The Community Church: Sermons and teaching

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Good morning. It's a real pleasure.

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for me to be here, introduce myself, I'm Chris, I'm Jacqueline's husband. I come from the church in Coventry where I send greetings from the people of God and the elders there, Matthew, Ling, Ben McCosker, and Paul and Pat Sheffield made me promise that I would uh remember them to you and they send their greetings. And yes, it's a real pleasure for me to be here and to be able to share

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the word of God with you. There are so many people already in Southport who have such a dear place in our hearts and uh just meeting more of you yesterday, that number is just increasing. So it's a pleasure to be with the people of God. It's a pleasure to be anywhere where Jesus is worshiped and his name is lifted up in high, where his spirit is moving and where God is speaking. And he's reminded us, hasn't he? That he is.

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worthy of it all. He is Alpha and Omega and we have the honor and the privilege of being a part in that process between the Alpha and the Omega. Amen. So,

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Turn with me, if you will please, to the Scriptures. I believe that you are doing a series on the life of David. I'm seeing some nods, so that's good. I've got the right message prepared. So turn with me please to 1 Samuel chapter 17. We're gonna look at a very familiar passage of Scripture. So I'm sure that I will be saying things that you have heard before, but I also trust that I will bring something fresh.

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something of the now Word of God for us all to take that place between the Alpha and Omega and the purpose of God that we have the privilege and the honor of being a part of. So I'm going to read to us the whole of chapter 17. I know that you are people who love the Word of God. ah It's always good when a preacher brings the Word of God, but it's...

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His word is always the highest, isn't it? So it's good that at the start we honor God's word by opening our hearts to receive, opening our ears to hear, and allowing the Spirit to minister to us directly from His own word before the preacher then draws us to particular points of note. Okay, so this is 1 Samuel 17.

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Now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle, and they were gathered at Soko, which belongs to Judah, and encamped between Soko and Ezekiah. It's Ephes Damim. And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered and encamped in the valley of Elah, and drew up in line of battle against the Philistines. And the Philistines stood on the mountain on the one side,

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And Israel stood on the mountain on the other side with a valley between them. And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. That's about three meters in modern money. He's a tall chap. He had a helmet of bronze on his head.

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and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of his coat was about 5,000 shekels of bronze. And he had bronze armor on his legs and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders. The shaft of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and his spearhead weighed 600 shekels of iron. And his shield bearer went before him, and he stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel,

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Why have you come out to draw up for battle? Am I not a Philistine? And are you not servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves and let him come down to me. If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us. And the Philistine said,

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I defy the ranks of Israel this day. Give me a man that we may fight together." When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid. Now David was the son of an Ephrathite of Bethlehem in Judah named Jesse who had eight sons.

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In the days of Saul, the man was already old and advanced in years. The three older sons of Jesse had followed Saul to battle, and the names of his three sons who went to the battle were Eliab, the firstborn, next to him Abinadab, the third, Shammah. David was the youngest. The three eldest followed Saul, but David went back and forth from Saul to feed his father's sheep at Bethlehem. For 40 days,

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The Philistine came forward and took his stand morning and evening. And Jesse said to David his son, take for your brothers an ifah of this parched grain and these ten loaves and carry them quickly to the camp to your brothers. Also take these ten cheeses to the commander of their thousand. See if your brothers are well and bring some token from them. Now Saul and all the men of Israel were in the valley of Elah.

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fighting with the Philistines. And David rose early in the morning and left the sheep with the keeper and took the provisions and went as Jesse had commanded him. And he came to the encampment as the host was going out to the battle line, shouting the war cry. And Israel and the Philistines drew up for battle, army against army.

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And David left the things in charge of the keeper of the baggage and ran to the ranks and went to greet his brothers. And he talked with them. As he talked with them, behold the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, came up out of the ranks of the Philistines and spoke the same words as before. And David heard him.

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all the men of Israel when they saw the man fled from him and were much afraid. And the men of Israel said, Have you seen this man who has come up? Surely he has come up to defy Israel. And the king will enrich the man who kills him with great riches and will give him his daughter and make his father's house free in Israel. And David said to the men who stood by him,

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What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God? And the people answered him in the same way. So shall it be done to the man who kills him. Now Eliab, his eldest brother, heard when he spoke to the man.

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Eliab's anger was kindled against David, and he said, why have you come down? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your presumption and the evil of your heart, for you have come down to see the battle. And David said, what have I done now? Was it not but a word? And he turned away from him towards another and spoke in the same way. And the people answered him again as before.

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When the words of David spoke were heard, were repeated, they repeated them before Saul and he sent for him. And David said to Saul, let no man's heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine. And Saul said to David, you are not able to go against the Philistine to fight with him, for you are but a youth and he has been a man of war from his youth. But David said to Saul,

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Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion or a bear and took a lamb from the flock, I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if it arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him.

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Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God. And David said, the Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of the Philistine. And Saul said to David, go and the Lord be with you.

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Then Saul clothed David with his armor. He put a helmet of bronze on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail. And David strapped his sword over his armor. And he tried in vain to go, for he had not tested them. Then David said to Saul, I cannot go with these, for I have not tested them. So David put them off. Then he took his staff in his hand.

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and chose five smooth stones from the brook and put them in his shepherd's pouch. His sling was in his hand and he approached the Philistine. And the Philistine moved forward and came near David with his shield bearer in front of him.

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And when the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was but a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance. And the Philistine said to David, am I a dog that you come out to me with sticks? And the Philistine cursed David by his dog, by his gods. The Philistine said to David, come to me and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field.

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Then David said to the Philistine, you come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you.

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in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day, the Lord will deliver you into my hand and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel and all this assembly may know

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that the Lord saves not with sword and spear for the battle is the Lord's and He will give you into our hand. When the Philistine arose and came near to meet David, David ran quickly towards the battle line to meet the Philistine and David put his hand into his bag and took out a stone

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and slung it and struck the Philistine on his forehead. The stone sank into his forehead and he fell face to the ground. So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone and struck the Philistine and killed him. There was no sword in the hand of David. Then David ran.

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and stood over the Philistine and took his sword, his own sword, and drew it out of his sheath and killed him and cut off his head with it. Then the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled. And all the men of Israel and Judah rose with a shout and pursued the Philistines as far as Gath and the gates of Ekron, so that the wounded Philistines fell on the way from Sherem as far as Gath and Ekron.

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and the people of Israel came back from the chasing the Philistines. They plundered their camp and David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem. But he put his armor in his tent. As soon as Saul saw David go out against the Philistine, he said to Abner, the commander of the army, Abner, whose son is this youth? And Abner said, as your Saul lives, O King, I do not know.

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And the king said, inquire whose son the boy is. And as soon as David returned from striking down the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hands. And Saul said to him, whose son are you, young man? And David answered, I am the son of your servant, Jesse, the Bethlehemite. Amen. It's a great story, isn't it?

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and instructional for us. When I, I gave my life to Jesus when I was 11 years old. I grew up in Scotland and um I went to a Scripture Union camp when I was 11 years old. I heard the gospel for the first time. Until that point I thought because I grew up in the UK and I tried to be a good person and I believed in God that that made me a Christian.

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But that was the first time that I heard the good news about Jesus and what he did for me and how he hung on the cross for me and how he wasn't a victim.

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but he was the savior of the world. That it wasn't the nails that held him to that cross, but it was his love for me and for you and for us all that he hung there. And I realized that if Jesus did that for me and gave his life for me, that it was on me to reciprocate and to give my life to him. And that's what I did when I was 11 years old. And...

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As I said, it was an organization called the Scripture Union. You may or may not have heard about that. And they taught me how to read the Bible. And they taught me that I should read the Bible every day. And at the end of each passage, I ask myself two questions. What does this reveal about Jesus? And how do I apply these lessons to my life? And you know what? For the last...

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43 years, that has stayed with me. That's how I read the scriptures. I read them every day and I ask myself, what does this reveal about Jesus? And how should I apply these things that I have learned to my life? And that's what I wanna bring to us this morning. First of all, oh

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We know I have come to discover through 43 years of doing that, and because I had the privilege of hearing the ministry of Tony Ling, who used to always say this, it's all about Jesus. All of scripture is God breathed. It was breathed out by the Holy Spirit. And the ministry of the Spirit is to reveal the Son. When Jesus on the Emmaus road, after his resurrection walked with the disciples, it says he unpacked to them.

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in all the scriptures, the things that were written concerning himself. It's all about Jesus. And, you know, it's not just the New Testament, but it's also the Old Testament that while in the New Testament,

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The Old Testament is revealed and made clear what its true purpose is. It's also true that the new is in the old concealed. It's there hidden, not to make things difficult for us, but so that we can uncover it like that treasure. the life of David is a wonderful place to see these kind of types and examples of Jesus, because David himself was the shepherd king.

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A shepherd boy who was called to be king. He was both a shepherd and a king. He was one who is anointed above all his brothers. Just as it was says of Christ that he was anointed with the oil of joy above all his brothers. He was the one who we were told has a heart that beat after God's own heart, who represented the will and the purpose and the desire of God, just like.

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Jesus came to reveal the will and the heart of the Father to us. He was the one who we see in this passage and we go on to see how he led God's people in victory over their enemies, just as Christ leads us in triumphal procession over all the enemies.

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David was the one who restored the presence of God to the midst of the people, where it belonged. He brought back the Ark of the Covenant from the fringes right into the heart, to the very beating heart of the people. He's the one whose reign was characterized by continual worship and praise. He appointed people to minister 24-7 before the presence of God. He was the one who

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We're told when the ark was led into Jerusalem, humbled himself so that God could be exalted. All of these things reflect Jesus. And not only that, but we're told he was given a promise that he would have a son who would sit on his throne forever. Of course, that had an immediate fulfillment in Solomon, but...

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people understood that there was a greater fulfillment. And so when Jesus came, you find the blind men crying out, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on us. Because they understood that the fulfillment of all these things, the one who would sit on the throne forever and ever wasn't Solomon, but it was this man, Jesus of Nazareth, who is coming.

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But he also, I believe, represents us.

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The scriptures are written not just to reveal Christ, but they were told that all things are written for our benefit and for our instruction upon whom the full fullness of the ages has come. In fact, we're told that some of the prophets didn't fully understand what they were prophesying about because they were prophesying about our time, the time of the church, the time when Jesus came and ushered in the new kingdom and the new covenant.

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So everything that was written is written for our benefit. There's nothing in this word that is out of date or irrelevant. It's either been fulfilled in Christ or it's continually being fulfilled through us until he comes again as the Omega, amen.

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David is held up as a template for all the kings who would come after. They were told either that they walked in the ways of David and were good kings, or they didn't walk in the ways of David and they were evil kings. So the life of David is like a plumb line. He becomes like a template for all those who hold leadership responsibility in the house of God.

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but not just for leaders, because what does the prophet Zechariah say? In Zechariah 12 and verse eight, Zechariah prophesies of a time to come. He prophesies of our time. And he says this, on that day, the Lord will shield those who live in Jerusalem so that the feeblest among them will be like David.

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And the house of David will be like God, like the angel of the Lord going before them.

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Our time is a time where even the least of God's people are like God's servant David. And so we see in David's life examples for us. And that's what I want to look at. The first is this.

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David was a man who faced down the giant. He's not unique in that. We hear of other stories in the scriptures of men who were not afraid of the giants. You can probably think of Caleb and Joshua. It's interesting in the story, isn't it? I see a connection there. We're told that Goliath taunted the people of Israel for 40 days.

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Caleb and Joshua were sent out with the spies in the land. How long did they spend spying out the land? It was 40 days that they saw this giant. But they were different because whereas the majority of the people faced by seeing giants for 40 days came away with fear and dismay,

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These were men of different spirits who after 40 days of being challenged by a giant said, who is this man? Who are these giants before God? They may have a giant on their side, but what is a giant compared to the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the Alpha and Omega, the Lord of Hosts, the King of Heaven's army? How can one man stand against such a might?

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These were men of faith who weren't dismayed but were stood into action.

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How does that apply to us? Well, because you may have realized already that we all face giants at some point in our life, of the enemy, something that stands against us, something that would have or would seek to discourage, dismay or cause fear to us.

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We don't need to seek them, they find us. David wrote in his most famous Psalm, Psalm 23, the shepherd's Psalm, you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. Even in the midst of the giants, there's a table.

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of God's grace and his mercy and his provision. But what do you see? Are you gonna see the giant? Are you gonna see the enemy? Or are you gonna see the shepherd hand of the Lord upon your life? You see, we can sometimes have this false expectation to think once we come to the Lord, it's all going to be.

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A bed of roses, everything's going to be wonderful. You'll never have any more problems. thing about a bed of roses is it's full of thorns, isn't it? It's not just about the still waters and the green pastures. There's also the valley of the shadow. Even the valley of the shadow of death says, I will not fear.

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because you are with me. Jesus spoke and he told parables and he said that the word of God is like a seed and that seed falls on different kinds of soil. And there's the seed that falls on the rocky ground and that springs up quickly but then when trial or difficulty or persecution comes, it doesn't last because it has no root.

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He also told the difference between those who receive the word and do it and those who don't are like the difference between a man who builds his house on the rock and those who build their house on the sand. In both cases, the wind and the rain come and beat against the house. But in one case, the house stands and in another case, it falls. Testing comes to us all.

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The choice is how do we respond in those times. It's what I like to call the toothpaste test. If you want to know what's inside a man, see what comes out of him when he's put under pressure. It's out of the overflow of the heart that the mouth speaks. What is our giant? Well, I don't know. I can't speak for you.

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It could be the shadow of some medical condition over your life. It could be a financial pressure. It could be the breakdown of an important relationship in your life. The truth is we all sometimes have our Goliaths to face. We don't get to choose our giant, but we do get to choose how we face it.

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whether we will be those men and women of a different spirit like David, like Joshua, like Caleb, who when we see the giant say, who are you? Who are you to defy the people of the living God, the purpose of the living God?

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There are two paths before us when we face a giant, fear or faith.

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we need to choose which one we walk down. And to know this, that God will never allow us to face a giant that we can't face down. He will never allow us to face a trial that we can't overcome. The Lord never sets us up to fail, but he does set our enemies up to fall. He will not allow us to be tested beyond our limits.

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1 Corinthians 10, 13, this was the first scripture I ever memorized. No temptation has seized you except that which is common to man and God is faithful. He will not let you be tempted or tested beyond what you can bear and when you are tempted or tested, He will provide a way so that you can stand up under it.

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We hear in the New Testament, even the apostle Paul when he faced his own difficulties, we're not told what they are, but he described it like an angel of Satan sent to torment him and he asked God three times to take it away. And what was God's response? My grace is sufficient for you. Do you know?

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that whatever you face, I don't know what circumstances you are facing, but I know this and I am convinced of it, both in my own life and from the Scriptures. God's grace is sufficient for whatever you are facing. That is his promise and he is always faithful. God never sets us up to fail. Even if it's Satan himself who's standing against us, Jesus said, Luke 10.

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19, where he saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. He says, I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy. Nothing will harm you. Amen. Nothing will harm you. I have given you authority over all the powers. Whatever enemy you face, God is greater.

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So that's the first point. You know, when we face the giant, just remember David, remember this story that we've read, remember Joshua, remember Caleb, and remember you are like them. They were men of a different spirit, but we are men and women of the same spirit, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit from God. Everyone has the same spirit. No one has the spirit light.

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We have the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead who lives within us. Greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world. The second point I wanna talk about is this. When David decided that he was gonna face his giant, he came to Saul and what did Saul do? He said, here, okay, I know how to fight.

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I'm a warrior, if you wanna fight, you need to put on this armor and you need to put on this helmet and you need to use this sword.

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was David's response. You know, he submitted in obedience, you know, to the authority, but he said, I can't go in these because I've not tested them.

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You cannot use something that has not been tested. This is something, one of my hobbies, one of the things I do in my spare time is that I'm a runner. oh I coach running. And one of the phrases that we runners have is nothing new on race day. If you've not tested it, then don't use it when it really matters.

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Race day is not the time to try out the new pair of socks or the new shoes or that new energy drink before a race because if it doesn't work and it comes undone when it's most important all that training has gone to waste. Only use what you've tested.

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But do know that doesn't just apply to weapons and to armour and to running shoes and socks. It applies to men and women as well. To be used, you must first be tested.

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We see that in the New Testament about the appointing of elders and deacons. It says, them first be tested. Do not be hasty with the laying on of hands. Let them first be tested. We see this again in the examples that we have in the scripture.

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In the Old Testament, we see men and women of God who receive an anointing and a call upon their lives, but before they enter into their public ministry, they first have to go through a time of private testing. We read of Joseph, don't we, who had a dream from God that he would enter into a uh position of authority. And before that happened, he ended up

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sold into slavery in Egypt and then falsely accused and thrown into prison. And of course we know that the story worked out, but have you ever stopped to think how did Joseph feel when he was in prison? Well, Psalm 105 gives us a bit of an insight because Psalm 105 talks about that moment and it says,

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The word of the Lord tested him. He was put in shackles in a prison in Egypt and the word of the Lord tested him until what was written came to pass. Daniel, before he entered into his... uh

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ministry in front before the king, he was also tested. In fact, he embraced that testing, test us for 10 days. And David here, this wasn't the first and only time he was tested. You he was anointed as a young man.

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But we read from the scriptures that he lived on the run for about 10 years in the wilderness being pursued by Saul before he fully came into that ministry as king. And even Jesus, even Jesus submitted to this principle. What happens to Jesus after his baptism, after he came up from the waters? The spirit,

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led him into the wilderness in order to be tested by the devil. How is that for a verse to wrap your theology around? Yeah, the spirit, the testing and the devil. But we understand this, that before his public ministry, there was a time of testing.

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And sometimes it can be our giant, can be our testing. Yeah?

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What is our natural reaction when we face a giant? we think, well, why has this happened? Why has God allowed this to happen? Why is God punishing me? Where have I gone wrong? How, you know, I thought God loved me. I thought everything would be all right. How is it that I'm facing this pressure, this persecution? Would we see it? oh

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not as a leading of the Spirit, but as just a testing of the enemy and seek to rebuke it and stand against it. I wonder how many of us embrace it as we're told to embrace trials as an entrance exam to a new phase of ministry in our life that God is testing us in order to raise us up.

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Not many people eagerly desire for a time of testing, do they? We're told that no trial, no testing is pleasant at the time. But I think Jacqueline and I have a little bit of insight in this because we have a youngest son who is eagerly desiring his moment of testing because he's learning to drive.

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And he's failed his test a couple of times. I don't, you probably know the waiting list for a test is really long. He just failed his test for the second time and he's got to wait now until March until he can set it again. And he's eagerly desiring that test, not because he's longing for a time where he's sat under pressure with a driving instructor, scrutinizing every moment that he makes. No.

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He's eagerly desiring it because he understands that once he's passed that test, a whole new area of opportunity and freedom will be opened up for him.

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Jesus said, John 12, 24, I tell you the truth, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. Again, it's the same principle before any seed can be fruitful. There is an unseen time in the ground, a time without recognition, a time without.

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being in the spotlight, a time in secret where that seed lies in the ground as if it was dead before it springs and you see the result of what was sown, producing much more than what was sown.

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But it can be a difficult time. It can feel in that time, you know, like where Joseph was tested, where David was in a a dullum, where Daniel was in exile. It can feel like you are unnoticed. And maybe there are some this morning who feel like that, who feel like you're in a time of testing and it feels like you're unnoticed. I just.

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As I was preparing, I just felt that God wants to say to you, I am El Roy, the God who sees you. This is not the end. No time of testing will last forever. And this is just the prelude to a new season in your life, a season of fruitfulness and a place of peace and spaciousness.

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It's important if we realize this to embrace the time of preparation and to see it as a time of preparation.

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David eh didn't face Goliath unprepared. God had already been preparing him.

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There's a quote I like and it goes like this, to be an overnight success takes about 10 years.

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To be an overnight success takes about 10 years. You often notice that one moment where you come into the spotlight. For David, this was his moment. But the preparation had begun long before with the lion and the bear. Before he faced his giant, he had learnt how to be victorious against the lion and against the bear.

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He had won, he had been tested and won his victories in secret before he had his big great victory in public.

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The battles that we win in secret are what prepare us.

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They prove our integrity. David could have said, well, what's one little lamb? What's one you? Why should I go and fight this strong lion? It's only taken one sheep. Let it have it. But he didn't. Something rose up within him and said, no, you're not going to take that from me. This is my flock.

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This belongs to me. And this was the making of a man of faith who when he saw Goliath could say, who are you? Though others might stand by and let you defy the armies of the living God, you're just going to be like the lion and the bear that I rose up and attacked. It's how we choose to face these little secret battles that equips us to face our giants.

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who we are in secret forges us into the men and women that we will be in public. So again, the challenge for us and the application for us is just think about what is your lion and your bear? What are the little battles which seem insignificant that if you didn't win them, no one would probably notice? They may seem ins...

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inconsequential, but they are the things that either build or erode your integrity. They could be little things like the conversations you join in the workplace or the links you click on your computer. They could be the decisions that you make with your tithe and your offering. Little things you might think, well, who will notice? God notices. And they either build you or they break you.

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Because God, it matters to God because he is preparing us to be vessels of honor in his house. Fits for glory, useful for the master. He's looking for those who have made themselves ready to be useful in his service.

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So this week, when you face your lion and your bear, resolve to be like David and to go after it and to deal with it. He wants you to overcome them and not to be overcome by them.

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So facing the giants, being prepared.

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There was a little detail in this passage that struck me. It's probably, you know, that's the wonderful thing about the scriptures is that it's living and every time you come to it, you see something that you've not seen before. And as I was reading this passage and preparing for what I would bring to you, I saw a little detail that I'd seen before, but I'd not seen the significance of it before. And it was that David went down to the brook and he selected five

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Smooth stones. How many stones did he need to kill Goliath? Just one. But how many stones did he select? He chose five. You know, it's interesting that the accusation his brothers brought against David was that he was being presumptuous. But I see in this act there was anything but presumption in David's part. He wasn't presuming that God would kill Goliath at his first stone.

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He made preparations. He made sure that he was fully prepared. He was relying on God's grace and God's supernatural ability, but he was not presuming upon it. He was making sure that he was fully prepared. And he took five stones out of that brook to make sure that he had more than enough to do what God had called him to do.

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And I guess it ties into this idea of being prepared, but it's not just something that God does for us. It's also something that we need to take responsibility for and do for ourselves and to make sure that we do it with diligence, with excellence, that we go above and beyond, even if that means we have more than strictly we needed.

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It's better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it. You see, there's an interesting dynamic between our natural preparation.

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and the supernatural grace that's available.

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and there's no passivity or presumption there. We do what we can and then we trust that God will do all that he can.

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You know, five stones by themselves were not enough to bring down a giant, but they were an important step. And if he hadn't had those stones, there wouldn't have been something for God to use in that moment. And so we see that it's not just, it's certainly not.

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all of us or even any of us, it's not, it's you know part of the reason that David won the victory this way was to demonstrate that it's not by sword or spear but it's by the hand of the Lord. But there was still an important part of his preparation in the gathering of these five stones. I see a connection between another

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miracle of Jesus that demonstrates this. Do you remember the feeding of the 5,000? And the disciples said, we don't have enough. How can we get enough food to feed all these people? And he said, well, what do you have? And there was one boy, one little boy had come prepared.

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with five loaves. And when he gave those five loaves to Jesus, when he gave what he had prepared to Jesus, then that became the miraculous provision.

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when what we have prepared is never enough, but in the grace of God, it's necessary, because he will take what we have prepared and he will use it to be more than enough. Faithfulness says, I will make sure I'm fully prepared so that the Spirit of God has something to work with in that moment, but I will hold it lightly and allow God to select how and what and how much he uses.

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Preparation is not just individual, is it? It's also corporate. We know and we're that Jesus says, I will build my church. I will build my church. And there's no giant that can stand against it. Even the gates of Hades will not stand against it. But we're also told in Ephesians four,

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that it's as we each play our part, as each one moves in the gift and the grace that God has given, that the body builds itself up in love, that these two things work in tandem, in harmony, that there's a grace from above and there is a labor from below, just as there was right in the garden where God would send the rain and man.

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work the garden. So it is in the church, it's that wonderful cooperation of the grace of God and the work of man.

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Five stones to slay the giant, five loaves to feed the thousands, and in the church, five fold ministries to prepare the church, to be a people prepared, to be what He calls us to be.

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to prepare this world for His coming again. But it's not just the apostles and the prophets, the evangelists and the pastors and the teachers. Ephesians 4 tells us that grace has been given to each one of us. That we all like living stones, those stones that have been prepared in the river, the stream of the Spirit and have become smooth and ready.

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for use in the hand of the shepherd king to build up the church and to take down the giants. We have been prepared to prepare the way.

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So in conclusion, what is the word of the Lord to us? I trust that you've had your ears opened and the Spirit has already spoken to you, but I just, if I may, just conclude by speaking what I believe is the word of the Lord to us all. Men and women of God, you are men and women of a different spirit. You are like David.

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like Joshua and Caleb, you are those who will face your giants and prevail. Submit yourself to my preparation and give yourselves diligently to your own preparation. For the days of lying unnoticed like the seed in the ground will not last forever. There is a new season.

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of fruitful ministry at hand. Face the giants who stand in your way, not with fear, but with faith. For I will never leave you and I will never set you up to fail, but I have set your enemies up to fall. Amen. God bless you, my friends. Amen.