Goliath

Submitted by: "Mike"

Philippians 4:13 - I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

(?) What does this mean?

Answer: We should understand that as people we have limitations on what we can do, but God has no limitations. Therefore, we can do anything if:

1. What we are doing is God's will, or what he wants us to do.
2. If we seek God to work through us.

Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

When a person is TRULY saved, he or she will NOT be ashamed of being a Christian.
You must stand up for what is right and live how God wants us to live.

Acts 4:31 And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.

The Christians in this church prayed together and when they were filled with God's spirit, they became bold.

You and I must be bold when it comes to God.
We must share Jesus with others even if it makes us feel uncomfortable or bashful.
We must believe what we believe because we know it to be true and not be ashamed of it.

Let's look at someone that took a bold stand for God.

His name was David. The story I'm going to tell is a true story and it comes from 1Samuel Chapter 17.

David, at this time was a Shepard boy. He was the youngest of all his brothers and sisters.
There was a great battle going on between the Israelites (David's people) and the Palestine's.

1Sa 17:3 says: And the Philistines stood on a mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side: and there was a valley between them.

1Sa 17:4 And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.

On cubit is equal to 21". So Goliath stood about 10' 5" tall!
(stand on a chair)

1Sa 17:5 And he had an helmet of brass upon his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail; and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of brass.

This giant was armored also. He wore a helmet and a coat made of steel scales. The coat itself weighted about 150lbs.

1Sa 17:6 And he had greaves of brass upon his legs, and a target of brass between his shoulders.
1Sa 17:7 And the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam; and his spear's head weighed six hundred shekels of iron: and one bearing a shield went before him.

Just the head of his spear weighed 60lbs.

So, Goliath was big and he was strong!

In verses 8 and 9 Goliath made a challenge, "Send me one of your guys to fight. If he kills me, my people will serve you. If he don't you must serve us."

The Israelites were very afraid. Goliath had already killed many of their soldiers so how could one ONE-person defeat Goliath?
None of the soldiers wanted to even try to fight Goliath. They didn't know what they were going to do.

So here comes David in from tending the sheep. His father told him to take some food and go down to the soldier's camp and give it to them to eat. The soldiers had spent 40 days at camp trying to decide who would fight Goliath.

So David went to the camp and saw the armies fighting each other. He went to a tent to deliver the food when here came Goliath issuing his challenge to Israel once again. All the soldiers ran in fear!

They told David all about Goliath's challenge.
David's answer to them was this:
1Sa 17:26 - And David spake to the men that stood by him, saying, What shall be done to the man that killeth this Philistine, and taketh away the reproach from Israel? for who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?

WHO IS THE WORLD DOES GOLIATH THINK HE IS??? DOES HE REALLY THINK HE CAN DEFY MY GOD???

Then David said, "I'll take him."

The soldiers agreed, then went to King Saul to tell them they had a fighter. Saul sent for David to talk to him. Saul said, "Look at you. Your just a Shepard boy. Surely you don't think you can kill the mighty Goliath? He's already killed a bunch of my men."

David replied with a story about a lion and a bear that came to kill the sheep in his father's flock and how he killed them.

1Sa 17:37 David said moreover, The LORD that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go, and the LORD be with thee.

Saul dressed David in his finest Armour, but David refused to wear it.

Instead David chose (5) stones from a brook and grabbed his trusty slingshot and went to meet up with Goliath.

Goliath looked at David and laughed, "You just a boy!. I will turn you into meat for the birds to eat." And then verse 43 says he cursed David's God.


1Sa 17:45 - Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.

Verse 45 says that David told Goliath, "I'll tell you what… you come at me with a sword, spear and shield and come to you with nothing but the name of the Lord, the God of my army. The very one you have cursed. This day God will work through me to defeat you and I will cut off your head and give you carcass to your army so the birds can eat it and every one that see what I am preparing to do will know there is a God in Israel!"

(Talk about the challenge)

Can someone tell me how this battle turned out???

You see, David has faith, David believed-even though the odds were against him. We need to be like David and not put limitations on God or the things God has us to do. We should truly believe as the very first verse I read says,

Phi 4:13 - I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.