Audacious Faith
Starting the New Year with both strength and faith.
Ken Tram
Dec 30, 2018 37m
In this sermon Pastor Ken Tram talks about the idea of audacious faith. He uses the story of David and Goliath to show what audacious faith in God looks like in action. He then prays that the congregation will start the new year with the same strength and faith in God that David had when he defeated Goliath. Video recorded at Chandler, Arizona.
TranscriptionmessageRegarding Grammar:
This is a transcription of the sermon. People speak differently than they write, and there are common colloquialisms in this transcript that sound good when spoken, and look like bad grammar when written.
This is a transcription of the sermon. People speak differently than they write, and there are common colloquialisms in this transcript that sound good when spoken, and look like bad grammar when written.
Video Plays: 00:04 Do you feel it coming? The end, it feels close. Life as we know it won't last forever. So what happens when this world ceases to exist? Does it matter in the here and now? Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away and the sea was no more. He will wipe away every tear, death will be no more. And the one who was seated on the throne said, See, I am making all things new. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.
Ken Tram: 01:23 Well, how are you all doing cornerstone? You guys doing well? Good, good. My name is Ken, I'm the student pastor here, and some of you guys actually don't know me. So I want to share a little bit about myself. I've been here at Cornerstone for about five years now. I have a beautiful wife, let me share, this is my wife here. This is Lindsay. Yeah, so nice, so nice, she's so cute. Okay, that's good. I don't know why people applaud. Well, thank you, she's beautiful. That's why people applaud they're like Ken you're ugly, but she is beautiful, that's messed up. No, just kidding. Now anytime you start dating, right, and it's a serious relationship, people start wondering, hey, when are you going to get married? Yes. So finally we got married, and the next question, the questions don't stop right? Then mom and dad starts bothering you, then the in-laws start bothering you, like hey, when are you going to have kids? Yes, kids. So I grew up in a family that has two kids in the family. My wife grew up in a family that has four kids in the family, so she of course wants four. I said, no, that's double of two, no. I'm the man of this household, I'm going to lead this family, I am the captain of the ship. So here's my family photo. She said, I am the captain now. I have four kids and they're great, I love them to death, and they're a lot of fun. Just four kids, this past year they were four kids under five, it was crazy for me. But that picture there, don't we look so happy? We're so happy, we're just a perfect family. That's the picture I post on Facebook, and on Instagram, so you guys can like it. Like, look, we're a great family., we're so happy, everything's perfect. But in reality, if you've ever taken family photos before, it's like the worst, isn't it? It's like smile, smile right now, you better smile. And it's like 50 shots of like the same pose, and then in the end they've still got to photoshop it, right?
Ken Tram: 03:32 So let me tell you since we are family here, since we're all imperfect people here, let me show you what our good family picture, it's a typical day for us. Yep, it's funny because actually this is my everyday life. Two out of the four of them go crazy, right? Sometimes it's a weird mix. Sometimes it's the blondes. I don't know why I have blondes in the family, they're blonde. I thought I had some strong genes. And then sometimes it's, you know, it's the girls that are going crazy, and then it's the boys that are going crazy, it's the older ones are going crazy. I'm like, oh my goodness, it's going crazy. This is my 2018, my 2018 was so insane. Now, let's compare a little bit, okay? Actually, and now you can say, all right my 2018 was worse, but let's compare. Twenty-eighteen started off in my kitchen, actually. We bought this house, and it has granite countertops and everything. And I went over to the kitchen and the kitchen actually has shelves, you know what those shelves are for, you know you put like cool things, like inspired by Chip and Joanna Gaines to make your house look like a farmhouse in the middle of the city. So my wife had our last name on butcher block, it's up there butcher block, strong name Tram, right? So it's on butcher block, and it's up there. I'm watching TV, the doors are open because it's a beautiful day outside. All of a sudden the wind came and slammed the door shut, this butcher block just came tumbling down, landed on my granite countertops. I went over, this entire thing had shattered my countertops. Now I don't know anything about countertops, but granite countertops I learned from chip and Joanna Gaines, they're expensive. I got those replaced. We try to fix it, we couldn't fix it, they said, you got to get this replaced. I got it replaced.
Ken Tram: 05:28 Not even a week later, I'm in the backyard, I started hearing hissing. I called a plumber over, I had a foundation leak, so they're digging through the foundation to fix this pipe. One day, actually a few months later, my wife is calling me and I missed the call. And it was two, three missed calls, I finally answered. I was like, what's going on? What's going on? You need to come home now, come home now. We're both in the bathroom of our house, and I look up, and there's this giant bubble in our ceiling, big old bubble. We live in a one story, I was like, what is going on? Don't poke that. Yeah, let's not poke that. I climb up, our AC actually went bad. AC guy says, you have to replace the AC.
Ken Tram: 06:18 Story doesn't end there by the way. I drive a truck, anybody here drive a truck? Yes, okay. A couple of you, you guys are men. Yes men, yes truck. I drive an American Ford f-150, yes, I am a man. Here's the downside of owning a truck, everybody wants to you to help them move. So I figured out a loophole in that system, instead of helping people move, I'm like, dude, too many people are asking me to move. Don't ask me to move, alright, I'm too lazy now. I said, you know what, I'm going to start a Ken Tram you haul service, you just borrow my truck, so usually we trade cars. It's in the middle of the summer, I took my family out to family vacation. We're in California, we're on the beach, my buddy wants to borrow my truck. He borrows my truck. I get a phone call as I'm coming back from the beach, ring ring. Hey, what's up? And he proceeds to tell me, hey listen, I'm a mile away from your house. I'm like, okay. He goes, I didn't get anywhere, but all of a sudden this hippie in a Prius rear ended you. Rear ended me? I'm in California, you're in Arizona with my truck. He says, yeah, but that Prius is going really fast, didn't even stop at all. I think your truck is going to be totaled, it's totaled. I don't know what's up with electric vehicles by the way nowadays, alright? Those are silent killers or something, right? So it rear end in my truck, insurance company totaled it, I'm cheap so I'm going to get that thing fixed. Got It fixed, right? And when the insurance company totals it you go over to the DMV, and you meet up with an officer, the officer is supposed to look up the vin number for your truck to make sure that all the parts match. Your engine, your cab and everything, right? So he said, hey, what did you fix on the truck? I fixed the bumper. He says, okay, did you touch the frame? I did not touch the frame. Okay, he's like that's a little weird. I said, why, why is that weird? He says, that frame of the truck doesn't match the rest of your truck. What? What are you talking about? I didn't believe him, I came back the next day, made another appointment. Same thing, they said the same thing. I said, hold up, I only replaced the bumper. He said, well, I traced the frame, the VIN number, it went to a stolen truck in California. What? We've owned this truck, since it was brand new, for 15 years. I was telling my buddies this and they were like, oh yeah, that's your 2018 man. That's it, that's it, of course this will happen to you. How's your 2018? You're like, okay, you win. I replaced an AC unit, but I guess you win it. Here's the thing about the year, right? Sometimes of course your year could have been worse. You might have dealt with sickness, you might've dealt with different things. Maybe in your marriage, or with your kids, or maybe if you're in college, you know, that bad professor, whatever it is.
Ken Tram: 09:13 Your 2018 could be better than mine, or not so good. But here's what I learned, that the only constant in life is inconsistency. Isn't that true? The only constant in life is inconsistency. You think everything's going great, my kid's on the honor roll, I got the bumper sticker in the back, were all good. And then all of a sudden they start acting up, and it just doesn't work out. And I started praying, I'm thinking, God, if life is so inconsistent, what can I do to make 2019 better? So I started thinking, I started praying and there's this word, these two words that popped in my head, and God has placed on my heart. And I'm going to put on you to make your 2019 even better. It's going to add to your goals for 2019. Two words, audacious faith, audacious faith. And I started thinking here, wait, hold on, hold on, what does audacious mean? Audacious means when you're standing up next to a person, you call them audacious. That means they're daring, that means they're bold, they're courageous, that means it doesn't matter what's in front of me, I'm going to go audacious. Audacious adds something to faith.
Ken Tram: 10:24 Now there's a reason why we need to add audacious to faith. Did you know that Ariana Grande and Stevie Wonder has a song together, it's called faith. You go to Hobby Lobby, ninety percent of the decorations there have the word faith in it. I think we lost the meaning of faith. Because faith, typically we say, oh yeah, I'm a man of faith. Faith describes what you believe in, but you add audacious to it, it turns from an adjective to all of the sudden a verb of action. So all of a sudden you say, wait, I'm a man of faith, but I don't know if I have audacious faith. Do you have audacious faith? And so to add onto your 2019, I'm hoping, I'm hoping and I'm praying that you're going to add to your weight goals, you're working out goals, clean up the garage. That you're going to add, you know what? I want to grow in my faith audaciously.
Ken Tram: 11:14 So there's this verse that's going to sum up everything I'm talking about, and it's actually found in Matthew 17. Matthew 17, and this is me being convicted and saying, okay God, why is this happening to me? Why am I drowning in all these situations? Why? Why are these mountains in my life? What's going on with this? And God has looked at me and he convicted me in this situation, in this verse, and I prayed that it convicts you to. They actually says this. It says this, "He replied because you have so little faith." The faith that you believe in, isn't the faith that I want you to have, you have little faith. It says, "Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as little as a mustard seed, you can tell this mountain to move from here to there, and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." Audacious faith. And what's crazy is this. How he's setting this up, is this. It said, faith as little as a mustard seed. And Cornerstone, I'm wondering what happens if we have faith even bigger than that? Audacious faith, grow in it.
Ken Tram: 12:20 So I'm thinking, and I'm putting together this message, and all of a sudden God put on my heart this story of David and Goliath, and that is the story that we're going to be dissecting in today. So if you guys want to turn your bibles to First Samuel chapter 17, that's in the Old Testament, turn there. It's going to be exciting, exciting, exciting. First Samuel, chapter 17. We're going to learn from David. There's three characters here that I want you to learn from. Of course there's David who has incredible audacious faith, we're going to learn from him how to grow our faith audaciously. And then we have Goliath who's whatever it is, it's that mountain that's getting on our way. And we have the Israelites, the Israelites I feel like you and I can kind of relate to it. Just faith, but not audacious faith, and let's see where that takes us. Alright? Okay, so here we go. We're going to be First Samuel 17 and it's going to be in verse two. It says this, "Saul and the Israelites assembled and camped in the valley of Elah, and drew up their battle line to meet the Philistines. The Philistines occupied one hill, and the Israelites another, with the valley between them." If you're taking notes in your Bible, I want you to just circle, or just remember, this word valley because we're going to talk about that, there's a valley that's between them. And let me summarize a little bit. All of a sudden there's this Goliath that pulls up, that he just comes out, and he challenges the Israelites. He says, listen, I'm going to come up here, and I'm going to challenge you. And Goliath looked mean. He's not like, you know, in our kids program we color Goliath it's just you know, he just looked a little mean. No, he is big. The Bible describes him, he's about nine feet, nine inches tall. If I were to picture a Goliath, right, I would picture like Shaquille O'Neal, right? Just giant. But Shaquille O'Neal is a little bit older now, he's not working out as much, he needs the body like The Rock. Dwayne, The Rock, Johnson, no facial hair. And then he looks like Aquaman, alright? So if you were to see Goliath at a grocery store, like. I'm checking out my grapes. Okay, the grapes are ripe. And all of the sudden Goliath walks in, Shaquille O'Neal, The Rock, Aquaman, bumps me. You know what I would do as a man? I would say, I'm sorry I got in the way, because that's Goliath, Goliath is supposed to be intimidating. Those are the problems in life, isn't it? It's supposed to be intimidating, you're supposed to be in fear. And Goliath is shouting, time after time, you should be scared, I am ruining your life.
Ken Tram: 14:55 So if you continue on in the story verse 11, it says this, "On hearing the Philistines word Saul and the Israelites (Who actually are supposed to have faith, but instead they..) were dismayed and they were terrified. Because they had faith, but the faith wasn't audacious enough. And if you actually skip down to verse 16, it says this, because I always thought Goliath comes out and makes his little speech and goes back home. No. Verse 16 says, "For 40 days, Philistine came forward every morning and every evening and took his stand."
Ken Tram: 15:35 So the problems that we have in our lives isn't just a problem that we can fix immediately is it? Check engine light is on, we take our car to the shop and that's it. No. No, these are the moments I like to call Goliath moments. These moments that define our faith, define who we are, define what we believe in. It is always going to be these Goliath moment that's going to show us what we're weak in. These Goliath moments are typically things that when we go home, we try to fall asleep, we can't. We can't fall asleep because this problem that's in your life keeps going. It's like Goliath keeps taunting you, not just one day, but the next day that problem is still there, and you're crying in your pillow. The next day you just can't react anymore. It's not just by days, it's not just by weeks, maybe months, 40 days and 40 nights Goliath is taunting him. Taunting the Israelites, goliath moments.
Ken Tram: 16:45 So let's see how David responds in audacious faith with these Goliath moments. And actually the first point I want to make is this, I want you to recognize if you want to grow in your faith audaciously, you need to recognize that fear paralyzes faith. Fear paralyzes faith. The opposite of faith is always going to be fear. Think about that. It's like, okay, okay, yes, I prayed the prayer and I believe in you Jesus, but all of a sudden when Goliath shows up, wait God, I know I said I believe in you, but I don't know what you're going to do in this situation, so because of that, I'm going to fear. Fear is always the opposite of faith. See, we have faith in so many different things, right? The problem isn't that people don't have faith, we do have faith. We have faith that the plane's going to take off, and the plane is going to land. We have faith in that, but when you start fearing that means you no longer trust the airplane, you no longer trust God. Fear is the opposite of faith. Fear always paralyzes faith. And here's the thing, God has called you into something incredible, something big. God has called you for a reason, if you're still here on earth, that means you have a purpose to live for. God has incredible plans for you, and it's on this side. But here's the thing, if you only knew your calling, if you only knew where God is supposed to take you, you would just go. But the thing is this, there's always going to be someone that slows you down, and that someone is going to be Satan. It's the Goliath, and the mountains, in your life. And he's going to put different things in your life so that you will fear, so you will turn your back on Jesus, that's what he's going to do.
Ken Tram: 18:46 In fact, as you're the Israelites are here, they noticed the Goliath, even though God has called him on the other side. What does Satan do? All of a sudden puts a Goliath, or a mountain, in front of them. And so this is what Satan wants you to do. He wants you to look at Goliath and say, never mind, God, I don't know if I trust in you that much, God, things are getting uncomfortable right now. But here's the thing, you only have two options. You're either going to fear the Goliath or whatever Satan has put in your life, or Satan is going to be afraid of you, and one actually takes audacious faith. Let me tell you what that means, that means as you're marching towards the other side, all of a sudden Satan is like, okay, I'm going to put another Goliath. No, no, no that's not going to slow me down, I have audacious faith. I'm going to put another Goliath, no, no, no that's not going to slow me down, I have audacious faith. I'm going to put a mountain, it's not going to slow me down. And all of a sudden it changes, Satan is going to be afraid of you, because you're going to be living out to the calling that God has called you to. And don't tell me if you're on the great path, and you're moving the right direction, bad things will come, because Satan's going to be afraid. You've got to keep marching forward.
Ken Tram: 20:06 Alright, here's what's crazy. We continue on, so David is noticing, all of a sudden, he shows up. And all of a sudden Goliath is saying his little thing, and the Israelites are going back into fear, forty days, forty nights. David comes up, it's like, hey, what's up? What are you guys doing? Why are you guys scared? Why are you guys scared? And he says this, verse 32, "David said to Saul, let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant, I'm going to go. I'll fight him." Everybody's like, why? What are you doing? Why are you going to fight him? And here's the thing, audacious faith gives you confidence to face your Goliaths, it's going to give you confidence. Audacious faith needs to give you confidence, if faith doesn't give you confidence, it's not faith. Audacious faith needs to give you confidence.
Ken Tram: 21:02 Have you guys ever had confidence before? False confidence. It's kind of like, I'm a big Arizona Cardinals fan. Yes, Steve will deliver us to the promised land. Okay, you're the worst in the NFL right now, let's go for that draft pick. False confidence. But here's what faith is supposed to do, it's not false confidence, you're supposed to have full confidence in God. Audacious faith. He says this, I don't know if you guys ever heard of Coolio? He's a famous philosopher. He wrote the song called Gangster's Paradise. And in it, Coolio actually says this, he says, "As I walked through the Valley of the shadow of death, I take a look at my life and realize there's nothing left." Yes, we're all sinners here, you guys know the lyrics, it's all right. And that's David's confidence, that's actually from Psalm 23, Psalm 23, verse four. I say for you guys to Circle Valley because it takes a journey to go from here to there. It takes crossing the valley, and as you're crossing the valley, you're going to face the Goliaths in your life, and David's reflecting on that moment. He says this, as I'm walking through the valley of the shadow of death, meaning death is right there, the shadow of death is just about to touch me, it's looming right there. And then it says this, as I'm walking through the valley of shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Because I have full confidence, and audacious faith of where God is taking me through. Audacious faith, that's full confidence.
Ken Tram: 22:46 Let me tell you this, God doesn't say, hey, listen, when you meet a little bunny hill, a little one, you tell it to move, it'll move, not a problem. God doesn't say that. He says, when there's mountains that are stopping you, when there's a goliath that's so big, when that mountains too steep, when it's too tall, you tell it to move and it will move. It will move. And again he doesn't stop, does he? Nothing will be impossible for you. Ye of little faith, grow in it, grow in it. Audacious faith will move mountains. In fact, a lot of times we associate faith with something that's not true, right? A lot of times we associate faith or Christianity with, okay listen, okay you're a Christian now, okay, let me just run you over. Here you go Goliath, I'm sorry I got in the way. That's not what scripture says. In fact, in Second Timothy, there's this incredible verse that says this, for the spirit God gave us, does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. Doesn't make us timid, the spirit of God isn't supposed to say, okay, I'm fearful, okay, okay, okay. No, it says, it gives us power of love and self-discipline.
Ken Tram: 24:10 So we go back to scripture and we're looking at Goliath, and noticing that he's running his mouth. And David's going up there, and he's like, whoa, hold up, hold up, there's this Goliath there you guys are shrinking back. No, I'm going to fight him, I'm going to fight him, I got this. I have audacious faith, and you need to have that confidence as well. You see what I'm saying is this, is that it doesn't matter how big your problems are, it doesn't matter how big your Goliaths are, God will deliver you. And if you think your problems are too big for God, then you don't believe in the same God that I believe in. Your God isn't big enough for you. Because God is bigger than any problem, any situation. God is able to heal your marriage, God is able to heal your addictions, God is able to take you and deliver you to the other side, if you have audacious faith and you trust the process. That's what audacious faith does. So this is David now, and you're like, David, how did you have this confidence? And the next point is this, God has delivered you in the past, and he's going to deliver you again in the future. He's delivered you in the past, and he's going to deliver you again in the future. It's obviously little kid David, right? He's over there and Saul, the king, he's like, hey, listen, listen, I know you want to fight him, that's not a good idea. He's afraid. He says, don't go against this Philistine, verse 33, and fight him, you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth. This guy has been fighting since he was young, before you were even born. So David said, all right Saul, sit down, let me tell you a story. It's this little kid, right? This little kid's like, so when I was a kid, David's like, listen, when I was a kid, God called me to watch over some sheep. These little cutie sheep, little fluffy sheep, they say baa, right? And all of a sudden as I'm watching the sheep, a lion comes in. Now if you see a lion, you better run, okay? But David doesn't run. It says, this lion came in and took the sheep in its mouth. Do you know what David did? David said, no, not at my house. He took his cane and whacked the lion, whack. And all of the sudden the lion just dropped the sheep. Do you know what that lion did? It turned around, and it started going after David. Kind of like in our life, right? When we try to solve problems, and all of the sudden it just gets beyond, it gets bigger. It goes from a little thing, to this huge thing. It's like Satan constantly trying to stop you from God, from what God has called you from. Alright, I'm going to delete this little Goliath, but it's going to become bigger. And it's like, okay, Satan wants you to walk away. So this is what David said, so when that lion came at me, you know what I did? I grabbed it by its hair, and I killed it with my bare hands. Saul's like, okay, that's a little weird, a little too confident there, David. He's like, I'm not done, I'm not done. He said, a bear came in. Oh, a bear. This bear came and tried to take my sheep. You know what I did? He said what? I killed it with my hands as well. And it continues on and says this, and I love this. It says in verse 36, "Your servant has killed. I've killed both the lion and the bear, and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he's defied the armies of the living God. The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion, and the paw of the bear, will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine."
Ken Tram: 28:09 What are the Lions and the bears in your life? Listen, miracles exist, and God has delivered you in the past. He's done things in the past that are miracles already. You've had a bad pregnancy, God's delivered you from that. He's delivered you from the sickness that was the worst you've ever been in. He's delivered you from the brink of divorce with you in that marriage. He has delivered you from that workplace, that you shouldn't have been in, in the first place. He's delivered you. And so we have to reflect back on the past, because here's the thing, it's so easy to forget, isn't it? It's so easy to forget when God does miraculous things in our life, and we have to think back to what God has done in the past, so that he could carry us into the future. If God delivered us in the past, he can do it again, and deliver us in the future as well. Not even just the small things, but the big things as well. That's audacious faith, incredible audacious faith.
Ken Tram: 29:17 So all of a sudden, Saul's like, okay, I get it, I get it. You go out and fight, here's my armor. So he takes off this armor, puts it on David, and David's walking around with his armor. It's the best armor that he can have, because it's King Saul's armor, it has a sword. He's walking around, all of the sudden he's like, okay, listen, listen, I can't wear this. And I've always thought, when I'm reading scripture, he couldn't wear it because David was too small. Not what scripture says. Scripture actually says, David, David didn't wear it because he wasn't used to it. And you know what we're used to, typically, when we encounter Goliaths in our lives? We're used to having audacious faith. You know in what? In our own abilities, and our own worldly things, instead of the abilities of God.
Ken Tram: 30:05 So my last point is this, audacious faith in your abilities, is not a substitute for audacious faith in God. Meaning this, when you're in debt and you're drowning in debt. Typically the easy solution is okay, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to work overtime, I'm going to take extra shifts and stuff. And then it doesn't work out, and the leftovers are to what? Is to God. Alight God, I'm going to pray now. You know, when you believe in ourselves, when you believe in men, it can only take you so far. But when do you believe in Jesus, and when you understand what audacious faith is, he'll take you farther than you can ever imagine. That's audacious faith. It's faith of action, not of timidity, but of power. Audacious faith, you tell a mountain to move, and it will? Move. It will move.
Ken Tram: 30:57 And so all of a sudden the story ends with this. David's at the creek, he picks up five stones. No armor, no sword, no helmet, and he walks to the valley. He's living life, and he faces the Goliath. And I love this moment right here. It's actually, have you guys ever watched Denzel Washington in Training Day? You know that strong monologue that he has in the end? Like King Kong ain't got nothing on me. This is David strong monologue, okay? Alright, listen to this in Denzel's voice. Okay, maybe not in Denzel's voice, but check out this confidence that David has. It says this, David said to the Philistine, he has incredible audacious faith. Says 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. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I'll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds, and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. All those gathered here will know it is not by sword, it is not by spear, that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you all into our hands." So David says that, Goliath is standing there, instead of shrinking back like the rest of Israel does. What does David do? He runs forward towards the Goliath, towards the mountain. Whips his sling around, throws that stone, hits him in the forehead and Goliath falls. Not by sword, not by strength, but it's because of audacious faith. So what are the mountains in your life that is preventing you from seeing where God has called you to? Because God has called you into greater things. You know what happened to David after that? He had to show that he had audacious faith to face Goliath, in order for him to become King David. You have to face that Goliath, you have to have incredible, audacious, faith to move mountains in your life, because it's preventing you from what God has called you to.
Ken Tram: 33:43 So your marriage, as you're signing divorce papers, give it another shot. That sickness that may be in your family, let's try praying. What are the mountains in your life? Pick up the phone, call up that son that's lost. Call up your dad. What is in the pit of your stomach that when you see Goliath, that you fear, maybe that's holding you back from what God has called you to. You know Jesus, in order to save us all, it was his calling. In order for Jesus to show his love, to demonstrate his love, he also had a face the mountain, he also had a face a Goliath, and that was the cross. And what's crazy is this, is it says in scripture, that same power that resurrected Jesus from the grave, the same power that brought him from death to life again, is now living inside of us. So we can face our Goliaths like David did. And we can say, who is this Philistine that dares defy the living God? And that living God is inside of me, I will run at him with nothing but audacious faith. I will go at it, and I will no longer fear, because my God is living, my God is powerful, and my God is bigger than any of my problems in my life. You can clap for that.
Ken Tram: 35:36 So 2019, when I'm praying for you, it's not going to be perfect, right? Believing in Jesus isn't saying, okay, everything's perfect and everything's happy. It's that I'm going to have audacious faith that everything's going to be okay, because my God is bigger than my Goliaths, my God is bigger than my mountains, and he will take care of me as he's done in the past. Let's grow in that faith.
Ken Tram: 36:03 Let's pray together. Lord, Heavenly Father God, thank you for the story of David and Goliath. As we're learning from this kid, this David guy, that it's not about age, it's not about experience, but in the end it's about audacious faith in you. As we grow in you, and as these Goliaths and mountains our in our lives, slay them, move them, God. Let us trust in you. And Lord, Heavenly Father, I pray, I pray for families here that are broken. I pray for healing from addiction. I pray for marriages, God, to be healed. For sicknesses to be removed, God. Because Lord God, when we say and declare God, that mountains can be moved, it will move. So show us that, oh God, grow us in our faith so that we can live audaciously in 2019. Lord Heavenly Father, we pray this in your holy, mighty, powerful name Jesus, and everybody says, Amen. Hey guys, thank you so much. We're going to see you guys next year, 2019 next week. Happy New Years!
Recorded in Chandler, Arizona.
Ken Tram: 01:23 Well, how are you all doing cornerstone? You guys doing well? Good, good. My name is Ken, I'm the student pastor here, and some of you guys actually don't know me. So I want to share a little bit about myself. I've been here at Cornerstone for about five years now. I have a beautiful wife, let me share, this is my wife here. This is Lindsay. Yeah, so nice, so nice, she's so cute. Okay, that's good. I don't know why people applaud. Well, thank you, she's beautiful. That's why people applaud they're like Ken you're ugly, but she is beautiful, that's messed up. No, just kidding. Now anytime you start dating, right, and it's a serious relationship, people start wondering, hey, when are you going to get married? Yes. So finally we got married, and the next question, the questions don't stop right? Then mom and dad starts bothering you, then the in-laws start bothering you, like hey, when are you going to have kids? Yes, kids. So I grew up in a family that has two kids in the family. My wife grew up in a family that has four kids in the family, so she of course wants four. I said, no, that's double of two, no. I'm the man of this household, I'm going to lead this family, I am the captain of the ship. So here's my family photo. She said, I am the captain now. I have four kids and they're great, I love them to death, and they're a lot of fun. Just four kids, this past year they were four kids under five, it was crazy for me. But that picture there, don't we look so happy? We're so happy, we're just a perfect family. That's the picture I post on Facebook, and on Instagram, so you guys can like it. Like, look, we're a great family., we're so happy, everything's perfect. But in reality, if you've ever taken family photos before, it's like the worst, isn't it? It's like smile, smile right now, you better smile. And it's like 50 shots of like the same pose, and then in the end they've still got to photoshop it, right?
Ken Tram: 03:32 So let me tell you since we are family here, since we're all imperfect people here, let me show you what our good family picture, it's a typical day for us. Yep, it's funny because actually this is my everyday life. Two out of the four of them go crazy, right? Sometimes it's a weird mix. Sometimes it's the blondes. I don't know why I have blondes in the family, they're blonde. I thought I had some strong genes. And then sometimes it's, you know, it's the girls that are going crazy, and then it's the boys that are going crazy, it's the older ones are going crazy. I'm like, oh my goodness, it's going crazy. This is my 2018, my 2018 was so insane. Now, let's compare a little bit, okay? Actually, and now you can say, all right my 2018 was worse, but let's compare. Twenty-eighteen started off in my kitchen, actually. We bought this house, and it has granite countertops and everything. And I went over to the kitchen and the kitchen actually has shelves, you know what those shelves are for, you know you put like cool things, like inspired by Chip and Joanna Gaines to make your house look like a farmhouse in the middle of the city. So my wife had our last name on butcher block, it's up there butcher block, strong name Tram, right? So it's on butcher block, and it's up there. I'm watching TV, the doors are open because it's a beautiful day outside. All of a sudden the wind came and slammed the door shut, this butcher block just came tumbling down, landed on my granite countertops. I went over, this entire thing had shattered my countertops. Now I don't know anything about countertops, but granite countertops I learned from chip and Joanna Gaines, they're expensive. I got those replaced. We try to fix it, we couldn't fix it, they said, you got to get this replaced. I got it replaced.
Ken Tram: 05:28 Not even a week later, I'm in the backyard, I started hearing hissing. I called a plumber over, I had a foundation leak, so they're digging through the foundation to fix this pipe. One day, actually a few months later, my wife is calling me and I missed the call. And it was two, three missed calls, I finally answered. I was like, what's going on? What's going on? You need to come home now, come home now. We're both in the bathroom of our house, and I look up, and there's this giant bubble in our ceiling, big old bubble. We live in a one story, I was like, what is going on? Don't poke that. Yeah, let's not poke that. I climb up, our AC actually went bad. AC guy says, you have to replace the AC.
Ken Tram: 06:18 Story doesn't end there by the way. I drive a truck, anybody here drive a truck? Yes, okay. A couple of you, you guys are men. Yes men, yes truck. I drive an American Ford f-150, yes, I am a man. Here's the downside of owning a truck, everybody wants to you to help them move. So I figured out a loophole in that system, instead of helping people move, I'm like, dude, too many people are asking me to move. Don't ask me to move, alright, I'm too lazy now. I said, you know what, I'm going to start a Ken Tram you haul service, you just borrow my truck, so usually we trade cars. It's in the middle of the summer, I took my family out to family vacation. We're in California, we're on the beach, my buddy wants to borrow my truck. He borrows my truck. I get a phone call as I'm coming back from the beach, ring ring. Hey, what's up? And he proceeds to tell me, hey listen, I'm a mile away from your house. I'm like, okay. He goes, I didn't get anywhere, but all of a sudden this hippie in a Prius rear ended you. Rear ended me? I'm in California, you're in Arizona with my truck. He says, yeah, but that Prius is going really fast, didn't even stop at all. I think your truck is going to be totaled, it's totaled. I don't know what's up with electric vehicles by the way nowadays, alright? Those are silent killers or something, right? So it rear end in my truck, insurance company totaled it, I'm cheap so I'm going to get that thing fixed. Got It fixed, right? And when the insurance company totals it you go over to the DMV, and you meet up with an officer, the officer is supposed to look up the vin number for your truck to make sure that all the parts match. Your engine, your cab and everything, right? So he said, hey, what did you fix on the truck? I fixed the bumper. He says, okay, did you touch the frame? I did not touch the frame. Okay, he's like that's a little weird. I said, why, why is that weird? He says, that frame of the truck doesn't match the rest of your truck. What? What are you talking about? I didn't believe him, I came back the next day, made another appointment. Same thing, they said the same thing. I said, hold up, I only replaced the bumper. He said, well, I traced the frame, the VIN number, it went to a stolen truck in California. What? We've owned this truck, since it was brand new, for 15 years. I was telling my buddies this and they were like, oh yeah, that's your 2018 man. That's it, that's it, of course this will happen to you. How's your 2018? You're like, okay, you win. I replaced an AC unit, but I guess you win it. Here's the thing about the year, right? Sometimes of course your year could have been worse. You might have dealt with sickness, you might've dealt with different things. Maybe in your marriage, or with your kids, or maybe if you're in college, you know, that bad professor, whatever it is.
Ken Tram: 09:13 Your 2018 could be better than mine, or not so good. But here's what I learned, that the only constant in life is inconsistency. Isn't that true? The only constant in life is inconsistency. You think everything's going great, my kid's on the honor roll, I got the bumper sticker in the back, were all good. And then all of a sudden they start acting up, and it just doesn't work out. And I started praying, I'm thinking, God, if life is so inconsistent, what can I do to make 2019 better? So I started thinking, I started praying and there's this word, these two words that popped in my head, and God has placed on my heart. And I'm going to put on you to make your 2019 even better. It's going to add to your goals for 2019. Two words, audacious faith, audacious faith. And I started thinking here, wait, hold on, hold on, what does audacious mean? Audacious means when you're standing up next to a person, you call them audacious. That means they're daring, that means they're bold, they're courageous, that means it doesn't matter what's in front of me, I'm going to go audacious. Audacious adds something to faith.
Ken Tram: 10:24 Now there's a reason why we need to add audacious to faith. Did you know that Ariana Grande and Stevie Wonder has a song together, it's called faith. You go to Hobby Lobby, ninety percent of the decorations there have the word faith in it. I think we lost the meaning of faith. Because faith, typically we say, oh yeah, I'm a man of faith. Faith describes what you believe in, but you add audacious to it, it turns from an adjective to all of the sudden a verb of action. So all of a sudden you say, wait, I'm a man of faith, but I don't know if I have audacious faith. Do you have audacious faith? And so to add onto your 2019, I'm hoping, I'm hoping and I'm praying that you're going to add to your weight goals, you're working out goals, clean up the garage. That you're going to add, you know what? I want to grow in my faith audaciously.
Ken Tram: 11:14 So there's this verse that's going to sum up everything I'm talking about, and it's actually found in Matthew 17. Matthew 17, and this is me being convicted and saying, okay God, why is this happening to me? Why am I drowning in all these situations? Why? Why are these mountains in my life? What's going on with this? And God has looked at me and he convicted me in this situation, in this verse, and I prayed that it convicts you to. They actually says this. It says this, "He replied because you have so little faith." The faith that you believe in, isn't the faith that I want you to have, you have little faith. It says, "Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as little as a mustard seed, you can tell this mountain to move from here to there, and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." Audacious faith. And what's crazy is this. How he's setting this up, is this. It said, faith as little as a mustard seed. And Cornerstone, I'm wondering what happens if we have faith even bigger than that? Audacious faith, grow in it.
Ken Tram: 12:20 So I'm thinking, and I'm putting together this message, and all of a sudden God put on my heart this story of David and Goliath, and that is the story that we're going to be dissecting in today. So if you guys want to turn your bibles to First Samuel chapter 17, that's in the Old Testament, turn there. It's going to be exciting, exciting, exciting. First Samuel, chapter 17. We're going to learn from David. There's three characters here that I want you to learn from. Of course there's David who has incredible audacious faith, we're going to learn from him how to grow our faith audaciously. And then we have Goliath who's whatever it is, it's that mountain that's getting on our way. And we have the Israelites, the Israelites I feel like you and I can kind of relate to it. Just faith, but not audacious faith, and let's see where that takes us. Alright? Okay, so here we go. We're going to be First Samuel 17 and it's going to be in verse two. It says this, "Saul and the Israelites assembled and camped in the valley of Elah, and drew up their battle line to meet the Philistines. The Philistines occupied one hill, and the Israelites another, with the valley between them." If you're taking notes in your Bible, I want you to just circle, or just remember, this word valley because we're going to talk about that, there's a valley that's between them. And let me summarize a little bit. All of a sudden there's this Goliath that pulls up, that he just comes out, and he challenges the Israelites. He says, listen, I'm going to come up here, and I'm going to challenge you. And Goliath looked mean. He's not like, you know, in our kids program we color Goliath it's just you know, he just looked a little mean. No, he is big. The Bible describes him, he's about nine feet, nine inches tall. If I were to picture a Goliath, right, I would picture like Shaquille O'Neal, right? Just giant. But Shaquille O'Neal is a little bit older now, he's not working out as much, he needs the body like The Rock. Dwayne, The Rock, Johnson, no facial hair. And then he looks like Aquaman, alright? So if you were to see Goliath at a grocery store, like. I'm checking out my grapes. Okay, the grapes are ripe. And all of the sudden Goliath walks in, Shaquille O'Neal, The Rock, Aquaman, bumps me. You know what I would do as a man? I would say, I'm sorry I got in the way, because that's Goliath, Goliath is supposed to be intimidating. Those are the problems in life, isn't it? It's supposed to be intimidating, you're supposed to be in fear. And Goliath is shouting, time after time, you should be scared, I am ruining your life.
Ken Tram: 14:55 So if you continue on in the story verse 11, it says this, "On hearing the Philistines word Saul and the Israelites (Who actually are supposed to have faith, but instead they..) were dismayed and they were terrified. Because they had faith, but the faith wasn't audacious enough. And if you actually skip down to verse 16, it says this, because I always thought Goliath comes out and makes his little speech and goes back home. No. Verse 16 says, "For 40 days, Philistine came forward every morning and every evening and took his stand."
Ken Tram: 15:35 So the problems that we have in our lives isn't just a problem that we can fix immediately is it? Check engine light is on, we take our car to the shop and that's it. No. No, these are the moments I like to call Goliath moments. These moments that define our faith, define who we are, define what we believe in. It is always going to be these Goliath moment that's going to show us what we're weak in. These Goliath moments are typically things that when we go home, we try to fall asleep, we can't. We can't fall asleep because this problem that's in your life keeps going. It's like Goliath keeps taunting you, not just one day, but the next day that problem is still there, and you're crying in your pillow. The next day you just can't react anymore. It's not just by days, it's not just by weeks, maybe months, 40 days and 40 nights Goliath is taunting him. Taunting the Israelites, goliath moments.
Ken Tram: 16:45 So let's see how David responds in audacious faith with these Goliath moments. And actually the first point I want to make is this, I want you to recognize if you want to grow in your faith audaciously, you need to recognize that fear paralyzes faith. Fear paralyzes faith. The opposite of faith is always going to be fear. Think about that. It's like, okay, okay, yes, I prayed the prayer and I believe in you Jesus, but all of a sudden when Goliath shows up, wait God, I know I said I believe in you, but I don't know what you're going to do in this situation, so because of that, I'm going to fear. Fear is always the opposite of faith. See, we have faith in so many different things, right? The problem isn't that people don't have faith, we do have faith. We have faith that the plane's going to take off, and the plane is going to land. We have faith in that, but when you start fearing that means you no longer trust the airplane, you no longer trust God. Fear is the opposite of faith. Fear always paralyzes faith. And here's the thing, God has called you into something incredible, something big. God has called you for a reason, if you're still here on earth, that means you have a purpose to live for. God has incredible plans for you, and it's on this side. But here's the thing, if you only knew your calling, if you only knew where God is supposed to take you, you would just go. But the thing is this, there's always going to be someone that slows you down, and that someone is going to be Satan. It's the Goliath, and the mountains, in your life. And he's going to put different things in your life so that you will fear, so you will turn your back on Jesus, that's what he's going to do.
Ken Tram: 18:46 In fact, as you're the Israelites are here, they noticed the Goliath, even though God has called him on the other side. What does Satan do? All of a sudden puts a Goliath, or a mountain, in front of them. And so this is what Satan wants you to do. He wants you to look at Goliath and say, never mind, God, I don't know if I trust in you that much, God, things are getting uncomfortable right now. But here's the thing, you only have two options. You're either going to fear the Goliath or whatever Satan has put in your life, or Satan is going to be afraid of you, and one actually takes audacious faith. Let me tell you what that means, that means as you're marching towards the other side, all of a sudden Satan is like, okay, I'm going to put another Goliath. No, no, no that's not going to slow me down, I have audacious faith. I'm going to put another Goliath, no, no, no that's not going to slow me down, I have audacious faith. I'm going to put a mountain, it's not going to slow me down. And all of a sudden it changes, Satan is going to be afraid of you, because you're going to be living out to the calling that God has called you to. And don't tell me if you're on the great path, and you're moving the right direction, bad things will come, because Satan's going to be afraid. You've got to keep marching forward.
Ken Tram: 20:06 Alright, here's what's crazy. We continue on, so David is noticing, all of a sudden, he shows up. And all of a sudden Goliath is saying his little thing, and the Israelites are going back into fear, forty days, forty nights. David comes up, it's like, hey, what's up? What are you guys doing? Why are you guys scared? Why are you guys scared? And he says this, verse 32, "David said to Saul, let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant, I'm going to go. I'll fight him." Everybody's like, why? What are you doing? Why are you going to fight him? And here's the thing, audacious faith gives you confidence to face your Goliaths, it's going to give you confidence. Audacious faith needs to give you confidence, if faith doesn't give you confidence, it's not faith. Audacious faith needs to give you confidence.
Ken Tram: 21:02 Have you guys ever had confidence before? False confidence. It's kind of like, I'm a big Arizona Cardinals fan. Yes, Steve will deliver us to the promised land. Okay, you're the worst in the NFL right now, let's go for that draft pick. False confidence. But here's what faith is supposed to do, it's not false confidence, you're supposed to have full confidence in God. Audacious faith. He says this, I don't know if you guys ever heard of Coolio? He's a famous philosopher. He wrote the song called Gangster's Paradise. And in it, Coolio actually says this, he says, "As I walked through the Valley of the shadow of death, I take a look at my life and realize there's nothing left." Yes, we're all sinners here, you guys know the lyrics, it's all right. And that's David's confidence, that's actually from Psalm 23, Psalm 23, verse four. I say for you guys to Circle Valley because it takes a journey to go from here to there. It takes crossing the valley, and as you're crossing the valley, you're going to face the Goliaths in your life, and David's reflecting on that moment. He says this, as I'm walking through the valley of the shadow of death, meaning death is right there, the shadow of death is just about to touch me, it's looming right there. And then it says this, as I'm walking through the valley of shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Because I have full confidence, and audacious faith of where God is taking me through. Audacious faith, that's full confidence.
Ken Tram: 22:46 Let me tell you this, God doesn't say, hey, listen, when you meet a little bunny hill, a little one, you tell it to move, it'll move, not a problem. God doesn't say that. He says, when there's mountains that are stopping you, when there's a goliath that's so big, when that mountains too steep, when it's too tall, you tell it to move and it will move. It will move. And again he doesn't stop, does he? Nothing will be impossible for you. Ye of little faith, grow in it, grow in it. Audacious faith will move mountains. In fact, a lot of times we associate faith with something that's not true, right? A lot of times we associate faith or Christianity with, okay listen, okay you're a Christian now, okay, let me just run you over. Here you go Goliath, I'm sorry I got in the way. That's not what scripture says. In fact, in Second Timothy, there's this incredible verse that says this, for the spirit God gave us, does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. Doesn't make us timid, the spirit of God isn't supposed to say, okay, I'm fearful, okay, okay, okay. No, it says, it gives us power of love and self-discipline.
Ken Tram: 24:10 So we go back to scripture and we're looking at Goliath, and noticing that he's running his mouth. And David's going up there, and he's like, whoa, hold up, hold up, there's this Goliath there you guys are shrinking back. No, I'm going to fight him, I'm going to fight him, I got this. I have audacious faith, and you need to have that confidence as well. You see what I'm saying is this, is that it doesn't matter how big your problems are, it doesn't matter how big your Goliaths are, God will deliver you. And if you think your problems are too big for God, then you don't believe in the same God that I believe in. Your God isn't big enough for you. Because God is bigger than any problem, any situation. God is able to heal your marriage, God is able to heal your addictions, God is able to take you and deliver you to the other side, if you have audacious faith and you trust the process. That's what audacious faith does. So this is David now, and you're like, David, how did you have this confidence? And the next point is this, God has delivered you in the past, and he's going to deliver you again in the future. He's delivered you in the past, and he's going to deliver you again in the future. It's obviously little kid David, right? He's over there and Saul, the king, he's like, hey, listen, listen, I know you want to fight him, that's not a good idea. He's afraid. He says, don't go against this Philistine, verse 33, and fight him, you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth. This guy has been fighting since he was young, before you were even born. So David said, all right Saul, sit down, let me tell you a story. It's this little kid, right? This little kid's like, so when I was a kid, David's like, listen, when I was a kid, God called me to watch over some sheep. These little cutie sheep, little fluffy sheep, they say baa, right? And all of a sudden as I'm watching the sheep, a lion comes in. Now if you see a lion, you better run, okay? But David doesn't run. It says, this lion came in and took the sheep in its mouth. Do you know what David did? David said, no, not at my house. He took his cane and whacked the lion, whack. And all of the sudden the lion just dropped the sheep. Do you know what that lion did? It turned around, and it started going after David. Kind of like in our life, right? When we try to solve problems, and all of the sudden it just gets beyond, it gets bigger. It goes from a little thing, to this huge thing. It's like Satan constantly trying to stop you from God, from what God has called you from. Alright, I'm going to delete this little Goliath, but it's going to become bigger. And it's like, okay, Satan wants you to walk away. So this is what David said, so when that lion came at me, you know what I did? I grabbed it by its hair, and I killed it with my bare hands. Saul's like, okay, that's a little weird, a little too confident there, David. He's like, I'm not done, I'm not done. He said, a bear came in. Oh, a bear. This bear came and tried to take my sheep. You know what I did? He said what? I killed it with my hands as well. And it continues on and says this, and I love this. It says in verse 36, "Your servant has killed. I've killed both the lion and the bear, and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he's defied the armies of the living God. The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion, and the paw of the bear, will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine."
Ken Tram: 28:09 What are the Lions and the bears in your life? Listen, miracles exist, and God has delivered you in the past. He's done things in the past that are miracles already. You've had a bad pregnancy, God's delivered you from that. He's delivered you from the sickness that was the worst you've ever been in. He's delivered you from the brink of divorce with you in that marriage. He has delivered you from that workplace, that you shouldn't have been in, in the first place. He's delivered you. And so we have to reflect back on the past, because here's the thing, it's so easy to forget, isn't it? It's so easy to forget when God does miraculous things in our life, and we have to think back to what God has done in the past, so that he could carry us into the future. If God delivered us in the past, he can do it again, and deliver us in the future as well. Not even just the small things, but the big things as well. That's audacious faith, incredible audacious faith.
Ken Tram: 29:17 So all of a sudden, Saul's like, okay, I get it, I get it. You go out and fight, here's my armor. So he takes off this armor, puts it on David, and David's walking around with his armor. It's the best armor that he can have, because it's King Saul's armor, it has a sword. He's walking around, all of the sudden he's like, okay, listen, listen, I can't wear this. And I've always thought, when I'm reading scripture, he couldn't wear it because David was too small. Not what scripture says. Scripture actually says, David, David didn't wear it because he wasn't used to it. And you know what we're used to, typically, when we encounter Goliaths in our lives? We're used to having audacious faith. You know in what? In our own abilities, and our own worldly things, instead of the abilities of God.
Ken Tram: 30:05 So my last point is this, audacious faith in your abilities, is not a substitute for audacious faith in God. Meaning this, when you're in debt and you're drowning in debt. Typically the easy solution is okay, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to work overtime, I'm going to take extra shifts and stuff. And then it doesn't work out, and the leftovers are to what? Is to God. Alight God, I'm going to pray now. You know, when you believe in ourselves, when you believe in men, it can only take you so far. But when do you believe in Jesus, and when you understand what audacious faith is, he'll take you farther than you can ever imagine. That's audacious faith. It's faith of action, not of timidity, but of power. Audacious faith, you tell a mountain to move, and it will? Move. It will move.
Ken Tram: 30:57 And so all of a sudden the story ends with this. David's at the creek, he picks up five stones. No armor, no sword, no helmet, and he walks to the valley. He's living life, and he faces the Goliath. And I love this moment right here. It's actually, have you guys ever watched Denzel Washington in Training Day? You know that strong monologue that he has in the end? Like King Kong ain't got nothing on me. This is David strong monologue, okay? Alright, listen to this in Denzel's voice. Okay, maybe not in Denzel's voice, but check out this confidence that David has. It says this, David said to the Philistine, he has incredible audacious faith. Says 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. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I'll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds, and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. All those gathered here will know it is not by sword, it is not by spear, that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you all into our hands." So David says that, Goliath is standing there, instead of shrinking back like the rest of Israel does. What does David do? He runs forward towards the Goliath, towards the mountain. Whips his sling around, throws that stone, hits him in the forehead and Goliath falls. Not by sword, not by strength, but it's because of audacious faith. So what are the mountains in your life that is preventing you from seeing where God has called you to? Because God has called you into greater things. You know what happened to David after that? He had to show that he had audacious faith to face Goliath, in order for him to become King David. You have to face that Goliath, you have to have incredible, audacious, faith to move mountains in your life, because it's preventing you from what God has called you to.
Ken Tram: 33:43 So your marriage, as you're signing divorce papers, give it another shot. That sickness that may be in your family, let's try praying. What are the mountains in your life? Pick up the phone, call up that son that's lost. Call up your dad. What is in the pit of your stomach that when you see Goliath, that you fear, maybe that's holding you back from what God has called you to. You know Jesus, in order to save us all, it was his calling. In order for Jesus to show his love, to demonstrate his love, he also had a face the mountain, he also had a face a Goliath, and that was the cross. And what's crazy is this, is it says in scripture, that same power that resurrected Jesus from the grave, the same power that brought him from death to life again, is now living inside of us. So we can face our Goliaths like David did. And we can say, who is this Philistine that dares defy the living God? And that living God is inside of me, I will run at him with nothing but audacious faith. I will go at it, and I will no longer fear, because my God is living, my God is powerful, and my God is bigger than any of my problems in my life. You can clap for that.
Ken Tram: 35:36 So 2019, when I'm praying for you, it's not going to be perfect, right? Believing in Jesus isn't saying, okay, everything's perfect and everything's happy. It's that I'm going to have audacious faith that everything's going to be okay, because my God is bigger than my Goliaths, my God is bigger than my mountains, and he will take care of me as he's done in the past. Let's grow in that faith.
Ken Tram: 36:03 Let's pray together. Lord, Heavenly Father God, thank you for the story of David and Goliath. As we're learning from this kid, this David guy, that it's not about age, it's not about experience, but in the end it's about audacious faith in you. As we grow in you, and as these Goliaths and mountains our in our lives, slay them, move them, God. Let us trust in you. And Lord, Heavenly Father, I pray, I pray for families here that are broken. I pray for healing from addiction. I pray for marriages, God, to be healed. For sicknesses to be removed, God. Because Lord God, when we say and declare God, that mountains can be moved, it will move. So show us that, oh God, grow us in our faith so that we can live audaciously in 2019. Lord Heavenly Father, we pray this in your holy, mighty, powerful name Jesus, and everybody says, Amen. Hey guys, thank you so much. We're going to see you guys next year, 2019 next week. Happy New Years!
Recorded in Chandler, Arizona.
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