Ten Things Every Christian Should Know #1

Today I'm beginning a series on 10 things every Christian should know. We'll talk about five of them before Palm Sunday and we'll talk about five more after Easter. For week one, I want to begin with this thought. God is bigger than you think.

It's important for us to know that. You know, very often we make the size of our problems huge and the size of our God small. One of my favorite stories is the story of David and Goliath. You'll find the story in the Old Testament book of 1st Samuel, chapter 17.

As the story begins, we find two armies facing one another. They're standing on hills with a large valley between them. One army is the army of the Philistines. The other belongs to Israel.

They are led by King Saul. We don't know the name of the commander of the Philistines, but we do know the name of one of their soldiers. He was a man named Goliath. And Goliath was a big man.

There's a debate just how big. The range is likely between almost 7 feet and almost 9 ft tall. What we do know is that no one in the army of Israel wanted to fight Goliath. Everyone was scared.

Goliath would stand on the hill and yell across the valley to the Israelites. He'd taunt them and dare them just to send one man to fight him. The Israelites were frozen with fear. No one wanted to fight Goliath.

He challenged them every morning and every evening for 40 days. In verse 11 of 1st Samuel 17, we are told, "When Saul and the Israelites heard this, they were terrified and deeply shaken. For almost 6 weeks, this lasted. A Philistine giant with a big mouth kept the army of the God of Israel petrified.

One day, the hero of our story, David, came to the camp. He wasn't a soldier. He came to deliver some food. David was the youngest of eight boys and three of his older brothers were there in the army with Saul.

While David was making his grocery run, the giant Goliath began to broadcast his challenge. When David heard it, he asked this question found in uh verse 26 of 1st Samuel 17. David said, "Who is this pagan Philistine anyway that he is allowed to defy the army of the living God?" I'm impressed with David here.

For 40 days, the army of Israel focused on Goliath. David here is focused on God. David knows that his God is bigger than this giant. David's brothers tell him to be quiet and to go back home.

He's no soldier. But the news that there's someone in the camp that isn't afraid of the giant reaches King Saul. So, he sends for David. Saul looks at young David and tells him there's no way that he a boy can defeat a giant that's a trained warrior.

I love David's reply in verses 34-36 of 1st Samuel 17. David said, "I've been taking care of my father's sheep and goats. When a lion or a bear comes to steal a lamb from the flock, I go after it 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've 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. That's what scripture says. David, it seems, is the only man gathered with the army of Israel that remembered God was bigger than Goliath. You likely know the rest of the story.

David defeated Goliath. It's interesting to me that the entire army of Israel forgot that God was on their side. They were paralyzed with fear and worried to death. They made God very small in their minds.

But not David. He knew what God could do. He recalled how God had always protected him. David served a big God and as a result, he did great things.

It's interesting to note that when David had trouble in his life, it was because he took his focus off of God. But that's another sermon. Years later, when David wrote many of the Psalms, he wrote these words to begin Psalm 145, just the first three verses. He said, "I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever.

Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever. Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised. His greatness is unsearchable. David knew God was great.

Back to my point that every Christian should know. God is bigger than you think. Are you a worrier? It's easy to become a worrier, but worry is an enemy of faith.

Worry will blind your faith. But faith will blind your worry. Jesus is recorded saying this in the sixth chapter of Matthew beginning at verse 25. Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink or about your body, what you will wear.

Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? And then Jesus says, "Look at the birds of the air. They neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns and yet your heavenly father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? You've probably heard those words before. Verse 26 became a math problem to me when Jesus said, "Look at the birds of the air. They neither snow sew nor reap nor gather into barns and yet your heavenly father feeds them.

Are you not of more value than they? I've seen that verse many times, but I'd not done the math. Well, I did the math. The richest man in the world as of today is Elon Musk.

He's worth approximately $185 billion on paper. It's estimated that in the world today, there are 400 billion birds. So if you do the math and you take $185 billion, you divide it by 400 billion birds, it comes out to 40 cent 46 cents per bird. I'm sure that the cost of labor and transportation and taxes and insurance, not to mention the cost of feed, would make the cost of feeding all the birds in the world more than this amount.

Elon Musk could not do it, not for one day. But God does it every day and he always has and he always will. And we're only talking about birds here. We haven't even considered any other of God's creatures on the earth or in the sea that eat fine day in and day out.

Jesus wants us to know that God is bigger and greater than we think. You need to know this, too. Whatever it is that you're paralyzed about, focus on your heavenly father, not your earthly giant. God is bigger than you think.

And we all need to know that, don't we? Let's pray together. Lord, whatever it is that my friends are confronting, I pray that you let them know how big you are. Father, we live in a world that is grieving, that is hurting many.

Father, we live in a world of people that are confused and each one has unique circumstances. I pray that they know that we have a great God, bigger than we think or imagine. Let us expect great things. In the powerful name of Jesus, we pray.

Amen. God bless you. Thanks for watching.