We celebrate champions after the victory. Parades, confetti, trophies, rings, banners all come after the victory. But God does things differently. God celebrates champions BEFORE the victory.
Promise Trumps Pedigree
Pedigree is the distinction people place on someone because of accomplishment, success, & victory. In the case of a shepherd boy named David, he was forgotten and had zero prestige, but he had something greater. David had promise, and promise trumps pedigree.
God celebrates you before your victory. God has placed promise upon you.

Champion 1: Promise Trumps Pedigree from Redemption Church on Vimeo.
Champion 1 – Promise Trumps Pedigree
Sermon notes by Pastor Chris Fluitt
Redemption Church Plano Tx
Champion Bumper 1
Welcome to Redemption Church. We are a mighty faith filled church in Plano Texas. My name is Chris Fluitt and I am blessed to serve here as lead pastor.
 
Today we start a new sermon series entitled Champion.
2 weeks ago we saw Tom Brady raise his 5th NFL Championship, the Lombardy Trophy. In Sports the pinnacle moment of the whole season is the championship. Everyone plays to be the Champion. In Baseball we see that final out recorded in the world series and it is always followed by grown men running around celebrating like children. In Basketball we see them raise the championship team raise a banner and cut down the nets. Hockey champions have their name added to the Stanley Cup.
We celebrate Champions. Jersey sales always go up for the championship team. There is a parade. Some people get tattoos! People go on social media and tell off all the haters and say that they always knew this was “their” year and you just wait because I am calling “DYNASTY” right now.
We celebrate champions after the victory.
We focus on the victory moment and often lose sight of what brought them to the victory moment. We often forget about the adversity. We forget that there were moments where defeat seemed more likely than victory. We forget that some people never gave them a chance. We forget that there were injuries. We forget that not every call went their way and that some unfair things happened to them. We forget that some people left the team the year prior for greener pastures elsewhere.
It is a shame that we only remember the moment of victory, because this would help us understand what makes a champion.
What makes a champion?
We are going to spend 6 weeks answering this question. I believe that there are some champions in this room today. You may not see it yet, but God sees it.
We are going to look at the story of David & Goliath over these next 6 weeks. There are some championship plans within the story. I want you to grab ahold of these plans and win yourself a victory.
You know the story of David & Goliath? The young boy David defeats the giant Goliath with a stone and a sling. You know that the boy was celebrated as a champion that day. You know that this boy in one shot saved his nation from the big bad nation of Philistia.
The nation of Israel started singing songs about David after this day. David married King Saul’s daughter and they no doubt became the power couple. Everyone knew David after this day. His story was told over and over and over again.
If we aren’t careful we will focus on the moment of victory and lose sight of the valuable lessons that are learned in the struggle, before the victory.
Before the victory
Before the victory, David was just a Shepherd boy.
No one celebrates a Shepherd. Shepherds smell. They spend all their time with smelly sheep.
No one gives trophies to shepherds. Awards, medals, & crowns are reserved for warriors & wealthy kings.