How to Overcome Your Giants | Sunday Message with Greg 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. The title of my message is How to Overcome Your Giants. How to Overcome Your Giants. So we all have giants that we face in life, but by that 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. 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 fell 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 going to 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 going to 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 his 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 longtime enemy, the Philistines. And so they came to a place called the Valley of Elop. 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. Snaring 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, 1 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. A high-need baby, probably. And 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. And sometimes they would even dye the little chicks different colors. And 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. And 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, right? 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 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, committed 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 is 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 to 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.

1 Samuel 17, 51. 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 was 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 it 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 he's beating Darth Vader down and he brings his lightsaber down on the helmet of Darth Vader and splits it open and you can see the face of Anakin in there.

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.

No brainer, hello? Flush them down the toilet. Foods, 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, 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, 1 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 dress plate, boom. Helmet, boom.

Shoes even too big. And he's got this sword. You know, no way he's gonna go against Goliath with 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 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 way more powerful than you. But oh, the Lord.

Oh, he's so much stronger than Satan. So I stand in 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 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 wanna 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 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.

In person. And to others out there who are watching this online, I'm glad we can be here for you. We wanna 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 and things 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. 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 1 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 gonna change if they don't want to change. So the question is, do you want to be made whole? Do you want to change?

Do 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's no such thing as holy water.

I hate to break it to you. Well, I'll just wear a crucifix. I 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. See, 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, come on 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 and 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 wanna fill the big hole in your heart that you've tried to fill with so many things this culture offers, if you wanna know that you will go to heaven when you die, wherever you are, I want you to pray this prayer out loud after me. 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 to this podcast. To learn more about Harvest Ministries, follow this show and consider supporting it. Just go to harvest.org. And to find out how to know God personally, go to harvest.org and click on Know God.