¶ Self-Examination and Living for God
If I was David out in the field , okay , I would be doing a lot of self-examination like , oh , if I just got anointed , why am I back out here doing this crap ? If I'm just being honest , maybe that's my Western first world problem mindset , I don't know . But I would be asking a lot of questions of why was I anointed ?
Why did the Prophet of God choose me ? Yet now I'm back out here doing the work that nobody else wants to do Faith and Failure's podcast . What is up ? Faith and Failure's family . So we're going to talk about some things today .
That is going to for lack of a better term get out up in your business , and what I mean by that is that you need to always and consistently be a person , be a Christian that is willing to examine their heart , bring their mind and their thoughts into check , and always be willing to say how can I , as a Christian , live for God better ?
How can I , as a Christian , do more for God ? If you consistently ask yourself these questions , you will stay healthy healthier mentally , emotionally , physically and , most of all , spiritually . And so I want to raise some questions to see if you , according to what the Word of God says , are you living your life according to Scripture ?
Are you living your life pleasing to the Lord ? If you read the story of David , before he ever fought Goliath , he was in a very challenging place because he was not the same as his older brothers .
He didn't have , apparently , the warrior experience or the battle look , he wasn't apparently one that even his own father would bring before the prophet to be anointed as king .
And not only that , when he was after he was anointed , he was sent back out into the field because it wasn't time yet , and so , out in the field , he began to pick up and continue to develop a technique , a certain skill set that was needed for a time to come , for a battle that he didn't yet know existed .
He was going to be put in a very specific place at a specific time that everybody else who was in the battle , everybody else who was in the field or in the valley , across the valley , looking over at the Philistines , god's army , was looking , trembling and doing nothing , but yet the boy that was anointed , that had been in a place of solitude .
And I think sometimes we overlook the Gifts , the skills , the skillset that God has gifted us with and think that we don't have something to bring to the table . I myself , like I'm a lead pastor of a church , if you don't know . First of all , thank you for being here today , whether you're watching it live or you're watching it later . Thank you so much .
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Because , if you think about this , if I was David out in the field , okay , I would be doing a lot of self-examination like , well , if I just got anointed , why am I back out here doing this crap ? If I'm just being honest , maybe that's my Western First world problem mindset , I don't know , but I would be Asking a lot of questions of why was I anointed ?
Why did the prophet of God choose me ? Yet now I'm back out here doing the work that nobody
¶ David's Encounter With Goliath
else wants to do . He was the youngest brother . That's kind of how things trickle down . And when he went , sent by his father to go and just be a let's let's just Modernize it a little bit he was there uber driver , uber eats he went and took the food . I mean , he made the journey to go and to give them food .
And when he shows up Something that he thought was just a mundane thing , that was just routine to him killing lions , killing bears , defending the flock he got very good with the slingshot because he had to .
He was protecting the sheep and so when he approached and heard this , philistine called Goliath , come out and start talking about his God , in my I'm a very visual person . In my head I'm thinking like you know , he's got his back to him because he's not even thinking about you .
This is a dude that's already been fighting bears and lions and killed him boy , worried about nothing . He , in my mind he's just they're doing an assignment , and so this is where I kind of venture out a little bit and get a little creative and think about some things . So think about this . He's talking to his brothers .
He's probably getting information because you know , like any parent , you want to know what your boys are doing . You don't know where they're at , how they're doing . Has there been any progress on the , the assignment they're on what's going on in the war ? You know you want you tell your younger son who's going to deliver food . You want all this information .
He sent him to give them food . But I'm sure if you've been a parent for any amount of time especially we got a teenager right now he's out with some friends . It's , you know , a moral day and all that stuff and he's out . And I Did . There weren't cell phones back then so you couldn't just call her text and see what they're doing , where they're at .
They didn't have the 360 app where you can just kind of look and see exactly where they are , and so he had to send his little son to get some information because his father probably worried about them , because he knew that they were in war .
He knew that they were in a battle and this battle also was going to Echo back into David's father , jesse , back into their life , because if the Philistines overtook them , they would now be subject to the enemy and so this would change their entire lives . They would . There's no telling what would have happened if they would have lost the battle .
So think about this . David is facing his brothers , he's getting information and then all of a sudden , he hears this voice . Now , if you've ever been in the mountains and you yell , there's like so chances are this dude comes out . He's not a small guy , so chances are he didn't have a hey guys , hey , you want to fight ? Today ?
He probably didn't have a voice like that . He probably came out and he had some things to say . You know what I mean ? He had something . He , he was coming out with his challenge like normal . Every day he would come out , he would challenge . He would say come on you .
You know you you have a God and but you know he's out blaspheming and talking about God . We'll think about this . David's talking to his brothers and all of a sudden he hears his voice behind him Mouthing about the God that he serves . So if I'm turning around and I'm like who's this dude ? Like , hold on what .
¶ Allowing Unbiblical Influence in Our Lives
How is it that all of these warriors out here on the front lines or allowing this man to talk about our God ? Now think about this . It's gonna tie in . So keep watching , stay with me . How many times do we allow voices both in relationships ? I'm gonna get . I told you I was gonna get in your business , on TV shows and even in your music .
That goes against the very scriptures and the word of God and we still allow it to be in our atmosphere , in our sphere of influence every single day . Think about it . How is it that we , as Christians , allow things in our life every single day to exist and we never speak out against it or we never stand up for what is right ?
It can blaspheme the very name of God and go against everything the word of God says , and we , as Christians , entertain it and take it in as our very own , and we never , ever Go against and say this is wrong . I'm not gonna stand for this . Now . Some of you may think oh , steven , you're kind of nitpicking , you're on a soapbox .
No , I want you to stop and think critically about your very soul , about the things that you're allowing to speak into your life , the things you're allowing to infiltrate your spirit on a daily , and you're just letting it happen . For instance , I've heard teenagers say this .
I , even when I was young , said this too , and the reason I say teenagers is yes , adults say it too , and that's the problem . You're supposed to grow out of that and become spiritually mature . But yet we regress back to the music we used to know , the music we used to love .
And if we go past the beat , go past the music and we actually read the lyrics , we realize that it is in direct conflict with what the word of God says .
Christians are supposed to act like and be like , and we have allowed the culture to Influence and infiltrate our spirits because we don't want to let go of something that Entertains us or that we actually enjoy .
And can I tell you that things of the flesh are very enjoyable , but those same things that you enjoy can keep a distance between you and God , can keep a distance . It can be a resident inside of your spirit that you don't have room for the spirit of God to live because you're allowing these other Things to have the real estate in your life .
I told you I was gonna get in your business .