Fighters verses Flyers 4

Hello Everyone,

Fatherhood is FRIGHTENING, and we must FIGHT against the fear.

First Samuel 17 does not give us a picture of a David who entertained fear of anything but the Lord.

His confidence was in his God. God is bigger than our fear and stronger than our foes.

When David went to battle, God went with him.

When David went to battle, he wasn’t wearing another man’s armor but the strength and favor of the LORD.

And when David went to battle, David WON he was the least likely candidate to be named king but God instructed the prophet Samuel not to look at a man’s outward appearance but at his heart (1 Sam. 16:7).

For David, to dishonor the Lord was worse than to defy a giant.

Parenting presents its own sets of challenges. Sometimes it seems that doing the right thing, standing up for conviction, disciplining your children, being consistent in boundaries and persistent in love (although sometimes tough) only serve to win a badge of unpopularity.

And because each of these takes hard work, many husbands and wives choose the easier route.

Letting television and video games occupy your kids is easier. Focusing on grades and athletic achievement can become easier than developing godly character.

Raising God-fearing, fruit-bearing Christ followers seems to be a “giant” to many families when compared to just letting kids be kids and grow up under the shades of gray present in the world around us.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

Families can be active in raising a generation who knows the Lord, remembers what He has done, and recognizes what He is doing.

Conclusion

This story is familiar, and you know the ending. David killed Goliath but there was another moment in the life of King David that is all too familiar—the story of David and Bathsheba.

When David, as a young man, faithfully stood up to fight, he honored God and killed the giant.

As an older man, when David abandoned the battlefield where he should have been fighting, he fell into sin.

The moment in life when it would have been right to flee was a moment when David chose to stay.

The consequences of that choice lasted for generations.

Sometimes men, get distracted by their sin and neglect to consider how their sin affects their family.

Some men need to stand up and fight against SIN in their lives and in the lives of their children.

That fight begins and ends in repentance, perhaps the part of Christian living that requires the most skilled fighter.

Repentance takes courage, maybe as much as facing giants. We must fight against evil and against complacency and fear. We must flee from evil and protect our kids.

We must do it to honor the Lord, and we must do it to fulfill our call as men and women of God to fight for what is right rather than run from what we fear.

Greater Things Are Still To Come!

Pastor Phil