THESE ARE TURBULENT TIMES.  We have snipers in D.C. and bombers in Bali. Since 9-11, people are more open to conversation about God than ever before. 

 Do we just go plunging ahead oblivious to our environment and surroundings?  I was just talking to a buddy the other day and he said to me, “I wish I could be full-time pursuing God.”  I asked the obvious, “Why can’t you?” Most of us would have many of the same old logical reasons.  However, if we were convinced that we would be out of here in a month, how then would we live?  If we thought Christ was coming back November 15th, what would we do differently?

 Often, the bottom line question is: “Where can we find the courage and boldness to lead?”

 Look at David in 1 Samuel 17:32-47.  He did seven things that set him apart as a leader; not just a man that could conquer a Goliath but also a man others wanted to follow.  Like him, to be a courageous and bold leader, you need to:

      1.      Recall past victories

2.      Re-affirm the proper motivation

3.      Reject the discouragement of others

4.      Respect the true nature of the battle

5.      Rely on the power of God for Victory

6.      Relay whose champion you are (“I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty”)

7.      Reckon the victory

Let me ask you, who is it that you are fighting for?  David knew that He was fighting for God Almighty.  When confronted with one of the greatest challenges in his life, he said, “I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty.” 

Whose name are you coming in?  Who are you fighting for?  Have you forgotten?

What does the Word say?

Ps 127:1-2

Unless the LORD builds the house,

They labor in vain who build it;

Unless the LORD guards the city,

The watchman keeps awake in vain.

2 It is vain for you to rise up early,

To retire late,

To eat the bread of painful labors;

For He gives to His beloved even in His sleep.

1 Sam 17:32-47, 50-51

32        David said to Saul, "Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him."

33        Saul replied, "You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a boy, and he has been a fighting man from his youth."

34        But David said to Saul, "Your servant has been keeping his father's sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock,

35        I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it.

36        Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God.

37        The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." Saul said to David, "Go, and the LORD be with you."

38        Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head.

39        David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them. "I cannot go in these," he said to Saul, "because I am not used to them." So he took them off.

40        Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd's bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine.

41        Meanwhile, the Philistine, with his shield bearer in front of him, kept coming closer to David.

42        He looked David over and saw that he was only a boy, ruddy and handsome, and he despised him.

43        He said to David, "Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?" And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.

44        "Come here," he said, "and I'll give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!"

45        David said to the Philistine, "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.

46        This day the LORD will hand you over to me, and I'll strike you down and cut off your head. Today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel.

47        All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD's, and he will give all of you into our hands."

50    Thus David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, and he struck the Philistine and killed him; but there was no sword in David's hand.

51     Then David ran and stood over the Philistine and took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him, and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.