Taffi Dollar - Winning No Matter What - Part 1

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We’ve been talking quite a bit about David, studying his life. Sharing things about how he dealt with giants, Goliaths, the story over in 1 Samuel, and we want to continue along that line. I think if we were to come up with a title today, we would say «Winning No Matter What». Winning No Matter What. And I was driving in a couple Sundays ago on my way in to service, and the Holy Spirit just began to share with me, and I’m just gonna start with that today. And he said that there was a grace for a new beginning. And I just believe, and I just speak that over you as well, that same word, that word of the Lord, that there’s a grace on your life for a new beginning.

You my say, «Pastor Taffi, what does that mean»? Well, that means that there’s opportunities in our life where we can become heavy and weighted down and begin to not believe God to do something fresh and something new. It’s almost like pressing the «start» button where you can begin to relinquish all the things from the past and you can certainly start off with a freshness because of the grace that’s on your life to be able to do things, you know, because I just believe that as a result of what the word of the Lord was, that he will begin to give us that enablement, that enrichment, that ability, that supernatural ability that comes from him to be able to make supernatural progress and to begin to see things happen in such a short period of time.

There could be a new beginning on your business. We know things happened during the pandemic. There could be a new beginning in your relationships. There could be a new beginning just on the inside of you. Just a revelation of the fact that God wants to do something that we’ve not experienced before. And so, there’s a grace for this new beginning. There’s a endurance, a supernatural endurance to begin again. To begin again. And so, we wanna start with that today, that grace for the new beginning as we look at how we can walk in victory and win no matter what.

I just believe that, and what’s one of the things that we spent time on last week, I think we were talkin' about how battles are real to life but much more real are our victories, and that our victories are guaranteed. Our triumph is guaranteed in the midst of trouble, trials, tests, persecution. We have to begin to understand that God is with us and he will cause us to experience victory on every hand. And so let’s begin today in the Book of 1 Samuel. We’re gonna look at David as I mentioned. We’re gonna look at his life, some of the things that he overcame, how he won in the midst of situations that were uncommon to him, unfamiliar to him, and he was willing to allow God to lead him and direct him.

And so, we’ll start in chapter 17. 1 Samuel chapter 17, and this goes into how Goliath was there, David was there, his older brothers were there, and David made up in his mind that he was going to move forward. And so, over in the New Living Translation, we can look at some things concerning this passage of scripture, and we also wanna just look at how the fear of man, because David could’ve easily gotten caught up in the fears that his brothers were dealing with. The Bible talks about how Goliath went around for 40 days and 40 nights, strutting himself and taunting them. But David wasn’t afraid of Goliath. David was not intimidated by Goliath. He wasn’t allowing Goliath to make him feel small. He didn’t show up any less. But I’m sure there probably was this temptation because of what his brothers were experiencing at the time, and they were afraid of Goliath, and so that same fear, David made up in his mind that he would not be subject to it.

And so, let’s look at this in chapter 17 and we’ll start in the New Living Translation, verse 8. It says that: «Goliath stood and shouted a taunt across to the Israelites». So he was taunting them. He was antagonizing them. He was saying things. He was using his words to speak to them and to cause them to be in a place of fear and to fear him. So, «Goliath stood and shouted a taunt across to the Israelites». He says, «'Why are you all coming to fight? Why are you all coming to fight? ' he called. 'I am the Philistine champion, but you are only the servants of Paul.'»

So, you know, he was trying to cause them to stay in fear. He pronounced that he was the champion and that they weren’t. And he says, «'Choose one man to come down here and fight me! If he kills me, then we will be your slaves. But if I kill him, you will be our slaves! '» He says, «'I defy the armies of Israel today! Send me a man who will fight me! '» So they were afraid. They were not ready to run and fight Goliath because he was a champion. He had been experienced. He was trained in all these things as relate to being a soldier, and they were on the other hand, in verse 11 it says; «So when Saul and the Israelites heard this, they were terrified. They were terrified and deeply shaken.'» Terrified and deeply shaken.

Now, let’s look at this fear of man here. The fear of man, look over in Proverbs chapter 29 verse 25, because that’s what was taking place. All of those who were a part of the armies of Israel, they were afraid of him. They were terrified and deeply shaken. Look at what it says here in the New Living Translation, and then we’re gonna look at the Message translation as well. It says, «Fearing people is a dangerous trap». They were fearing Goliath. They were afraid of the giant. He was so big, you couldn’t even miss seeing him. He was over nine feet tall. And so, they were afraid. «Fearing people,» the scripture says, «is a dangerous trap».

And that’s what we have to remind ourselves of when it comes to the fear of man, fear of what people think, being afraid of people. And he says it’s a trap. One translation, I think it’s the King James, says it is a snare. The fear of man is a snare. But he says, «trusting the Lord means safety». And so, David was safe. You know why? Because he trusted in God. He trusted in what God had done when he was out in the wilderness, how God delivered him when he was with the bear from being attacked, when he was with the lion from being eaten up. And so, David understood how to trust God, but on the other hand, if we fear people, we will be in a dangerous situation. Look at what it says in the Message translation: «The fear of man,» or the fear of human, or same thing, the fear of human opinion, «disables».

The fear, being afraid of what people think, afraid of their opinions concerning you, he says that it will disable. It will come out from under us and actually disengage us in so many ways. It says it disables us. «Trusting in God protects you from that». Trusting in God protects you from that. And so, the older brothers of David saw all of them. You know what, because they were in fear, they were disabled, and as a result it took David coming along to begin to stand on God’s Word, and then as a result, he was able to walk in the victory.

And so, Goliath was not an Israelite. He was not one of God’s covenant people. And so, we must have the same attitude like David did, the same opinion, the same mindset that David had when it came to the challenge and the circumstances that we face in life. We’ve been understanding that circumstances are not always going to be, you know, walking on a bed of roses, but you know what? God is with us. Persecution will come to those who live godly. But he says, but God delivers us, what? Out of them all. And so, we can’t be more focused on the persecution, be more focused on the opinions of people, be more in tuned to the fear and to the opinions of other people than we are to God. Amen?

And so, we have to begin to recognize that we can elevate someone else’s opinion, elevate someone else’s mindset of fear over the opinion and our relationship with God. And so, these things are so very vital, because fear activates Satan and releases his power the same way that faith activates God and releases his power. And that’s what happened in the situation with David and Goliath. Because fear had activated Satan and they were running, they were terrified, they were deeply shaken, but when David showed up in faith, mindful of his covenant, it activated the power of God to get on that slingshot, to get involved in that situation and to cause the authority to be released so that he could begin to walk in victory.

So, lemme talk a minute about temptation, because there’s a temptation to yield to the fear of man. I think Pastor Ken used this scripture last Wednesday talking about temptations that try us. And we wanna look at how we can win no matter what when there’s a temptation to give in to the fear of man, there’s a temptation to give up, to throw in the towel, the temptation to quit, and you know, David was the most youngest one out of everyone. And so, he probably saw how others were responding and saw how they were dealing with the temptation to face Goliath, but he made up in his mind that «I’m not going to give in. I’m not going to be in a place where I throw in the towel, because I’ve experienced too much».

He experienced too much out in the wilderness with God. He had too much of a revelation of victory to the point where he would not cave in. And so it is in our life. I’m here to tell you today, when you get a revelation of how God brought you through when nobody else was there but you and God, you cannot quit. You cannot give in. You cannot throw in the towel, because like David did, there are always going to be temptations. There’re always going to be battles in life, obstacles, challenges, people with their opinions, the temptation to lean more into what they’re saying than what God is saying, but you know what? We’ve got to stay attentive in every situation and understand that we win no matter what.

Look at this in 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 8 and 9 of the Passion Translation, TPT: «Though we experience every kind of pressure,» I won’t ask anybody to raise their hands because that pandemic that we are coming out of and have come out of, there was all kinds of pressure through isolation. And he says, «Though we experience every kind,» he says everyone experiences every kind of pressure, «we’re not crushed. At times we don’t know what to do». I’m telling you there were days I didn’t know if I was goin' or comin'. Somebody’d say, «How you doin'»? «I don’t know how I’m doin'». Sometimes I just have to say bless God, I’m here. Still here. Adjusting to this new normal, this new way of going things. He says, «At times we don’t know what to do,» look at what he says here, «but quitting,» what? «is not an option».

That was David’s attitude. I’m not going to quit. I am not going to give in. Big brothers, Saul, I know I’m the most inexperienced one, but you know what? I cannot quit on God. He’s done too much. I have too much revelation of his power and his ability in my life to quit on him. I’ve come too far. I know too much. I’ve seen too many things. And so, we have to remind ourselves when those human opinions want to come up and elevate and say, «Well, you know, you’re not qualified. You’re not equipped. You don’t have the knowledge. You’ve never done that before. You know, we don’t do that. That’s not what we do». Trust God. And when God causes you to be in circumstances and to be in situations, quitting is not an option. We don’t give in. I won’t give up, and I won’t quit. He says, «We are persecuted by others, but God has not forsaken us».

My goodness, we are persecuted. He says all that live godly are going to suffer and have some hard times in life. We’re going to have challenges. We look at that in John 16. Some of these scriptures I won’t turn to for the sake of time. In this world, you’re gonna have some tests. You’re gonna have some trials. You’re gonna have some tribulations. He says, «We are persecuted». We’re gonna experience some things, people’s opinions. People who are more in tune with the world’s way of doing things versus having a consciousness of God. «We are persecuted, but God has not forsaken us». He has not forsaken us. He never will, and he never has. You gotta remind yourself when it seems like he has forsaken you, he never will and he never has. He did that to Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus said, «My God, why has thou forsaken me»?

Jesus had to take that cup and stand in our behalf and to stand in our place so that now, as a result of what Jesus dealt with and how Jesus overcome, we don’t have to experience being forsaken by God. He says, «I will be with you in trial. I will be with you in the hard time. I will be with you in the test. I will be with you when the going gets tough. I will be right by your side». God has not forsaken us. He says, «We may be knocked down,» how many know sometimes you’re gon' get a little knocked down, be caught off guard. Things are gonna happen. You know, there’s a devil loose. He’ll do and arrange things to distract, to detour, to try to get your focus, but you know what? You’re not out. I’m not out. You know why? 'Cause I keep getting up. I’m gonna keep showing up.

I’m gonna keep doing what I did before, because quitting is not an option. He says you might be knocked down, but we’re not out for the count. My goodness. Not out for the count. My goodness. When that boxer gets in that ring and you know, he may get knocked out or get hit and it may knock him off his feet, but you know what? Until the fight has been called, he can get back up and start fighting again. Though I fall seven times, he says, a righteous person will get back up. I will arise. I will shine for the glory of the Lord has risen upon me.

So, we remind ourselves the temptations are real to life. Pain is real, hurt is real. Temptations are real, that he had to fight Goliath and fight the things that the others were dealing with. But much more real is our triumph and our victory in them. We looked at 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 57 last week. We looked at 2 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 14. Now, I will be repetitive, let’s turn there for just a few minutes, just so we can anchor ourselves in these scriptures, these truths. He says here in verse 56, «For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. But thank God»! Thank God! «He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ».