Overachievers

Happy Sunday. Do you know any overachievers, people who overcome circumstance and Thrive? Years ago I officiated a funeral for a man in Mississippi. He grew up poor, and he loved music, especially the piano, but his family could not afford a piano. His family would bring him to the Baptist Church where he could play a real piano.

I say real piano because Tommy practiced on a cardboard keyboard. It didn't make a sound; it was just a crude rendering of a keyboard. He overcame his situation, and he practiced, and he went to school, and Thomas fton became a conductor. He conducted 192 performances at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. His abilities took him all over the world. Not bad for a kid from chale County, Mississippi.

Maybe you know some Underachievers, people who wasted their talent and never applied themselves. We find these words in 1 Corinthians 1031: "whatever you do, whether you eat or drink, whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God." Aren't those great words to live by? "Whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God."

As 2025 has dawned, I want to challenge you to overachieve and do all you can for God's glory. Now you might be sitting there saying, well, David, I'm retired and I don't get out. You can pray more, can't you? Whatever you do, do for God's glory.

One of my favorite bible stories is in the book of 1st Samuel, chapter 17. There we meet a huge group of Underachievers, and then we meet an overachiever that really changed the world. As The Story begins, King Saul and the army of Israel are in a faceof with the Philistine Army. They're on opposite Hills with a valley between them, and the Israelites are afraid to fight. Why?

Well, the Philistines had a soldier named Goliath. We're told that he was over 9 fet tall. Goliath stood and shouted insults across to the Israelites, daring someone to come and fight him. For 40 days, every morning and evening, this big mouth Giant strutted in front of the Israelite Army, yelling at them, challenging them, scaring them to death.

Verse 11 tells us these sad words: "when Saul and the Israelites heard this, they were terrified and deeply shaken." Meet The Underachievers. Saul, the king of Israel, and his entire Army are Underachievers, powerless. They have forgotten the god of Israel. When we focus on the giant problems in our life as opposed to focusing on the giant God who controls the universe, well, we get petrified and Trouble Comes.

In the next section of the story, we meet the overachiever. His name is David. David was the youngest of Jesse's eight Sons. David had three older brothers who were in Saul's Army, and one day Jesse sent David to take some food to his brothers. His job was to take them the groceries, find out how they are, and come back home to Daddy with a report.

While David was with his brothers, Goliath came out and began his taunting. I'll pick up the story at verse 24: "as soon as the Israelite Army saw him, they began to run away in Fright. 'Have you seen the giant?' the men ask. 'He comes out each day to defy Israel. The King has offered a huge reward to anyone who kills him. He'll give that man one of his daughters for a wife, and the man's entire family will be exempt from paying taxes.'"

David was interested. "David asked the soldier standing nearby, 'now what will a man get for killing this Philistine and ending the Defiance of Israel?'" And then David asked a great question: "'who is this Pagan Philistine anyway, that he's allowed to defy the armies of the Living God?'" The men gave David the same reply: yeah, that's, that's the reward for killing him. Exempt from taxes, the daughter to marry, you'll be made, have it made.

Well, David's oldest brother heard David talking with the soldiers, and he was not happy with his baby brother. He told David to go home and take care of the sheep. David wasn't about to go home. He ignored his big brother and began to question other soldiers.

Now word got to the king. King salt heard that there was a man in Camp who wasn't petrified of the big man with a big mouth, and he sent for David. You know, don't you, that this is no coincidence? David's arrival had little to do with groceries and news for his daddy. David's arrival was a god-arranged meeting. David arrived with a god-arranged message.

I love the second part of verse 26 there. "David asked, 'who is this Pagan Philistine anyway, that's allowed to defy the armies of the Living God?'" You know, this may be the first time in 40 days that anyone mentioned the size of God and not the size of Goliath. I hope you know this story. You can read the rest of the story in the book of 1st Samuel, chapter 17.

Spoiler alert: David one. David was an overachiever. He showed a group of scared, paralyzed Underachievers that God can do anything. I pray you believe that God can do anything. David achieved great things because he always remembered that God could do anything and that God was always with him.

When we live like that, we'll no doubt overachieve. Here's a great prayer for 2025: Lord, let me do something with my life that is totally disproportional to who I am. I pray that happens in your life. Pray with me.

Lord, as the year unfolds, help us to focus on you, not any situation we might find ourselves in. Help us to have a mission. It might be to a neighbor, it might be to a loved one, partially it might be to ourselves, but father, help us to be connected to you and to achieve what you would want us to. And we do it all for your glory. In Jesus name we pray, amen.

God bless. Happy Sunday.