(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Okay, if you've got your Bibles, go back to 2nd Chronicles, 2nd Chronicles chapter 22. And if you're a little bit confused as to reading that, you're going, what does this have to do with the family? Well, it's not about the family. We're taking a break from the series on the family this time around. I just, I don't know, mentally I wasn't just really ready to preach it, and maybe the Lord put this other sermon on my heart anyway. So 2nd Chronicles chapter 22, 2nd Chronicles chapter 22. The title of the sermon tonight is From Joash to David. From Joash to David. I'm not expecting that to make any sense to you right now, okay? But as we get toward the end of the sermon, it's going to make a lot more sense to you. So we read about King Joash, okay? We read about one of the kings of Judah, and so if the title is called From Joash to David, we know that David was another king of Israel. So we're going to be looking at two kings of Israel, Joash and King David, okay? Now if you go to 2nd Chronicles 22, 2nd Chronicles 22, because the Bible reading was from chapter 24, right? We're going to just view it in a little bit of context to get us up to the chapter that was read. Look at 2nd Chronicles 22 verse 1. So pay attention to all these names, a lot of names here. I want you to pay attention so you know what's going on in this story. Verse number 1, And the inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ahaziah his youngest son king in his stead. For the band of men that came up with the Arabians to the camp had slain all the elders. So Ahaziah, the son of Jeroham, king of Judah, reigned. So here we start the story of King Ahaziah, the king of Jehoram, reigning in Judah, okay? Now verse number 2, 42 years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign. So he was 42 years old when he started to become the king of Judah, and he reigned one year, only one year, this king, in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Ataliah, the daughter of Omri, okay? So this mother of his, Ataliah, is another important character that we're going to look at. Look at verse number 3. Ataliah also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab, so the house of Ahab was a wicked king. He says he walks after that same king, and he says, for his mother was his counselor to do wickedly, okay? So this new king, at the age of 40, or was it 42 years old, has his mother as his counselor. And his mother was a wicked woman, okay? Ataliah was a wicked woman, and she did wickedly, okay? Look at verse, drop down to verse number 10, drop down to verse number 10. Now as we, before we read verse number 10, you need to understand the reason her son reigned such a short time is because he died in battle, okay? He was injured in battle, then he was brought before some godly man, and they slew him, they killed him, okay? And so we get to verse number 10, it says, but when Ataliah, the mother of Ahaziah, saw that her son was dead, she arose, and look at this, look how wicked she was. She arose and destroyed all the seed royal of the house of Judah. So she goes around, her son's dead, and then those that would be next in the line to be king, she goes throughout the whole house, we're talking about her family members, we're talking about people that are related to her, she goes around and kills them. She goes around and kills the royal seed, okay? And as we'll soon see, she even tries to kill her own grandson, okay? So she does not want someone else to take the throne, the reason she does this is because she wants to be the ruler, she wants to be the queen of Judah, and she succeeds. For a period of time, she does become the queen of Judah. Look at verse number 11, but Jehoshabiah, this is another important character, but Jehoshabiah, the daughter of the king, now when it says the daughter of the king, it's not talking about King Ahaziah, but the king, his father, so she was actually the sister of King Jehoshabiah. So the daughter of the king took Joash, now we read about Joash the king, here when she takes Joash, it's about one year old, took Joash the son of Ahaziah and stole him from among the king's sons that were slain, and put him and his nurse in a bedchamber. So she takes baby Joash, because his grandmother is killing all the grandchildren, okay, how wicked, and she goes and tries to save this child, she takes Joash and gets him a nurse that can raise him, and hides him in this bedchamber. So Jehoshabiah, the daughter of King Jehoram, the wife of Jehoiadah, Jehoiadah, that's it, the wife of Jehoiadah, the priest. So this other important information about this woman, yes she's the sister of the king, but she's also the wife of this priest, okay, this priest Jehoiadah, and this priest is a very important character in the Bible, he's a real godly man, he's a real faithful man, and then it says in brackets, for she was the sister of Ahaziah, hid him from Ataliah, so that she slew him not. So do you get the picture here? Auntie, what's her name? Auntie Jehoshabiah takes little baby Joash and hides him from his grandmother, so she can't kill him, okay, and takes him, look at verse 12, where does she take him? And he was with them hid in the house of God six years, and Ataliah reigned over the land. So this little baby Joash is taken to the temple of God, he's raised with a priest, he's raised with his uncle and his auntie, and with this nurse that's helping him grow up, okay, and while this happens, his grandmother rules the land, rules Judah for six years, so it's that one year old when he gets taken, six years later he becomes seven years old, okay, you following the story so far, okay, he's been raised by godly couple, he's been raised by his godly aunts and uncles who are protecting him from his wicked grandmother, okay, now we're not going to look at chapter 23, there's not enough time to go through all that, but chapter 23 basically reinforces to us that this priest Jehoiada is truly a godly man, he truly risks his life, and at the age of seven, King Joash is crowned king, okay, and this priest Jehoiada makes sure that the people of Judah are supportive of this new king, even at the age of seven, okay, and when the grandmother finds out, she hears all this celebration, he's being crowned as king, there's all this rejoicing and celebration, you can read it in your own time in chapter 23, she comes out to find out what's going on, what's all this sound, what's all this celebration, what's going on, and when she comes out she sees that a little grandson is being crowned king at seven years old, you know, and she yells out, um, what does she yell out, I have to look, I won't find it now, but um, you know, she's obviously very upset, and uh, what happens is Jehoiada, this priest, commands uh, some men to go and take her away and slay her, and she's put to death, okay, so we see this priest, you know, risks his life for his nephew, okay, protecting him from his grandmother, and then crowns him king when he's aged seven, so we pick up the story here in 2 Chronicles 24, the chapter that was read, let's look at verse number one again, it says Joash was seven years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 40 years in Jerusalem, okay, the big difference between a wicked king who reigned for one year, he did not have the blessings of God, and then we have this little child because he was raised by godly, well, it wasn't his parents, but aunt and uncle, and he was able to reign for 40 years in Jerusalem, okay, his mother's name also was Zebir of Beisheba, now look at verse number two, it's very important that you understand the phrase that's used here in verse number two, it says, and Joash did which was right in the sight of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest, that's important for you to understand, did he do right, yes, was he a godly king, yes, did he seek to please the Lord, yes, and as we'll soon see, the Lord blesses his kingdom, okay, but notice how it said all the days of Jehoiada the priest, this is very important for you to understand because king Joash had a godly role model, okay, he was faithfully serving the Lord so long that Jehoiada was there helping him along, okay, he had godly, he had a godly influence, okay, and some of you, and this is normal, when you get, when you're saved, and you start as a babe in Christ, when you're, when you just start out new, it's good to surround yourself with godly examples, with godly leaders, it's good to find a church that you can be around godly men that can help you in your growth, okay, because you're more likely to do what's right while these people are around you, okay, and so things start off really well, it starts off really well for king Joash, you know, all the days of Jehoiada, look at verse number three, and Jehoiada took for him two wives, now obviously that was wrong, but he begat sons and daughters, and it came to pass after this that Joash, look at Joash, after this Joash was minded to repair the house of the Lord, so what's, what's, what's, what's said on his heart, he obviously loves the Lord, and now he wants to go and fix the temple, he wants to fix the house of the Lord, because previously to that, his predecessors weren't worshiping God, they were worshiping false God, they were worshiping idols, and so the house of the Lord was destroyed, or you know, needed repairs, and no one was looking after it, and he puts it in his heart, no, we need to fix this house of the Lord, okay, we need to make sure that we're able to worship God in our full capacity as a nation, and then verse number five, and he gathered together the priests and the Levites, and said to them, go out unto the cities of Judah, and gather all, of all Israel, money to repair the house of your God from year to year, and see that ye hasten the matter, howbeit the Levites hastened it not, okay, so I'm not preaching the money today, but obviously, in order to do things for the Lord, in order to look after, like a building, like we have today, obviously there are finances that are needful, and so the king takes it upon himself to get the priests and the Levites together, and says look, we need to start a collection, get everybody to come and give up their offerings, give up their finances, give up their gold, so we can then repair the house of the Lord. This is a great task that has been undertaken under the reign of King Joash, drop down to verse 12, drop down to verse 12, and the king and Jehoiada gave it to such as did the work of the service of the house of the Lord, and hired masons and carpenters to repair the house of the Lord, and also such as wrought iron and brass to mend the house of the Lord, so you see that they get into work, they're hiring the right people, verse 13, so the workmen wrought and the work was perfected by them, and they set the house of God in his state and strengthened it, not only did they repair it, they made it stronger, okay, so that it would last longer, they strengthened it, verse 14, and when they had finished it, they brought the rest of the money before the king and Jehoiada, were made vessels of the house of the Lord, even vessels to minister, and to offer withal and spoons and vessels of gold and silver, and they offered, finally, once it's all done, they offered, burnt offerings in the house of the Lord continually, and notice the next phrase, all the days of Jehoiada, okay, so they repair the temple, they get the altar established once again, and they start sacrificing, bringing offerings to the Lord once again, which was the right thing to do, okay, and they did so, you know, King Joash and Jehoiada the priest, we're a great team, okay, and you can see that they're doing it every day, you know, they're truly wanting to love and worship and serve the Lord, okay, King Joash, at this point in time, was a godly man. But notice that phrase again, all the days of Jehoiada, why does God want us to tell us this? It's very important, because Jehoiada was such an influence in Joash's life, and as I said, it's a good thing, it's a good thing for you to get around the right kind of people that will strengthen your faith, that will make you more godly, that will make you want to serve the Lord more, that's a good thing, but we're going to learn now what happens if you're not doing this right, okay, look at verse number 15, and Jehoiada waxed old and was full of days when he died, full of days, look how long he lived, 130 years old was when he died, I reckon the Lord probably lengthened his days because they were doing so well together as priest and king, and then it says, verse 16, and they buried him, look at where they buried him, they buried him in the city of David among the kings, because he had done good in Israel, both toward God and toward his house, they said, look, we're not just going to give him the regular burial as a priest, he's done so much good for us, we're going to bury him with the kings, okay, so you can see that, you know, the nation truly honored this faithful old priest, okay, and then unfortunately things change, look at verse 17, now after the death of Jehoiada, what's going to happen, this, before we read it guys, if you have godly influences, godly leaders, godly examples that you look up to, there's going to come a time when they're not around anymore, okay, this is going to happen to you, you're not going to have the godly influences all the time around in your life, sooner or later they're going to be gone, and you need to stand on your own two feet, you need to stand on your faith, okay, you need to stop relying on other people and be ready to take a stand alone for your faith, if that's what it takes, unfortunately Joash was not ready to stand alone, look at verse 17, now after the death of Jehoiada came the princes of Judah and made obeisance to the king, and then the king hearkened unto them, so that word obeisance basically means to revere, to honor the king, and notice they waited after Jehoiada was dead, okay, because they knew with Jehoiada around, Joash would not listen to them, okay, they came with bad practices, they came with bad requests, they came with wicked requests in fact, look at verse 18, sorry yeah 18, and they left the house, so once the king listens to them hearkens to them, and they left the house of the lord god of their fathers and served groves and idols, and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this their trespass, Joash what is wrong with you, you know you've been brought up in a Christian home, you've seen the blessings of god, you've had the godly example of Jehoiada, and all it takes is for him to be gone, and now you're listening to the wrong kind of people, you're listening to the wicked people, you can see that Joash was not faithful on his own, he was too dependent on others, by now at this age he should have been able to stand up on his own two feet, and he should have been able to tell these guys no we're going to continue serving the lord the way we started, look at the blessings that god has given us, okay, and then they worship idols and the wrath of god falls upon them doesn't it, verse 19, let's have a look at this, and yet, talking about god here, yet he sent prophets to them, so god just has mercy upon Joash, okay, because he's being a faithful servant to him, he brings prophets, he wants to correct him, okay, does he listen to the prophets, no he's going to listen to the bad advice, he brings prophets to bring them again unto the lord, and they testified against them, but they would not give ear, okay, and you need to make sure that whoever you give your ear to is someone that is godly, god may send prophets into your life, preachers into your life, teaching you the word of god, those are the people you need to hear, and the devil will send his minister, the devil will send his people to destroy your life, okay, and even king Joash who should know better listen to the wrong kind of people, okay, verse 20, and the spirit of god, so he wouldn't listen, king Joash would not listen to these prophets, so who does god send, and the spirit of god came upon Zechariah, it's not the same Zechariah as the book of the bible that you've got, it's another Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada, the priest, so he sends Jehoiada's son to the king, okay, now you would think he would listen to the son of his faithful friend, okay, he may have even grown up with the son of Jehoiada, okay, and then it says which stood above the people and said unto them, thus saith god, why transgress you the commandments of the lord, that ye cannot prosper, because yet forsaken the lord, he have also forsaken you, this is the judgment that's come upon king Joash and his kingdom, the lord has forsaken them, look at verse 21, and they conspired against him, against you know the son of Jehoiada, and stoned him, they killed this prophet, stoned him with stones, who commanded this to happen, at the commandment of the king in the court of the house of the lord, king Joash was the one responsible to have this prophet killed, the king, uh sorry the son, the son of the priest they looked up to, verse 22, thus Joash the king remembered not the kindness that Jehoiada his father had done to him, but slew his son, and when he died he said the lord look upon it and require it, so he killed Zechariah, Jehoiada's son, after he as a baby was protected by Jehoiada, how wicked, how far back, how backslidden did he become, and why, why, because he could not stand on his faith alone, he could not do it, he was too dependent on other believers, he was too dependent on other people of god, okay, and I hope there's always a new life baptist church, I hope there's always someone godly that you can listen to, and be encouraged, and grow from, but there might come a time in your life when you don't have these godly influences, okay, and you can either take the root of king Joash, and crumble, and fail, okay, and destroy your life, it's possible, even as a believer, okay, king Joash was definitely a safe man, definitely a believer, but took the counsel of the wrong kind of people, and killed god's people instead, okay, this is uh Joash, now let me say again, there's nothing wrong, in fact it's recommended that you get godly people around you, they can encourage you, okay, but you must at some point be able to let go of their faith, and, and, and stand strong on your own faith in the lord, okay, so we see how king Joash has failed, now we're going to compare him to king David, go to first Samuel 17, first Samuel 17, first Samuel 17, we're reading this off, you know, popular chapter in the bible, the story of David and Goliath, okay, so this is before David was a king, but he's obviously on his road to become a king, so let's look at, let's look at David, and then we'll compare these two men, first Samuel 17 verse 1, first Samuel 17 verse 1, now the Philistines gathered together their armies to battle, and were gathered together at uh Shul, Socotch, which belongeth to Judah, and pitched between Socotch and Azekah in F.S. Daman, I might get Jason to come up here and read for me, and so on the men of Israel were gathered together, and pitched by the valley of Elah, and set the battle in array against the Philistines, and the Philistines stood on a mountain, on the one side, and Israel stood in a mountain on the other side, and there was a valley between them, and there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span, you guys know the story of Goliath the giant, and he had an helmet of brass upon his head, and he was armed with a coat of mayo, and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of brass, and he had greaves of brass upon his legs, and a target of brass between his shoulders, and the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and his spear's head weighed 600 shekels of iron, and one bearing a shield went before him, and he stood, so this Goliath stands, and cried unto the armies of Israel, and said unto them, why are ye come out to set your battle in array, am not I a Philistine, and ye servants to soul, choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me, if he be able to fight with me, and to kill me, then we will be your servants, but I will prevail against him, and kill him, then shall ye be our servants, and serve us, so you see what's going on there, instead of the two armies going to battle, they send their most powerful warrior, now I don't know if he was the best warrior, or maybe it was just his heights, and how large he was, that just scared you know the Israelites, and he says look instead of us all fighting, how about just me, and one of your men, we go to battle, and if I beat him, you become our servants, hey if he beats me, we'll become your servants, sounds pretty fair, instead of there being bloodshed of hundreds of thousands of people, you know let it be between two men, sounds about right okay, and then it says here verse number 10, and the Philistine said, I defy the armies of Israel this day, give me a man, that we may fight together, when Saul and all Israel heard the words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid, hey these are the armies of king Saul, these are the armies of Israel, they have won many battles throughout their throughout their time, you know king Saul, he should be the leader, he probably should be the one going out against Goliath, and fighting this, because back then the kings, they weren't just people that sat on the throne, the kings were the leaders of the armies okay, and so you would think these battle-hardened warriors would not be afraid of the Philistine, especially when they've seen the hand of the Lord deliver them from their enemies time and time again okay, but sometimes there will be a Goliath in our lives, and sometimes the people of God will be too afraid to fight Goliath okay, you would think somebody from the army would fight him okay, look at, drop down to verse 20, and by the way this goes on for 45 days, verse 16 explains that to us, uh Goliath day after day for 45 days a month and a half, uh challenging them, send me a man, send me a man to fight with me okay, and you definitely see the army is afraid, verse 20, and David rose up early in the morning and left the sheep with a keeper and took and went, so David a shepherd, he looks after sheep, he's never fought in a war, he's not a soldier, he's not been trained to fight with a sword and a spear uh sorry and a shield, or maybe a spear as well okay, but he gets up, uh he leaves his sheep alone and then as Jesse had commanded him, his father commanded him, he's an obedient son, and he says and he came to the trench as the host was going forth to the fight and shouted for the battle, verse 21, for Israel and the Philistines had put the battle in array, army against army, and David left his carriage in the hand of the keeper of the carriage and ran into the army and came and saluted his brethren, so he had brothers that were in the war, he had brothers that were soldiers and he goes and salutes them, he comes and brings them some cheese and some food to just help them, to replenish them okay, and then verse 23, and as he talked with them, behold they came up the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, out of the armies of the Philistines and spake according, according to the same words, and David heard them, and all the men of Israel when they had saw the man fled from him and were sore afraid, so the armies of Israel afraid of Goliath, sore afraid, they were so afraid of him, they were lacking faith weren't they, they were lacking trust in the Lord, verse 25, and the men of Israel said have you seen this man that has come up, surely to defy Israel is he come up, and it shall be that the man who killed him, the king will enrich him with great riches and will give him his daughter and make his father's house free in Israel okay, so David here sees the fear of these men of war supposedly okay, and not only if they went to fight Goliath, not only would they win the battle but they would be able to receive as a wife the king's daughter okay, so they would be able to and they'd have their family free in the land, any debts you know they were owing to the family would be let go, that'd be you know great blessing for anybody that could defeat Goliath and then you take the the daughter of the king and so your name would be you know lifted up I guess in society okay, and nobody wants to take him up on this offer, verse 26 and David spake to the man that's the man that stood by him saying what shall be done to the man that killeth the Philistine and take away the reproach from Israel for who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God, David's like who is this guy you know who's he thinks that he can defy the armies of the living God, how can he how can this one man stand up against you, you're representing the God of the heavens okay, I love David okay, he's got no respect for Goliath, it doesn't matter how big this man is okay, it doesn't matter that all the armies of Israel were afraid of him, David's like who is this guy, we should be able to take him on you know we're the armies of God after all, verse 27 and the people answered after this man is saying so shall be done to the man that killeth him and Eliab his eldest brother, so Eliab the brother of David heard when he spake unto the man and Eliab's anger was kindled against David and he said why cameest thou down hither and with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness, David what are you doing here you know you need to go back to the sheep in the wilderness that's where your place belongs, why are you here in the battlefield is basically what he's saying I know thy pride and the naughtiness of thine heart for thou art come down that they mightest mightest see the battle, now when you see a battle that needs to be fought, when you see that the people of God are not standing up for the word of God, they're not standing up against heresies and they're not standing against wickedness and if you decide hey this is not right you know and you start preparing yourself for the battle, you start thinking hey I need to be the one that fights this battle, guess who's going to come against you, for David it was his own brother it'd be your closest friends, it could be your brothers, it could be your own family that will stand against you when you start preparing to stand for the Lord okay and you're going to be accused of being prideful, you're going to be accused what else uh that there's a naughtiness in your heart, they're going to accuse that you're wrong and the reason they do this is not because they're they're concerned about you fighting the battle they do it because they don't want to fight the battle and if you go out and you fight the battle if you go out and stand in faith and they're not standing in faith it makes them look bad it makes them look bad so instead of them wanting to look bad they would rather put you down okay and say what are you doing here this is not your fight okay and so we see the difference here with David he is alone okay like king Joash who was alone but could not stand on his own feet we see king David or no he's not king David yet but we see David he's able to stand on his own okay he has a faith in God because what's this giant Goliath who cares okay we're the armies of God all right verse 32 and David so he gets brought before king Saul because nobody else wants to fight him okay and David said to Saul let no man's heart fail because of him thy servant speaking of himself will go and fight with the Philistine and Saul said to David thou art not able to to go against the Philistine to fight with him for thou art but a youth and he a man of war from his youth and so let me just say first of all for those that are young here especially the children okay you can fight the battles that God has for you okay don't let anybody uh laugh at your youth okay like David you can stand for God you can stand for the word of God okay and uh you don't need to worry about it because God wants to use young people it's often the young people that have the greater faith in God anyway all right there's a reason why when we go out and knock doors it's the younger people that are more willing to talk to you about the bible okay because they haven't been corrupted okay they haven't been uh uh laughed to scone they haven't really been hurt uh by religious institutions or whatever king David comes straight out of the out of um out of being a shepherd and now wants to enter into the battle look at how David answers king Saul and this is the important part that I want you to really focus on this is really the the key to the message tonight okay and David said unto Saul thy servants kept his father's sheep and there came a lion and a bear and took a lamb out of the flock and I went out against 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 thy servant slew both the lion and the bear and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them seeing he have defied the armies of the living God you see the reason David knew that he could fight Goliath and defeat him the reason why he knew he could stand alone is because he had done it before this isn't his first fight okay here was a shepherd he looked after sheep probably nobody even knew that his sheep would be sometimes attacked by a lion or by a bear and yet when David saw his sheep being attacked he went out and defended it okay he went out and he killed the lion and he kills the bear okay the point I'm trying to say to you right now guys is that in order for us to fight Goliath in order us for us to stand firm in our faith on the great battles we first must fight the smaller ones okay before we can take on Goliath we need to take on the lion and the bear okay before we can go and deliver an army of Israel from the hands of the Philistines we first must deliver the little sheep okay God has set in our lives and in our in our path the small battles to fight we need to start fighting those small battles in our life one at a time and slowly as you fight the battles and you get victory your faith will be increased okay so the point when you can face a Goliath and defeat him and know you can defeat him because you're strong in your faith okay David was alone but because of his past experience because of his past victories he knew he could win this battle okay very different to King Joash who failed as soon as he had to stand on his own two feet King Joash was too dependent on other men of God okay he hadn't worked in his faith he hadn't grown spiritually but King David we see slowly but surely he uh won victories in his life and got to the point where he is now you know if you want to be a Christian that wins the great battles you must win the smaller battles okay before you can fight the big battles you have to fight the small ones okay now I'm not preaching on family but still you know is your marriage the sweetest it's ever been you know and if it's not that's a battle you need to win you know are your children the most obedient and the most respectful that they've ever been if not that's a battle you need to win all right are you are you reading your bible every day have you read your bible cover to cover are you continually praying to the Lord you know are you someone that can present the gospel to a to a lost and dying person you know these are battles that you need to win okay I'm just talking about the spiritual uh things you know how's your house you know what's your house's entertainment like you know is it filled with the world's music hey if it's filled with the world's music that's a battle that you need to win okay if you entertain yourself with the with the you know all the movies of the world and and all the wickedness and all those kind of things you know what kind of books are you reading you know does it praise the Lord or does it blaspheme the Lord hey these are battles in your life that you need to win first if you want to be a man that can stand like King David and fight against Goliath you need to take care of the little things first okay you need to take care of the sheep before you can take care of Goliath before you can destroy Goliath okay and even ask guys as a church you know yes I want to be a church that wins great victories yes I want to be a church that fights you know all you know all the first prophets here on the Sunshine Coast yes I want to do that yes I want to take on Goliath at some point but at first we need to fight the small battles we need to make sure that we have the small victories first and build from that okay as as we approach our first year we're not one year old yet but we almost are we're still young we're still young church I'm personally still a young pastor okay we need to make sure that the things we do in church just the services the soul win we need to make sure we're constantly doing those kinds of things okay we need to make sure just like sheep that we're taking care of the sheep of God okay of the um the sheep hold of Jesus Christ okay doing that just like King David was before we can go and join the battle of the armies okay we need to start and win the small battles first then we can do the greater things for God in due time okay because if we as a church and we as families and we as individuals seek to fight Goliaths without having won the small battles Goliath's going to mop us like it's just going to take us and wipe us out okay and I you know any new church and we are a new church needs to make sure we take care of the basic things first let's do the basic things well let's do them right okay and then surely and I've said this before organically we're going to grow organically we're going to fight the bigger battles but all along that pathway we're going to have our faith increased okay and we're going to see the hand of the Lord uh take place he's going to come and defeat our enemies for us okay he's going to come and help us get the gospel out to this area on the Sunshine Coast we need to make sure we take care of the small things first look at verse 37 verse 37 David said moreover the Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion and out of the paw of the bear he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine and David said answer sorry and song said unto David go and the Lord be with thee so David goes and fights Goliath look at us drop down to verse 43 and the Philistine said unto David am I a dog that thou comest to me with staves and the Philistine cursed David by his gods and the Philistine said to David come to me and I will give the flesh unto the fowls of the air and to the beasts of the field then said David to the Philistine thou comest to me with a sword and with a spear and with a shield but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts the God of the armies of Israel whom thou hast defied these are some of my favorite words in the bible verse 46 this day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand and I will smite thee and take thine head from thee and I will give the carcasses of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth and all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel and all this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth no sword and spear for the battle is the Lord's and he will give you into our hands so we see that as we we take on the battles that God places in our lives that we need to make sure we we do them one at a time you know they increase slowly they get greater so we have to fight the life but all that time it's the Lord that does the delivering it's not at around our own strength and that's why David was so strong so strong in his faith so strong in spirit because he knew that the Lord was with him all the way okay uh what am I up to 48 I think 48 and it came to pass when the Philistines arose and came and drew nigh to meet David and David hasted and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine and David put his hand in his bag and took thence a stone and slang it and smote the Philistine in his forehead and the stone sunk into his forehead and he fell upon his face on the earth so David prevailed against the Philistines with a sling and with a stone and smote the Philistine and slew him but there was no sword in the hand of David therefore David ran and stood upon the Philistine and took his sword and drew it out of the sheaf thereof and slew him and cut off his head therewith and when the Philistines saw the champion was dead they fled now it's verse 32 that I want you to focus on as well so David has this massive victory he stands on his own in the face of people mocking him okay his own brother in the face of king Saul saying hey you can't do this you know you've never fought a battle you know and still when he stands with the Lord he's able to accomplish great things verse 52 and the men of Israel and of Judah arose and shouted and pursued the Philistines until they'll come into the valley and to the gates of Ekron and the wounded of the Philistines fell down by the way uh to Sharayim even unto Gath and unto Ekron so we see these armies that were once afraid they would not fight this battle once they see David have his victory they stand up they shout they're emboldened they're filled with courage and they go out and defeat the Philistines they go out and and make war okay the point I want to say to you guys is that you need to go from being a Joash to a David that needs to come a time when you stand on your own two feet when you stand on your own faith when you stand on the Lord and you're no longer dependent on other people to get you there okay and there's going to come a time you know when you do need to stand alone you know in the face of people mocking you in the face of people saying you can't do it hey if you stand and you win hey the same people that doubted you are going to be the same people that rise up and get encouraged you know the faith of one man goes a long way okay but then it's also so hard to stand alone okay we saw that with Joash it was so hard for him to stand for the Lord when he started listening to the wrong kinds of people when he no longer had the mentor in his life that he needed okay so in conclusion guys in conclusion it's fine to start as a Joash it's fine to start that way you know partnering up with the with men of God there are blessings to be had you know surrounding yourself the right kind of people but there must come a time when you can stand alone in your faith okay and I want you to just examine yourself if you lost this church if you lost the you know influential people around you you know would you continue serving the Lord you know could you give the gospel out without any help you know doing the basic things you know will you continue reading your bible and praying to the Lord if you don't have these influences around you you know it's going to be a test of character that's truly when we know when someone's faithful and someone's mature is when they no longer have any help and they need to stand alone now I don't want to stand alone obviously it's much easier to stand with brethren that are like-minded that are like faith that are wanting to fight the same battles the same spiritual battles together that's ideal okay but it could happen in your life when you need to be alone okay and you can see that Joash was weak in the faith uh weak in the faith and departed from the Lord and yet David was different he was grounded he was strong he went from faith to faith from strength to strength he went from battle to battle he got more complicated got more hearted but it was the same faith that he had in the Lord that got him through all those battles okay so and again when he was alone and he stood up for God then others other believers were able to rally around him and be emboldened and be courageous hey we need to go from being Joashes to Davids that's something we need to strive for in our lives let's pray