God's Fight, My Faith | Jabin Chavez | City Light Church

believing that it is going to be a blessing to you, a blessing to your world, a blessing to your life. The Bible says that at the entrance of God's Word, it brings light, it brings revelation and understanding. I believe in that's going to happen for you today in Jesus' name. Just before we go to the Word, our team is asking all the time for you to like and subscribe and hit the notification bell, all the things. I guess it helps with the algorithm. I don't know what the algorithm is, but I guess it's real and that would help us and it would help us get the Word of God to you. I also want to thank all of you for your financial support. Thank you for helping us bring the beautiful message of the gospel of the Lord Jesus right here to Las Vegas, the most unchurched city in the most unchurched state in America. We are doing everything we can to win souls and make disciples, raising up the next generation right here in Vegas. And if you are looking for good ground to sow into, this is it. If you want to help us reach more and more people for the Lord, this is a great place to do it for you who are already giving. Thank you. It means the world to us. I love you so much. Come on, let's jump into God's Word. First Samuel 17. This is a very famous scripture about a young boy named David fighting a giant named Goliath. And we are in a series right now entitled "These Things Belong to God." And today we're going to look at how the battle belongs to God. There are multiple things in scripture that God said, "These things are mine. They belong to me." Last week we looked at how the glory belongs to the Lord. Today we're going to look at how the battle belongs to the Lord. First Samuel 17. David says to King Saul, "Don't worry about this Philistine. I'll go fight him." Saul replies, "Don't be ridiculous. There's no way you can fight this Philistine and possibly win." You're only a boy. He's been a man of war since his youth. That's crazy. So Saul is like, he's been a man since he was a kid. Like, you'll ever see those viral clips of like a 13-year-old basketball player that looks like 35. You know what I mean? He's like, "He's been a man." That's what Saul says. He's been a man of war since his youth. Verse 34, "But David persisted." Now what did David persist in in verse 34? He begins to tell of how he fought the lion and how he fought the bear. He starts to recount his history with God. As he faces a new enemy, he starts to recall all the ways God gave him victory in the past. Okay, first he talks to Saul. Now he's going to talk to Goliath. Look at this. Verse 45, "David said to the Philistine," David said to Goliath, "You come to me with a sword and spear and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of Heaven's armies,

the God of the armies of Israel whom you have defied." Now notice how much he starts talking about God. When you're in a battle, talk about God. When you're in a fight, talk about God. When you're in a storm, talk about God. When you're facing something bigger than you, talk about someone bigger than you're giant. He said, "This is a God thing." Verse 46, "Today the Lord will conquer you, and I will," notice the Lord will, watch this, "and I will, the Lord will, and I will, the Lord will, and I will, and I will kill you." Okay, it's a Old Testament. Amen. This is, this is not Ephesians. Come on somebody. This is not New Testament of Grace and Mercy. This is the Old Testament. Now we know we wrestle against principalities, powers, rulers, and dark places. We don't wrestle against flesh and blood. This is, this is a spiritual principle we're learning here. That when we face our enemy, there's, there's something God does or something we do. And then God will give the dead bodies of your men to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel, and everyone assembled here will know that the Lord rescues this. People look, again, just look at this. The Lord, the Lord, the Lord. But not with sword and spear. That's not how God does it. This is the Lord's battle. Come on everybody, say that out loud. Everybody say, "This is the Lord's battle." One more time. This is the Lord's battle. Wow. And he will give you to us. One more time, verse 46, "Today the Lord will conquer you, and I will." The Lord will, and I will. The Lord will, and I will. And I want to talk about that partnership with God when you're in a battle. God's fight, my faith. God's fight, my faith. - Thank you. (sighs) And the whole church said amen, and amen, and amen. Come on, if you're ready for the word, let's clap our hands one more time. Jump into this word. Thank you, brother. Life is all about choices. Life is all about attitude. Life is all about perspective. Life has much more to do with your attitude and your perspective than your circumstance.

And I'll prove that to you very simply that if you don't allow God to work on you, if you don't allow God to work on your attitude and on your perspective, even if He changes your circumstances, your circumstances will never be good enough for you to be grateful. Hey, I'm not trying to offend you right off the bat, but here we go, that if everything is right around you, but it's still wrong in you, everything going on around you will never be enough because we are inside out people that the inner world matters more than the outer world. So God is constantly trying to work on the inside of us because God's ultimate desire for you is not just that He would do something for you, but that He would then do something in you. And here's why, so that eventually He can do something through you. That's purpose. That's where God begins to do miracles through you, where you become an answer to somebody's prayer. And you become a miracle for somebody and you become a vessel for God. That's what God wants to do. So He has to do something in you. Dr. Charles Swindall said it like this, "Life is about 10 percent what happens to us and 90 percent our response. That what is going on inside matters more than what's going on outside." David had to make a choice. David did not know that the day he woke up that he was going to face a giant. The Bible said that his father, Jesse, woke him up, gave him bread and cheese and said, "I want you to take this to the battle lines to feed your brothers." He was basically bringing food for the week to his brothers who were in the battle. But when he gets there, he hears a giant. When he gets there, Goliath taps on his shoulder. When he gets there, he hears the voice of an enemy and in that moment chooses to fight. Let me say it like this, you rarely choose your giants. Usually your giants choose you.

You didn't choose who you were born, the family you were born into. You didn't choose the city you were born into. You didn't choose your aunt, your uncle, your brothers, your sisters, your parents. You didn't choose your last name. You didn't choose the color of your skin. You didn't choose if you were going to be male or female. You were born where you were born and you were born into the proclivities that you have and the issues that you have and some of those generational curses that have kind of come down the family tree. And now you are where you are. But listen, if you stop there, you believe the lie of hell that you can do nothing about it. But I've come with good gospel news. I may not have chosen my past. Come on, somebody help me preach. I may not have chosen my history, but I have something I can do about my destiny. I am choosing a better tomorrow, say amen everybody. We rarely choose our giants. We don't always choose the fights we are in, the issues we face. We don't always choose the struggle, the storm, the unexpected change. But please don't die as a victim to your circumstance because you don't like your fight. Because we all got a fight. We all got something that we are placed in. But in the midst of it, David does something brilliant. He hands the fight over to the Lord and he says the Lord will fight. Now I am going to have to throw away the stone. There is something I am going to have to do in agreement, but ultimately this is God's fight. And I just want you to know, ultimately the thing you are facing is God's fight. The good news is that he has never lost a battle.

He is not going to start with you. Thank you for that golf clap. It was powerful. It was powerful. Number one, number one, I will let you warm up. Choose courage over worry. I have to choose when I am in the fight, courage over worry, courage, courage. The ability to do something that frightens you, courage. to be courageous is not fearless. They have no fear. No, no, no. Actually, you're actually not courageous until you're afraid, and then you do it anyway. That's courage. That's courage. Courage is recognizing the fear, feeling the fear, and then going, "But fear will not be the deciding factor in my decision-making." David said, "Don't worry." Okay. I think you can say, "Don't worry." I think you can say, "Be not afraid while you're afraid." I'll prove it to you, any parents in here? Have you ever seen your kid, like maybe really injure themselves, and you're trying to keep calm so you go, "You're going to be okay. You're all right. It's okay. You're going to be okay." And you're talking to yourself. Come on, somebody. Has their bleeding. You're like, "You're not?

Is that? You're going to be." Sometimes I have to preach that way. I got to get up in front of you and go, "It's okay. We're going to be all right. God is good. Be not afraid." And I'm freaking out. You can say, "I'm not afraid. You can have courage while your knees are knocking and your stomach's turning and your hands are shaking and sweat's coming down your nose. But something in you says, "But I will not let fear be the decision-maker in my life. Do not worry." So, we're not faith robots. Faith does not make us less human. Faith actually makes us more human. Christianity doesn't make us less human. It actually makes us more human. But here's the reality of it. When I'm really walking by faith, I'm not in denial of what I feel. I'm just denying that my feelings are king. Faith is dethroning fear, but not being in denial of fear. David is probably 5'2", 5'3", a teenage boy looking at a 10-foot giant going, "Don't worry. I got this. I know I'm the underdog. I know he's bigger, but I'm choosing something greater." See, the Bible said that for 40 days, Goliath would go out every morning and every night. This is 1 Samuel 17, 23, and he would shout his usual taunts. He had a taunt to keep Israel from fighting.

For 40 days, they're just staring at their enemy. Freaked out. That's what fear does. It just paralyzes you. It keeps you hiding intense instead of out on the battle lines. And notice that your enemy is loud, y'all. And he knows how to taunt you. Let me say this. It's different than my taunt. And my taunt's different than your taunt. Your taunt's different than her taunt. Her taunt's different than his taunt. We all have a different taunt. That's why you should never judge somebody for what they're going through, because they got a different taunt than you. Somebody looks at you and goes, "Just stop gambling." You're like, "I would love that. Just stop drinking. Just stop." I'm giving it my all, you know? "Just stop doing drugs. Just lose weight." It's like, "Yes, that would be amazing. I would love that." Jesus, you know, it's like, "I don't know who you think you are." So you got to give some grace, because they got a taunt, that the enemy has learned maybe not over 40 days, but maybe over 40 years, maybe over decades, maybe over generational lines that have taunted and taunted and taunted and taunted and taunted and taunted. And I've told you you're not good enough and you'll never make it and you'll never get the victory.

Every day will be the same and every night will be the same and every year will be the same and every, and same, same, that you'll never win, you'll never overcome, you'll never get free, you'll never really be loved by God, you'll never really be known by people, you'll never. And the devil is trying to lie to you, not so that you lose the fight, but so that you never even jump into the ring. Oh, but I've come to declare the devil is a liar. I'm going to let somebody in the rapture section shout with me real quick. Come on, can I get an amen from up there real quick? I declare this is God's fight and you're going to win in the name of Jesus. See, you're going to be a don't worry person or a don't be ridiculous person. David said, don't worry. So said, don't be ridiculous. Who are you going to be? Is that, I want to be a, I want to be a ridiculous church. We are because I see it on your faces sometimes, right? The way I, I want to be a ridiculous preacher. I want our prayer meetings to be ridiculous. I want our vision to be ridiculous. I want our faith in the next generation to be ridiculous. I want our excitement about what God could do in this city to be ridiculous. Where people walk in and they just fold their arms and go, this is a little radical, this is a little, I get it. I had a sweet little Mormon lady come up to me a couple of weeks ago on a Saturday night and she goes, "Hey, I've been coming for a little while. "I've been a Mormon my whole life "and I've been coming here and it's a lot."

(congregation laughing) She didn't just say it's a lot, she breathed it. I said, "It's a lot." You know what I was saying? It was real, right? And I go, "It's a lot, huh?" She goes, "It's a lot." I go, "I'm a lot, huh, 'cause you're a lot." (congregation laughing) And I said, "If I'm too much, let us help." We'll find you a little cute Christian church. You know what I mean? Like I get it, like I actually get it. I'm not even being ugly. I'm like, we could find you something, you know, with less caffeine, amen, you know. We're kind of the Red Bull church. We could find you something a little more, you know, half-calf, you know what I'm saying? (congregation laughing) And I said, "But press through a couple more weeks. "See if you can, you know, see if you can get through, "you know, but I get it." So I get that, I get that. There's different flavors for different people, I get it. But this church, I want us to be radical. This church, I want us facing giants. This church, I want us taking territory. This church, I want us buying properties. This church, I want us to see the victory.

This church, I wanna break some curses. I just, I want our praise to be loud and our faith to be high for what God could do. Say amen if you're with me today. You gotta choose to be courageous. Choose to be ridiculous. Choose the life of faith. And faith will always look ridiculous. Courage will always be a rare commodity. Hope will always feel unrealistic. But here's what I know that the miraculous and the ridiculous are always connected. Always. Every time you see a miracle in the Bible, you see a ridiculous instruction from God. The people pray for a miracle, God gives them an instruction. It's all over scripture. Now, it don't feel ridiculous now when you read it 'cause you grew up with these Bible stories maybe or because you went to Sunday school or because you've been in the word long enough that it just looks like normal, but it's ridiculous. Elijah's in a drought, a three and a half year drought and God says go find water and pour it on the altar and call down fire. Do you realize how mad everyone would be around him? People haven't drank water in days and Elijah the preacher brings all this,

imagine this on a Sunday morning. I bring all this water to city light church and we've been in a drought for three and a half years and I just pour it out. Someone's gonna punch me. (congregation laughing) It was ridiculous. And then when God answers him, He doesn't answer him with rain. First He answers him with fire. It isn't bad on bad. And I think Elijah's going all right, Lord, whenever you're ready, Jesus is like this. Then it rains, that's ridiculous. He tells Elisha to dig ditches in preparation for rain. Think about this, He tells the name into dip seven times in a dirty Jordan River. He tells the widow to gather vessels so that they can be filled with oil. He tells the servants who need wine to get water. He tells the disciples to gather the people up in groups of 50, the 5,000 in a groups of 50 and then he feeds them. Why did he have to do that? I don't know, but that would have been annoying. Imagine I've been preaching for three days. Nobody's eaten, people are fainting the Bible says, this is a bad day, this is a grumpy day. I saw some of y'all felt on sunset today trying to get in here, come on somebody. You're just like,

trying to be a Christian, could have watched online. This parking lot teammate let me in. Amen, I feel, I feel you sister, I feel you. So after three days of preaching and no food, the disciples start rounding people up. We're going to get into groups of 50, amen, we're getting it. That's a bad day, that's a bad day to be a host. Come on, to be one of the greeters, to be one of the security team, this is a bad day. It was ridiculous, but it turned into a miracle. Jesus is about to raise his best friend Lazarus from the dead. And right before he says Lazarus, come forth, he looks at his disciples and says, roll away the stone. You do what you can do, I'll do what I can do. You can't raise the dead, but you can roll away a stone. And if you'll do the part you can do, God will do the part that you cannot do. This is how miracles happen. The Lord will fight and I will throw a stone. There's two things happening at the same time. And it feels ridiculous till it becomes miraculous. And it feels weird until it becomes miraculous. And it feels awkward until it becomes miraculous. Some of you came into this church and the first few weeks you would come into worship and you'd just watch. This is loud. This is wild. This is crazy. That person's laughing and that person's crying and that person's jumping and that person's feeling.

And then one day you kind of just took a step of faith and he lifted a pinky to the Lord and he just thought, I mean, anyway, this ain't bad. And then he got your other one. And then he got a little higher, come on somebody. And this morning you were waving and you were praising and you felt the Holy Ghost on you and you were praising God and shout, oh, come on, I have anybody with that story. Come on, let's take a praise break real quick and give God a ridiculous, come on, give me a hundred people to just give God the glory this morning and all of a sudden. Choose courage, over worry, number two, choose faith over facts, faith over facts. That poor mama finally got her baby to sleep and then we started shouting, I'm sorry. Choose faith. Jesus finally got your faith over facts. There's no way, here's what Saul says, there's no way you can fight this Philistine and win. And I've come to say Saul was right because when you're 5'2 and you got a sword and you're going up against a 10 foot giant and he's got a sword, you're cooked. Saul said you can't, Saul was being realistic, Saul knew the facts, Saul had a scouting report on the enemy, he's been a man of war since, let me just say this, Saul knew more about the giant than God. Some of y'all know so much about your enemy and you don't know nothing about God and you wonder why you're always getting defeated. You know so much about culture, you know nothing about Christ. You know everything about the latest conspiracy theory by whoever your favorite YouTube person is so I will not mention again that I mentioned at the 9 a.m. and almost there's a flood of women left the church, I won't say that again but you know everything about your conspiracy and you know everything about the offensive line of the raiders and you know everything about what's going on here and what's going on there and you know everything about sports and you know everything about this and you know everything about that and if you had to quote a scripture, if your life depended on it you couldn't quote John 3 16, but you wonder why you're so spiritually defeated. Maybe it's time to stop talking about Goliath, it's time to stop talking about everything

that's going on out there and it's time to learn about the promises of God because on Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking, shifting, sand, everything is going to change, everything is going to move but I am part of an unshakable kingdom called the kingdom of God and I want to stay right here, oh we could talk about Goliath all day, or we could talk about God. So I'll talk about Goliath, David talked about God and that was the difference. So I'll say you can't and in the natural he was right but listen faith sees another way. Faith sees another way. If your faith is low you've got to increase your word intake and you've got to increase your truth intake and it might, you might need a break from caller daddy and you might need to start calling on the name of Jesus. And how do you know about that part because I'm a human and it's not feeding your spirit. And I wish I had an organ player to fill in a little awkward silence right now. I won't talk about any of your other favorite podcasts, my point is you're so bound up in what is happening in the world that when you face a giant, you know everything about the giant but you forget about the God who's greater than the giant. Faith sees another way, sword to sword. But if you give me a sling and you give me some space, he's too big to miss. (audience cheering) I'm not in denial, but my enemy's too big to miss if I'll choose to see life from a different perspective. But there will always be an excuse to not do what God's calling you to do. Okay. Dr. King said it's always the right time to do the right thing. Let me just say this though. Your flesh is always the wrong time to do the right thing. Your flesh, it's never the right time. It's never the right time to forgive.

It's never the right time to repent. It's never the right time to invest. It's never the right time to take a step of faith. It's never the right time to lose weight. It's never the right time to go to church. It's never the right time to pray. It's never the right time to get in the word. It always feels like the wrong time and you're gonna have to take a step of faith beyond that. David didn't say, "Give me a couple of years. "Let me work on my craft." And no, no, no, it wasn't the right time, but David made it the right time to do the right thing. (audience applauding) Let me give you some Bible for that golf club. Farmers who wait for perfect weather, never plan. I'm just gonna see what happens in the primaries. I'm just gonna see what happens in 2028. We're just gonna see about 2030. I think Jesus might come back in September of 2029 because I was, you're always gonna, never, never, never. Any theology, by the way, I've said this a million times, here I go again. Any theology that robs you of hope, that's from the devil. Watch this. If you're waiting on perfect weather, you'll never do anything. And if they watch for every cloud, that's a sign. Some of y'all so obsessed with signs. What if you just got back to the word?

(audience applauding) If you're waiting on every cloud, you'll never harvest. I don't live by clouds. I don't live by the weather. I live by the word of God. I hope you can't, we're not talking about just natural weather. We're talking about the things going on in the natural. If you're waiting on everything to perfectly align and for the stars to align, it happens every once in a while but it's so rare that is not how I live my life. I don't live by every cloud. I don't live by every sign. I don't live by what's going on around me. I live by the truth of God's word. And if God said I could throw that stone, I'm gonna throw that stone and God's gonna give me the victory because this is not my fight. This is the Lord's battle. (audience applauding) Now watch this, watch this. Saul and David are looking at the same enemy, but a different way. Joshua went into the promised land 45 years earlier than Joshua chapter three. He went in as a spy. He went into scope out the land. He went in to see it. He went in with 12 men and then he got out.

Watch this. Now though Joshua chapter three, he's going back into the land and God says you've never been this way before. Not you've never been here before, you've never been this way before. You went in as a spy, you're going in as a king. You went in with 12, you're walking in with 2 million. You went in one way, you're walking in a different way. Same land, different way. Hey, hey, same spouse. Come on. Different attitude. Same husband, different approach. I've been telling him my husband. Guess it isn't working. We're going to need to try something different. Come on, somebody. I've been yelling at my kids there. Okay, we got to try something new. Same kids, different approach. Same job, different attitude. Same boss, different perspective. Same land, same city. You'll never thrive in Vegas complaining about Vegas. You'll never do it. I hate to see everybody's faking this city. I just, I need to go back to Cali. And then you come up here and go pray for me. I need to break through this city.

You can't be blessed where you curse. You can't curse your husband and be blessed. Can't curse your wife and be blessed. Can't curse your kids and be blessed. You can't curse your job and be blessed. Same land. You're a boy. He's a man. That's what Saul said. See, before David had to fight Goliath, he had to face Saul. Saul will talk you out of your greatest moments of victory. If David would have listened to Saul, he would have handed off the bread and the cheese to his brothers, and he would have went back home, and we would not be talking about him today. Because Saul could not see who David was. Never try to convince people who can't see God's gift on you. Watch this. Watch this. Watch this. After David gets the victory, Saul goes, so who was that? And Saul says, oh, that is David, one of Jesse's boys. He still couldn't see him. Most people cannot allow you to grow in their mind. So they meet you at one season, and they can't see you for who you are now, because they can only see you with that. And you have to have the spiritual maturity, number one, to allow people in your life to grow. And you also have to have the maturity to not live your entire life, trying to convince people that cannot see you for who you are now. I'm preaching the truth, Dylan. I'm preaching the truth. Because you'll live your whole life, trying to convince the haters. See, Saul goes, you're a boy. He's the man. You can do it. And the Bible says that David persisted. He didn't argue with him. You go, no, I am a man. No, I've got anointed King. I'm actually taking your job on. No, he didn't say any of that. The Bible said, he said, King Saul, with all due respect, I fought the lion, I fought the bear, and the same God that gave me the victory over them will give me the victory. In other words, in other words, he didn't fight from a natural perspective. He went spiritual, and he went back to his history with God, and he let God justify. Now, what says, Saul says you're a boy. Look what God says about him. Acts 13, 22, but God removes Saul and replaced him with David. A, put on your glasses. Come on, read that. A, not a trick question. Come on, one more time. A, Saul saw a boy. God saw a man. Saul saw a kid. God saw a king. And you are going to have to decide will you live by the voice of Saul or by the voice of the spirit? Will you live by the voice of creation or by the voice of your

creator? Never let someone who doesn't know you or love you define you. Never let somebody that doesn't know your God tell you who you are. Because I am who God says I am. And I'm going to do what God says I can do. And I'm going to have what God says I can have. And I'm going to be who God taught me I can be. And if Saul, if you don't like it, I'm going to move on. And David said, give me a shot. I know you don't believe in me. Give me a shot. Because David knew that Goliath was an opportunity, not a death sentence. Goliath was a giant opportunity. What if the giant you're facing right now is actually your key to the next level of promotion that God is raising. Don't give up on the battle lines. Get a stone in that sling and say today the Lord is going to give me the victory. Somebody stand up. Come on. I'm about to finish. Stand up. Everybody stand up. I'm almost done. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Stand up. Goliath, the Hebrew word Goliath, the Hebrew name Goliath means to reveal information. small they are and how big God is. Giants reveal that you are bigger on the inside than Goliath is on the outside. The giant reveals your calling. David was just a shepherd. David was just a guitar player but the giant revealed a gifted him that nobody saw. He was actually a warrior but that warrior could not be activated until he faced a giant. Giants make no near anointing to others. Giants teach you to pray. Giants put you on your face so that you totally rely on God. I'm not here without a giant. I'm not standing before you without a few devils that I had to face and say God I need you to increase my faith while you fight my battles. I didn't know who I was till I went eye to eye with a giant. And all this grace came out of me that I didn't even know what it was in there. Because see they talk about new levels, new devils. I think it's new devils, new levels. I think it's the opposite. I think you face something and you don't run from it and you don't hide from it. You face it and when Goliath fell David went to a new level because he stopped denying it. And he ran at it. The Bible says that you could read it later. David ran at the giant. Too big to miss. Too big to miss. Too big to miss. That big ol' head, that big ol' town-foot head. You're too big. I don't know what you're facing. But I know a

God who specializes in giants. Why don't you just raise your hands to heaven. Father here's our prayer today that you would increase our faith as you fight. Increase our faith as we watch you fight. Holy Spirit live big enough. Reveal the greatness of who you are. I declare every giant false. I declare victory in front of us and victory behind us. I declare victory on our left and on our right. I declare victory above and beneath. I declare God you're making a way where there seems to be no way. Father I thank you that you're fighting. I thank you that you're working. I thank you that you are taking our faith and you are turning it in to a miracle. I thank you for answers. I thank you for signs and wonders. I thank you for super natural answers. This week, even this week in the name of Jesus.