Pastor Carolyn Poteet


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Sunday

October 13


Preacher

Pastor
Carolyn Poteet


Sermon

"Giant God "
 

Scripture

Psalm 18: 1-7, 13-19
1 Samuel 17:32-51




























































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October 10, 2019

" David said to the Philistine,
'You come against me with sword and spear and javelin,
but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty,
the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.' "
1 Samuel 17:45 

Greetings in the Name of the Lord, Jesus Christ!
 
I think we have finally arrived at Fall! I hope you are enjoying the cooler days, changing leaves, and thoughts of upcoming holidays.

What would you do if faced with a giant? This was no Jolly Green Giant, this was Goliath, a mammoth undefeatable enemy. He was almost twice as tall as most of the Israelite army, and we can only imagine that he was twice as broad too. And worst of all, he would come to the battlefield every day and slander the Israelites and their God.

Into this dramatic scene wandered a young shepherd boy with lunch for his brothers. His oldest brother chastised him and accused him of only coming to the battle to be a spectator. But God had much bigger plans for David.

Undeterred by his brothers, David has the audacity to start asking questions. "What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel?" David queries the soldiers. "Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?," (1 Samuel 17:26).

David's questions reach King Saul, and Saul brings the young upstart before him. David boldly explains that not only is he prepared to fight a giant like he had fought a lion and a bear, but he has an even bigger weapon: "The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine" (1 Samuel 17:37).

What is it that Saul sees in David that he agrees to let him fight? David certainly has courage, but he has something even more powerful than that. He has faith. He has faith in the Lord God Almighty, the God of Angel Armies. This faith is not a wishy-washy, barely hopeful faith, either. It is a full-blown, absolute confidence that the Lord will not fail.

And so you know the story. Armed only with five smooth stones, David faces off with Goliath. Wouldn't you have loved to hear him say, "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied'" (1 Samuel 17:45)? One small stone was all it took for the giant to fall. And in that moment, the nation of Israel was forever changed.

What giants are you facing in your life right now? Giant bills or giant illnesses? Giant workloads or giant heartache? It is easy to be overwhelmed by giants. You can almost hear them mocking, "Your God isn't big enough to tackle this giant!" Someone caught me this week being overwhelmed with worry about something, and she said, "Aren't you the one who always tells us to trust the Lord?" How easily we (even preachers) forget!

My prayer this week is that when we see giants in our lives, the Lord would open our eyes to see our even bigger God. To see His army arrayed around us like Elisha and his servant were surrounded by chariots of fire. We serve the God of Angel Armies, and He will rescue us from all our giants!

Blessings,
Pastor Carolyn
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