SGFC Worship Service

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Worship Service July 5, 2020 Sovereign Grace Family Church www.SGFCJAX.org Message preached by Elder Mike Collier

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Good morning, Sovereign Grace family.
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We have some people missing.
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It was the 4th of July.
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I'm sure you guys all had a great time and just blessed to see all you guys here.
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If you'll stand with us and we're going to sing.
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First song is in Christ alone.
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Christ alone, firm stone and solid ground.
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From through the fiercest drought and storm.
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God's above, what depths of peace.
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When fears are still, when strivings cease.
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Comforter, my all in all.
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Here in the love of Christ I stand.
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Christ alone, took on flesh.
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Fullness of God in helpless pain.
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His gift of love and righteousness.
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Stormed by the wounds he came to save.
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To all that cried when Jesus died.
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The wrath of God was satisfied.
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For every sin, my name was laid.
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Here in the death of Christ I lay.
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He came and wrapped his body lay.
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Light of the world by darkness slain.
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Resting firm in glorious day.
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Up from the grave he rose again.
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As he stands in victory.
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Since curse has lost its grip on me.
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I am his, he is mine.
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Bought with the precious blood of Christ.
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Here's to life, fear and destiny.
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Christ felt strife, took final breath.
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Jesus guides my destiny.
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No power of hell, no scheme of man.
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He never plucked me from his hand.
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Till he returns, because we know.
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Here in the love of Christ I stand.
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As we, I'll continue to read through the New Testament.
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At this point, we're going to read this morning the first chapter of Paul's letter to the church at Philippi.
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First chapter of Philippians.
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Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who were at Philippi.
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With the overseers and the deacons, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
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I thank my God and all my remembrance of you always in every prayer of mine.
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For you all making my prayer with joy.
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Because of the partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.
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And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
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It is right for me to feel this, feel this way about you because I hold you in my heart.
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For you are all partakers with me of grace.
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Both in my imprisonment and in my defense and confirmation of the gospel.
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For God is my witness how I yearn for you with all the affection of Christ Jesus.
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And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment.
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So that you may approve what is excellent and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ.
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Filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God.
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And I want you to know brothers that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel.
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So that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest of my imprisonment for Christ Jesus.
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For Christ and most of the brothers having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment.
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Are much more bold to speak the word without fear.
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And some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry but others from goodwill.
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The latter do it out of love knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel.
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The former proclaim Christ out of rivalry and not sincerely.
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But thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment.
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What then? Only that in every way whether in pretense or in truth.
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Christ is proclaimed and in that I rejoice.
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Yes and I will rejoice for I know that through your prayers and the help of the spirit of Jesus Christ.
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This will turn out for my deliverance.
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As it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed.
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But that with full courage now as always will be honored in my body whether by life or death.
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For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain.
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If I am to live in the flesh that means faithful labor for me.
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Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell.
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I am hard pressed between the two.
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My desire is to depart and to be with Christ.
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For that is far better.
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But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account.
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Convinced of this that I know that I will remain and continue with you for your progress and joy in the faith.
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So that in me you may have you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus.
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Because of the coming to you again.
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Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ.
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So that whether I come to see you or am absent.
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I may hear of you and that you are standing firm in one spirit in one mind.
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Striving side by side for the faith of the gospel.
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And for the for the faith of the gospel and for the frightening everything by your opponents.
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This is a clear sign to them of their destruction.
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For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ that you should not only believe in him.
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But suffer for his sake.
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Engaged in the same conflict that you see I had.
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And now hear that I shall have.
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May God bless his word.
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Stand up and sing one more with us.
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Oh, my way.
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It is.
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My soul.
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My soul.
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Oh, oh, oh, my soul.
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My soul.
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My soul.
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Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, my soul.
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Oh, my soul.
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My soul.
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Oh, oh, oh, oh, my soul.
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It is.
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With my soul.
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My soul.
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His shield carrier also walked before him.
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He stood and he shouted to the ranks of Israel and he would say to them, why do you come out and draw up in battle array? Am I not the Philistine and you not servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourself and let him come down to me.
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If he is able to fight against me and kill me and we will become your servants.
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But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall become our servants and serve us again.
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The Philistine said, I defy the ranks of Israel this day.
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Give me a man that we may fight together.
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And when Saul and all of Israel heard these words from the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid just on the onset.
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I wish that they would make a movie of judges.
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First, second Samuel, first, second Kings and first second Chronicles.
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The vast majority of parents would not let their children watch that movie.
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Those of you that are going through judges with Andy will know that there's a lot of bloodshed.
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There's a lot of violence.
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And that is exactly what we will see today.
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We will see today one of the most violent passages in all of scripture and it determines how holy God is, how righteous God is and what God demands of those who mock him.
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It says that the Philistines gathered their armies and they gathered them on one side of the mountain and one side on the other.
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And what they did is they, that was how they would show their force.
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They would clank their, their swords, their spears, their shields together.
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That was how they would try to intimidate one another.
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But it says in verse two, Saul and the men of Israel gathered at the camp of Eli or the Valley of Eli.
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Well, who was Saul? Saul was the one that Israel had demanded there be a King that demanded that they be like the rest of the nations and have a man that would raise up and lead them.
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And you can see this.
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And if you want to at some time read it, you can see it in first Samuel chapter eight verses four through seven, where they go to the prophet and say, give us a King and the prophets greatly distressed and he is hurt.
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And God has to tell him, Samuel, don't take it to heart.
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They're not rejecting you.
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They're rejecting me as their King.
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Give them what they want.
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He gives them a great warning in verses 10 through 22, which says, Hey, he's going to take your vineyard.
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He's going to take your field.
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He's going to take your best horses and donkeys.
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He's going to take your sons and daughters.
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He's going to enslave them to be in his court.
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And he's going to take the best of everything that he has.
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And he's going to tax you to death.
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So in chapter nine, Saul is picked.
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He comes from a wealthy family.
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Not only is he wealthy, but he is handsome.
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The most prettiest man in all of Israel.
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Matter of fact, it says it.
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And not only that, he's head and shoulders above everybody.
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So not only that, the women would have loved him.
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He was tall, rich and handsome.
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Well, we need to remember, too, that he also had some faults.
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The day that he was publicly raised up as king, he was found as a coward hiding in the baggage.
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He made a foolish order which almost had him execute his own son until the people stood in the place and said, You're going to kill your own son for your own foolish words.
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And then, not only did Saul foolishly act in that way, but when God, under the Mosaic Covenant, said, When you find the Amalekites, you go in there and you destroy every one of them.
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Every man, woman, boy, girl, infant, lamb, horse, donkey and cattle.
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And Saul has that opportunity.
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And he goes in and he doesn't do what God tells him to do.
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He takes out the king Agag, prances him around like a trophy.
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He keeps the best of the sheep and the best of the goats.
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And Samuel shows up and he says, What's that bleeding in my ear? Oh, yeah, by the way, I saved the best for God.
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And he says, Let me tell you something, you have disobeyed God.
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He would have rather had obedience than sacrifice.
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And why is Agag alive? And he says, Well, I was going to save him to show the people our great conqueror.
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Samuel said, Today the kingdom will be pulled from you and God has rejected you as king.
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He says, Give me a sword.
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And he butchered Agag to pieces.
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That's Saul.
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So as we see that Saul had gathered his people about, he was to be representing the people.
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It says that the Philistines stood on one side of the mountain and they would go up in battle array and they were hollering and ready to go down to battle.
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But then this one man stood up, biggest man that they had ever seen.
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He was a descendant of Anak, which you could go back to Joshua chapter 11 and you would see as he went into the land, he was killing all of his conquest.
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He was killing all of the people, the Canaanites.
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And these men of Anak, they went down to Gath and Gaza, which is where they stayed.
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So he would be a descendant of that.
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Well, this was a huge man.
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Very big man.
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And he would have had a spear with a weaver's beam and the head of it was 15 pounds of iron.
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His chest of armor that were made up like scales so that he could move was 125 pounds.
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These are the equivalents of what we have in the scripture because we don't do them in shekels.
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And not only that, but his head had a helmet of bronze and he was 9 feet 9 inches tall.
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That's an enormous dude.
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Now, Saul was not a small man himself.
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He would have probably been around 6 foot 3 to 6 foot 6.
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He was a big man.
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But this man towered over him.
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So we see where they gather themselves up and he comes out and he makes this fight between the two and he says, I want someone to fight me.
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I want you to send a representative.
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This was common between two champions of two armies to save the bloodshed, to not have mass casualties, was to have one champion of one army and one champion of the other and they duke it out in the middle of the field and whoever wins by death would be the winner and they would serve one another.
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The others would serve the other.
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So this was not uncommon.
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But what was uncommon was for a man this size to continually challenge and nobody step forward.
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The people needed a representative.
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The people needed someone to stand in their place.
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And as you get to the end of verse 10, it says, He give me today that we should fight together.
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And you get to verse 11, And Saul and Israel heard these words and they were greatly dismayed.
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The people needed someone to go down into the valley of Eli.
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That would be the valley of death.
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They needed someone to represent the people of God.
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They needed someone to defend the people of God.
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They needed someone to defeat the enemy of God.
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They needed a substitute.
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They needed someone to stand in their place.
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The king was supposed to be that person.
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And we have a big, pretty, tall, rich coward for a king.
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But in verse 12, we have this name introduced to the text.
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Now David was the son of Ephraim out of Bethlehem of Judah.
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Now who was David? Well, David was already introduced in the previous chapter, chapter 16, and he was just a little shepherd boy.
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And he was out there.
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Samuel was told to go anoint another king, to find someone to take Saul's place for God had rejected him.
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They went to Jesse's house where Saul had told him.
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He took his brothers, marched all of the oldest to the youngest in front of him until they get to right before David.
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And they said, this ain't it.
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And he says, do you got one more kid? He said, yeah, but he's a little old guy out there chasing sheep around.
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He said, well, go get him.
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He brings him in.
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That's the guy.
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This man will be king.
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So here it is.
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We have David being commissioned or anointed, I should say, as king at the age of 15 or 16 years old.
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Psalm 78 says this, that God took David from shepherding the nursing ewes to shepherding the nation of Israel with uprightness and a skill hand.
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David was nothing but a young teenage boy.
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But as you read the narrative from 12 on down, it gives you some background of what his brothers were.
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His three brothers took off to the battle.
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And it finds out how does David get to this, to where the battle array was going.
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It says in verse 17 that Jesse said to David, his father, take now for your brothers an ephah of roasted grain and ten loaves.
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And it goes on to say what he wants him to do.
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He wants him to go check on his brothers.
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He wants to make sure that his brothers are okay.
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Hey, there ain't no Facebook.
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There ain't no text message.
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There ain't no phone calls to find out your brothers are 26 miles away.
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How are we going to find out? Well, that means you've got to go.
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And when you go, I want you to take them some stuff to eat.
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I know they don't have this good stuff we have here.
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And when you go, take the generals, take them some cheese as well.
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But when you go, come back and let me know.
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I want to know that my boys are fine.
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So that's where he goes.
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He goes down there and he sees them.
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He gets to the valley, Saul, and all the men are there.
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And in the morning, he gets up in the morning, he packs his donkeys or whatever it is he has his horse, and he heads out.
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And if you know it's 26 miles away, if you're walking by foot or riding by donkey, it's going to take you a little while.
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So we'll say four or five hours he gets there.
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It says that David arose early in the morning and left the flock and the keeper, and he took supplies, and he did just as his father had commanded.
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And he came to the circle of the camp while the army was going out in battle array, and he heard the war cry.
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And Israel and the Philistines drew up in battle array, and David left the baggage and the care of the keeper, and he ran to the battle line in order to greet his brothers.
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He wanted to go see his brothers to make sure they were okay, and the only way to find them in that large crowd of people was to run to the line.
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So he runs to the line, and as he is talking, behold, the champion, the Philistine of Gath, named Goliath, comes forth from the army and spoke these words, and David heard them.
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Well, what did he hear? He heard, I am the Philistine.
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I am the one who will defy the armies of God.
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I am the one who will make you my servants.
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That's what David heard.
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And the same thing happened in verse 24 that happened in verse 11.
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And when all the men of Israel saw the man, they fled from him, and they were greatly afraid.
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We had men that were enlisted in the armies of the most high God and a king that was supposed to be their substitute, a king that was supposed to be their defender, a king that was supposed to be their shepherd, and they were cowards.
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But as David is walking, and he hears that, and I know y'all are more sanctified than me, I know, but Bantam Stone is one of my favorite shows to watch, movie.
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And he is here, he is here, he is going to see his brothers, he is just hopping and skipping and carrying, and he hears this uncircumcised Philistine yak in his mouth calling out all God's people, and David says, I'll be your huckleberry.
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And David says, what is this man saying? He said, surely, has he come out to defy the armies of Israel? What will happen to this man? And then David spoke, everybody was hearing, and he says, well, what will be done to the man who kills this Philistine? He says, what will be the reward for taking away this loud-mouthed fool? He says, well, it will be this.
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The people said that he will not tax his family, he will give him, not just him, his family, all of his father's house will not be taxed.
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And he'll give him his daughter for a wife.
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Man, he's going to marry the king's daughter.
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He's going to high roll.
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But, here, listen to what his brother says.
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Now, we understand, he didn't come down here to hear all this.
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He wasn't expecting this.
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He hears this man taunting the armies of the living God, and listen to what his oldest brother says.
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Those of you that are younger brothers, you've probably heard this a time or two.
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Why have you come down here? Why have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your insolence and your wickedness of heart.
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Why are you here? You just came down here to see what was going on.
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And listen to David's response.
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All us little brothers would say this.
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What have I done this time? He said, what have I done? Didn't I just ask a question? All I did was say, what will be done to the man that takes care of this fool? Well, he says it again.
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He turns, and he goes, what will be done again? And they say it again, just like before.
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He'll get the king's daughter.
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A house of the family won't be taxed.
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He'll run off and be part of the king's court.
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So here it is, verse 31.
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And when the words which David spoke and were heard, he says, I'll be that guy.
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I'll be the man to shut the mouth of this uncircumcised Philistine.
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So here it is.
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David is taken to Saul, and he says, let no man account.
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This is David talking to King Saul.
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Let no man's heart fail on account of him.
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Your servant will go out today and fight this Philistine.
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And Saul said to David, you are not able to go against this Philistine and fight him.
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You're only but a youth.
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You're not even a warrior.
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This man's been a warrior, a trained assassin and killer from his youth.
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But David said to Saul, your servant was tending the father's sheep.
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And when a lion or a bear came and he took the lamb from the flock, I went out after him and I attacked him and I rescued him from his mouth.
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And when he rose up against me, I seized him by his beard.
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I struck him and kill him.
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Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear.
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And this uncircumcised Philistine will fall just like them.
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David said, you understand that this lion, this bear, aren't under the condemnation of God.
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They're not outside the covenant like this uncircumcised Philistine.
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This man is under the condemnation and judgment of God for taunting and for ridiculing the God of all creation, and he will die.
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But listen to how he died.
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He said he's going to do it.
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He said he's not going to do it by his own strength.
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And David says, the Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion.
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The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the bear.
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He will deliver me from this Philistine.
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And Saul said to David, go and may the Lord be with you.
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Saul clothed him with his bronze helmet.
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In other words, he put all his armor on him.
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He put all his armor on him so that he wouldn't go out there and fight him in his toga, basically.
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And David girded himself in his armor, and he tried to walk.
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It says in verse 30, and because it had not been tasted, David said, I can't go out like this.
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Take it off.
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He took a stick, and he chose for himself five smooth stones.
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And he put them in his shepherd's bag.
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He put them in his pouch, and he took his sling, and he headed out towards the giant.
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Now, this would have probably, under any circumstance, looked pretty foolish.
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No armor.
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No sword.
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No spear.
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No helmet.
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And he's going against this giant.
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And he reached down, and he grabs five smooth stones from the Valley of Eli, which is where a brook would have been.
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Why he grabbed five, I don't know.
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He grabbed five.
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The Bible doesn't tell us.
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He just said he picked up five.
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So here it comes.
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So David, verse 41.
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And the Philistine came on the approach to David with the shield bare in front of him.
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And when the Philistine saw David, he disdained him.
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He said, I'm sorry, for David was not but a youth.
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He was ruddy, and he was handsome in his appearance.
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And listen to what the Philistine says to David.
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Am I a dog that you come to me with a stick? He had his shepherd's staff in his hand.
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And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.
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And the Philistine also said to David, Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds and to the beasts of the field.
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Then David said to the Philistine, You come to me with a sword, and you come to me with a spear and with your javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts and the God of armies of Israel, whom you have taunted.
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This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you, and I will give the dead bodies of the armies of the Philistines to the birds of the sky, to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that David was a man of faith.
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Does your Bible say that? Anybody's Bible say that? So that all the earth may know how to make goofy story books and coloring books for kids to color on.
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Does your Bible say that? To make goofy cartoons to sell at the bookstore.
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It doesn't say that.
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It says that all the earth may know that there is a God in heaven, and that all the assembly may know that the Lord God will deliver not by sword nor by spear, but by the Lord's hand.
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That's what it is.
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This was not about a man of great faith.
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This is not about a story of a man who overcome insurmountable odds.
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It's not about teaching our kids to be brave like David.
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It's not about teaching them to have courage like David.
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You've got to be careful when you start telling them to be like David, because when they get older and they read their Bible, they're going to say, oh yeah, be like David, the one who committed adultery, and then killed his man of valor.
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Be that David? Or the one who let his son have a rape, incestuous relationship with his daughter, and did nothing about it.
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That David? It's because it's not about David.
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It's about a God of all creation that stood in the man's place.
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That's what it's about.
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David walks down into the valley of Eli, and he becomes the representative of God's people to defend God's people, to destroy the enemy of God's people, so that all of God's people would be victorious in this.
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That's what the story is about.
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It is a real event that took place.
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It is a real event that is in history, that is recorded for us to not make goofy cartoon pictures and coloring books, but to show that the God of all creation will not be mocked.
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Do not be deceived.
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God will not be mocked.
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Whatsoever a man sows, he will reap.
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He reaps corruption.
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I mean, he sows corruption.
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That is what he will reap, and that is what's fixing to take place.
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Then it happened that when the Philistine rose, and he drew near to meet David, that David ran quickly to the battle line to meet him.
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David took his hand.
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He reached into his bag.
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He took from his pouch a stone and his sling, and he struck the Philistine in the forehead with it.
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The stone sank so far into the forehead that it caused him to fall on his face to the ground.
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A sling was something that they wrapped around their, what we would call a sling shot, but we have rubber projectiles.
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But in that time, they wrapped around their wrist and their hand.
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They would hold it in their finger, and they had a little pouch inside that piece of cloth, and they would whip it, and they would let it go with their finger.
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It would get up to sometimes 60, 70 miles an hour.
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Well, if you've ever been hit with a baseball, that's about what it's getting, but imagine getting hit in the forehead with a smaller projectile.
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That projectile hit that Philistine in the head, sank into his forehead, meaning it crushed his skull in the front, and he fell on his face.
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And it says this here in 50.
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Thus David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, and he struck the Philistine and killed him.
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And there was no sword in David's hand.
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So then David ran, he stood over the Philistine, took his sword, drew it up out of his sheath, killed him, and cut off his head.
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That's a brutal scene.
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Where's that in the storybooks? Where's that in the cartoons? Not only that, and you could read on, where's the coloring books and stuff that showed David carrying around his head in his bag as a trophy of what God had done? David knew that what had taken place, he didn't do.
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He knew God did it.
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And he knew God would do it because God had already commanded for the Philistines to be ran off, to be killed because they were idolaters, and because King Saul would not do it, David, God raised him up to stand in that place.
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And anytime we see some heads getting cut off or getting crushed, that should remind you of the enemy one day would be crushed by God.
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We see in Judges, I think two or three times of heads getting crushed or cut off.
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That should remind you that one day God's going to send a redeemer, a shepherd king, a shepherd warrior that'll crush the head of the serpent, the true one that we are fighting against.
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So what do we get from a story like this? What do we get? Well, it certainly not be like David because that falls apart when we see David's life.
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Was David a man after God's own heart? Yes, he was, but David was a failure just like every other king of Israel.
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He just never went off into idolatry.
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It's not about being brave.
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It's not about being a man of great faith.
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It's not about overcoming insurmountable odds.
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It's about how this is a type and picture of Jesus Christ.
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Jesus Christ is clearly seen in this text.
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If you don't see the man that stands as the defender and the protector and the warrior of His people as being the Christ to come, then you are blind.
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This was a picture of a man who was going to stand against the enemy of God and fight Him.
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Knowing that one day there was going to be a king that would come that would be born of a virgin and He would stand in man's place and He would fight and be the warrior and the king and the shepherd of His people.
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Listen to this.
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Jesus, our King and Shepherd.
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If you write these down, you can go back and read them.
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In John 10 is a whole discourse of Him being the Great Shepherd.
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He says, My sheep know My voice and they come to Me.
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I am the Good Shepherd and I will lay down My life for the sheep.
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And those sheep are in My Father's hand and no one can take them out.
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That is the true Shepherd.
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That is the true Shepherd King.
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He also says in 1 Peter 2, verses 21-25 this, For you have been called for this purpose since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps.
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Don't follow David's footsteps.
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Follow who? The Great Shepherd who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth.
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And while being reviled, He did not revile in return.
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While suffering, He uttered no threats, but He kept entrusting Himself to the One who judges faithfully.
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And He Himself bore our sins in His own body.
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And He bore them on the cross so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.
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For by His wounds we were healed, for you are continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to our true Shepherd and Guardian of our souls, Jesus Christ.
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He is our true Shepherd.
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Jesus Christ is the true representative that goes down into the valley of the shadow of death.
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It says right in Romans 5, verses 18-21, it says this, So then as though one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification to life to all men.
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For as though by one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the one that the many would be made righteous.
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For the law came in so that transgression would increase, but where sin increased, grace abound all the more.
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So that as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ.
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Jesus Christ was our representative.
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It says in 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21, that He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on whose behalf? Our behalf.
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That we could have the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.
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That wicked sinners could have the great exchange.
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That Jesus Christ could take the sins of us and be transferred to Him.
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And we could take the perfect righteousness of Him and be transferred to us.
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It's called double imputation.
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That was unthinkable.
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And that becomes our representative and substitute.
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But then you have Jesus the King of kings.
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Revelation 1, verse 5 says this, And Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, the ruler of the kings of the earth, to Him who loves us, released us from our sins by His blood and made us to be a kingdom of priests.
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To God, His Father, and to Him be the glory and dominion forever and ever.
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And behold, He is coming in the clouds and every eye will see Him and even those who pierce Him and every knee will bow and every tongue will confess to Him.
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And He says, I am coming.
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I am the Alpha, the Omega, the Beginning, the End.
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And He says, I am the Almighty.
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That's the King.
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That is the King.
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But there's people in this room that may not be able to say that.
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That's the King.
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That's the Protector.
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That's the substitute for those that trust in Christ.
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But listen to this.
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Why are the nations in an uproar? Why do the people devise a vain thing? Kings of the earth take in their hands and rulers take counsel together against the Lord's anointed, saying, let's tear their fetters apart, cast their cords away.
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And it says this, that God sits in the heavens and He laughs at them.
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Then He will speak to them in His anger.
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He will terrify them in His fury, saying, but as for me, I have installed my King upon Zion and on my holy mountain.
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Kiss the Son.
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Pay homage to Him that He not become angry and you perish in the way.
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Find refuge in Him.
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If you're here today, God is angry with you if you're apart from Jesus Christ.
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If you're here and you have not placed all of your faith and trust in who Jesus is to be your substitute, to be your defender, to be your protector, to be your true shepherd, this is what you have awaiting you.
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It says if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there remains no sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment of the fury of God that will consume His adversaries.
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Anyone who sets aside the law of Moses died without mercy.
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And they died under the witnesses of two to three.
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Well, how much more severe a punishment will it be to those who trample under the Son of God and treat His blood as if it is open shame? Vengeance is mine, says the Lord.
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I will be the judge.
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It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of a living God.
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Hey, it was a brutal thing to fall into the hand of a chopping sword of David.
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But fall into the hands of a holy and righteous God.
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That is terrifying.
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One of my best descriptions of Jesus Christ as King, so good I had it tattooed on me.
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Revelation 19 says, And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse, and He sat on it who was called faithful and true.
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And in righteousness He judges, and He wages war.
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The shampoo model that you see of Jesus Christ walking around with jargon-soft hands and His flowing robe on TV, that's not the Jesus of the Bible.
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Jesus will not be some panty-waisted bureaucrat.
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He will not be some lip-wristed judge.
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He will be the King of kings.
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And it says His eyes are as flame of fire.
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His head has the diadems of all the nations.
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And written on Him is a name that no one except Him knows.
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It says His robe is dipped in blood.
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And His name is called the Word of God.
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And the armies of heaven will follow them that we clothe in fine linen and white and clean.
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And following Him are all the white horses.
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From out of His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He strikes down all the nations.
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He will rule them with a rod and iron.
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He treads down the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of God because He is the Almighty.
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And His robe and on His thigh is written, King of kings and Lord of lords.
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And then I saw an angel standing in the sun and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to the birds which fly in heaven, come and assemble for the great supper.
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And they will eat the flesh of the kings and the flesh of the commanders and the flesh of the mighty men and the flesh of the horses and all of those who sit on them and the flesh of all men, both free and slaves, great and small, because they disobeyed God.
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That imagery is of Christ the King.
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It also says that when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven, He will come down with His angels in a flaming fire.
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And He will deal out retribution on all those who do not obey the gospel or know the Lord Jesus Christ.
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And these will pay the penalty of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord forever.
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There's only two judges you'll see.
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You'll either see Jesus Christ, the judge and substitute, the one who bled and died in your place, who gave you His righteousness so that you could be acquitted of your sins and you could be justified before God, or you'll stand before the executioner and you will bow your knee to Him and it will be King of kings and Lord of lords today, and it will be to your eternal bliss and love of God, or it will be with His foot on your neck to your eternal condemnation in hell forever.
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There is no middle road.
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David didn't kill Goliath.
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God killed Goliath.
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It's not David versus Goliath.
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Quit saying it.
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It's God.
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David was just a vessel.
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David was a vessel and an instrument of the righteousness and holiness of God that says there's only one way to deal with sin and mockery.
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There's only one way to deal with the enemy of God and it's to kill it.
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And every one of us in here should have, God should decapitate us the same way He did the Philistine.
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And my prayer to you today, whether you're young or old, in whatever category you want to put yourself in, my desire is to see all men come to the faith and knowledge of Jesus Christ.
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The desire is to see every child at a young age come to the faith and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Jesus said, come unto Me all you who are heavy laid and I'll give you rest.
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That is not Jesus softly and tenderly Jesus is calling.
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That is ridiculous.
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He's not softly and tenderly.
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It is a command.
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It is a command to come unto Me.
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It's in the imperative.
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Come to Me all you who are heavy laid and I will give you rest.
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It's not a suggestion.
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Jesus is actively commanding all men everywhere to repent and to come to Him for faith.
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To come to Him for forgiveness of sins.
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Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
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An Arminian would love it when I say this.
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You've got a choice to make.
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You've got a choice to make.
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It is choose you this day whom you will serve.
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Are you going to serve yourself? Or are you going to serve Christ? You serve yourself and your own motives, you'll find yourself like King Saul, rejected by God.
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You'll find yourself like the Philistine under the judgment of God.
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Choose Christ and live forever and be seated in the heavenlies in Him.
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Let's pray.
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Father God, thank You so much for Your Word.
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Thank You Father that the only people You can use are sinful people.
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Father, it shows that You are a great God.
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It shows that You are a merciful God.
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It shows that You are a kind and benevolent God.
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God, I pray that this passage would help us to love You more, to know You more, to grow closer to You.
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That God would equip us to understand and proclaim Your Gospel more.
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Father God, I pray that as we prepare our hearts for the time of communion, that God we would search our hearts, see if there be any unclean way in us, and Father, grant repentance to us.
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Father, create in us a clean heart, oh God, and renew a right spirit within us.
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Father God, as we reflect on this time of communion and the great sacrifice of Your Son, to know that He is risen from the dead and He is coming back.
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He is coming in power and glory to judge the living and the dead.
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In Christ's name, Amen.