(upbeat music) - Hey, this is Pastor John Ryan Cantu from Pneuma Church in Houston, Texas.

Thank you for listening to the message today.

I hope that it blesses you and all those that you share it with.

God bless you. (upbeat music) - Amen, everybody awake this morning?

Amen, praise God.

I know we lose an hour.

I actually lost two hours because I don't know, I wasn't thinking.

I set my alarm wrong and I actually woke up what would have been like 4.30 in the morning when I meant to wake up at 5.30.

And so I'm a little, I'm extra sleepy.

I tried to go to sleep at a decent time and it just didn't work out.

So I'm tired, but man, I'm excited and strengthened by the presence of God to be here.

And I just give glory to God.

I know that we are in a thanks, not Thanksgiving, I am hungry.

We are in a spring break week.

We got families out of town.

I'm glad that we have our next gen pastors.

So pastors, Bami and Renee and our children's pastor, Stefan Jr., they're actually, we were able to send them to a next gen conference.

So they're getting poured into right now so that they can come back and pour into the next generation to our kids, our awesome kids ministry and our awesome youth ministry.

So pray for them.

They'll be out there till I think Tuesday.

And then yes, again, just another reminder 'cause you probably need it this Wednesday, we will not have service because we are laying some concrete over there in the parking lot.

It's not gonna be the whole thing.

I don't want you all getting too excited.

It's all good.

But we're making a driveway so that big garbage truck can come and not break the foundation.

So praise God for that.

And I just wanna say thank you because we have a giving church and it's because of you and the givers that we're able to do these necessary things that the house of God needs to spend on.

So thank you for that, amen.

1 Samuel chapter 17, I want you to open with me.

1 Samuel 17, we're gonna read one through 11.

And if you have it, say I have it.

If you don't have it, don't say anything.

1 Samuel 17, one through 11.

And we're gonna read these verses and then we're gonna kind of stay in that section a little bit.

This is the very famous story of David and Goliath.

And just to provide a little bit of historical background real quick before we read the text.

So the events recorded in 1 Samuel, don't let me lose you, I know we're talking a little bit about history, but I gotta set it up.

So 1 Samuel, the events that happened in 1 Samuel, they take place during the Iron Age, the early Iron Age.

And so this is the time where military advancements are being made in the ancient world because weapons are now starting to be made with iron.

And so the Philistines are a very powerful military force.

They were a constant threat to the Israelites.

There's a verse in 1 Samuel 13 that says there was no blacksmith in Israel because the Philistines didn't allow them to have one because of fear that they would make swords.

And so on this occasion, the Philistines had the upper hand.

They had better weapons and they were just a better army.

And so Saul, who is the first king of Israel, he seeks to strengthen his military force, but to go up against the Philistines is a very difficult task.

So with that in mind, let's go ahead and read verse one.

It says, "Now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle and Saul and the men of Israel were gathered and encamped in the valley of Elah and drew up in the line of battle against the Philistines.

And the Philistines stood on the mountain on the other side," I'm sorry, "on one side and Israel stood on the mountain on the other with a valley between them.

And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath of Gath whose height was six cubits and a span.

He had a helmet of bronze on his head and he was armed with a coat of mail and the weight of the coat was 5,000 shekels of bronze.

And he had bronze armor on his legs and a javelin of bronze slung up between his shoulders.

The shaft of his spear was like a weaver's beam and his spear's head weighed 600 shekels of iron.

And his shield bearer went before him.

He stood up and shouted to the ranks of Israel, 'Why have you come out to draw up for battle?

Am I not a Philistine and you are not servants of Saul?

Choose a man for yourselves and let him come down to me.

If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants.

But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us.'

And the Philistines said, 'I defy the ranks of Israel this day, give me a man that we might fight together.'

And when Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid."

Let's go to God in prayer.

Heavenly Father, I thank you for this word.

I pray that you speak it to your people this morning.

My God, our hearts are open, our minds are open.

Lord, Holy Spirit, do what you need to do.

In Jesus' name, amen.

Amen, go ahead and be seated.

Amen, so I entitled the message this morning, Giant Testimony, Giant Testimony, Giant Testimony.

So considering everything that we just read and everything that we just mentioned about the Philistines, you understand why Israel was afraid, right?

The Philistines are this powerhouse of a military force.

They had weapons that the Israelites did not have.

They had Goliath.

Goliath is a champion of war, so he is literally the best from the best.

And we just read it, the author of Samuel intentionally spends a pretty good amount of time describing Goliath's appearance and his height and the weight of his armor and his helmet and the dimensions of his sword and all of this.

And you read all of that and you're like, it's kind of boring, why do we need to know all of this information about Goliath?

And it's because Samuel, the author of Samuel was trying to get his readers to understand how giant of a problem this man is.

He's not just a giant man, he's a giant problem.

Goliath is undefeated, he is undefeatable, and he is in the way of Israel advancing as a military force.

And what I wanna do today is I wanna zoom out a little bit.

Somebody say zoom out. - Zoom out. - I wanna zoom out so that we can understand the theology of Samuel, the theology of, the book of Samuel, look, it's less concerned about the historical details of what happened.

The author is way more concerned for us to understand why the story matters to God.

And so many times we get so caught up in the details of the biblical narrative that we miss the theology of it.

And I'm not saying that the details aren't important.

I'm always preaching about the details that we often miss.

I am an expositor of the word.

I'm getting a doctoral level degree on biblical exposition.

I'm all about the details.

I love the details, I love the Greek, I love the Hebrew, all of that stuff.

But I also recognize that sometimes we overanalyze and we undertheologize.

And I'm going somewhere because it's not just in the Bible.

It's in life.

We get so caught up in the details, in the moment of the things that we're experiencing that we forget to zoom out and ask God, God, what is it that you're doing in all of this?

Why am I going through this?

What are you trying to show me?

Where are you trying to take me?

Why are you connecting me with certain people?

What is the relevance of this giant problem that has taken shape in my life?

A lot of times we don't realize that God is doing something because we're so lost in the details.

Come on.

How many of us know that God is always at work?

How many of us believe?

How many of us say that?

We sing it, we say it, God is always at work.

Why do we doubt that he is at work in us?

Why do we think that we're the exception?

We always think that God is always at work.

We always think that God is always at work.

A few years ago I was at a conference, and this guy, he was speaking to a room full of business leaders and entrepreneurs.

He says, "You want to get to a point where you're no longer working in your business, you're working on your business."

Working in your business, everybody's got to start there.

If you've ever started a business, you've got to start there.

You've got to do all of the day-to-day stuff.

You've got to do the details.

You've got to make the phone calls to the clients.

You've got to handle the paperwork.

You've got to do the emails.

Then you get to a point where you are now able to delegate some tasks, and you can hire some employees to kind of handle the day-to-day, the details, so that you don't have to work in the details.

You can work on your business.

I think God works the same way, because we're servants.

And if we believe that we have free will in our lives, and we are under God's authority, that means that we work in the details.

We go through the crisis.

We go through the battle.

We go through the pain.

But just because God isn't in every detail doesn't mean that he's not working.

God is always making something happen that is beyond our control.

You do what you can do.

God will do what you cannot do.

God is working on your life.

God is working on your season.

God is working on your moment.

You work in it.

Y'all don't like that word.

I didn't get enough of any of the men.

I don't like that word, because some of y'all want God to do everything for you.

You want God to do everything.

No, you can clean up your own room.

You can clean up your own mess.

There's some decisions that you made that you have to work through, and God will work on it.

And he will make something beautiful out of a dumb moment that you had years ago.

That's what he does.

He works on things.

God works through the details.

And the author of Samuel, he's trying to show us something in the story that goes deeper than just the details of the story.

This is not just that God can defeat the giant.

That's the theme, but there's something more significant to the story of Samuel.

And see, this is the story that gives us an opportunity for the very first time to learn a little bit about David.

This is where we're kind of, we're not introduced to David, but we kind of, start to hear a little bit more from David in this story.

And we realize quickly that David's not just any man.

David is special.

And David's not special because he was a shepherd, he wasn't special because he was a boy.

David is special because this is the man that God chose.

God chose David.

David is described in the Bible as a man after God's heart.

Right?

Now, the English see, I'm getting into the details now.

The English version of that is a little bit misleading because it suggests that David was always just pursuing God.

David was not always pursuing God.

Sometimes he was pursuing ladies.

He's not always pursuing God.

Sometimes David was pursuing murder and some selfish ambition.

He wasn't always chasing God.

The more accurate translation, and some English versions say it this way, it says that David was always a man after God's own choosing.

David was God's choice.

And when God chooses you, he will use you for his glory.

Amen?

And I'm sorry to say that, but if you've already received Christ, you are already chosen.

That means God is already beginning to prepare you for a certain work that he has called you to.

He is preparing you to be a walking testimony.

He is choosing you to speak Jesus into your family.

He's choosing you to be a priest and a model of godliness in your home.

You might not like it, but I'm just a messenger.

I'm just here because God chose me to be here.

I'm just here to deliver this word.

But when God uses you, he will use you to the extent that he desires.

And who are we to say, "God, don't do it"?

David was a man chosen by God.

And when you are chosen by God, and you know that you're chosen by God, it does something to your mind.

You see things a little bit differently.

David was different.

The text says that Saul and all Israel was terrified of the giant.

I want you to look at it real quick.

Verses 24 through 26.

It says, "All the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him and were much afraid.

And the men of Israel said, 'Have you seen this man who has come up?

Surely he has come up to defy Israel.

And the king will enrich the man who kills him with great riches, and will give him his daughter and make his father's house free in Israel.'

And David said to the man who stood by him, 'What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine?'

And takes away the reproach from Israel.

For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?"

David was making this a little bit personal.

Because when God gives you a personal calling, you have to take that personal.

You have to guard what God has given to you.

Even if you don't like the thing that God gave you.

Even if you didn't want it, you got to protect it.

I got to protect it.

It's so awkward for me to talk about myself as a pastor, but I got to protect the calling of shepherd.

I got to protect it.

Because it wasn't me who gave it to me.

It was God who gave it to me.

If God gave you something, you got to protect it.

You got to take it personally.

David's like, 'Who's this fool?'

This uncircumcised Philistine who was defying the army of Israel.

See, when God chooses you, I want you to understand something.

David wasn't everyone else.

Everyone else was everyone else.

David was David.

David was chosen.

And this is something you got to understand.

If God chooses you, you are no longer everyone.

You listening?

You get what I'm saying?

Don't let me lose you.

I know we're an hour behind, right?

But you are no longer, if God chooses you, you're not everyone else anymore.

That means you're no longer thinking like everyone else.

You're no longer speaking like everyone else.

When God chooses you, that means that He chose you and everyone else wasn't chosen.

Think about it like that.

God chose you to be the mother, the father of that child.

You are going to care for that child in a way that nobody else is going to care for that child.

You are going to love that child in a way that nobody else is going to love that child.

You are going to love that child through their awkward face.

You know, every child goes through an awkward face.

You're going to love that child in a way, you know, that's sane.

It's a sane for a reason.

A child only a mother can love, right?

Because when everybody else knows that your child is a demon child, you're like, no, that's my baby.

He's an angel.

Or a mama is only like, she's the only one that thinks her baby is cute.

You know?

Not even daddy.

You know, like daddy's like mmm, daddy's got a little bit more clear eyes.

But no, mama, no.

Mama will love that child.

I hate to say this because we're talking about babies and babies are, you know, supposed to be cute.

But you know, sometimes babies aren't the cutest, you know?

And you go and you visit them and like you are, you say they're cute like prophetically, right?

Like they're going to eventually be cute, right?

But to the mama, they're the most beautiful baby in the world.

Like God gave them the most beautiful baby ever.

God chose you to be the mother, the father of that child.

If God chose you to be the husband to that wife, the wife to that husband, that means you have to love your spouse in a way that no one else is going to love them.

You got to treat them in a way that nobody else is going to treat them.

If God chose you for that assignment, that ministry, that is your calling, you treat that like a baby.

If God chose you to pray for that person, you go and you pray for that person.

God chose you to deliver that word.

You go and you deliver that word.

Even if you don't know what to say, God will give you the words.

When God chooses you, He chooses you.

Stop looking around.

Me?

Yes, you.

If God chose you, He chose you.

And let me also say this.

God's choosing of you is the thing that validates you.

That's it.

God's choosing of you.

If God says you, come here.

You're already qualified.

You're already, stop, stop waiting for the seminary degree to preach Jesus to somebody.

You don't have to wait for anybody else's approval if God already told you to start.

Stop worrying about everyone when God didn't call everyone God called you.

Everyone else in Saul's army, they had armor.

Everyone else had armor.

So David says, I'll fight the Philistine.

And Saul tries to get David to wear his armor that everybody else is wearing.

And David's like, this doesn't fit me.

And I imagine that it didn't stop there.

You know, I just, logically, Saul probably was trying to find more appropriate armor that fit David.

I mean, anybody have a size small for David?

And David is like, no, you don't get it.

I'm not trying to be like everyone else.

Everyone else had experience.

Everyone else had something that David did not have.

But David has something that nobody else had.

He had the anointing of God over his life for this moment.

And so when everybody else sees a terrifying giant and starts to run away, David sees an opportunity for God to get the glory.

When was the last time you saw your problem as an opportunity?

I'm going to ask that again.

Really think about it.

When was the last time you saw your problem like an opportunity?

What would it do to your spirit and to our attitudes that if any time a problem came into our midst, we smiled a little bit because we knew that God was about to do something.

He was about to get some type of glory even through the sickness, even through the divorce, even through the debt and the poverty.

God is somehow, I don't know how, but somehow he is going to get the glory because that's what he does.

He is a glorious God.

It doesn't matter what comes my way.

God is going to get the glory.

And it gets better because if you are a child of the living God, that means that God will choose you in your situation to get his glory.

How awesome is that?

That God would choose me to demonstrate his glory.

How can I be a demonstration of his glory?

How can you so broken and so tired and so messed up, how can you be used for the glory of God?

God will use you.

And he will demonstrate his glory so that everybody can see that he is a God.

This is what we have to understand.

Because some people have a calling over their lives.

And they haven't stepped into it yet.

Some people are called to be someone that they are like, no, I'm not that, but if God said that's what you are, that is what you are.

And what we have to do is we have to realize that we are not we are not we are not being used for the glory of God for our own glory.

Like it's not about it's not about me.

It's not about anything that I can do.

It's about the glory of God.

You know, like my wife and I, we are on two, like she asked me yesterday.

I don't mind getting on stage, I think I got used to it.

And having eyes on me and having people listen to me.

Some people are, they're a little bit more, they don't want to get on stage and have the attention.

I don't like, I don't think I like the attention.

But I don't mind getting on stage.

And she asked me, she asked me, because next week I'm preaching in Spanish in our Spanish service.

And she said, she said, are you nervous that you're preaching in Spanish and you don't know how to speak Spanish?

I said, I'll figure it out, you know, like because I've gotten, I've gotten to a point where, like, if I know that this is what God has called me to do, what am I going to do?

What else can I do?

I've gotten, I've gotten to the point where if this is my, if this is my element, if this is my calling, I have to be confident in it.

Not because of me, but because God chose me for it.

And so very, very often I'll get into Sunday morning, and my wife knows this, because I'll vent to her, and I'll be like, babe, I have zero confidence in this word that I'm about to give.

I don't, I don't think anybody's going to get saved.

I don't think anybody's going to get Jesus.

And I'll have those conversations with God like, God, I don't think this message is going to hit.

I'll say that so many times, Lord, I don't think this message is going to hit.

I don't know if anybody needs to hear this message.

I don't know if they're going to get bored, if they're going to fall asleep.

And what's happened over time, because it took a while to get here, is every time I feel like I have no confidence, that's when I know God is going to do something.

Like, I've learned how to boast in my weakness, because in my weakness that is when God is magnified.

Before, I would I'd be so hard on myself when I didn't feel like the message was deep enough or eloquent enough or Pentecostal enough, and when I didn't feel like it was an excellent sermon, I'd be so hard on myself getting into Sunday, but now I feel like, my God, you got this.

And that's an excuse to not prepare and not to do well.

But when I've done everything that I can do and I still don't feel good about it, that's when God feels in the gap.

So God will remind me, and he's done it so many times, I say, "God, I don't feel good about my word."

He's like, "It's not even your word."

This you're starting wrong, Ryan.

This is my word.

This is my word.

I'm giving my word to you.

I'm lending it to your lips for this moment to deliver it to my people.

This is not your people.

This is my people.

It's not your word.

This is my word.

This is the anointing I have given to you.

And so when obstacles arise, we have to learn how to see those as opportunities for God to get the glory.

If God chose you, and there's an obstacle that is only one step away from God's glory.

David knows that he's anointing.

He knows that he represents God.

And so it doesn't matter what everybody else thinks.

It doesn't matter what everybody else says about the giant as big as he is.

For David, Goliath is about to be this giant testimony for the people of Israel.

And this is the theology of Samuel that I want you to see.

You still with me?

This is the theology I want you to see.

Because for the very first time in Israel's history, Israel has a kingdom.

They are on the map.

You remember when the people of Israel, they said, God, well, they told Samuel, we want to be like all the other nations.

Give us a king so that we can be like all the other nations.

The Philistines have a king.

The Moabites have a king.

The Assyrians, they have a king.

All these nations have a king.

We want one too.

And so when they ask for a king, the Bible says that they were effectively rejecting Yahweh.

It wasn't Samuel that they were rejecting.

It was God that they were rejecting.

That was the problem.

The problem wasn't that Israel was going to have a king.

God had said back in Deuteronomy, I will give you a king of my choosing.

The problem was the motive behind their request to be like all the other nations.

Israel was never meant to be like all the other nations.

And so whenever you pray, Lord God, bless me with riches and success, God don't have a problem giving you all those things.

But if he looks at your heart and he sees that there's a desire to be like everyone else and to have what everybody else has and to be able to go on the vacations that everybody else goes on and buy all the things that you don't have that everybody else has.

When he sees the motive of your heart, that's a problem.

Because you weren't called to be like everyone else.

You were chosen to be holy and to be set apart for his glory.

Israel was called to be a priesthood.

They were called to be holy.

They were called to be set apart.

They were called to be anointed the people of the one true living God.

Everybody else had a whole bunch of gods, but in Israel there's only one.

And I chose you Israel to be the representation of that.

And so now when you're saying you want to be like everybody else that grieves God.

And so what God is about to do through David is demonstrate to the whole world and to Israel that he is the true champion.

That's why the text magnifies Goliath.

That's why it talks about all the cubits and all this stuff and you probably skip over that part of the land.

It's kind of boring.

It's not important to the story.

It's important to the story because Samuel, again we're talking about the theology of Samuel of this story.

Samuel wants to tell us the bigger the problem the bigger the testimony.

The bigger I don't know who needs to hear that in this moment of life.

I don't know what you're going through, but the bigger the problem the bigger the testimony can be.

Amen.

Could God have accomplished the same victory through an enemy warrior who was like in the lightweight division?

You know, not Goliath who's this big heavyweight.

Could he have used somebody who was like, you know, lean and maybe a buck fifty, maybe about five, six?

Yeah, he could have used them.

Can God get the glory through a fifty cent raise?

Yeah.

But the testimony is a little bit more exciting when you have somebody who's been laid off for months and they're unable to pay their bills and they can't even pay their utility and they're behind on their mortgage and they're struggling to get food on the table.

How much more powerful the testimony when they get a random call from somebody that they didn't even apply with and they say, hey, I would like to offer you a job.

Would you like to take it?

The testimony goes a lot harder like that.

Glory to God when God heals your sick child from a sick sore throat and a little cough like Ellie had for like a month.

We were praying to God, Lord, take it away.

But how much more is the glory seen when God heals a child who is battling leukemia, who is on the brink of death and had the whole church praying and everybody on their knees and declaring the goodness of God even in the moment of pain?

How much more powerful is the glory seen when the problem is bigger?

And I'm not like, I don't want God to like test me with this word.

Like I'm not looking for bigger problems.

But the bigger the problem, the bigger the testimony.

That is something that we have to understand.

And so many times God will put you through these massive seasons of hurt and brokenness and pain because he's getting ready to do something powerful.

And you're so lost in the details of everything that you're going through that you forget to zoom out and say, God, what are you about to do?

I'm gonna have the worship team come up because I'm almost done.

And this is why I love I love David's speech to Goliath.

I love it.

It's probably my favorite, one of my favorite dialogues.

He says he says, Goliath, you come at me with the sword.

We have it up there?

Goliath, you come at me with the sword.

You so fancy, Goliath, you iron age technology.

David's still rocking his slingshot from fifth grade.

You come at me with the sword and with the spear and with the javelin.

But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of armies of Israel, whom you have defied.

And then he says this day, David puts a date on it, it's today the Lord will deliver you into my hand and I will strike you down and I will cut off your head.

He gets real graphic with it.

He says, I will give the dead bodies to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth so that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.

That all the earth may know.

Listen, through the details leading up to this moment, the details, think about everything that God has taken David through.

Leading up to this moment where he's standing before this giant who is defying the armies of the living God.

When David didn't understand why he was getting attacked by bears.

When David didn't understand why a lion was trying to devour him and his flock.

When he didn't understand why he was constantly being shut out by his family and by his father and by his brothers and they didn't value him.

God was leading him through the details to this moment where God was about to demonstrate to the entire world that there is a God in Israel.

But you know what?

What I love, he doesn't stop there.

Because the next verse says and that all this assembly See now, now David is referring to the church.

This unbelieving church.

This church that has lost their fire.

Lost their way.

This church that claims to be a nation of the one living God but they ain't living like that.

This church who has rejected God and asked for a human king.

This church that is trying to build their army with human strength.

David says and so these fools also know that my God doesn't save with the sword or with the spear for the battle belongs to the Lord.

The battle belongs to the Lord and he will give you into my hand.

God is working through the details.

He's working through your details.

He's working through your moment.

He's working through whatever you're experiencing right now.

And he's working on something better than you could ever imagine.

And I don't say that, I don't say that blindly.

I don't say that spiritually even.

I say that because that is the truth.

God is always at work for something better than you could ever even ask for.

And so many times when we're lost in the details we don't see it and we don't get it and we don't feel it.

And we're asking God where are you and where are you in the forest?

Where are you in the wood?

Where are you in the wilderness?

But God is above it all.

He's working.

He's working.

He's working.

He's working but he chose you for the details.

He chose you for the details.

This life that God gave you, he chose you for it.

The people in this life that you don't like, that you have a hard time dealing with, that you wish God, Lord I want to create some distance.

I don't want them in my life anymore.

God gave you these things.

God gave you these situations that you're going through.

God is sovereign.

He allows you to pass through them.

But here's my encouragement to you.

Don't fail to miss the theology because you're so lost in the details.

As much as I love the story of David and Goliath, because it's a classic hero, villain story, underdog, defeats the champion villain, as much as I love it, it doesn't always work out the same way in our lives.

Right?

It's such a powerful story.

It's like one of those action movies that you watch where you're rooting for the good guy and he's about to die, and then like Avengers, right?

Man, Avengers is awesome, bro, and Tony Starkman.

I don't want to get too into that, but like we cheer for that type of stuff.

And we want that type of stuff in our lives.

But sometimes the victories look a little bit different.

Sometimes we think that the victory is as obvious as God restoring the broken marriage.

Sometimes we think the victory is as obvious as God healing the cancer.

Or God bringing the abundance when there is lack.

But sometimes the glory of God I don't want you to get this if you haven't paid attention yet, I want you to get this.

Sometimes the glory of God is not seen all at once.

And the victories are not a one time defeat.

They're smaller victories.

They're smaller, more unnoticeable things.

Sometimes the cancer kills.

Sometimes the marriage isn't restored.

And if we're so caught up on the details, we think that God failed us.

No, God didn't fail you.

God is still working on it.

God is still working on you.

What is something greater that can come out of that divorce?

What is something greater that can come out of that death, out of that foreclosure?

What is something greater that can come out of that where is the glory of God?

It's got to be somewhere.

Because my God is the glorious God.

Glory doesn't escape him.

Everywhere he walks, everything he touches, everything he puts his hand on, there is glory.

You might have to just ask yourself where is the glory of God?

Because I know it's got to be somewhere.

Sometimes the glory is not all seen at the exact same time.

Like it is in the story of David and Goliath.

Last week I read Linda's book.

Linda has a book.

And my wife bought it.

It was sitting there.

I read it.

It took me about an hour.

It was good.

I give it four and a half stars.

I would have given it five.

But you said I was a pale redhead.

I just feel like if you would have called me we could have discussed and brainstormed some more flattering words.

Other than that it was really good.

But what I really liked about the book is she talks about some of her struggles just growing up.

And I noticed that Linda's story is much like everybody's story, man.

There was no single event.

There was no single event that made you turn back to God.

There was no miraculous healing.

There was no miraculous restoration.

It was a combination of little victories that God was doing.

He was working through your details.

And now I look at her family.

She's got two children who love the Lord.

She's got an anointed husband.

She's an anointed woman of God.

And I just and I can zoom out when you zoom out and you look back at your life and all the little things that God did.

When in the moment you weren't really giving God the glory because it was so insignificant.

But when you come out of it you're like my God thank you for what you did in the details because you were working through it all along.

Sometimes there's not a single giant.

Sometimes there's many smaller battles that you're going to pass through.

And then when you make it to the other side the glory of God it becomes more and more evident.

And you look back at everything that you adored.

Maybe maybe you did go through the divorce.

Maybe the cancer did kill the loved one.

Maybe you do lose your house.

Maybe the testimony is meant to be something that isn't so obvious yet.

But every battle, listen every battle belongs to the Lord.

I don't care how big it is.

I don't care how small it is.

Every battle belongs to God.

I want you to stand with me.

And I want us to thank God this morning for the details that he's allowed us to go through.

Because we know, my God, that you are working on it.

You are working on us.

You are working through us, my Lord.

And we just want to give you the honor.

And we want to give you the glory today.

And we want to be able to zoom out and say, God I know that you are up to something.

I know that you are doing something even though I don't feel it.

Even though I don't see it.

Even though I can't smell it.

Even though I can't taste it.

My God I know that you are up to something because you are a God that always gets the glory.

And I want us to glorify God this morning.

Because you might have a Goliath in your life who is taunting you.

And who is defying your God.

And who is trying to convince you of things that are not true.

And who is trying to belittle the greatness of the glory of God in your life.

It is time for God, God's chosen people, to rise up and say who does this Philistin think he is?

Who does this devil think he is?

Who does, what does this situation think that he is doing?

What does this mountain in front of me think that he is doing?

To defy my God.

My God will always get the glory.

My God will always get the glory.

And I want us to glorify the name of God this morning as the worship team sings.

I want us to come forward, prayer team.

Get ready.

I want you to come forward.

And I want us to pray for anybody who is in need of the glory of God to be manifested in their life.

I want to make that altar call first for anybody who is in need.

Prayer team, prayer team.

Anybody who is in need this morning.

And you say, man, I am going through the details.

I'm going through the wilderness.

I'm going through a sickness.

I'm going through pain.

And I need help seeing the glory of God.

If that's you this morning, I want you to come forward.

And everybody else, I want us just to worship.

These altars are open.

Come on, sing that out.

Thanks for listening.

If you'd like some more information on Pneuma Church, visit us on our website at My Pneuma Church .org.

If you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe or share it with your friends on social media and tag us at My Pneuma Church.

Thanks again and God bless.

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