Youth Week - The Unseen Battles

i am thankful what a kind introduction thank you so much i give honor to your pastoral team brother williford brother de long and then uh brother ryan brother peter ryan i'm so thankful to be here and just let me say you know if you were told that brother bernard was going to be here tonight uh you may be a little disappointed sorry i may not be the the one you thought no hopefully you understood but i'm excited to be here uh this evening and for this this week youth week i'm pumped about that glad to be with you all on this opportunity uh know him amen what a what a good quest what a what a quest not just for students but a lifelong journey for all believers amen that i may know him amen i'm going to jump right into the word of god tonight i'm going to be cognizant of your time and the time this evening and i'm going to read from first samuel chapter 17 i think a very familiar passage and portion of scripture and what i'm going to refer to as one of the most popular and famous battles in the bible we're going to dig into it this evening but first samuel 17 and verse 8 we pick up in this story and it reads as this goliath stood and shouted a taunt across to the israelites i'm reading from the new living translation kind of a conversational tone of this translation why are you all coming out to fight he called i am the philistine champion but you are only the servants of saul choose one man to come down here and fight me i believe this generation has a lot of battles that need to be fought i believe there are some giants that we need to slay amen but i i want to look at one of the most familiar stories in scripture tonight if not the most familiar battle and hopefully shed a little bit of new light on this because the story of david and goliath we all know it but i want to propose to you tonight that leading up to this battle although we know this one so well there were some other key battles that david had to fight to get to where he was and i believe many battles that we have to fight in our lives and students you have to fight in your life and so tonight my message title is the unseen battles look at someone and say the unseen battles man you can be seated tonight one of the person i don't believe she's here tonight but i want to just recognize that i get the pleasure of working with is miss diana sanders she's not here this evening she may be watching online but she is if you don't know her i haven't got a chance to meet her or spend some time with her she is hilarious so i really really love and appreciate sister diana sanders so again tonight i i want to just show of hands how many of you are familiar with the story of david and goliath anybody i thought that might be the case i was hoping that would be the case but one of the most well-known battles david the the small young man that kills goliath the uh the sniper with confidence from god right incredible but if i'm being honest this story to me is almost mythical it's a little outlandish i don't just read

this and and see myself as david and it's easy to preach you can slay your giants it's easy to preach god has things in store for you and he does but i don't know about you but i'm not like that i don't think you know give me a slingshot i'll go out and i'll take somebody out i'm ready me may be a slingshot uh sniper but i'm not and so sometimes when i when i look at a story like this something that is so fantastic i feel a little disconnected from it and so i believe though that there are some things in this story that when i look at the life of david when i look at what happened leading up to this there are some really impactful things that so many times after reading this i skipped over but yet i believe are some of the most important aspects of this story but yet go unseen and i want to tell you students that yes you have some big battles to fight but i believe that many of the battles that you fight in your life now and will continue to fight into the next phase of your life are absolutely unseen i want to focus in on some points that i think are so powerful and i'm going to hop around in first samuel chapter 17 but let me just give you a little bit of backstory in case you need a refresher at this time israel's at war with the philistines saul is king over israel the bible says he was a big and powerful man in fact it says that he was head and shoulders above other men david is a young man from a family of shepherds and has seven older brothers anybody have seven older brothers that's if you do i would love to meet you because god bless you six older brothers oof but so here we see that um you know david has been anointed by uh samuel basically the pastor of israel to be king but he has to stay home and attend the sheep while his older brothers go off to battle and he serves as a personal musician to the king and one day david is bringing a basket of roasted grain and 10 loaves of bread to his brothers when he stumbles upon the scene that we see in chapter 17 and goliath the champion is issuing a challenge to israel twice a day every single day so david appears on this scene and uh and this scene that's been happening over and over and the two armies are facing off and goliath is issuing his challenge and so we read in in verse uh in samuel uh first samuel 17 uh and in verse 23 he comes in and david is talking he left his uh his things with the supply keeper and he heard it out to the ranks he's going to talk to his brothers and it says as he was talking with them goliath the philistine champion from gath came out from the philistine ranks then david heard him shout his usual taunt so david asked he he's he's witnessing this happen in verse 26 if you skip down david asked the soldier standing nearby what will a man get for killing this philistine and ending his defiance of israel who is this pagan philistine anyway that he's allowed to defy the armies of the living god pretty bold language you just got here but i want you to

look at this interaction in verse 28 but when david's oldest brother eliam heard david talking to the men he was angry this is the most brotherly interaction i have ever seen in scripture this is what he says what are you doing here anyway he demanded what about those few sheep you're supposed to be taken care of i guess that's like biblical trash talk what about those few sheep i know about your pride and see you just want to see battle david replied with this question a brotherly question what have i done now what did i do i was only asking a question brothers are the worst man tell you what i've got an older brother he's three years older than me and growing up i did not like that guy i just didn't i'm sorry i did not like that dude and growing up you know uh we live in my in my home we lived with hand-me-downs anybody know that term hand-me-downs yeah so i got hand-me-downs so i remember this this time my brother he was a really big fan of wind pants i'm talking old school wind pants i'm talking about those wind pants when you walk and they go shh what i'm talking about this generation they don't know now it's joggers okay you got it wasn't joggers it was wind pants man elastic i'm talking loud and my brother was proud of these wind pants and i remember we got in a fight and i pushed him and these are these are kind of weapons when you if you fell they burned like they burned through like like plastic and so he burned through his wind pants man i was so excited i was like ha ha i burned your favorite pants and then a realization struck me that today they're his favorite pants but tomorrow they will be my pants so i wore wind pants with a patch for many years so that has nothing to do with my sermon but i just every when i read this i think of the story of brothers and how frustrating brothers can be but here in this if you if you were to read this passage there's a there's a great chance you'd read right through this interaction because it's not one of much significance and note but to me here i believe that we find the very first unseen battle that i want to highlight to you tonight and it goes overlooked in the story but in my opinion it's one that can change the trajectory of david's life and this entire story the first battle that david had to fight and the battle that you face students and adults in this room is the battle of brotherly opinion the battle of brotherly opinion david was assessing the situation and we're going to see in just a few verses that he's been privately preparing for this moment for a long time but when it's time for david's private preparation to come into a public setting the first people's opinion he has to contend with is his brother's opinion of him let me bring this into our life students you've made decisions in your life maybe you've been fighting some spiritual battles and you're ready to start living out your faith in a real and tangible way but sometimes unfortunately and i don't know your youth group but but and i hope this is not the case but i bring this to you because sometimes unfortunately in your life the people

that are supposed to cheer you the most are the ones that give you the most grief sometimes the consecrations and decisions you've made in your heart my fear is that it never gets lived out because we're scared of what those around us are going to think what does it sound like sounds like this oh you're going to be so holy now oh now you want to start acting like that i know the real you i know what you just did this past weekend you think just because you prayed in it all to your life's going to be different the battle of brotherly opinion not only did his brother make fun of what he wanted to do he also made fun of what he was currently doing he said what about those few sheep you're taking care of do you know who belittles the dreams of other people do you know who talks down to people who want to do something for god think about the context of the story the people that talk down to someone wanting to do something bold for god are people who have the opportunity to do something themselves and yet are doing nothing remember who talks down to your students because chances are the only way that someone can make themselves feel better for their inactivity in the kingdom of god is to speak down to you when you want to step out and be bold so let me just declare to someone before you're going to make any decision in your life you've got to decide this no matter what other people think of me i'm going to stand for god no matter what anybody says about me i'm going to stand for what god has called me to do i'm going to be the person that god has called me to be and i'm going to step boldly into my future regardless of what anybody thinks or says of me the battle of brotherly opinion so let me just take a side note and just say my prayer over this youth group tonight is that nobody would have the spirit of elia let us not be the kind of people that when someone desires to make a change when someone desires to consecrate themselves when someone desires to walk closer to god that we don't talk down to them we don't talk about them let us be the kind of people that support one another let us be the kind of people that speak up to one another that celebrate the steps people are taking in their life i pray we don't have the spirit of elia in our lives so how do we overcome the battle of brotherly opinion it's real and it's not just for students we face it on the job our circle of friends our circle of influence the people that work that we're hoping to get a promotion from when maybe they're wanting to do something that would compromise our beliefs but yet we know that to do that thing is the thing that's going to put us in the circle of influence that we want to be in brotherly opinion those people around us so so what do we do we if we keep reading we see that basically david was not deterred it says that in verse 28 he walked over to some others and asked the same thing and received the same answer then the david's question was reported to king saul and the king sent for him so first

of all just persist let me just give you a little tip there's some opinions of you that you will have to argue against that you will have to battle that you will have to fight against that you'll have to stand up against but and this is not something you want to hear probably but the elders in the room can probably bear this out even better than i can but some people's opinions you just have to outlive can't do anything about it not going to change their mind can't waste all of your energy all of your mental and emotional energy trying to change their mind about you sometimes you just have to step forward in what god has called you to do and simply outlive the words other people have said about you persist but we see that the king sins for david and david is making his plea before the king in verse 32 he says don't worry about this philistine i'll go and fight him verse 33 don't be ridiculous saul replied there's no way you can fight this philistine to possibly win you're only a boy he's been a man of war since his youth but david persisted i've been taking care of my father's sheep and goats he said when a lion or a bear comes to steal a lamb from the flock i go after with a club and rescue the lamb from its mouth if the animal turns on me i catch it by the jaw and club it to death i have done this to both lions and bears and i'll do it to this pagan philistine too for he has defied the armies of the living god the lord who rescued me from the claws of the lion and the bear will rescue me from this philistine saul finally consented all right go ahead he said and may the lord be with you here we see this battle of opinion go further to others around him there's a war being waged on david's confidence before he ever steps foot on the battlefield everything about him is being questioned who he is who god has called him to be you're too young you're too inexperienced you're no match and every single day before you even get to the battle that god has called you to fight there is a war being raised on our identity who am i am i who other people see me as and say that i am that are carnal that maybe should be doing something themselves but if you study this this is saul's fight or am i who god says i am am i who the god has put inside of me to be so how do we combat this what did david do and i want to tell you tonight the way to battle brotherly opinion and this may seem elementary but i believe it's something that we need to understand in our life and it's what david brought to this conversation to fight the battle of brotherly opinion don't underestimate the power of private victories listen to me student is this something you've got to hold on to in your life you cannot underestimate the power of private victories don't let the opinions of others even those who should be cheering you on don't let their opinion outweigh the victories that you have won in your life only god knows how far he has brought you only god knows the battles that you have been fighting to get to this point

let me put it this way because david fought and won the battles over small enemies when nobody was watching he was ready to fight and win the battle over the biggest enemy with everybody watching but the other part of this is if we want to fight public fights if we want to do something for god before we ever are able to do that we've got to make a determination to fight our private battles and guess what for many of us in this room we have to determine to fight this battle right here that lord before i'm going to have any kind of ministry before i'm going to do anything publicly i've got to consecrate myself privately david understood the only reason that he was ready to step into the battlefield with the giant goliath was because the private victories that he had already won in his life so let me just encourage somebody today don't forget what god has done for you don't forget the battles that you have fought we so easily dismiss what god has done in our family in our past but there are living miracles in this room tonight that you would not be here unless god brought you through and i'm calling on somebody to remember that private battle maybe no one else saw it maybe no one else understood it but you know what god did for you students maybe that depression that you found yourself in but you found yourself at an altar and god brought you out of that don't discount that because it's those private battles that prepare you for public battles don't underestimate the power of private victories when the time came david recounted those small victories which gave him the faith to step into the biggest battle of his nation's history don't underestimate the power of private victories if you were to come into this place we're hardwired not to remember those kind of victories how do i know if you were to come into this place and you were to receive 10 compliments let's say on your physical appearance but you got one criticism come back in six months which one do you remember the criticism why because we are hardwired to hold on to those things and we so easily especially when it comes to us and our accomplishments we're so easy to put ourselves down we're so easy to minimize what we've done we're so easy to minimize these things but my encouragement to you and my admonition to students is when you do that to yourself you're doing that to the work of god inside of you so guess what i'm nothing there's no good thing in me but what i do have to understand is the only reason i'm standing here today is because god has done incredible things in my life so i don't stand on my confidence i don't stand on my ability i stand on the word of god and what it says about me and my experience with god i've got god's word and i've got my relationship with him if you want to be confident to overcome anyone's opinion you've got to know god and what he's done in your life that it really happened yes you spoke in tongues yes you've been saved yes that prayer was actually answered yes god actually loves you yes god actually knows what you're going through yes god actually sees you yes god actually has a future for you you've got to know for yourself because when

the time comes that is the thing that is going to propel you into the public battle the only reason david felt ready for this public battle even though no one else knew his credentials no one else knew what he was capable of but he had some private victories that he was able to recount and that prepared him to do something that no one else was willing to do to overcome the battle of brotherly opinion don't underestimate the power of small victories this is also kind of a reminder to put ourselves around the right people students because the people that we put ourselves around there's a great chance you're going to listen to those words and let me just i i he said that i've out of student ministry so i call myself a recovering youth pastor i've been in student mystery 12 years transitioned out just eight months ago so i'm working on it but let me just say this this is a a recognition i have found about this generation what growing up myself if i had an issue i would naturally take it to an authority figure it's how we were raised how we were taught but students don't do that y'all don't do that if y'all have an issue with something you're upset about something you're curious about you take it to your peers on social media i'm not saying you i'm saying degeneration it's my experience tells me but here's the problem with that you cannot just trust the opinions of those around you for everything why because that person no matter how godly they are no matter how wonderful they are how insightful you feel they are an another 15 year old has the exact same blind spots that you do they can't see the same stuff that you can't see so you need a pastor in your life you need an elder in your life you need to place authority figures in your life because you cannot just trust brotherly opinion for everything you've got to put the right people in your life i digress that's not even in my notes i got to move on because i'm getting into youth pastor mode now let's let's take another looks that's the first unseen battle the battle of worldly opinion now let's look at the second unseen battle if i look at this this passage again you look at what goliath is doing his tactics here in first samuel 17 8 he says choose one man to come down here and fight me if he kills me then you'll be our slaves then we'll be your slaves but if i kill him you'll be our slaves now israel was a powerful nation that had an army it could probably fight but goliath's plan was a good one because he wanted to separate one person from the whole nation his plan was to separate the king or someone from everyone else and make it a one-on-one fight and i think there's something in that the ring so true and the second thing i want us to learn from this story and the second unseen battle is this the battle of isolation the battle of isolation because the enemy wants to fight you one on one this is so significant to me the bible says again that saul was head and shoulders above the men but he you know he was a large and imposing man himself he had a mighty army he had weaponry at his disposal but goliath singled him

out and in doing so stripped away all those reinforcements all those armies and wanted to fight him one on one now all of a sudden saul feels small weak helpless paralyzed because the battle he's facing is much bigger than him by himself and i want to tell you that the devil wants to do the exact same thing to you what he would love to do in the midst of a lot of people in the midst of an army if you will he wants to separate you from every good thing in your life he wants to separate you from the safety of wise counsel he wants to strip you away from your church from your student pastor from your pastor and get you to fight one on one and now all of a sudden the king of israel is afraid shaking in his boots absolutely paralyzed and that's the danger we can find ourselves in when we face a big battle paralyzed by the fear of our own weakness and inadequacy it's the battle of isolation and your generation is fighting it like never before this generation is more connected than ever before yet more isolated this generation knows more people but feels like no one really knows them it's not a coincidence it's not a coincidence it's a tactic of the enemy and i want to tell because this is this is the truth where you live even right now in this very room under the sound of my voice in the midst of the body of christ there are people young and old alike i'm sure that although you're in the midst of a groom full of people if you were to describe how you feel in the state of your heart and mind it would be completely and utterly alone and i want to tell somebody that that is not the way that god has intended for you to live that is not the way that god has intended you to walk through this life in fact it's an attack of the enemy and it's one that up until this point absolutely paralyzed the entire nation because goliath isolated one man he paralyzed the whole nation because they made it about one single person but how do we fight this battle let's look at david's response david's response when he meets goliath on the battlefield if i skip through some of the other things that happened but if you look at verse 45 david replied he says this you come to me with sword spear and javelin but i come to you in the name of the lord of heaven's armies the god of the armies of israel whom you have defied look at this today the lord will conquer you i will cut off your head i will give the dead bodies of your men to the birds and wild animals and the whole world will know that there is a god in israel and everyone assembled here will know that the lord rescues his people but not with sword and spear this is the lord's battle and he will give you to us you see david brought a great truth with him to that fight and this truth combined with his previous victories gave him strength and it's the kryptonite to the enemy's plan and it's a reminder that i want to give every single person in this room tonight and it's simply this you are never alone when you are with god you are never alone i'm going to say

it several times not because i don't think you're hearing me but because i want you to understand the power of this phrase you are never alone when you step onto the job tomorrow you can't think oh i've got to fight the fight no you have to say i am not alone this is the lord's fight i don't come at you with the weapons you come at me with but i come in the name of the lord if you understand that one and single truth you will never be isolated in this life because you will understand that god goes before you that god strengthens you that it's not by your might not by your intellect not by your knowledge but the one that has sent you you are never alone somebody say that with me you are never alone so powerful something that david understood even down to every phrase he spoke everything he said everything he did was based on this truth that he was not alone and let me just pause here because i think this is something very important for students for you to understand about your walk with god this may sound odd but just hear me out there will be times in your life seasons of your life that you will not feel god maybe a a service maybe a week maybe a month maybe two months i i'm not going to put a number on it but let me just tell you that there will be seasons of your life when you don't feel god and the danger of having amazing church and wonderful experiences is that we learn to rely on our feelings to inform us about our connectivity to the spirit of god but let me just tell you something you cannot trust your feelings your feelings do not dictate the reality of your walk with god and there's a simple phrase that i want to just give you a kind of a sticky phrase to think about because here's the truth there will be times that you don't feel god's presence but when you don't feel god's presence rest on god's promise because not only do we have the felt presence of god but we have the promises of god so guess what even tonight if you come in this place and you're like you know what worship was great people are responding they seem to be so engaged but i just don't feel anything to you i say that's not an indicator that your walk with god is any less than someone else it's not an indication that god has left you it's not an indication that there's anything wrong in fact i want you just to know you know what you have sometimes that you can say god i feel your presence and i'm thankful for it there's other times when you say god i don't feel a thing but i'm thankful for your promises so sometimes you come in and feel the presence of god but other times you have to come in and say you know what i don't quite feel like it but there's some stuff that i know and so tonight i know that your word says you will never leave me nor forsake me your word says that you've got a promise for my future your word says that you stick closer than a brother your word says that you are as close as the mention of your name so someone tonight maybe you don't feel anything that's okay because

it's not about what you feel it's about what you know and i know for a fact that you are not alone i know for a fact that there is a god who loves you i know for a fact that there is a god that goes before you i know for a fact that there is a god that fights your battles why because you are never alone oh can we just give god some praise right now thank you god that we have your word thank you that we can stand on your promises even when i feel an adequate god your word is there for me thank you for your promises the battle of isolation has to be fought every single day and it begins with a simple reminder to myself i am not alone i am not alone i will go through seasons when i don't feel god but when you don't feel god's presence rest on god's promise god has made promises to you and students if you want to rest on god's promise you've got to know god's promises you've got to get in this book there are so many amazing things that god has told to you promised to you but if you don't read this book then they're sitting here idle you've got to get in the book because there's so many seasons of your life that a feeling from a service will not carry you through your week it will be the word of god that sustains you you are never alone goliath had a perfect plan because he knew that alone no man could defeat him he was bigger stronger more powerful than any man so he couldn't understand why a boy with no armor that just a slingshot and a staff had a chance but david knew a more powerful truth of the unseen battle that he was not alone when you're with god you're greater period you plus god equals a majority it's a wonderful thing we don't have to be afraid in this life because jesus goes before us and you may feel weak in a moment the enemy may look bigger than you it may very well be but you are not alone in this battle you know david was victorious because the enemy couldn't come against the power of the almighty god and do you know that it was not actually the stone that killed goliath bible says if you look at verse 48 goliath moved closer to attack david ran out quickly to meet him reaching into a shepherd's bag taking out a stone he hurled it with his sling and hit the philistine in the forehead the stone sank in and goliath stumbled and fell face down on the ground so david triumphed over the philistine with only a sling and a stone for he had no sword verse 51 then david ran over and pulled goliath sword from his sheath david used it to kill him and cut off his head what's amazing about this to me is the truth that when you offer what you have to god he will always make up the difference david stepped onto that battlefield not equipped with the tools to kill goliath but that didn't stop him so i would love to say you know what by the time you leave here you're going to feel fully equipped to take on every single thing you could ever encounter no what i'm saying is step out with what you've got and watch god do the rest

that's what david did he said this is what god has called me to fight with i'm gonna go with it even if i don't quite understand exactly how this is gonna work out i don't know that david had four planned every single moment about this battle i think he just had enough faith to believe that what god asked him to do that he could do and so someone tonight maybe you've been a little hesitant in your walk with god because you feel ill-equipped god i don't have the right education god i'm just not sure i'm not confident to be a witness for you i'm not confident enough to try to make a disciple just trust me step out give god what you have and he's going to make up the difference we saw jesus do it by feeding 5 000 people can we learn our lesson that if you just offer god what you've got he'll say that's great i can work with that i don't need everything i just need someone that's willing to do it offer god what you have and he will make up the difference there's one more piece of the story that i want to look at and i think its message is so powerful to us i want to rewind a little bit to where king saul gives david his blessing to go and fight goliath after david pleads his case and we see it in verse 38 and this is the moment that saul gives him his own armor then saul gave david his own armor a bronze helmet and a coat of mail david put it on strapped the sword over and took a step or two to see what it was like for he had never worn such things before david says i can't go in these he protested so i'm not used to them so david took them off again he picked up five smooth stones from the stream put them into a shepherd's bag then armed only with a shepherd staff and sling he started across the valley to fight the philistine so this is really interesting to me and again i think so many times i read right over this it may not seem like a big deal but i think it's so powerful you see the king offered david his armor his way his process his solution david rightly refused it but let's think about it this armor offered him a certain level of confidence i mean this is like the iron man suit this is the best thing out there but to me what i want to what i want to pull out of this moment in the story is i want us to look at this armor and i believe that what i can understand about this unseen battle is that this armor represents us taking matters into our own hands and looking for solutions that are outside of the plan of god all of us have some proverbial armor what am i talking about i'm talking about what you really turn to when you really get stressed i'm talking about what you self-medicate with when things aren't going so well i'm talking about that thing that you're that you're looking at saying man this is really going to bring me some relief and just just picture this with me this bible doesn't indicate this but let's say that the camp of israel is here and the philistines are there and i'm i'm david and i've refused the armor of

saul i've refused the best of the best out there and i've started off across the valley i don't know about you david's a man but if it were me at some point on this journey i think i would have a second thought even just for a moment i think all of us would have just a little lapse in our confidence maybe i think at some point even just for a split second david had to wrestle with the idea should i go back for that armor should i i don't know if i've made the right choice i'm i'm a little nervous now that i'm out here now that i'm now that i'm doing this now that i'm actually walking away from the camp you know maybe i maybe i should go back and and take him up on that offer and so the last unseen battle that maybe isn't really reported in scriptures so blatantly but i believe was faced by david was the battle of commitment the battle of commitment of david committing to doing what god called him to do the way that god called him to do it saul's armor symbolizes us taking matters into our own hands trying to do things ourselves trying to make our own solutions putting faith in our own abilities i believe that the armor of saul for some could represent whatever it is that i turn to when things get rough whatever it is i turn back to when i'm unsure about the decisions i've made for god so many times listen to me we want the will of god but we don't want the ways of god we want the promises of god to come to pass but let me just tell you that you cannot have the promises of god without going through the processes of god so many times we want god's promises but we want to do it our own way so many times we pray for god's will all the while doing things our way so david i believe faced and we i believe face every day the battle of commitment do i have the faith to stay committed to what god has called me to do do i have the faith to be the person that god wants me to be to hold on to my identity to hold on to my consecrations or when i get unsure when i get a little nervous when things seem a little difficult do i turn back and go back to what the world has offered me and to you i simply say don't go back for the armor don't go back for the army because it doesn't actually offer a solution i argue that if david would have taken that offer he wouldn't have been able to operate the sling in the right manner it would have actually crippled him from being who god wanted him to be if he was out on that battlefield do you think people would have looked out and saw david no they would have looked out and given credit to saul so because david had the faith to do what god called him to do the way god called him to do it and he stayed committed to the very end it absolutely changed the trajectory not only of his life but his brothers and his family and his entire nation let me tell someone that your faith has the ability to shake this entire church that your faith has the ability to shake your entire family

don't give up now don't stop being committed now don't turn back and go back to what the world has to offer keep going be committed to who god has called you to be it's an unseen battle and it's a difficult one david forged ahead without the man-made solution and trusted in god to give him victory and because of that faith-filled decision he won he didn't compromise his identity he said this doesn't fit me this is the way god wants me to fight david took control of what he could control and he relinquished control to god in the areas that he couldn't trust and action go hand in hand so again tonight i argue that the armor symbolizes us doing things our own way taking matters into our own hands self-medicating with things that make us feel better but compromise on our commitments so the final unseen battle is one that we face every single day after we've overcome what people think about us after we've decided who we're going to be and we understand that god is with us now the real test begins stepping out on those consecrations living out those things in front of other people you don't think that david had some second thoughts walking out in front of the other men on that army i don't think he got a standing ovation i don't think so why because those people knew that they were he was fighting for their life too and it was just a boy just a boy with a sling and a staff not the way other people would have thought but david stayed committed why because he knew the private victories that brought him to this place and he knew that god was with him and with those two truths in hand having those unseen battles already won he stayed committed to who god called him to be will you stand with me students did you know that david was 30 years old when he became king to some that may seem so extremely young for a king but i understand that if you're 13 14 30 sounds like a long way off but let me just tell you i don't think david would have been king at 30 if he wasn't consecrated at 20. i don't think david would have been king at 30 if he wasn't committed at 18. i don't think david would have been positioned to be king at 30 if he wasn't listening to the voice of god at 15. so students you're going to face all three of those battles in some small way in some big way but here's what i tell you think about this think about the other men in that army every single day they got up came out of their tent put on their armor got their shield maybe polished things up got all ready came out to the battlefield goliath came out issued his taunt what happened go back to the tent what am i saying sundays get up put on my nice suit put on my tie come to the battlefield but i don't step out i don't break rank so why am i saying that this cycle that these people were in every single day they got geared up for battle they did all the right things but nothing ever changed so we can look the part i can dress up i can even preach brother wilfred i can deliver the word of god i can do all the right motions and do

all the right things but if i don't break rank and step out by faith nothing ever changes do you know what i see in the life of a student so many times nine times out of ten when i talk to a frustrated student this is why you're trapped in a cycle altar call mistake great church service terrible week great experience with god don't feel anything feel great go back to the exact same thing chances are you don't fight a new battle every day what is it it's it's usually the same giant that we fight with whatever yours is issuing the same taunt every single day and so the reason i bring this to us tonight is because my fear is that you go through your entire teenage life stepping to the battlefield but you can't overcome what other people think about you so nothing changes you step to the battlefield dress the part ready to fight but you feel isolated you feel alone you don't feel like you can do it you don't like you can do anything for god so nothing changes you you play the part you come to church but you can't stay committed to what god has called you to do and who god has called you to be and if you don't slay your giant nothing in your life will ever change nothing changes if you don't slay the giant but this is an encouraging message tonight why because you may be so afraid of the big public battle but let me just tell you right now fight your private battles and the public battles will take care of themselves listen to me students this is great coming to church is wonderful we need it but you've got to make a consecration that when i go back to my home when that door is closed in my bedroom that is the battlefield of my life in between my ears this this battle of my mind that is the private battle that you have to consecrate and win because i promise you if you win that battle you'll win every other battle david won those small battles so when the time came to fight goliath it wasn't even a question if you read it he said who is this man that's allowed to defy the armies of the living god it wasn't like oh man this guy is so big this guy's so scary no he was ready beforehand why because he fought private battles so i'm appealing tonight i'm going to open this altar in just a moment but i'm appealing those three people listen to me maybe tonight you're fighting the battle of brotherly opinion you've made some consecrations but maybe you're afraid of what other people think about you or you're you're worried of what's gonna what are the repercussions if i really truly do what god has called me to do or be who god has called me to be to you i say don't underestimate the power of your private victories they're not in vain god has been working in your life privately because he's been preparing you for what he wants to do through you publicly but you got to step out and you got to understand that what god has done has so much value somebody in this place you feel alone i wish i could say you could leave this place and have a group of friends you feel comfortable with and everything to be perfect no but what i am saying is

you've got to start by saying i reject my feelings about what's going on in my life and i stand upon the word of god and the truth that it holds because when i don't feel god's presence i rest in god's promise that i am not alone and the third person i i tell you don't go back for that armor i know that temptation the thing that seems to bring comfort the thing that seems to be a good solution when you get nervous when you get stressed when things get financially tight you want to turn to these things these solutions don't go back for the armor stay committed whether you want to stand right where you are and pray i don't know what your custom is on wednesday night but i want to encourage you if you feel led to respond to the word of god tonight would you just come and pray could we take some time and all pray together whether you kneel at your seat whether you pray right where you are you come down to this front i encourage us to respond to the word of god not because of what i've said but i hope that through the story of david we can see that although we see the fight of goliath david had to go through so many unseen battles to be ready for that fight and you go through those same unseen battles on the job tomorrow you're fighting invisible and unseen battles when you go to school you're fighting invisible battles we may not see it i may not know what your battle is but you know and you know what god needs to do in your heart you know where god needs to touch and to somebody's tired of living in a cycle i say come out of that cycle allow god to speak to your heart and it starts by fighting the unseen battles if you want to break the cycle in your life you've got to fight your private fights if you want to break the cycle in your spirit if you want to break the cycle in your habits it starts by fighting our private battles oh can we take some time and pray tonight can we pray together and can we begin to fight the unseen battles because that battle starts right now in this moment even right now i may not know your circumstances but i know that you are fighting unseen battles let's fight together hallelujah peace hallelujah is the lord is my shepherd he goes before me defender behind me seen me i will fear i am holds me close hallelujah i am not alone he's he always guides me through mountains and valleys restores my soul mercy and goodness that i'll see his glory face to face hallelujah i am your spirit lives within me so i will walk in your peace your spirit lives within me my victory my your spirit lives within me so i will walk in your peace your spirit lives within me my big victory my victory your spirit lives within me so i will walk in your peace your spirit lives within me your spirit lives your spirit lives within me my victory my big tree my victory my big tree my victory my big tree always hallelujah he's my cover your spirit lives within me so i will walk in your crease your spirit lives within me my victory your spirit lives within me so i will walk in your peace your

spirit lives within me my victory my your spirit lives your spirit is my big tree my i am not alone he's my cover always holds me hallelujah always holds me closed he's my comfort he is holds me so

what a what i would call a needed reminder that there are battles that you'll have to fight that no one else will see no one else will notice young people i may never know that you've got to fight those battles but fight them fight them anyway fight them anyhow because at the end of the day it matters it matters whether you fight those battles it matters whether you step in the ring or you sit back it matters whether you fight them so please if my request matters at all fight the fight fight the battles it'll pay off in the end

i wonder if you'll join me church i want to pray over these young people we may never know church that's just the truth of it and i and i feel it even right now we may never know the fights that they have to fight but i want us to pray anyhow as a church and ask god lord we may never see it we may never know it we may never even hear about the victories in their life but jesus i pray that you give them strength church will you join me in praying that right now lord you see these young people you see their life you see the things that they have to fight you see the battles that they've got to engage in lord and we may never see it we may never know their peers may not even ever know but lord i pray you give them strength i pray that you give them a passion i i pray that you enable them with a fighting spirit to step into the battle every time even when it's hard even when it goes unnoticed even when it's difficult jesus i i pray you give them strength i pray you remind them that they're not alone i i pray you remind them that they're not fighting these battles by themselves you're right beside them you're walking in step with them going to war with them jesus i pray you ignite them again give them a passion jesus for you a passion that will carry them in and through every battle that they'll have to face and help them jesus when the time comes to slay the giant so that things can change things can change pray you give them that lord i pray you give them that jesus help them god help