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[ Music ] ♪ With your power ♪ ♪ Live inside of me ♪ ♪ You're the living water ♪

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♪ Ever-drying fountain ♪ ♪ Converger and counselor ♪ ♪ Take complete control ♪ ♪ Welcome, Holy Spirit ♪

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♪ We are in your presence ♪ ♪ Fill us with your power ♪ ♪ Live inside of me ♪ ♪ You're the living water ♪

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♪ Never-drying fountain ♪ ♪ Converter and counselor ♪ ♪ In complete control ♪ ♪ Welcome, Holy Spirit ♪

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♪ We are in your presence ♪ ♪ Fill us with your power ♪ ♪ Live inside of me ♪ ♪ Breathe inside of me ♪

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♪ Live inside of me ♪ ♪ For me ♪ Amen. I invite your prayerful attention to the passage

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of Scripture in 1 Samuel, the 17th chapter and the 4th verse. There went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines named Goliath of Gath, whose height

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was six cubits and a span. 9th verse, 1 Samuel, the 17th chapter, "If he be able to fight with me and to kill me, then will we obey your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then

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shall ye be our servants and serve us." The subject is able to kill the giant. Able to kill the giant. There are some things that we are able to do that we are not willing to do. Then there are some things that we are willing to do and we are not

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able to do them. It is a critical time in the life of Israel. The nation is trying to possess Canaan. They face fierce opposition from the Philistines. The Philistines are more advanced in weaponry, and they are well entrenched in the land.

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So the Israelite soldiers must contend against the Philistine soldiers if they are to be victorious. The Philistines have a champion. His name is Goliath. He's remembered as Goliath of because he dwelt in the city of Gath,

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one of the Philistine cities. A giant, superhuman person. In fact, Goliath was eight feet tall. That's a rather tall man.

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In fact, he was too tall to shop at the tall men's shops that we had. Eight feet tall. He wore a helmet that was about 200 pounds, just his helmet. And he had a spear that--the top of his was head of the sphere, was 25 pounds. He was a big man. Big

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man. And Goliath had issued a challenge to the forces of Israel. He said, "It's not necessary for our armies to fight each other. Let it be that we select a leader from each army. Goliath will represent the Philistines, and the Israelites

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will select a soldier from their group and let the two of them fight. And the winner will be the one that emerges and will victory for his army. And that sent chills down the spine of the Israelite soldiers. The more they seemed to fear, the more

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Goliath boasted of his ability to defeat anyone that they might might put up against him. He was a mighty, mighty champion. It so happened that David made a visit to the camp of the Israelites. He was on a mission for his father. And he heard the

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talking about this boast, this challenge that Goliath had issued. And the soldiers were fearful. They had no one that had responded to the challenge. No one was willing to face this superhuman person, this unusually tall and strong

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person, Goliath. And when David inquired as he moved about in out in the camp, his brothers in the camp. "See, look, fella, you don't have any business here. "You're too young."

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So David was too young to be included in the draft. But he said, "I will go and fight the giant." Now, it's easy to say things, and we're often guilty of that ourselves,

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of saying things and making promises on which we cannot deliver. And his brother chided him about it. The news came to the king, Saul,

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and David appears before Saul and David issues again the statement, "Yes, I am willing to go and fight against the giant. "And I'm able to fight the giant Goliath."

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Now, being able to fight the giants, that's the task we face. Every one of us here has a giant to face, some giant in your life. There is not something that you are up against, something I am up against. And it seems to be an insurmountable obstacle

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to face this giant. Some may have the giant of anxiety. Fearful about tomorrow. Fearful about how we're gonna make it.

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Anxious. about whether we have enough of this and enough of that. Oh, how we fret about the things of this life. So much so that it has become a giant

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that we are up against anxiety. Others face the giant depression, depress. depression. Depressed over this and over that. And an increasing number of persons commit suicide because they are unable to

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contend with the giant depression. And on and on we can with the giants. One of the great giants of our world is poverty, where two-thirds of the children of this world go to bed hungry. The giant called poverty. So the giant issues its

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And you can imagine the soldiers of Israel, how fearful they are. And then how they laugh at this lad, David. We have this day to celebrate in the life of our church as Children's Day. And And quite often we overlook the children.

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Quite often. They don't have much money to give. So the pastors often overlooked them. Congregation, too. Overlooked the children. And they'd overlook David! He had to push himself to the forefront.

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And he comes before the king, the king. And the king, "You want to go fight Goliath?" "Yes, I'm willing and able to fight the giant Goliath." "Well, he's eight feet tall." "Yes, I recognize that." "His helmet is

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200 feet." "Yes, I recognize all that. The head of his spear is 25 pounds. That's a great deal for you to deal with. Yes, I understand, but I am willing to go forth and fight the giant. So well now, if you're going to fight Goliath, what military

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experience do you have? Are you enrolled in the army? No, I'm in the army, but I have some experience in fighting. I've just been a shepherd boy, keeping watch over my father's flock. But while I watched over the flock, there came a lion,

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and I defeated the lion. There came a bear, and I defeated the bear. And the same God that gave me the power to defeat the the lion and the bear will enable me to win the victory against the giant goliath. There is power. There is a force in

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the world and there is this divine resource that is available to every one of us that will enable us to fight the giants in our lives and win. And we can fight them fairly. You know, we had a boxer here in the ring, and in the midst of his

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fighting, Sonny Liston, bit off the man's ear, violated the to many fights, we don't remember a man biting an awful man's ear when he gets disturbed. But here is one who has all of the things that we would normally think of going

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against him, and yet he is willing to face the giant Goliath. He is a different kind of champion. He's a different You know, we sort of measure our champions about how big they are.

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And you see measurements given how the reach that he has, the weight that he has, the expansion of this or that. But this is not the way.

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We often say something is bigger, is better because it's bigger, but that's not the case with God. who says he's able to face the giant. And the king said, "Well,

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now, David, if you insist on going to face the giant, wear my armor. Put on my military clothes." Saul had considerable military experience himself, and he knew what David was facing, and he thought it would be best for him to take his armor

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because he had good armor, he thought. He said, "Just in this." So they put it on David Stahl's armor. And when he has this armor on, he said, "I can't go in this."

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Pants are too long. too big. This just is not for me. I can't fight in this. But I have some equipment that I can fight with. You know, you can't fight life's battle with somebody else's armor. God has

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given each one of us certain talents. He's given us certain abilities. He's given us certain power, and He wants us to go and engage in the struggle with the armor that He has provided. What do you have there? Well, I just have a sling. I just have a

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sling and five smooth stones that I'm going to carry out into this. That's all. And the world looks at that and laughs. How How many times you say to somebody, "Well, what are you gonna do about the situation?"

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"Well, I'm just gonna pray." Pray? Is that all you're gonna do? Well, that's a powerful weapon.

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Because when you pray, you are lifting the situation beyond yourself. And you are confessing that you are not able to handle it alone.

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That there is a power greater than you are. And so you commune with him. Well, here is Goliath, brave, boastful. He stands. "Come, come, come, come fight against me. See if you can win." Arrogant. And

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David, a humble shepherd boy, takes his sling and just one of and aims it, and it hits the spot in its forehead, and Goliath falls down dead. He had five smooth stones. It didn't take but one to kill the giant, Goliath. Well, as you face the

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face the giants. The good news is that you're not alone. Use the equipment that God has given you. Dedicate yourself to being His channel of grace and lift the situation beyond the human level and bless your soul. God will answer. He'll guide us in

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way that we should go, and He will give us the victory." David, David doesn't go about boasting of his victory. He goes about really in his life and in his work boasting of the goodness and the power of God. And, oh, that's a wonderful

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testimony. Can't you see, David, as he goes about not only with soldiers, but in the future of his life, talking about how God gave him a victory when he was just a lad. Many of us here today gave our lives to God when we were just children. Just

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children. We gave our hand to the preacher and we gave our heart to God when we were just young, and somehow we heard the the Word and we answered and we've been on the journey as we look back for many, many years. And every day, every day with

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Jesus is sweeter than the day before. And we can give thanks to God that He is with us. Well, Goliath was trusting in himself was trusting in God. And David becomes a mighty, mighty champion. Not with the resources that Goliath has, but he has his

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own resources. And so God wants every one of us to be a mighty champion because he has given us in Jesus Christ a mighty He's a mighty champion. He's given us one who came

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all the way from heaven to this earth to walk among us, and he endured misunderstanding. He went through all of the opposition

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of scribes and Pharisees, Roman soldiers, and Pilate, Herod, all of that, and faced the cross. and was crucified, humiliated because he was placed between two thieves, and then he was buried.

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But on the third day, he got up and said, "All power in heaven and in earth is in my hand." And he's a champion. He's a champion that can overcome any obstacle

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that we face. He's a champion that can strengthen us in the midst of our weaknesses.

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He's a champion that can lead us over the high mountains of this world and He's the champion that

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can lead us through the dark valleys. Thanks be to God that He has given us in Jesus Christ a mighty champion.

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So what challenge remains for us? There's a passage there in Genesis

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It says, "And the sons of God married the daughters of men." It's a rather strange passage. The sons of God married the daughters of men. And then it goes on to say,

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"And there were giants in those days "when the sons of God married the daughters of men." So when the divine resources are blended with our best human resources,

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then we have a giant strength. And that's what God wills through Jesus Christ, for every one of us

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to have a giant strength. And if you have a giant strength, we won't whine. You know, when sickness comes

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and disappointments come, we won't whine, but we'll lift up our hearts and say, thanks be to

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God who's with us He has brought us in the midst of the struggle. He has provided us the

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strength that we need for every trial that we face. And as we come now to the

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hymn of invitation, yield not to temptation. For there'll be forces that will try to get us

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to go under a different way to yield to the temptations that may be around us. But the word is yield

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not to temptation for yielding his sin. Each victory will help you,

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some other to win. Fight mindfully onward. Bad, dark passions

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subdued. Look ever to Jesus, he will carry you through. The door of the church

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is open. (soft music) The door is open. We invite you to come. Unite with the family of God here at Ebenezer. We invite you to come.

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- Hymn 188. ♪ Heal not to temptation ♪ ♪ All healing is sin ♪ Each victory will help you some other to win.

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Fight manfully onward, dark passions subdued. ♪ Look ever to Jesus ♪ ♪ He will carry you through ♪ ♪ You just ask the Savior to help you ♪

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♪ Come for strength and keep you ♪ ♪ He is willing to make you whole ♪ ♪ He will carry you through ♪ ♪ Son of evil companions ♪

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♪ That languish this day ♪ ♪ God's name hold in reverence ♪ ♪ Not taken in vain ♪ ♪ He's a man and is kindhearted and true ♪

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♪ Whatever to Jesus he will carry you through ♪ ♪ Ask the Savior to help you ♪ ♪ Come to the truth and then keep you ♪ ♪ He is willing to aid you ♪

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♪ My Jesus will carry you through ♪ ♪ To him that o'ercometh ♪ ♪ God give us a crown ♪ ♪ The low faith we will conquer ♪

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♪ Though often cast down ♪ ♪ He who is our savior ♪ ♪ Our strength will renew ♪ ♪ Forever to Jesus ♪

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♪ And he will carry you through ♪ ♪ Who you just asked ♪ ♪ The Savior to help you ♪ ♪ He'll come to strengthen and keep you ♪

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♪ He's willing to aid you ♪ ♪ My Jesus will carry you through ♪ - Lord, how we bless your name, that you are with us in the midst of our struggles,

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to give us victory after victory when we face the giants of this world. Grace, mercy, and peace be with you from God our Father and Jesus Christ, our Lord, amen.

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