Banner of Praise Ministries
Reverend Dr. Levi Howard Wright, Pastor& Founder
“I Need To Slaying Some Giants in Our Life”
1 Samuel 17:1-30 Ephe 6:10-18
Introduction
Turn to your neighbor and look them in the eye and say.... “I Need To Slay Some Giants In My Life.”
In our text today, we see An extraordinary young man who had a nine feet giant of a problem standing between him, and what God intended for him to become. Up to this point, David was just an ordinary shepherd boy, not even his family expected too much out of him, because he was the youngest of eight boys. His job was to take care for the sheep and be a delivery boy. Yet because he was willing to face up to a giant by the name of Goliath, his name and his life has been carved in granite in the word of God.
Sometime, Life its self will either bring or is bringing some giants into our lives that will shape us, mold us, make us or break us as we try and make a stand for the LORD. Right now, what is your biggest problem? What giant are standing in your path threatening to destroy you? What giants are there threatening our church the Banner of Praise?
God has already determined that we can defeat and take out every giant that we face in life if we are willing to trust Him when we go into the battle in the name of Jesus.
Victory requires more than positive thinking. It requires more than enthusiasm. It even requires more than action. If you do a lot of action at the wrong time or the wrong action at the right time, you still come up short.
Victory becomes ours when we think right about our problems, feel right about our problems, and then act right about our problems. We need more than just a positive mental attitude.
We need a vision from the Lord Jesus Christ as to the direction that we must go. “Where There Is No Vision The People Will Perish”.
When we look at the giants before us, the object is not to focus on all the ways the giant might overcome us, but we must concentrate on how we are going to slay and behead this giant monster.
ILLUSTRATION
A batter who concentrates on not striking out will strike out. His concentration needs to be on hitting the ball. A foul shooter who dedicates himself to not missing the shot is going to miss. Her concentration needs to be on making the shot. A student who worries about choking during the exam, is going to choke. The emphasis needs to be on letting the answers flow out clearly.
David was going against a man over nine feet tall. The Goliath’s coat weighed 125 lbs. The head of his spear weighed some 15 lbs by itself. But David didn’t concentrate on what if he throws the javelin through me before I get close enough, or what if he grabs me in a bear hug, or what if he starts just punching me out.
David instead picked him up 5 stones and headed in the giant’s direction. One other thing that David came with was a word from the Lord.
He said in 1 Samuel 17:45-4 to the giant Goliath, "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. {46} This day the LORD will hand you over to me, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. Today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. {47} All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands."
Do you see he did not go through all the what if this happened and what if that happened? David knew that he had to go and take a stand, and take care of business , because of the God he served, he had every intention of winning the fight with the giant. He did a lot of bad talking even before the first lick or hit had taken place. But it wasn’t because He thought he was somebody bad or tough. It was because David knew what the Lord had done for him in the past, that He could talk so boastfully now.
You see when folks were laughing at David about being a nobody out in the hills taking care of the sheep, David was learning what it was to know God. Your position in life is nothing to be ashamed of, so long as you are using the position to get to know God even better. God is always looking for people who don’t have big heads and big egoes, because those are the kind of people who the Spirit of God can truly use.
Not only was David learning about sheep, he was learning how to fight some small giants that kept creeping into his life. You see when bears and lions came and attacked the sheep, David went after the wild beasts. Sometimes the lions and bears didn’t appreciate what David had done, and they turned and attacked.
It was in those moments of battle that David learned who God was. David said concerning this new giant in his life,
1 Samuel 17:37 "The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine."
David spoke so confidently in regards to the outcome of the battle because his focus was on the prize of being victorious, rather than on the pitfalls of defeat. We should never allow ourselves to lose sight of our goal.
One of the primary reasons we do not defeat the giants in our lives is that we allow ourselves to be defeated even before we get started. I can’t do it... I’m too small.... I’m too weak.... I’m uneducationed.... etc....
There is always somebody around to remind you of who you are, and how you think you are just so much better than anybody else when they know what you are really like. Unfortunately sometimes these people will be your friends and even your family members. Now Eliab was David’s oldest brother. Here he was a fine, tall, and good looking soldier. When Samuel had been sent to David’s house to annoint someone king, the minute Samuel saw Eliab, Samuel said, "surely this is the one that God has chosen." You would have thought that he would have been a giant fighter, but he wasn’t. Because he was scared to deal with Goliath, he decided to pick a fight with David. Sometime folks don’t want to face the real giant so they pick a fight with you.....
When Eliab saw David inquiring about the giant, he tried his best to humiliate him and embarass him in front of the other men.
He says in verse 28, 1 Samuel 17:8, "Why have you come down here? And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the desert? I know how conceited you are and how wicked your heart is; you came down only to watch the battle." In other words, you’re no soldier.
You little coward, you came to look at real men fight to the death. What do you know about fighting."
Brothers & Sisters..... you have got to believe in yourself. Not that you have some cosmic force within you. But you need to believe that God can use you to accomplish anything that God desires for you to be. As a church, at some point we are going to have to believe that we are a great church, and that our own limited vision keeps us from seeing it in the natural. Now is not the time to focus on what we can’t do. It’s time to move ahead and do what God is calling us to do.
In our individual lives and our corporate lives as a body, we should not be discouraged by others who are not willing to fight giants for themselves, nor are they willing to see us succeed in our own battles. David didn’t start crying that his brother had really hurt his feelings. He didn’t say, yes you’re right, I better go back to the sheep. Nor did he blast his brother and say, "If you’re such a big shot, why don’t you go fight him." You see David realized he would not become a better giant fighter merely by cutting down someone else.
He did what we so often failed to do. He got away from those who were speaking negative about him. Sometimes to keep our minds focused on slaying the giants in our lives, we need to get away from people who constantly try to belittle us and our efforts. We don’t motivate people by telling them all the things they did wrong. Motivation comes when we point out and applaud the things that others are doing right. David knew enough to get away from the grumblers and complainers.
The Bible says in verse 1 Samuel 17:30 "He then turned away to someone else and brought up the same matter, and the men answered him as before." We may need to turn to someone else before we can get close enough to slay that giant in our lives.
What someone else thinks of your value and worth, may be a long ways off from what God thinks about you. You are important and you do count, and if you give Jesus the chance, you will be so amazed at what you can conquer in life.
One of the things we must do to slay giants is to examine our cause. What is the purpose that causes us to want to tackle this giant. It is worthy enough to consume our energy, effort, time and, commitment? Is it worth the risk we’ll be taking?
We know that David had a cause. When he arrived on the scene, the first thing he found was a very frightened and scared Israelite army. The second thing he saw was the giant Goliath and he immediately realized why they were scared to death.
This guy was massive and he had every intent on killing whoever was foolish enough to get in his way. Having a purpose in life will make us behave in a different way. A purpose will cause us to spend more time in prayer. If our purpose is bigger than we are, we will need to continually ask God for His wisdom and strength. Prayer is how the power of God is unleashed. We have this warped view that God is saying, "no, no I won’t help you. I’m too busy with this thing over here."
And that somehow prayer forces God from his reluctance to help us and to come and get on our side. The reality is that God is eager to have us move ahead and slay the giants. Prayer is the means by which we grab a hold of the reigns of the power of God.
Throughout the Scriptures we are challenged to boldy claim victory through prayer.
We find in Jeremiah 33:3 ’Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’ In the New Testament we have in Mark 11:24 "Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." Through prayer we discover the power and privilege to be used by God for a great purpose.
We cannot fulfill the plan of God for the Banner of Praise without prayer. Dwight L. Moody was once asked by a man why his ministry was so powerful and he took the man to the basement in the church and showed him the 100 men who was always praying for the work of the ministry. It would be great if each Sunday a group would meet for just 15 minutes before service and pray for the service, the choirs, the members in the pews, the pastors, and that someone would be saved. God is not limited. We limit ourselves by our failure to plug into the power that God has made available.
The second thing that having a purpose will do is that it will unite us. A purpose will cause us to look for others with goals similar to ours. When the people of God unite in a vision, there is no giant that they cannot slay, and they will be able to do extrordinary things. Without a purpose in your own individual life, you can’t slay a dragon because you won’t know when you need others.
A purpose will challenge us to risk more. We will never do anything great in life or in God, if we are not willing to risk going out just a little further on the limb or casting the net into the depth.
It’s not possible to slay Goliaths at a distance. When Jesus defeated death, He didn’t do it from the comforts of heaven. He had to get up close and taste death face to face while being crucified on a cross.
Someone once said, a ship in a harbor is safe, but that’s not what ships are built for."
A church that stays within its own four walls and never take risks, may be safe, but is God pleased with it.
There are giants threatening our church’s purpose and mission. Will we be willing to risk losing all in order to defeat them. David did not have a direct word from God that everything would be all right if He went after Goliath. David was relying on what God had done for him in the past. Now can you imagine the situation. The king has offered all kinds of rewards for anyone who would go and fight this giant for him. David takes a risk
and goes before the king and says in verse 32 , "Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him." No doubt David expected Saul to shout for joy that somebody had finally come forward. Somebody was willing to risk their all for a purpose and a cause. But again, David is humiliated when the king tells him, "you’re not able to go out and fight against this Philistine, you are only a boy, and he’s been fighting and killing men for years."
Don’t be surprised when people don’t shout for joy when you take a risk for God to do what God is calling you to do.
Don’t be surprised when people say you’re crazy for join the Banner of Praise.
David was more qualified than any soldier in Saul’s army by virtue of the fact that he was the only one that was willing to fight Golithah. Saints, if we are willing, that’s the biggest part of slaying the giants. All the weapons in the world won’t do us a bit of good if we are not willing to fight.
Are we willing to face the giants in our individual lives? Are we willing to face the giants that confront us as a
church? Are we willing to recognize that the giant may even be found in ourselves? Yes sometimes we can be our own Giants..... giant of self will always question, "how will it make me feel" rather than "is this what
God is calling me or us to do?"
A purpose will cause us to do extraodinary planning to see it accomplished. If a cause is bigger than we are, it will require our best organizational skills. Goal’s aren’t met by accident. Are we willing to put in writing before God, here is what we intend to do before God? One of our goals this year is to have more men in this church at the end of this year than we did at the end of last year. This will not happen by accident. We have to do some strategic planning and reaching out in order to make that a reality.
If you want to overcome the giants in your life, you’ve got to plan to make it happen. If the giant in front of you is a debt, the first thing you do is plan not to get anything new for a long time. You will not slay the giant of debt by hoping Ed call you from Publisher’s Clearinghouse. You’ve got to do some extrordinary planning.
David didn’t just run out and challenge Goliath to a sword fight. First he tried to use the armor of Saul, which was no doubt the finest armor out on the field. He recognized that it was too heavy and wasn’t going to work. He simply was not use to the armor and there was no sense pretending he was something that he wasn’t. So he changed his course of action. He discarded the armor and he chose 5 smooth stones.
He didn’t just grab the first stones he saw. He looked for stones that would help him be more accurate in his attack on Goliath. When you are going to fight giants, you just can’t choose any old thing. You are putting your entire future on the line so you ought to take the time to prepare for battle as best you can. David made room to keep his options open. He didn’t know how many stones it would take to bring Goliath down, so he took 5.
In fighting our giants, we need to keep as many doors open as possible, because we don’t know that the battle will be like once we are fully engaged.
Having a purpose will allow us to sacrifice beyond the call of duty. We will be willing to lay more on the line. We expect more than we ordinarily would. There was only one reason for David to charge Goliah; he had a pupose. The God of Isreal was being ridiculed by the Philistines because the Isrealites were afraid to tackle their problem.
Many thought David was on a suicide mission armed with a slingshot. Why didn’t he take a sword with him. David was no fool. If he got close enough to use a sword on Goliath, that meant Goliath had been close enough earlier to end his life.
Goliath had a longer reach and a longer sword. But it’s not quite true to say, David went armed only with a sling shot to fight a giant. David went armed with a sling shot, a purpose, and a faith in God that said, "I’d rather die than to see my God humiliated." What would happen if we cared that much about what somebody else was saying about our God.
There are plenty of giants to be slain Some are personal, and some confront us all as a church. To conquer them
will require prayer, unity, risks, planning, and sacrifice. We will win not because of who we are, but becuase of whom we serve.
Jesus Christ came that we might have life and have it abundantly. There is no giant capable of defeating him he says in John 16:33 "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."
We must slay the Big Green Giant called Jealousy. Amen
