Where is your strength currently aimed — at your own glory, or at God's glory and the good of others? Name one specific gift or area of competence and ask honestly whose name it is serving.

Everything about Goliath says, 'Look at me.' Look at how big I am, how strong I am, look at what I can do. He stands nearly ten feet tall. His armor weighs more than some middle schoolers. The tip of his spear alone weighs fifteen pounds — imagine carrying around a bowling ball on the end of a stick and throwing it as a weapon. He is huge, and he is terrifying. But Goliath's real problem was never his size. It was his pride. His strength existed for one purpose: his own glory. That is what the Bible would call toxic masculinity — strength without God. And it is worth saying plainly, especially in a culture that often treats strength itself as the problem: strength is not the issue. Goliath's sin was not that he was powerful. It was that his power had no master above it. He answered to no

Where have you been passive — waiting for someone else to lead, pray, or step up in a place God has assigned to you? What is one responsibility you will stop outsourcing this week?

There is a second man in the valley, and he is easy to miss because he is doing nothing at all. Saul hears Goliath and freezes. Which is astonishing, because Saul was literally the biggest man in Israel with the most battlefield experience. He was the king. He was the warrior. He was the leader. He was the one man who should have stepped forward to protect his people. And yet, for forty days, he doesn't move. Why? The fear of man instead of the fear of God. Saul's whole life had quietly become about protecting Saul — his reputation, his safety, his position. 'The fear of man lays a snare,' the Proverb says, 'but whoever trusts in the LORD is safe.' Saul was snared. And before we are too hard on him, we should admit that this is the trap many men fall into today. Drake put it bluntly: the

What 'pasture' has God placed you in right now — an unseen, unapplauded season or duty? How would you live this week if you truly believed God was using it to prepare you?

When David finally steps forward, he sees the exact same giant everyone else sees. The difference is never what David sees. The difference is what David believes. While the whole army measures Goliath against themselves and despairs, David measures Goliath against God and is unbothered. His confidence is not in David. It is in the Lord who has delivered him before and will deliver him again. And notice where that confidence was forged. Most people assume David was prepared in the valley. He wasn't. He was prepared in the pasture. Out in the fields, alone, a lion came, and then a bear, and David fought them off to rescue a single lamb. Nobody saw the lion. Nobody saw the bear. Nobody applauded. No one posted about it online. But God was quietly preparing him in the ordinary, unwitnessed mo

Who is one person a step or two behind you that God may be calling you to invest in? What is one concrete thing you could do this week to encourage or disciple them?

Let me ask you the question Drake asked the men in the room: who helped make you into the man or woman you are today? Was it a father, a coach, a pastor, a teacher, a mentor? Because none of us becomes who we are alone. God almost always uses faithful people to shape the next generation of faithful people. That is not a detour from His plan; it is His plan. Drake told the story of Dr. Lyle Dorsett. Before he was a seminary professor, he was a Marine. And before he was a Marine, he was a broken man in need of grace — who, after an argument with his wife, drank himself to a stop on the side of a mountain road and woke up looking over a cliff that could have ended his life. As he sat there, Billy Graham came on the radio, and right there on the roadside Dorsett surrendered his life to Christ

What is your giant — the thing the Holy Spirit has been naming this week? What would it look like to stop hesitating and 'run toward it' in the next few days?

Here is the twist we don't expect. We all want to be David in this story — the hero, the giant-slayer, the one God uses to deliver His people. Sign me up. But if we're honest, that's not us. We are much more like Israel: afraid, powerless, unable to save ourselves, huddled behind the battle line — until a Champion steps forward on our behalf. Because Jesus is the greater David. David defeated a giant; Jesus defeats sin. David defeated a warrior; Jesus defeats death. David won a victory and shared it with Israel; Jesus won the victory and shares it with His people. The hope of Christianity is not that you become David. It is that Jesus becomes your Savior. And that changes how you face your own giants. Look at what David does in verse 48: he runs. He doesn't walk. He doesn't hesitate. He d

James found three men in this chapter — a giant, a king, and a shepherd. Goliath used his strength for himself; Saul, the biggest man in Israel with the most battlefield experience, heard the taunt and did nothing. Which of those two failures do you see more of where you live and work?

What does it mean to be a man? On Father's Day — preaching from his deployment in the Middle East — Pastor James Drake walks through David and Goliath and finds three men, but only one who understands…

David's own brother Eliab accused him of a proud heart and evil motives, and David simply turned away and kept going. James said not every battle deserves your attention. How do you tell an Eliab fight from a Goliath one?

What does it mean to be a man? On Father's Day — preaching from his deployment in the Middle East — Pastor James Drake walks through David and Goliath and finds three men, but only one who understands…

James kept repeating one line: strength surrendered to God for his glory and the good of others. Set the word masculinity aside for a minute — what would that look like applied to whatever strength you actually have?

What does it mean to be a man? On Father's Day — preaching from his deployment in the Middle East — Pastor James Drake walks through David and Goliath and finds three men, but only one who understands…

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What About? (Week 11)

What About Manhood? · Resources

Name: Christchurch Miami
Address: 8485 SW 112th Street, Miami, FL, 33156, US
Telephone: +13052715262
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1 Samuel 17

James Drake Sunday, June 21, 2026

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Summary

It's Father's Day, and James Drake opens 1 Samuel 17 to ask what a man actually is. Three men stand in that story — a giant who used his strength for himself, a king too afraid to move, and a shepherd who trusted God. Biblical masculinity, he says, is strength surrendered to God for his glory and the good of others.

Sermon Outline

1

Reading: 1 Samuel 17:25-49 ▶ 0:00

David hears the giant, is dismissed by his brother and doubted by his king, refuses the armor, and runs at Goliath with a sling and five smooth stones.
2

Father's Day, from the Middle East ▶ 4:11

Pastor Drake greets the church from a deployment where the breeze feels like a hair dryer, and picks up the What About series.
3

What Does It Mean to Be a Man? ▶ 6:03

Culture is confused — one voice says masculinity is the problem, another says it means dominance. Neither is true, and the main point lands here: strength surrendered to God.
4

Goliath: Strength Without Submission ▶ 7:48

Ten feet tall, a spear tip weighing fifteen pounds, and everything about him says look at me. His problem was never his size. It was his pride.
5

Saul: The Fear of Man ▶ 8:55

The biggest man in Israel with the most battlefield experience hears the giant and does absolutely nothing, because he fears man instead of God.
6

Passivity Is the Bigger Threat ▶ 9:59

Someone else can pray, lead, volunteer, disciple the kids, fix the marriage. Meanwhile the giant keeps talking and the king keeps sitting.
7

David: The Lord Who Delivered Me ▶ 10:49

David sees the same giant everyone else sees. What is different is where his confidence sits — in the God who handled the lion and the bear.
8

Dr. Lyle Dorsett's Basement ▶ 11:37

The professor who woke up on the edge of a cliff and gave his life to Christ, then sat with a discouraged seminary student who had just failed an exam — and whose basement full of chaplain memorabilia planted a seed.
9

What I See at Christ Church Miami ▶ 14:05

Men studying before work, fathers showing up week after week — and Cam and Audrey, two medical students who serve the youth group, getting engaged.
10

Jesus Is the Greater David ▶ 15:38

The twist: we are not David in this story. We are Israel — afraid, powerless, standing behind the battle lines while our champion steps forward.
11

Not Every Battle Deserves Your Attention ▶ 16:44

David refuses his brother's bait, because the real issue was never Eliab. Courage is not anger or hostility; it is identifying with Christ when it costs something.
12

What Is Your Giant? ▶ 18:49

Most giants live in homes, marriages, habits, fears and excuses — and the sermon ends with the men on their feet making a declaration together.

Key Points

Biblical masculinity is strength surrendered to God for his glory and the good of others.
Toxic masculinity is strength without submission. Goliath's strength existed for his own glory, and strength without submission eventually becomes destruction.
A man can bench 400 pounds and still be spiritually weak; he can run a company and still fail to lead his family.
The greatest threat to masculinity today is usually not aggression but passivity — men who know what they should do and wait for someone else.
The fear of man is a snare. Once you fear God, you have nothing left to fear.
We are not David in this story. We are Israel, and Jesus is the greater David who defeats sin and death and shares the victory with his people.
The Bible is not mainly about great men doing great things for God. It is about a great God showing mercy to broken men.

Quotable Moments

“Biblical masculinity is strength surrendered to God for his glory and the good of others.” ▶ 7:13

“the strongest man in the room is not necessarily the godliest man in the room.” ▶ 8:19

“The greatest threat to masculinity today is often not aggression, it's passivity.” ▶ 9:59

“The Bible isn't primarily about great men doing great things for God. It's about a great God showing mercy to broken men.” ▶ 16:28

“Because faith moves. Fear hesitates.” ▶ 19:06

Take It With You

Run toward your giant. You probably already know what it is.
Reject passivity and accept responsibility — the battle is the Lord's, but the next step is yours.
Not every battle deserves your attention. Don't spend your life on what does not matter eternally.
You have more influence than you realize: a conversation, an example, a life lived faithfully in front of others.

The study guide above (summary, outline, key points, quotes, questions) was generated from the sermon transcript with AI and reviewed by our team. Spot something off? Let us know.

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What About Manhood? · Resources

1 Samuel 17

Watch & Listen

Summary

Sermon Outline

Key Points

Quotable Moments

Take It With You

Related Reading

What is your Giant

How the Gospel Changes the Way You Handle Difficult People

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