Louder than Goliath! (Pt.2)

(Part 2)

“David left his things with the keeper of supplies and hurried out to the ranks to greet his brothers. As he was talking with them, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, came out from the Philistine ranks. Then David heard him shout his usual taunt to the army of Israel. As soon as the Israelite army saw him, they began to run away in fright. “Have you seen the giant?” the men asked. “He comes out each day to defy Israel. The king has offered a huge reward to anyone who kills him. He will give that man one of his daughters for a wife, and the man’s entire family will be exempted from paying taxes!”  David asked the soldiers standing nearby, “What will a man get for killing this Philistine and ending his defiance of Israel? Who is this pagan Philistine anyway, that he is allowed to defy the armies of the living God?”-1 Samuel 17:22-26

Day after day the Israelite army listened to Goliath’s taunts and jeers. Israel hadn’t surrendered, but they were not winning either. They were caught between the two, paralyzed with fear. However, because they were all afraid of facing the giant alone, it seems that they were all ok with the status quo. That is until David showed up. David saw what the other men saw and heard what the other men heard. Yet, he was not dissuaded. He told King Saul in vs. 32: “Don’t worry about this Philistine,” David told Saul, “I’ll go fight him!” 

King Saul’s response to David’s declaration was both discouraging and faithless:

“Don’t be ridiculous. There is no way you can fight this Philistine and possibly win! You are only a boy, and he’s been a man of war since his youth.”-1 Samuel 17:33

As loud as Goliath was that day with his taunts and continuous scoffing, his voice wasn’t the loudest voice that was crippling King Saul and the armies of Israel. Every man that stood on that battle field that day believed, about himself, the very words that King Saul was speaking over David. David told King Saul: “I’ve defeated the lion and the bear and God will rescue me from this Philistine too.” David wasn’t afraid to battle the Philistine because he had already faced off with lions and bears. Likewise, David wasn’t intimidated by Goliath’s taunts, because he had already overcome the Eliab’s and Saul’s in his life. 

When David came to the battlefield he heard Goliath’s daily verbal abuse towards Israel, but when he begins to question it; he is confronted with another voice:

“But when David’s oldest brother, Eliab, heard David talking to the men, he was angry. “What are you doing around here anyway?” he demanded. “What about those few sheep you’re supposed to be taking care of? I know about your pride and deceit. You just want to see the battle!”-1 Samuel 17:28

David was being scorned by Eliab and his motives were being drawn into question. He was being belittled and mocked. Eliab, the first born of Jesse, was obviously still bitter at David. God had rejected Eliab and passed him over as the next king of Israel and David had been anointed king by the prophet Samuel. 

You better believe that the moment that you start to rise up in faith against your giant, there are going to be those who scorn you, because their life didn’t turn out the way they planned. Their dreams didn’t come to pass. Their prayers didn’t get answered the way they hoped and if you don’t rise above those voices you will stand on the sidelines listening to giants cripple your life instead of facing them. 

Scott Burr

Louder than Goliath! (Pt.1)

(Part 1)

“Goliath stood and shouted a taunt across to the Israelites. “Why are you all coming out to fight?” he called. “I am the Philistine champion, but you are only the servants of Saul. Choose one man to come down here and fight me! If he kills me, then we will be your slaves. But if I kill him, you will be our slaves!  I defy the armies of Israel today! Send me a man who will fight me!” When Saul and the Israelites heard this, they were terrified and deeply shaken.”-1 Samuel 17:8-11

Scripture tells us that when King Saul and the Israelite armies heard the rantings of Goliath, they were terrified and deeply shaken. What had Israel so distraught? 

It is clear from history that Israel was not unfamiliar with battle. From the moment they set foot in the promised land they had to fight simply to exist. Obviously, battle didn’t shake them. 

Perhaps it was the presence of a giant that had them running scared. According to 1 Samuel 17:4-7, Goliath was a pretty imposing figure:

“Then Goliath, a Philistine champion from Gath, came out of the Philistine ranks to face the forces of Israel. He was over nine feet tall! He wore a bronze helmet, and his bronze coat of mail weighed 125 pounds. He also wore bronze leg armor, and he carried a bronze javelin on his shoulder. The shaft of his spear was as heavy and thick as a weaver’s beam, tipped with an iron spearhead that weighed 15 pounds. His armor bearer walked ahead of him carrying a shield.”

Although the sight of a warrior over 9 feet tall would be intimating to witness, I don’t think that this was the very first time they had seen a giant. Although we cannot be certain how many giants there were in the land, it is apparent from scripture that they were not uncommon. We read all the way back from the book of Genesis 6:4 that “There were giants on the earth in those days.” There appears to have been a lineage of them. Later David and his men would face off with four more giants. In 2 Samuel 21:20 they are referred to as the descendants of the giants; meaning there was a family line of them. So, I don’t think they were shocked by the sight of Goliath. In fact, I would say that they had probably even battled them before. 

So, what is it that caused Israel to fear? What caused the king and his mightiest warriors to be terrified and deeply troubled? The truth of it is found in what Goliath declared: “Goliath stood and shouted a taunt across to the Israelites. “Why are you all coming out to fight? he called. “I am the Philistine champion, but you are only the servants of Saul. Choose one man to come down here and fight me!”

It became painfully obvious that as an army Israel was ready to battle giants, but individually no man had the confidence to face a giant by himself. Not a single man standing there, including God’s anointed King, had the confidence to step out and go toe to toe with Goliath. As an army they had all the confidence in the world because they were depending on their collective strength. As individuals, however, they would have had to depend solely on God. 

Pastor Scott Burr

Bring your dirty feet to Jesus (Pt.2)

(Part 2)

“In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins.”-2 Peter 1:5-9

When we put our faith in Jesus, we were cleansed from the sins that we had committed. Not by our own works, but by the washing of regeneration (Titus 3:4-5). It is clear from Scripture that God made provision for our cleansing through the shed blood of Jesus Christ: 

“How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”-Hebrews 9:14

That is why we can say that it is only by the grace of God that we have been saved. We could not cleanse ourselves, but we can come to Him, repent of our sins, and allow ourselves to be washed by the blood of Jesus. 

Nevertheless, how many know that no matter how hard we try, sometimes we still step in it? We find ourselves in sin. Have we, then, forfeited that cleansing, or has God in His wisdom, made a way for us to wash our feet?

According to 1 John 1:9:

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Although it is the blood of Jesus that cleanses us from all sin; once we have been made clean we are to continue to live in fellowship with God and stop living in spiritual darkness. Why?  Because according to vs. 8:

“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”

Although we have already been forgiven and cleansed there is still the possibility that along the way home, we may step in something that is reminiscent of our old sinful life. The good news is that when that happens we have an advocate that pleads our case: 

“My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.”- 1 John 2:1-2

God desires for us to live a life free from sin. However, if we sin, we need to bring Jesus our dirty feet? How do we do that? By confessing our sins to Him. Because if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 

Some of you may think, no my feet are too dirty to be cleansed. If you believe that you have failed to understand the cleansing power of Jesus blood. His blood is the ultimate stain remover. God’s desire for us is to live righteously before Him. His cleansing is not a license to sin. Rather, we are to stop living in spiritual darkness and walk in the light of Christ. Nonetheless, if along the way we soil our feet with things of this world, we need not start the process of salvation all over again, but simply repent of our sins and let Jesus was our feet. 

Scott Burr

Bring your dirty feet to Jesus (Pt.1)

(Part 1)

“After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. Then He came to Simon Peter. And Peter said to Him, “Lord, are You washing my feet?” Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this.”

Peter said to Him, “You shall never wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!”

Jesus said to him, “He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.” For He knew who would betray Him; therefore He said, “You are not all clean.”-John 13:5-11

It never fails does it? You work hard to get your kids bathed, their hair done, and dressed ready for church and one of them manages to locate and step in the only mud puddle in a five mile area. Or you dress to impress for a big meeting and manage to spill coffee down the front of your church while driving to work. When these thing happen as annoying as they may be, you don’t start the whole process of cleansing over again. You don’t put the kids back in the tub, rewash their hair, and buy them new outfits. You change their clothes, yes, but just because their shoes are dirty, doesn’t warrant restarting the entire process. 

Jesus washing the disciples feet was more than just a grand gesture but a message of hope to those, who although they love Jesus, would certainly one day end up stepping in something that would dirty their feet. 

At first Peter objected to Jesus washing him, but in vs. 8, Jesus declared: “If I do not wash you, you have no part in Me.” Jesus made it clear that we all need cleansed and if we think we can come to Him without being washed, we are mistaken. Peter responded in classic Peter fashion: “Then Lord, not just my feet, but my hands and head as well!” 

Jesus’ loving response to Peter is for us as well today. Jesus said, “He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.” In Jesus day, there was not indoor plumbing. So it they wanted to bath they went to the river or the bath house. After washing, however, they still had to walk home, which inevitably meant that their feet became dirty again. Once arriving home, they did not need a bath to get clean again, they simply needed to wash their feet. 

Jesus was telling Peter, that he didn’t need to bath all over again, he didn’t need his “hands and head” washed again, just his feet. He told his disciples in John 15:3: “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.”

Years ago, I had a young man that would come to church and every time we gave the invitation to receive Christ, he would come forward for salvation. We all knew his heart and that what he needed was discipled, but his outward response was not too different from many of our inward responses to the sin we seem to step in as we are trying to walk with Jesus. 

Somehow we have bought into the idea that if we sin that we immediately forfeit the cleansing we receive from Christ and the only way forward is to give our lives to Christ all over again and start over. It is almost as if we have forgotten that we have been cleansed from our old sin and that simply because we have soiled ourselves with something new that the work Jesus did in our lives has somehow been nullified. 

Pastor Scott Burr

Dayspring Community Church