Yeah, isn't that awesome? Isn't that awesome? What I'm telling you some. I'm telling you what. My name's Russ, by the way, and I want to say good morning to all of you, and you might be here for the first time. We're so glad you're here. Um it has been, it looks a little light in here because all of the kids and their families who who've been a part of this weekend will come in at the next the next gathering. So you might you might have made a good decision to help us out be here at the early the early gathering. But we had over the last few days, we've we've had three between our two campuses here and in Social Circle 300 children. And that's not counting the the 200 um adults and students and that that came and poured into the life of our children and the gospel. And so I know already of a few decisions that we had that we're children have trusted Christ. Um I can tell you what, we have an amazing team that have poured into our our kids and and Katie. I'm so thankful for Katie and Chris and their leadership in those areas. And it has been a blessing and and thank you, church, for uh all you do in supporting these ministries. And so you might not have been here, but you're part of that. You are part of every life and every child. And and and so uh the the theme was level up. And so I I'll I will tell you this that Mario Um has changed a bit since I last participated in that in that game. It's changed a lot. I I was like, I don't, I don't even, you know, I didn't remember that far back anyway. But I mean, all this new new technology is amazing. But that was that that was the the theme, and and it was so much fun. The idea is, hey, we our kids are made for more. Our children are made for more. And the kind of obstacles and difficulties that they are going to be facing, it's it's at times a bit overwhelming to think about it. Um I've got children that are now adults. I'm hoping at some point I'll be a grandparent. And but I and I'm excited about that, but I'm also it's uh it's a bit scary to think about what they're gonna face as they as they grow up in the society, and we, you know, every generation probably has has that perspective a little bit, but I think it's it's uh even more significant. We we all have obstacles, and and we're in this series uh uh called The Story of David, where we're gonna spend the summer walking through the story uh of the shepherd boy who became king. And today the story's probably it definitely was the favorite in the butcher household when my little boys were little. When we came to this story, it was like we, I think we read it every night for it seemed like a decade. That's what it seemed like. It's like, can we move on to another story? No, they they love to talk about this, and and they and and we would talk about the obstacles and the giants in life, and and we all face obstacles and we face giants in life. We we might have a difficult job, we might have a difficult diagnosis, maybe, maybe you've got a boss that you feel like is is breathing down your throat. Maybe there's financial obstacles in your life. Um uh I mentioned a sickness and diagnosis. It might, there might be all types of obstacles, but listen to me, listen to me. Those giants are not the biggest threat in our life. There's bigger giants. There's bigger giants. See, we everybody knows the story of David and Goliath. I mean, people that probably don't even know it's in the Bible know that story because in all areas of our culture and life, whenever there is a big person, a big team, a champion, when they face that little team, that small college, that that the that underdog, everybody knows they call we call that the David and Goliath picture. I I remember, you know, in sports, I'm a sports enthusiast. I remember this little college named Butler University played and made it all the way to the championship game of the final four. I don't even know if I remember who they played, but I remember who David was in that story. We all know that story. People know that story. Hey, we we have sayings, you know, the bigger they are, the harder the harder they fall. Y'all are y'all with me this morning? All right. Um and so we have this worldly perspective of giants and bullies. But let me tell you something. It is holy, wholly inadequate to compare the giants that we talk about and we think are giants to the real giant that we all face. But we're we all face giants. We face things, and the enemy wants to steal, kill, and destroy. You see, the enemy wants to be a giant in your life and control you emotionally, to control you spiritually, and even control you potentially physically. The enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy, Jesus said. But I've come that you might have life and have it abundantly. We're all facing things that want to rob us of celebrating the work of God and the good news in our life. And if I had to kind of just sum it all up in one sentence, it would be this because of Jesus, because Jesus defeated the real giant, you all and we all can face the lesser giants in our life. And so, can we just pray for a second? Let me just pray for us. And I'm gonna ask you to do something that might feel a little bit strange, but the good news is people are not supposed to be looking. And so I'm gonna ask you to touch your, take your hands and just gently hold them up to your eyes. And I want you to pray, God, give me the ability to see things as you see them. And then I'm gonna ask you to take your hands and just gently touch your ears, and let's pray. Father, would you give me fresh ears to hear what your spirit wants to say to me today? Father, speak to us in a huge, huge way. It's in Jesus' name we pray. And everybody said together. Amen. Amen. So last week, just to recap a little bit, Russ did a great job. Russ Greer did an awesome job. Nathan as well, and um uh down in uh social circle, basically sharing the introduction of this story, how David came upon the scene. And and the the big idea was that God builds his plans with the most unlikely people. God builds his kingdom, God builds his plans, puts his plans in place with the most unlikely people. And we see this in the story of David and Goliath. And if you've got your Bibles, turn to 1 Samuel chapter 17. That's where we're gonna be today. Um, and and what you see has happened is King Saul is still king. David has been anointed, as we talked about this past week, as a child. God sends the Samuel the prophet to the house of Jesse. He thinks his older sons are the ones that are gonna be picked to be a king, but in the reality, his youngest son, the runt of the family, is out in the field taking care of the sheep. And Samuel says, Hey, the king is not one of your older kids. It's not your tallest, most handsome, strongest kid. You've got to have another kid. He said, Well, you can't be talking about David. I mean, he's the youngest. I mean, he's out tending the sheep. He's out, he's out in the fields. And Samuel says, Go get him. And he anoints and pours oil over David's head and anoints him as the new king of Israel. And we know historically that there he didn't assume the throne right at that moment. He what did David do? David went back to the fields to serve faithfully where God had placed him. And so he's out in the fields. King Saul is on the front lines of a battle with the Philistines. And King Saul is gripped by fear, and he's all the people he's leading are gripped by fear. If you've got your Bibles, let's read. 1 Samuel 17. It says the Philistines gathered their forces for war at Soko in Judah and camped between Soko and Azekah and Ephesdamine. Now these are these are words that are hard to pronounce and may or may not have meaning to us, but let me tell you, they are important because our Bible, our word of God, when you see locations and you see names that are mentioned, the only belief system, the only religion, the only faith in the whole world has a book that is filled with archaeology and specific places and specific names that validate what we read is absolutely true. And so it says, verse 2: Saul and the men of Israel gathered in the camp in the valley of Eli, and then they lined up in battle formation to face the Philistines. The Philistines were standing on one hill, and the Israelites were standing on another hill with a ravine between them. Then a champion named Goliath from Gath came out from the Philistine camp. He was nine feet nine inches tall. Now I've got a couple pictures of the Valley of Eli, and these that you can, uh not this picture, the there we go. Um this is a group that I was with a few years ago, and we are walking from one tail, and when I say tail, there's the tail of Sukkot, and then there's the tail or the remains of Azekah, and and and you can you can stand in the valley and see those two points where the Philistines would have been standing and where God's people were gonna stand. And we are we are actually walking from one of those tails down into the valley. And and and I thought, man, I just imagined myself picking up stones and running. Now, I was too old to run then, much too old to run now. But for a kid, I mean, just imagine that I even if I wasn't in the exact area, I was close to where these where these events happened in this story. And so verse 4, then it says, Then a champion named Goliath from Gath came out of the Philistine camp. He was nine feet nine inches tall and wore a bronze helmet and a bronze scale of armor that weighed 125 pounds. There was bronze armor on his shins, and a bronze javelin was slung between his shoulders. His spear shaft was like a weaver's beam, and the iron point of his spear weighed fifteen pounds. In addition, a shield bearer was walking in front of him. He stood and shouted to the Israelite battle formations, why do you come out to line up in battle formation? He asked him. Am I not a Philistine? Are you not servants of Saul? Choose one of your men and have him come down against me. If he wins in a fight against me and kills me, we will be your servants. But if I win against him and kill him, then we will be, then you will be our servants and serve us. Then the Philistine said, I defy the ranks of Israel today. Send me a man so we can fight each other. When Saul and all Israel heard the words from the Philistine, they lost their courage and they were terrified. Every morning and every evening, for 40 days, the Philistine came forward and took his stand. So you've got God's people, God's army with God's leader on one side of the valley, and you've got the Philistine, and you've got their champion, and you've got their giant Goliath on the other side, and for 40 straight days, Goliath walks out and he taunts, he taunts the army of God's people. And he says, Hey, you send me your champion. They call it uh representative battling. Instead of a bloodbath between two armies, you send your best, we send our best, they go at it, and which whoever loses becomes servants to the to the other city, state, or the kingdom. Whoever wins gets to Lord over the others. And so day after day, God's people are shrinking. Their army, their greatest, the greatest men, the greatest fighters. They're all shrinking in fear. Goliath is a picture of the enemies that we face, and particularly the enemy that we face spiritually. And we just finished a series on uh the book of Ephesians, and that last week we talked about spiritual warfare. So, so although we see we see the physical aspects, look at the comparisons right up here. So I I just thinking through the measurements, um Muggsy Boggs, how many of you, how many, raise your hand if you know that name? And so I might could have used a guy named Spud Webb. They were both um basketball players. Spud Webb actually won the dunking contest. I think he was an inch taller than Muggsy. But but Muggsy had a long, like really successful career in the NBA at 5'3. Now, you you've got Shaquille O'Neal right here in the middle, 7'1. Now, today, if you're 7'1 and you play in the NBA, you could be a point guard. You could. And and this, this is this is and based on what I understand with AI, this is pretty accurate to the sizes, the size of what Goliath and what it would have been like to face him coming out into that valley day after day for 40 days. Now, where's David? While all this is happening for 40 days, as God, Goliath haunts God's people as he defies the reality of who God is and God's power. There's a shepherd boy that's basically doing what he has been told to do. And he's in the field. Now, Goliath wasn't a goal that David had set for his life. We talk about goals and sometimes facing the obstacles, and we think of the giants in our life. Goliath wasn't a goal David had set for his life. Goliath was a crisis that David walks into for which God had prepared for him. And so David steps into this and and he he immediately realizes something. Here's what I believe that he faced and that we faced the reality that there is an enemy, and the enemy wants to invade your territory. The enemy wants to invade your territory. When we're talking about spiritual warfare, the enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy. We are facing a real enemy. And that enemy is bigger than just an obstacle. That enemy is bigger than just a goal that you set for your work or your job. That enemy is a spiritual giant that comes to steal, kill, and destroy. And so when Saul and all Israel hear this, the words of Goliath, day after day, they lost their courage. They were gripped by fear and terrified. And Saul himself. And he is terrified. He is gripped by fear in these circumstances. And and and they're hearing day after day. Hey, send me your best. I'll take care of him. And after you hear voices speaking to your life, at whatever age you're at, if you hear that enough over and over, there's the possibility that you begin to believe something that is not true and see it as truth. And the enemy gets you right there. So rather than anchoring themselves in the truth that God had revealed, the truth that God reveals in creation, the truth that God reveals in the prophecy that the seed or the fruit of the seed of that woman in the Garden Eve, the seed of Eve, would defeat and stomp the head of the future threat to God's people. So we we instead of anchoring ourselves in the truth of the God who set his people free, the people who walked across the Red Sea or walked through the Red Sea, instead of anchoring ourselves in the truth of what God says about who we are and who he is, we listen to the voices that speak in our life from the other places and culture and from the world. And the world wants to impose its truth, its belief system upon us. And anytime that God's people listen to the voice of the enemy, it will always lead to fear that keeps us from realizing we're made for more. We're made to level up. And so whose voice are you believing? What voices are you listening to? So David is out in the field, and his father gives him some orders. His father gives him some responsibility. He says, I want you to go see your brothers and take them some food. Verse 20 of 1 Samuel 17. It says, So David got up early in the morning, left the flock with someone to keep it loaded up and set out as Jesse had charged him, his father. He arrived at the perimeter of the camp as the army was marching out to its battle formation, shouting their battle cry. Israel and the Philistines lined in battle formation facing each other. David left his supplies in the care of the quartermaster and ran to the battle line. When he arrived, he asked his brothers how they were. While he was speaking with them, suddenly the champion named Goliath, the Philistine from Gath, came forward from the Philistine battle line and shouted his usual words, which David heard. When all the Israelite men saw Goliath, they retreated from him, terrified. Now, David is a shepherd boy who's been given a very simple responsibility from his father. You take food and groceries and you deliver them to your brothers. You deliver them to your brothers that are on the fighting on the front lines for God's people. So David, David doesn't show up with a sword. That's what's over here. That's Luigi. So he doesn't come with a sword. See, his brothers are at the front lines, and they have swords. They're seeing things on a physical earthly level. And they have the more advanced weapon, the most advanced weapons that were available of the day. And so they're but they're they're they're terrified. And the boy that comes and shows up to the scene that begins to see things through a different set of eyes, he comes bearing groceries. Now, what does that say? What does that say to us? It says this to me God can use anybody. But he chooses to use people who are already serving faithfully with the responsibility they've been given. And so listen, listen, listen to me, dads, listen to me, moms, listen to me, church. You think that when you are changing diapers, or you're fixing lunches, or you're taking kids around, you think that that is a small task. And sometimes we long for something bigger, something better, but God call us to take what we have in our hands and learn how to be faithful with it. And that is the first step in fighting the true enemy that we all face. See, so who who doesn't want to who doesn't want to swing a sword? I mean, who doesn't? I mean, this is the I mean, I could just stand here like this and think that I'm something. But sometimes it's just being faithful with the small things that God has given us. So that's where we find David. David's in the field. David has a responsibility. But listen to this. David has not been listening to these other voices. He has not been listening to this giant for 40 days. David has been out in the field. He has been spending time with his heavenly father. He has spent time in prayer. He has spent time serving. He has spent time writing songs, playing music. But in the midst of all of those responsibilities, there have been times where David and his sheep have been threatened. And he has had to stand up. And he has had to fight. He has had to learn how to sling a stone. But the reality is David shows up on this scene and he hears the exact same thing that all of these soldiers, that all that King Saul has heard. But he has a completely different perspective. See, we pray, God, would you open my eyes, give me a different perspective? God, would you touch my ears and affect what I hear? Let me hear, let me see the truth of what's happening around me. And so why did David have a different perspective? Because he had a different reference point and he had anchored himself in the truth of God's word and simply being faithful with what God had given him. He had a different perspective. Different reference point. Here's something I've learned that your private faithfulness prepares you for your public calling. Your private faithfulness prepares you for your public calling. How you develop, how you form yourself privately impacts what you do in your life publicly. Private development, private faithfulness. Sometimes in the mundane things of life, prepare us for what God has for us in the battle that He's given in this life. See, Saul's army heard Goliath and thought, man, we're dead meat. But David heard Goliath and he thought, you know what? My God has already shown up in my life. That is my reference point. The truth of God, he has shown up. What had David experienced? He had experienced what it was like to fight lions and to fight bears and to and to protect his sheep. This daily faithfulness in his life. You fall back to the level of your systems. You fall back to the level of your training and your development. And so here's something that's so important. What is forming you? What is forming you? Because what had happened, David had formed a perspective that was based on the truth and the reality that God was faithful to show up. He walks into a scene where they've been hearing the truth, a different truth, from the enemies. Hey, you're a little people. You're nothing. We're gonna defeat you. I'm gonna defeat you. And they begin to buy into that voice over and above the voice that God had spoken in their life. So how how do you form a perspective like David? How do you form that? It's immersing ourselves in things like the word of God, in personal prayer, journaling, fasting, some of the spiritual disciplines in our life, being in a community with other believers. And it's not just about us bettering ourselves with these tools and these practices. It's about us becoming who God wants us to become. God building into us. And so the fact that David is in the fields day after day, he's watching sheep, he's staring at the stars, and you know what he's doing? He's remembering the faithfulness of God. And that's why when he shows up, he's able to engage the way that he engages. Look at verses 31 through 37. This is what David said was overheard and reported to Saul. So he had David brought to him. And David said to Saul, Don't let anyone be discouraged by him. Your servant will go and fight this Philistine. David immediately says, Hey, I'm ready. I'll go. I'll fight. But Saul replied, You can't fight this Philistine. You're just a youth. And he's been a warrior since he was young. And so David answered Saul, Your servant has been tending his father's sheep. Whenever a lion or a bear came and carried off a lamb from the flock, I went after it, struck it down, and rescued the lamb from its mouth. If it reared up against me, I would grab it by its fur, strike it down and kill it. Your servant has killed lions and bears. This uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God. And then David said, The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine. Now here's something I found a bit interesting. God comes up in the conversation 37 verses into this story. I mean, for 37 verses, we hear about Goliath, we hear about how great he is, we hear about how he's going to defeat God's people, we hear about how they are terrified and they're scared to death. God does not come up in the conversation until David shows up. And David's like, hey, is anybody, is anybody listening to what is being said here? That this giant is defying the very existence of the God who's created us and prepared us to take this land. And David shows up and said, The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine. And David had immersed himself in the word. He had immersed himself in the presence of God. He'd immersed himself and anchored himself in the truth. Here's something else I've learned. Courage is not the absence of fear, it's knowing who fights for you on your behalf. See, David saw the same giant that everybody else saw, but but he had developed and formed a relationship with a God who was bigger than anything he could face. He said, The Lord who rescued me then will rescue me now. And see, courage, the kind of courage that we see in this, it's built on memory. It's built on faithfulness. It's built on the reality of who God is and how he has shown up in your life. What already is done. That's what David is focused. He's saying, listen, I've already seen it. I've already seen it. And it changed, listen. David steps on the field. He declares something that changes the whole setting. Now look at verse 45. David said to the Philistine, You come against me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord of armies, the God of the ranks of Israel. You have defied him. Now David doesn't have a weapon. I'm thinking, I'm waiting for him to say, I you come against me, but I come to you in the name of bread and cheese. I mean, he doesn't even have a weapon. That's pretty funny, isn't it? Today he says, the Lord will hand you over to me so that the world may know that Israel has a God, and so that this whole assembly may know that it's not by the sword or by a spear that the Lord saves for the battle is the Lord's. He will hand you over to us. David is not saying, talking about his own track record, he's not talking about his strength. He's talking about the power of the living God. He's confident, but his confidence is not saying, hey, I'm gonna win. His confidence is saying, you know what? The Lord will hand him over to me. The Lord will hand you over to me. Now, not everything we face in life is necessarily meant to be seen as giants. We think they're a big deal. But the reason they're a big deal is because we have a small view of God. We've got a small God view problem. And so a lot of times we think the giants that we're facing are really, they're they're really just first world problems most of the time. And the reality is we have a small God syndrome rather than having a big God syndrome and understanding, hey, you know what, life's not going to be perfect, it's gonna be full of challenges, but I have a God that has an eternal perspective, purpose, and plan for my life. And the heart of David, I believe, is this that God needs to be glorified. God be glorified in and through my life. And so the glory of God is at stake in this. The glory of God is at stake in our lives, the glory of God is at stake in our story. And God, listen, God will not be denied glory. God will not be denied getting the glory and the worship and the praise that he deserves. So David does not shrink, he doesn't step back in terror. What does he do? He steps forward. And he's not carrying a sword, he's carrying what has already been placed in his hands and what God has already used on his behalf. And it's a joke, it feels like it's a joke that he would run and face a giant with a stone. Verse 49, it says, David put his hand in his bag, took out a stone, slung it, and hit the Philistine on his forehead. The stone sank into his forehead and he fell face down to the ground. David defeated the Philistine with a sling and a stone. David overpowered the Philistine and killed him without having a sword. David comes to the battlefield with a bag of groceries, but walks away with the head of a giant. Slain through the power of the living God. So what's the point? What's the point? The point is David is not trying to point at you or point at me. David is pointing forward. David is pointing forward a few thousand years. David is pointing forward to the point where Jesus would come and live his life, give his life, surrender his life, be crucified, be bodily resurrected. David's story points us to the true giant killer, and that's Jesus. It's all about Jesus. It's all pointing forward to Jesus, or we're pointing back to Jesus. It's all about Jesus. David tended the sheep, but he was destined to wear a crown. And between his anointing and his actual receiving the crown, he is faithful and is serving God in every way he is called to. Even the small, mundane task, and then God shows up in the midst of this major confrontation. And so God takes this anointed young boy and uses him in a way to display his own power through the life of David. David is not the point of the story. King David points us to King Jesus. And David was obedient. He was the one that was faithful to the responsibility that was given to him. And his obedience and his faithfulness points forward to the obedience and the faithfulness of a Jesus that would surrender his life. As Paul says in Philippians chapter 2, he was obedient to the point of being killed and experiencing death on a Roman cross. And so the whole story of this small shepherd boy, the kid nobody expected, the one everybody overlooked, it's not necessarily to be a mirror for us to look at. It is for us to be pointed to the fact that God is our anchor point and he is our salvation. Let me tell you, listen to me closely. Listen. The biggest giant that we'll ever face is the giant of being separated eternally from our God. That's the biggest giant that we'll face. The giant that brings sin, the giant that uses shame, the giant that wants to control you emotionally, the giant that wants you to be constantly under condemnation, the giant that speaks voices into your life that tell you that you're not created, you're not made for more, you can't level up. You will never matter. And so when Jesus gives his life, he defeats the giants of sin and separation and shame. And so the Bible, listen, Tim Keller says this. He said, when we think about God's word and we think about these stories, it's not a collection of heroes whose examples you are to emulate. It's pointing us to a savior that we're meant to follow and worship. And because Jesus defeated the real giant, we can face the lesser giants. So I imagine David in that field, guarding the sheep. I've been reading through the Psalms just recently. I'm reading through the Bible this year, and I've spent a lot of time in the last few weeks reading through the Psalms, so many that are written by David. And I imagine David out in that field as he's faithfully serving God, and he he writes a song or a poem, a hymn, whatever you want to call it. And it's probably the most well-known psalm that we all know and maybe have memorized. And it starts, it starts with this the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. But I want to go down to verse 4 in that in that psalm. David wrote this. He writes this. He probably wrote it when he was a younger kid. He says, Even when I go through the darkest valley, the ESV says, Yea, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. For your rod and your staff, they comfort me. And so David understood something that we all have to understand. And this is the beauty of the gospel message. There is a difference between the shadow of death and death itself. See, our probably our greatest fear is the fear of death. But David said there's a shadow of death. What's the difference? What's the difference between the shadow of death and death itself? And so I came across this story years ago. It's one of the best. I've shared it here before. I'm going to share it again. A father is driving with his young daughter after they have left the graveside where they've just buried his wife and his daughter's mother. And they're driving along the interstate, and the little girl turns to her daddy and says, Daddy, that preacher read the psalm and I understood a lot of it, but I didn't understand when it said, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. And she says, Dad, what does he mean when he says shadow of death? Because I know mom experienced death. What did he mean, shadow of death? And the dad had to think quick on his feet. As they're driving down. And right as they're, right as he's contemplating how to answer this question, he's on the interstate and this big semi-truck passes by and cast a shadow, the way the sun is shining, it cast a shadow upon the car that they're in. And he immediately comes up with this question. He says, Sweetheart, what would you rather experience? Would you rather get hit by that truck? Or would you rather be hit by the shadow of the truck? And she said, Well, Dad, that's a no-brainer. I mean, the shadow, shadow doesn't hurt. The shadow is hitting us now. It's not, it's it doesn't hurt. And he says, honey, Jesus came and Jesus took the direct hit of the truck of death. And when we put our faith in Jesus, we will experience a death, but it's really a shadow of death. It's not real death. Because death has no victory. I love Paul in 1 Corinthians 15. He taunts death. Oh, death, where is your sting? He taunts death. Death has no power over us. Death has no victory over us. You know why? Because the greatest giant fighter, giant killer that has ever lived, Jesus Christ, absorbed the truck of death. So even when we come to the point in our life, and it might be younger or it could be older, that we our physical body gives in to the to the decay and the and the the health issues that we're all going to deal with at some point. When we come to that point, if we put our faith in Christ, death has no power. Because as soon as you take your last breath on this earth, you take your first breath in the presence of God. So that is the story of David and Goliath. The greatest giants that we can all think of. I mean, listen. I mean, cancer is a giant. Financial problems can feel like a giant. Poverty can be a giant. Anxiety can be a giant. Depression can be a giant. But listen, none of those things in your life that you come across to are going to be able to defeat the power that comes through the gospel of Jesus. Our greatest giant that we'll ever face is the separation from an eternal God because of the penalty of sin. But he has defeated sin and shame and condemnation. Romans 8 1 says, There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Amen. We have hope. And what giants are you facing now? What is it? What is it you're facing in your life right now? I can tell you the greatest giant you'll ever face is the giant of being separated from God. And so I'm just to encourage you this morning. Maybe consider whether or not you've actually put your faith in Jesus. Maybe, maybe you're facing some of these lesser giants and you haven't anchored yourself in the relationship that comes through Jesus Christ. And your first step is to say yes to Jesus. So would you pray with me right now? Can we just pray together for a second? While your eyes are closed, the heads are bowed. I just want to ask you have you ever put your faith in Christ Jesus? Have you ever trusted Jesus and took him at his word that he came and lived on your behalf? He died on your behalf. He rose from the grave on your behalf. He sits at the right hand of the Father praying on your behalf. And he has come to set you free from the powers of sin and shame and separation from a holy God. And all you need to do is say yes to Jesus. Say, dear Jesus, I know I'm a sinner. I admit I'm a sinner. I need, I need, I need Jesus in my life, and I believe, I believe right now that Jesus lived for me, died for me, rose for me, that He that He can come and live inside of me. And so I surrender my life and my heart. And if you've if you've never prayed that prayer until this morning, this morning is the first time you've prayed that prayer. Would you just raise your hand up just so I can know to pray for you to be encouraged that God is working? Anybody? Anybody in the room? Thank you. I see that. Thank you. God sees, I see that in the back. Couple of hands. And here was here's what I want you to do. If you've got your hand up, look up at me. The rest of you stay stay bowed. Look up at me. As soon as we we're done in this service, I want you to come either to me or to one of our other pastor leaders. And you come talk to us. You tell one of your parents, you tell somebody that brought you and came with you, and you let us help you take the next steps in your journey with Jesus. Now, for us that are the rest of us that are believers, we've trusted in the Lord, but but we're we feel like we're getting beat up. We feel like we're we're struggling, we're we're hanging by a thread to get through this life. What do we do? What do you do? You anchor yourself in the truth. Don't anchor yourself and listen to the voices the world's gonna throw at you. Anchor yourself in the truth. You you take your bag of groceries, the metaphorical bag of groceries that God has given you, and you live faithfully, trusting. That God can use you, that God can use your gifts, that God will bring you into community and into the church, and God, through that encouragement, can give you hope where you have been hope, hopeless, where that God will give you joy where there's been despair, and God will give you confidence in eternal life where you have had a question mark in your life. So, Father, thank you for your goodness and your grace. God, I pray that you will work this morning, continue to speak. And God, as we leave here and this next group comes in, I'm gonna ask you, church, that's here at the 9 o'clock hour, would you pray like crazy as you leave here this morning and pray that children and their families who are coming as a part of this summer jam experience, that they will understand clearly who the giant is in their life and that the giant killer, Jesus, has come to save them and to restore them to right relationship with their Heavenly Father. God, Father, we love you. We thank you. Would you continue to work? God, would you help us to understand that the same God that brought victory to David against the giant Goliath is the same God that brings us victory right now in our life, right where we are. It's in Jesus' name that we pray. And everybody said together Amen.