Facing Your Giants

Welcome to this edition of PowerPoint with Jack Graham. A little later in the program we'll tell you how you can get a copy of Dr. Graham's book, Man of God. But first, here's the message, Facing Your Giants.

Take your Bibles and turn to 1 Samuel chapter 17. Let me ask you a question, how many giants are you facing in your life? Of course, I'm not talking about physical giants, but there are giants that threaten us and taunt us, even terrorize us on a daily basis. And many of us are facing fears in our lives, in our homes, our marriages, our jobs. And these fears require courage as a response.

And that's really the theme of this message. One of the main causes today is courage, because I want to remind you as whatever giant you may face, all of us need courage in order to combat the giants of our lives. And I want to remind you that the same God who delivered Israel and who empowered David to defeat the giant of Gath, Goliath, is available to you in order that you might meet the challenges of your life today. That you might defeat the giants of your life, these fearful, fierce tormentors.

And I truly believe that more men are afraid than we are willing to admit. And that so often our fears keep us from achieving the success in life that God has planned for us, that keep us from experiencing the victory that is promised to us in the Lord Jesus Christ. And what I want to show you in this passage as we take a fresh look at this story that most of us have been hearing all of our lives, what I want to show you are some of the principles of victory, if you will, principles of conquest that were true in David's day and are true in our day because the God of David is our God in Christ. And this God is able to deliver us from the hands of any enemy and of any giant.

Think with me first of all about the challenge, the challenge of the living God. Now the story that we have before us in 1 Samuel chapter 17 is really the story of the conflict of the ages since Satan rebelled against God at the beginning of time and this battle between good and evil. And this battle rages today. And it's never been clearer has it that there is evil that exists in the world and that the battle of the ages is to fight against evil in the world, to fight against the Philistines and to destroy the enemies of God. Now in verses 1-3 we have the scene that I want to show you. Now the Philistines gathered their armies together to battle and were gathered at Sococh which belongs to Judah.

And they encamped between Sococho and Azekah in Ephistamim. And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together and they were encamped in the valley of Elah and drew up in battle array against the Philistines. The Philistines stood on a mountain on one side and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side with a valley between them.

So this is known then as the valley of Elah. The size of this challenge against God was an amazing giant. Verse 4, And a champion went out from the camp of the Philistines named Goliath from Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. He had a bronze helmet on his head and he was armed with a coat of mail and the weight of the coat was 5,000 shekels of bronze. And he had bronze armor on his legs and a bronze javelin between his shoulders.

Now the staff of his spear was like a weavers beam and the iron spearhead weighed 600 shekels and a shield bearer went before him. Well, there was this great giant, the giant of Gath known as Goliath. Well, just how big was this bad boy?

Well, when you read the numbers here, they're difficult to translate over into numbers today, but he was somewhere between 9 feet 6 inches tall and 9 feet 9 inches tall. And this giant was armed to the teeth. His armor weighed somewhere between 150 and 200 pounds. His spear point weighed about 20 pounds, just his spear.

So it was a huge challenge. Here are the shouts of this giant. What was this giant doing? He stood and he cried out to the armies of Israel and said to them, Why have you come out to line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine and you the service of Saul?

Choose a man for yourselves and let him come down to me. Alright, here was the big challenge. This giant is shouting at them. He's defying God. He's blaspheming God. He's mocking these Israelites every day. He said, why don't we, instead of us fighting as armies, you just send down one man to fight me.

We'll just go mano a mano and it will be a winner take all. And guess what? Nobody was lining up to go down and fight the giant. So in verse 16, we see the seriousness of this challenge. And the Philistine, that is the giant, drew near and presented himself 40 days morning and evening. When Saul and all of Israel heard these words of the Philistines, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.

Now let's just stop here for a moment for an application. Because there's some of you that I'm talking to today who are paralyzed by your fears. And you are not getting done what God wants to get done in your life. Because some giant is threatening you. And you've allowed us to be afraid of failure. We're afraid of failure. Have you ever noticed that so often the worst time for fear in our lives is when we first get up in the morning and that fear is right there to threaten us? And when's the other time the fears are so often there? When we lay down at night and you can't get away from the threats and the challenges day and night they come.

And that's what was happening to the Israelites. This was the challenge to the living God and to the people of God. But second, I want you to notice then the champion of the living God, the inner David.

The one constant of all champions is that they must have heart. Courage is not the absence of fear, it is the mastery of fear. Preach, which someone described is a brave way to be scared. It is to confront those enemies. To confront those giants. Even when we are frightened to face and to deal with the enemies. And to do it with confidence in God. So David is a brave heart. And there are several characteristics of brave hearts. in every generation one is consistency David was faithful even though David was a king in waiting he kept tending the sheep he was faithful in the little things too often we want to succeed in the sensational we want to win big battles and fight great fights and yet we are unprepared because we have not taken care of business in the little things in the preparation and the consistency of our lives David was taking care of the sheep and doing what God had called him to do when no one else was watching now that's a champion David was consistent in the small things and not just in the big things and that's the difference between people who are champions and people who are not now look in verses 34 to 37 but David said to Saul your servant used to keep his father's sheep and when a lion or a bear came out and took a lamb out of the flock I went after it and struck it and delivered the lamb from its mouth and when he arose against me I caught it by its beard and struck it and killed it your servant has killed both lion and bear and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them seeing he has defied the armies of the living God now this is skipping down in the story just a little bit but it's making the point of the consistency of the preparation is the principle of preparation if you want to be a champion is David swaggering here well no he's not swaggering he's not bragging he is confident in his God and his abilities because he said you know as a shepherd I've taken on enemies before I've taken on these wild animals and protecting the sheep many times I'm sure David had worked on his fighting techniques and the the use of that slingshot and so on he was confident in his God and in his abilities your Giants may be bigger than you are you need to know that you are ready because you've been faithful in the little things in your life and you are ready because you have a God who is greater than any giant in your life you're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and his message facing your Giants pastor this month we have a special gift for our listeners who give a gift to PowerPoint it's your book man of God what can you tell us about this powerful resource you know I have a real passion to see men know and follow Jesus Christ as their Lord and as their Savior and if I were just speaking to men right now I would say the greatest thing you could do with your life is to fully follow the Lord Jesus Christ some of you guys you're you're moral you're good you're a good husband you're a good family guy you're a good worker but goodness doesn't get us to heaven that doesn't make us a man of God God's man Jesus does that I want to encourage you to walk with God like never before that's the reason I've written this book man of God I really want you to have this book because it talks about how we as men can truly be men of God and if that sounds overwhelming I promise you it's possible for you you can be the man the person that God wants you to be as you walk with him in the power of the Holy Spirit so I've written man of God so that we can live life with purpose and passion in life and make a difference in the world call today and get dr. Graham's book man of God as our thank you for your gift call one eight hundred seven nine five four six two seven that's one eight hundred seven nine five four six two seven or text the word PowerPoint to five nine seven eight nine now let's get back to today's message facing your Giants these Israelites they didn't want to fight this giant they were saying look how much bigger this giant is than we are David was saying look how much smaller this giant is that God is he was confident and full of faith and it was his faith in God that vanquished his fear the only way to overcome fear in our life and possess courage is to believe in a God who is able look down in verse 45 David goes out to the Philistine David said to the Philistine you come to me with sword and spear with 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 David was encouraged by his past victories he was encouraged and confident in the greatness of his God David knew where his power existed his power was not in himself he was confident in the spirit not in the flesh earlier in the passage down in verse 39 we won't read it but you can just look at it there Saul who should have been the one fighting this giant he was the leader of Israel he was the king of Israel but Saul like the rest of them was afraid but he offered David his armor remember this part of the story and David was you know testing this armor and he was walking around in this armor and it was it was too big and David said look I don't need this armor God's protection is all the protection I need there you see his heart his heart for God remember that old song you gotta have heart well you gotta have heart when you face great giants not by might not by power but by my spirit says the Lord and so he was consistent and look down in verse 40 we see this conquest of the living God his instruments in the conquests he took his staff in his hand and he chose himself five smooth stones from the brook and in verses 41 to 44 we hear the insults coming of the giant the Philistine came began drawing near to David I mean he's coming right at this this young man and the man who bore the shield with him and he looked at David look at verse 42 when the Philistine looked and saw David he disdained him for he was only a youth ruddy and good-looking so the Philistine said am I a dog that you come to me with sticks and the Philistine cursed David by his gods and the Philistine said the David come to me and I'll give your flesh to the birds in the air the beasts of the field but David was not about to be timid intimidated David's faith was real he had consistency and he had courage the giant was infuriated and David was ready to take him on so he didn't allow the intimidation of the giant to destroy or to defeat him well notice the impact of David's life he he took that those stones and he took one of them and as the giant is coming at them I mean he's got this thing above his head you know he's whirling it around and before Goliath even gets his helmet on and before that dude in front of him can get the shield up David lets it go and that stone makes impact and contact and the giant falls all five six hundred pounds of him with a thud boom can you imagine that now get this you know yet the armies of Philistines on one side they're watching it's a heavyweight championship of the world you know you got the armies of Israel on the other side little David runs out there no armor just slingshot wow wow wow boom boom this thing he goes down David runs to him now this was think about it this was one of the most dangerous parts of the battle David then runs to him while the giant is down for the count he pulls the giant sword and severs his head and the Philistines began to run now keep your place there in 1st Samuel 17 and just go over to the book of Acts in verse 13 and here's a little commentary on David that I wanted you to see this morning which gives you some insight into his heart and to any champions heart acts 13 and verse 22 how do you know you're a man after God's own heart here's how you know and when he had removed him he raised up for them David as king to whom also he being God gave testimony and said I have found David the son of Jesse a man after my own heart who will do my will a man after God's own heart is a man who is committed to doing the will of God no matter the cost no matter the consequences and if you're looking for a short sentence to describe why this man was a champion there it is David responds to the challenge and he stands alone and therefore he stands alone in victories champions say somehow some way we are going to get it done and that's what David did why was David so committed to doing the will of God because he knew there was a purpose in this there was a cause in this and what was the cause this filthy Philistine was defying the God of Israel this giant was blaspheming God Almighty he was humiliating the people of God and David said is there not a cause the cause you see is the glory of God in our generation are there not giants enemies of the cross that threaten and taunt and blaspheme the God of gods sure there are we face them every day and so often we cower down and we hunker down and we're afraid to meet the big challenges of our times but I simply ask you guys is there not a cause the glory of God is at stake in our generation and we need men after God's own heart who have a heart for him to do the will of God no matter what can you imagine what happened to the Israelites when they saw the big bad giant fall down I mean this is the same guy's been coming out 40 days and 40 nights saying fee five fo fum I spell the blood of a Jewish man and now he goes down it was an impossible thing God won this victory through a teenage boy with some stones and a slingshot and a borrowed sword why to demonstrate for all of us that it's not great talent or great education or great physical strength and it's not our ability not our expertise not our human wisdom that will win the day but God has chosen the foolish things of this world to confound the wise I mean if the Israelites had a nine-foot giant to send out against the Philistines giant and Israel's giant beat the Philistine giant no big deal a fair fight a big fall and it was over but when God uses a little teenage boy and a stone guess who gets all the glory God gets the glory and guess who gets the glory when we fight in the power of Jesus Christ knowing that we can't but he can being prepared being fully committed but at the same time knowing that we are weak and it is in our weakness that he is made strong now in closing then what does this old old story this great old story mean to me we can all face the giants of life with confidence and faith in Christ to live a Christian life to raise a family in a generation that is tough to raise kids that are godly and wholesome to be faithful to Christ and to the church to be consistent in our witness there are giants but we confront the Giants when we do we can defeat the Giants you are listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and today's message facing your Giants today's culture has so distorted the concept of masculinity that some even reject it as toxic but our world doesn't need less manly men we need more men of God men who love Jesus make loving husbands and fathers and lead as servants we'd like to help you uncover what God says about true masculinity by sending you dr. Graham's book man of God you'll gain biblical insight into how you or the men in your life can live with purpose and passion putting Christ first and living radically for him men of God is our thanks for your gift to help proclaim God's Word through PowerPoint so request your copy when you call today call 1-800-795-4627 that's 1-800-795-4627 you can also text PowerPoint to 5 9 7 8 9 and don't forget to visit Jack Graham dot o RG where you can shop our e-store give a gift online or sign up for dr. Graham's free daily email devotional our website again is Jack Graham dot o RG pastor what is your PowerPoint for today it was a great demonstration of what God can do through a man totally committed to fight for God's honor no matter what the cost it was also a turning point in the lives of so many Israelite soldiers who had been terrified for days by the taunting and the tormenting of this Philistine giant seeing David's courage and God's supernatural power turned them back into men back into real soldiers back into defenders of the glory of God so today perhaps as never before in our time God is looking for champions he's looking for people just like you to trust him and to face up and to face off the Giants in your life don't let any fear keep you from being the person God has saved you to be now I know that you may be facing some very big Giants in your life huge Giants that have made you fearful and maybe you have given up hope of ever winning the battle well let me tell you something the biggest giant ever is the one called death D E A T H and when Jesus cried out it is finished and when Jesus came out of that grave that big ferocious giant of death was defeated forever because of Jesus Christ you can have eternal life and it can begin right now by trusting him receiving him as your Lord and your Savior and if God would defeat that giant for you the ultimate terrorist just imagine what he can do with the other Giants that you're facing take courage my friend be strong and bold in the Lord trust in Almighty God you are more than a conqueror through him who loves you and then begin watching the Giants of your life fall and that is today's PowerPoint remember when you give a gift to PowerPoint we'll send you dr. Graham's book man of God as our thanks call 1-800-795-4627 that's 1-800-795-4627 you can also text the word PowerPoint to 5 9 7 8 9 on the next PowerPoint dr. Graham brings a message about what friendship really means and why it's important that's next time on PowerPoint with Jack Graham PowerPoint with Jack Graham is sponsored by PowerPoint ministries