The Only Living Hope (LIVE)

A stormy night sets the scene for a fierce challenge: what if your church sounds brave, looks busy, and still lets Goliath preach twice a day? We open 1 Samuel 17 and watch fear masquerade as momentum—trenches dug, shouts raised, yet hearts dismayed. The contrast is stark. Saul starts strong and ends tormented, while David arrives under the anointing and sees the same battlefield through a different lens. He remembers lions and bears, refuses fleshly armor, and answers a giant by the name of the Lord of hosts.

We walk through the spiritual mechanics of how cycles form: forgotten testimonies, leadership drift, and the slow normalization of 90 percent victory. Then we name the way out. Remember what God has done—in Scripture, in this house, in your life—and let that living memory become your smooth stone. We talk about the Word of God as the only offensive weapon worth drawing, why borrowed strategies don’t fit, and how the Spirit inside you stirs a holy “have to” that moves you from trench to field. This isn’t about noise; it’s about authority. The same Spirit who raised Jesus dwells in you, and the battle still belongs to the Lord.

If you’re tired of almost-revival, this is your turning. Close the doors you’ve left open. Speak what God has placed in your heart. Testify so the assembly knows and the world sees that God saves without sword and spear. Let’s walk this path together, as a unified body across cities and house gatherings, refusing partial wins and embracing a complete, Spirit-led victory. If this stirred you, subscribe, share it with a friend who needs courage, and leave a review telling us which “giant” you’re silencing today.

Chapters

• 0:00 Stormy Opener And Set-Up
• 3:10 Why This Is A “Big” Message
• 6:55 Israel’s Drift And Asking For A King
• 11:15 Saul’s Fall And God’s Faithfulness
• 14:45 Enter Goliath: Fear’s Daily Sermon
• 19:05 Forgetting Past Victories Breeds Dismay
• 23:30 Forty Days, Forty Years, And Patterns
• 27:55 Trenches, Activity, And Ninety Percent
• 32:35 The Anointing Sees Differently
• 36:45 Laodicea And Eye Salve To See
• 40:30 David’s Testimony Of Lion And Bear
• 44:25 Fleshly Armor Doesn’t Fit
• 47:55 Word Of God As The True Weapon
• 51:25 David Confronts Goliath In God’s Name
• 55:35 Victory Claimed And Spoken
• 59:25 Call To Stand, Close Doors, Testify
• 1:02:55 Unified Body And Invitation To Connect

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:44

Rainy Nighting. Hallelujah. Amen. Yeah. Live in an interesting household myself. Love the rain. Love this kind of weather. And um, my wife has learned to appreciate it with me. That's there's no hope for our eldest daughter. Amen. Wants to wear sandals. Doesn't understand why she can't wear sandals. Doesn't under Amen. Hallelujah. It's good to laugh, Amen. It's good to laugh. And good to have everyone here with us. One of those nights I was almost tempted to give the two other pastors a minor crisis to deal with and say, well, just forget nursery tonight. I want everybody in here, amen. But big message. And that's not a bad thing. Because a lot of folks will tense up when you say that. But you need to hear the message. Um, especially those in the room right right in front of me today. And those out there, um, hallelujah, we're glad you're here. Um, if you're in Antarctica, we haven't heard from you yet. Um, but bless God, we're on any every other continent. And um man, there's enough going on in this world. I I don't know what your exact situation is. Um, but if I do know the enemy's wives, um, I can almost guarantee your church is being attacked somehow. Yeah. Right now. And so when I say it's a big message, you know, I don't mean that God's gonna drop some sort of nuclear warhead from the sky on your church or on your life and obliterate you. And no, no, if if you heard that, why don't you listen up real close? Because that's the enemy trying to get you away so he can snatch this away. Um, but bless God, um, you know, he's got the victory. We're gonna see that tonight. And uh, we're gonna come uh eventually we're gonna be in 1 Samuel 17, so you can go ahead and pull that up. Um, but I need to give you some background because it's not gonna be your typical Goliath message. Um we're gonna focus on sort of spiritually what's going on here. And that's where, church, you're gonna get your victory tonight. And this is one of those messages, and the Lord really impressed it upon me. If this is heard and received in faith, um within one hour, your church will be entirely different. Entirely. And why do I say that? Because the church is not a building, it's not a structure, the church is people. You're the church. If you're born again, saved, hallelujah, bloodwashed, forgiven, and set free, spirit-filled, you're the church. And God doesn't want you to be the same, and God doesn't want your local brothers and sisters, your local churches to be the same either. And so gonna have some background here. Um leading up to what we call 1 Samuel 17, it's the famous thing with David and Goliath. There was a lot of refusing, rejection, and turning away that went on before this time. There was a lot of it that went on, just refusing, rejection, and turning away. Um, in the prophet Samuel, his sons, scripture says back in 1 Samuel 8, his sons didn't walk in his ways. Uh they turned away, they the thing with them was bribery. Um, his sons uh fell into um the love of money, the love of money being the root of all evil. His son his sons fell into that, and they were covetous, and they bribed, and they took bribes, and what they would do is uh people would bribe them and they would pervert judgment. That's what scripture says. Now, at that point, Samuel was getting up there in years, and then one day, sort of Israel, if you will, comes up to Samuel, and they start out and they say, Well, your sons aren't walking in your ways. That opened up a door, and the enemy walked right in. The heads, um, if you will, uh Samuel was a prophet, um, and he judged Israel. Something happened in the heads to get the heads off course. And the enemy came in, and the enemy took more than just Samuel's sons. Israel at that point started asking for a king. And now um scripture will tell you this greatly displeased Samuel. Hallelujah and amen. It did, and glory to God. And so he went and he started talking to the Lord about it. He started praying, and the Lord started talking back. Well, glory to God, hallelujah. And the Lord let this go. You know, long story short, but the Lord told Samuel, look, they're not refusing you, they're refusing me. And so the Lord basically said, Um, you know, and Samuel just lays it all out. What's it gonna be like when you have a human king? And he just lays it all out for them. And they persist in that and they said, No, make us a king. Uh, we want this king to be over us, and we want this king to fight our battles, and we want this king to judge us like the other nations have kings. And so the Lord said, Well, suffer it to be so, basically. Um, you know, go ahead and make them a king. Um, say that you're gonna make them a king, and then and then we have the whole opening interactions with Saul. Um, Saul becomes that first anointed king of Israel, and now we have Saul. Um, as you may or may not have heard recently in this church, Saul started out very, very strong. And by the time we hit 17 here, uh Saul has turned away from the Lord. Um, says the Spirit of God left him. We would say the Holy Ghost, who was not inside at this time, but he but he was very, very heavily involved. He came on the outside, but the Holy Ghost wouldn't come on him anymore. And the Lord sent an evil spirit in its place. Doors open, doors open, doors open. And yet, in all of this, here's where here's why this message is called only you know, the only living hope. In in all of this, God didn't leave. In all of this, chaos and in the King James is kinda fancy language, but it's chaos in Israel at this time. But God didn't leave. God said give him a king and then you fast forward to Jesus. Let that blow your mind for a second. Because at this point, David had been anointed. By the time we come up to 1 Samuel 17, God wasn't leaving. God was not leaving, and yet we have um let's let's come into the scripture at this point, and uh we'll unfold this more, but I want you to hold on to that wild rebellion going on. Chaotic times. Um, we're entering into a time of war again. Yet God hadn't left. And God was about to speak, and God was about to move. And so here we go, verse um seventeen. Now the Philistine Philistines gathered together their armies to battle, and they were gathered together at Shochah, which belonged to Judah, and pitched between Shokoh and Azekah in Ephaz Damim, and Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together and pitched in the valley by the valley of Elah, and set the battle in array against the Philistines. And the Philistines stood on a mountain on one side, and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side, and there was a valley in between them. And there went out a champion. This was one of those old-time war customs. Uh, there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. So he's physically imposing. He's probably about nine and a half feet tall. If you it's roughly a cubit, was sort of a rough measurement of the span. Um, but he's somewhere between nine and ten feet tall. And but that's not the point, really. Um, Philistine armies were come, and this Goliath would he would do something when he came out. Um, verse 8 says, He stood and he cried unto the armies of Israel. Long story short, Goliath started preaching.

SPEAKER_01: 11:34

Yes.

SPEAKER_00: 11:40

Goliath, he's a big old nine and a half foot, ten-foot tall guy, he has all this stuff, and you can go into all the measurements and how much of weight and everything like that, but that's not the point. Um the man went out. Scripture tells us morning and evening for 40 days, and he would preach to Israel. And he wouldn't do it in his flesh. Um, scripture later says, you know, when David confronted him, he cursed David in the name of his gods. Goliath has demonic power behind him, and demonic power is operating through Goliath. He has the gods of the Philistines. He's he's in he's out there in the name of the gods of the Philistines, and those are demons. And this is very, very interesting. Within Samuel's lifetime, and certainly within the people of Israel's lifetime, what had God done to the Philistines? Do you remember? Bigger question is they don't remember. At this point, whenever Goliath is going out and he's doing all this stuff in the name of his gods, um, he's getting through to Israel. He's getting through. Um, if you go down here, um, verse 11, 17, 11, um, when Saul, who's already being tormented by an evil spirit, I mean, he's the spirit of the Lord's gone. Uh Saul and all Israel, following after Saul, heard the words of the Philistine. What happened? They they were dismayed and greatly afraid. Morning and evening for forty days. Sun comes up, Goliath gives his sermon. They're dismayed and greatly afraid. Maybe some stuff happens during the day. Okay, sun starts going down, Goliath comes back, he gives his sermon. Now, going into the night, they're dismayed and they're greatly afraid. Forty days this goes on. But they had not remembered. Church, you need to remember. During Samuel's life and ministry, the Lord had subdued and defeated the Philistines and their gods. The Lord had done that already. And perhaps some of the and this was a few years ago now. You know, Samuel was older at this point. But this is not ancient history. Yes, Philistia had come up and they'd smitten Israel at one point, they'd taken the ark at one point. What did God start doing? Remember the account of Dagon bowing down? God did that. Remember when Philip when Israel started co going up against the Philistines, and it says that Israel had subdued the Philistines. God did that. Not long ago, God did that. We must remember our God.

SPEAKER_01: 15:32

Amen.

SPEAKER_00: 15:34

We must remember our God. Church, you have to look around. Church, you have to look not only at your own testimony, but you have to look at the testimony of Scripture, and you have to look at the testimony of what God has done in this church in recent history. And by recent history, oh church, this is interesting. 40 days here, Goliath, 40 years. 40 years, 40 years. And my friends, Goliath has been there day and night in this church for 40 years. Folks, I will unfold that for you. But you've got to see it. And you've got to see it in the hope. Not to be dismayed. Dismayed means you lose your heart. Bless God, remember what your heart is. Afraid. Oh, there's only one type of godly fear, and that's the fear of the Lord. So, my friends, if you're losing heart tonight, and if you're afraid tonight, if you're tormented tonight, if you're afflicted tonight, oh God got a word to you. First part of that word is remember. You look around, you look back in your life. Let's go, we got a sister here. She's a you know, stone of remembrance two days ago. Now talk to her. Let her testimony stir you up to a testimony that God has not left. Let God stir you up to a testimony of mercy and forgiveness and grace. Let God stir you up tonight. Hallelujah. Um, we we had 40 days here, and my friend, in the history of Israel, you go back to Israel. How long did they spend wandering in the wilderness? 40 years. They spent 40 days wandering. When Goliath was coming out, and and he was he was reproaching Israel, he was defying the armies of the living God, he was defying the Lord of hosts, he was doing this for 40 days, and just like they'd wandered in the desert, my friend, 40 years they wandered. I wonder if anybody back then started making that connection. Or had they forgotten back then, they'd forgotten things in Samuel's lifetime. Surely Moses must have just seemed like a distant legend. Aaron, the burning bush. Oh, Abraham, when when bless God, we know thing about fire. Uh the the burning lamp in the time of Abraham when God started making that covenant with Abraham, and bless God, they they they were gonna be a nation. And he moved up the fire that God rained down upon Sodom and Gomorrah. Surely that was forgotten as well. What's been forgotten in your life? What has the tyranny of the urgent and the burden of the past stolen from you? What has it stolen? I tell you, tonight you can have it back and you can have more. You can have more than you had before. This church could have the sweetest years ahead. And it doesn't have to start one year from now, it doesn't have to start six months, it starts now in this very hour. You can have back more than you had before. In the Lord, my friend. And so Israel is dismayed, Israel is afraid, they're deprived of their strength. And it goes on for 40 days. Um if you come down to verse uh 19 here. Um Saul and they and all the men of Israel were in the valley of Elah, they were fighting with the Philistines. And David rose up early in the morning and he left the sheep with a keeper, and he took and he went as Jesse commanded him. And so he's going, and uh that this was a developed war at this point. They had trenches. You know what it takes to dig a trench? I mean, you know, even back then they didn't have equipment. This was a developed set pattern. It had become a pattern. 40, it only took 40 days, it took less than 40 days. How long has the devil been speaking to you? How many times in your church have you seen people kind of rise up and have a real strong vision and be all together? And then one day, two days, three days later, it's like nothing happened. Goliath. He's been here the whole time. How many times have you seen that cycle? It's legitimate moves of the Holy Ghost, and some of you talk about this time way before I was here. Something happens, a consuming fire or something it was. And everyone said, Well, the Lord moved so much back then. And we didn't even know, and we were lost. Where did that go? Why is it back then? Goliath. Why, you know, all the ideas, all the passion, all the you know, evangelistic outbursts, sort of. Um, why didn't they grow? Goliath. But more than that, people listened to Goliath. This is this is Israel, this is God's flock, this is God's people, and God is not leaving. Um, but they they were still kind of functioning. You look at this. Um, they they had trenches for one. I mean, this is a pattern. They had trenches, and the host was going forth to the fight, and they shouted for the battle. Israel and the Philistines have put the battle in array, army against army. There's a battle, they're doing stuff. They're meeting. They're shouting. They're going out and they're working. They're they're doing things. And my friend, if you're not careful, you would think that this was full-blown Holy Ghost revival. But it's not. Goliath is still there. They're doing things, they're meeting. Things are going on. There's a testimony every now and then. But I gotta ask you. Um, because you know, I've said I've said it before as an evangelist. 90% saved isn't saved. 90% of the provision you need is not the provision you need. Let that sink in. 90% of the provision you need is not the provision you need. And it's not God's full provision. God talks about abundance. 90%. I want you all to hear that in a way that you probably have never heard it before. You you've only heard it in a condemning way because of Goliath. There's a twisting, there's a snatching away. Our senior pastor had preached about this a while ago about things being snatched away out of the mind. It's true. Um I want you to look at it in a completely different way. You've been missing out on abundance. You may be saved. Hallelujah. Glory to God. That's why God has you listening to this message. Because God doesn't want another turn of missing the abundance. And God got He's had to put you in a pickle, get your attention, hallelujah. And he's got to get bless God, and some other folks have been good enough to walk through a pickle and get your attention. Hallelujah. And God gonna God not gonna forget that. Hallelujah. God's not gonna forget it. But glory to God to get you to see that 90% is not good enough for God. It shouldn't be good enough for you. Um just having a trench, just going at because look look at what happens here. You cannot deny it if you look at the scripture. Look at what happens. So David's coming up, and then you go down to verse 23, and David is talking about them. He's running to the army, he's talking about them, and then behold, there came up the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name. Nobody made this guy a pincushion of arrows. Nobody ganged up on him. He's even a ten-foot-tall guy. He couldn't take on an army. They had ranged weaponry at this point, and they had a trench. They had all the superior position that you could ever want. All they had to do was go down in the trench and just fire away. They didn't do it. What did they do? They saw the man and fled from him and were sore afraid. Because the spirits that were operating through Goliath was a spirit of fear. And so Israel, I mean, if they had forgotten before, they really forgot now. And all Goliath had to do was walk out there and break Israel's ranks just by his presence. Now what it is what is it in your life, my friend? What is it in your life that's gone but not really gone? It's gone but not really. You say it's gone, but it always comes back. That is not victory. Again, just like 90%, hear this in a way that you've probably never heard it before, even though it's been said before. See, many have heard it in the condemning way. I want you to hear it in the anointing way. In the anointing way. And so, Lord God Almighty, hallelujah. You break the hold of the devil in the people's minds, and you shut them up to hear this. Ninety percent victory isn't victory. God gives an abundant and a complete and a total victory, but ninety percent is a very, very, very clever deception. But hallelujah. Come out of it tonight. Cause, glory to God, there was a man of anointing present. And in this case, his name was David. There was a man of anointing. And because of the anointing, if you go back, let me uh 1613. Um look at this. Look at it, um, 1613. You may have to come back a little bit. Um, this is when David was anointed. Um, then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him, David, in the midst of his brethren. And the spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. And then Samuel rose up and went to Ramah. Um, but the spirit of the Lord was upon David. And because the spirit of the Lord was upon David, David saw everything differently. He saw the entire situation differently. We're looking at the same situation, but we're seeing different things. The people who are under the Goliath spirit, the spirit of fear, they are seeing this entirely different. They are seeing this like we're going out and we're fighting and we're doing our thing, but we just can't handle this big giant guy. Um they're seeing it that way, they're seeing it from a position of dismay. The anointing comes in, and you see it differently. Why? Because of the anointing. The anointing sees all of this differently. Um, David comes in and he sees all of this differently. Um, he he started to say things like, Well, who is this uncircumcised Philistine? Um, who who is this? That, you know, it he's reproaching Israel. What's going to be done to the man who goes out and takes care of this? Um, what's going to be done to him? Um, who takes away the reproach from Israel? Um, Israel probably didn't see that they were under a reproach. Just like a lot of churches today are in a are kind of in the Laodicean position. You think you're doing great. You think you're fighting a good fight. Um you knock down a few things every now and then, but then they always get up and they always come back, and they're always worse than before. And uh and the Lord's coming up, and he's saying, Well, I I I gotta tell you straight, you're you're you're miserable, you're wretched, you're blind, and you're naked. And you're you're saying that you don't have any need of anything, but I'm looking at you, and and I'm looking at your situation. You have need of a lot of things. Um, you need to let me anoint. You gotta read it again. Hallelujah. You got this whole anointing thing going on, bless God. And you gotta see it in the New Testament sense. Because this is the Old Testament sense, but you gotta see this. Hallelujah. Because thou sayest I am rich. Um, this is Revelation 3, 17. Um, you say I am rich. This is Jesus talking to the church. You say, I am rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing, and knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. I it doesn't stop there. I counsel you. See, a lot of people get hung up on that. They say, Well, how dare the Lord say this? Um, you know, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And you know, it all kicks up. Um, I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire. And this is pure. This is a purity. This this is like this is a wealth that's like beyond wealth. This is gold that's better than gold. That thou mayest be rich. God wants you to be rich. Whoa. Kick out all the prosperity preachers from here and kick out all the ones that are still operating around the world, especially over in Africa and Latin America right now. Kick out all of that. Yeah, God wants you to be rich. Glory to God. Hallelujah. Do you believe him? Hallelujah. That's all it takes, man. People laugh and people, um, but but it's a simple faith. And white raiment that thou mayest be clothed. Oh, God wants you to look, he wants you to be finely clothed. Hallelujah. Not an ounce of condemnation left. White raiment, white robes, pure, unstained and unspotted. That the shame of thy nakedness do not appear. God doesn't want you to be ashamed, He doesn't want you to be ashamed before Him or anybody else. And here it is anoint. Anoint. Anoint thine eyes with Isaf that you may see. God wants you to see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous, therefore, and repent. Don't start, you become zealous. You know, come up, throw open the door, let him in. Dine with him, and you'll never be the same. Hallelujah and amen. And so the man of anointing comes up back in 1 Samuel. He sees it all differently. And then he starts to talk to Saul. He says, Um, 1732. David said to Saul, now, you know, hallelujah, David's David, and he's the anointed man here. And yet, look at what he does, he still operates in order. You'll see that through David's life. Even when Saul's pursuing him to death, even when Saul, well, that's God's anointed. God's anointed is doing some pretty ungodly things right now. But that's God's anointed. God's anointed, you know, he's a you know, but that's God's anointed. And so David is, he doesn't just go out there and blast the Philistine. He talks to Saul. And David says to Saul, let no man's heart fail because of him. Thy servant will go and fight with the Philistine. Now, David's brothers had answered him pretty roughly. Some men in the army had answered him pretty roughly. Saul, some people say this is pretty mocking. He said, you know, you're not able to go against this Philistine, fight with him. You're you're a boy. You're a youth. He's a man of war from his root youth. He's been killing people since before you were born. How are you gonna fight? See, he's seeing this in the practical, and that and that's all it is. He's seeing it in that that's all. He's seeing my army is fleeing because of this guy. Um, he's seeing, I'm afraid, scared to death because of this guy. And now you're coming in here in your teenage years somewhere, and you're saying, you're gonna, you're you're telling me not to be afraid, and you're telling my army, let no man's heart be afraid. You're telling me you're gonna go out there and and and you're gonna fight with them and you're gonna win. And David, well, he kind of goes along with Saul. David starts giving his testimony. David says, Well, I've there there came a lion, there came a bear. And David didn't have any time to prepare for those things. David had to use what he had in the moment, if you will. Maybe one day he had a staff, maybe one day he he used his sling and his stones the way he would. Um but he'd fought and I don't this is a young boy. Let that wash over you. He fought a bear and won. Hand to hand. Fought a bear and won. And now step up from that. So he fought a lion hand to hand because they were taking a lamb. And David said, I went out after him and I smote him. David chased down this bear. David chased down this lion, and he smote him, and he delivered the lamb. He not only killed, but he also delivered. And the anointing is operating. This is Israel, this is the flock of God. God's been getting me ready the whole time. Um, this is Israel, this is his flock. And this flock right now is in the jaws of a ten-foot giant with the gods of the Philistine behind him. I'm going to fight the giant, and I'm going to deliver the flock. And bless God, type of Jesus is just running through your soul right now, forerunner of Jesus is just running through your soul right now. Um, salvation has come of Israel, salvation has come out of Zion to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile. Hallelujah. This should be running through your soul right now. This should be encouraging your soul right now. Whatever situation you're in with the demonic right now, this you should be rising up in your soul right now, and saying that there is a God in Israel and there's a God in me. There's a Holy Spirit in me, the same spirit that came upon David in those days, the same spirit that was with David. God knows the bear that was slain, and God knows the lion that was slain because God was there. And God was there working through this young man to do those things. The same spirit that came upon David that day in the battlefield. That's the same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead. What's the New Testament say? That's the same spirit that's in you. Uh, what did Paul testify one time? Uh, hallelujah and amen. He wanted the church to know. He wanted the church to know how pressed they were in Asia. This is a good jumping forward to the New Testament. I believe it was the Corinthians. He wanted them to know. He didn't, they were in trouble in Asia. The apostle and his companions were in trouble. They were pressed to the point where they despaired even of life. And that's a press. What they do. They trusted in the God who raises the dead. Now, the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead is in you. The spirit was inside the sealed tomb that day. That's the same spirit that's in you. The spirit that was physic is physically actually inside the tomb while it was sealed. And the spirit that raised up Christ bodily from the dead. That's in you. And you can, and I say, let this, I'm gonna resurrect the phrase from about 2015. The holy have to. The holy have to. You know how the holy have-to works? The Spirit of God jumps up in you and you have to. Because it's the Spirit of God leading you. You have to get up and talk to the devil, right? You have to get up and answer Goliath. You have to get up and you and you call upon the name of the Lord, knowing that you're heard before the throne of God, knowing that you come boldly before the throne of God to find what? Grace. That's our first response because that's our God's first response. Grace and help in time of need. And you have a need, and you must respond to it in this way, because God doesn't want you to die, and God doesn't want you to perish, and God wants you to live and not die and declare the works of the Lord. And so the Holy Ghost leaps up inside of you, and that's why you have to. Because the Holy Spirit's leaping up, and He's leading you forward, He's leading you up and forward on an up and forward trajectory. Hallelujah and amen. And so you have to, and so you must, otherwise, you only exist, and you'll never see the fullness of what God had for you the whole time. So this man of anointing comes. Hallelujah. And so Saul tries to give him some armor, try Saul tries to give him some weapons. Um, those are Saul's weapons, they're not David's. That's that'll preach too. Saul was a man operating in an evil spirit himself and operating in the flesh himself. And so he figures, well, this kid must need what I do. But glory to God, listen to this church. It didn't fit. You see, physically, Saul was a big man. He's not Goliath's size, but but Saul was a big man in Israel. He's head, you know, at least a head above his brothers. He was big. His helmet didn't fit David. His armor didn't fit David, his weapons didn't fit David. And and the spirit shouting to you there. Church, the flesh does not fit you. There was a battle fought here between David and Goliath. There was a battle fought here between the Holy Ghost and the God of the Philistines. There was a battle fought, and it played out in the physical. But it's not a physical battle. It can't be won by the flesh. If you try it in the flesh, you'll fail every time. But if you prove it, you see, David said of this armor, you know, I can't use them because I haven't proven them. You know, I haven't proven this armor. This isn't me. It's yours. And I can't accept it. I can't use it. Church, you're you're not designed to fight physically. I can tell you, it's it's exhausting. Um, I can tell you it hurts on a few different levels. Um you know, I I I can tell you, I mean, uh even if you just get hit lightly in the right place, it hurts like crazy. You'll feel it for days. Um, it often results in permanent injury, seen and unseen. God did not design the church to fight that way. But He did design the church. See, there's that thing again. You've always heard that in a condemning way. Always. Not now. Um Church, you're you're bearing the physical consequences of fighting the wrong way. What did God call you to do? Primarily to stand. Um, there is a sharp two-edged sword in that armor of God, bless God. That armor of God, it's it's all Jesus. Every single pro it's a metaphor. Um, but it's the whole thing is Jesus. Long story short, I got a book like this big on that. You know, it all like explains that, but it always goes back to it's Jesus. You know, um William Gurnal, you know, uh he went years writing this thing for years, and and it always concludes it always go back to Jesus. That's you. There's a sharp two-edged sword in the armor of God, that's the only offensive weapon you'll find. And what is that sword? The word of God. Um, even beyond the book. Um I'm talking beyond the book because it's living. It's the living word of God. All you've gotta do is stand on that word, and all you've got to do is speak that word and apply it in faith to anything that comes up. That's all you gotta do. Now that will play out in the physical, that'll play out in your businesses, uh, that will play out in your worship, that will play out in any evangelistic activity you enter into. Um, that will play out anytime the enemy comes scratching at your door. That it will play out in the physical, but it's spiritual. Hallelujah. And friend, you got it. Right now, you got it. If you're saved, born again, spirit-filled, you've got it. All you gotta do is use it. And my friend, you know, so David comes up and he does the whole armor thing. And then finally we come to the battle itself. And uh let's come down to 1743. Actually, 1742, let's start. You know, David's going out and he's before Goliath now. 1742. And the Philistine looked about and he saw David. He disdained him. Every devil will disdain you. It will look upon you with disdain. He was but a youth. See, scripture will tell you, let no man despise your youth. And ruddy and fair countenance. He didn't have any scars, he didn't have any scabs, he didn't have the hard eyes of a killer. They're either hard or they're distant. But he he didn't have either one. This this kid was standing before him. This kid was alive. He was alive. He stood before him, maybe fifteen years old. Full of life. And all David had done at this point was gone out there. No words had been exchanged, no blows had been exchanged. All he did was walk out there, and the spirits that were operating in Goliath started operating. And they looked at him with a disdain. They saw the living God there, and they despised David because of the Holy Spirit. They despised David the same way to despise God, and they started to speak. Maybe they're still speaking to you, maybe you haven't shut off the hearing and shut the door and closed the window yet. I'll tell you, you still have a chance to do that. And that chance is right now. The Philistine said to David, Am I a dog that you come to me with staves? And the Phili and we don't have it recorded, and I believe there are reasons for that. Hallelujah. It didn't really matter what he said at this point. The Philistine cursed David by his gods. Now, this happened to be, you know, at least one of them was Dagon. Uh, this happened to be the same God that the living God defeated. And the living God had, it'd be interesting to see exactly how. Um, but the living God point is the the ark had set before a statue of one of the Philistine gods. And God had pushed it over and broke the statue. So that's a reason, I believe, why what Goliath said just isn't recorded. It didn't matter. Goliath and all the demons and devils of the Philistines were just throwing a tantrum. And the Philistines said, Come to me, I'll give thy flesh to the fowls of the air and the beasts of the field. And oh yeah, all fill all of Israel will have to serve us, won't they? Oh, you know, so all this is working in Goliath. Um now David talked back. Goliath wasn't used to this. And the demons and the devils that have been reproaching Israel for all this time weren't used to this. David said to the Philistine, you just hear the Holy Ghost in this. You come to me with a sword and a spear and a shield. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day will the Lord deliver you into my hand, and I will smite you and take your head from you. I will give the carcass of the host of the Philistines this day to the fowls of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there's a God in Israel, and all this assembly who's been running and hiding forty years or forty days. You have more false starts and more fizzles than you can count, that you may know that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear. For the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hands. Oh, the Lord did that day. There was a victory that day. Is there a victory now in your life? You know, we've got to come to a time of invitation now. Hallelujah. For our musicians will come forward this night. Is there a victory now in your life, church? Hallelujah and amen. And my friend, if there is a victory, then you need to shout it, you need to testify tonight of that victory. You need to take that victory that's inside you, and you need to let it out. Because my friends, you know, life and death are in the power of the tongue. And God did not leave you. You know, because it says, you know, the rest of that verse says your belly will eat, your belly will be filled with it. You'll be filled with what comes out of your mouth because it comes out of your heart. If there's a victory in your heart, if there's a glory in your heart, um, bless God, there's a prophecy in your heart. Hallelujah and amen. A Holy Ghost prophecy in your heart. Um, if there's a word for yourself, if there's a word for somebody else, and that God didn't design that to be kept in. God designed it to come out. Um, because there's there's a double here in what David said. Uh that the earth may know, that's one, church today, that's the lost and the dying sinner that's hellbound. And the lost and the dying sinner that hasn't a hope in this earth but has a hope in heaven. Hallelujah. They need to know. And God didn't design it for you to pass off on somebody else. They need to know that there's a God in Israel. Now we Gentiles here, hallelujah, we've got um um people, we've got Israel, some of Israel listens to this. And hallelujah, that's gonna hit you maybe a little bit different. Amen. But church, um Gentile church, salvation comes of Zion. That the church may know, and that the earth may know that there is a God. And this assembly, um, my friend, maybe that's your assembly. That this assembly, this church, and my friend, if you know we're a church and your church, well, glory to God, we're related. Amen. We got the same spirit, that this assembly shall know. Shall know what? That the Lord, that's all capital letters now, that the Lord, he doesn't save a sword and spear. He doesn't say, you know, what does the New Testament say? Hallelujah. It's God took in in David's life in Goliath, this exchange, God took five stones that he had down in a riverbed somewhere. Stones. Ebenezer, at that ring in your soul. Stones. What's yours? You got stones. You got stones of remembrance. If all if the only stone of you might be real young, and bless God, but the only stone of remembrance you got is the moment that God plucked your soul out of hell and made you a new man, a new woman. And you got enough. You only need one, David. You only need one. And you take that up and you hold it, you remember it. You see that Philistine? And he just whip it at that Philistine. We overcome by the blood of the Lamb, the word of our testimony, and the tribulation. Those are tribulation saints. We overcome the sinner. That didn't change. That's now, and that's then. Hallelujah. Um, this is he doesn't save with a sword and a spear, he takes the foolish things of the world. See, the sword and the spear. Well, we don't, you know, we we got guns and bombs now. You know, we got different weapons of warfare. Um, but the Lord doesn't save with those, he takes the foolish things of the world. Um, he could take uh hallelujah, just an ancient saint from up in the hills somewhere. They can't sing, they can't carry a tune, it's flat or it's nasally. And all you gotta do is drop that saint somewhere, and all they gotta do is start singing.

SPEAKER_01: 57:58

Amen. Amen.

SPEAKER_00: 57:59

All they gotta do is start letting it out. All you gotta do, all you have to do is let the Holy Ghost be the Holy Ghost. That's all church has to do. God saved you. What's it say, Old Testament and New? God plants you, God seals you, God bears his fruit. God does it all. All you gotta do is in faith, let God be God. That's all you gotta do. And you'll be surprised what he uses in the practical. And he will give you into our hands. Um, church, the devil has already been given into your hands. He's defeated, he has no hold on you. And if you've allowed him to have a hold, oh the only reason he's it's allowed is because he allowed it. Um back there, hallelujah. Um the wicked one touches you not. And so if the wicked one is touching you, it's because you're letting the wicked one touch you. So I like to say, get up and shut the door. I like to say, get up and close the window. And then the wicked one touches you not. Anytime the wicked one tries, this is all you gotta do. Call upon the name of the Lord, stir up that testimony. And watch the giants fall. So will you do that tonight? Well, uh maybe you've never seen it. Maybe, uh well, my friends, be encouraged. There's a last day's harvest. And for there to be a last day's harvest, there's gotta be a last days church that's strong. There ain't gonna be a harvest if there's no church. There ain't gonna be a church if there's no pastors of it. There ain't not gonna be a church. And right now, you gotta forget all of your experience, maybe. And do something new. But once you be encouraged, the new thing that the Lord's calling you to do, it's this. And it's all reflected throughout the New Testament. So the new thing is actually a very old thing. It seems to be new because you've never walked this way. So let's walk this way and let's walk this way together. Umified body. And so I gotta say that to more than the people in this room. Let's walk this way and let's walk together. A unified body. Just like in the New Testament times, there was a church in Corinth, there was a church in Philippi, there was a church, you know, there were churches, several of them spread through the region of Galatia. It was a region. Um, there were churches that met in houses, there were churches who met in all sorts of different situations. Let's walk this together in the Holy Ghost. Let's do that new old sin. And so, please, the Lord's used this at all in the life. Let's walk together. Amen. Reach out to us, get in touch with us, come and see us, come and visit us. Um, the Lord can see you, so He has which will bless us. He will lead us forward. And so blessed the moment of Lord's.