Contending with Discontentment | Sunday Message (with Jonathan Laurie)

Hey there. Thanks for listening to the Greg Laurie Podcast, a ministry supported by Harvest Partners. I'm Greg Laurie encouraging you.

If you want to find out more about Harvest Ministries and learn more about how to become a Harvest Partner, just go to harvest.org. I mean something that is dark and sinister, prowling around the perimeter of your life. It could be an insurmountable problem or some kind of an issue. You've tried to fell this giant, but it only seems to loom larger with the passing of time. Maybe you overcame your giant, so to speak, for a month, two months, maybe even three months, and you thought you would beat him, but then he came back with a vengeance. But now you're beginning to wonder if that giant you're facing is even stoppable.

For instance, it could be a giant of fear. There's something that is frightening you right now, something that keeps you up late at night, and it just grips you, and it doesn't go away. And you're constantly asking, what if this happens?

What if that happens? Maybe it's a fear of the future. Maybe it's a fear of the unknown.

That's your giant. Or it might be the giant of a personal sin. A certain area of your life where you are weak and vulnerable, and you fall in that area over and over again. You have victory over it for a few weeks, maybe for a month, but then you fall again. It could be pride, envy, gluttony, pornography. The list goes on and on. In a related way, you could be facing a giant of addiction.

You know, you've been clean and sober for three years, and then suddenly you've fallen off the wagon, and you can't believe this has happened to you. And so this thing is a giant, and it taunts you day in and day out. It could be a giant of a threat, if you will. Someone is threatening you. Maybe it's online. Maybe it's a lawsuit.

Maybe it's even a physical threat against your life. Or it might be a different kind of giant. What seems to be an insurmountable problem, an unsolvable issue.

Maybe it's an unsaved child, or a husband, or a wife that doesn't believe, and it doesn't seem like they'll ever believe. Listen, your giant is basically anyone or anything that seeks to control you, hurt you, destroy you, and torment you in life. And your giant seems too big to overcome.

So how do you overcome a giant? That's what we're gonna talk about in our series. Again, we're in the house of David, which is a look of David, the second king of Israel. We're gonna look at the very familiar story of David and Goliath. Many of us have heard this since our childhood, and because of that, it takes on sort of a fairy tale way about it. And it is not a fairy tale.

It was a historical event. There really was a king named David. There really was a giant of a man, nine feet six inches tall, made of solid muscle, named Goliath.

But I want to point out that it has a lot to say to us today. Now, as we've already seen, David was a very complex person. He was both a warrior and a worshiper.

He was both a lover and a fighter. He was the unknown shepherd boy living in obscurity in the tiny little village of Bethlehem that was handpicked by God, not just to be the greatest king in the history of Israel, but to be a part of the most exclusive genealogy in all of human history, the genealogy of Jesus Christ. And we remember the story of how the Lord had rejected King Saul from being the king, and the Lord instructed the prophet Samuel to go to Bethlehem, and there in the house of Jesse, he would find the next king.

And as Samuel arrived in town, it was a big deal. Prophets didn't show up in little places like Bethlehem. Jesse proudly paraded as seven strapping sons. They indeed were the magnificent seven. And as the prophet looked at each one, the Lord said, no, no, no, no, no, that's the one. Finally, after he reviewed all seven sons, the prophet said, do you have any other sons? Jesse says, yeah, I've got one more son. He's out in the field watching his flock of sheep.

He's a little weird. He's a musician, and writes songs about God. Yeah, bring him in, Samuel says. So in comes David bounding with enthusiasm and energy, and the Lord says to the prophet, that's my boy.

Anoint him. So Samuel the prophet pours oil on the head of King David, and now he is officially anointed to become the king of Israel. But time passed, and nothing really took place after that.

David just went back to watching the sheep. Well, as it turns out, a new conflict was developing between Israel and their long-time enemy, the Philistines. And so they came to a place called the Valley of Elah. The Philistines were on one side.

The Israelites were on the other side. And in the middle was this giant hulk of a man, as I pointed out, nine feet, six inches of solid muscle covered in body armor, challenging someone from Israel's side to come and fight him. He basically made a deal. He says, come on, let's make a deal.

Send your best guy out here, and let's fight. And if he wins, we, the Philistines, will serve you, but if I win, you, the Israelites, will serve us. And no one wanted to take him up on this offer. By the way, don't believe the promises or the threats of giants.

They'll lie to you. King Saul would have been the likely candidate. He, after all, was head and shoulders above everybody else, but there's no way he was gonna go down there in the Valley of Elah and face off with Goliath. So meanwhile, David's father, Jesse, said, son, I want you to go to the front lines and visit your brothers. Take them some food. Here's some bread. Here's some cheese.

Take it to your brothers. So basically, it was a pizza delivery or a quesadilla delivery, if you will. So David shows up. He's looking around. He hears this giant man bellowing from the Valley of Elah asking for someone to take him on, and David's looking at how no one is answering his call, and he's perplexed. Meanwhile, his brother Eli sees him and says, why are you even here? You're here because you're proud. And did you leave your little flock of sheep to come play with the big boy?

Sort of a loose paraphrase there. And David's thinking, I'm kind of thinking I might go down there and face off with that guy. I think he can be brought down. After all, David was a courageous young man. He had killed lions and bears protecting his little flock of sheep. He wanted to volunteer and go down and face off with Goliath, because in the eyes of David, though Goliath was big, God was bigger. You know, we have giants. They're big, but God's way bigger than your giant. That's how David saw it.

So let's see if we can identify some principles of giant killing. Let's look at 1 Samuel chapter 17, starting at verse 40. By the way, I'm reading from the New Living Translation. David picked up five smooth stones from a stream and put them in his shepherd's bag. Then, armed only with his shepherd's staff and sling, he started across to fight Goliath. Goliath walked out toward David with his shield bare ahead of him, sneering in contempt at this ruddy-faced boy. He roared at David, am I a dog that you come at me with a stick? And he cursed David by the names of his gods. Goliath yelled, come over here, and I'll give your flesh to the birds and the wild animals.

I love the response of David. David shouted in reply, you come to me with sword, spear, and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord God Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. Today, David says, the Lord will conquer you, and I will kill you and cut off your head, and then I will give the dead bodies of your men to the birds and wild animals, and the whole world will know there is a God in Israel. And everyone will know the Lord does not need weapons to rescue his people.

It's his battle, not ours. The Lord will give you to us. I love this verse. As Goliath moved closer to attack, David quickly ran out to meet him. Verse 49, reaching into a shepherd's bag, taking out a stone, he hurled it from his sling and hit the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank in, and Goliath stumbled and fell face downward on the ground. Now David finishes the job. First Samuel 1750, so David triumphed over the Philistine giant with only a stone and a sling, and since he had no sword, he ran over and pulled Goliath's sword from its sheath, and David used it to kill the giant and cut off his head. When the Philistines saw their champion was dead, they turned and ran. Is that not an awesome story?

I love it. What a victory. The will of the Philistines was broken. The Israelites were reinvigorated. David, the shepherd boy, had cut down the giant Goliath. So what do we learn from this about defeating our own giants?

If you're taking notes, here's point number one. We all have giants. We all have giants. We all face severe hardships, seemingly insurmountable obstacles, temptations that come our way. First Corinthians 10 13 says, remember, temptations come into your life. They are no different than what others experience, but God is faithful. He will keep the temptation from becoming so strong that you can't stand up against it.

When you are tempted, God will show you a way out so you will not give into it. So while it is true that we all have giants, it is also true that every giant is defeatable. Let me repeat that. While it is true that we all have giants, it is also true that every giant is defeatable, as shown in this story. Giants don't start out big.

They start out small. It's hard to imagine, but Goliath was once a newborn baby. Probably a really big baby. Nobody wanted to change his diaper. Time to change Goliath's diaper, dear. I did it last time.

It took me two days. He was a very aggressive baby, I would think, and a high need baby, probably. Then he ultimately became a child. Then he became a teenager.

Then he became an adult man, as I said, nine feet six inches tall. So in the same way our giants, our problems start out small, then they become big. Little things turn into big things.

Listen, little liberties, I'll put that word liberties in quotes, little liberties, liberties can turn into big vices. Now back when I was a kid, I don't know why this happened, but at Easter time, you used to be able to buy little baby bunnies and little chicks. They would be in all kinds of stores. Sometimes they would even dye the little chicks different colors. So you would buy this cute little blue chick and a pink chick and take it home, but the thing you didn't think about is that is going to turn into a chicken.

It's cute as a chick. That will become a chicken. A cute little bunny is going to turn into a rabbit.

All of a sudden, rabbit stew and chicken fingers are sounding better all the time. Little things turn into big things. I read an article, the other day, about a problem they're having in Florida with giant African snails.

Did any of you read this? They're being invaded. Look at the size of that. And I, by the way, I think snails are gross, okay. And this, it's even grosser when they're giant. Giant African snails, they reproduce quickly. They lay 1200 eggs in a year. And if that's not gross enough, they carry the parasite lungworm that leads to meningitis. So here it is. But then there's some lady I read about in this article that made a pet out of the snail. I mean, why would you make a pet out of a giant snail? Look at this.

Come on, lady. What is happening here? It's even gotten worse. Now they're pushing snails around in strollers. That's even worse than pushing a dog in a stroller. But then again, snails are very slow. So if you took it for a walk, it would be a very slow walk. Come on, snail. No, they don't push them.

Probably someone pushes it in a stroller. I don't know. But you know, it starts off little, then it becomes big. That's what sin is like. Oh, I can handle this sin. I can handle this vice. I can handle this issue. And then one day, it has complete control of you, right?

That's the point I'm trying to make. You make sin your pet, then it consumes you. And it can be big problems, too. Maybe it's like this child you have that won't turn to Christ, or this husband that wants nothing to do with your faith, or going to church with you, or a wife that could be that way. And you pray, and you pressure, and you nag, and you nag, and you threaten, and nothing happens. And days turn to weeks, and months turn to years, and years turn to decades. You give up all hope that they'll ever come to Christ.

But that brings us to principle number two. David knew the battle belonged to the Lord. David knew the battle belonged to the Lord. Look at verse 47. It is his battle, not ours, the Lord will give you to us. What are you facing right now?

The battle belongs to the Lord. Commit it to the Lord. Let's go back to when you wake up in the middle of the night, and you're flooded with all these issues, and fears, and such. Commit each one to the Lord. Lord, there's nothing I can do laying in this bed right now.

But I'm committing this to you, and I'm asking you to intervene in this situation. Don't worry about anything, Paul reminds us, but pray about everything, and the peace of God that passes all human understanding will guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus. The battle belongs to the Lord. Number three, attack your giants. Attack your giants. Earlier in the story, we read that the Israelites said, how has this man Goliath come up into our camp? That's 1 Samuel 17 25. In other words, Goliath wasn't just down in the valley.

He had climbed up and was walking through the camp of Israel. Hey, hey, who wants to fight me? Come on, you're big enough to fight me, let's go. So he was right up in their face, up in their grill, as they say. And he wasn't going away. And that's what happens with giants. You compromise here, you compromise there, now they've invaded your life. They're in your front room, they're in every room.

And they're becoming even more powerful. So what do you do? You don't run from giants, you attack them. You don't negotiate with them, you don't yell at them, you kill them.

You don't say, I'll get to this one day. You deal with your giant right now. Look at verse 48. As David moved closer to attack, excuse me, as Goliath moved closer to attack, David ran out quickly to meet him.

He didn't run from Goliath, he didn't just hold his ground against Goliath, he attacked Goliath. And you must do the same. Let's say you have a problem with drinking.

Let's say you have a problem with drugs. And this is an ongoing problem that has not going away. You gotta deal with it. Stop rationalizing it. Stop hiding it. Stop making excuses for it.

Take it out of the dark and put it in the light of day. And deal with it. And that brings me to my next point, point number four. Finish the giant off.

Finish the giant off. So David thought, I'm not gonna give this guy a second chance. I think he had seen the familiar scene that often shows up in movies. And the scene is, the hero enters the story. He defeats the villain, right? And then the villain is dead. And the hero always turns his back on the villain. Maybe he's calling somebody or he's doing something else or saying a line. He's facing the camera and we know it's gonna happen.

All of a sudden the villain who is surely dead stands up and he has the knife and he's coming at the hero. David already saw that movie. He said, this is not gonna happen to me. I'm not gonna give this giant a second chance.

First Samuel 1751. He ran over and pulled Goliath's sword from its sheath and he used it to kill the giant and cut his head off. Now by the way, Goliath probably had a pretty thick neck. So I don't think it was one fell.

It was more like. I'm sorry but you know he's a big guy. He had a thick neck.

May have taken a few moments. Why did he cut off his head? Because Goliath was still breathing. Now you might say, but with the poor giant.

No, no. No poor giant. You don't coddle giants. You kill giants. Well why should I kill my giant? Listen to this. If you don't kill your giant, your giant will kill you. That's your choice. You kill it or it kills you.

Kill or be killed. He cut off his head. I was just watching one of these Star Wars reboots that's called Obi-Wan Kenobi and is really quite good. And so we have, by the way, Darth Vader is Anakin Skywalker and he's Luke's dad. I hope that wasn't a revelation to some of you.

I remember years ago when Star Wars came out the first time and I think was the Empire Strikes Back. And I was standing in line out in the sun with my son Christopher to see the movie. Someone came out of there showing right before us. They got in their car and they're driving by yelling out, Darth Vader is Luke's dad. We did not know this. We're like no don't tell us this. Well now we know it. Okay so you know Darth Vader, Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ben Kenobi were friends at one time and Ben was actually training Anakin and then Anakin turned to the dark side of the force.

I'm not advocating any of this. I'm just telling you the storyline right. So in this particular episode that I saw Obi-Wan is having a lightsaber duel with Darth Vader and Vader is prevailing but suddenly Obi-Wan makes a comeback and and he's beating Darth Vader down and he brings his lightsaber down on the on the helmet of Darth Vader and splits it open and you can see the face of Anakin in there and and then all of a sudden Obi-Wan Kenobi says I'm sorry Anakin. Don't kill him. Kill him. Well he doesn't kill him and guess what Darth Vader comes back for more right. That's what you do when you got your enemy down. You defeat him and this is what is happening here.

Don't apologize. Finish off your giant. Coming back to drugs. Let's say your problem is drugs. What do you do? Get rid of your drugs. A no-brainer.

Hello. Flush them down the toilet. Booze. Pour it down the toilet then flush.

Because if you're desperate you might go back later. Is this still drinkable? Trust me I've heard worse. If you've fallen into sexual sin admit it's sexual sin. Stop rationalizing. Stop excusing it. Stop calling it a mistake or a human weakness. It is a sin. After David's sin with Bathsheba we'll get to this later in Psalm 51 he said against you Lord and you only have I sinned. That's what it means to confess your sin. First John 1 9 says if you will confess your sin God is faithful and just to forgive you your sin and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. The word confess means to acknowledge it and it means to agree with God.

So let's say you and I are standing on the beach and we see a beautiful sunset and I say that was an amazing sunset and you say I agree Greg it really was. So God says that is wonderful I love it and we say I love it too Lord and then the Lord says that's horrible I hate it and we say I agree Lord it's horrible. To confess your sin is to align your will with the will of God and see sin as God sees it. God hates sin he loves a sinner but he hates sin. So to confess our sin is to acknowledge how horrible it is and then of course to repent or turn from it. We like to gloss these things over well I'm human and I make mistakes yeah that's true we all do. Call sin sin bring your giant out in the light of day but before you can do this the Lord may strip you down to nothing so you will see when your giant is defeated it's not your strength but his. I love this little part of the story first Samuel 17 verse 38 before David goes and faces off with Goliath Saul says well you need to wear some armor boy I'll tell you what you can wear my armor and so David put on a bronze helmet a coat of mail strapped the sword over it took a step or two to see what it was like because he'd never worn things like this before and he says I can't go in these it's like a little kid playing dress up right big press plate helmet shoes even too big and he's got this sword you know no way he's gonna go against Goliath of all that stuff so he strips it all off he's not gonna wear Saul's armor it was gonna be God or nothing there was no plan b if God did not come through he was done for but David knew God would come through see the problem in our minds is Satan is the giant and God is small when the very opposite is true Satan is powerful but God is way more powerful again he's bigger than your giant so there's also a picture here for us sharing in the victory of Jesus Christ remember whoever won then the other people would share in the victory so because David won everyone was excited the Israel is Israelis then had the courage to attack the Philistines which they lacked before so they shared in the victory of David the greater David if you will the son of David as he called himself Jesus Christ went to the cross and defeated Satan and his demon forces and we share in that victory because Colossians 3 14 excuse me 2 14 says of Christ he canceled the record that contained the charges against us he took it and destroyed it by nailing it to Christ's cross in this way God disarmed evil rulers and authorities he shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross of Christ so I don't fight for victory listen to this I don't fight for victory I fight from victory I don't have to go take the devil onto my own strength I will fail you will fail Satan's way more powerful than Greg he's made way more powerful than you but oh the Lord oh he's so much stronger than Satan so I stand on the Lord and in the power of his might and that gives me the boldness and that gives me the strength to do what God has called me to do they shared in the victory of David and we share in the victory of Christ I love how they attacked the Philistines so we share in this great victory greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world so let's recap and land this message if you miss these points point number one was everyone has giants there are no exceptions it's just a matter of what where or who your giant is point number two the battle belongs to the Lord rest in the finished work that God has done it's his spiritual battle and it must be fought with spiritual weapons number three attack your giant force your giant your problem your addiction your vice whatever it might be into the light of day call on God pray for his power then attack your giant point number four finish your giant off cut off cut off its head burn your bridges and break with the past draw lines make yourself accountable to others you see a lot of times we'll say well I don't want to live that way anymore but we still hang out with the same people leading us to do the same things you need new friends you need godly friends the Bible says flee youthful desires and follow the Lord and all those that call upon him with a pure heart if you hang around godless people they'll pull you down I'm not advocating having no contact with non-believers how else will we evangelize them but having said that we need godly people who will spur us on that's why the Bible says don't forsake the assembling of yourselves together as the manner of some is but encourage one another and so much more as you see the day of the Lord approaching you know when COVID hit we began to sort of up our game online and and our online audience grew considerably and it grew to a worldwide audience so I know that I'm speaking to people all around our planet and we're so glad that you're a part of our church service right now but let me just say to you that we're coming in person and now you're staying home but you're within proximity of our church people it's time to come back to church in person in person and to others out there who are watching this online I'm glad we can be here for you we want to minister to you as much as possible but you need to find a local church in your area we need to be together in person this is what the Bible teaches we spur one another on we encourage each other and things happen when we're gathered together in person that just don't happen elsewhere so this is a very important thing to remember the battle belongs to the Lord call out to the Lord he can defeat your giant let me come back to a point I raised earlier the greater David the Lord Jesus Christ went on the cross and died for our sin this is where we find the power to live the Christian life listen some people say you know it's hard to be a Christian I would disagree it's not hard to be a Christian it's impossible it is impossible to be a Christian in this world today dot dot dot apart from the power of the Holy Spirit I need God's help Jesus said apart from me you can do nothing but the flip side of that coin the words of Paul I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me yes but I'm tempted above my capacity to resist actually you aren't because we already look at first Corinthians 10 13 that says God won't allow you to be tempted above your capacity to resist but will with the temptation make a way of escape that you may be able to bear it so there's always a way out God will give you the power the question is do you want to utilize that power do you want to be free of that addiction as Jesus said to that one man who was disabled do you want to be made whole what kind of question is that to ask of course he does no not every drug person wants a person who's addicted to drugs wants to be free not every alcoholic wants to stop drinking not every person living on the streets wants to get off the streets there are people that have made a decision to live that way and that is the way they want to live they're never going to change if they don't want to change so the question is do you want to be made whole do you want to change you like this lifestyle you're in or do you want to get out of it if so Jesus extends his hand and he'll pull you up just like he pulled that one man up but listen I can never overcome satan or sin in my own strength well I'll just get some holy water there is no such thing as holy water hate to break it to you well I'll just wear a crucifix that will keep the devil away are you kidding I'll wear garlic around my neck that'll keep satan away that'll keep your friends away I won't keep satan away especially if you take a bite out of the garlic no the only power greater than satan is the power of Christ the only thing that will keep satan from controlling you is the power of Jesus indwelling you that's why you need Jesus in your life and I close by asking this question is Jesus living in your life right now and has he forgiven you of all of your sin maybe you've just been sort of a religious type person trying to live this life in your own strength and that is why you're defeated day after day month after month year after year so you need a relationship with God that's what it's all about and Jesus Christ who died on that cross and rose again from the dead now stands at the door of each of our lives and he knocks and he says if we'll hear his voice and open the door he will come in have you ever asked Jesus Christ to come into your life if not you can do it right here right now and then everything will change for you if you want Jesus to come into your life and forgive you of your sin respond to this invitation that we'll close with as we all bow our heads for our closing prayer father I pray that your holy spirit will work in this group of people and all those who are watching and if there's anyone here who does not know you who does not have a relationship with you let this be the moment they believe let this be the moment they come to you Jesus we commit them to you while our heads are bowed our eyes are closed and we're praying maybe there's somebody here that would say I need Jesus I need my sin forgiven I've tried to change my life and pull myself up on my own bootstraps and I keep failing I need help I need God pray for me if that's your desire if you want Jesus Christ to come into your life if you want him to forgive you of your sin if you want to fill that big hole in your heart that you've tried to fill with so many things this culture offers if you want to know that you will go to heaven when you die wherever you are would you just raise your hand because I'd like to pray for you raise your hand up high where I can see it saying I need Jesus today I want to pray for you God bless you raise your hand up God bless you raise your hand up high I can see you wherever you are God bless all of you who've raised your hand there might be a few more let me pray for you right now raise your hand saying I need Jesus today or maybe someone would say I need to come back to the Lord I need to return to the Lord let me pray for you God bless you God bless all of you listen I'm going to pray a simple prayer and I'm going to ask you to pray this with me I want every one of you that just lifted your hand to stand to your feet and I'm going to lead you in this prayer stand up if you raise your hand even if you did not but you want Christ to come into your life today you want to recommit your life to the Lord today stand to your feet and I'm going to lead you in this prayer you guys that are watching at Harvest Orange County and Harvest on Maui you stand up as well and pray this same prayer with me you guys that are watching online you can pray this prayer too anybody else even if you did not raise your hand you want Christ to come into your life you want him to forgive you of your sin stand and we're going to pray I'll wait one more moment anybody else stand now anybody else stand now God bless all of you okay you that are standing I want you to pray this prayer out loud after me again pray this out loud right where you stand pray these words please Lord Jesus I know that I'm a sinner but I know that you're the Savior who died on the cross for my sin and rose again from the dead I turn from my sin now and I choose to follow you from this moment forward thank you for hearing this prayer and answering this prayer in Jesus name I pray amen hey everybody thanks for listening hey everybody thanks for listening to this podcast to learn more about harvest ministries follow this show and consider supporting it just go to harvest.org