The Giant of Fear - Part B

You conquer fear by realizing your personal assets. See, God made you different than he made me. He made us very unique and you have a certain makeup and certain advantages and certain gifts that enable you to do what nobody else can do. Fear can make us question everything about ourselves, even our place in this world. Today on Connect with Skip Heitzig, Skip shares how your own unique traits can help you conquer fear.

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The news is not good, the prognosis is not good, and you didn't see it coming. God's Word has the direction to get you through the planned and unplanned pivot points in your life. The pivot point package speaks to marriage, death, depression, recovery, fear of the future, and moving to a new location or job. Get these teachings that include written personal direction from Skip on each of these topics. You'll receive this package when you give $50 or more today to this Bible teaching ministry. We'll send you Pastor Skip's pivot points collection of six messages plus an encouraging letter from Pastor Skip so you can strengthen your faith in defining moments. A faith that cannot be tested is a faith that cannot be trusted.

Get these critical pivot point messages today when you give online securely at connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888. Okay, we're in 1 Samuel chapter 17 as we join Skip Heitzig for today's study. There's a great little poem by Shel Silverstein called The What Ifs.

It's a children's poem, but it's just fun. I thought you should see it. Last night, while I lay thinking here, some what ifs crawled inside my ear. You've all had that.

And pranced and partied all night long and sang their same old what if song. What if they've closed a swimming pool? What if I'm dumb in school? What if I get beat up? What if there's poison in my cup? What if I start to cry? What if I just get sick and die? What if I flunk the test? What if green hair grows on my chest?

That wouldn't be good, would it? What if nobody likes me? What if a bolt of lightning strikes me? What if I don't grow taller? What if my head starts getting smaller? What if the fish won't bite? What if the wind tears up my kite? What if they start a war? What if my parents get divorced? What if the bus is late? What if my teeth don't grow in straight? What if I tear my pants? What if I never learn to dance?

That'd be okay. But anyway, everything seems swell and then the nighttime what ifs strike again. Every kid has had that experience.

And many adults continue to have that experience. What if I lose my job? What if I don't find another job? What if the disease gets worse?

What if the check doesn't come? Fill in the blank. Fear is intimidating. Fear can be debilitating. Let me give you a third truth about fear. Fear breeds squabbling.

When people are afraid, they do something with their fear. So look at verse 28. Now Eliab, he's in the army. He's part of this whole setup. Eliab, his oldest brother, heard when he, David, spoke to the men. So David comes, younger brother, sheep guy comes, talks to everybody. Eliab sees this. Eliab, his oldest brother, heard when he spoke to the men.

And Eliab's anger was aroused against David. And he said, why did you come down here? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness?

Now this is a dig. He's trying to put him down. I'm in the army. All you do is keep sheep.

What did you do with those sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride and the insolence of your heart, for you have come down to see the battle. Now if I'm David, I'm going to be saying, really? What battle? I don't see no battle. I don't see any of you getting up and fighting.

You're just scared, crawling, running away. But he didn't say that. David said, what have I done now?

Is there not a cause? Then he turned from him toward another and said the same thing. And these people answered him as the first ones did. Keep in mind who Eliab is. Eliab's the oldest brother. He was the guy who stood in line when Samuel came to pick the next king. And so that means Eliab was the first one in the family to be rejected as king. He never forgot that. And he never forgot when David came in from watching sheep and Samuel said, that's it. He's the kid. He's the king.

He held it against him all that time. Now in a moment of battle, now in a moment of fear, he lashes out. This is called infighting. He's fighting his brother.

Why? Because he's afraid. Fear will do that. Mental health expert, Kristin Fuller, said that fear can turn to anger. She said when you're in a stressful environment combined with a perceived threat, you experience frustration. In that condition, people often lash out at people around them.

Keep that in mind. If people are unloading on you and getting angry at you, it could be that they're afraid. During this last year and a half, I've seen so many freaked out people, so afraid. And what they do, they get angry at you. They get angry at you.

How come they're not wearing their mask? Don't get too close to me. Okay, whoa. Yeah. So, you know, you can get tempted to lash out back at them. I mean, I think David, most brothers would have said, really?

You want some of this? I'll punch you in the nose, Eliab. But he doesn't do that. He recognizes that this is coming from fear. In fact, notice what he does. He says he turned from him.

That's what he did. Just turn away. Just walk away. David wasn't there to fight his brother. David was there to fight a beast named Goliath. So he turned from him. He knew who to fight and who not to fight. Now, listen, if you don't watch it, you'll end up spending all your time fighting a Christian brother or sister while the real enemy of our souls keeps coming up, coming up, coming up. And he wants you to not think of his coming up. He wants you to just have infighting with everybody else around you. Don't let it happen.

Finally, I'm going to take you to a fourth. This is really the best part of the story. This is the crux of the story. Fear requires conquering.

Fear requires conquering. So we go down to verse 45. David comes on the scene. He's there with a few rocks, five stones, and a sling. I mean, not even a slingshot. I hear people say, David, all you had was a slingshot. No, he did not.

That was invented a long time after. He came with just a sling, a little leather strap that you go around your head or off to the side. He comes and verse 45, David said to the Philistine, you come to me with a sword, a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.

Wow. I mean, the best part of the story is a teenage kid talking smack back to this warrior. Why does he do that? And I don't think this is hubris or he's puffed up with pride. Somebody once said, courage is just fear that has said its prayers.

So I think he probably went out there, gulping, but he realized something. So it says, I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts. Look at verse 46. This day, the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day, I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth. I love verses like this.

That all the earth may know that there's a God in Israel. Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear, for the battle is the Lord's, and He will give you into our hands. Wow. You know that experts will tell you that fear can be unlearned? You know why that is? Because fear is learned. We learn it when we're young. Some of it's healthy, good fear, but so often it becomes irrational.

So often it controls us. And what you have learned that has become unhealthy and bad can be unlearned. And the Bible talks about renewing your mind. Don't be conformed to this world.

Romans 12, verse two. Don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. You need to learn to think differently.

You need to unlearn certain things. So what I want you to do, I want to get specific now. David was victorious because he did three things. We can conquer by doing three things. Number one, by remembering past victories.

Remembering past victories. So I want you to see something here. Look at chapter 17. Look at verse 33. Now David says, I'll take the giant on.

I'll do this. No, everybody's scared. I'm ready to fight. So he stands before King Saul. Look what King Saul says to him. Saul said to David, you're not able to go against this Philistine.

I mean, this guy's meaner than a junkyard dog. You're a kid. You're a boy. You can't do this.

That's what fear says to you. You can't do this. Don't try. Stop.

You can't do this. For you are but a youth. And he is a man of war from his youth. So David hears that, thinks about it. David said to Saul, well, your servant used to keep his father's sheep when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock. I went out after it. You're picturing a little kid chasing a bear. Your servant, he said, I went out after it and struck it and delivered the lamb from its mouth.

You got to get pretty close to a bear to deliver it out of its mouth. I caught it by the beard, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both lion and bear. And this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, seeing that he's defied the armies of the living God.

So he remembered something that happened in the past. He said, look, King, with all due respect, I've seen God vanquish lesser enemies, lions and bears, top of the food chain animals. Lions and bears, top of the food chain animals. I chased them down.

I clubbed them to death. And I took my lamb home. So here's the point. Fear in the present is conquered by recalling victories in the past. Fear in the present is conquered by recalling victories in the past. I want you to remember this.

Look up here. I want you to remember this. If you have a good memory and a sound theology, you're ready to fight right now.

Right now. If you have a good memory and a sound theology, you're ready to fight right now. If you have a sound theology, you're ready to fight right now.

Because the good memory will remind you of what God has already done in your life. And the sound theology will remind you that the battle belongs to God and what he's done in the past, you can do it again. So if you have those two things, you are ready to fight. If you can handle lions and bears, lesser trials, you're ready for Giants 101. You're ready.

You're in the club. So by remembering past victories, that's number one. Number two, you conquer fear by realizing your personal assets. See, God made you different than he made me. He made us very unique.

And you have a certain makeup and certain advantages and certain gifts that enable you to do what nobody else can do. So it is with David. So David, finally, Saul says, okay, go ahead. God be with you. Go to battle.

But look at verse 38. Saul clothed David with his armor. He put on a bronze helmet on his head. He clothed him with a coat of mail. Keep in mind how tall is Saul?

Head and shoulders above everybody else. David's a little teenager. It's like putting 52 long on 38 regular. It's like a little 12-year-old wearing his dad's suit. It's like, this really looks ridiculous. And it was. David fastened his sword to his armor. And he tried to walk. Couldn't even walk.

For he hadn't tested them. David said to Saul, I can't walk with these, for I have not tested them. So David took them off. Here's King Saul trying to turn David into an armadillo. It's like, man, you need protection. So he clothes them.

David goes, I can't do this. I'm much better with a sling and these stones than with your sword and coat of mail. So the principle is this. Never do what God has not called you to do. Never try to be somebody else. Never fight like somebody else fights. Don't try to use a sword if you're better with a sling.

What works for one may not work for another. Find your own gifts, your own personal abilities, and go in that strength that God has given you. See, David had certain assets. Yeah, he was unprotected, but he was fast. He was young and agile.

Yeah, Goliath was pretty big, but he was also slow and lumbering. So David just figured out that pretty quickly. He goes, don't need that.

I'm going to realize my personal assets. And then the third thing he did and the third key to our victory over fear is by relying on a powerful God. And that's verse 45. That's the King verse. You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. Now, I want you to compare something.

Remember what I said? What you see is determined by how you see. It's really a matter of how you see it. So with that in mind, I want you to compare two verses. Look at verse 25. Now, this is the army, the Israelite army. The men of Israel said, have you seen this man who has come up? Surely he has come up to defy Israel. Now, compare that with verse 45, where David said, the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.

Here's the point. David realizes Goliath isn't just attacking an army. He's attacking God's army. He's attacking God's people. Do you know that when God's people are attacked, that God takes it very personally?

He does. God said of Israel, the Lord said of Israel in the Old Testament, whoever touches you touches the apple of my eye. I will get hot and bothered when you mess with my people.

Want to see that in action? Saul of Tarsus in the New Testament was out to persecute Christians, hunt Christians, kill Christians. He gets knocked off his horse on the road to Damascus. Jesus says, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? He's thinking you, I don't even know who you are. I don't even know who's talking to me.

That's why he said, who are you, Lord? I'm not after whoever you are. I'm after them. No, you're persecuting me. I'm taking what you're doing to them very personally. You're messing with them. You are messing with them.

You are messing with me. Something else. David compares weapons. It's sort of interesting because you come to me with and he starts rattling off what Goliath has. He's got a sword. He's got a spear. He's got a javelin.

Most people go, that's a lot. I got nothing. No, he says, you got all that, but I've got something you don't have. I have a name. I come to you in the name of the Lord. The name means the reputation, the authority of the Lord. You don't have that, Goliath.

You just got a sword and a spear and a javelin. I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel. So you've got size, you've got strength, you've got a sword, but I have the name of the Lord. Listen, if you're going to slay giants, you need a healthy respect for the size of your God. If you remember nothing but this from this sermon, I was going to say I'd be happy.

I wouldn't be happy, but I'll settle for it. If you just remember this, when God is magnified, fears go away. Whenever God is magnified, fears go.

You've heard that before. Let's magnify the Lord. Paul said, I magnify Him in my body. What does it mean to magnify the Lord? You know what a magnifying glass does. Does a magnifying glass make anything bigger?

No, it makes it appear bigger, makes it look bigger. When God is magnified, when you remind yourself whose side you're on and who God is, when God is magnified, fears can't live there. You can't live a fearful existence if you understand that. And that is why Israel was scared. Israel was scared when they saw Goliath because they compared Goliath's size to their size. LeBron James, Danny DeVito. LeBron James, Danny DeVito. Fear.

If I'm Danny DeVito, I'm scared if that guy's my enemy. David comes on, he is unafraid because he compared Goliath's size, not to his size, but to God's size. So Israel's going, poor us. David's going, poor Goliath. He's been doing this 40 days. This is day 41. This is his last day to breathe on the planet. And he goes after him. Martin Luther said, with God, one is always a majority.

Always a majority. I want to close with a fun little story, true story. This happened in a philosophy class at USC, University of Southern California. For 20 years, a professor of philosophy at USC, a devoted atheist, used every opportunity to scorn the existence of God. All of his students every year for 20 years, they were always afraid of this guy. So every semester on the last day of class, the professor would stand before like 300 students in the lecture hall. And he said, if anyone here still believes in God, stand up. In 20 years, nobody dared stand up.

They were all afraid. And then he said, if you believe in God, you're a fool. If God did exist, he could keep this piece of chalk from hitting the floor and breaking in pieces, a very simple task for Almighty God. Yet he can't do it. The professor would then drop the chalk.

It would hit the hard tile floor and smatter into pieces. Well, surely there were Christians over 20 years that were in that class, but none of them dared speak up or stand up because they were afraid. But one year, a freshman took the class.

He had to take it to complete his major. He was a Christian student. And the professor stood up on the last day, said, is there anybody here who believes in God? Stand up. So he stood up. Stood up, faced off the professor. The professor looked at that lone student and said, you are a fool.

If God is real, then he could keep this piece of chalk from shattering when it hits the floor, but he can't. Just then, as he said those words, the chalk slipped out of his hand, hit his sleeve, bounced on his shoe, rolled onto the floor, across the room, unbroken. And all the students predictably snickered. It was just so funny.

It was just perfect. Well, the professor got so red and angry. He just stomped out of the classroom.

And when he did, that one student who stood up walked to the front of the room and began to share his testimony with 300 students that were now a captive audience. Fear is the greatest barrier to you fulfilling God's plan in your life. Fear. God hasn't given us the spirit of fear. Perfect love casts out all fear, the Bible says, because fear has torment. And some of you know that torment.

But perfect love casts it out. I'm praying that not only we would be a bold church, we would be a church of sound mind and thinking clearly, but we would be fearless, unafraid, unafraid. That concludes Skip Heitzig's message from the series Hunting Giants. Now, here's Skip to share how you can keep these messages coming your way to connect you and many others around the world with God's word. Remembering how God has been faithful in your past can fuel your faith in the present to keep following Him.

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