I Know How This Story Ends

0:01Speaker 1:Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.

0:02Speaker 2:I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank you for joining us today.

0:08Speaker 1:Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith.

0:10Speaker 2:Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving in your life.

0:13Speaker 1:Enjoy the message.

0:16Speaker 2:First Samuel, chapter seventeen, verse fifty. Just one scripture today that I want to share with you.

0:21Speaker 1:But it's a good one.

0:24Speaker 2:It says in One Samuel seventeen, verse fifty, So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, without a sword in his hand. He struck down the Philistine and killed him.

0:53Speaker 3:There's power in the mighty name of Jesus. Every war he wages, he will win.

1:06Speaker 2:So David triumphed over the Philistine, and I'm not backing down from any giant with a sling and.

1:14Speaker 1:A stone, without a sword in his hand.

1:19Speaker 2:He struck down the Philistine and killed him. Would you look at your neighbor and sing my sermon title, Tell him I know how this storys Come on, tell your other neighbor the safet one.

1:33Speaker 1:Tell them I know how this story. Father. We thank you for your word.

1:40Speaker 2:The power of it, and that he who began a good work is faithful to complete it.

1:44Speaker 1:In Jesus' name.

1:46Speaker 2:Amen, you may take your seat, God bless you.

1:52Speaker 1:I know how this story ends.

1:55Speaker 2:Because Holly and I have a rule in our marriage that when she's telling me a story, if it's a negative story, then I need her to tell me the ending before she gives me the details, because sometimes she tells expanded stories.

2:11Speaker 1:You like, I said that that was real.

2:13Speaker 2:PC, How I said that that was really cautious. How I said that she tells She tells stories and puts in all the deleted scenes it's the director's cut. But sometimes I just need to know when she says today was a terrible day, I need to know how this ends.

2:28Speaker 1:You know, Oh, how how was your day? Oh? And then she starts with breakfast.

2:33Speaker 2:But I need to know, like, well, how much does it cost at the end of it, Like, you know, is it seven thousand dollars or do we both have to go to the kids' school this time or just one of us. I need to know how this ends, or I'll just get lost in the middle. It's different when you know how it ends. If you tell me how it ends, you know, don't worry, it's not that bad. We got it all worked out well. Then I can find follow you on all of the twists. But I just need to know how it ends. I need to know that this is going to be all right. I need to know that it's not fatal. I need to know that they didn't quit. You just had a bad meeting.

3:14Speaker 2:Because she'll be telling me something about something at the office, and she'll she'll want to put it. You know, she has good storytelling technique, and she's a great storyteller, but that works against us in marital communication because I'm not looking for suspense and drama.

3:29Speaker 1:I just need the bottom line.

3:31Speaker 2:She's be like, oh, I had a meeting with so and so today it went terrible, And I'm thinking, like, we are they moving back to Nebraska where their famili's from.

3:39Speaker 1:Do we have to replace them on staff?

3:41Speaker 2:But just tell me how it ends, and then you can get me all the details. Then you can tell me that eggs were on sale when you went back home on the way to the thing, and then the thing with the thing, and then the car cut off, but then it cut back on and it's not in the shop. Just tell me how it ends, and then I can listen to the story. I want to show you something real quick. This is a picture from our summer vacation a few weeks ago.

4:03Speaker 1:Just a picture of some family time that we had. Yeah. See that's how it ended. I don't know. Can they see it at the campuses? Yeah, that's how it ended.

4:17Speaker 2:That's how it ended, with Graham smilet, with everybody breathing, with Elijah making some questionable sign with his hand.

4:30Speaker 1:Notice there is only one or.

4:35Speaker 2:There were two when we set out and embarked on this family adventure.

4:41Speaker 1:But it ends like this.

4:44Speaker 2:Thankfully for me, as I've already mentioned, I have a great wife who when she saw us struggling on the kayak, because contrary to my knowledge, sand bars are temporary.

4:58Speaker 1:They don't just stay there.

5:00Speaker 2:The sandbar that is there one minute might be gone in thirty minutes. There's this thing called the tides. You think I would know this stuff. You would think you would drag the kayak further than just the very edge of the sandbar before you walked all the way out to the middle of it to have a family memory. But thank God for my wife because when she saw us struggling, when the tide came in.

5:24Speaker 1:How many notes?

5:25Speaker 2:When God gives you a great wife? When she sees you struggling, she picks up the iPhone and records it. So check out this video she took real quick from the shore.

5:36Speaker 1:All right, here's the boys paddleled to this sandbar.

5:43Speaker 2:But the tiling is coming in minutes away from floating, no minutes, and they're not even they don't know when they're honey, who worried about it?

6:05Speaker 1:Oh there's Graham.

6:06Speaker 2:He's running every.

6:09Speaker 1:Floating Yep, that's Graham running. How could I love you like that?

6:24Speaker 4:You're stuck?

6:33Speaker 1:So, you know, Graham said it best.

6:36Speaker 2:He said when we got back and we were telling everybody what had happened, he said.

6:42Speaker 1:That could have ended a whole.

6:45Speaker 2:Lot different, you know, because you obviously have the leisure of laughter because you know how it ends. I mean, well, hey, pastor, I mean it's pretty funny. Actually the monoculars. You're dry now you're not dead, because it's different when you know how it ends. But if the man on the jet ski hadn't come by, it could.

7:11Speaker 1:Have ended This is what Graham said.

7:12Speaker 2:It could have ended a whole lot different. Or if he wouldn't have had southern hospitality to go get my kayak and.

7:21Speaker 1:Bring it back to me with his jet ski. It could have ended. Look at somebody say, it could have ended a whole lot different. How many know there's some things in your life that could have ended a whole lot different.

7:37Speaker 2:That drunk driver swerved right into your lane, but some kind of angel'll just pull that car back over. It could have ended a whole lot different. Come on, you know I'm right about it. If you had got stopped by the police at the wrong time when you were in college, it could have ended a.

7:53Speaker 1:Whole lot different. Some of us.

7:57Speaker 2:It's not that we never did anything wrong. We just didn't get caught. If we would have been at the wrong place at the wrong time, it could have ended a whole lot different.

8:06Speaker 1:Polisher Halo.

8:07Speaker 2:If you want, I'm gonna turn to the heathen section. This where the heathens sit it could have ended. Come on, stand up and testify if it could have ended if it had not been for the Lord on my side, you better give him praise right now before he pulls up your search history.

8:21Speaker 1:It could have ended all whole You know I'm right.

8:30Speaker 2:Tell somebody you know that preacher is right. So it's funny now. And when I read David and Goliath as my text, there's some Bible nerds sitting out there, maybe watching online, going like.

8:45Speaker 4:A really, David and Goliath, all the stories in the Bible, you want to pick this one. Oh boy, already know this one.

9:03Speaker 1:David kills Goliath. The lie. It goes down every time you read it.

9:10Speaker 4:I already know about the sling shot in the stone. He had five smooth stones, buddy old ne no one. The giant king had a big heavy helmet, Jesse. He called David, said take this bread down to your brother's jack on them. And Baby got down there and golith was shoone and David heard it, and Baby said you want no smoke, and day the grab his sleigh and it threw a stone at the giant, and the giant went down.

9:49Speaker 1:I already know how this story ends.

9:55Speaker 2:So since you already know how it ends, let me suggest something to you. David never read first Samuel seventeen, verse fifty.

10:08Speaker 1:It's different when you know how it ends, so we can shout.

10:14Speaker 2:But David was shaking, shaking in his sandals, holding his slang, trembling, wondering how this ends, wondering will this jet ski get my kayak? Wondering preaching to somebody today. And you have not read for Samuel seventeen fifty yet about this situation in your life, and you are still looking at a giant that is bigger than you. And since we know how David's story ends, I want to spend just a few moments today thinking about how it could have ended, because it could have ended whole.

11:02Speaker 1:Lot different.

11:04Speaker 2:Had I had I gone to that one school and married that other girl. How many No, it could have ended a whole lot worse for Holly.

11:17Speaker 1:She could have missed the whole buffet. But now think about it.

11:26Speaker 2:If David makes some different decisions, the story ends a whole lot different. And see, God is writing your story right now, for your family, right now, for this season of your life, right now. And although we know that Goliath goes down, David has to do it in the face of uncertainty. And yet, no matter how many sermons you hear about David defeating Goliath, you must recognize that there were three things that David had to face before he even.

11:59Speaker 1:Ever got to Goliath.

12:01Speaker 2:And if any of these three things had gone differently, It could have been a whole lot different. If David had been a typical teenager when his father came in said, you know, he's only seventeen when he kills Goliath. And if he had had a response to Jesse's instruction when Jesse said, I want you to run these snacks down to your brothers.

12:31Speaker 1:If David had rolled his eyes, you know, God, Dad seriously like a future king. Dad.

12:43Speaker 2:Samuel has already annointed David. He already knows he has a great future.

12:48Speaker 1:But now if.

12:49Speaker 2:David refuses to be faithful in his present because he's too focused on his future, this story ends a lot different.

12:59Speaker 1:How many you heard this story of David and Goliath raise your hand? Yeah? No, Because it's even a sports analogy. People use it in the NBA, the NFL. It's an archetypal story.

13:09Speaker 2:It's so famous, is so wonderful, it's so fun to preach. I bet I've preached it fifty times, at least fifty times.

13:16Speaker 1:In this one church.

13:17Speaker 2:But watch how the story could have gone. It could have been a whole lot different. Jesse wakes David up one morning, he says, I got a task for you. I want you to run this cheese and bread down to your brothers on the battle lines. They're in the Valley of Ela fighting with Saul. David wakes up slowly. David rolls his eyes. David checks his phone. David post on his Instagram story the fake account, the one that Jesse doesn't follow, and David puts that on Instagram.

13:41Speaker 1:God, my dad makes me sick. This is ridiculous. God hate my parents. I hate my life.

13:46Speaker 2:David goes to the battle line, but he gets there forty five minutes late. He gets there after Goliath came out to shout his usual defiance.

13:53Speaker 1:He didn't know Goliath was on the battle line. You don't know what day God wants to use you.

13:58Speaker 2:You don't know what converse is going to turn things around. You don't know what moment is going to be holy. You don't know when a bush is going to burst into flames and spontaneously combust with the presence of God and the direction for the next step of your life. You don't know this. But if you don't show up, watch this and do the ordinary with a good attitude, it could have ended a whole lot different. Do you really think they would have taught us this Bible story in Bible School in Sunday School. If the story went like this, Jesse woke up David, David got up, David went down to the battle lines with the bad attitude, dropped off the food, threw it at his brothers, and went back home. And yet it could have ended like that.

14:51Speaker 2:That could have been the very end of the story. It could have ended a whole. It could have ended with David. It could have ended with this David feeling slighted because he was asked to do something that he deemed in significant. You know who I am, Dad, Really, you're asking me to be a delivery boy to take this food down to my brothers.

15:17Speaker 1:You're serious, right now, God Dad?

15:23Speaker 5:Okay, Oh okay, Oh go.

15:29Speaker 2:But I'm not gonna run to the battle lines, and I'm not gonna have my eyes open for up.

15:34Speaker 5:To Oh okay, i'll go, but I don't have to like it. Okay, I'll go to church, but I'm not lifting my hands. That's what the weird people do.

15:45Speaker 2:Oh okay, i'll go, but we're leaving early. That parking lot gets crazy and I want to be at the restaurant before the Methodist church.

15:51Speaker 1:Lesson.

15:52Speaker 2:Oh Okay, could have been a hole, come on, work with me with a value. It could have been Ah, you don't even have to buy a vow, just say it. It could have been a whole lot different. I'm David. I'm not door dash what you think. I am uber eats, I'm not dropping nothing off. My name is David. Say my name David King, David Crown, David Samuel.

16:17Speaker 1:Put the oil on my had David.

16:19Speaker 2:It could have been a whole lot different if David had tripped over the ordinary. So here's what I'm learning is that opportunity presents itself as ordinary. There is not going to be you know, I want to kill my goliath.

16:34Speaker 1:I want to breakthrough in my life. I want to whatever.

16:37Speaker 4:You know.

16:37Speaker 2:We use goliath to mean anything, by the way, in church, if you're new here, Goliath could mean anything. It could mean we want a good parking space. It could mean we want a healing in our body. It could mean we want to stop beating so many chips. Goliath can mean almost anything. In this particular instance, it means anything that opposes the purpose of God. He was standing against the people of God, opposed the purpose of God, defying the armies, of the Living God. That's what Goliath was and it usually won't be physical. But before David ever got to the real battle, he had to face the ordinary.

17:15Speaker 2:There's not going to be one conversation with your kids that is going to change their life. It is going to be picking them up and dropping them off and trying to get them to say more than three words to you at a time.

17:31Speaker 1:That is going to change their life.

17:33Speaker 2:Is three words on top of three words on top of three words on top of three words on top of three words. You are not going to take your son on one trip to Ireland and reenact Braveheart or Scotland or wherever that overrated movie happen, and he's going to come.

17:48Speaker 1:Back shouting freedom and he's a warrior now.

17:50Speaker 2:For Jesus Christ, it's not going to be one trip when he turned sixteen. It's going to be many trips. It's going to be many, back and forth, back and forth. And David went back and forth and back and forth and back and forth.

18:04Speaker 1:See, we know how the story ends. David didn't.

18:06Speaker 2:He didn't even know there was a giant in the Valley of elaw Not when he sets out that day, and if he refuses to do the ordinary. It could have been a whole lot different. What a boring story this would have been. David's dad said, go, David went, did it with a bad attitude, came home, slept for eight hours. Could have been a whole lot different if David had been typical. So then he gets there right, he does the ordinary. In fact, the Bible says this is amazing. He ran to the battle lines. He left his things with the keeper of supplies. He's very responsible.

18:45Speaker 2:He runs to the battle lines. So he's there in position with the attitude to see the opportunity.

18:52Speaker 1:And when he hears Goliath shouting.

18:54Speaker 2:See if Dad goes down like most of us go around and just gets through his day, he's not gonna be in the frame of mind to seize the opportunity. And even when he gets there and gives the brothers the food that he brought for them, one of his brothers has such a bad attitude with him that the second thing that David had to deal with before he even got to the real opponent, was of fence. Now I want to show you this. It's very powerful. How some of us are fighting the wrong battle. We are fighting a preliminary battle and missing the real one because when David gets there, he's like, what's up, guys? You know, David is that dude. He's like, hey, guys, what did I miss? And they're like, it's not then new man.

19:47Speaker 2:This dude is nine foot two. He keeps coming out every day and keeps saying the same thing. He keeps telling us, send your best man, I'll kill him and you will be our slaves. But we can't do anything with him because I mean, look at him, Look how big he is.

20:03Speaker 1:And David's like, look how big he is. One country preacher said this.

20:07Speaker 2:He said the rest of the army saw Goliath and said he's too big to kill. David looked at Goliath and said he's too big to miss.

20:16Speaker 1:I wonder what's your perspective today. I'm preaching for fifteen people.

20:21Speaker 2:God said, this challenge in front of you is an indication of the power within you. Yeah.

20:28Speaker 1:Yeah. David's like, so what do I get if I kill him? It's like, well, Saul said, like at first he was like, does anybody want to fight him?

20:42Speaker 2:But it's been forty days now, and so Saul keeps opping the ante like the airlines do when they got to overbook flight. You know, we need two volunteers, from the kindness of your heart to give up your seat. We need two volunteers. We'll give you two hundred dollars. We're gonna need you two volunteers. We'll give you five hundred dollar. We need two volunteers. We'll give you a thousand dollars voucher for travel. The more desperate they get, the more the reward becomes. Now you can only use thee thousand dollars every seventeen Thanksgiving on this voucher, and blackout dates apply. But now Saul has gotten so desperate he got to the point where he says, look, I'll give you my daughter in marriage the hot one, and you don't have to pay taxes. So David's like, for real, Now somebody verified this. Now here's the difference. Here's the difference.

21:32Speaker 2:It could have been a whole lot different. But David hadn't been out there forty days, and he hadn't gotten used to the dysfunction, and he hadn't got used to standing there defeated in a dead block, and so he comes up and to them, Goliath just sounds normal. But to David it sounds different. Wait a minute, he's not supposed to talk like that. You know, you can get comfortable in your dysfunction when you've been in it long enough, when all your sick friends are lying around in five covered colonnades, it can.

22:05Speaker 1:Be easy for you to start making excuses. And David was like, hold on, So he said, what about God? And I get what if A kill him?

22:17Speaker 2:I love this though, because this is what always happens when God is trying to do something in your life. The enemy will always present another enemy that is not the real enemy, to keep you distracted from fighting the one that you're called to defeat. In David's case, it was his brother, his big brother. His name kind of sounds like Goliath, but it's not Eliab.

22:45Speaker 1:He was tall.

22:47Speaker 2:For a minute, Samuel thought he was supposed to be the king Becausaul was tall. And he saw in Samuel saw in Eliab what he had seen in Saul, which is height, not heart. And God said, don't look at his height, look at his heart. Stop judging your situation externally. It's what's inside the counts. It's what's inside the counts. And a live starts judging David's motives. He's like, look at this. In verse twenty eight, he goes, why have you come down here? And with whom did you leave those few sheep? Now, all of these things David had taken care of. He's a very responsible young man. But really, what's happening here is I believe the enemy is trying to trigger David to get him to fight the wrong person.

23:41Speaker 2:Because watch, if he stands here and argues with his brother, he will never even see his enemy.

23:52Speaker 1:This might be the whole sermon for somebody. Now just look straight ahead.

23:56Speaker 2:If you're married, sometimes you're fighting against what you're supposed to be fighting for, and you have to call a time out. Sometimes you have to sometimes be like, wait a minute, you're not my enemy. Wait a minute, you're you're You're not who I'm supposed to be fighting. And if David gets caught up fighting Eliab, he never sees Goliath. If he gets distracted, some of us are defeated simply because we're distracted.

24:33Speaker 1:Now you know how the story ends, but think about how it could have ended.

24:36Speaker 2:David for the next two hours defends himself to Elia. I was the other day checking on some Instagram post seeing if they were touching people's lives. You know, I would like to say that I always do it with a pure heart, But sometimes I'll scroll to look for people who say mean things to me, and that's a dysfunction. And I'm not saved all the way yet I am saved. I was saying a big saved. This is the part that's in progress. Sometimes I'd just like to imagine the response.

25:05Speaker 2:I could say, you know what the Spear of the Lord told me the other day. First of all, it's one out of three hundred people who say something negative.

25:12Speaker 1:That's number one. Number two.

25:14Speaker 2:If you would invest a fraction of the energy into blessing people that you put into defending yourself, you would be Mother Teresa, you would be Saint Paul. You could change the world if you would stop trying to defend yourself. And I'm coming right for you because some of us trip over an offense, and so we never defeat the real opponent, because we stand and argue with Eliab and we never even get to Goliah.

25:48Speaker 1:You that's so powerful.

25:50Speaker 2:It could have had a whole different ending. It could have been a whole lot different. And I bet in Jackie, you wouldn't have taught me that Bible story in Sunday School. If David had stood there and argued with Eliab, now here's the thing that's practical about this. Some of you are fighting Eliab today, and because you're fighting Eliab, Goliath continues to go unchallenged in your life. You know you're fighting Eliab if you're still blaming people.

26:26Speaker 1:David did this move that.

26:30Speaker 2:I want to learn how to do when I realize I'm fighting the wrong enemy, when I realize I'm fighting something outside when I really need to be dealing with something inside. When I realize I'm trying to control how other people are versus trying to have self control the fruit of the.

26:44Speaker 1:Spirit for myself. This is a word today. This is a word today.

26:49Speaker 2:It said that David did something very strategic, and this is like the turning point of the story. It said in verse thirty that when Eliab was going back and forth in David, David hit him real quick with an insult, just to let him know I'm not a punk. And then after he said what he had to say, watch what he did. David turned and asks somebody else.

27:11Speaker 1:And watch this.

27:12Speaker 2:When he turns away from Eliab. It positions him to face Goliath. So whoever is for, you'll never even get to Goliath. You will never even get to the insecurity that is causing the issue if you keep blaming the people who are bringing it out for you to look at. Eliab wasn't the giant. Eliab wasn't the enemy. Eliab was his brother that he was supposed to fight for. So now we've watched David two different alternate endings. If he argues with Eliab, then he misses Goliath. If he doesn't obey his father in a simple thing, then he misses Goliath.

27:59Speaker 2:It Graham was so prophetic. He said it could have ended oh lot different. I was so mad at my mom for forgiving my dad. I didn't think he deserved it. What would that funeral have been like if she had listened to me rather than listening to God, If we weren't even on speaking terms when he died, it could have ended up. And I only bring it up because every story in this room is still being written and sometimes you think you know how it ends. But what if it's not over yet? What if it's not over yet?

28:46Speaker 2:I'm gonna preach it through that little facade that you have right Now, what if it's not over yet. What if you've wasted a lot of time. But what if God really is able to redeem the years that the locusts have eaten. What if it's not over yet. I'm just posing a question. What if it's not over yet? What if your best days are not behind you? What if the devil is a liar? What if everything that you have been through can serve a greater purpose. What if a generational curse was being broken through your battle?

29:20Speaker 2:What if God brought you to the Valley of Elah because he's the God of a turnaround, the God.

29:26Speaker 1:Of a second chance, the God.

29:28Speaker 2:Of a new beginning, and the God of a new Indeed.

29:39Speaker 1:Mary and Martha said, I know how this story is.

29:43Speaker 2:But one thing they didn't know is that Jesus doesn't provide resurrection. He is resurrection. So if he's on the scene, watch this. When David showed up, he said, I come against you in the name of the Lord.

30:02Speaker 1:Now, one more thing I gotta show you, y'all. Calm down.

30:08Speaker 2:It's a Bible study, not a football game. There's not a basketball game. There's nothing to be excited about in here. It's not like the blood of Jesus is enough for you. It's not like depression is defeated. It's not like the devil has to back up when.

30:23Speaker 1:You call on the name of your God.

30:26Speaker 2:It's not like worship can push back darkness.

30:29Speaker 1:It's not like praise can break shade.

30:40Speaker 2:No'all sit down, because now he has to go through Saul, the one that should have been celebrating him, the one that should have been supporting him.

30:53Speaker 1:David kills Goliath.

30:55Speaker 2:Stop being so boring when you read the Bible. The Bibles boring or bored, read it better. This thing could have had so many endings. It could have ended when David had a bad attitude toward the ordinary. It could have ended when David was fighting against who he was supposed to be fighting for.

31:16Speaker 1:He could have got offended. It could have ended with ordinary. It could have ended with the fence. And it could have.

31:21Speaker 2:Ended with only do you know only the spirit of lack and limitation? Do you know only what Saul said to David. David was like showing Saul his resume. He's like, I'm pretty good at beating stuff that's bigger than me. I beat a lion one time, I beat a beer put me in coach and Saul said, you're only a boy. I wonder what you're only in your own mind. Remember, Saul wasn't the enemy. Saul was supposed to be a friend. You ever had something inside of you turn.

32:06Speaker 1:On you, You're only I had it. This week.

32:12Speaker 2:I was thinking that I'm just a preacher because I was thinking how really influencing culture is done.

32:18Speaker 1:Through rappers and fashion and others.

32:21Speaker 2:And I was thinking about changing a generation, and I felt discouraged about it, like I'm only a preacher. But there's this one verse that always comes up when I think that way. And God told Jeremiah one time, he said, do not say I am only.

32:37Speaker 1:Well, I was thinking about that.

32:38Speaker 2:I know this isn't exactly what the text means, but I was thinking, how God's name is I am. So when you say I am only, and you're supposed to take God's name, you mess up the name that he gave you by diminishing it in your own sight.

32:53Speaker 1:I am only. Do not say I am only. Do not say I am only. I'm only a boy.

33:01Speaker 2:But David said, no, no, no, I've never faced this giant before.

33:06Speaker 1:Get ready to shout. But I brought the same god to this.

33:11Speaker 2:Valley that I brought to the last valley, because the only reason I'm preaching it is because you're standing in front of something. Right now, You've never seen this before, But David said, here's the common pattern I've noticed.

33:27Speaker 1:Okay, I dropped the lion, I dropped the bear.

33:32Speaker 2:It only stands to reason that if the lion didn't stand a chance, if the bear didn't stand a chance because they opposed my father's business, if this giant opposes the purpose of God, I predict and upset victory over everything in your life that is thicker than you that opposes the purpose of God.

34:00Speaker 1:Then you come on.

34:01Speaker 2:He's the god of a turnaround.

34:07Speaker 1:So I know. Somebody said, I know how this story ends because I know who wrote it. I know who wrote it.

34:22Speaker 2:He is the author and the prefector of my faith. She looked at me last week and on our date night, and this movie was gonna have a nice ending. But then she remembered that the writer of this particular.

34:38Speaker 1:Movie is noted for everybody dying in the end. And she looked at me, Now, I want you to get this when I say it.

34:45Speaker 2:Okay, she said, it can't be over I just remembered who wrote it. Come on, you know it's a word for you. You know there's some things because we tell our selves these stories. But if God wrote it, it's not over till we win. It's not over until the light over comes the darkness. Come on, my Robie, come on, Caston, Come on, Balaton.

35:16Speaker 1:It's not over. It could have been a.

35:26Speaker 2:Whole different story, and I want to suggest that maybe it still can be, because I.

35:36Speaker 1:Know in church we talk a lot about new beginnings. What about new endings?

35:44Speaker 2:What about putting two more periods behind that one that you thought ended the sentence and making it an ellipses? What about new endings? What about to be continued? What about the third day? What about Sunday morning? What about Jesus? I know how the story ends, so when I see him on the cross, I'm not worried.

36:06Speaker 1:The disciples didn't know that.

36:08Speaker 2:This is the challenge to know how the story ends, even when you don't know how it's gonna get. There might not be a straight line, it might not be perfect, it might not look like somebody else's situation. You get in the worst trouble of your life trying to wear Saul's armor, trying to fight like everybody else fights.

36:28Speaker 1:Yours might be messier.

36:30Speaker 2:Can I say something for somebody that God put.

36:32Speaker 1:On my heart?

36:33Speaker 2:Yours might look laughable. I'm only high school educated. Good God's gonna get that much more glory because you didn't have a college degree.

36:44Speaker 1:Now when people look at you, they're gonna have to know. It had to be God. I know your GPA.

36:50Speaker 2:It had to be God, God's purpose advances. I know your GPA. You weren't smart enough, good enough, pretty enough. You didn't pray enough, do the right things. It could have been a whole different story, but the grace of God stepped in just in the nick of time.

37:18Speaker 1:Spoiler alert, Goliath goes down.

37:25Speaker 2:Plot twist. Goliath goes down and guess what, that's not how the story ends. I'm sorry.

37:37Speaker 1:I know it looks great on the flannel graph. David's awfully cute with a.

37:42Speaker 2:Slingshot, especially especially when it's one that you pull back, you know, like it's a spitball, like it's God's like it's a spirit spiritual spitball.

37:51Speaker 1:Boom.

37:52Speaker 2:You know, I know it's the it's the cartoon version, here's the grown up version. You're ready David never read for Samuel seventeen fifty Most of us never read for Samuel seventeen fifty one. All apologies to all the children's Bible teachers, but you don't really know how the story ended because David, when he hit Goliath with the rock is stunned him. But then David had something else that he had to do, in the spirit of Mortal Kombat, look at your neighbor and say, finish him. The Bible says that after he knocked him down, because some of us are content just to stun our enemy. Do you know what I'm saying, Just to come into church, feel good for a few hours, get a little word, go home, forget about it. Go right back into the same stuff, go right back into the same cycle, go right back into the same death block, go right back into the same pretending, go right back into.

38:57Speaker 1:The same image. But David said something. He said something. He says something. He said.

39:01Speaker 2:I didn't just come down here to bring cheese and bread. See, I always thought that David was the delivery boy. But it turns out that the way the story is, David wasn't the delivery boy.

39:20Speaker 1:Goliath was. So now I'm gonna preach us home, you're ready.

39:27Speaker 2:What did Goliath have that David needed that David didn't know that he would need.

39:33Speaker 1:It's right in verse fifty.

39:34Speaker 2:It's right in verse fifty is said he came to the battle without.

39:39Speaker 1:A sword in his hand.

39:40Speaker 2:Spoiler alert, he left with one who was carrying it his enemy. I declare, Come on, y'all, I'm trying to be good, but I declare, I know how this story is. Goliath has got your sword. Goliath has got your and if you want to see the victory, you're going to have to defeat what's standing in front of you.

40:07Speaker 1:But you don't have to do it on your own.

40:15Speaker 2:Come on, let's start something out all over the whole Church, University, City, Blakeney.

40:20Speaker 1:I'm on every single warrior, every.

40:23Speaker 2:Single worshiper, to declare, I know how this story is. Tell the person next to you, I know how your story is.

40:34Speaker 1:Tell them your story. It's with glory.

40:39Speaker 2:God's gonna get the glory out of every situation in your life.

40:54Speaker 1:I know how it is.

40:58Speaker 2:Some jet ski is gonna bring need the kayak. I don't know who God's got in the water, but even now, somehow, the sister said to Jesus, God will give you what you want.

41:15Speaker 1:So David stands over the giant. I always read it.

41:21Speaker 2:As being the final sequence in the battle, that after he knocked him down, he looked at the verse.

41:28Speaker 1:He took the sword from the scabbard.

41:32Speaker 2:Anybody ever said scabbard in the last ten years, he took the sword. Little things like that keep me preaching, you know. And after he killed him, he's already dead. He cut off his head. Why'd he do it for a trophy? Because this wouldn't be his last giant Now, I always thought that the story was over when David cut off his head. How much more savage can you be? The head is off the giants now. But that's not how the story ends. See, we only think we know how it ends. You tell your story. You're like and then I got a divorce. That's not the end of your story. That's not the last time you can love or be loved. That's not the end of your story.

42:30Speaker 2:You know, they were doing pretty good and then they did this. That's not the end of the story. That's just character development. It can't be over because I know who wrote it. I said, it can't be over because I know who wrote it. It's not the end of my story. I know how this story ends. Oh, I'm leaving this battlefield. I'm not leaving him the hand. I'm leaving with the sword. I'm leaving with a lesson. I'm leaving with a testimony. I'm leaving with a brighter day on my mind. I'm leaving with a new praise in my spirit. I'm leaving with the prophecy. I'm leaving with a word from God. You know what's so crazy is that the whole point of the story has nothing to do with David to begin with.

43:25Speaker 1:It says that after Goliath died that all of the Philistines.

43:29Speaker 2:Do you see it, When they saw that their hero was dead, they turned and ran. Your story is not even about you. What you're going through right now might not even be about you. You know how many people I've seen come out of grief and released their greatest gift from their greatest grief.

43:48Speaker 1:Goliath has got your sword. Goliath has got your sword.

43:53Speaker 2:You're gonna be sitting across from somebody who needs it in five years and telling them I've been right there in the battle.

43:59Speaker 1:But here's what I've found out.

44:01Speaker 2:The sword that came to kill you is gonna be the one that God uses to deliver you, and he killed Goliath.

44:12Speaker 1:With his own sword. Your giant has got your sword.

44:17Speaker 2:But that's not how the story ends, cuts off his hand, sends the sword to the temple at Knob, which was where a Hemelect was the superintendent.

44:31Speaker 1:A little while later, David goes back to Saul's palace.

44:36Speaker 2:Saul starts going absolutely crazy, trying to kill David. David has to run from Saul. Remember now, Goliath was not the last giant that David would face. You don't want to stay stuck in just one victory of your life, The Bible says.

44:56Speaker 1:He leads us from glory to glory, from strength to strength. Stand up. I'm trying to close. I'm trying so hard. Don't leave, but.

45:06Speaker 2:Stand up and clap your hands. If you know this is not my last one. This is not my last victory. I come against.

45:12Speaker 1:Midlife crisis in the name of the Lord. There's more for you to do. You have a legacy to pass on.

45:18Speaker 2:You're gonna make a bigger difference in your future days.

45:22Speaker 1:Your latter days shall be greater. Zan No this story your soun so okay, hang on a second.

45:39Speaker 2:So David runs down to the temple right he's running from Saw. He's already killed Goliath, and he has to leave so quickly that he doesn't have a sword.

45:48Speaker 1:He runs to the temple attendant. He says, hey, man, I need a weapon.

45:53Speaker 2:How many of you need a weapon to fight something in your life today? You need a strategy, you need an insight. Come on, you need a breakthrough you to turn on? All right, David said to a Himlek, don't you have a spear or a sword here? I haven't brought my sword or any other weapon because the king's business was urgent. Priest said, man, I'm sorry, David, I mean I got one sword. It's the sword of Goliath, the Philistine, at least it used to be until you killed him. But now, the very weapon that you took from your enemy, the very strength you gained from the thing you survived, the sword of Goliath, the word that God spoke over your life. How many no, his word is a sword is sharper than any double edged sword he Brews four to twelve. The sword of Goliath, who you killed in the valley of elaw is here is wrapped in a cloth. The Ephi, if you want it, take it. There is no sword here but that one.

47:06Speaker 2:And David said, there is none like it.

47:09Speaker 1:Give it to me. He started with a sling, he ended with a sword.

47:16Speaker 2:And the difference was the enemy that he was willing to confront.

47:25Speaker 4:And I know.

47:26Speaker 1:How this Oh.

47:30Speaker 2:Now, I don't know exactly how long this story's going to take, and I don't know all the details of.

47:35Speaker 3:It, but I know how this story is.

47:42Speaker 2:We got the drop on David. We read verse fifty. We got the drop on David. We've been to the empty tomb. We got the drop on David. We know how this story is is. I know that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy.

47:59Speaker 1:Do you hear me preaching to you right there in your living room? Do you hear me preaching to you right there in your kitchen? You hear me preaching to you.

48:06Speaker 2:You're in a hospital room with a loved one right now, with the God of all healing, Jehovah Rufica is in the hospital.

48:13Speaker 1:Room with you. I know how this story I love.

48:20Speaker 2:I know no weapon that is formed against me south rossword. Now, the Bible doesn't say that the weapon won't be formed. It just says that it won't work. So watch this. The weapon was formed by my enemy. Isaiah fifty four seventeen is on the screen right now. The weapon was formed by the hand of my enemy. What you're going through it might not have been from the hand of God. But you got to read verse sixteen to understand verse seventeen. Because verse sixteen, God says, behold, I have created the blacksmith who made the weapon.

48:58Speaker 1:So God said.

49:00Speaker 2:The enemy might have formed the weapon, but I formed the enemy. And there is nothing that an enemy can bring against you.

49:09Speaker 1:Come on, there is nothing. Get your.

49:20Speaker 2:Get your hands, get a fake. Yes, come on, Goliath.

49:29Speaker 1:You come against me with the decent.

49:32Speaker 2:You come against me with anxiety. But sup in the name, thank you for joining us. Special thanks to those of you who give generously to this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible. You can click the link in the description to give now, or visit Elevation Church dot org slash podcast for more information, and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe.

50:01Speaker 1:You can share it with your friends.

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50:08Speaker 1:Thanks again for listening. God bless you.