God's Super Bowl - Faith In Action

Rob Espinosa
02/07/21 - Sun AM

Link to sermon video: God's Super Bowl - Faith In Action - R Espinosa

God’s Super Bowl – Faith In Action

Introduction

Today is Super Bowl Sunday and a majority of the population here in the U.S. are preparing to watch the big game.

In God’s Word we find a similar type of conflict relating to a physical battle between men but what we are going to look at today was a matter of life and death.

Let’s call this God’s Super Bowl and what we are going to see is how through faith in God anything can be overcome and conquered.

Text: 1 Samuel 17:1-51

1. The Battle: The Philistines vs The Israelites

1. Opponents similar to a Super Bowl but this was no game – the winners would live but the losers would DIE!
2. The Philistines were trained in battle and their soldiers actually died during their Basic training while learning how to fight.
3. They also had a soldier named Goliath who was 9’6”!
4. The Israelites were out numbered and out classed – they were afraid of this well trained soldier.
5. Goliath came out each day challenging someone to try to kill him and if an Israelite could, they would win the battle and the Philistines would be their servants.

2. David, a young boy and shepherd steps up to fight Goliath

1. David’s three older brothers were in the Israelite army but no one was willing to fight against Goliath.
2. David while being a shepherd had to protect his sheep from lions and bears and had killed them while taking care of his sheep.
3. David tells King Saul how he had killed lions and bears in the past and that he would now fight against Goliath.
4. Saul tells David to “Go, and the Lord be with you”! He tries to give him armor to wear but David had not tested it and could not wear it.
5. So David goes with his staff, his sling and five smooth stones from a brook to fight against Goliath.

3. David fights against Goliath, kills him and cuts off his head

1. When Goliath sees David coming to fight against him he basically started laughing like this was some kind of joke. He tells David that he will give his flesh to the birds of the air and beasts of the field.
2. David tells Goliath – “You come to me with a sword and a spear and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head.”
3. As we know, David took one stone and hit Goliath in the only place where he was not protected – his forehead and killed him. Then David cut off his head and the Philistine army fled. The Israelites had won the battle thanks to the faith of a young shepherd boy!

4. Our battle against “Goliaths” in our lives

1. Each of us has had to deal with things such as sickness, cancer, loneliness, job loss or money problems and even Satan himself. These are the “Goliaths” in our lives.
2. David had SIMPLE faith in God and through God, which allowed him to defeat Goliath.
3. We need to have this same faith that David did and put it into action as he did. – Luke 12:28; Rom. 1:17; Heb. 11:6

Conclusion

We can learn a lot from the story of David & Goliath…

Lessons to help strengthen our faith:

• Let’s always remember that even when a situation looks hopeless like it did for the Israelites, with God’s help anything is possible – Phil. 4:12-13
• We must always include God in our lives to help us deal with all the trials and tribulations that we face daily.
• We must study God’s Word to remind ourselves that other people have faced similar situations that we do or far worse ones and God is always there to help them through it.
• We must come before God through the avenue of prayer and make our petitions known to him and ask for his help and guidance to overcome the “Goliaths” in our lives.