Say, have I told you the story
about the little boys in the inner city standing on the corner
in front of a conservative, independent Baptist church? Have I told you
that story? Well, there's about 12 of these little boys standing
on the street corner in front of this Baptist church, very
conservative, legalistic church, Baptist church. And they had
a little puppy in the middle. The pastor came out of the church
and overheard these little boys talking. And the conversation
was going like this, whoever tells the biggest lie gets the
puppy. So the pastor came out and he
overheard them talking about telling the biggest lie. So he
says to these little boys, you ought to know better than that.
Don't you know the Ten Commandments? Don't you know that you should
never tell a lie? He said, why, when I was your
age, I never told a lie. And the little boy's sad face
looked up at the other boys and said, OK, give him the puppy. All right. We're glad you're
here today. All have sinned and missed the
mark. Come short of the glory of God. Well, what a great reading
of Scripture we had today. God's Word is so great. I'm going to try... I'm not even
going to say that. I was going to say I'm going
to try to be brief, but I probably won't. But I do want you to look
at verses 34 through 36 of 1 Samuel 17. And I want to talk about God
history. God history. I hope you have some God history. Let's read what David said here. Verse 34, And David said unto
Saul, Let me give you a little God history. Thy servant kept
his father's sheep, and there came a lion and a bear. and took
a lamb out of the flock. And I went out after him and
smote him and delivered it out of his mouth. And when he rose
against me, I caught him by his beard and smote him and slew
him. Thy servant slew both the lion
and the bear. And this uncircumcised Philistine
shall be as one of them seeing he hath defied the armies of
the living God." David said, moreover, the Lord that delivered
me out of the paw of the lion, God history, and out of the paw
of the bear, He will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go,
and the Lord be with thee. We've all heard the story of
David and Goliath. And we have undoubtedly, once
again this morning, admired his courage in fighting Goliath.
But most of us have not considered his courage and conduct in the
battle previous to Goliath. His battle previous to the one with Goliath took
far more thought and prudence and patience. And I speak of
the word battle he had with his brother and with King Saul. This battle was far more exhausting
than that of going forth in the strength of the Lord to slay
the uncircumcised bolster. You've had that experience, haven't
you? You've met up with more trouble from your friends and
family than from your enemies. You're always going to be an
addict. Once an addict, always an addict. Or some other discouraging
word. You're never going to amount...
My friends, you need some God history. You know what I'm talking
about. Learning to overcome the depressing
influence of friends is difficult. I know what I'm talking about.
Because for 50 years in ministry, I've heard it. You're not going
to do that. You're nothing but a dreamer.
Behold the dreamer. Ridicule. You'll never get that
building. Guess what? It'll never be turned back into
a church building. You'll never have service in
there. You'll never buy Seneca Street and Moreland Street. You'll
never... You ever heard that? You hear
that a lot. That's Satan's ploy. I want you
to be in a church where we don't talk that way to one another.
You dream your dream and say, I can do all things through Christ
that strengtheneth me. Say, you know, I was thinking
this week as I was studying for this morning. It didn't take
David very long to take care of Goliath. There was all this
talk with his brother and King Saul. He had to reason with him. And it's very tiring when you
have a dream and you believe God's called you to do something
and there's that negative person right in the road. who's always
saying you can't do it. Trying to take away your joy.
Trying to take away your dream. Trying to take away the truth
that nothing is impossible with God. They're always there. So David has to contend, first
of all, with his own brother. It may be someone really close
to you. Really close to you. Elab said, It's ridiculous that
someone as young as you, who's used to taking care of sheep
and playing a harp, would go up against this giant. And he
derided the idea of his being equal to the task of killing
Goliath. Maybe somewhat David's brother,
Feared David's enthusiasm with regard. Maybe there was some
sincerity there. Hey, you're just a kid. You know,
you shouldn't be talking that way. You know, there are a lot
of little adults. Do you know what I mean by that? I mean, I think I was a little
adult at 7, 8 years old. I dreamed of preaching to crowds
and people being saved. People's lives being turned around.
Why, when I was pastor at Brinesville, I used to say from the pulpit,
God, bring us big sinners into this church. Be careful what
you ask for. So his brother might have feared
with regard to his enthusiasm. Sometimes there might be some
real You know, some real concern for us. But most of the time,
it's Satan's ploy to discourage us. To keep us from trusting
God. My mother used to call when she
was alive every Saturday. And she would say almost the
exact words, you still at that mission? Say, I'm still there,
Mom. They're going to kill you. You're
going to get killed. instead of, wow, what a great
thing God's doing with you there, my son. I'm proud of you. Thank
God. People's lives being changed.
That's the way we have to learn to talk here. Because we are,
you know, we have a lot of garbage here. You know, God is a garbage
collector, though. He turns trash into treasure.
And we believe that. Well, his brother insinuated
that his youthful pride and curiosity was the only reason he was there. Have any of you ever heard an
ambulance and followed it? You wanted to see what happened.
Kind of curiosity. Well, thank God some of you are
shaking your head. The only reason I know that some
people follow ambulances is because I used to do that. I used to
be excited about seeing what was happening, right? What was
going on? I shouldn't have done that. David's brother probably said
something like this. You're better fit for lambs than taking care of this warrior,
Goliath. You're better fit for playing
the harp under some olive tree than you are for being on the
battlefield against this giant. And you know, sometimes When
people talk to you that way, it's just better off you don't
get all stirred up. And I noticed this week in reading
these passages, David kind of goes silent. And he's very polite. You know, he doesn't get up in
their face. But he gets past his brother.
And then he goes before King Saul. And King Saul says this. Thou art not able to fight with
this Philistine. You ever been told anything like
that? For thou art but a youth, and
he a man of war from his youth. Why, he has all this experience.
Look at what you're going up against. Note David's answer
to the king. Let no man's heart fail because
of this Goliath. David had a holy confidence.
You and I, as Greg said in his prayer, we go up against giants
every day. Every single day. Now note how
God, or David used God's history. He said to the king, I'm going
to tell you something. I killed a lion. I grabbed him
by his whiskers. By his chinny-chin-chin. And I snatched the lamb out of
his mouth. And not only that, but I killed
a bear with my bare hands. What do you
think about that, King Saul? Let me ask you this. Do you have
a bear story with regard to what God's done for you? Do you have
a lion story? Every Christian in here ought
to have something, some God history to run back to when people say
you can't do it. Let me tell you about killing
the lion and the bear. Concerning victories with God.
You have a recollection of God wonders? Do you have you and
do you and are you having God encounters? When's the last time
you talked to God? When's the last time you walked
with Him and talked with Him a long life's narrow way? It's
the only way to live. I pity the man or woman who has
none of these stories. And I pity even more the man
or woman who having them is now afraid to risk everything for
the Lord. Now I want to talk to us old
people. How many in here are 60 or over? Could I just see
your hand? Alright, there's a bunch of them.
So I'm talking to some folks now. To those of you who are
getting older like me, Are you growing cold? Are you getting sleepy? And dull? You ought to rebuke your soul.
And use past experience as a whip to flog yourself. Why should
I think because I'm 80 that God can't use me? Why, I killed a
bear. I killed a lion. Let it never
be said that he who killed the lion and the bear now falls asleep
in the presence of a Philistine. If there ever were a time when
you gray hairs ought to be alive for God, it's now. You know, I don't know whether
this is in the Bible. Seems like somewhere I read it.
I'd rather be a living dog than a dead lion. I mean, is that
in the Bible, Brother Knowles? Do you know? I don't know. There's
something like that in the Bible. Do you guys know? You don't?
I think it's in the Proverbs. Faith, is it in there? Well,
let's say it's in there anyway. Wake up, gray hair! It's time
to kill this Philistine. While you're remembering what
great things God did with you when you were little in Israel,
When you were a nobody, just a young upstart, nobody would
bid you Godspeed. And yet, the hands of Jehovah
were upon you in your youth. You had great faith and great
reliance and good reason for the hope that you had within
you. And now age has whittled away
along with the deadness of the present church. And you've got
lax and lost your joy and lost the thrill and lost the excitement.
You're no longer a conqueror. It's time for us of age to flog
ourselves and remember the great things God has done for us. Remember When you killed a bear
and you didn't consult with the Trapper's Association. You didn't
ask anybody if it was alright. You just did what God called
you to do. And you did it with great boldness.
Your faith wasn't in man. It was in God. And God had called
you. God history. You know, some of
my God history is I can remember at Lincoln High School, right
out on the football field, I was down in my forward plant stance
like this, looking at this ugly mug across from me. And God said,
you're going to preach. What did that have to do with
a football game against Centerline? It had nothing to do, but God
called me. You ever had any... You ever
had God show up at the craziest time, in the craziest places? It's wonderful! He'll show up with you sitting
on a bar stool. In the crack house. You with
a joint in your hand. And tell you things like this,
don't you know I've loved you with an everlasting love? Your
high days are over on this stuff. I'm telling you this, serving
God is not boring. I'm about to get happy by myself. Hallelujah! God will make you young. His
Holy Spirit will give you energy you didn't think you had. It's time that we old folks bring
more glory to God. We know more. We've experienced
more. We know what it's all about now.
The glory of God. I hope you'll start dreaming. I'm talking to you old heads.
Start dreaming. If God were through with you,
you'd be dead. Obviously, you're living. You're
breathing. I don't care what you... Maybe
you have cancer right now. You're still breathing. You're
here in the house of God. Maybe He'll heal you of cancer.
What about that? Don't you know the church needs
you? Don't you know this city needs you? Don't you know the
United States of America needs you? God help us. We need giant
killers. Whenever we talk of what God
has enabled us to do, we lay the stress on what God has enabled
us to do. And I don't want to, I thought,
Be careful now, Kent, make sure as you tell your God stories,
you don't take any glory. So when I'm talking about things
I've experienced, know assuredly I know it was not me. It was
God working in me, both the will and to do of His good pleasure. We don't depend upon our own
doings. And why don't you just rehearse
the stories of the early days? And while you're rehearsing them,
don't let them be a reason for you exonerating yourself from
service now. Well, back in the old days, that's
past. That's already past. You know
what I'm looking for? Tomorrow. And $35,000. But I'm looking forward to tomorrow. What is God going to do with
me tomorrow? What is God going to do with
me after church today? What's going to happen when I'm
in McDonald's? How is God going to speak to
me wherever I am and use me? Oh, life is so exciting with
God. So very, very true. And I would just tell you those God
experiences are stepping stones and getting you ready for Goliath.
Yeah, you kill the bear and you kill the lion. But there's a
Goliath coming. And we need you. And so, you
know, my exhortation is simply this. Onward, you soldiers of
the cross. In God's name, eclipse yourself. Somebody said, well, you know,
You know, Pastor, I've been told this. You know, you can't make
another you. As I get older, you know, you're
looking for another you. I'm not looking for another me
to take over. I'm looking to eclipse myself.
I'm saying, well, you did this at 50. What are you going to
do at 70, Lord, with me? What are you going to do at 80
with me? What are you going to do at 90 with me? Read your Bible. Some of those folks lived 800
years. That's the way I'm thinking now. Or maybe not really. I know what you're thinking,
Lord, help us. You think about, in my mind this
week, I had just the thought of David as he brought the lion
and laid it down. Then he brought the corpse of
the bear and laid it on top of the lion. Then he bought Goliath's
body and laid it on top of the bear and the lion. Then he went
back and cut off Goliath's head. I mean, got his head and brought
it back and made it to Topstone. That's what I'm talking about.
Now that's victory. That's victory. Some of you have such great God
history. Don't stop. Don't give up. Don't die in the
big chair. You know, my dad lived to be
87 and he stopped preaching at about 80 and retired and sat
in the big chair and died. Ain't going to be no big chair
in my house. I'm not looking for the big chair. Because my God is able to do
abundantly, exceedingly above all that we ask or think. David argued down all his doubts
and all his fears. By the Spirit of God was nerve
to go forth to deeds of sacred daring in the name of the Most
High God. That's what he said to Goliath.
By the way, Goliath's gods didn't work out for him. You know, one
of the great things about our God is He's a doer. He's
a come-through God. You remember, I think it's in
Kings, where the prophet Elijah confronted the prophets of Baal. Elijah said, let's have a contest.
He said, we're going to make this altar. We're going to put
the sacrifice on the altar. And we're going to pour water
all over the sacrifice. And we're going to put water
in trenches all around it. And you prophets of Baal, you
go first. And they began to call on their
God to make the fire fall and do the religious thing. And they
called all day. All day they called. And Elijah
would go like this, maybe your God's gone to the bathroom. Maybe
He's gone fishing. Maybe He took time out. And then
it came the prophet's time. And I think he prayed 83 words.
And the Bible says, And the fire fell, and consumed the sacrifices,
and went around in the trenches, and licked up all the water,
that you might know that God is God, and that God is big,
and that God is sovereign. That's the God of the Bible. You have facts. Noteworthy facts. I have noteworthy
facts. This is not a dream. This is
a dream. You have proof and evidence.
I have facts. I have facts. Fifteen years ago,
God give me that building and just not God gave it to me. I don't mean we had to raise
money to buy it. I mean, somebody bought it and
gave it to me. Us. I tell this, it's kind of a private
story, and I don't think the Luthers would mind this, but
they bought Pam a, I think this was about the same time, maybe
it was for Christmas, I don't know, they bought her a bracelet
with a cross on it and diamonds. And they looked right at me and
they said, you get the church. So in a sense, you've got that
little bracelet. I've got this building. Please now, please remember,
I'm not taking any glory. I'm talking about what God's
done. I'm just trying to tell you this.
These are not myths. You have God-history facts. It
happened to you. You experienced it. The old Puritans in reading and
studying, I found this saying from one of the old Puritans.
Some saints have very short memories. We write our benefits in dust
and our injuries in marble. Do you understand that? Our afflictions
we write upon brass and our records of deliverances of God are written
in water. Think about that. Oh, I can't
believe this! Instead of, praise God! I killed
the lion and the bear! Right? Think on these things. Ms. Pam, for years, has been
coaching me about renewing my mind. I tell you, I've got a
new brain or something. I even tell jokes on Sunday morning.
I never used to tell jokes on Sunday morning. I was more like
this. The bears in the woods. See, this ought not to be. God's
history will strengthen us in times of trial. And you're going
to have trial. We all have trial. But if you
have some God history, there is no way to get down. Some of you don't know and some
of you are tired of me talking about it. Ms. Pam tells me that.
But this past Wednesday, they went back into Ms. Pam's heart.
Because she was having back pain and chest pain and neck pain.
And the doctor said, we've got to go back in. You know, sometimes... And you know what I said to myself?
And I think she did too. Ha! That's nothing. She died
the first time. Ain't like that. So they went
back in with that little procedure. Guess what? Everything's clear.
Everything's good. No problem. I call that God history. I mean,
if she hadn't have died, this thing of going back into her
heart would have probably been a big thing to me. But it's kind of
like, oh, she's already died. God brought her back. I'm not
making light of it. I'm just saying I saw her die.
I was there when she died. So, you're going to go up her
arm and go into her heart and do some little looking around?
Nothing there. All clear. Amen. That's what I'm trying
to tell you. Why should we fear like we do? You know, there's a lot in the
Bible. about fear. And constantly the Lord is saying
things like this. Fear not, little flock. Fear
not. When you go in the furnace, I'll
be there. When you're in the lion's den, I'll be there. When
you go through the deep waters, they will not overcome thee.
I will be there. When you face death, I won't
have to cross Jordan alone. Jesus died all my sins to atone. When the darkness I see, He'll
be waiting for me. I won't have to cross Jordan
alone. That's what I'm talking about.
You know I've got goose bumps right now all over. I'm just
being honest with you. I think I'm drunk in the Spirit
of God. You remember how brave you were
in times when God's presence was there? Nothing could make
you fear. I'm ashamed now when I have fear.
Why should I fear? And let me say again to us old
folks, be ashamed if what you did as a youngster, you're not
ready to do in these riper years. Who told you you can't do it?
You have other ways of doing it. You may have to use other
means. Arthur may be bothering your back. You know, you may
have problems. But you know, God supplied you
with lots of other ways to be used to do great things, right?
I already told you, somebody's going to give us a million dollars.
I don't know if that was last Sunday or what. And you know
what? Yeah. I'll bring the umbrella
in when that happens. But I told Pam I'm not bringing
my umbrella in just because it's raining outside. They'll think
I have some big announcement. I will tell you a little secret.
Don Woodward's up there in the balcony. But a big, big, big,
big, big guy in Detroit, I'm talking about whose wallet is
big, came to visit and his representatives to visit. And yesterday afternoon,
I got to meet some of those folks right here in this building.
And some of them said, we want to see what's happening over
there at that rescue mission in that church at Clutch Cargo.
So when I heard the name, I said, I'll go meet them with Don. Say all now, Pastor. Pastor. Don't say that to me. Don't say
that. Not to me. Just leave me alone. You know, it's surprising what
God can bring out of the bushes. He'll use people who don't even
know Him to throw money in your lap. I've seen God do that. I keep thinking, some of you
got here a little late so you didn't hear my McDonald's story,
but I keep thinking, what is God going to do with that little
family? It was an accident. I seldom eat in McDonald's. I
seldom go in there. But, you know, I got hungry for
a Big Mac yesterday. I don't believe that was an accident.
I believe that was a setup. And who's going to think of turkeys
while you're eating a Big Mac? with fries and ketchup. You know, I thought of the old
song. Brother Knowles and Brother Jim, I thought of the old song
last night. Precious memories. How they linger. How they ever flood my soul. In the stillness of the midnight,
Precious memories. Scenes unfold. Precious memories. History with God. Can you sing
it? Okay. I was going to say, if
you and Brother Knowles can sing it, you can sing it for us now.
Yeah. Thank you, Lord. Amen. You know,
David was all alone. Did you notice that in reading
it? His brother specifically? The king didn't think he could
do anything? It seemed like he was deserted.
But he had God-history. When you're alone, but you've
had some God-history, some things you can think about, you're not
alone. He promised never to leave you
alone. You may think you're alone, but you're never alone. Call
up a little God-history. We used to sing in the old church,
no, never alone. He promised never to leave me.
Never to leave me alone. Remember that one? Ok. And what
about, we used to sing this one too, great is thy faithfulness. A mother may forsake her suckling
child, but I will never leave you, nor forsake you. You know, it's a scarce thing
for a mother to desert her suckling child. But God said, a mother
may do that, but not me. I'll never leave you nor forsake
you. Real quick, God history reasoning. David said, if God
was with me in the bear attack and the lion attack, will He
not be with me against this Philistine? This is no different than with
the bear or the lion. That's what David was saying.
There are parallel things. You may not have met up with
a bear or a lion, literally. And there are different things
that happen in your life. But you can reason this way and
reason factually. If God was with me with the bear,
and if God was with me against the lion, He'll be with me now.
Right? You can count on that. That's God history. You know,
a man who has God for a friend is higher than an angel. Do you
know that? and a man whose God's enemy is
no better than a beast. If God be for me, who can be
against me? But think about God being against
you. You here today who will not bow to Jesus Christ, you
will not receive Him as Lord and Savior. God is against you. Think about it. If I were you,
I'd be like that lamb in that lion's mouth. I'd do something. And maybe the heavenly David
will come along and snatch you out of the lion's mouth. It'd
be worth a try anyway. God-history results. You know, somebody asked me,
a five-point Calvinist... You know theologians don't make
good church members. You know that, right? You don't
preach for results, do you? Yes! Well, I thought you were
a predestitarian. I am all that in the biblical
sense. I don't believe in accidents. I believe God is a God of purpose.
God's on plan. But I'm preaching for somebody
to get saved. It's please God through the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. I have a purpose. I'd
like to see 50 people confess Christ today. Wouldn't that be
great? I would like to see awakening and revival. Don't you remember the great
victories? I wrote in my notes the Red Sea
crossings, manna from heaven, water from the rock, loaves and
fishes and leftovers. Don't you remember when water
was turned to wine, when the blind saw, when the impotent
took up their beds and walked? Don't you remember when He touched
the leper and he was restored? Don't you recall when He lifted
you from sinking sands? Oh, with tender hands He lifted
you from shades of night to planes of light. Oh, praise His name. He lifted me. Don't you remember
when the burden of your heart rolled away? Don't you remember
when you first saw the light? Don't you recall down at the
cross where the Savior died? Don't you remember when the blood
was applied to your door lintel? Don't you remember when He came
to you? Oh, He came to me when I would
not and could not come to Him. He came to me. Don't you remember? Don't you remember when you lay
in sin's dark valley? Don't you remember when He came
to Lodibar? Don't you remember when He came
to the hood? Don't you remember when He came
to you? Don't you remember? Don't you know all of us here
today, by our heavenly David, have been plucked from the jaws
of the lion? We have been rescued by the blessed
Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. No, I know you can't
deliver yourself. You may not be able to fight
the lion of the pit, but I promise you he can deliver you. You can
trust him. He's able. Two things I pray
for as we close. I pray, first of all, that I
have shook you a bit, especially if you're over 60. that you began to have new thoughts.
It's not time to die. Don't be sitting around waiting
to die. Your God is a life giver. You're still here for a purpose. Again, my greatest encouragement
here of late is she died and she's alive. So, I know God's
around here somewhere. Has a purpose. Has a plan. It seems true for you. You may
be sitting way back there, kind of hiding. And today, the Spirit
of God has taken that gloom away. And you have said... You know,
I can't tell you how many people come to the center and they say
something like this, God saved me once. And I always say, He
saved you once. You're still saved. Because He
didn't save you to lose you. You just got messed up. And maybe today you find out,
bless God, I am saved. It happened a long time ago.
He never left me. He never forsook me. I was the
prodigal son that went to the hog pen. Now, I hope you have
enough sense to get out of the hog pen and come on back home. And let's have a party this morning,
right? God's got a party waiting for
you, child of God. He'll put a ring on your finger,
shoes on your feet, and a robe on your back. He'll dress you
up. And then secondly, those of you who are not believers,
what a dead old world this is. All you got is some white powdery
stuff and a needle to inject heroin in your arm. What a boring
life. No, no, no, no, no. You did not
get high. You got low. You never got high on crack. You never, ever got high on heroin. There's no high like the most
high. You don't know what high is. Look what heroin did for you.
Messed up your health. Made your teeth rot. And a few
other things. Look what Christ will do for
you. You're wandering around in this dark world. No light. Every addict in here, with regard
to drugs, you're depressed. You know you're depressed. You're
struggling over there. You can't even Keep those little...
I'm talking to somebody today. Who am I talking to here? I'm
talking to somebody today. You can have life and have it
more abundantly in Jesus Christ. That's why when they called with
the 500,000 and asked us to take the gospel out of that piece
of paper where we were appealing to the bank for that money. Absolutely
not. We're not taking the gospel out
of anything here. We're putting more in, more in,
more in. Because that's our only hope
and that's your only hope. I wonder if you could just do
this. I know what you're thinking about. You're thinking about
your own history. That preacher doesn't know what I've done.
I've wallowed in the stables of sin. I'm as black as all hell. Well, let the preacher tell you
something. The blood of Jesus Christ will make you white as
snow. The blood of Christ will take away your past. The blood
of Christ will remove your sin as far as the East is from the
West. Never to be remembered against
you anymore. Saints, are you glad you're saved?
Are you happy today? Are you rejoicing in Christ today? I pray you are. Let's stand together
and sing the praise of our God.