- Well hey everybody. Man, it's so good to see you this weekend. Welcome to Highlands. And you know what we say? Highlands is home. So all of those in Bluefield and Bristol and Marion, we're so grateful for you. Those of you that watch us online and TV every week. Man, you guys are incredible. Thanks so much for your encouragement. A little announcement that we're excited about. Next weekend is finally here. It's gonna be our Difference Maker Day. November 21st, come early. Hey, look what you get when you come. We're gonna give away a brand new Highlands is home t-shirt. You're gonna look incredible in this t-shirt. We want you to wear it with pride. And it's gonna be just an amazing day. We're gonna look at all the things God's been doing in the past year, where we are on our vision. And then we're gonna look at where God's taking our church, how we can thrive as a church in the days ahead. So don't miss next week. Hey, you guys online and TV, if you wanna t-shirt, you gotta come. So it's the time for you to get back, love to see you in person next weekend, it's gonna be a fun, fun day. So today, I wanna finish up the individual part of our "Thrive" series. Let's review just a little bit of where we've been in these past seven weeks. We laid the foundation of our spiritual health. God wants us to be spiritually healthy. Then we looked at our physical health, how the effect of stress can have on our physical life. And so God really teaches us some things in his Word there. Then we talked about our mental and emotional health. And so many of you have asked for help and guidance on how to get better emotionally and mentally. We wanna help you with that. Then we talked about our relationship healthy, right? I mean, it's one of those things that when your relationships are healthy, you're gonna thrive in your marriage and your friendships. We want that for you. And then last week we looked at our financial health. And again, so many of you just said, "Hey, I appreciate teaching on that parable "of the shrewd manager. "Never thought about being in management "with all that God has entrusted me with. "But it helped me look at resources in a different light." So today, we're gonna finish strong, right? I saved one of the best for last. I wanna talk to you about vocational health, our work life. And we give you a big idea. Every week in this series. And here's the big idea for today. Here's what most people ask when we think about our work. Here's the most asked question: how am I gonna make a living? Well, I mean it's a great question, but it's not the greatest question, right? I mean, here's a better question that I want all of you to consider asking yourself today. And here it is, am I living out God's call on my life? Did you know that God created you? He has a plan and a purpose for your life. And I wanna tell you something, he wants to show that to you. He doesn't want to keep it a secret. You know, God doesn't want to keep the best from you, he wants the best for you. So, not only do we have a call on our life, but I like to think of it as God's dream for our life. I wanna talk to you a little bit about dreaming. I had our all-staff meeting a couple weeks ago. And in this daggone Covid season, a lot of us have put our dreams on hold. And I said to our staff, "Guys, "we gotta always dream God's dream." And I would say to your church today, we have to be dreaming God's dream, 'cause God is calling us and he wants us to dream for only things that he can do in our life. Here's a Scripture, before we get into the story, I wanna teach you on today that Paul gives about work. And I want you to catch what he says. In Colossians chapter three verse 23, this is what Paul says. "Whatever you do, work heartily "as for the Lord and not for men. Now I really believe if we can actually understand and actually apply this passage into our work life, it would revolutionize how we look at our job. Because really what Paul is saying, what you have been allowed to do, the job that you have, don't go and see it as you're working for some company or you're working for some boss, you see your work as something that you're doing for God. And when you see it, and something you're doing for God, man, it makes you look at it a whole different level, right? I mean, you're working in the place that you're working, and you're doing it not for men, but you're doing it to the praise of the God who created you and who gave you the opportunity to be in the place you're in. Now I know there are a lot of tough jobs out there. But if you're faithful in the one you have, God's always gonna prosper you and open other doors for you. But if you're negative and critical where you are, then it's gonna be really hard for you to excel in the working world. So I wanna just teach on that today, and I want us to look that when we move into God's call on our life, and when we move into God's dream for our life, do you know what happens? We face a lot of giants out there that keep us from ever fulfilling that call or that dream on our life. Today I wanna look at that. And fortunately, we have an awesome story that we all have read and we've all heard, even back from vacation Bible school days. That's the Bible shows us exactly how to deal with all the giants that we encounter in our life. It's the story of David and Goliath, right? Isn't that a great story? I love the story. I don't care that I preached on it 100 times, all right. Man, every time I preach on it, it fires me up. And I've saved this story for the bitter end of this series, because hey, I think if you can get this story, and you can begin to apply it in your life, you will want to dream God's dream for your life. Let's look at it, First Samuel 17, here we go. Now the Philistines had gathered their forces for war. And the Philistines, they were the enemy of God, right, I mean, they were the secular army, they were the army of the world, they were dominate, they were an impressive army that come against Israel. They occupied one hill and the Israelites another. There's a valley between them. A champion named Goliath from Gath came out of the Philistine camp, and catch the stats on this guy. He was a giant of a man. One translation says he was nine feet tall, some others say eight, some others say seven. I don't know, but he was a big, tall guy, okay. We do know that. He's wearing a huge bronze helmet and a coat of bronze armor that weighed over 125 pounds. Think about it, just some of his armor, 125 pounds. He also, ladies, catch this, he also wore bronze leggings. Hey, before you ladies came out with leggings, Goliath was wearing them a long, long time ago, all right. He was the first dude to have them. But his were bronze. I'm not sure they were real comfortable like yours are. But anyway, he had these bronze leggings. And slung a huge bronze javelin over his back. The iron spearhead alone, this is on his javelin, weighed 15 pounds. And a soldier with a large shield always walked in front of Goliath. He had a little security team, even though he was awesome and huge and dominant, he had some folks that were protecting him all the time. Now let's be honest. It's unlikely that you're ever gonna have to face a giant like Goliath, right, a physical giant like Goliath. I mean, David had to face him. It's probably, if God's dream for your life, it's probably, you're probably not gonna have to face a guy like Goliath to fulfill that dream. But it is highly likely that you're gonna have to face a lot of common giants just like David did, before he ever faced Goliath. You know, in this story, David actually had to face three other giants before he ever tackles and takes down Goliath. And they were physical giants, but they were giants that he wrestled with in his mind. And that's where most of the time our giants are, right? When we learned about how to be mentally healthy, we had to learn how to manage our mind. And David gives us a great example here how he managed his mind. And you're far more likely to have to face those giants than some kind of, you know, just physical person out there that wants to stand in your way. But they can be just as big, they can be just as intimidating. I think these kinds of giants in our mind can keep us from becoming all God wants you to be, and often we don't fulfill the dream that God has placed on our heart, because we can't ever overcome these giants in our mind. A little background to this story, in case you may not know. But Samuel, the story is in First Samuel, and Samuel was the prophet of God, right, in his day. I mean, he was the guy. And in chapter 16, God comes to Samuel, and he says to Samuel, "I want you to go down to Bethlehem, "and I want you to find a guy there by the name of Jesse," very explicit directions to Samuel. And he says, "You're gonna anoint one of Jesse's sons "as the next king of Israel." Now, this intimidated Samuel a bit, because King Saul, king of Israel, is still living, okay? So, I mean, this task that God sends Samuel on could have actually cost him his life had King Saul found out about it. But God says, "Hey, you'll be okay. "I'm sending you on this mission. "Samuel, you're to go." And he did exactly what God told him to do. So this is sort of a secret plan where God's anointing is moving off of Saul and it's moving on to the next king of Israel. So what does he do? He goes down to Bethlehem and he finds a guy named Jesse, and he says, "Hey, do you have a son?" And Jesse says, "Yeah," said, "I sure do," he said, "I got eight of them." And Samuel says, "All right, "I need to have a look at all of them. "Bring them in." And so this is what Jesse does. He brings in seven, seven of his kids, seven of his boys. And he parades all seven of them in front of the prophet Samuel. And, you know, Jesse sort of has his idea who needs to be the next king and such, and he shows him his oldest son Eliab, and man, this dude, he is a picture of strength, right? I mean, he is a warrior, too. He is tall and strong, and he looks kingly. And Samuel looks at him, asked God. God says, "Not the guy, not the guy." And it's interesting what God says. God tells Samuel, "Hey, man looks on the outside, "but God looks on the heart." Don't ever forget that, guys, it's important. 'Cause it looked like here's the destined king of Israel, the firstborn has the birthright. all the things going for this first son: strong, he had been faithful to his father, it was his father's choice, it's who Jesse wanted to be king, and God says, "No." Shows him the second oldest. Mm, nope, not the guy, next. Shows him the third, not the guy. The fourth, fifth, sixth, he brings in the seventh. And Samuel goes, "God, any of these?" Nope, none of those. And so, you know, Jesse's sort of throwing his hands up in the air, said, "Well, I don't even know what to do." And Samuel says, "Hey, you got any more kids?" And he says, "Well, I told you I had eight. "You've only seen seven. "I got David, he's out there in the field. "He's the runt. "You know, David's a little pipsqueak, "you know, he's out there tending sheep. "That's what he does." Samuel said, "Bring him in, go get him, bring him in." And so Jesse brings in his youngest son. Samuel takes one look at him, and God says, "That's the guy, that's the guy." And Samuel anoints David, little David as the future next king of Israel. And you gotta think about this. David realizes God's call on his life, that this is God's dream for his life. So what happens after he gets this tremendous anointing and vote of confidence from the prophet Samuel? Nothing. Nothing happens in David's life. Matter of fact, Samuel heads out and Jesse says, "David, get back out there in the field." I don't know if Jesse believed it or not, you know, but he said, "The sheep need to be tended, "and you're still the shepherd in my book, "so head back out there and start tending sheep." Nothing at all happens in David's life. He's been given a dream. He's been told, you're the next king. Get back out there and tend the sheep. Often, when God places his call on your life for vocational work, or when God places a dream in your heart, what happens? These giants come in the way. And David faced three of them. I want you to look, here's the first one, it's the giant of delay, it's the giant of delay. David faces this giant of delay. There's actually quite a long delay when David is anointed as the king to when the fulfillment of his dream as king happens years and years later. I mean, there was a period of years before this happens, right? And I would say that's exactly what happens in our lives as well. I mean, the first giant facing your dream always is gonna be delay. No dream is ever fulfilled just instantaneously. But God begins to stir your heart, you know. And it's often when you're in a job that you know is not the job that God has called you to, and your heart sort of stirs, there's this frustration and then one day, you know, you think, God, will I ever get there, and there's this time of delay in your life. And often it's years later before you see the fulfillment of God's dream, his call on your life. There's always a time delay, always a waiting period. In David's case, his dad holds him back from the dream. You know, he didn't even think David was old enough, he sure didn't think he was experienced enough to be king of Israel. Go back to the story and look in verse 12, see what it says. "Now David was the youngest of Jesse's eight sons, "his three older brothers enlisted in Saul's army," but catch this, "but David was held back "to care for the sheep in Bethlehem." Have you ever felt like you had God's dream for your life, but you know, you've been held back? You know, here's the first barrier to the dream. There's gonna be people, often who hold you back from this dream that you have in your heart that you know God has given you. And it leads to a delay in your life. And here's the truth about it. Often it's the people who hold you back who love you the most. This was David's own dad who loved him, you know. And we know he loved David with his heart. I mean, this was his blood, his son. But he doesn't think he's ready. And so he holds him back. And there's years and years of delay from fulfilling God's dream for David's life. Here's the second giant you'll face. I think it's the giant of discouragement. Jesse tells David, "I want you to take "a care package of food." Remember they're in Bethlehem, Jesse and David, David's out there tending the sheep. And the brothers have all been enlisted in the army, and they're a good ways from Bethlehem, over here getting ready to fight the Philistines. So Jesse calls David from the field and says, "Hey, you know, the brothers are probably getting hungry. "I want you to take a little care basket out there. "I'm gonna give you some cookies and stuff "and some nabs and whatever. "And I want you, David, you know, load up the chariot there "and take a little care package over to your brothers." So he sends him off. And this is the only way that David even gets to see the battle, right? So, when he's there delivering food to his older brothers, guess what happens. He hears Goliath coming down every day, he's shouting these taunts, he's saying, "Hey dudes, we're gonna come down "and the Philistines, we're gonna whip your butt, you know, "and we're gonna win the battle, "and you guys are gonna get defeated." And David notices that nobody, even his strong, warrior brothers, is doing anything about this guy, right? I mean, they just sort of stand there and listen. And he notices that when Goliath makes this big call, everybody's scared to death. They're all afraid, they're terrorized, they're traumatized. Nobody wants to do anything, they're scared. The second barrier you're gonna face in fulfilling your dream, your vocational call on your life, will normally be discouragement. Goliath had created a climate of fear in Israel. And everybody had concluded, I mean everybody, every soldier in Israel had concluded, we're gonna lose this battle. There's nobody, there's none of us can take on this guy. He is a professional warrior. That's not who we are. He is huge, we are not. We're gonna lose against Goliath. That was the conclusion. And you know what happens? They get discouraged. Look at the story, look at verse eight. "Each day Goliath would stand and shout "at the ranks of Israel's army, "'Why do you come out here and line up for battle? "'Choose one man to fight me. "'If he's able to kill me, we'll become your subjects, "'but if I kill him, you'll become our subjects, "'and you'll serve us.' "Day after day Goliath taunted them "and said, 'This day I defy the ranks of Israel.' "When Saul and the Israelites heard this, "everyone was deeply shaken," and catch this, "paralyzed with fear." Have you ever been in a situation, I think most of us have, where everybody around you just absolutely thought it was hopeless? Have you ever been in a situation like that where maybe you had a glimmer of hope, but when everybody around you just, "We're doomed, there's no way, we can't win, it's hopeless." I think we all have bene in a few situations like that where everybody around us is saying, "It just can't be done." So somebody had to challenge the status quo, right? Notice in verse 16. "For 40 days, twice a day, morning and evening, "the Philistine giant loudly berated the Israelite army." It's no wonder they got discouraged. They're listening to this guy day after day after day. If you listen to negative people long enough, you know what happens? You get negative. Negativity is contagious. And sometimes we just need a fresh voice. You need a kid that's been a shepherd out in the field who is able to assess the situation, and he has fresh eyes. I love what David, David said, "Dude, hey, this guy's nothing. "We can take him down." It's a slam dunk. Look at verse 23, "As David talked with his brothers "on the front line, he saw Goliath start shouting "his usually threats to Israel's army. "And when the army heard Goliath, "they all ran away in terror." I mean, can you imagine, they all ran away. But here's the thing about David. David knew that his God could take down Goliath. He just knew it deep down in his heart. And David found out that there was a reward for killing this dude. What was the reward? Saul says, "Hey, I'll give you three things. "You're gonna have great wealth, "you'll never have to worry about money again. "You're gonna get to marry my daughter. "And the third thing, you're never have to pay taxes, "no matter how wealthy you get." David thinks, "Shoot, you know, that's awesome. "Not only am I gonna be wealthy, "I don't ever have to pay taxes again." You know, wouldn't that be awesome if you didn't ever have to pay taxes again? David said, "Dude, I have got to go, "that's gonna be awesome." Here's third dream buster that happens in our life. It is the giant of doubt. You got delay, you got discouragement, and then you got doubt. Here's a question. And this question hits all of us at certain times in our life. Can I actually do what God is asking me to do? Man, that's a great question, isn't it? Can I actually do what God is asking me to do? Because I wanna tell you, when you begin to dream that dream, when you begin to answer that question, this is what's gonna happen. There's gonna be people all around you and often they're people who love you and they're gonna tell you, "Nope, you can't. "That's too risky. "Better not go down that path. "Nope, better not do that." You know, think about it. When King Saul hears that this little kid is willing to take on the giant who has paralyzed the nation that he loves, he's like, "This is crazy!" But you know what Saul, he invites David to come down to his palace. It's a real interesting conversation. Notice what David says to Saul here in verse 32. He's, "Dude," he says, "don't worry about a thing," David told the king, "I'll fight this Philistine." And then Saul says, "Don't be ridiculous, David. "There's no way that you can go against this Philistine. "You're only a boy. "He has been a professional warrior all his life." The expert says there's no way, dude. You can't do it. You're just not the guy. And if you're not careful when you hear everyone around you say you can't, you'll begin to doubt. So if you're gonna fulfill God's dream, you gotta be willing to face those giants in your mind of delay, discouragement, and doubt. And I think when God really places in your heart, you gotta do some things. Look at what David did to fulfill the dream. Look how he overcame all this negativity. Here's first thing. David says, "I remember how God has helped me in the past." This is a confidence builder. When I remember the ways that God has helped me in the past, you know what it does? It gives me confidence that God's gonna help me in the future, because here's the truth about our God. He never changes. God doesn't love you one day and not like you on another day. If he's helped you in the past, here's the thing about God, he's gonna help you in the future. You remember how God has helped you in the past. This is what David did. Look back with me at verse 36. David says when everyone else tells him it can't be done, this is what he says, "Hey, in protecting my sheep, "I've been out there in the field being a shepherd. "I have killed both a lion and I've killed a bear. "And the Lord delivered me from the teeth of that lion "and the claws of that bear, "and he will surely now deliver me "from this Philistine, too." I love his confidence. Man, you know, I just remember how God's helped me in the past. He's got me out of tough situations before. It's great, I'm okay. Saul, I'm okay. Here's the second thing he did. You gotta use the tools that God has given you now. Often we stay paralyzed and we stay in a work environment that we know that this is not what God has for us. And we think, if I just had this, if I just had this, if I just had more education, if I just had more connections, if I just had more money. Hey, don't wait for something you don't have, just use the tools you got right now. See what David does. He goes to see Saul, he honors Saul. And he says, "Saul, I'm gonna fight this guy. "And I just want you to know, man, I'm your guy." And Saul says, "Well, if you're gonna go fight him, "then at least let me give you my armor." Now how ridiculous is this, right? I mean, Saul is this giant of a man, too, he's king of Israel, and full-grown man. David's a boy, I mean, he's a teenager here when this happens. So they take the armor and they begin to put it on David. It's probably comical, right? I mean, probably David's hands didn't even come through all these shields they're placing around his arms and such, and probably didn't show through. And David says finally, as he's getting all this armor put on him, in verse 38, look at the story. "Then Saul dressed David in his own armor, "but David said, 'I can't go out in these, "I'm not used to them.' "So he took them off "and instead he chose five smooth stones for his sling." That's what he was used to. He's gonna use slingshot. You know, he got bored out there in the field. You know, he's probably taking out rabbits or something. But that dude, he knew how to use a slingshot. He said, "I'm just gonna use what I got." And here's the third thing that he did. Third thing he did was he just said, "I'm gonna ignore these negative people. "I'm gonna ignore these dream busters." You gotta ignore the dream busters in your life. It's so interesting to me that as David is gonna take on the giant, that everybody else in the whole army is scared to death to take on, and they finally get somebody who's willing, you would think that the brothers at least would give him a little encouragement, right? Hey, as he is walking down the mountain into the valley to take on this warrior, nobody, not one person, gives him the least bit of encouragement. His dad didn't encourage him, his mom didn't encourage him, none of the brothers, none of the army, none of the soldiers, nobody was encouraging him. Matter of fact, you know what I think? I think they all had their iPhones out, you know, I think they're getting ready to video this, 'cause they're thinking, "We're about to see David get slaughtered. "It's gonna be good on YouTube. "I'm gonna take it all, I'm gonna get it all in." Hey, nobody gave the kid any encouragement at all. What'd he do? This is neat, he had to encourage himself in the Lord. Notice here in verse six of First Samuel 30. When others were speaking against him, this is powerful. When others were speaking against him, David encouraged himself in the Lord. I will promise you this. If you go after your dream, you're gonna have to learn how to encourage yourself in the Lord. You just gotta do it, because there's gonna be times when you pursue God's dream, you're not gonna get encouragement from anybody else. And those old giants of doubt and delay and discouragement will rob you of what God has destined you to become. Here's fourth thing. Fourth thing David did was he says, "I expect God to help me for his glory, "I expect God to help me for his glory." That's what David did. That's what you got to do, if you're gonna pursue your dream. It's a faith factor. I love what David says to Goliath as he runs into the fierce battle with this giant. David runs onto the battlefield. Man, I think he is like a, you know, he's just crazy. He's out there, and he is going full steam ahead with everything in him. The Bible says he is shouting, and he says this. David shouted to Goliath, "You come at me with sword, spear, and javelin," but catch this, "I come to you "in the name of the Lord Almighty. "Today, the Lord will conquer you," not me, David says, "but it's gonna be my God. "And the whole world will know that there is a God. "And everyone will know that the Lord doesn't need weapons "to rescue his people. "It is his battle, not ours. "And the Lord will give you, Goliath, to us." So let me go back to that question. What are you expecting God to do in your life, your one and only life? What are you asking God to do? What do want God to do? Without even knowing, many of you, I can tell you this, this is true, God is doing exactly what you expect him to do. He's doing exactly what you expect him to do, no more, no less. 'Cause here's the thing about our God. Every time God moves out of heaven and God moves on earth, and he does some kind of miracle down here, it's because somebody believed, somebody believed. The Bible says according to your faith it will be done unto you. You know the neat thing about being in the family of God? You get to choose how much God does in your life. And it's based on how much you choose to trust him. You know, just personally, as I close today, I remember when I made this choice. I got saved when I was 16. And that was life changing, it was awesome. But I really didn't surrender my whole life. I gave my heart to Jesus when I was 16, but I didn't surrender my life until a few years later when I was trying to plant a church. It wasn't going well. And I remember this vividly just like it was yesterday. I was on a game reserve after I'd spent a month in Tanzania, Africa, this was back in 1990. And one night, when the Holy Spirit, we were doing these stories and what God has shown us while we were there. I just remember just getting down on my knees before God, as a young man, and I said, "God, I'm not the smartest God, "I'm not the best educated guy, "I'm surely not the best-looking guy. "I'm not the most talented guy. "But God, by your grace, I'm gonna trust you." "And I don't have to know, I don't have to understand "why you tell me to do what you want me to do." But I remember this vividly. God, I will do anything anytime anywhere in faith, when I know that that's what you want me to do. God, I surrender my life to you. And I wanna tell you guys, what an adventure it's been, what an adventure! And I want you to dream God's dreams for your life. I want you to enjoy the call that he's placed on your life. I want you to fulfill the dream that God has for you. You only have one and only life. And so many of us are just wasting that life. Make a change, trust God, overcome delay, you know. Get out of the doubt and discouragement zone and pursue the dream that God has laid hold of you and created you for it. Man, that's what we wanna do as a church. Next week, I wanna encourage you to come back, 'cause that's what we're gonna see, and God's gonna do in our church. He's gonna change the world through this place. He's doing that today. And he's gonna do it in a bigger way. So I want you to be a part of what we call Highlands is home. Would you pray with me? Let's pray today. God, thank you so much for this amazing story. I know we've heard it probably a thousand times. I love preaching on it. I love David. And God, you said you loved David. And even though he was far from perfect, he made some tragic mistakes in his life. Ultimately, he became a man after God's own heart. Lord, that's what I pray for Highlanders today. I pray that we would be men and women who have a heart for God, who are willing to take a risk. And God, anywhere anytime anything that you ask us to do, when we know it is from you, even maybe when we are in a delay zone, or we've gotten discouraged, or people around us who love us tell us, "No, don't go that way, it's too much of a risk. "Don't sell out for God." May we be sold out for the God who loves us. Because that is the adventure of this thing called life on this side of eternity. I pray today for those of you who have never experienced that adventure, this is what the Bible says about you, that your eyes have been blinded. And most of you who are not believers, if not all of you, down deep, you know you're searching for something. And many of you are absolutely miserable. I would just say, you wanna get out of your misery? You wanna have a better outlook on life? I don't care if you're 10 or if you're 40 or if you're 80, God has a plan and a purpose as long as we're breathing. And today's your day. Hey, don't end this "Thrive" series without giving your heart and life to Jesus. I just so encourage you right now, just pray this pray, just say, Jesus, I have made mistakes in my life. I recognize I'm a sinner. I'm not thriving the way Pastor Allen wants me to thrive and the way you want me to thrive. So God, I just confess my sins to you. I repent of my sins. I ask you to come into my heart today, and Lord, just save me. I know I'm unworthy, but God, I beg you to save me. Today I surrender my life to you. And hey, if you pray that prayer right now online, just hit that little raised hand button. If you're in one of our in-person locations or on TV, email us, let us know, text to that number, let a staff person know or a volunteer, before you leave today, we wanna come alongside and help you. You have just entered a great, great adventure with a God who loves you, has great plans for your life. Thank you today, so much Lord, or loving us. Thank you for this entire series. God, may we finish on a tremendous high note as a body of believers next week. When we come together on Difference Maker Day and see how, God, as we make a difference for you. You're gonna cause our church to thrive as well. Have your will and way in Jesus' name, amen.