Facing Your Giants: Overcoming and Victorious

The following message from Pastor Greg Laurie is made possible by some special friends of this ministry. Pastor Greg? I wanted to say a special word of thanks to the Harvest Partners who make this ministry possible.

Next time you're online, check out Pastor Greg's personal blog at blog.GregLaurie.com. Marginalize it, justify it so you can handle it. That giant's coming back for more, man.

So cut its head off. Every minute of every day someone gets the news of a cancer diagnosis or they hear that a loved one has passed. Every day people suffer great financial losses with a breakdown of a relationship. So many people face addictions and they're getting through one day at a time. What help does the Bible offer people facing these life-shattering issues? Well, Pastor Greg Laurie has the answer as he brings words of encouragement and direction from God's Word here on A New Beginning.

This is the day, the day when life begins. There's all kinds of giants we face in life. And I want to tell you how you can overcome your giant.

How you can defeat your giant. And to do that I'm going to do a very familiar story. The story of David and Goliath. So David's tending his sheep. And one day his father comes and says, son, your brothers are out of the battle. They're facing off with the Philistines. I want you to go take them some food.

I want you to take them some bread and cheese. So David comes to his brothers who are part of the Israeli army who are in a face-off with the Philistine army and dividing them as the valley of Elah. And so David hears some guy bellowing from the valley of Elah. And he goes up there and looks and there stands Goliath. Nine feet six inches of solid muscle. He was as wide as he was tall.

He was like a human tank. And he was covered head to toe in body armor. And he was yelling, send someone to fight me down here in the valley. And if I beat him, you Israelis can serve us. Hey, but if he beats me, we'll serve you. And David's reaction was, who is this guy? And why is he allowed to get away with this?

Why is someone not going down there to fight him? So David volunteers to fight Goliath and that's where our story begins. In Samuel chapter 17, we're going to start in verse 40 and read down to verse 51.

And by the way, I'm reading from the New Living translation. Verse 40. He picked up five smooth stones from a stream and put them in his shepherd's bag. Then armed with his shepherd's staff and sling, he started to cross to fight Goliath. Goliath walked out toward David with his shield bearer ahead of him, sneering in contempt at the 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 wild animals. I love David's response. David shouted in reply, you come to me with a sword and a spear and a 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. Now look at David's faith. Today the Lord will conquer you and I will kill you and cut off your head. Then I'll give the dead bodies of your men to the birds and wild animals and the whole world will know there's 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. Now notice this. As Goliath moved closer to attack, David quickly ran out to meet him.

Notice that. He ran out to meet him. Verse 49. Reaching into a shepherd's bag and taking out a stone, he hurled it from his sling and hit the Philistine in the forehead. The stone sank in and Goliath stumbled and he fell face downward on the ground. So now David finishes the job.

Verse 50. 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, used it to kill the giant and cut off his head. When the Philistines saw their champion was dead, they turned and ran. Wow, what a story. And what a victory. The will of the Philistines was broken. The will of the Israelites was reinvigorated. So what do we learn in this story about facing our giants in life?

If you're taking notes, here's point number one. We all have giants. We all have giants. And by that I mean we all have obstacles. We all have problems. We all have challenges. We all have threats. We have things that we face that, well, they're just a lot bigger than us.

Number two. David knew the battle belonged to the Lord. Do you know that? Your battle that you're fighting, your challenges that you're facing, your temptations that you're experiencing.

Listen to this. The battle belongs to the Lord. Verse 47. David said to Goliath, it's his battle, not ours.

So the Lord will give you to us. Listen, we're in a spiritual battle. And if you want to win a spiritual battle, you've got to use spiritual weapons. You've got to fight fire with fire. You say, well, what do you mean? Well, look, we have two secret weapons in our arsenal as Christians that we rarely use.

What do you think they are? Boycott and protest. No. Register and vote. There's a place for that for sure.

But that's not even it. How about this? Pray and preach. Pray and preach.

Pray and preach the gospel. So here's the thing. Maybe you have fear.

You're overwhelmed. I don't know how we're going to deal with this. Pray about it.

Turn your worries into prayers. And it's preaching too. Proclaiming the gospel. In a way, it's sort of attack mode. You know, when we preach the gospel, we are attacking. You know, we look at our culture and it's so dark. And we say, how do we change culture?

You change culture one person at a time. And that happens through something called conversion. It happened to you. It happened to me.

And it can happen for others where they can become completely different people. That's why we're so committed to proclaiming the gospel here at Harvest. And David attacked his giant. That's point number three. Attack your giants. Point number one.

Everyone is giants. Point number two. The battle belongs to the Lord.

Point number three. Attack your giants. You know, earlier in the story in chapter 17 verse 25 one of the Israelites says, Have you seen this man Goliath who has come up? In other words, Goliath now had crossed the ravine and now was on Israel's side. So it's not like Goliath was just standing in the valley of Elah saying, come on down here and fight me.

He was marching right up into the camp of Israel and bringing it right in front of them. And that's how it happens. If you tolerate a Goliath, he'll take over your territory.

He'll go right up on your doorstep. So here's the deal. Here's how you deal with giants. You don't back off. You don't compromise.

You don't make deals. You attack them. You attack your giants. Look at verse 48.

As Goliath moved closer to attack, David ran out quickly to meet him. So you say, OK, this all sounds very nice and spiritual, but I don't really know what this means. OK, let's get practical for a moment. Let's say you have a problem with drinking or drugs or pornography. Deal with it. So it starts by saying, I have a problem. See, as long as you're hiding it, you're never going to deal with it. You have to come out and say to someone you love, your husband, your wife, your mom, your dad, your pastor, a trusted friend. I have a problem with drinking. I have a problem with drugs. These are not autobiographical statements, by the way.

Someone's going to edit this and just put it out on the Internet somewhere just saying that with no explanation. OK, so I have this issue. OK, call it what it is. It's not just a problem. That's a sin. You're dealing with a sin. You're under the power of the sin. So you need to bring it into the light of day so it can start being dealt with. Get it out of the shadows of darkness where it has lurked into the light of day.

And that brings me to point number four. Finish your giant off. So you attack your giant and you finish him off. Though Goliath fell, he was still alive.

Now think about this. David comes out with his sling. Kind of like a slingshot.

He'd put a stone and start swinging it around and get a lot of momentum. And then when he released it, it was like a guided missile in a way, like a bullet. It hits Goliath.

But Goliath's a big guy. And he has a helmet on. But he's stunned. Boom!

And it's interesting. He doesn't fall backwards. He falls forward and he's laying there. Now think of how many movies or TV shows you've seen where the hero kills the bad guy. He kills him.

The bad guy's dead. Then the hero turns his back to the bad guy. Right? And he's like calling someone or doing something. And then you know the scene.

Right? And all of a sudden the guy just stands up. He's in the frame all of a sudden with a knife. Ah!

Look behind you, you idiot! You know, David had seen all those movies. So I thought he's down but he's not dead. So he takes it to the next level. And what does he do? He goes over, verse 51, grabs his sword from its sheath and kills the giant and cuts off his head.

David really knew how to get ahead in life, didn't he? No, seriously. Now think about this. Here's your choice. Kill your giant or your giant will kill you. Marginalize it. Justify it so you can handle it. That giant's coming back for more, man.

So cut its head off. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. Hey everybody, Greg Laurie here inviting you to join me every weekend for what we call Harvest at Home. It's a church service. It's a worship service. It's a Bible study and it's wherever you want it to be. In your home, in your car, sitting on a beach, walking down the street, watching it on your phone. Wherever you are, you can take it with you and be ministered to every weekend. Join us for Harvest at Home at Harvest.org.

Pastor Greg continues his message now called Facing Your Giants. As a young boy, he explains he was interested in herpetology. When I was a kid, I used to catch snakes.

We'd go out and find them. Not venomous snakes, but little snakes like gopher snakes, king snakes. The way you catch a snake is you'll see them moving through the grass or wherever. You get up behind them and you press your foot on their neck. Then you reach down and you grab them right behind the head because they usually want to bite you. One thing you learn, never grab a snake by its tail because they can turn right around and bite you. Then you hold them right behind the neck.

Then you support their body with your other hand and put them in a bag or whatever you're going to put them in. Now if it's a rattlesnake, you don't want to catch a rattlesnake. You want to back away from a rattlesnake. But if perchance you have no choice and you want to kill a rattlesnake, there's one way to do it. That is cut off its head.

You cut off its tail. Now he's just really mad. Because you just took his rattler away. That's his identity. They really like rattlers. He's going to come back after you.

No. You've got to cut his head off. I've seen rattlesnakes have their heads cut off.

You're saying, Greg, this is like the grossest sermon I've ever heard. Heads coming out. Yeah, I know. But I'm almost done. And even when you cut their head off, because there's the blood in the little brain, the little mouth is still moving when it's separated from the body.

Have you ever seen that? But that's how you deal with giants. You cut their head off. You kill them or they'll kill you. And David used Goliath's sword to kill Goliath.

There would be no comebacks for Goliath. So what does this mean practically? It means you burn your bridges. Let's say you have a problem with drinking.

What do you do? Take the booze and pour it down the stinkin' drain. And don't buy anymore. And don't hang around people that are drinking.

And don't go to places where you're going to be tempted because you know you're vulnerable. If you have drugs, get rid of them. Well, I have a lot of drugs. That's bad stewardship. I'll sell them. No. Do not sell them.

You will be arrested as a drug dealer. Get rid of them. Throw them out.

Burn your bridges. What about if you have an issue with pornography? Well if you're viewing it online you need to take practical steps. Maybe get an Internet filter.

But those sometimes don't work as well as one would hope. Hey if necessary get rid of your stinking computer. You know. Seriously. You know Jesus said, If your right eye offends you, pluck it out. For it's better to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye than to be thrown into hell with two. And if your right arm offends you, cut it off. For it's better to enter into God's kingdom with one arm than to be thrown into hell with two. Now of course you know that's not literal. Right? There's a guy with one arm and eye missing going, Don't.

No. I'm just kidding. This is a picture he uses to show that we must take radical measures. In that culture the right arm or hand was thought of as the best hand.

And the right eye was thought of as the best eye. So here's what it means. Do whatever you need to do to get rid of that sin in your life. And so if it literally meant you're not going to carry a smart phone around because you viewed junk on it. Then get an old school phone that actually just makes phone calls.

What a revolutionary thought. I mean there might be practical steps. Hey if you're married tell your wife what your passwords are so she can access your account. Be upfront about it. Make yourself accountable to someone. If you're single say, I've struggled here. You can look at my phone. You can look at my computer any time you want. Hold me to account.

You have to deal with these issues in a practical upfront way. And so David did that exactly and he cut off the head of his giant. And this gave courage to the rest of the Israeli army that then attack their enemies. And you know in the same way that they shared in the victory of David. We share in the victory of Jesus.

The greater David. You see Jesus went to the cross and he died for our sins. And the Bible tells us that there at the cross in Colossians 2 he canceled the record that contained the charges against us. He took it and destroyed it by kneeling it to the cross of Christ. In this way God disarmed the evil rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross of Christ.

Because Jesus dealt the decisive blow against Satan at Calvary. We share in that victory. Jesus made a statement where he used one word to declare what he had done. We translate it into three words.

But the word he used was the word tetelestai. Tetelestai which means it is accomplished. It is completed. Or as we often translate it, it is finished. It is done. You no longer have to be under the power of anything or anyone from this point on than Jesus Christ. So let's review and conclude. Number one we all have giants.

There are no exceptions. It is just a matter of what, where, or who your giant is. Number two the battle belongs to the Lord. Rest in the finished work.

He is done. Number three attack your giant. Force your giant into the light of day. Call on God and pray for his power. Number four finish your giant off.

Cut off its head. Burn your bridges. Break with the past.

Draw lines. Make yourself accountable to others. I used to hang around a lot of low life kids. And we did drugs together. And I became a Christian at the age of 17.

And I knew I couldn't live in that world anymore. So I got a whole new set of friends. And some people are surprised to find they keep falling into the same sins over and over. But the problem is they say I am going to make a break with this. But they hang around the people that are still doing those things.

Get it? That is why the Bible says, Blessed is a man that does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of the scornful but his delight is in the law of the Lord. Don't hang out with ungodly people that will encourage you to do ungodly things. Surround yourself with godly men and godly women. In fact find people that are even more godly than you and do what you can to build them up and let them do what they want to do to build you up. That is how you are going to move forward spiritually.

You take practical steps. I want to just close this message by saying there is one giant that none of us can defeat. And that is called Satan.

He is a lot more powerful than you or me. And that is what the Bible says. The one that is greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.

The one that is in you if you are a Christian is Christ. The one that is in the world, that verse is referring to, is the devil. God is more powerful than the devil.

The devil is not the equal of God but he is a powerful spirit being that can wreak havoc in a life and do pretty much whatever he wants if the person is not a Christian. Satan is not afraid of artifacts or religion. You can pull out your crucifix. The devil could care less about your crucifix.

I will just put garlic around my neck. That will keep them away. That will keep your friends away. I don't know if it will keep the devil away.

Especially if you chew on it too. That will keep everyone away. Even your dog won't come around. I will use some holy water. There is no holy water.

None of these things work. The only power that Satan respects is the power of Jesus Christ. That is the only thing. So that is why you need Jesus. Because if you have Jesus living inside of you, God has put an ID tag on you. And it says property of the Lord Jesus Christ and the devil respects it. But if you are not a Christian, if Jesus is not living in you, you don't have God's ID tag on you. You have a bullseye painted on you. And the devil, he can pretty much do whatever he wants.

And nothing you do will keep him away. That is why you need Christ in your life. Who will forgive you of all of your sin. Maybe last year was a mess for you. And you are wondering, can I ever start over again?

Yeah, you can. You can have a new beginning. Because the Bible says if any man be in Christ, he is an altogether different kind of person. Old things pass away. Everything becomes fresh and new. God will do that for you. You can put your past behind you and have a new future if you ask Jesus to come into your life. Or if you recommit your life to Jesus. So we are going to pray right now.

And I am going to give you an opportunity to do that. Maybe you are afraid. Maybe you are not sure what would happen to you if you were to die. Would you go to heaven?

You don't know. You don't have that meaning and purpose in life that Jesus offers and you want it. Well I am going to give you an opportunity to ask Christ to come and live in your heart right now. So let's all bow our heads and pray together. Father, thank you for loving us so much that you sent Jesus to die on the cross in our place.

Lord Jesus, thank you for coming. And thank you for your gracious offer of forgiveness. And now we pray for everyone that is here and everyone that is watching. I pray that you will speak to their hearts. I pray that your Holy Spirit will convict and convince them of their sin. And help them realize they need Jesus right now. And help them to come to you we would pray.

Amen. Pastor Greg Laurie with an important prayer. And if you would like to make a change today in your relationship with the Lord, Pastor Greg will help you do that in just a moment before today's edition of A New Beginning concludes. Now if you missed any part of today's insight, you can hear what you missed online at harvest.org.

Just look for the study called Facing Your Giants. You can also request a CD from us by calling 1-800-821-3300. You can call that number any time, 24 hours a day, 1-800-821-3300. And then it's a privilege to have Pastor Greg's wife Kathy with us today, along with authors Jeff and Shanti Feldhahn. They've written the brand new book called Thriving in Love and Money, subtitled Five Game-Changing Insights About Your Relationship, Your Money, and Yourself. Jeff and Shanti, you point out that money issues spring from relationship issues, issues of communication and each spouse misunderstanding the other's feelings and point of view on spending and saving. Let's speak specifically to somebody listening right now who's thinking, boy, this is really an area where we're struggling at home. Let's offer some immediate help while they wait for the book to arrive.

What's the first thing they can do today to get them aimed in the right direction, not only financially, but more importantly, in their relationship? So do you mind if I give you two? Okay. Okay.

And there are two easy ones. So the first thing that I would do is ask each other one question. Is there anything that I could do to make it easier for you to talk about money with me?

Is there anything that I could do differently that would make it easier for you to talk about money with me? Put the knives down, maybe. Exactly. And that can open up a lot of these kinds of discussions and just get you started.

And hopefully in a decent way rather than an angry way. But, you know, we'll take what we can get in terms of a starting point and ask it and answer it calmly. The second thing that I would suggest is we actually created a free assessment that you can take. And we took a lot of time. But the key is for that assessment, it gets you this sense.

It's only five or six minutes, but it's very robust. The engine under the surface will get you some really, really specialized. Where are you starting in this love and money journey? What are the areas that you're already doing well? Because, listen, if you know that, oh, my goodness, I didn't realize this was a big deal, I can do more of that, right? Like that's a good thing. And the areas that you most need to work on. It'll just get you started.

That's exactly it. It didn't take long. It was very easy to answer the questions and just understanding what you value, where your value is. Well, once again, that assessment is in this new book. And again, the title is Thriving in Love and Money. And we'd like to send a copy of this your way to say thank you for your partnership in bringing these studies each day. We're completely listener supported.

Without listener investments, we couldn't be here. So we hope you'll send a generous donation today and then be sure to ask for Thriving in Love and Money. And we can only mention this resource a short time longer, so get in touch today. You can write a new beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, California, 92514. Or reach us by phone any time, day or night, at 1-800-821-3300. Again, 1-800-821-3300.

Or just go online to Harvest.org. Pastor Greg, just before we go, would you mind praying with the person listening who wants to make a change today in their relationship with the Lord? I'd be happy to, Dave. You know, as you've been listening to this today, maybe you've heard another voice. By that I mean, yeah, you heard me say a few things, but you heard God's voice speak to you deep in the recesses of your heart. And it suddenly dawned on you, this is what I need. Or to state it more accurately, this is who I need. I need Jesus, and I want Jesus.

But maybe you don't know how to make that connection. Let me help you. Pray this after me right now if you want Jesus Christ to come into your life. Lord Jesus, I know I am a sinner. And I am sorry for my sin. And I need your forgiveness right now. Would you come into my heart and my life as Savior, as God, as friend?

I choose to follow you from this moment forward. Thank you for calling me and accepting me and forgiving me. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. I know that was a relatively short prayer. Maybe you felt something as you prayed it. Maybe you felt nothing.

That doesn't really matter. Because God's word says, these things we write to you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. It doesn't say, so you may think you have it, or you may hope you have it if God's in a good mood.

No, that you can know it. And I want you to know, if you prayed that prayer and meant it, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has come into your life. So congratulations. You're now a Christian. Now continue to follow the Lord. And to help you, we'd like to send some resource materials. We call our New Believers Growth Packet.

It'll answer many of the questions you might have and get you started in your new relationship with the Lord. So get in touch and ask for it. We'll send it free of charge. Write, A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, California 92514. Or you can call us anytime night or day at 1-800-821-3300. That's 1-800-821-3300.

And you can call that number anytime 24-7. Or just go to harvest.org and click on Know God. Well, next time we'll see even world changers need a second chance. Failures and how to recover from them next time here on A New Beginning with Pastor Greg Laurie. This is the day, the day when life begins. The preceding message from Greg Laurie was made possible by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God. Sign up for Pastor Greg's free daily email devotions at harvest.org.