Transcription
Thank you God for the opportunity after opportunity we can sit like Mary listening to Your heart. God, thank you for our future because we know our future is full of hope that will never disappoint because Jesus is in it. We give thanks for the eternity God has prepared for us. We give thanks for the certainty God has given us. All of that, God, is because You have finished it on the cross. With the word "finished," all Your works were sealed. Thank you, good Father. Today we want to learn to receive the best so that our lives can give the best. We welcome Your word in Jesus' name, we pray. Let's say amen together. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Please sit down. Shalom. Shalom. Have you eaten? Don't fall asleep, okay? I, uh, because my house is close, I had time to go home and eat first. Okay. Uh, "The Foundation of Faith" is the theme, uh, today. We open, together, Romans 10, verse 17, a very popular verse. Romans 10, verse 17 says this: "So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ." So faith comes from hearing, hearing the word of Christ. Now, throughout today, we, uh, we have been discussing since morning about a story that is, uh, truly, truly extraordinary in the Bible. The story of a boy, who was about in his teens, whose life was confronted with voices in his life. This boy's name is David. And when we talk about the name David, we will surely correlate him with Goliath, his enemy. And that has become a classic story in, uh, Sunday school, which we usually start hearing from when we were little. Now, faith comes from hearing the word of God. And Hebrews 1, verse 3, says that the word is what sustains human life. So, the foundation of the Christian life of a person, or a Christian, is the word of God. Nothing else. That's why when the foundation is the word, and he does not underestimate the word. Our lives, when trials come, and trials are usually like a pop quiz. They can come anytime, and we must be ready. Because day after day, we have begun to get used to not just reading the Bible, but we have begun to make the Bible read us. We begin to live, not just understand. We begin to be mastered by the word, and that will gradually level up on its own. The basic core is actually very simple. Read, hear, read, hear, read, hear. Then meditate, speak, and finally do the word. I don't dare to leave my room before, uh, early in the morning. Better from home, my room. I don't dare to leave my room before having a quiet time. Because for me, my decisions will be made according to the word that I read and hear in the morning. And at night, we will surely have a family altar. Uh, many people give reasons, but my child is far away, sir, and so on. My first child lives 12 hours apart from me. We video call him. He's waking up. Just waking up, sometimes about to leave for his workplace. And that has never been an excuse. And for me, as a parent, uh, my wife and I see extraordinary spiritual growth in their lives because from childhood, that is the greatest inheritance we can give them in their lives. Now, hearing, hearing the word of Christ, yes. Hearing and listening are different. Hearing means we can hear anything passively, but it doesn't ultimately enter our hearts and depths. But if we listen, it means we are doing something, uh, actively and with focus. And what we hear can ultimately change our lives or also destroy our lives, depending on what we listen to. Now, the voices we hear every day are very many and very noisy. Especially in our lives today. It's noisy. There are social media, there are our own inner voices, there are the devil's voices too, there are other voices. Even there are discordant voices coming from our surroundings, and usually the most hurtful are from those closest to us, usually. Now, the person we usually like to meet when we're having coffee is a good listener, someone who listens to us, with whom conversations are enjoyable, and so on. I have, uh, a good friend who is also my mentor, and I look forward to talking to him because he listens, he pays attention, and then our conversations are mutually enriching, mutually learning, and fulfilling. We don't even realize how time flies when we're talking. Now, there are also people we talk to, and we gradually dislike talking to them because we get tired ourselves. Because they interrupt us all the time. And every time we share something, they have an even more exciting story. "Oh, if it was me, it was like this." "Oh, if it was me, it was like this, this, this." It's tiring after a while. Then when we finish meeting, we say, "I don't want to meet him again, I'm tired of meeting him." If he invites us for coffee again, we're already lazy. We start avoiding him. Now, the person who talks to me the most is myself. Yes, the person who talks to all of us the most is ourselves. Now, we can make ourselves tired because we talk to ourselves with wrong things, and we hear those things, and ultimately it makes our souls tired. For example, Jesus said in Matthew 6:31, "Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'" So in other words, He is teaching, "Do not be anxious, and plus, do not speak, do not talk." Just don't talk like this, "Oh, how will it be? Oh, how will it be? Your needs have been met by Me. Everything you need in your life, I have prepared. Sometimes it's according to My timing, not yours. Just be calm. When you look at your daily life, just imagine you are looking at a jigsaw puzzle. When we open the box of a jigsaw puzzle, we usually find small bits and pieces like this, right? Depending on the size, some are big, some are small. But if it's a 3,000-piece puzzle, when we open the box, we'll be overwhelmed. What do we usually do? We arrange them one by one, and then we start looking for which picture matches which, right? Then it becomes a big picture. God already has the big picture. Now, we look at it with that kind of perception, we only see the unpleasant things every day. That's why often, because we can't see the big picture, we complain. Start training yourself so that your soul is at peace. That's why there is power behind thanksgiving. You have a problem? Yes. I have a problem. And we don't complain. We speak well, we speak differently. We say, "Yes, there is a problem." But I know God holds my life. I know when the time comes, God has prepared the best for me. Instead of people saying, "You have a problem?" "Yes." "Oh, I'm stressed." "Oh, this, stress." It will really happen. Faith arises. Faith comes from hearing the word of Christ. Not from hearing social media, not from hearing Netflix, not from hearing K-dramas, and so on. It's okay to watch Netflix, it's okay. It's okay to watch K-dramas too. But if we keep filling ourselves with that, what will our foundation become? So, hearing the word of Christ. So be careful. We also talk to ourselves. We must also be careful, because we are the ones who talk to ourselves the most. Now, David, when we say David and immediately correlate him with Goliath, that's too easy. Too simple. David had a life where he had to take a stand and make a decision about whose voice he wanted to hear, until he faced Goliath, it wasn't easy. Okay, later, friends, please read 1 Samuel, uh, uh, 15. Saul has already begun to be rejected by God. He has begun to be disobedient, and so on. To the point that there is a verse in 1 Samuel 15:22, which is very cool when read in English. It says, "Obedience is far greater than sacrifice." In other words, God says, "I don't need your sacrifices. I need your obedience more." Because he was disobedient, his anointing began to be taken away. His anointing was transferred to someone. Eventually, Samuel, Prophet Samuel, was told by God to go to the house of Jesse in Bethlehem. This story begins in 1 Samuel 16:1. The word of God says this: The Lord said to Samuel, "How long will you grieve for Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go. I am sending you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons." When he arrived at Jesse's place, in verse 6, as they entered, Samuel saw Eliab. Eliab is the firstborn son. Then he thought, "Surely the Lord's anointed is before Him now." Why? Because Eliab was a soldier. There's a possibility he had the physique and build of a soldier, and he was probably big. And his appearance was such that he looked suitable to be king. But the Lord said to Samuel, "Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart." Then Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel. And Samuel also said, "This one also the Lord has not chosen." Then the third son was made to pass before Samuel, named Shammah. Then Jesse made Shammah pass by, verse 9. Samuel also said, "This one also the Lord has not chosen." Thus Jesse made all seven of his sons pass before Samuel, and all these were told that none of them were chosen by the Lord. Samuel was confused. He began to ask in verse 11, "Are all your sons here?" He replied, "There remains yet the youngest, but he is tending the sheep." Do not miss the phrase "tending the sheep" because it will be repeated many times. And this will show that every time there is a repetition in a story, the author is telling us that it is important. A sentence or an event that is first mentioned in the Bible is also important, and then repetition is also important. A simple example, the veil in the Old Testament and the veil in the New Testament, for instance. In the Old Testament, the veil was the separation between God and man, erected in the tabernacle of Moses. The veil is first mentioned in the New Testament when Jesus tore it, saying, "It is finished" on the cross. So there is significance. Every time the first word is spoken, every time there is repetition, the Bible is trying to tell us, the author, that there is something very important behind it. Samuel said to Jesse, "Send for him, for we will not sit down till he comes here." And then he was sent for. We never know, the Bible never documents who called David from the field. And then it is said, "He was ruddy, with beautiful eyes, and good to look at." And when he came, God said to Samuel, "Arise, anoint him, for this is he. This is the man." And the Bible says in verse 13, Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed David. Pay attention to this sentence, in the midst of his brothers. From that day on, the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David. In the Old Testament, the Spirit of God came powerfully upon men. In the New Testament, the Spirit of God dwells within men. All of us have the Holy Spirit within us. In the Old Testament, the Spirit of God could leave a person. Today, the Holy Spirit dwells here and never leaves us. So never pray like this: "God, don't leave us, God, don't be upset." Yes, I am most saddened when people pray for intercession and say things like that. The Holy Spirit never leaves us. We may have made mistakes yesterday, we have been sealed, that sealing of salvation means the Holy Spirit. So, it is we who leave God. The Holy Spirit never leaves us. Yes, so we see the difference in context, this is the Old Testament. Now, when this happened, okay, now there are two sides. His brothers, especially the older ones, Eliab, Abinadab, and Shammah, were jealous. There will be documentation later. They were jealous and resentful of their younger brother. Because they thought, "Well, I should have been king, why is my younger brother, who was not considered, becoming king?" Now, on one side, in David's mind, he now has two choices. Because there are two voices in his heart too. And actually, in the end, he didn't choose those two voices. He chose the voice of truth, because the Bible proves it. Now, one voice is that he could have many reasons to be bitter towards his father. Because that day he realized his life was being compared to his brothers, and he was not considered at all. He was not included in the anointing ceremony of Jesse's sons. Oh, he could have many reasons to be bitter towards his father. It's crazy, you know. I'm compared to my older brothers, I'm not noticed. The second is, he has many reasons to be very arrogant that day, to prove himself even to his brothers, "Yeah, you didn't notice me, huh? Well, now I'll prove it to you. I'm becoming king, the Spirit of God is upon me." Oh, no. Nothing like that. The Bible even narrates extraordinary things. He focused on small matters and was very faithful, and there is no documentation of him being bitter towards his father. Now, when this has happened, and we understand this story. Now we enter Saul's story. Saul's anointing was taken away by God. Because his anointing was taken away by God, often an evil spirit possessed him. And because an evil spirit possessed him, Saul's servants said to the king, "King, would you like us to call a harp player? We have heard that there is a harp player, the son of Jesse. He is skilled at playing the harp, he has even performed at CK7. Would you like me to call him to the palace?" "How do you know?" "Well, perhaps because the distance between Bethlehem and Jerusalem is about 6, 7, 8 kilometers, it's an open field at that time, surely. And the news has spread. Usually, when he tends sheep, he likes to play the harp, and he's good. King, would you like to send for him to play here so that his soul may be at ease?" To make a long story short, and this is God's kairos. David also didn't know that one day he would have an audience with King Saul. Because the only king who could determine who would fight Goliath was Saul. He didn't know about this. Initially, God brought him to King Saul so that he could play the harp. And eventually, when he came and played the harp, verse 21 says, "So David came to Saul and entered his service. And Saul loved him greatly, and he became his armor-bearer." So that means he was trusted, right? Saul sent word to Jesse his father, saying, "Let David remain in my service, for I am pleased with him." Then pay attention to this sentence. Don't miss this sentence. "For I have found favor in him." Okay, we'll come back to that. "I am pleased with David." Whenever the harmful spirit from God would attack Saul, David would take the harp and play it. Saul would feel relieved and well, and the harmful spirit would depart from him. So, at this moment, Saul liked David. All of this is God's kairos starting to happen. David also surely didn't know. One day, in the next chapter, there is a valley, the English translation says "The Valley of Elah." The Valley of Terebinth, where the Philistine army descended, bringing their icon named Goliath. They challenged the Israelite nation to have a battle, and they had a very wicked purpose. And this is implied in 1 Samuel 17:4, which says: Then a champion came out from the camp of the Philistines named Goliath, from Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. And then verse 8, he stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, saying to them, "Why are you coming out to draw up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not servants of Saul?" Then this is his challenge. "Choose for yourselves a man, and let him come down to me. In other words, 'Let's not have an open war. You send one soldier from your side whom you consider great, and let him fight me one-on-one, and if he, if your man, can fight against me and defeat me, then we will be your servants. If we lose, if I lose to your soldier, then I and all the Philistine nation will be your slaves.' He knew he would win because he was big, he was a giant, the only one there. But if I prevail against him and defeat him, then you shall be our servants and submit to us." But if it's the other way around, and I win, you all become my slaves. The Bible says in verse 11, when Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid. Okay. In this verse, pay close attention. There is a truth that they knew. I repeat. There is a truth that the Israelites knew. They knew, but they were not aware of their hypocrisy. Just like today, if we say that I know there is a promise of God, but I am not aware that I am the one who has full rights to all the promises of God. Like Romans 8:17, which says, "You are children, heirs, and have full rights to all the promises of God." Irony, right? I have God's promise, I even know God's promise, but I am not aware that I have rights to that promise and I am not living it. That's why they were afraid. Later, there will be a boy named David who will tell them the truth that they already knew. Okay, now let's read verse 13 first. The three eldest sons of Jesse had gone to war with Saul. The names of the three sons who went to war were Eliab, the eldest son, whom we read about earlier. The second son was named Abinadab. The third son was named Shammah. I just want to show that they were soldiers. They had gone with Saul. They were fighting. They were in the Valley of Terebinth. David was the youngest. Verse 14. So the three eldest sons went with Saul. But David, pay attention to this, always returned from Saul to what? To tend his father's sheep in Bethlehem. It's repeated over and over. So after he worked full-time playing the harp, he went home, he would definitely tend the sheep. And the number was not many. It will be documented later that the number was not many. So he was very diligent in small matters. The Bible also tells us that he was very devoted to his father. There is no record of him being bitter towards his father. He was faithful in small matters. He never hinted to Saul that perhaps he had been anointed. Well, he certainly wouldn't tell, right? If he was anointed king, he might have his head cut off. So he would surely keep quiet. But he already had the Spirit of God within him. He didn't hint about joining the war. No. After finishing playing the harp, he went home to tend the sheep. Verse 16. The Philistine would come forward morning and evening. Thus he presented himself for forty days. So what does that mean? Morning and evening, he shouted at the ranks of Israel for 40 days. He shouted like this, "Hey, where are all you cowards?" Challenging them every day for 40 days. Voices of darkness were hurled at the Israelites every day, and they were afraid, and they were unaware that they had God's promise over their lives. Okay, if the film frame changes. Enter Jesse's house, verse 17. Jesse said to David, early in the morning, or perhaps in the afternoon. "My son, take for your brothers a measure of parched grain and these ten loaves, and hurry to the camp to your brothers. And bring these ten cheeses to the commander of the thousand. See if your brothers are well, and bring back some token from them. Saul and they and all the men of Israel are in the Valley of Terebinth, fighting the Philistines." It's possible this was said in the afternoon, because David would leave the next day. So his father said something like this in the morning, suddenly one day, "Okay, tomorrow you don't have to tend the sheep. You go and bring bread, parched grain, and cheese. Deliver them to your brothers in the Valley of Terebinth. Also, give the cheeses to the captains of thousands." They are fighting the Philistines in the Valley of Terebinth. Maybe David asked, "Where is the Valley of Terebinth?" "Just Google Map it, it's probably near Kemayoran." Maybe he said that, I don't know. Verse 20. So David rose early in the morning. Now, this phrase comes up again. David rose early in the morning. This is very important. He left his sheep to a keeper. It's written many times. So his sheep were very important. He even entrusted them to a friend. "Bro, I'm entrusting my sheep to you. Where are you going?" "I'm being sent by my dad to deliver bread and cheese. To the Valley of Terebinth to check on my brothers. I'll be back soon, okay?" Remember, every time he worked, he came back. Every time he worked, he came back. He really loved those sheep. And there weren't many, you know, not many. There will be a verse later. Then he took up his load and went as Jesse his father had commanded him. Now, here it is. He arrived at the Valley of Terebinth. He brought the bread and cheese. If the following event had not happened before him, when he dropped off the bread, cheese, parched grain, he met his brothers, he might not have met his brothers. There's a high probability that this scenario happened: he dropped them off, he was responsible for his sheep. "Please ask my brothers if they are safe." "Safe." "Because I have to report to Dad." "Oh, safe. Safe." "Okay, I'll leave this for my brothers. Parched grain and bread for my brothers. This cheese for the captains of the soldiers. That's it. Thank you." Then maybe his friend asked the soldiers, "Where are you going?" "I'm going back. I entrusted my sheep to my friend, bye." He's like that. He's done. He's back. He's back. The sheep are very important to him. Now, because he arrived there, and suddenly the Bible says, "This is God's kairos that has happened." So David came to the camp. As the army was going out to draw up for battle, and they raised a war cry. So he saw this, wow, a war cry. He started asking questions. He started to be confused. He started asking questions. Now, verse 23. As he was talking with them, behold, the champion came up, Goliath the Philistine from Gath, from the ranks of the Philistines. And Goliath spoke the same words as before. What words? His challenge words. "Hey, where are all you cowards?" He probably shouted like that. And the Bible documents it, and David heard it. God's kairos began to happen. Something within him began to rise. The voice of truth within him began to rise. And what he saw next was something that also awakened him. As all the men of Israel, verse 24, saw the man, they fled from him in great fear. He heard Goliath speak, he saw his own people, including his brothers, flee in fear. A statement from David arose in verse 26, part B, which I also wonder why it's never discussed. Because this verse, this statement, ultimately led him to an audience with King Saul. He shouted like this, verse 26, he said: "Who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?" Okay. If we read this quickly, without context, without considering the culture and also the Law, Talmud, and Mishnah behind it, there are by the way 613 regulations made at that time. And 248 commandments and 365 prohibitions. So it's not just the Ten Commandments. So there's a lot of context. Now, when they said "circumcised," when he said, "We are a circumcised nation, why are we afraid of him?" That's the narrative. The meaning of circumcision at that time was that they had God's presence. And that was the truth they knew but were not aware of. And that's what David shouted. If we narrate it in everyday Indonesian, he's saying, "Guys, why are you afraid? We are a circumcised nation. We have God's presence. He doesn't. So if you send anyone to fight him, even the thinnest soldier, if you fight him, you will win. Not because you are great, but because God is with you." That's what he said. Did they know? Yes, they knew. They knew that truth, but they did not hear the voice of truth. They chose to hear the voice of darkness. That's why faith comes from hearing the word of God. That's what it means. And this is what happened. Verse 28. His brother heard him speak, and his brother said: When Eliab his eldest brother heard David speak to the men, anger flared up against David, and he said, "Why have you come? What are you doing here?" His brother was jealous of him. His brother didn't like him. "And to whom have you left your few sheep in the wilderness?" It's repeated again, the sheep that were only two or three in the wilderness. It turns out there were only two. They were very important to him. "I know your presumption and the evil of your heart. You have come to see the battle." Now, this is David's response, verse 29. "What have I done? I have only asked a question." Yes, it sounds like a soap opera, doesn't it? "What have I done? I have only asked a question." I'll translate it into everyday Indonesian: "Brother, I just asked, Brother." He said it like that. Polite. Then look at what happened. Verse 30. I love verse 30. I love this. Then he turned away from whom? From him. Look away. From whom? Eliab, his brother, to others. And then asked the same question. The people gave him the same answer as before. Pay attention to this sequence. Discordant voices. The most hurtful voices we can hear, and that can make us bitter, are from those closest to us, and often from our own family. And the Bible records this very, very clearly. When you hear that from your family or anyone who has bullied you, respond politely and look away. Release forgiveness and turn away, and focus on God's calling in your life. And keep asking. He kept asking. He turned away from Eliab. People in Jakarta have a saying, "The sane person yields." Today, when I talk about my father, my dad, I can hold back tears because I have beautiful memories with him. He was called home by God 15 years ago. But it could be the opposite. Today I can say this, friends. I have a testimony in my life. I released forgiveness for my father. I can say that today. Why can't I say this? Because of a decision my father made when, from childhood, he was tortured by his father. My grandfather in Tomohon village in Manado. My grandfather was a famous Dutch colonial soldier. And my father, my dad, used to be tied to a tree. Stripped naked, ants crawling on him, slapped in front of his village. Until one day he couldn't take it anymore. In the 1950s, he couldn't take it anymore. He ran away to Bitung Port in Manado. He ran away to Surabaya, he ran away to Bandung, he ran away to Jakarta. He met my mother here in Jakarta. He received a letter because it was still the era of letters. He received a letter that his father had died. This is what he told me. Dad never felt sad. Even when he heard he died, he was just indifferent. Because he was bitter towards his father. He even hated his father. That's why he ran away. He never wanted to meet him again and never met him again. Then I asked him. When he told me, when I was in high school, he told me. He said, "Dad, why didn't you do that to us? You never hit us? You never committed domestic violence, never hit Mom." Because usually people like that fall into a vicious cycle, the chain continues. And I will never forget him saying, "In 1960, when I was about to marry your mother, I released forgiveness at the altar of God because I didn't want to carry the baggage from the past." I grew up with a father full of smiles. Every day he was like this. If he was stressed, I didn't know. All my life. If I came to his house, or when I was still living with him, every day he would say, "Hi Bill, how are you?" Every day, the discipline in our house was from Mom. If Mom disciplined us, well, Mom's discipline was also, uh, remarkable, you know? Not authoritarian, not with, not with violence. "Let's study, let's brush your teeth," he taught us, just discipline. Often, I saw Dad come behind Mom and rub her back. "Okay, okay, okay." What did he mean? "Don't, don't be too harsh with the children." That's my dad. And he was the type of person who would come into the room and say, "Bill, have you got a girlfriend in high school yet?" So we became best friends over time. So when he passed away, he died in front of the TV. Sudden heart attack. I was devastated. I lost my best friend. Not just my father. My story could be different today. If he had beaten me because he never released forgiveness. He looked away. And he released forgiveness. He said, "I never want to bring that baggage into my family." And what happened, look at verse 31. The words David spoke were heard by the people. The voice of truth in your life that defends you is God. You don't need to worry about defending yourself, just tell, seek the truth, justify yourself. Because truth does not need to seek justification. Truth will spread on its own, with God's defense. So, it is finally said that the words David spoke were heard by the people. What words? Those were the soldiers, and that voice had to be heard by King Saul so that he could get access to Goliath. So what happened was that David's words were heard by the people, and then they were told to Saul, and Saul sent for him. So you can imagine he turned away, and there were people around him whom God placed in his life. His voice of truth was conveyed to the right people. Don't defend yourself. Release forgiveness, turn away. Release the blessing, and then let God's defense happen in your life. Don't defend yourself. And notice that when Saul knew and when Saul called him, it was all because Saul already knew and liked him. That's why I said at the beginning, don't forget, Saul liked him. Okay, now let's change the scenario. Saul had never met him. He had never played the harp in Saul's palace. Then suddenly, a soldier says to King Saul, "Boss, there's a boy outside, about 19 years old, bringing bread and cheese." Okay, and then what? "Well, he's standing outside. He says, 'We are a circumcised nation, boss. If we fight Goliath, we will surely win.'" "Yeah, that's true, Boss." "Yeah, okay." There's a possibility Saul would say, "Hey, tell that boy to go home." I'm already stressed fighting Goliath, this boy is just causing trouble, tell him to go home. But because he heard his name called, not because of his words. Because who was speaking? David. David. "Oh, does he have a harp? Send him here." Like that. God's scenario, God's kairos is always timely for His children. He was called, that's one-on-one access. Why didn't he go home? Because he heard the war cry. Why didn't he go home? Because God allowed him to hear the voice of darkness, and the voice of truth arose within him. He voiced his voice. He was scolded by his brother. He released forgiveness. He looked away. And God told Saul about that voice of truth. Because God defended him. And when he met Saul, the first thing he said was in verse 30, verse 32: "Let no one lose heart on account of him. Do not be afraid, Boss. Do not be afraid. Your servant will go and fight this Philistine." "No one dares. I'll do it." The dialogue between Saul and David began. And David tried to convince him. Because Saul said, "Who are you?" Maybe he just said, "You're a harp player, you're just a shepherd. That man is a trained soldier. He's been a soldier for a long time. And he's big too." David said, verse 34: David said to Saul, "Your servant used to keep sheep for his father." Oh, it's repeated again, repeated again. "And when a lion or a bear came and took a sheep from the flock, I went out after it and struck it and delivered the sheep from its mouth. If Billy Lantang were a shepherd, and a bear or a lion took my sheep, I would say, 'Take it and eat it. That's it. I'm going home, I'm running away.'" Well, of course, there were only two or three. Why would you risk your life for them? He is speaking with conviction, telling Saul, "Those two or three sheep, I love them. Boss, every time I play the harp, I always go home to see them. That's my life. Then he said, 'I rescued the sheep from its mouth. And when it stood against me, I caught it by the beard and struck it and killed it. Both the lion and the bear, your servant has killed.'" "And the Philistine, now repeated, who is uncircumcised, he will be like one of those animals. Because he has defied the armies of the living God." In other words, he's saying, "Boss, the principle is this, Boss. Bears and lions are uncircumcised. They will surely lose to me because I am circumcised. I have God's presence. Goliath is also uncircumcised. They just look different. One is an animal, the other is a giant. Both are uncircumcised. They will surely lose, Boss." That's why he said in verse 37, "The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine also." At that statement, Saul finally thought, "Yeah, that's true. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah." And this is the sentence that gives me goosebumps. Saul said to David, "Go, and the Lord be with you." The permission to duel with Goliath was given by King Saul in verse 37. This means the fate of a nation was given to a 19-year-old boy who was bringing bread and cheese. If he lost, everyone would become slaves. The fate of a nation was given to him. Then he was given armor. He said, "It's heavy, Boss. It's heavy. I'm small. I can't do it." "What will you bring?" "I only need five stones. A small bag for the stones, a sling, and a staff." And I see him saying to him, "You come to me with sticks and stones. You come to me with just that. I will give your flesh to the birds of the air." Oh, he's different. He never said, "Oh, I will defeat you." No. He said, verse 45: He said, "You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied." He didn't rely on his stones. He relied on the name above all names. He swung his sling, he shot. Bang. Anyone here who knows physics. A stone lodging in the forehead of a giant and killing him. The probability is almost impossible. It wasn't the stone that killed him, it was God who defeated Goliath. Because he came in that name. He came in that name. And what I like most is why five stones? If you later read in Samuel and Chronicles, Goliath had four brothers. So he had prepared one stone for each giant. This means one stone killed one giant. This also means one stone would not miss. Wow. Remember what we read earlier? He asked, he asked, he asked, he gathered as much information as possible. Someone must have told him, "Bro, he has four brothers, Bro. We haven't seen them yet, maybe they're hiding. That's why he prepared five stones. His brothers died. There will be a story later, just read it. It's in Chronicles." So what does that mean? In his mind, even though it's small in my hand, if partnered with God, it will surely become a great thing. Amen. It will surely become a great thing. The staff in Moses' hand was nothing. Partnered with God, the sea parted. Five loaves and two fish were nothing. Partnered with God, thousands ate. Five stones, a sling, a small bag for the stones, and a staff in David's hand killed Goliath. Maybe today we are struggling. Our tears are on our knees as we pray. That's all we have. Partner with God. A breakthrough will surely happen. Great things will happen in your life. Because when you face your problems, you are not facing them in your own name. You face your problems in the name, in the name above all names, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Give us your applause for our God. Good Father, we learn, Lord, that the foundation of our faith is listening to the voice of truth, listening to that word. That's why David was not afraid. That's why his life was victorious. He never knew that one morning he would face Goliath. He never knew that one day his story would be proclaimed in this church. He just lived a very simple life. But the voice of truth was what he chose to hear every day. He ignored other voices because he knew he was focused on God's calling, even from small beginnings. And God placed him on the biggest stage of his life, facing Goliath. Lord, today we don't know what our Goliaths are, but we know one thing. If we fill our lives with the word of truth, then that voice of truth will dominate our lives. And because that voice of truth exists, it becomes the foundation of our faith, Lord. And we believe that when we wake up in the morning, we never know what will happen in our lives. But we know one thing, whatever may happen, our God is greater than anything. That's why we want to surrender our lives, our future, into God's hands. And we truly believe the Spirit of God who guides us will always seal word after word in our lives. Thank you, good Father. Only in the name of the Lord Jesus have I prayed and we have received the word of truth. Let's say amen together.