Transcription
Amen. How many of you, and I think the youth, are in today? So this is, they're gonna dip me a little bit. How many of you remember, really, now I'm talking real wrestling. Yeah, like I'm not talking about WWE or WWF. I'm talking about Saturday afternoon wrestling on TV. Shantia Stocks, the Baghdadi. Yeah, just to be the highlight of my Saturday. Used to be glued to the television. As you showed it, easy, easy, easy. And these guys, you know, there, there was Jack Haystacks. It was Big Daddy. Who remembers Big Daddy? Real name Shirley Crabtree. Not that intimidating, okay? You're going into the ring against Shirley today. Yeah, Big Cheryl, you know, he actually made the Guinness Book of Records with a 64-inch chest. Jan Haystacks was 49 stone. The bizarre thing is, actually, they both died within about 11 months of each other back in the 90s. Then there were a few others. Mac McManus, Kendo Nagasaki. They all had these names that were designed to instill fear. And you were really looking at a giant. We've been looking at a giant. And if he had a wrestling name, I was thinking of what it would be. It would be the Mass of Brass. The Mass of Brass. Goliath steps onto their battlefield. Here on the right-hand corner, we have the Mass of Brass. And all the Philistines are cheering, and all the Israelites are rolling off. Because that's what happened for 40 days and for 40 nights. We have these two armies lined up on either side with a valley in between. And every day and every night for 40 days, Goliath comes out and he taunts them and he shouts abuse at them. And the Israelites are terrified and intimidated, and they do nothing. And I don't know what they thought. Maybe they thought, "Well, on day 41, he'll get bored and go home." There are some enemies you have to fight. There are some things that won't go away unless you confront them.
On day 40, David gets called in by his dad. And Dad says, "David, I don't want you to die. And see your brothers. Three, if your brothers are dying at the battle lines, I want you to bring them some bread. I want you to bring them some cheese." That sounds like pizza to me. On day, and I want you just to see how they are doing. No, I, it would have been very tempting for David to go, "Dad, did you not remember what happened a few weeks ago? Remember Samuel? Remember the oil on the head? I'm a future king. I'm not the surrogate messenger boy." The drone starting in the failed to do the messages. And yet, that wasn't his heart. That wasn't his attitude. He was humble and he was obedient. And he did the menial and the mundane tasks. In reality, if it wasn't looking for a fight, David wasn't even looking to get noticed. David wasn't trying to usurp Saul as king. David was just being obedient to the father. And the ordinary and the mundane and ordinary obedience and the mundane and the monotonous can lead to life-changing movements. Most of the significant moments of your life aren't announced in advance. There is no commentator in the background or no narrator telling you that next week things are going to happen, something significant. You're gonna have a conversation, it's going to change your life. Or, or something's going to happen. It's in the faithfulness and the small things. You just go about your daily life serving Jesus, loving people in the ordinary and the mundane and the everyday, that God steps in and does something incredible. And David was sent there for one reason, and that was to bring food to his brothers. But God had him there for a different reason, because God had anointed him for kingship. And while he was a shepherd boy in the wilderness, to jump from there to kingship was too big. God needed David to get noticed. And so the timing of God is impeccable. He sends David just at the moment with the giant has come on. David was too young to fight in the army, so God needed to get him to the battle. And some other way. And I want to say to you, you're never too young and you're never too old. The youth around here today, one of my key verses throughout my youth was this: 2 Timothy, "Don't let anyone look down on you because you're young, but set an example for the believers in love, in faith, in speech, in purity." Young people, we need you to be an example to us. We need you to show us life, love, speech, theater, and purity. Don't let anyone look down on you. You're never too young and you're never too old to be used by God. And God strategically places David right in the right place at the right time. He doesn't have to manipulate. He doesn't have to jockey for position. He doesn't have to cajole. He doesn't have to maneuver. God can get you where he needs you to be when he wants you to be there. God has this ability to put you in the right place at the right time. And often we think we have just stumbled into life-changing moments when God has actually blessed us there. And so he's there to deliver bread, but God has a bigger purpose. And that is to defeat the giant, to get noticed, to be seen not just as a shepherd, but as a potential king. Don't miss the thing that gets you to the thing. They get you to where God wants you to be. Sometimes, and what I mean is this, sometimes you think you're in a place for one reason. He ever thought he was there just to deliver bread and cheese. But God's purpose. You might think, "I'm just doing my job. I'm just in the office. I'm just on the sports team. I'm just this. I'm just doing that." And that might be what you're just doing. But maybe God has a much greater purpose in that place for you. Maybe there's something you don't see there yet. And maybe you need to ask God, "God, I know I'm here just, you know, maybe you're just doing your job because you need money, and that's okay. But maybe God has a greater purpose. Maybe there's someone in your office and he wants you to impact. Maybe there's somebody on the factory floor who's going through a hard time right now and he wants you to touch their lives." God puts us in places and we think it's for one reason when actually there's a whole other reason.
I was thinking about, we've taken on in the last few months, how Neela's our Ethan's children's pastor, and she's doing a great job. All came about because last summer I was asked to speak at new I endured a few seminars. And I said, "I'll go down for a few days." We stayed one night. And the second morning, I was walking from the coffee area. There's Hannah, or Hana, happened to be walking. Not where I hadn't seen her the whole conference. She was doing, doing the children's work. I said, "Hi, Hannah, how are you doing?" "Not too bad. You still in Calvin?" "You're still in Calvin? You finished an obscene?" "Hey, I might be finished it up next year. Let's have a conversation." I know she's doing children's work. I thought I'd gone there just for a few seminars. She thought there she'd go on there just do it, but its children's work. But God had something else in that. And don't miss the thing that's not always obvious because sometimes God is at work in deeper ways and in ways that you can't immediately say. And I love that David was reliable and trustworthy. He was obedient to his father. But also says this, he says, "He left his sheep. He left his flock in the care of a shepherd." He didn't just leave them on their own. He was fearful in the small things. He was fearful in the small things. We're gonna see out again later. When you're fearful in the small things, God can trust you with the bigger things. That's always been the way his kingdom has worked. Keep reading verses 21 to 26. He reached the camp as the army was going out into its battle positions, shouting the war cry. Now, they were in battle positions, but they weren't having battles. Just because you've got a position doesn't actually mean much if you're not doing anything with it. If you've got a title, you've got a position, you've got some role, unless you're actually utilized. These guys are dressed for battle. They've got the uniform, they've polished the armor, they've got the nice boots on, but they're not actually doing anything with it. Positions don't mean anything unless you're actually doing something with them. And shouting the war cry. The Israelites, every morning, are coming out and they're creating this big song and answer. That's like their New Zealand All Blacks coming out, right? Every, you know, through the rugby game and doing the Haka. Hahaha. And then they run off. That's the war cry. And nothing happens. That's kind of what was going on here. They were doing this song and dance and making a lot of noise, but not actually doing anything. Sometimes the loudest people are the most insecure. And sometimes the quietest people are the most confident. Because as we're going to see in a minute, up until this point, David hasn't said a word. Noise does not equal confidence. And for 40 days and for 40 nights, the giants had come out. Behavior will be repeated until it's confronted. If there's something in your life or someone in your life, and you don't like how they're behaving towards you or towards somebody else, you can ignore that, but don't expect it to go away. Because what we don't confront just gets repeated. And there's some times when we just need to go, "That's not right. I'm not anymore. I need to talk to you about this because I'm not gonna watch this for 41 days. I've watched it for 40 days, and that's enough." What you get, what you tolerate, sometimes in life. And they were facing each other. The two sides were facing each other. In other words, they could see what was wrong. They could see the enemy. There's a difference between seeing a problem and seeing a problem. Seeing problems is just looking at it, describing it, knowing the problems. Their fear of seeing the problem is doing something about it. Many of us know things in our lives that aren't right. There's things you want to change, and yet nothing changes until you do something. So David goes to the battle lines, he goes to his brothers, and Goliath comes out, and David hears it for the first time. Look at verses 26, 27. David asked the man standing near him, "What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes the disgrace from Israel? What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel?" Well, we'd already been told what would be done. Do you see this man? He keeps coming. I had said earlier, "The king will give him great wealth. The man who kills him, he will also give him his daughter in marriage and exempt him from taxes in Israel." Great wealth, exempt from taxes, and daughter in marriage. Last, what would be done? Now, every man on this piece is probably thinking the same question, "Which daughter have you got a photo?" Cuz maybe he had two or three daughters, and one was, and one was, and you know what? If you're gonna risk your life, you want that. Okay, I said in the first service, we won't put that in the podcast. But I said in the second one, noise. So if you're gonna risk your life, but you know, reality is, you don't put a marriage if you're dead anyway. So is it really worth the risk? I'm not sure any girls for a thought risk right now. But David asked, "What will be done?" And they told him, and they repeated to him, "This is what will be done." This is the first time David speaks. First 26. And all of the Bible, we don't have a word from David before. Though David wasn't someone who needed to shout about high grade. He was. But when the key, there's some people when they speak, what they say is worth less than to you. And David asks, "Really? Is this battle worth fighting? What's the reward?" And that's something we need to ask ourselves when we fight these battles. Is it actually worth fighting? Like, even if I win this battle, is it worth winning? Because you know what? You can win a battle but lose the war. And there are so many times I have fought battles that weren't worth fighting, and I've lost the war. Some battles you need to walk away from. There's nothing worthwhile to make. And there's some battles that just drain you emotionally, cause massive fallout, and damage relationships. And so what I've learned to do sometimes is to hold off, just a day or two. When somebody does something that annoys you, when somebody confronts you with something, when someone offends you, rather than rushing straight in with the battle, all guns blazing, why not just step back for an hour or two? I mean, some hours in, I mean, 24 to 48 hours can change your perspective on things. And you go, "Because there was nothing on the other side that was worth fighting for." But in this case, what was at stake? What was at stake? It was the glory of Israel and the glory of God. You see, there are some battles that are worth fighting. If it's just about your ego and pride, it's not worth fighting. Like, if you do something to me and if you say something to me, you know what? I'm making it, but I'm not gonna take it or say much. But you do something against my family, I've got problems. You do something to disrupt and bring toxic culture into this church, we've got a problem. Because God has called me as a shepherd to protect the sheep in this church. There's some battles that you don't fight. There's some battles that are worth fighting. Like we talked about this last week, if you've got a diagnosis, you need to fight. If your son or daughter is going through, if they're rebellious and and and under 14 years old and they're involved in all sorts, you need to fight for that child. If your marriage is falling apart and there's no intimacy, no love, you need to fight. But there's some things that you don't need to fight for. And some things that you go, "I need to confront this. I need to deal with it." Do you ever ask, "What will be done? What will be given to the man who's willing to fight this guy?" Do you know what? There's a degree of self-interest here. Like, we tend to think of David as just completely, totally pure-hearted and everything. And ultimately, for him, yes, it was about the glory of God. But there was also something in it for him. And what I want to say is this, and I want you to hear this the right way. Most of us, not all of us, ever do anything with 100% pure motives. For healing, there's normally something in the first. And you know what? That's okay. Sometimes I have people come to me and they go, "I would love to serve here. I would love to do that. But I'm afraid it's just me." Maybe you wanted to do it as a sign that God created you to do it. You know, we've had this mentality and nothing around for so long. "Don't tell God where you don't want to go as a missionary cause I swear he'll send you there." You know, "I don't tell him you don't want to go to Outer Mongolia because that's exactly you'll be on a plane to Outer Mongolia next week." Like we sing, "He's a good, good father." And then the way sometimes we think about him as the opposite. He's a mean, greedy. Psalm 139 says, "He formed you in your mother's womb with passions, desires, and abilities, and he was to utilize those in the best place at the best time." So why would he send you somewhere where you're gonna be wasted? We have a good God. And he wants to use the gifts and the personality that he has given us. Ultimately, yes, it's for God's glory. Ultimately, yes, it's for God's name. But ultimately, also, you might get something from it. If you're a businessman or woman, you want to run your business for God's glory, but you also want to make decent money. And you know what? That's brilliant. Or you can't give all you've got. If you're a parent, you want to be a good parent. You want to be the best parent. You want to be a great parent. Do it all for the glory of God. If you're in sports, I want you to be the best sports person you can be. I want you to get as good at that sport as you can be. There's nothing wrong with desiring greatness, folks. There's nothing wrong with desiring greatness, as long as ultimately your greatness points to him and not to yourself. Success in the kingdom is this: success in the kingdom is fulfilling the purpose God created you for. If God created you to be a great teacher, don't be an average teacher. If God created you to be a great mom, don't be an average mom. If God created you to be a great postman, be the best, smellest, happiest postman that you can be. There's nothing wrong with wanting to be great, as long as ultimately the greatness points to the great God he loved. Answer. Let's keep going. First 20. We're nearly out. His older brother heard him speaking with the men. He burned with anger against him and asked, "Why have you come down here? Um, with whom did you leave those sheep in the wilderness? I know how you can see that you are in high work at your heart. As she only came down to watch the battle." What battle? "No, what have I done?" Said, "Dear, but can't I even speak?" He then turned away to someone else and brought up the same matter. And the man answered him the same as before. What David said was overheard and reported. Saul sent for him. Criticism. We've all been criticized at some point, more than others. And there's different types of criticism, and there's different sources of criticism. Do you know what the most difficult source of criticism is? People close to you. See, if a random stranger walks in here and tears me to shreds, honestly, I really don't care. We've got barriers here, so through the light. Um, I really don't care. But if somebody I love, somebody I trust, somebody I respect, someone who I look up to, you criticize me. And none of us likes criticism. There's nobody who wakes up in the morning goes, "Oh, I would really love a good dose of criticism today. I'd love somebody just to walk into work and tear me to shreds by 9:00 this morning." We hear criticism. And no matter how confident you look on the outside, no matter how much like Teflon you look like things don't stick, they do. Criticism affects us. It brings out all our insecurities. It causes us to become passive. It causes us to pull back. And none of us likes criticism. But often the greatest sources of criticism can be from those closest to us, those we love, those we trust, those who we have poured our lives into, those who we thought we would do life with forever. And they betray us. They say stuff about us and can leave us there for starett. And this case, where did the criticism come from? It came from David's oldest brother, the big brother who should have been looking after him. His VM was only out happy come across Ely out before anywhere. Remember when Samuel goes to Jesse's house to anoint one of the sons? He hasn't talked about so it is. Who's the first son that comes along? Eliab. And Samuel looks at him and goes, "Surely this must be the Lord's anointed." I'm sure Eliab thought, "Surely I must be the Lord's anointed." And yet he wasn't anointed. I wonder, I just wonder, is the anger that he is now displaying towards David carried on from what happened back there? That there's been resentment and offense and bitterness festering in Eliab's heart, and this is the first time he's had a chance to express it? Because really, what had David done here that was so wrong? What do we read about David that seems worthy of this criticism? Absolutely nothing. You know, sometimes the only thing you need to do for people that dislike you is breathe. That's it. You just need to exist. You just need to be you. That is all. Attacks because the problem isn't you, it's them. It's unresolved issues in their heart. But you just happen to be the world who's in front of them. That's where we triggered something. His anger would have been much better directed at the right place, and that was a real enemy called Goliath. You see, when you aren't fighting the battles that God has called you to fight, you fight battles that God has never called you to fight. When the church isn't fighting the battles that the church is called to fight, we turn inwards and fight each other. We fight our brothers and sisters instead of fighting the real enemy, the devil. We turn on each other. When the church isn't on a mission to reach the lost, we end up fighting amongst each other. When the church isn't on a mission to bring God's light and God's kingdom into our community, we start fighting with each other. When we, when we aren't doing what God has called us to do, we end up taking it out on each other. It builds up. And I want to say this, and I felt that I was to say this this morning. Wives, here, girlfriends, whatever you are, sometimes your husband isn't angry and frustrated at you and the kids. He's angry and frustrated at himself or his job. And you just happen to be in the farm. Right? Some of you need to hear that. As men, if our job isn't going well, or if things aren't cool, well, we don't take it out on our job. We take it out at home. And so wives, some of you need to hear that this morning, that the anger and the frustration that looks like it's directed towards you, but it's nothing to do with you. You just happened to be there. And your husband loves you and he thinks the world of you. But you just happened to be there. And he, because there's an anger of frustration and a disappointment from the norm of thought that has built up within him. And you're just in the farm. Name of it. Sometimes he, she isn't really the issue. That's Brett Darden. What Amy AB says here to David, let's break it down. First thing he says is this, "Why have you come here, David?" Why had David come there? One, because the father had sent him to serve his brothers. He was there to bring them food. He was there to bring them bread and cheese. He was there to serve them. Sometimes you can do all the right things with all the right motives and still be criticized. You can serve people, you can love people, you can pour into people, you can give them your all. And six months later, they say, "He didn't offer to help me. She didn't offer to help me. They were useless to me." And you've given everything to them. But some people, you will never meet their expectations because their expectations are completely. Sometimes you will give all, but you'll still be criticized. Second thing he says is this, "With whom did you leave those few sheep in the wilderness?" He patronizes him. He puts him down. He makes him feel small and insignificant and worthless. "You're just a wee shepherd boy here. We get out of the way, looking after a few sheep. You're nobody." That's how he related to his big brother. You know, some people can only relate to your history, not to your destiny. Do you ever meet people who you went to school with, and all they can talk about is who you were 20 years ago, not who you are today? And you have changed and you have grown, and maybe in between you found Jesus and you've matured and everything is different about you. But they can still relate to you back then. Especially the longer they've known you. Sometimes your parents do that, folks. Sometimes your parents, they'll treat you like you're 11 years old, and they don't realize that you have changed a lot. Some people will only relate to you according to your past and not what God has told in the present and what he's going to do in the future. But like Jesus, remember Jesus goes to his hometown. It's not just a son of Joseph and Mary. And it says that they dishonored. How many could only do a few miracles early left because they were over familiar with him? They could only really up to him according to his history, not to his destiny. In a sense, she are who you were, but you're not who you were. At the core, you're still here, but God has done something so much more in you. But they just come truly after that because they are still who they were back then. You've grown, you've changed, you've developed, you've matured. But they can't get past your past. And then look at the next thing Eliab says, "I know I can see that you are and how you work at your hardest." I know I can see that you are. Is there anything about David so far that next time sign conceded? Because I can't find anything. Sometimes we label people with the wrong things just because we want to see them that way. And it becomes personal. Here it moves from what he has done to who he is. And you know, if you criticize something I do, that's one thing. But if you start to criticize my character, my motives, that's a different thing. Was to see him with you? If you do an okay job, and somebody says, "That was alright." That's okay. But if they start saying, "You're a lazy good-for-nothing. You never do anything right." That's things. More than a number of years ago, when I first probably the first year in Dublin, I was asked to speak in a prison at a Christmas service to hear 150 sex offenders. When I took the opportunity because I wanted to share the gospel. On what their expectation was on what I did, must have been very different. They expected some nice, be soft, you know, we're all, you know, I would appreciate a free picture to see a message, you know what I mean? Like I would have said, "God loves you, a creator, you're sinners, you're standing, Jesus died for your sin, his blood takes it away, you need Jesus." That was it. The prisoners loved it. But I got a letter from the assistant chaplain the following week, three pages tearing. They're guilty. Not just they're not just guilty because they're in jail. They're guilty because they're sinners. Because unless you're in Christ, you're guilty. But Christ came to take our guilt. Hospital ends trying to tell them. But I get it started off about the message. That question began to make me question how much I should preach the gospel. And all it cost. Criticism gets you to the core. It gets you at your most insecure place. And you might think it hasn't affected you, but it goes round and round. Do you know 99 people can say something positive to you, and one person criticizes you, and that's what you focus on? It's just the way we are. And that really discouraged me because it attacked my personality, and had attacked my character, and it attacked my motives. What does he attack? What does Eliab attack? He attacks David's heart. He says this, "I know how wicked your heart is." What was the thing that God loved most about David? His the only person in the whole Bible God says he sometimes the enemy. Very often the enemy will go attack the thing that God loves most about you. The thing that God wants to use most about you. The place that God wants you to be most effective. That's where the enemy will focus his attack. And that makes sense because that's the greatest threat to his dark kingdom. He will attack your marriage because he wants you to be a man or woman who models Christian marriage. He will attack you at work because he wants you to be a businessman or woman. He shows how you can do business with integrity and honor and respecting your staff. He will attack you as a parent because every single parent that sometimes feels like they're the worst parents in the world. Maybe that's just me. Every parent at some stage feels like, "I am ruining my child. Like my child will need counseling because of me." Because you've raised your voice to them, because they've just driven you to it, and you feel like you're the worst parent in the world. And you get all this condemnation. And yes, I'm maybe it's because God has sent you. I want you to rear sons and daughters they point their lives to me. He'll attack you in the places that he wants to use you most, in your creativity and your ability to lead and serve, and how you care for people, in your generosity. I knew people who have the gift of generosity. But the problem of people with gifts of generosity is people will take advantage of you. And therefore, you pull back. And God has given you the gift of generosity. But there'll also be an enemy come against us to try to stop you giving. But because people have taken advantage of you. He will attack your mind because God wants to use your mind to think his thoughts, to come up with creative ideas that are going to impact the world. And then look at what he says. The last thing, "He only came down here to watch the battle." He attacks his motives. And the question is, what battle? There was no battle. I love David's response. He doesn't cry. He doesn't sulk. He doesn't go into a corner. He doesn't run home to Daddy. He doesn't get mad. He doesn't call a bunch of people over and, you know, and try to get people to join his side like we do sometimes when people attack us. We try to get people and say, "He said that about me. What do you think?" Because you better be with me. He doesn't do that. He just turns around and walks away. How different history would have been if in that moment, David would have picked up a stone, tech, and just slung and stopped Eliab in the forehead and knocked him down and killed him. History would have been completely different. But he didn't. He just turned around. You will waste your time, you will waste your emotions, and you will waste energy, and you will get nothing in return. He just walked away. He turned around. He didn't react. He didn't respond. And how many times I wish I hadn't reacted and responded? As I look back, even on my ministry, how many times I got an email at 11 o'clock at night, and I started typing another email, and I said it, I mean, wake up the next morning, and I try to figure out a way to get that email back. Text message. You sent a text message, and then you're like, and you press every button on your phone to try and get it back. And all this goes through. And 98% of the time, your network's not working. Without 1% of the time, it goes right to them. How many times I wish I hadn't responded, but I've been provoked by something that's annoyed me because it's damaged my pride. And I thought, "Oh, we had one day effort. Only slapped." How different things would be, and how much I would have avoided hassle and not relationship if I am courageous. You don't have to respond to every text message. Just because you got an email doesn't mean you have to immediately hit reply. Just because you get a Facebook messenger message or you see something on Facebook, you don't have to comment. There are some battles that you're just better walking away from. And there's some things that you're better just deleting. I had somebody this week try to add me on Facebook. I deleted them six months ago because every time I posted, they just wanted to have an argument. If you're watching this, you know who you are. Anyway, I was going to say, what, what political party he, he's in a man, bro. Um, he just turned away. He doesn't have a feeling. He just turns away. He doesn't fight with his brother. And often in church, we fight with our brothers and sisters instead of the real enemy. You can't always choose who will attack you, but you can't choose who you will respond to. People will attack you. People will criticize you. People will say things about you, even if your motives are perfect, even if your motives are pure, they will still do that. You do not have to respond. Do you know what I've learned? God is my vindicator. And I can say that with as much confidence as I can say anything, because there have been times when things were said about me, I have been betrayed, things have been done to me, and everything the enemy wanted to go right, everyone and tell them the truth. And God said, "Don't you say a word." And I looked back a few years later, and I say, "God vindicated me so well for them." God is big enough to vindicate you. You do not need to vindicate yourself. In every battle, there are times when you need to speak up. Yes. There are times when you need to respond. But there's also a lot of the time when it's just your pride and your ego. Listen to the voice of the Lord and say, "God, is this one for me or for you?" And if it's for you, do it. If it was for him, leave it. Does that effort look weak? No, it is not weakness not to fight every battle. Sometimes it takes much greater strength to walk away from a battle than it does to fight it. Because David doesn't focus on his brother. David's focused on who the real enemy is. He ignores those who are doing nothing to fight the real enemy. He's doing something. Because what you'll find is the people who criticize most are mostly the people who are doing nothing. People who have time to think about critical stuff all day normally aren't busy serving God in the kingdom. They're normally busy sitting around doing nothing. Watch any standards for us. The street Amer deal. I am. But seriously, if you have no desire to change it, you have no right to criticize it. If you're not doing anything, then she injured, don't criticize it. And the thing is this, if you're ever going to do anything significant, different, for God, you will be criticized. You just need to accept that. The only people who aren't criticized are people who do nothing. You do anything different, you do anything, you raise your head above the parapet, even just a wee bit, as you become a target. But you know what? I would rather do what God has called me to do and be criticized than to hide away in obscurity and do nothing and have everybody love me. And David was willing to be criticized. He doesn't care because he's focused on who the real enemy is. The real enemy is a big oaf called Goliath. How do we deal with criticism? There's three questions I ask myself, and then I want to get on. I'm going to finish. Yeah. Three ways of dealing with criticism. Three questions I ask myself. Where did it come from? Where did it come from? Some people are just nasty and negative. Some people, no matter what you do, they will find fault with it. Some people feel like they have an opinion on everything. They're not people that you need to pay off. I hate to you. Where does it come from? Then some people are good people. You're positive people. They're the people you should listen to. Secondly, how was it given? Was it an email? Was it an anonymous letter? Was it torn to shreds in front of a bunch of other people? Or was it somebody putting their arm around you and saying, "I'd love to go for a coffee with you and chat because..." How criticism has given has a huge impact on how you receive it. And finally, why was it given? Why was it given? Was it given to build you up and encourage you and support you? Was it given to deter you? You know, when I started in Oregon and Shankle 13 years ago, I preached one Sunday morning, and I used some illustration that I'd heard all their preachers use and has been funny into the data. I'm three women at the end of the service came up to me and they said, "Craig, we loved your sermon this morning. But that story, we find it unhelpful. We just, we didn't pick an order to the sermon." And at the time, it stung a little bit because it does. But I went home, and I thought about it, and I thought about those two women. And they had been nothing but supportive of me the whole way through my ministry. They'd been nothing but encouraging. And so I decided this, "If that story's not helpful, I will never use that again." And I never have used it again. I'm sure I've said and what's worse things, but I've never used that wall again. Why? Because here's what you can do with critics. You can turn your critics into coaches. If you receive criticism from people who love you, if they do it in the right way, and their heart is for you, you can take that on board, and God can use that to make you a greater person. He can use that to make you more effective. Turn your critics into coaches. The effort wasn't focused on his brother because he was focused on the giant. Because the real question to him was this, it wasn't "How big is he?" It was "How big is God?" He says in verse 26, "Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the Living God?" This is verse 26. Verses 1 to 25, we do not have one mention of God. Yahweh is not mentioned once. Goliath is mentioned over and over again, in great detail. God, not once. These are God's people. These are his children. These are the people he brought into the land. And yet they have forgotten their God. They have a Goliath-saturated mind. David arrives on the scene, and he has a God-saturated mind. And he says, "Who does this guy think he is that he should defy the armies of the Living God?" God is more living than that big guy over there. And he doesn't focus on how big the giant is. He focuses on how big his God is. Everybody else is looking at Goliath and thinking, "Look how big he is. How can I beat him?" And David's looking at them and going, "And look how big God is. How can I miss them?" Because that's how you see your giant. That's the lens. Two people can see the same thing, but see it completely differently. If you see it through giant glasses, where you're focused on the negative, that's all you're focused on. If you see it through God glasses, with the greatness of God, and the holiness of God, and the nature of God, and that is why we need to read this book. We need to constantly remind ourselves who God is and what he has done. If you see those giants through God glasses, that giant becomes a punitive war. It's all about perspective. And David says, "I'll take him." And we'll get to that next week. I feel like you're all be open for the fight. And you are. Before we three weeks in, but we'll get there. You know, last week, last Sunday, at a church in West Virginia, there was a fire. I was reading about it this week. The church was completely burnt to the ground. Look at everything inside that church was completely destroyed. It has to be knocked down and be rebuilt. Some of you may have seen two things actually that weren't destroyed. The Bibles. Every single better word and material in that church was ravaged by flames, but the Bibles weren't even scorched. And this is the fire department Facebook page. I went over last night to have a look on this. This is the fire department's Facebook page, not the church's, obviously. Page. The fire department's Facebook page. Look at what they write. And March the 3rd, Oz lost. Somebody writes, 12:58 a.m. Our department was dispatched to assist the other fire department with a structure fire at the Freedom Ministries Church. The odds were against us. God was not pictured as a building. So hot that at one point in time, firefighters had to back out. In your mind, everything should be burnt ashes. Not a single Bible was burnt, and not a single cross was harmed. I'm not a single firefighter was hurt. Prayers for the pastor of the congregation. You know what? The question isn't, "How big is he?" "How big is your job?" Maybe big, but I want to tell you, your God is bigger. Your job maybe great, but your God is greater. Your job may be powerful, but your God and my God is more powerful. Your job might be strong against. Let's pray together as the worship team company. Dishonor. Loss. I want to pray for a few things this morning. I want to pray for those who have had words of criticism spoken over them, particularly by those in authority. Some of you have had words spoken over you by your parents, and your parents are long gone, but you still hear those words. And I want to break those lies over you in the name of Jesus. Some of you have had words spoken over you by church leaders. I sense this is a disservice. I didn't feel this in the first service. Church leaders have spoken words over here. In the name of Jesus, I come against every lie of the enemy, every negative and critical word spoken that was not from you. And in the name of Jesus, I break those things right now. They will not impact our future. They will not impact the call of God. We choose to disbelieve those things. Die and to believe what you say are by us. And we choose to be a people who will speak in life and speak in love and speak, speak destiny and purpose into people's lives. And God, remind us how big, whatever we're facing this morning, sickness, relationship problems, debt, heartache, whatever it is, God, help us to do what we need to do, but to realize that our God is bigger and our God is greater. Whoops, there is nothing that we are facing that you and so we trust you today. We trust you.