231006-Proven Weapons

This is a study about the power of God's words and how He speaks to individuals for a purpose. The passage being discussed is 1 Samuel 17, the story of David and Goliath. David, a young shepherd, is chosen to fight the giant Philistine warrior, Goliath. Despite being underestimated, David defeats Goliath with a stone from his sling. The Israelites are inspired and pursue the Philistines. Amen. This Friday's study, we do a little review of last week, which was on Rhema, and ministering spirit and life, and how that God can minister His words to us personally, through many ways, through the Word of God, through another individual, through speaking to our own hearts Himself, to so many beautiful ways that God speaks personally to an individual, to a group, and it's always for a purpose. God's words are always directional in His purpose. And so as we launch from there, we'll do a little review, but we want to launch into really understanding the power of these words spoken by the Holy Spirit through our mouths and the effects that they have. Let's pray. Father, in the name of Jesus. God, we just ask You, Father, to minister to us this day the understanding, Lord, that You have ordained that we would partner with You in bringing Thy kingdom come and Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Lord, that we can partner with You in seeing souls come to You, come to the knowledge of the good news, that Lord, this is a year of Your favor, that You're welcoming new family members. God, help us to come alive in this time and to be able, Lord, to really understand what it is that You have to say to us tonight, in the precious name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. An interesting thing as I was talking to Favor, finding out that the very subject of David and Goliath was also something that Favor's been ministering on last Wednesday, last Sunday. So it's a word that the Spirit of the Lord is speaking, and I pray that God would quicken us as we, Favor and I, work together today to just minister what God is saying from this passage. This is a familiar story, but it's just not a Sunday school story. There's some real beautiful, powerful truth in this passage. And so let's dive in and begin reading in 1 Samuel chapter 17. Probably just begin in the beginning, Favor. It's quite a few verses, but we can read the first 17 verses, I think. Okay, so 1 Samuel chapter 17, verse 1. Now the Philistines gathered their armies together to battle, and were gathered at Suchar, which belongs to Judah. They encamped between Suchar and Azekar in Ephesus, and Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and they encamped in the valley of Elah, and drew up in battle a ray against the Philistines. The Philistines stood on a mountain on one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side, with a valley between them. And a champion went out from the camp of the Philistines named Goliath from Ga, whose height was six cubits and a span. He had a bronze helmet on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was 5,000 shekels of bronze. And he had bronze armor on his legs, and a bronze javelin between his shoulders. Now the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and his iron spearhead weighed 600 shekels. And a shield-bearer went before him. Then he stood and cried out to the armies of Israel, and said to them, Why have you come out to line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and you the 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 Philistines said, I defy the armies of Israel these days. Give me a man that we may fight together. And Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistines. They were dismayed and greatly afraid. Now David was the son of Bethlehem Judah, whose name was, oh sorry, now David was the son of that Ephratite of Bethlehem Judah, whose name was Jesse, and who had eight sons. And the man was old, advanced in years in the days of Saul. The three oldest sons of Jesse had gone to follow Saul to the battle. The names of these three sons who went to the battle were Eliab, the firstborn, next to him Abinadab, and the third Shammah. David was the youngest, and the three oldest followed Saul. But David occasionally went and returned from Saul to feed his father's sheep at Bethlehem. And the Philistine drew near and presented himself forty days, morning and evening. Then Jesse said to his son David, take now for your brothers an ephah of this dried grain, and these ten loaves, and run to your brothers at the camp, and carry these ten cheeses to the captain of the a thousand, and see how your brothers fare, and bring back news of them. Now Saul, and they, and all the men of Israel, were in the valley of Elah fighting with the Philistines. So David rose early in the morning, left the sheep with the keeper, and took the things, and went as Jesse had commanded him. And he came to the camp as the army was going out to the fight, and shouting for the battle. For Israel and the Philistines had drawn up a battle array, army against army. David left the supplies in the hand of the supply keeper, ran to the army, and came and greeted his brothers. Then as he talked with them, there was a champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, coming up from the armies of the Philistines, and he spoke according to the same words. So David heard them, and all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him, and were dreadfully afraid. So the men of Israel said, Have you seen this man who has come up? Surely he has come up to defy Israel, and it shall be that the man who kills him, the king will enrich him with great riches, will give him his daughter, and give his father's house exemption from taxes in Israel. Then David spoke to the men who stood by him, saying, What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine, and takes away the weepers from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God? And the people answered him in this manner, saying, So shall it be done for the man who kills him. Now Eliab, his oldest brother, heard when he spoke to the men, and Eliab's anger was aroused against David, and he said, Why did you come down here? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride, and the insolence of your heart, for you have come down to see the battle. And David said, What have I done now? Is there not a cause? Then he turned from him toward another, and said the same thing. And these people answered him as the first ones did. Now when the words which David spoke were heard, they reported them to Saul, and he sent for him. Then David said to Saul, Let no man's heart fail because of him. Your servants will go and fight with this Philistine. And Saul said to David, You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are a youth, and he a man of war from his youth. But David said to Saul, Your servant used to keep his father's sheep, and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, I went out after it, and struck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth. And when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard, and struck and killed it. Your servant has killed both lion and bear, and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God. Moreover, David said, The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion, from the paw of the bear, he will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said to David, Go, and the Lord be with you. So Saul clothed David with his armor, and he put a bronze helmet on his head. He also clothed him with a coat of mail. David fastened his sword to his armor, and tried to walk, for he had not tested them. And David said to Saul, I cannot walk with these, for I have not tested them. So David took them off, and he took his staff in his hand, and he chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in a shepherd's bag, in a pouch which he had, and a sling was in his hand, and he drew near to the Philistine. So the Philistine came and began drawing near to David, and the man who bore the shield went before him. When the Philistine looked about and saw David, he disdained him, for he was lowly a youth, ruddy and good-looking. So the Philistine said to David, Am I a dog that you come to me with sheep? And the Philistine caught David by his guard, and the Philistine said to David, Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air, and the beasts of the field. And David said to the Philistine, You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin, for I come to you 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 and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines, the birds of the air, and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know there is a God in Israel. Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear, but a battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hands. So it was when the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, that David hurried and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine. Then David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone, and slung it and struck the Philistine in his forehead, so that the stone sank into his forehead, and it fell on his face to the earth. So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him. But there was no sword in the hand of David. Therefore David ran and stood over the Philistine, took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him, and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled. Now the men of Israel and Judah arose and shouted and pursued the Philistines as far as the entrance of the valley and to the gates of Ekron, and the wounded of the Philistines fell along the road to Sharim, to Sharaim, even as far as Gath and Ekron. Then the children of Israel returned from chasing the Philistines and plundered their tents, and David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his armor in his tent. When Saul saw David going out against the Philistine, he said to Abner, the commander of the army, Abner, whose son is this youth? And Abner said, As your soul is, O king, I do not know. So the king said, Inquire whose son this young man is. Then as David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul, with the head of the Philistine in his hand. And Saul said to him, Whose son are you, young man? So David answered, I am the son of your servant, Jesse, the Bethlehemite. Some of the interesting things, you know, we can study the giants, where it came from, in the books of Numbers, we find that they saw the giants. In the spies report, it came back, and they said we were on site as grasshoppers in our own site before then. And in Joshua, Joshua fought against the Anakims, and there was no Anakims left in the whole land of Israel, but only in Gath and Ashdod, there remained Anakims, or giants. So we can, you know, go into very interesting study about who they were, what they were. We can study that how heavy was the armor that this man, how big was this giant? Nearly 10 feet, between nine and a half and ten and a half feet tall. And he carried 250 to 300 pounds of armor, all in all, like, no way that I can carry 100 pounds of armor. But today, I don't think that's where the Lord would have us to go to, you know, the history or measurements. But I believe that I would have to say, let's look at the words which came out of the giant's mouth. Let's look at the words which came out of David's mouth. And first question is, whose battle was this? Was it the battle of Judah versus Philistines? With every battle we face, you know, we so often begin to take the battle personally. And we forget to declare that the battle is the Lord's. In the moment that we take on the battle personally, then we have to personally find the resources to fight, whatever it may be, whether it's for provisions, or it's for our emotional state, whatever it might be, the battle, relationships. If you take it as a personal battle, and we forget to declare this battle is the Lord's, when the battle is the Lord's, then the resources and the victory comes from God, and not from us. So one thing just to put in your spirit is, this battle, David declared, this battle is the Lord's. And he declared that this Philistine, uncircumcised, filthy Philistine was coming against the armies of the living God. And so David put the battle where it ought to be, in the spiritual realm. So often, so often, it was just impossible for us to remind ourselves that this battle is the Lord's. And when we take it in our own strength, we use our own weapons. Faber, what weapons do you see that David took? Was it his sling, or was it his words? What do you think, Faber? Yes, Reverend, I think he, first off, the weapons David took, in comparison to that of Goliath, was no match, were no match at all. He took a sling, and he took a stone, and there were no match to what Goliath had, and to what the other Philistines had. Even our shield bearer, Goliath's shield, his shield was heavier than everything David had. So however, he needed to have those things, so God could work with that. And so, because God wasn't going to come and then lift the stone and, throw the stone at Goliath, he needed to work with something. So David used what he was familiar with, because he was a hunter boy, so he used the weapon he was familiar with, which of course, in comparison to that of Goliath, were no match. However, when the spirit of the Lord came upon that weapon, that weapon became an extraordinary weapon. So in the physical sense, he took some physical weapons, but in the spiritual sense, which was actually where the battle was, the battle was a spiritual thing. So in the spiritual sense, he was carrying a mighty weapon, a mighty, mighty weapon from God. But what about David's words? Absolutely. You know, we've been talking about the Rhema words. What words were coming out of David's mouth that gave him the victory? Go ahead. Yes. This was actually the Sunday. I think Emanuel remembers. All right. Preach it for us. Well, you know, he kept saying, first off, it's interesting to note that he kept track of what God did for him back in the field, how that he had defeated a lion, and how that he also defeated a bear. And so that testimony, this is what happens when we open ourselves up, and when the Rhema word comes, it reveals the mightiness of God, right? The Rhema word comes as a revealed word. It reveals the mightiness of God. It's just like you shared. It's a revelation. So we begin to see what other people are not seeing. We begin to see beyond what other people see. We begin to see... The whole army didn't see it. Yeah. Yes. The whole army didn't see it. So we see beyond all of that. And then it was almost kind of like Isaiah, when Isaiah said in Isaiah 40, verse 21, he said, Have you not heard? Has it not been told you? Do you not understand that a mighty God? Because Isaiah was coming from a point of, how can you not see this? You know, because when you have the Rhema word, when the word is revealed, oftentimes you find it kind of like a difficulty for you when you compare people who, or when you look at people who have not received that revelation, you're trying to wonder what's going on. Why are you not seeing what I'm seeing? So this was what happened when David got there. And we can tell, we can see from that scripture, we can see from that story, God didn't ask David to go and fight Goliath. There was no express instruction as regards to that. But he got there by the revelation of who God is. He was angry. He was, he was infuriated within his spirit as regards to, you know, when he heard Goliath and the words of Goliath. And then the revelation he has within him is a revelation of how mighty God is. And then he begins to say things, I'll make you like one of these. I'll make you like the army of Israel, whom you will fight. Do you know who, he was going like, do you really know who you're talking about? Do you know who the Almighty is? And so all of those things he said, none of them, none of them were just idle banter. They were not just an exchange of words or banter. They were just, they were words born out of revelation. They were words born out of Rema, a revealed personality and identity of who God is. And he spoke those words and he came out Goliath by that revelation. And of course we know the story. So I want to pick, I want to pick one of the words he said, look at this what it says. He says, this day, the Lord will deliver you into my hands and I will strike you and take your head from you. This has to be, this has to only be prophetic. Absolutely. It's prophetic. It has to be a function of a revelation. It has to be a function of a revealed word, you know, and he was, he was spot on and he spoke those words and he came to be. And nobody, even the armies of Israel didn't see that. They didn't see what he was saying, but he saw it clearly. He was absolutely convinced because of the revelation. You know, when the revelation, when the, when the Rema word comes, it has a way of broadening your heart, broadens our heart, it enlivens our boldness. It comes with a fire, an unquenchable fire. You could imagine, you could imagine David saying to Saul, well, I'm not going to thank you for the armor, but I have not tried this. I've not tried this out. I can go without the armor. Really? David, you want to go without the armor against Goliath? But it was just by the influence of the revealed word. So that revolutionary word was the weapon he went with. And that was what God used to give him the victory. So that last point that you said is even where the title comes from, because he tried on this armor, which was Saul's best armor. And he says, I can't, for I've not proven them. And so if, if this armor is unproven and it won't work for you, what does work for you? Well, that which you have proven. And I've proven that God is faithful. I've proven that God has been with me for the lion, for the bear, that he's not forsaken me. And he anointed me with my bare hands, you know? And so I have experienced something in God. And this is a weapon. Just the fact that we have been through something is a weapon that we use against the enemy. It's a proven, tried and tested weapon that has been successful in the past. Whatever that is for you, whatever experience you have with God, Emmanuel, you've come through and your wife is going to have that child in the name of Jesus. And you have your girls that are present with you. These are tested and proven things that, that the way that you prayed and the way you believed and the way that God moved, these are weapon lessons that we can, you know, face the bear, we can face the lion. But now we're going to use those same weapons that God taught us, even as David said later in Psalm 18, for you have taught, you have taught my hands and my fingers, my hands to war and my fingers to fight. It's a learning how to use those weapons that, and to prove them. And I love that verse. I've not tested them. I've not proven them. I don't know about these. But I do know that if I declare the word of the Lord and I use this trusty sling, sling throwers back in the day were, it was quite a thing. I understand there's three or four of these slings that have been found in Egypt area. And so there's, they're known to be a weapon of, of hunting, a weapon of war. And I'm supposing that David practiced, but I know that he didn't depend on his sling and his stones. Many people wonder why he just took five stones. What was the significance? To me, it's fine if he took five, maybe it's a five-fold ministry. I don't know. But I do know that he chose that which was proven, chose those weapons that are mighty through God. God used me like this and God can use me again. Amen. And it begins small and it grows bigger. One of the reasons, on the other hand, that, that there were still giants in the land. One of the reasons is that Joshua did not completely clear the land of all of the enemies. Now there stayed in Gath and in Ashdod, they still remained. It says that in Joshua 11, verse 21 and 22, it says, Joshua cut off the Anakims from the mountains from Hebron and on. And so then later it says, and there was none of the Anakims left in the land of Israel, only in Gath and then Ashdod there remained. And then we have the story of Samuel, who Saul was to wait and they were facing the Philistines. And Saul was to wait until Samuel came to offer sacrifice because Saul didn't realize that this battle was the Lord's and Saul became afraid. And when we become afraid in the midst of battle, we tend to resort to our physical means of protection, provision, of understanding, rather than waiting upon and calling upon the Lord. I think if Saul had have waited for Samuel to come and that the sacrifices were made, I believe that the giants would have been wiped out at that time. There were none remaining hiding out in Gath. It wasn't until David's men finished off the descendants and the cousins of Goliath, that all of them were destroyed. David killed this one, but David's men killed the rest. I believe that the history behind these giants, God, it was such a spiritual war that these, if they were truly the descendants of the Rephaim, that they'd come from that line that's evil, fighting demonic forces and demonic filled people. It's a battle that we have to realize the battle is the Lord's. It's not something you dare take into your own hands and fight it in a natural level. Most of the battles that we fight are spiritual battles that we must fight on a spiritual level. In the nature of God, in the truth of God, we must not fight it out of our flesh. So finally, David, in later days, David's men killed the remaining of the giants. In fact, where did David hide out when Saul was after him? He hid out in Ziklag of Gath. Very interesting. How could David hide out into the place where Goliath had lived? What do you think of that, Faber? Yes, sir. I never really thought about that. No, let me tell you a story, if you favor. Leave your mic open. It was the day that I was to propose to Teresa. Okay, so it was the day I was to propose to Teresa and I was sitting in a place just waiting for her to come. She was having to prepare herself. So I was sitting there and there was a Bible. So I took it and I began to read the portion where David was hiding in Gath or he had set up a city amongst the Philistines. And then I said, Gath, Ziklag, Ziklag of Gath. And I said, Oh my goodness, that's the same place where the giants had come from Goliath. And all of a sudden, the Spirit of the Lord began to speak to me. And these are the words he said to me. He said, those giants which you have overcome become a place of refuge for you, becomes a place of safety. Wow. Those giants in the places that you've overcome, becomes a place of your authority, a safe dwelling for you, a safe habitation, security, and a good hiding place from Saul. I said, Lord Jesus, look at that. Isn't that amazing? Absolutely. And so that was astounding. That was, wow, many long years ago in 19, what was it? Ninety-four. That was the year you fulfilled the revelation? Yes. Wow. And the year we were married, yeah. The next year will be our, what is it? 30th anniversary. Wow. Yeah. It was, I believe that the word of God within his heart that came out of his mouth that released the Holy Spirit to give him the victory through whatever means he had in his hands. Yes, sir. It wouldn't have mattered if he had a javelin, if he had a stick. It wouldn't have mattered what weapon it was. God would have anointed that weapon and he would have destroyed the giant. So bless the Lord. You know, if Saul had not lost his courage and been in the flesh, if he had waited and realized this battle needs the sacrifice, it needs the altar. And I want to say that from that verse in, what is it? Four or seven? Submit yourselves to God and then resist the devil and he'll flee from you. So really, we're looking at the need to have an altar in order to have a victory. Amen. Well, thank God for his word that I believe that there needs to be that submission to God, that altar, that place that we're leaning on the Lord and his revelation word is within us. And that's the place we fight from. You know, we stand fast in the liberty where he has made us free. He says, we've got to reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive to righteousness. We've got to realize we are sons of the living God and we've got to realize whose we are. Most of the army had forgotten that the battle is the Lord's. Most of them had forgotten that they were the circumcised, that they were the nation which belonged to God. And so when we realize I am the son of the living God and I am submitted to him and I lay my all upon the altar, whether I win or whether I lose, whether we die in this fire or we don't, but the Lord rescues us or not, we're not going to bow to you. Father, in the name of Jesus, Lord, this short lesson, this understanding of the rhema in our spirits, in our heart, it comes out of our mouth as a battle weapon. The sword of the spirit, your word by your spirit out of our mouths, oh God, destroys the enemy. God, we're crying out, Lord, that you would help us to always remember the battle is the Lord's, to always have an altar and our hearts upon that altar. Lord, we would not take the battle in our own hands, but God, we'd realize, God, that you are with us and you will not forsake us. You will not put us to shame, oh God, but you've chosen to exalt us and to lift us up among the people and Lord, you put your words within our mouth and God, you put your spirit upon us and Lord, that you will exalt your name amongst the people. So God, we bless Faber, we bless Emmanuel and those who would hear this message. God, we ask, Lord, that you would quicken to each heart the importance of declaring that the battle is this battle is the Lord's. Satan, you will not win in this case because the Lord, our God, is with us. And mighty God, we give you glory for this time in the name of Jesus. Thank you for putting this true account into the word that we can realize how that the might and power of the Lord, not by might and not by power, but by your spirit, we overcome. And we thank you, Lord, for it in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.