it because he
hadn’t tested it. You see, it was not his. God hand designs armor for each of us to
walk in. Paul speaks about this armor in Ephesians chapter 6. I cannot walk in
your armor and you can’t walk in mine. We each must pick up what has been laid
out before us and walk in it.
Too often people spend so much time comparing their lives to the lives of others,
that they don’t take the time to be comfortable in their own. The walk that I have
with Him is not the same as yours, nor can it be. We each have our own burdens
and obstacles and challenges and trials. And we each have our own testimony.
And each of our testimonies are valuable. There’s no comparison, one to the
other. The kingdom does not work that way. And the sooner we each recognize
that and focus on being comfortable in our own skin, the better it will be for the
kingdom.
So, Goliath sees this youth with no armor coming out against him and figures that
this is no contest. But contrary to what he is thinking, it is not the size of the dog in
the fight, it is the size of the fight in the dog. And David had the Spirit of the Living
God within him.
Psalm 27:1 - The LORD is my light and my salvation;
Whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the strength of my life;
Of whom shall I be afraid?
He was not afraid of this giant of a warrior that stood before him. He knew that his
strength did not come from his height or his physical strength. He was the
youngest of eight sons. Like young Joseph who we’ve been reading about in
Sunday school, his brothers obviously disrespected him. You can tell by the way
Eliab responds to him. He tries to belittle what he does (his purpose) which is as a
young shepherd by saying he has ‘few sheep’. And then calls into question his
honor and his heart. If you serve God long enough, this will happen to you too.
Psalm 20:4 - May He grant you according to your heart’s desire,
And fulfill all your purpose.
People will try to break you down by acting as if what God has purposed you to do
is insignificant. But this goes back to us not trying to compare ourselves to others.
Whether God has purposed you to preach before thousands and tens of
thousands or to simply raise up godly children, or whether he prepared you to
mentor a few youths in a youth group or just to witness to you unsaved friends, you
need to take your job seriously and do it well. Do not let the enemy pull you down
by making you feel unimportant in the kingdom. Remember what it is that causes
us to overcome.
I Samuel 17:49-51
49 Then David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone; and he slung it
and struck the Philistine in his forehead, so that the stone sank into his
forehead, and he fell on his face to the earth. 50 So David prevailed over
the Philistine with a sling and a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed
him. But there was no sword in the hand of David. 51 Therefore David ran
and stood over the Philistine, took his sword and drew it out of its sheath
and killed him, and cut off his head with it.
And when the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.
David had overcome because YHWH was with him. It was not a big sword or a thick
shield that had wan the fight, but a small stone. Many times God will use what the
world considers small and insignificant to accomplish big things. That’s the type of
God we serve. If you ever feel tiny and inconsequential, remember that little stone.
Of all the lofty mountain ranges and humongous boulder that might seem much
more impressive, God was able to accomplish His purpose through this little rock.
Isaiah 54:17 - No weapon formed against you shall prosper,
And every tongue which rises against you in judgment
You shall condemn.
This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD,
And their righteousness is from Me,”
Says the LORD.
As servants of the Most High God, we have got to be confident. Not in ourselves
but in our God. We cannot continue to allow the Goliath’s of our time to spout off
against the servant of YHWH uncontested. We must remember that nothing they
can bring against us will prosper as long as we are in Him.
I Corinthians 15:54-57
54 So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has
put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
55 “ O Death, where is your sting?
O Hades, where is your victory?”
56 The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. 57 But
thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Yeshua has won us the biggest victory possible, over the one for we all will have to
face; death. Scripture tells us that it is appointed unto men once to die. We all are
going to be like David on the battlefield against what appears to be an impossible
foe. But he has lost his sting. He no longer holds the victory. We have overcome
even death in Messiah. And now that we have overcome this enemy, how can we
not tell those who like the army of Israel behind David, who had been shivering in
their boots for forty days, that the victory is theirs too? It is the word of our
testimony along with what God has done that will complete the victory. That’s why
we fellowship one with another. We do not come here to punch a ‘go to church’
timecard. That’s not the point. We come here to testify and to edify one another.
Proverbs 27:17 - As iron sharpens iron,
So a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.
And so we should be sharpening and strengthening one another by our testimonies
and the testimonies of those biblical saints, like David, that have come before us.
I Samuel 17:52-53
52 Now the men of Israel and Judah arose and shouted, and pursued the
Philistines as far as the entrance of the valley and to the gates of Ekron.
And the wounded of the Philistines fell along the road to Shaaraim, even
as far as Gath and Ekron. 53 Then the children of Israel returned from
chasing the Philistines, and they plundered their tents.
We should have the enemy fleeing from us because it is God that goes before us.
And as watching God's victory through David encouraged the Israelites who had
been shaking in their sandals for 40 days, then be confident enough to chase down
the Phillistines. So we as believers should be encouraging our brothers in Messiah
to chase down our spiritual enemy and plunder his tents.
Sermon by: Denise Baxley
Date: September 14, 2008