IMPACT Generation Leadership Retreat

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IMPACT Germany

Henrik Jensen

Lessons From David and Goliath

Father Heaven, thank you so much for this new day. Father, we thank you for this group and for this time we can enjoy together. Father, I just pray that you will speak through your with one. I ask that in Jesus name, the title of today's presentation, and we have 14 minutes. So if I speak too fast, please tell me to slow it down. Yeah, it's called, I call it Lessons for Impact from the Life of David. Now, this is a well known story to a lot of us, and therefore I'm not going to course read, read the whole thing. And we're just going to dig into a few verses and see what this story has for us. And why did I choose the story of David? Well, it's clear that David, he really made an impact on, on Goliath and also on his, his whole generation. And therefore I think there's many good things for us to, to learn. I want to start with a quote. This is such a good quote. Ah, it's really helped me a lot. It's from white's selected methods and it simply says that the Bible was given for practical purposes. What does that mean? That simply means that the Bible has answers for the practical questions and the practical problems that we have. The Bible was given to us in order to help us with our everyday life. So whether it's relationships, it's family, it's economy, it's school, it's whatever. The Bible has the right answers to that. And so I think the Bible also has answers and, and practical solutions for whatever occurs with impact mission trips. And so we are going to, to look into that a little bit. Let's go to First Samuel chapter 17. Read the story. First Samuel chapter 17 was seven and this year and I went out champion out of the camp of the Philistines named Goliath of guests through time was six cubits in a span. And he had a helmet of brass upon his head. And he was armed with a coat of male and the weight of the coat was 5,000 shakes of bra. And he had grooves of brass upon his legs and a target of brass between his shoulders. And the staph of his sphere was like a weaver's beating. And his spirit's head weighed 600 shackles of iron and one bearing a shield went before him. So here we have a very detailed description of the appearance of the giant of Goliath. And I just have to ask you a question. How did the Israelites know that the spearhead weighs 600 checks of islands? Do you think there was a sign on the spearhead saying Spirit waits 600 checks or seven kilos, a as it would be today? How, how, how did they know what you think? Do you think it's God, just throw it in the Bible, you know, to fill out the space? No, it's a little bit too early or such difficult question. Took it afterwards. He waited. That is the only reason. That's the only way they could have found out, right? They must have taken the armor after they slen the giants and weighed every piece to see how much weight. Now why on earth would they do this? Why do you think, why afterwards write in the celebrate, celebrate the victory. Victory? I think they were just, yes, maybe said the story already, but most of this medal method purposes. Yeah, yeah. Practically sure. Yeah, I think maybe there's also another reason, but that's a good one. I think it's because that was the biggest armor they had ever seen in their life. And so they just wanted to see how big it was and just, you know, to know everything about this. And I think this was exactly the problem of the Israelites. They were so amazed by the size of their problem that they just lost courage when they saw the giant, they was like, oh man, his spirit is long like we haven't seen before. You know, he has just, this is just too big for us. And so they lost the courage. Now, when David went out to meet the Giants, had he grown any smaller after 40 days, he was still the same, right? The giant. The giant, yeah, giant was the same. But David, he didn't look at that. He had another, he had another focus. And we are going to look into that a little bit. So this leads me to a principle number one, list, number one that we can learn from this story. If we become preoccupied with the size of our problems, we lose threats. Is this relevant for impact? Oh yes, it is. You know, you all know this. When we make impact mission trips, we always face problems. We reverse tracks. Sometimes they come from surprising sources. And we think to ourselves, if we become preoccupied with the size, you know how insurmountable our problems are, we'll lose courage. You know, we should not look at the size. We should look at the, the solution. You know, we, we had a, we had a, like we had a big problem in Denmark this summer where we had 40 people registered and we did not have a car to drive them around. We did not have enough spaces. So what to do, the health expo was like 20 s away and they couldn't walk. So we didn't know what to do and got, and you know, two weeks before one week was one or two weeks. It wasn't like forties. Yeah, maybe even. So we got a car suddenly, you know, it was an old one, it was rusty one, you know, the, you couldn't turn it on the piece, you had to use a screwdriver, but it worked, you know, and it was, you know, the suspension was almost gone to, it felt like driving, you know, a horse, a car from the 18 hundreds. But it worked and it took us where we had to go. And so God, he came through and he helped us in the last minute. But see if we had just looked at the problem and, and we would've lost courage, by, by God grace, he showed us that he wanted to help us. Now let's go to the next, it's verse 20. Oh, this is a good one. This is such a good one. I just love this one. Verse 20, first chapter 17, verse 20. I cannot see my notes, so I hope I remember everything. I dunno what, what happened to this computer. Verse 20, it says that David Rose up early in the morning and left the sheep with a keeper and took and went as Jesse had commanded him. And he came to the trenches, the host was going forth to the fight and shouted for the battle. I want to focus on the first part of this. It says that David Rose early in the morning, just like you guys did this morning, and he left the sheep with a keeper. Now that is very, very significant, David. He had a responsibility and that was to take care of the sheep. And suddenly he received another commission, and that was to go to, to, to his, to his brothers. And he could not be, obviously both places at the same time. So what he did was that he delegated responsibility to another person, to a trustworthy person, a keeper. And so he went, is that relevant for the fact that you know that principle? Oh, yes it is. You don't know how many problems arise. Of course, maybe you do. Many problems arise from the fact that leaders are not able or not willing to dedicate responsibility to other people. Oh, I have seen, you know, these, you know, you have leaders and they are like, you know, it has to be my way and if it cannot be my way, you know, it shouldn't happen. And this is just killing any organization. David, he knew he had learned the lesson. Imagine if he had thought, you know, I'd take care of the sheep in this way. And, and no, no one else can do it in another way. And if, if they cannot go to this pasture and drink from this water, you know it's not gonna happen. No, he left the sheep with a keeper. Do you realize that if he hadn't done that, that would not have been a story of David Bible as simple as that, such small things are important, and that's also relevant for impact. And so he left the sheep and he did not worry about the sheep. Imagine if, if David would've sta stood before the, the giants just about to throw the stone, and he would thought, oh man, I sure hope this guy's not messing out with, you know, he would've been distracted. So he just left it and he just gave full the possibility. And he went for his new mission. And he did that mission. He saw the, so that's number two, delegate, delegate and delegate. Don't be afraid, just do it of cause you need trustworthy people. You can pray to God that he will send it to you. And trustworthy people, there are more of them than you might think and until compliment in the people you're delegated. Okay, lesson number three, you're going to read three verses. Verse 28 as the first one. There are three people who talk to David. There are more people who talk to David, but three people, it recorded what they say in this story. And let's read it. Eli's the first one. Listen to what he says to David. When David is about to go on his mission, he says, Eli's anger was kindled against David, Mr 28. And he said, why came Ms. Thou down here and with whom has th left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know that pride in the nace of their heart, for thou come down that thou to see the battle that was lie. Now 33. And so said to David, thou are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him for youth. And he a man of war from his youth. And the last one, and the first I said to David, am I a dog that that comes to me with staves and the Philistine curse David by his gods? And the Philistine said to David, come to me and I will give that flesh onto the files of the air and to the beast of the fields. So these were the three people. Now let me ask you a question. Did David receive much encouragement from his inputs when he was about to do his mission? What do you think? Much encouragement. No, it was like criticism. It was like discouragement. You cannot do it. This is not possible. You're too young, alive, he said. And you see alive and Saul, they were actually supposed to be David's allies. They were suppo, they were supposed to support him and they were just, you know, bringing him down. So I said, you know, what are you doing here? You should be home with your responsibility. This is too big for you. Get back to your sheep. And salty said, you know, you're too young. This how old, by the way, I was stable this time. What do you think? How old is he? Do you know? 17. The the best guesses, the most qualified guesses is from between 16 and 18, maybe closer to 18 and 16. Yeah, 17. Man, not about, we don't, we don't know for sure, but he was a teenager. You understand the young adults? Yes. So He, he was a teenager. He was not sup he was not supposed to do anything. And so she didn't expect much for him yesterday. He said, you know, you too young for this. You, you just, you're just driven by you. And, and so that was not much encouragement. Of course we could not expect one from Goliath. He was not very, so the, the, the point is this, David received only criticism and discouragement from the people around him as he was about to do his mission. Is that relevant for impact? What do you think? Oh, yes, it is. Oh, is you. See, you see, we face many times, as I said before, we, we face challenges and criticism from, from, so from, from places where we, where we did not expect course many times from within, within just like, just like David experienced. And so this is, this is difficult. And we see how David did it. He just had a mission and he would not be discouraged if David would've listened to all the people telling him what to do and what not to do. He would never, ever have gone out to meet the child. Is that clear? So French, we need to be like David, if we have a mission, we need to go for it. Whatever people say. Now, of course we need to also receive good advice if, if, if we get something like this. So I'm not just saying that we should go. So, but criticism and all of this, we should not be surprised when comes and we should not become discouraged. Let's number three, don't be discouraged by what people say, even though it's your friend or your family, what you say about your mission. Good. Now let's go to the last one. How much time do we have? Oh, we have, oh, can we take, can we take five minutes? Yes. Alright, great. Verse 37. I hope it should not be five prophetic minutes matter. Alright, first 17 verse 37. This is David. This is the key to David's success. David says, moreover, the Lord that delivered me out of the power of the line and out of the power of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said unto to David, go and the Lord be with you David. He had implicit trust that God would help him. Now, my question to you is this. How did David know for sure that God with help, he had never sl a giant before. How did he know? Based, based on previous experiences, based on his experience from the past with smaller trials. Now some of you would say you're killing lion. He was not a small tribe trust, but nevertheless it was his experience from the past. His trust, he saw that God had helped him in the past and therefore he would also help him in the present. He knew that God was faithful and that's why he was confident. And I think this is important for all of us as as impact leaders, our key to power, our key to success is trusting in God that he's faithful. And also the way we can do that is to think about how his helped us in the past. That of course means we have to be faithful in the, in everyday life. It is everyday duties. The faithful, the faithful doing of everyday duties that enables us to do big things. Now I have to ask you this question. How much applause did did David get when he steal the line and the bear on the view? How much, how much attention did he receive? Did the newspaper write about? Did was there post on Facebook? The sheep? You know, sheep, you know, they didn't care. They didn't care. You see he received absolutely no applause. And this is also with us the everyday Tuesdays, the everyday trials we receive no prosper most of the time. Should that lead us to be discouraged? Many times it does. We just work, we just do our duties and we think, you know, I'm just struggling me, I'm just working and no one cares. And it seems like no one really thinks that it's a great idea. But you see this, these very experiences, house in the lonely hills prepared David for the big things that he was doing. And so it is the same trust. Listen number four, it is the faithful lesson, the daily duties and obstacles though often unrecognized and unor by those around us that strengthens our faith and God prepares us cause it greater of trust. Actually there's an L white code. These are my own words. An L white code that says almost the same. Couldn't find it but I know it's the, so this is kind of a paraphrase. Yes. Last thing, I've always been amazed when I go some chapters on in, in first seven, actually second Samuel and I read about the heroes. Have you ever been amazed when you read about the heroes of David? Yes, his men, mighty men. These guys were incredible. I mean they were, they were almost supernatural what they did. You know, I have Aino Knight killing 800. I have a, I listed a few of them here. Look at this. This guy, he killed a lion in a pit and he killed an Egyptian who had I think 12 fingers and 12 toes. I don't know why that was so intimidating. He was a big guy. He was probably a, some, some soldier. These guys, they did amazing things never before. Never afterwards we see do we see a generation like this of, you know, it seems as it seems as if you know, finally slaying giants became some everyday discipline. You understand there's, there's numerous accounts where, where these people, they go in and they kill the giant, one giant after the other. It was no problem, they just did it. Now why do you think they did it? Why suddenly this, this merchants of a generation of fuels. What do you think? Why did it happen? It happened Cause they had a leader who inspired, who went before, who was the first one to kill line, who was the first one to kill. So you see friends, one person can have an enormous evidence. David proves that because he had a connection with God, he had implicit trust in God, which led him to do what he did. And that inspired a whole generation. Now did these people do it in their own power, his his heroes? I don't believe so. I believe that God was helping the <unk>. I believe that God inspired David also inspired these people to do great things. But it all happens. They all finally understood, oh, if David can kill a giant, I can kill a giant too. And so this whole generation came up and these guys, they never lost that back. They never listen that they just went from victory to victory. And it was all because one guy and he was a teenager. He was, he was not supposed to be anything. He decided to do the right thing. And he had trust in God. How did he have trust in God? It was because in his daily life he'd been faithful and he knew that God would help him. And so he did it. So I, to me this story is just incredibly inspiring and it just shows me that we as impact, you know, we are just, we're not one place we're many people. And if we all choose to be like David and we can, I believe all of us be like David because God hasn't changed. He still has the same powers before as in that time. We just need like David to find out what is the source of our strength. We can have an enormous influence under this entire generation. So that is my wish. That is my prayer. Is that your wish? Is that your prayer to be like David, to be an inspiration for a whole generation? This is my prayer. Alright, let's finish your prayer. Father heaven, we thank you so much for this, these amazing stories that you put in the Bible designed to inspire us when, when we feel weak, when we feel down, when we feel overcome with, with obstacles and problems. But we thank you that you show us that you can work through the weakest specials. But we admit that we are, we are weak and we and I, especially fishy, I just want to, to thank you that you have shown us that even with people, even insignificant people, they can have an enormous influence for good in this world through your power. But I just, I just want to tell you that we, we all want to have this experience. And Father left. Will we pray that you please will give us this, this experience. Help us to be faithful in our daily life with the insignificant duties. Duties that we receive no across for help us to know that we have to do them with Foster anyway. Cause we know that you are preparing us for greater trust. Father, thank you so much for this group and I pray that you'll be with them in a special way. You know the tribe they face in the various countries of the impact, especially also in their personal lives. But I just pray that you'll be with them, you'll help them help us all to receive power from you. Thank you so much for that. Pray rest of this state. This media was brought to you by Audio verse, a website dedicated to spreading God's word through free sermon, audio, and much more. If you would like to know more about Audio verse or if you would like to listen to more sermons, please visit www.audio verse.org.

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Lessons From David and Goliath

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