Sermon Tone Analysis

*Five Smooth Stones - Giant #1:  Low Opinion of Others*

My son Sam has a book, this book, called Twenty Questions for Kids.

He tried to stump me.

Let’s see if I can stump you!

The object of Twenty Questions is to guess the person, place or thing before you get to the 20th question.

*Let’s start with places.

I AM A PLACE!*  /I was born in 1971.

I am twice the size of New York City.

I have a castle, but I am not ruled by a king.

You will see lots of animals if you visit me.

I am in the US.

I’m located on 43 square miles of former swampland.

You can see Pluto when you visit me.

/*I AM WALT DISNEY WORLD!  Here’s our 2nd category.*

*I AM A THING!*  /I can come in colors, but I’m usually white.

I never move but I have moveable parts.

You’ve seen many of my kind.

I never leave my room.

You had no use for me when you were a baby.

Using me is considered private.

I’m filled with water but I’m not an aquarium.

People sit on me everyday!/

*I AM A TOILET!*  Remember now – this is Twenty Questions for KIDS!  *Last category!

I AM A PERSON!*  /I live under the name of Sanders.

I am British.

There’s a house at my corner.

I’m known for being stout, not smart.

I love to eat, but I’m always stuffed.

My last name makes children giggle.

My middle name is “the.”

I’m not scary but my last name rhymes with “boo.”

/*I AM WINNIE- THE-POOH!*[i]**

Humor me   - just one more!

I AM A PERSON!  /I was born approximately 1035 years before Christ.*[ii]*

I am mentioned in both Hebrews 11 and Acts 13.

I had eight wives.*[iii]*

I am a singer~/song writer.

I am a shepherd, fugitive and King.

I am a liar, adulterer and murderer, but most know me as a “man after God’s own heart.”/

*I AM DAVID!*

What comes to your mind when you think of King David?

I asked that question this past week on FACEBOOK.

By the way, would you do me as big favor?

If you are on FACEBOOK please become a WC Facebook Friend.

Simply go to Facebook and type in Westerville Christian and then click “like!”

I would love to get your feedback plus get the word out concerning what God is doing at Westerville Christian.

I asked this “David” question on FB and responses included: Falling hard, Dancing, Psalms, A great man that messed up allot, but found favor in God’s eyes, and that is so true, *but to me I think of triumph (Goliath) and tragedy (Bathsheba).

*David is listed in the Hall of Faith, not because he was perfect, but because he had a heart for God and took God at his word.

What I didn’t know is that Goliath wasn’t the only giant in his life.

We are starting a brand new series today called “Five Smooth Stones.”

*Turn in your Bible today to 1 Samuel 16.*  Do you need a Bible?

If you do, just raise your hand and you’ll find 1st Samuel 16 on page 198.

Chapter 16 is when we are first introduced to David! *As I was preparing this series - 1st Samuel 17:40 caught my attention.

Let’s read this one verse.*

David picked up five stones to kill one giant.

Westerville Christian is attempting to picking up five stones to kill five giants.

Truth is David had more to overcome than just the brutality of Goliath.

Don’t you just love our big signs?

He also had to overcome the jealousy of Saul, the pride of Michal, the authority of Achish and the opinions of Samuel, Jesse and Eliab.*

Let’s take on the giant of opinion using David as our example.

**Samuel gives us the blueprint on how we size people up!**  Go back to chapter 16 in 1 Samuel.

(Read 1-6!) * Don’t tell me that Samuel is going to fall for that again!  *Go back to 1st Samuel 9:2.*  Saul was impressive.

He stood out among his peers.

We do that.

I do that.

We size people up all the time.

“Man, you’re BIG or you’re ATTRACTIVE or you can shoot some HOOPS, so I would expect you to be successful.

*Outward appearance alone can’t determine a king then or a president today.*

It always goes deeper than that.

*God makes this perfectly clear to Samuel in verse 7.  (READ)*  The heart doesn’t get much press, but gorgeous supermodels and gifted athletes do.

I have nearly finished Philip Yancey’s new book called *What Good is God?*

In his book Yancey tells a story called the Orange Revolution which occurred in the Ukraine in 2004.

Yancey writes, “Like other parts of the Soviet Union, Ukraine moved toward democracy…  When the Ukrainian reformer Victor Yushchenko dared to challenge the entrenched party, he nearly died from a mysterious case of dioxin poisoning.

Against all advice Yushchenko remained in the race.

On election day the exit polls showed him with a comfortable 10 percent lead, however, that evening the state-run television reported, /“Ladies and gentlemen, we announce that the challenger Victor Yushchenko has been decisively defeated.”/

But what the government did not take into account was the translation it provides for the hearing-impaired.

On the small screen inset in the lower right-hand corner of the television screen a brave woman gave a different message in sign language.

/“I am addressing all the deaf citizens of Ukraine.

Don’t believe what they say.

They are lying and I am ashamed to translate these lies.

Yushchenko is our President!”/

No one in the studio understood her radical sign-language message.

Deaf people, inspired by their translator text messaged other deaf people which led the Orange Revolution.

Over the next few weeks as many as a million people wearing orange flooded Kiev to demand new elections.”[iv]

The world is the big screen and the world shouts to our teenagers messages that are not true.

Messages like… God is not real, the Bible cannot be trusted and Jesus did not resurrect from the dead.

The Big screen shouts to us that appearance is the ticket to success.

In March of 2010, a USA Today survey asked over 5,000 U.S. women to identify what makes a woman beautiful.

Here are their answers:  Fifty-seven percent said a great figure.

Sixty-five percent said healthy, shiny hair.

Seventy-nine percent said an upbeat personality.

Eighty-two percent said a positive outlook on life.

Eighty-seven percent said self-confidence.[v]

But the Bible is our small screen amidst the big screen.

The big screen shouts – appearance is everything, but the small screen (The Bible) whispers - appearance does not make a person beautiful.

*What makes a person beautiful is your heart – it’s what moves their heart!

What moves your heart today?

I DARE YOU TO PRAY THIS PRAYER.

GOD, MAKE ME WEALTHY!  THIS PRAYER WILL REVEAL WHAT’S IN YOUR HEART.*

Either give me more toys or give me wealth so I can give it away.