MCC Podcast Miamisburg Christian Church

This weekend we’re going to look at a story that has become embedded in the culture and language of nations all around the world. It is so well known that it has become a way of describing any conflict in which there is a huge disparity between the combatants, whether describing athletes, companies or nations.

The phrase, “It is a classic David versus Goliath match up,” creates a certain image.

And our event from David’s life is the source of that picture. It is one of the best known and most loved stories in the Bible. It is the story of young David’s defeat of the giant named Goliath. It is in this battle that we will be reminded of a few gigantic lessons as well as how God equips us for the battles in our lives today.

This Sunday I’ll be preaching on friendship. I can’t tell you how many conversations I’ve had with people in our church this past year who feel like they struggle with friendships.



As we look at the friendship between David and Jonathan, we will seek to understand what a Godly friendship is supposed to look like and learn how to overcome some barriers to forming meaningful relationships.

Abraham Lincoln said, “The greatest lessons I ever learned were at my mother’s knees.” And more often than not, moms, we learn a lot just by watching you live your life.



This has been true of great leaders throughout history and perhaps none more evident that King David. This Sunday as we continue our look at his life we will be reminded that his life was full of decisions. Some of those decisions were great and helped develop a nation. Other decisions, not so much.



This week Rich will help us understand how, where someone came from, helps connect the dots on their behavior. King David started from a pretty lowly background. We will take a look at what he learned about being a shepherd, how that ties into the importance of moms, and how David’s shepherd qualities helped to shape a Kingdom.

This weekend we are going to begin a series of messages that will examine the life of King David. I don’t know about you, but David is my favorite Old Testament character.

Did you know that:


More has been written about David than any other character in the Bible.


He’s an Old Testament character, but he has 59 references to his life in the New Testament.


The New Testament opens and closes mentioning his name.


Jesus was born in the city of David, was called the root of David (and the seed of David), and was given the throne of David.



But perhaps the most impressive words about David are the words spoken by God about him in Acts 13:32: I have found David son of Jesse, a man after My own heart…

David was a great man of faith. But what impresses me most about David is that he wasn’t perfect…by a long shot! As a matter of fact, if you’ve never read the story of David, you may be surprised at how much he’s like you and me.

Over the next several weeks we’re going to look at events in David’s life and see what principles we can learn from them about making good choices for our lives today. But this weekend, we are going to start at the beginning, when God chose David to be king over Israel. What we’ll discover is what God saw that made Him declare that David was a man after His own heart and how we can make our hearts like H.I.S. as well.

This will conclude our Ick series by talking about SEX. I sense you backing away already.



But we need to be clear on this—all of us need to be clear on this—because we live in a world that is saturated with sex. And our world is saying things right now that many of us NEVER imagined we would hear.



In her book, Guardians of Purity: Raising PG kids in an X-Rated World, Julie Hiramine says, “This world we live in is reaching into the hearts and minds of our children, shaping and molding them into a replica of its values, trends, and world-views.”



Let that sink in and then ask yourself this question: What is happening in the world in which we live? We’ll talk about that.



And let me offer this friendly warning: this message is geared for Junior High through adults. However, if you want your younger children to hear with you they may have some questions for you after.

I have appreciated your response to talking about issues that give almost all, although it may be fair to say ALL of us, the ick.



This week we’re talking about money. And I know the reason for the ick. In part of Jesus’ most famous sermon, He told us that there is a tug of war going on in our hearts involving our stuff. Jesus is recognizing a strategy that our enemy uses against us. I want to remind you that the devil knows he doesn’t have to get us to follow him - he just has to get us to stop following Jesus especially in this area of our life.



So we’ll look at that and how to kick the ick. By the way, it’s simple, it's just not easy.



And I’m looking forward to having my friend, Kent Fillinger, with us this weekend. Kent is with CFR who is one of our ministry partners. He also happens to have been a student when I was a Student Pastor. He will share briefly about how CFR is benefiting churches across the country.