Podcast Sermon Notes - River Church Mall of America - Growing Bigger Hearts

Growing Bigger Hearts 1
Giants in our lives

Jan 1, 2006 sermon recorded

River Church of the Mall of America Podcast
These are my notes from the Podcast. All scriptures are King James Version.

The God of the Bible is a communicating God. He wants to talk with us and relate to us.

We need to grow bigger hearts. We need to grow spiritually so we can hear him on a daily basis. We need to look at a man who was like this and see what he was like. To see how he got to be a man after God's heart.

David was told by his father to see how his brothers were doings during a war they were in. When he gets there he sees Israel and the Philistines were in a stalemate. No one wanted to go into the others person's area to fight. The Philistines did not want to fight in the hills of the Hebrews and the Hebrews in the open plains. They agree to send one champion from each side. Goliath who double major in assault and battery and minored in smack talk was chosen by the Philistines. He was so big that he scarred the Hebrews. Then he started to smack talk the God of the Hebrews. This gets David angry.

His brother tries to stop thin but David will not listen. He is taken to Saul who should have been fighting this battle but is too scared. Saul tries to give David his armor but David will not use it. As David faces Goliath, he taunts David. And David replies that God will get him through all of this and defeat Goliath.

And then David slings the stone and taker him out with one blow. So what does this have to do with us today? We face giants in our lives every day. Giants of relationships, jobs, medial reports. They smack talk us in our minds much like Goliath did to the Hebrews. How did David face his giants? Here are four sequential ways;

• We can prepare in private.
  
  1Sa 17:34-35 KJV
  (34) And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father's sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock:
  (35) And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth: and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him.
  
  David took care of preparations by his care of the sheep. He did it physically with the lion and the bear, but spiritually in times of worship to God.
  
  
• Fight the right foe.
  
  1Sa 17:28 KJV
  (28) And Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spoke unto the men; and Eliab's anger was kindled against David, and he said, Why camest thou down hither? and with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride, and the naughtiness of thine heart; for thou art come down that thou mightest see the battle.
  
  Would we face the Eliabs or focus on the giant foe? David made sure that his focus on Goliath. We need to fight the devil not the people on our own team. We do not need to fight each other.
  
  
• Recognize the resources
  
  1Sa 17:40 KJV
  And he took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in a shepherd's bag which he had, even in a scrip; and his sling was in his hand: and he drew near to the Philistine.
  
  David realized he needed spiritual help and God led him to the five smooth stones. When we face our giants look for the tools that will help us.
  
  
• Value your victories
  
  1Sa 17:54 KJV
• And David took the head of the Philistine, and brought it to Jerusalem; but he put his armor in his tent.
  
  He took the head and weapons to display them. Write down when God puts a victory in your life. These events need to be celebrated.