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Central Assembly

1 SAMUEL: TURNAROUNDS - Facing Down Giants - Dr. Jim Bradford, February 18, 2024

1 SAMUEL: TURNAROUNDS - Facing Down Giants - Dr. Jim Bradford, February 18, 2024

Locations & Times

Central Assembly

1301 N Boonville Ave, Springfield, MO 65802, USA

Sunday 10:30 AM

1 Samuel 17:4-5,7a (NLT)
4Then Goliath, a Philistine champion from Gath, came out of the Philistine ranks to face the forces of Israel. He was over nine feet tall! 5He wore a bronze helmet, and his bronze coat of mail weighed 125 pounds…7The shaft of his spear was as heavy and thick as a weaver’s beam, tipped with an iron spearhead that weighed 15 pounds.
1 Samuel 17:16
16For forty days the Philistine came forward every morning and evening and took his stand.
THE HISTORICAL APPROACH...

1 Samuel 17:1-3
1Now the Philistines gathered their forces for war and assembled at Sokoh in Judah…between Sokoh and Azekah. 2Saul and the Israelites assembled and camped in the Valley of Elah and drew up their battle line to meet the Philistines. 3The Philistines occupied one hill and the Israelites another, with the valley between them.
Objective Realism: God has stepped into time and space and acted
Subjective Relativism:

* My identity is determined by my feelings and desires
* Truth is either what I want it to be or choose it to be
* Life experiences are morally neutral and without ultimate meaning
God has stepped into time and space and acted...Christian faith is based on the objective reality of God working in history!
THE APPLICATIONAL APPROACH...

* Refuse to ‘lose heart’

1 Samuel 17:32-33
32David said to Saul,“Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.” 33Saul replied, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.”
* ‘Run toward the roar’

1 Samuel 17:40
40Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine.
* Rely on ‘the name of the Lord’

1 Samuel 17:45,47
45David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.

47All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”
THE INCARNATIONAL APPROACH...

John 1:14a
14The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.

1 John 3:8b
8The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.
Colossians 1:13
13For he [God] has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves...

Colossians 2:15
15And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
Philippians 2:9-11
9Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,11and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Revelation 11:15
15The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said:
“The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign for ever and ever.”