SPEAKER_01: Ministering to the heart of Western Arkansas's River Valley for over 165 years.
SPEAKER_01: Welcome to Chapter and First, the Bible teaching ministry at Fort Smith's First Baptist Church.
SPEAKER_01: You'll find sermons and teachings from Pastor Greg, our ministry staff, and guest speakers.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for listening.
SPEAKER_00: Welcome to this episode of the Legacy Series of our Chapter and First podcast.
SPEAKER_00: We're so excited that you're joining us for this message.
SPEAKER_00: Today you're going to hear a message from one of the former pastors of our church, Brother Dale Thompson.
SPEAKER_00: Brother Dale was the pastor here from 1992 until 2019 and had an incredible ministry that saw God do wonderful things throughout the life of the church in that tenure.
SPEAKER_00: We also know that Brother Dale is a highly gifted preacher of the Word.
SPEAKER_00: He has an incredible knowledge of Scripture, and his delivery is wonderful how he speaks directly to you, and God uses him in such a unique way to connect with the congregation and point them to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: This particular message is the very first message that Brother Dale preached when he became the pastor of First Baptist Church.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, we had someone in our church who has been enjoying our legacy series and been here quite a while who requested that we play this message from Brother Dale and include it in our legacy series.
SPEAKER_00: And you will see why when you hear him preach the word and cast vision for what God wants to do through First Baptist Church.
SPEAKER_00: And so we thought it was a wonderful message to show.
SPEAKER_00: We appreciate that request.
SPEAKER_00: And I know that you will be blessed as you hear Brother Dale Thompson preach the word of God.
SPEAKER_02: Chapter 17.
SPEAKER_02: That's a good-looking choir.
SPEAKER_02: You all sounded great.
SPEAKER_02: That was wonderful.
SPEAKER_02: I hope that uh I know that David had this uh just one time promotional, but I hope a lot of you will keep coming back.
SPEAKER_02: I see a couple of you up there that they they could probably have absent, but uh uh there's some good ones up there.
SPEAKER_02: That's great.
SPEAKER_02: The choir knows who I'm talking about, I guarantee you.
SPEAKER_02: I want to tell you today that uh I'm a supernaturalist.
SPEAKER_02: I believe in the supernatural.
SPEAKER_02: Matter of fact, I think that one of the great dangers that's taking place in Christendom today is the fact that there seems to be an exit from the position of being a supernaturalist.
SPEAKER_02: We what I mean by that is this is that we like our faith to run in such a way that we can explain it in human terms.
SPEAKER_02: It makes us sometimes a little more comfortable in our carnality if we can explain it.
SPEAKER_02: If God doesn't necessarily have to be on it.
SPEAKER_02: Matter of fact, sometimes when God does something, we're just a little bit, well, maybe a little skeptical.
SPEAKER_02: Matter of fact, when there seems to be something supernatural that takes place, we uh we kind of look around and analyze it ourselves sometimes to see it, well, couldn't we explain it with this?
SPEAKER_02: Couldn't we explain it with that situation?
SPEAKER_02: Can it be really explained by some human motivation, some human thought, some human manipulation?
SPEAKER_02: And we seem to be a people that are uh forming up to our uh the laodice and prophecy and revelation of a people who are self-serving and self-sufficient and have everything explained within the boundaries of human terms.
SPEAKER_02: Will I react to that?
SPEAKER_02: I'm a supernaturalist.
SPEAKER_02: I believe that that Bible you have in your lap today is the word of God.
SPEAKER_02: I believe it's infallible, inerrant, and totally dependable.
SPEAKER_02: I'm not concerned with what the liberal says, he's wrong.
SPEAKER_02: That's God's word.
SPEAKER_02: And you can rely on it.
SPEAKER_02: I believe that Jesus is alive, and not only do I believe he's alive, I believe that he's not far away.
SPEAKER_02: I can envision him on the throne in glory, but I can also envision him on the throne of my heart and my life by his Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_02: I believe the church is a church with a divine supernatural ministry.
SPEAKER_02: I believe that Jesus is literally, physically coming again, and I believe God speaks to hearts today.
SPEAKER_02: Our problem is I believe that many times our hearts and our spiritual ears aren't open to Him.
SPEAKER_02: I'm a supernaturalist.
SPEAKER_02: Matter of fact, my presence today in this pulpit and in this place and as the pastor of this church is a result of the fact that I am a supernaturalist.
SPEAKER_02: I believe that God speaks.
SPEAKER_02: I believe that I can hear God's voice, and I believe God speaks and deals with me.
SPEAKER_02: I'm not here today as a result of human manipulation, human motivation, or human ideas.
SPEAKER_02: I'm your pastor, and I'm here today because I heard God's voice clearly and distinctly in my heart, and He told me to respond to this.
SPEAKER_02: So here I stand today as a result of that.
SPEAKER_02: Now that does something to me.
SPEAKER_02: And what that does in me and what that does in my life is bring me to a new day.
SPEAKER_02: I've come to a new place in my life.
SPEAKER_02: Everything was consistent in my life for a long time.
SPEAKER_02: Everything had a rhythm and a rhyme to it, and I pretty well had it figured out.
SPEAKER_02: Matter of fact, you know, sometimes when you have it all in line like that, and everything's consistent and everything's in rhythm, that's when it's the hardest.
SPEAKER_02: To sometimes hear when God wants to shift gears with us.
SPEAKER_02: I was kind of like the old hunting dog in the kitchen by the wood stove, you know.
SPEAKER_02: And uh the hunter came and said we're going hunting, and boy, it's pretty comfortable in there by that warm wood stove, and wanting to get up and to move and hunt.
SPEAKER_02: But I believe I've heard God's voice, and as a result of that, I believe I've come to a new day for me.
SPEAKER_02: Well, folks, lands.
SPEAKER_02: If it's a new day for me and I'm your pastor, then it's a new day for you too.
SPEAKER_02: And we enter together today, at this moment, in this hour, in this worship service, a new day.
SPEAKER_02: I'm going to be challenging you to be those who embrace a new day of faith together as First Baptist Church Fort Smith moves ahead into the future.
SPEAKER_02: My what a grand history you have.
SPEAKER_02: What a grand history you have.
SPEAKER_02: What great days I can see just down through a short corridor of history of this church.
SPEAKER_02: There are great men who have stood in this pulpit and pastored this church and have led you that I greatly admire.
SPEAKER_02: And many times I'm astonished at the fact that I'm here to be your pastor and to be here today.
SPEAKER_02: But it is a new day, and I want to challenge you to look into the Word of God with me and see a time and an hour when there was a need, a great need for a new day, and how a man brought a new day.
SPEAKER_02: Now let me say this to you.
SPEAKER_02: I don't believe that any one man can bring the new day to First Baptist Church, Fort Smith, but I believe all together we need to be those who unite our hearts and lives together to bring a new day.
SPEAKER_02: Surging forward, moving forward, impacting this community, and doing our work for Jesus Christ in the hours and the days and the weeks and the months, and yea, if God gives it to us the years that we have together in the future.
SPEAKER_02: We don't have a time, I believe, in our day for a lot of analysis.
SPEAKER_02: I believe it's the time to move and for men to be those and for women to be those, and for young people to be those who are ready to take a step of faith into a new day.
SPEAKER_02: Let's begin reading in this 17th chapter of 1 Samuel.
SPEAKER_02: It's a familiar passage, though you may not have studied this in a long time, but though all of you know this story very well.
SPEAKER_02: Begin reading with me in verse 2 of chapter 17 of 1 Samuel.
SPEAKER_02: And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and they pitched their camp by the valley of Elah and set the battle in array against the Philistines.
SPEAKER_02: And the Philistines stood on one side on a mountain, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side, and there was a valley in between.
SPEAKER_02: I want you to see the picture in your mind today, if you would, all right?
SPEAKER_02: And the floor of the auditorium is going to be our valley today.
SPEAKER_02: And over here on this hillside is encamped Israel, and Saul is the king of Israel.
SPEAKER_02: He has been a failure to this point because of his pride and his arrogance, but he's still king of Israel, and the armies of Israel here, and over here are the old enemies.
SPEAKER_02: Always the old enemies of Israel.
SPEAKER_02: If I were to ask you to name the name of one of Israel's enemies, almost the majority, I'm sure I should say, would say, why?
SPEAKER_02: The Philistines.
SPEAKER_02: Certainly we always remember the old Philistines as the enemy of Israel.
SPEAKER_02: They've set their battle in array.
SPEAKER_02: They're getting ready to come into a confrontation.
SPEAKER_02: You know what's interesting to me when I look at this?
SPEAKER_02: If you were to study the history of Israel and look at Israel's history, they have been delivered from the bondage and the slavery of Egypt.
SPEAKER_02: They have arrived after 40 years of the wilderness to become a people in the land that God promised them.
SPEAKER_02: But though they've reached the promised land, the battles are still there to be fought.
SPEAKER_02: Now, folks, listen.
SPEAKER_02: You may have been delivered by the Lord Jesus from your sin, from the slave of your sin, from the slave master of the devil.
SPEAKER_02: But folks, listen, because we come to Christ, that does not mean the problems and the difficulties and the battles are over.
SPEAKER_02: The battles have just begun.
SPEAKER_02: And the Christian life is a spiritual warfare and it's an encounter with the enemy.
SPEAKER_02: You have an enemy that hates you, that opposes you, who is against you, and what you and I must do is trust God and realize that it's up to us to fight the battles before us.
SPEAKER_02: Well, the battle is in array.
SPEAKER_02: I like that word in the King James.
SPEAKER_02: They've set the battle in array.
SPEAKER_02: What that means, we're not exactly certain, but what I think it means is that over here on Israel's side, they've probably pitched their tents in a military order.
SPEAKER_02: They've probably aligned their shields and their weaponry along the edge of that ridge of that hill to impress the enemy.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm sure over on here, this side, where the Philistines are at, they've set their battle in array, and they've probably lined that hillside with all of their equipment and their men, and they're peering down at one another from the hills, ready to do battle.
SPEAKER_02: Now I know in this day we think of nuclear warfare.
SPEAKER_02: We go back to those pictures of desert storm and those screaming jets and the fear and the night that many must have experienced, and the tanks and the artillery, and those uh mechanized, computerized rockets and the Patriot missile.
SPEAKER_02: But in those days battle was very simple.
SPEAKER_02: Someone screamed to scream, called an order, blew a whistle, blew a trumpet or something.
SPEAKER_02: And this army on this hillside, Israel, and this army on this side, the Philistines, would rush down into the middle of that valley, and there they would come in a tremendous crash and confrontation of coal steel and hand-to-hand combat.
SPEAKER_02: It had to be, listen, it had to be a fearful thing to think of running into a battle of bows and arrows and spears and swords and daggers and knives and realize that you may meet your death in that fashion.
SPEAKER_02: Now, I don't believe these fellows were on this hillside on each side over here, just uh, you know, just sort of casually waiting for the battle to start.
SPEAKER_02: I I've had in my mind what would it be like, and the only picture that I have in my mind, have you ever seen when uh a football team that's really fired up comes running out on the field?
SPEAKER_02: First thing they do to test their strength is they run through a big piece of paper.
SPEAKER_02: And they run through that big piece of paper and they rush out on the field and they get to the sideline and then they begin to pile up on each other.
SPEAKER_02: Have you ever seen them do that?
SPEAKER_02: Boy, I've always thought I certainly wouldn't want to be that first guy, you know, that formed that pile.
SPEAKER_02: And they pile up about 40 or 50 or 60 of them, a college football team, maybe 70 of them, in a big pile, and they break up, and the kickoff's getting ready to happen.
SPEAKER_02: And two guys stand over there and grab each other by the shoulder pads and they bang their heads together, and then they bang their shoulders together, and then they bang their forearms together, and they scream and they grunt and they holler.
SPEAKER_02: What's the deal here?
SPEAKER_02: What's happening?
SPEAKER_02: These boys are getting ready for war.
SPEAKER_02: It may not be with swords and shields, but they're going to a physical type warfare.
SPEAKER_02: What do you think was happening on these hillsides when these men were getting ready for that battle?
SPEAKER_02: Do you think they were standing there twiddling their thumbs?
SPEAKER_02: No, they were preparing for a great encounter.
SPEAKER_02: And while they're there, waiting for that great encounter, they are confident, I'm sure, in their strength to prevail.
SPEAKER_02: I can hear them strutting and talking now.
SPEAKER_02: Boy, I tell you what, they'd better stay out of my way today.
SPEAKER_02: I've sharpened my sword, I'm ready to go.
SPEAKER_02: I can hear those Israelites over there.
SPEAKER_02: I can hear them saying, I'm ready.
SPEAKER_02: I, you know, I've been working out, I'm in good shape, I've got my weapons sharpened, and I don't think there's a Philistine in that country over there that can stay with me today.
SPEAKER_02: I'm ready.
SPEAKER_02: And in all of that readiness, the Bible says that the Philistines pull a uh a different tactic and strategy.
SPEAKER_02: We find it when we start reading in verse 4.
SPEAKER_02: And there came out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubics and a span.
SPEAKER_02: That's about nine feet nine.
SPEAKER_02: He could make a lot of money in the NBA today.
SPEAKER_02: If he could keep from breaking his face on the rim, he'd do great.
SPEAKER_02: Nolan Ryan, excuse me, Nolan Richardson would be right after him to recruit him if he were around today.
SPEAKER_02: And he had a helmet of brass upon his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was 5,000 shekels of brass.
SPEAKER_02: You know what that means?
SPEAKER_02: He's got a coat of mail on.
SPEAKER_02: That means a metal jacket that weighs 106 pounds in metal.
SPEAKER_02: Can you imagine that?
SPEAKER_02: You know why he had this on?
SPEAKER_02: When you're nine feet nine, you get a lot of arrows.
SPEAKER_02: You don't have many sword fights, but you get a lot of arrows.
SPEAKER_02: And he's got this mail on.
SPEAKER_02: Then the scripture says this about him.
SPEAKER_02: In verse 6.
SPEAKER_02: And he had greaves of brass on his legs and a target of brass between his shoulders.
SPEAKER_02: What that means is, is down here, he had uh brass shin guards.
SPEAKER_02: When you're nine foot nine or or nine foot nine inches tall, you get a lot of folks at your shins, too.
SPEAKER_02: And he's got a he's got a shield on his back.
SPEAKER_02: I can imagine a round shield with two loops in it, and he probably just sticks it on like a coat, and it's like a big round shield hung on his back.
SPEAKER_02: When you're nine foot nine, you get a lot of back shooters, too.
SPEAKER_02: And so Goliath walks out on the field.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 7 says he has a staff of his spear is like a weaver's beam.
SPEAKER_02: That's probably over 10 feet long, and his spear's head weighed 600 shekels of iron.
SPEAKER_02: That means the metal point on his spear weighed 20 pounds.
SPEAKER_02: That's about four or five pounds more than the weight of a shot put that they'll be throwing in the Summer Olympics this year.
SPEAKER_02: And that's just the cold, sharp steel edge of a 10 or 12 foot long spear that he might carry.
SPEAKER_02: Why he could line him up about five or six of those Israelites and just sort of shish kebab them with that thing.
SPEAKER_02: And that's the way he comes on the field.
SPEAKER_02: Can you imagine?
SPEAKER_02: Over nine feet tall.
SPEAKER_02: The average Jewish man of that day may have made five foot two, five foot three in height, some say.
SPEAKER_02: And so this man is literally twice the size in height alone, much less weight.
SPEAKER_02: Goliath walks on the field.
SPEAKER_02: And the giant says these words in verse eight.
SPEAKER_02: And he stood and cried unto the armies of Israel, and he said to them, Why are you come out to set your battle in array?
SPEAKER_02: Am I not a Philistine, and you are servants of Saul?
SPEAKER_02: Choose for you a man for you, and let him come down to me.
SPEAKER_02: And if he's able to fight with me and to kill me, then we will be your servants.
SPEAKER_02: But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you will be our servants and serve us.
SPEAKER_02: And the Philistines said, I defy the armies of Israel this day to give me a man that we might fight together.
SPEAKER_02: You get the picture?
SPEAKER_02: O Goliath walks down out of that Philistine camp, walks out there in the middle of that field, stands there all by himself looking at Israel's army, and he says, Folks, listen, there's no reason for us to have a slaughter out here today.
SPEAKER_02: You send your best man, you send your best man down to me.
SPEAKER_02: I'm the best man of the Philistines, and we'll fight.
SPEAKER_02: And it's winner take all.
SPEAKER_02: One-on-one.
SPEAKER_02: Me and whoever you've got.
SPEAKER_02: And I defy you to send me a man that can challenge me.
SPEAKER_02: Wow.
SPEAKER_02: What a challenge.
SPEAKER_02: Now I ask myself why they just didn't ignore that, but evidently they couldn't.
SPEAKER_02: And you know the enemies.
SPEAKER_02: Listen.
SPEAKER_02: The enemies of the church and the faith today are just as real as Goliath in his day.
SPEAKER_02: The enemies of what you believe and what you stand for, what I believe and what I stand for, what this church believes and what this church stands for, the enemies of the faith are just as real and challenging today.
SPEAKER_02: Now I like to put the humanness in this scene.
SPEAKER_02: Look, if you would, the next verse.
SPEAKER_02: Look at verse 11.
SPEAKER_02: And when Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.
SPEAKER_02: Now I don't know.
SPEAKER_02: I, you know, I've got a sanctified imagination, and sometimes it gets carried away with me, but I just have my own picture of this thing.
SPEAKER_02: And, you know, I just really don't see Goliath as a road scholar type.
SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_02: I just don't see Goliath, you know, a scoring high on his ACT.
SPEAKER_02: I just don't see him, you know, as a real good.
SPEAKER_02: Matter of fact, I I think probably what even in Philistine, I believe he said duh a lot, you know.
SPEAKER_02: I just don't see him as a real sharp guy.
SPEAKER_02: I see old Goliath kind of stumble out there in the middle of that field, and and of course, what are the Philistines doing over here?
SPEAKER_02: You know, what are they doing?
SPEAKER_02: If you've got a nine foot nine champion, you smile a lot.
SPEAKER_02: And when you know they have no match for him, you get a real, you just get a real joy out of it.
SPEAKER_02: And so they're probably on this hillside over there, they've got their arms crossed.
SPEAKER_02: They're just as confident and cocky as they can be.
SPEAKER_02: And they're probably laughing.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, Goliath, you know, the big bumbler, he's walking out there in the middle of the field and he's defying them, you know, and and they're probably laughing.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, go on, Goliath, go on out there.
SPEAKER_02: They're mocking Israel's army.
SPEAKER_02: You can't tell me those Philistines are gentlemen.
SPEAKER_02: No way.
SPEAKER_02: They're not men of honor.
SPEAKER_02: And when Israel hears that challenge, the Bible says that something went into Israel's camp.
SPEAKER_02: Fear, defeat, confusion.
SPEAKER_02: A negative spirit entered that camp of Israel when Goliath made that challenge.
SPEAKER_02: That's so prevalent.
SPEAKER_02: In the New Testament church in the 20th century, it's unbelievable.
SPEAKER_02: The challenge has come.
SPEAKER_02: The challenge of the world has come.
SPEAKER_02: The challenge of a society that's literally rotting and eroding.
SPEAKER_02: The undergirdings of a great nation and a great country, the challenge has come.
SPEAKER_02: And what has entered the hearts of many Christians, some of you here today.
SPEAKER_02: What has entered the hearts of the church, many churches in our day.
SPEAKER_02: What has entered in is a spirit of fear, a spirit of discouragement, a spirit of confusion.
SPEAKER_02: They withdrew.
SPEAKER_02: Look if you would.
SPEAKER_02: Just look a little bit further down.
SPEAKER_02: Look at verse 16.
SPEAKER_02: And the Philistine, this is speaking of Goliath, drew near morning and evening and presented himself 40 days.
SPEAKER_02: They couldn't get this war going.
SPEAKER_02: Evidently, the Philistines were trying to stall this thing off.
SPEAKER_02: They couldn't get the war going.
SPEAKER_02: Goliath would come out there in the morning.
SPEAKER_02: You know, about 9 o'clock in the morning, Goliath would walk out there in the middle of the field, make the challenge.
SPEAKER_02: No, uh, no challengers, he'd go back.
SPEAKER_02: In the evening, right before dinner hour, about 4 30, 5 o'clock, here'd come Goliath out there in the middle of the field.
SPEAKER_02: He'd make the challenge.
SPEAKER_02: No takers.
SPEAKER_02: Because Israel had decided in their fear, in their dismay, and in their negativism, that there was no match for Goliath.
SPEAKER_02: What happened?
SPEAKER_02: No answer.
SPEAKER_02: Isn't that embarrassing?
SPEAKER_02: Forty days, God's army is challenged.
SPEAKER_02: No answer.
SPEAKER_02: Goliath has come on the scene.
SPEAKER_02: The giant has arrived.
SPEAKER_02: He's cut the people of God off from their faith.
SPEAKER_02: He's brought them to hopelessness and discouragement.
SPEAKER_02: Is that true of you today?
SPEAKER_02: Is that true of your life?
SPEAKER_02: Is that true of the position of your life as far as serving and following the Lord Jesus in your life?
SPEAKER_02: Do you find yourself discouraged?
SPEAKER_02: Do you find yourself afraid?
SPEAKER_02: Do you find yourself negative?
SPEAKER_02: Can't you see those guys up in the camp over here, the Israelite camp?
SPEAKER_02: I mean, we're about 30 days in, 60 trips in the middle of the field.
SPEAKER_02: My soul, Goliath is worn a path walking back and forth in the field out there.
SPEAKER_02: He's worn the grass down.
SPEAKER_02: You can see right where he walks, right where he stands after 30 or 40 trips with that little, that little uh shield bear he's got walking out there with him.
SPEAKER_02: Little wimp, about 4'10, walking out there with that giant to make him even look bigger.
SPEAKER_02: And here these guys are over here.
SPEAKER_02: What's happening with them?
SPEAKER_02: What are they saying?
SPEAKER_02: Well, why don't you fight him?
SPEAKER_02: Well, I can't fight him.
SPEAKER_02: Well, why didn't Saul fight him?
SPEAKER_02: He's taller than any of us.
SPEAKER_02: He's 5'8.
SPEAKER_02: Why didn't he fight him?
SPEAKER_02: I'm not gonna fight him.
SPEAKER_02: I don't even, I'm not even sure my life insurance premiums are paid up.
SPEAKER_02: I'm not gonna fight him.
SPEAKER_02: I'm having problems with my, you know, I had a separated shoulder.
SPEAKER_02: I can't throw like I used to throw.
SPEAKER_02: I can't do it.
SPEAKER_02: Why don't you do it?
SPEAKER_02: And can't you see the disarray, the complaining, the negativism, the difficulty, they're accusing Saul?
SPEAKER_02: Soul, why don't you go?
SPEAKER_02: Soul, don't want to, why don't you go?
SPEAKER_02: And Saul says, Well, I'm the king, guys.
SPEAKER_02: You know, I can't go.
SPEAKER_02: Some, you know, we need a champion around here.
SPEAKER_02: Some of you guys need to, you know, you need to buck up, you need to get strong, somebody needs to do it.
SPEAKER_02: It happens, doesn't it?
SPEAKER_02: It happened then.
SPEAKER_02: It happened now.
SPEAKER_02: The whole situation is dissolved on this hillside.
SPEAKER_02: The mocking, the mocking and the hooting and the calls and the embarrassment that this side, the Philistines, are bringing on the on the Israelites is unbelievable.
SPEAKER_02: Well, meanwhile, back at the ranch, there's a guy named Jesse who's he's got three boys in the army, and he's got one son who is a young man.
SPEAKER_02: He's probably in his late teens.
SPEAKER_02: He might be 20 years old.
SPEAKER_02: He's keeping sheep.
SPEAKER_02: And Jesse calls his shepherd son, it's his youngest son, it's the eighth son, his name is David.
SPEAKER_02: He calls David in from the field and says, David, take some food stuff up there, give it to the boy's captain, and find out how the war's going.
SPEAKER_02: There's nothing in the Jerusalem Post about it because they probably censored the press, because they don't want the embarrassment to go out and come back and bring me a report.
SPEAKER_02: And so David takes off.
SPEAKER_02: David arrives on the scene.
SPEAKER_02: And when David arrives on the scene, we're going to see that in the midst of that frustration, that discouragement, and that fear, that David is going to do something in that day.
SPEAKER_02: In one day, he's going to do something in that one day that will make a new day for Israel.
SPEAKER_02: Look if you would.
SPEAKER_02: In verse 23, he's arrived on the scene, he's talking to his brothers, and this is what God's word says.
SPEAKER_02: And as he talked with them, behold, there came up the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, out of the armies of the Philistines, and he spake according to the same words, and David heard them.
SPEAKER_02: And all of the men of Israel, when they saw the man, they fled from him, for they were sore afraid.
SPEAKER_02: Now I know that means very much afraid.
SPEAKER_02: Boy, David's up here on the hillside.
SPEAKER_02: He's come up to see his brothers.
SPEAKER_02: His brothers don't want him there.
SPEAKER_02: If you'll read the passage, we don't have time to analyze it all.
SPEAKER_02: They said, What are you doing here?
SPEAKER_02: You just want to see somebody bleed.
SPEAKER_02: You really don't care about us.
SPEAKER_02: What are you doing here, David?
SPEAKER_02: Why have you come today?
SPEAKER_02: You go home, kid.
SPEAKER_02: Just get out of here.
SPEAKER_02: We're having a bad time.
SPEAKER_02: Goliath walks out in the middle of the field while David is talking to them.
SPEAKER_02: He presents himself, evidently, on that 40th day, and he makes that challenge.
SPEAKER_02: I defy the armies of Israel and send me a man to fight.
SPEAKER_02: David hears it.
SPEAKER_02: And when David hears it, he has a totally different response than anybody else.
SPEAKER_02: Look at what he says.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 26.
SPEAKER_02: And David spake to the men that stood by him, saying, What shall be done to the man that kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel?
SPEAKER_02: For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?
SPEAKER_02: Oh.
SPEAKER_02: This is a different guy, isn't it?
SPEAKER_02: This is different, isn't it?
SPEAKER_02: Who is this guy?
SPEAKER_02: Who thinks he can defy?
SPEAKER_02: And do you notice something about David?
SPEAKER_02: He doesn't call them the army of Israel.
SPEAKER_02: Everybody else, Goliath calls them the army of Israel.
SPEAKER_02: They call themselves the army of Israel.
SPEAKER_02: But who does David call them?
SPEAKER_02: The army of the living God.
SPEAKER_02: He's going to bring faith into this situation.
SPEAKER_02: And he does with that statement.
SPEAKER_02: He says, This guy can't do this.
SPEAKER_02: This is God's army.
SPEAKER_02: Look if you would.
SPEAKER_02: In verse 32, and see what else David says later in the conversation.
SPEAKER_02: They take him to Saul.
SPEAKER_02: They think they found a victim to fight.
SPEAKER_02: They take David to Saul, and David said to Saul, Let no man's heart fail because of him, the Philistine.
SPEAKER_02: Thy servant will go and fight the Philistine.
SPEAKER_02: Now let me quickly tell you what David brought to the situation.
SPEAKER_02: Number one, David brought faith.
SPEAKER_02: He believed God, he believed in God, he believed God could.
SPEAKER_02: Number two, this is what David brought.
SPEAKER_02: David brought a burden for God to be glorified and for the shame to be expelled.
SPEAKER_02: He brought a burden for the shame to be expelled and for God to be glorified.
SPEAKER_02: Number three, he brought a vision.
SPEAKER_02: He and only he could see the giant falling.
SPEAKER_02: No one else could see, but David could see with the eyes of his soul, with eyes out of his heart.
SPEAKER_02: David could see that giant going down, and no one else could.
SPEAKER_02: No one else could.
SPEAKER_02: Now, folks, listen, I challenge you to do this for you to be a David.
SPEAKER_02: I want to be a David, I want you to be a David.
SPEAKER_02: I want you to bring faith to a new day.
SPEAKER_02: I want you to bring a burden for God to be glorified and for a shame to be taken away where Christians fail in a world that's eroding.
SPEAKER_02: I want you to bring a vision where you can see the enemy being defeated and the Lord being lifted up and God's people surging forward and God winning battles and God saving souls and God impacting a community, a vision that you can only see with the eyes of your soul, and the eyes of your heart, a vision for God.
SPEAKER_02: Faith.
SPEAKER_02: God can, a burden.
SPEAKER_02: God must be glorified.
SPEAKER_02: A vision.
SPEAKER_02: Seeing the enemy defeated.
SPEAKER_02: Well, as soon as David came with this, he had two distractions.
SPEAKER_02: Number one, discouragement.
SPEAKER_02: Look if you would at verse 33.
SPEAKER_02: And Saul said to David, Thou art not able to go against the Philistine to fight with him, for thou art but a youth, and he's a man of war from his youth.
SPEAKER_02: What's the first thing he dealt with?
SPEAKER_02: Discouragement.
SPEAKER_02: Saul just told him outright, You can't do it.
SPEAKER_02: But you know the story, don't you?
SPEAKER_02: He did.
SPEAKER_02: Here's the second thing he dealt with human techniques.
SPEAKER_02: Drop down if you would at verse 38.
SPEAKER_02: And Saul armed David with his armor.
SPEAKER_02: He put a helmet of brass on his head.
SPEAKER_02: He also armed him with a coat of mail, and David gird the sword upon.
SPEAKER_02: He assailed to go, for he had not proved it.
SPEAKER_02: And David said to Saul, I can't not go with these, for I have not proved them.
SPEAKER_02: And David put them on.
SPEAKER_02: The human instruments, the human techniques.
SPEAKER_02: Folks, listen.
SPEAKER_02: The church to win the battle at the end of the 20th century doesn't need another program, doesn't need a new technique.
SPEAKER_02: We need people with faith.
SPEAKER_02: We need people with a burden to see God glorify.
SPEAKER_02: We need people who can see with their hearts and not just with their physical eyes.
SPEAKER_02: So David went.
SPEAKER_02: And I want you to see how he went.
SPEAKER_02: Look, if you would at verse 40.
SPEAKER_02: And he took his staff in his hand and he chose him five smooth stones out of the brook and put them in a shepherd's bag, which he had, even in a script, and his sling was in his hand, and he drew near the Philistine.
SPEAKER_02: You know what that says?
SPEAKER_02: He went with the gifts that he had.
SPEAKER_02: What could he do?
SPEAKER_02: He could fling a rock like a left-handed pitcher.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, he could throw it.
SPEAKER_02: He could throw strikes.
SPEAKER_02: That's my vernacular.
SPEAKER_02: This boy could throw strikes with a slingshot.
SPEAKER_02: He went down in there in that creek and got five smooth stones out.
SPEAKER_02: You know why he got five?
SPEAKER_02: Because he thought he was going to miss?
SPEAKER_02: Tell you what, if you study the rest of the Old Testament, you know what you'll find out?
SPEAKER_02: You'll find out that Goliath had two brothers and two cousins who were also giants in that camp today.
SPEAKER_02: Four plus one is five.
SPEAKER_02: You know what David's saying?
SPEAKER_02: I'll get the big one.
SPEAKER_02: If the others want them, I'll get them too.
SPEAKER_02: I need five rocks.
SPEAKER_02: He took his gifts and he took a hyper faith.
SPEAKER_02: He really believed that God would do something.
SPEAKER_02: And he went.
SPEAKER_02: Let's look at the scene in the field to see how it culminates.
SPEAKER_02: Look at verse 42.
SPEAKER_02: And when the Philistine looked about and saw David, he disdained him, for he was but a youth and ruddy and a fair countenance.
SPEAKER_02: And the Philistine said unto David, Am I a dog that thou comest to me with staves?
SPEAKER_02: And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.
SPEAKER_02: You've got to see the scene.
SPEAKER_02: Here comes Goliath.
SPEAKER_02: He's coming out.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe it's the 40th day.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe it's the evening.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe it's the last challenge.
SPEAKER_02: He stands in the middle of the field.
SPEAKER_02: All the Philistines are laughing.
SPEAKER_02: All of a sudden, David comes out from the camp over here on Israel's side.
SPEAKER_02: He walks out.
SPEAKER_02: When Goliath looks around and sees him, he probably first thinks that he's a shepherd boy lost and he doesn't know that he's in the middle of a battlefield.
SPEAKER_02: Then as David begins to approach Goliath with his slingshot and his uh his stave, literally that's a stick that a shepherd used to keep the wild dogs off.
SPEAKER_02: We're talking about here in our language in Arkansas a dog whopper.
SPEAKER_02: That's what he's got.
SPEAKER_02: He's got a slingshot and a dog whopper, and he's after a giant.
SPEAKER_02: And when Goliath sees it, he is offended.
SPEAKER_02: He doesn't get a broad-shouldered, muscled up, weight-lifting battle fighter.
SPEAKER_02: He gets a shepherd boy with a slingshot and a dog whopper, and he is put out.
SPEAKER_02: So he curses him.
SPEAKER_02: I'm glad the new the Old Testament didn't record it because it probably wasn't very nice.
SPEAKER_02: You know, over here on the Philistine side, you know what's happening?
SPEAKER_02: I can hear those Philistines.
SPEAKER_02: Just go ahead and kill him, Goliath.
SPEAKER_02: Just kill the kid.
SPEAKER_02: Just kill him and get it over with.
SPEAKER_02: And over here on the Israelite side, you know what they're saying over there on the Israelite side?
SPEAKER_02: What do you think they're saying over there?
SPEAKER_02: Well, I think the kid's got a good chance.
SPEAKER_02: I believe it's five to one.
SPEAKER_02: No?
SPEAKER_02: I don't believe they're saying that.
SPEAKER_02: You know what I think they're saying out there?
SPEAKER_02: I think they've got their arms around each other saying, poor David.
SPEAKER_02: He was such a good kid.
SPEAKER_02: Poor David.
SPEAKER_02: Goliath gets through cursing David, gets through with these words, and then look what David says.
SPEAKER_02: Then David said to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword and with a spear and 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.
SPEAKER_02: This day will the Lord deliver thee into my hand.
SPEAKER_02: I will smite thee and take thy head from thee.
SPEAKER_02: Now, this is a shepherd boy saying this to a nine foot six-inch or nine foot nine-inch giant.
SPEAKER_02: You know what?
SPEAKER_02: Over here on the Israelite side, I can see him over there going, Oh, David, don't say that to him.
SPEAKER_02: No, no, don't say something nice, David.
SPEAKER_02: Don't say that.
SPEAKER_02: And over here on the Philistine side, they're getting mad.
SPEAKER_02: They've got their hands clenched and fist.
SPEAKER_02: Kill him! Kill that kid, kill him now.
SPEAKER_02: And I can hear the roar of these two sides begin to go.
SPEAKER_02: I can hear probably on the Israelite side it's something like, duck, run, hide, do something.
SPEAKER_02: Over here, the Philistines are roaring.
SPEAKER_02: Kill him! Get him, spear him, cut him.
SPEAKER_02: And I can see that field begin to roar with the sounds of those two armies roaring over that field, where just that little man, that young man, and that great giant are standing in the middle of that field.
SPEAKER_02: Look at verse 47, David's word.
SPEAKER_02: And all this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with the sword and with the spear.
SPEAKER_02: For the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hands.
SPEAKER_02: I can see those Philistines say, that's enough, Goliath, get him.
SPEAKER_02: I can see Goliath make a big roar and say, I'm tired of this.
SPEAKER_02: And he turns that little shield-bearer and spear-bearer, and he jerks that long spear out of his hand.
SPEAKER_02: And I can see him turn and look toward David and point toward him.
SPEAKER_02: And I can see him begin to pull that spear back and get ready to thrust it at David.
SPEAKER_02: And I can hear that roar of those soldiers suddenly go silent as the Philistines wait for his throw and as the Israelites wait for David's death.
SPEAKER_02: And all of a sudden, in that quietness, there's only one thing I believe you can hear in that valley.
SPEAKER_02: I believe there was one thing distinctly echoing over that valley.
SPEAKER_02: I believe it was the whirl and the whipping sound of that little slingshot that no one thought was any weapon at all.
SPEAKER_02: You can hear the whipping sound.
SPEAKER_02: The whipping sound.
SPEAKER_02: I can see Goliath take that sword with clenched teeth and his flexed muscles as he rears back to throw at David, and all of a sudden, ping, that rock comes out of that slingshot.
SPEAKER_02: He's hit right below the edge of his helmet.
SPEAKER_02: Goliath is hit in the head, and I see him begin to waver and rock and fall on the ground with a great thud.
SPEAKER_02: Suddenly on this side, the Philistines are screaming all with one voice, maybe thousands of them.
SPEAKER_02: It probably sounded like a football game on a long run as they're saying, Goliath, get up, Goliath, get up, get up, get up, get up, Goliath.
SPEAKER_02: And over here the Israelites are saying, Yay, David, do something, David, run now, do something, son.
SPEAKER_02: The Bible says David runs beside old Goliath, laying there on the ground unconscious, pulls his sword out from his side, lifts that sword up, and I believe the valley went silent again, as in that high grass, that sword went down and disappeared.
SPEAKER_02: And then David reached over down in that grass, and I can see him in a picture in my mind, reach his hands in that greasy black Philistine hair and lift that head up in that valley.
SPEAKER_02: And you know what happened?
SPEAKER_02: All that fear, all that discouragement, all that negativism, like a wind, swept across that valley and embedded itself in the hearts of those Philistines.
SPEAKER_02: And you know what they did?
SPEAKER_02: They ran.
SPEAKER_02: And all Israel took heart and crossed that valley and by David and ran and stomped over the body of Goliath and pursued them, and the scripture says they slew them all day long.
SPEAKER_02: Why?
SPEAKER_02: One individual said, I believe God.
SPEAKER_02: One individual says, God must be glorified.
SPEAKER_02: One individual said, I can see that giant falling now.
SPEAKER_02: What a great lesson.
SPEAKER_02: What a great story.
SPEAKER_02: We tell it to our children, but we forget it ourselves.
SPEAKER_02: It's a great story of faith in the face of great challenge.
SPEAKER_02: It brings, David brought a new day of faith for Israel.
SPEAKER_02: From that day forward, they became great victors under his leadership.
SPEAKER_02: Folks, listen.
SPEAKER_02: Would you commit your life as a Christian today to be a David?
SPEAKER_02: To be burdened to see God glorified.
SPEAKER_02: To believe that God can do great things even in this day with many giants before us.
SPEAKER_02: Can you be those who can see with the eyes of your heart and the eyes of your soul and say, oh God, use me.
SPEAKER_02: God use my individual life as a member of this church.
SPEAKER_02: God use my individual life as your follower, as your child.
SPEAKER_02: God use me.
SPEAKER_02: God make me a part of a great army that has faith and vision and a burden.
SPEAKER_02: That men would be saved.
SPEAKER_02: That a community would be impacted.
SPEAKER_02: That a new day would be ushered in.
SPEAKER_02: As I believe.
SPEAKER_02: Folks, listen today.
SPEAKER_02: I believe we can have a new day.
SPEAKER_02: It's a new day for me.
SPEAKER_02: I hope that you'll make it a new day for you.
SPEAKER_02: And the only way it comes is by faith.
SPEAKER_02: Believe God.
SPEAKER_02: Trust God.
SPEAKER_02: Follow to God.
SPEAKER_02: You can't see with your physical eyes, you can't hear with your physical ears.
SPEAKER_02: But you can follow with your heart and with your life behind Him.
SPEAKER_02: Without faith, the Bible says it's impossible to please Him.
SPEAKER_02: You're here today and you don't know Jesus as your Savior.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe you've been thinking about it, but you've not received Him into your heart.
SPEAKER_02: You need to receive Him today.
SPEAKER_02: There are those of you here today that maybe God is leading you to be part of this church, part of this fellowship, and be part of this body, and you'd like to come and join us and become part of this new day, then you come and unite with us today.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe there are others here today you've been saved, but you've never taken a public stand for Christ.
SPEAKER_02: You've never followed the Lord in New Testament baptism.
SPEAKER_02: You've never done what God wants you to do in that area, and you want to come and make this a new day in your life, then come today and make it a new day in your life.
SPEAKER_02: We invite you, we wait you, and we challenge you.
SPEAKER_02: Come and make it a new day for you.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe as a Christian, God's telling you, you need to recommit your life to Him.
SPEAKER_02: Not only to just make it better today, but to make it a new day in your life.
SPEAKER_02: Then you come today and let God make it a new day in your life.
SPEAKER_02: Let's go to the Lord in prayer this morning.
SPEAKER_02: Father, we ask today that you would make it a new day in my life and my heart.
SPEAKER_02: That Father, as you've molded that, how clear and distinct it is to me.
SPEAKER_02: Father, I pray there are many Christians that are sitting in this building right now and saying, Oh God, make this a new day as my heart unites with my pastor's heart for this church and for its future.
SPEAKER_02: God, give me a new day.
SPEAKER_02: Christian, would you be willing to do that?
SPEAKER_02: Would you be willing to press past what the flesh would say is all kind of corny?
SPEAKER_02: Would you be willing to sit there in that pew and as a child of God and as a follower of Jesus say, Oh God, as a member of this church, make today the beginning of a new day for me.
SPEAKER_02: A day where I'm a David, the day where I can exemplify faith, a burden for you to be glorified, a vision that I can see the victories coming in the future.
SPEAKER_02: There are others here today.
SPEAKER_02: God may be speaking to your heart about inviting Jesus into your life.
SPEAKER_02: I know I didn't preach on the cross or the blood today, but you've heard the gospel before.
SPEAKER_02: It may be that God is challenging you about making this day a new day in your life as you publicly stand for Christ, or you come and receive him as your Savior.
SPEAKER_02: Let God have His way in your heart and your life today.
SPEAKER_02: However, He leads and guides.
SPEAKER_02: Father, bless this invitation in this moment.
SPEAKER_02: Be glorified in it.
SPEAKER_01: We pray.
SPEAKER_01: In Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_01: We pray this message has been a blessing to you and helped to strengthen your walk with Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Please know we want to minister to you and pray for you.
SPEAKER_01: Send an email to contact us at fsfbc.org.
SPEAKER_01: And let us pray for you and help you in any way we can.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for listening to Chapter and First, the Bible Teaching Ministry of Fort Smith's First Baptist Church.