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Worshipper and Warrior

1 Samuel 17

• The Philistines were a great threat to the nation of Israel.

• The major contingent of the Philistines had migrated from the Aegean Islands and Asia Minor in the 12^th century BC.

• After being denied access into Egypt, they settled along the Mediterranean coast of Palestine.

• The Philistines controlled the use of iron, which gave them a decided advantage, militarily and economically, over Israel.

• The Philistines were constantly looking to overrun and take over the nation of Israel.

• Saul and the nation of Israel are gathered against this massive and powerful army.

• There are theological prophetic symbols throughout the Old Testament. We might say, “Old Testament concealed; New Testament revealed.”

• As we study the Old Testament through the lens of the New Testament, we see the nation of Israel, the people of God, as a prophetic window into the coming Church of Jesus Christ.

• The Philistines represent the enemies of the church, the pervasive cultural beliefs that threaten all that is good, holy, righteous, and true.

• There is a war going on today for the hearts and minds of the next generation.

• These armies of the culture have never, in the history of America, been more powerful and more persuasive than they are right now.

• Many have called this “The Culture War.”

• On one mountain are the sons of this earth, guided and led by the one who came to Jesus and tempted him to give up his mission for the power and glory of this world.

• This world’s values, systems, power, and authority are a great temptation. They are arrayed across a great divide on a high mountain.

• Television and movies are dripping with violence, sex, and alcohol. Nearly 61% of all TV programs contain violence, with children’s programming being the worst.

• Each year teens absorb nearly 15,000 sexual references, with less than 170 of them referring to abstinence, birth control, or sexually transmitted diseases.

• And a recent analysis showed that 70% of all prime-time programming depicted alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drug use.

• Consider MTV, whose parent company, Viacom, recorded revenues of $6.84 billion in 2004. While MTV would never say they aim to “destroy a generation,” MTV is, in fact, doing that by seeking to make money off young people, no matter what it takes.

• Viacom has organized a from-the-cradle-to-the-grave program for kids. It starts with Nickelodeon, then Nick Jr, then MTV.

• In a recent MTV survey of its audience, the question was asked what they thought of the moral code of the 7 deadly sins (also known as the 7 capital vices):  lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy and pride). The survey showed that the audience not only did not consider these sins, but thought of them as actual virtues! *

• Those on the one mountain control Hollywood, the media, our music, our educational system and our Supreme Court.

• On another mountain stands the Church of Jesus Christ.

• We stand at a crossroads today. We stand between two great mountains, two great decisions, and the question for this generation is:

• The Philistines of the culture are moving quickly and they have the iron, the money, and the backing of those in power.

• There are Goliaths in the land and they look invisible.

• Goliath was 6 cubits and a span in height. A cubit was 18 inches and a span was 9 inches, making Goliath about 9 feet in height!

• 5000 shekels translates into 125 lbs of armor!

• Saul had proven himself to be greatly concerned about outward appearance and easily influenced by the fear of man.

• The leaders of the church of Jesus Christ are intimidated by the culture! We have even tried to accommodate the culture and bring cultural symbols into our churches.

• Christians, in general, and pastors, in particular, are fearful of being out of step with the culture.

• This has happened countless times throughout church history and has especially happened on a wide scale over the past century and a half through:

• Modernism
• Theological liberalism
• Darwinism and the Scopes Trial
• Neoorthodoxy
• Process theology
• And most recently, “The Emerging Church movement”

• Whole church denominations are faltering under the weight of accommodating the cultural beliefs of homosexuality, tolerance at all costs, and a postmodern hermeneutic (interpretation) of scripture that in other times would have been classified as heretical.

• Christianity in America is in trouble!

• Secularists, liberals, and Muslims do not need to fear conservative Christians, says Dave Shiflett in the Wall Street Journal. Christians, he says, are not all that interested in converting sinners to Christ. They don’t really even believe that there is such a thing as heathens, tending to believe instead that every religion is equally valid (Word Magazine 12-6-03).

• The research seems to validate what Mr. Shiflett is saying. In a recent poll taken by George Barna:

• Christianity is conforming to the dominant secular culture!

• A recent issue of Christianity Today featured a cover article about the Emerging Church, a popular name for an informal affiliation of Christian communities worldwide who want to revamp the church and change the ways Christians interact with their culture.

• The article included a profile of Rob and Kristen Bell, the husband and wife team who founded Mars Hill, a very large church in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

• According to the article, the Bells, found themselves increasingly uncomfortable with church. “Life in the church had become so small,” Kristen says. “It had worked for me for a long time. Then it stopped working.”  The Bells started questioning their assumptions about the Bible itself. “Discovering the Bible as a human product,” as Rob puts it, rather than the product of divine fiat. “The Bible is still in the center for us,” Rob says, “but it’s a different kind of center. We want to embrace mystery, rather than conquer it.” “I grew up thinking that we’ve figured out the Bible,” Kristen says, “that we knew what it means. Now I have no idea what most of it means.”

• Each of the Emerging Church leaders profiled expressed a discomfort with any hint of certainty about what the Bible means, even on something as basic as the Gospel itself.

• Brian McLaren, one of the most outspoken Emerging Church leaders is quoted as saying, “I don’t think we’ve got the gospel right yet...None of us has arrived at orthodoxy.”

• Brian McLaren goes so far as to suggest that followers of other religions can also be followers of Christ in practical terms without leaving other religions or even identifying with Christianity. He writes, “I don’t believe making disciples must equal making adherents to the Christian religion. It may be advisable in many circumstances to help people become followers of Jesus and remain within their Buddhist, Hindu, and or Jewish contexts.”

• McLaren goes on to say our “message and methodology have changed, do change, and must change if we are faithful to the ongoing and unchanging mission of Jesus Christ.”

• The frightening part of McLaren’s viewpoint is that he seems to believe in propositional truth or only of marginal value.

• In 2003 Zondervan and Emergent/Youth Specialties have started a whole line of products to publish books, DVD’s, and audio products in collaboration with Brian McLaren.

• Despite such leaders and the books they write, the message has not changed! The Bible has not changed! Truth has not changed!

• David was the youngest of 8 sons.

• He came from an average middle class sheepherding home.

• He came from Ephrathah, or Bethlehem.

• Up to this time we know little about David except from 1 Samuel 16 that the prophet Samuel had been led by the Lord to go to his home and anoint him as the next king.

• When Samuel asked Jesse to bring his son’s before him, Jesse actually forgot about David.

• David ws probably between 16-18 years old at this time and was still a son under his father’s roof.

• David’s response to the taunting of Goliath is noteworthy.

• Two things bothered David:

• Here was a young man, not even old enough to vote yet, deeply concerned about how God was being treated and how the people were being handled by this giant

• That alone takes great nerve and boldness.

• This was an open and blatant challenge to the glory of God.

• This mattered to David because he was a worshipper before he was a warrior.

• David did not view this situation as isolated, but as a “cause.”

• Builders (born 1927-1945): 65% Bible based believers
• Boomers (born 1946-1964): 35% Bible based believers
• Busters (born 1965-1983): 16% Bible based believers
• Bridgers (born 1984 or later): 4% Bible based believers

• While many today might classify themselves as believers, only 4% of this next generation would affirm themselves as Bible believing Christians!

• Think about it.  With 35% of the Boomers saying they are born again believers, still produced are:

• Morally corrupt films and TV programs
• The sexual revolution that has changed the sexual habits of two generations
• A pornographic industry unprecedented in history
• Civil initiatives promoting gay marriage
• Abortion that has seen the killing of over 50 million babies
• Battles to remove the 10 commandments from all public buildings
• The advent of the ACLU
• Fights to take “under God” out of our Pledge of Allegiance
• Almost 50% of our marriages ending in divorce

• Ron Luce, the founder of Teen Mania, writes, “If these are the struggles we face now, with 35% of the largest generation of Americans affirming a belief in Scripture, can you imagine what America will be like when today’s teens become the next generation to dominate the population, with only 4% currently claiming to be Bible believing Christians.”

• 71 million Bridgers hold our future in their hands

• David’s question was “Is there not a cause?”

• His point was: Is there not a cause worth fighting for?

• Is there not a cause worth dying for?

• Is there not a cause worth living for?

• It would have been easier for David to have said: “Hey, this isn’t my fight!  I’m just a kid who’s got to get home and listen to iTunes! I’m just a kid who’s got to get some concert tickets. No one cares what I think anyway. Boy, I wish these Israelites had a little more nerve. I’m out of here”

• But he didn’t! David had a passion for God and the cause of the Church!

• David would have said: A cause isn’t worth living for if it isn’t worth dying for!

• David was so zealous for the glory of God and the cause of God!

• Are the glory of God and the cause of Christ worth dying for?

• If they are not worthy dying, they are not worth living for!

• God wants to raise up a generation of young worshippers and warriors with the same spirit as David.

• Let’s be clear now. David was no “Johnny come lately” who had a moment’s impassioned zeal based on the latest movie he had seen.

• David’s faith came from being tested! He had been tested by God, and he had passed.

• David was tested in his faith!

• You will be tested in your faith! God can mightily use us until we have been tested!

• David had developed a secret history with God:

• Even his father and brothers probably didn’t know what he had done in protecting the sheep.

• David had needed faith in taking on a lion, probably a mountain lion and a bear.

• Do you know what a lion and bear can do to a man?

• Have you ever seen the remains of people who have encountered a mountain lion or bear?

• But David’s response to Saul is telling.

• David is not bragging about his abilities or talents!

• David is not depending on his ability as a fighter!

• David is bragging about God!! David is confident in the Lord!

• David has developed a secret history with God in the lonely hills around Judea.

• Ex. You will be tested! Your tests begin everyday when you wake up and prepare for school or work. How do you begin your day? Do you begin your day with God? Are you building up a secret history with God?

• Faith is built as our hearts are kindled with the fire of God as we meet with Him.

• We read God’s description of teenage David: 

• David’s spirit was enflamed by God’s Holy Spirit.

• David was a man (as a teen), and all He wanted was to know and understand God’s heart.

• David’s heart wanted God’s heart.

• David didn’t need Saul’s armor! David didn’t need to take someone else’s methods and strategies!

• David didn’t need the same protection and armor that the world uses; this was the same kind of armor as Goliath.

• Ex. The church of Jesus Christ doesn’t need the methods and strategies of this world, trying to attract the unsaved with tricks, fancy messages, or “slight of the hand Christianity.”

• Ex. Most recently the founder and the leader of the Seeker Movement, Bill Hybels, made a public apology saying that their research has found that the seeker church doesn’t produce disciples of Christ!

• God’s Word and Spirit are still powerful enough to change lives!

• David knew where the power came from!

• Goliath came out to fight in his own name.

• David did not fight in his own name; he fought in the name of the Lord who is mighty to save.

• When a Spartan was asked what the boundaries of his country were, he would reply, “The limits of Sparta are marked by the points of our spears.”

• The limits of God’s kingdom are marked by the points of our spears, but our spears are not carnal or earthly.

• It was said of Sparta, “You have no walls,” and the Spartan warrior would say, “The walls of Sparta are her sons.”

• We have no defenses in our churches except the hearts of our sons and daughters who are passionate for Christ.

• It is the Lord’s war, but He calls forth warriors!

• David answered the call.

• David prevailed with a sling and a stone, actually five smooth stones!

• These were the tools of the trade for a shepherd. David had learned to wield his weapons in the fields of Judea.

• David had only a sling and a stone. Without the stone, the sling was of no use; without the sling, the stone was of no use.

• Today, we have a sling and a stone! They are the Word and the Spirit!

• It is only in growing in the Word and the Spirit that we can conquer Satan in our lives and in our land.

• David was a man of the Word and the Spirit. You can’t have just the Word without the Spirit or the just the Spirit without the Word.

• God wants to raise up a generation of men and women with the passion and heart of David who are:

• Worshippers and Warriors

• Young people of the Word and the Spirit

• I believe each of these stones represents the weapons of our warfare today, and they form the basis for our new school of ministry: The Pursuit.

• I truly believe there is no hope for the next generation without these 5 stones.

• Without these 5 stones of David, we will falter under the onslaught of the rising powers of the Anti-Christ and the powers of Satan.

• What are those 5 stones today? 

• David became a warrior through worshipping! 

• David came to the end of his life and gave us this self description:

• The hymnal of God is the Psalms: Half of the Psalms were written by David.

• David’s heart was after God’s heart, and God’s heart is found in the Psalter.

• David’s heart was formed as he worshipped God, alone with God in worship and in the corporate setting.

• At The Pursuit School of Ministry we desire to build worshippers with Monday - Wednesday worship and warrior sessions in the Prayer Chapel as we learn to worship and intercede in the furnace of God’s love.

• David had experienced God’s love in his life.

• David had experienced the fire of God’s heart and love in his life.

• When you encounter the love, acceptance and grace of God, your life will never be the same.

• Joy is only found by abiding in the love of Christ!

• David’s heart was formed as he was alone with God, seeking God’s face in the lonely hills around Bethlehem.

• David’s zeal and passion for God were kindled as he poured out his heart to God in intercession.

• David learned to cry out to God, probably beginning each day in prayer.

• Over 10 times in the Psalms, David mentions that he is crying out to God for something.

• David was a worshipper and warrior who saw intercession and worship as warfare against the enemy.

• At The Pursuit we want to train our students to know how to engage in spiritual warfare through worship and prayer.

• 56% say they are looking for meaning in life.

• 78% say that the most influential people in their life are parents!

• 44% say the Bible is a great influence in their life!