Slaying Giants
2 Sam 21:15
Once again there was a battle between the Philistines and Israel. David went down with his men to fight against the Philistines and he became exhausted.
NIV
David had been at war with the Philistines since he was a teenager when he defeated Goliath. He was now 78 and was weary, faint and exhausted over the many battles and giants.
David learned the lesson about the willingness of fighting earlier in his life. Once he decided to stay home and send the army off without him. He yielded to various temptations and brought many judgments of God against him.
So by the time this battle came around David went to battle, even though he was old and tired of fighting the Philistines. He faced the giants that stood between him and victory.
Giant of Pride
2 Sam 21:16-17
Then Ishbi-Benob, who was one of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose bronze spear was three hundred shekels, who was bearing a new sword, thought he could kill David. 17… But Abishai the son of Zeruiah came to his aid, and struck the Philistine and killed him.
NKJV
Ishbi-Benob, = my dwelling is on the heights or on the mountains. It speaks of pride. The same pride that Lucifer had when he said, “Isa 14:14…I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High."
The Giant of pride has marched into the church today and boasted of who we are and what we have. Pride had fenced in entire churches and even large denominations with a covenant of death. The giants of pride hold doctrines and traditions that salience the living God making Him impotent causing Christianity to be an intellectual pursuit.
Pride keeps:
• Pastors from repenting…
• Deacons from being humble
• Teachers from changing methods.
Pride Keeps:
• People in rebellion
• Youth in disobedience
• Marriages in conflict
Pride Keeps Worshippers:
• From being undignified
• From demonstrating praise
• Touching the heart of God
Pride keeps:
• Sinners in sin
• Anger in the heart
• Pain in you life
Pride Keeps:
• People seated at altar time
• Offended spirits offended
• People at a distance
There is a giant we all face, his name is pride and he must be slain.
Wrinkles:
The story is told of the young mother who took much pride in her appearance was putting moisturizer on her face when her little girl asked her what she was doing. Wanting to satisfy her daughter’s curiosity about beauty secrets, she carefully explained that the cream was good for wrinkles. Studying her mother’s face intently, the little girl replied, "It’s doing a great job, Mommy. You’ve got so many wrinkles."
Abishai, had the nature of humility. He was a brother to Joab and a leader of the army under David. He was faithful to David when Absolom rebelled in pride against his father.
He came to David’s rescue against the giant. He pushed David aside and defeated the giant, but he allowed the king to receive the glory.
Ps 51:17
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,
A broken and a contrite heart--
These, O God, You will not d
NKJV
God’s power mixed with a humble heart will conquer the giant of pride in ones life.
The pride of our beliefs, our doctrine, and our relationship with God all must be defeated by the power of the Holy Spirit working through a humble spirit of man.
Pride in the believer, has marred the robes of righteousness the Jesus gave his life for on the cross. Through His death he has placed the robes of right standing around the shoulders of the church, His bride. These robes must be washed in humility.
The Giant of Hypocrisy
2 Sam 21:18… In the course of time, there was another battle with the Philistines, at Gob. At that time Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Saph, one of the descendants of Rapha.
NIV
Saph, the giant, was a symbol of hypocrisy. He was holding on to that which God had cursed.
HYPOCRISY (Heb. from hanap) "defile," or "polluted"; Pretending to be what one is not.
Jer 3:9… Because Israel’s immorality mattered so little to her, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stone and wood.
NIV
Saph, the Giant represented the sons of God coming down to the daughters of men in Gen 6 and desecrated everything for which God created them.
Trying to preserve that which God has cursed is hypocrisy.
The church often finds herself in the trap of the hypocrite.
The believers present ourselves as sold out to God yet we hold back part of our life.
Acts 5:1 … Ananias who sold a piece of land, came and said he gave it all to the church, but in truth held some back. The money for the land was his to do with as he wished, but he said he did one thing whale doing another.
Listen the only way we are kept from being a hypocrite is to be honest with all that we are doing. If we are totally right with God lets admit it. Then put forth a good effort through the power of the Holy Spirit to change.
Holding on to something in our life that God has cursed is being a hypocrite.
This is a huge giant with the church. Pretending to be in right standing with God and knowing in our heart we are not.
We must allow the grace of God to assist us.
When faced with this issue many believers take the wrong steps and say, until I can get this right I best not come to church. Thinking that if they are not in church than they are not a hypocrite.
In truth, now the have the same problems as before but now they have a greater distance between their selves and the very source that can help them solve the problem… God.
Rejection is what we are afraid of. If people find out the truth they would not like me as a person anymore.
Listen, Church we must extend mercy to all.
The giant of hypocrisy is defeated by the attitude of the heart. The attitude of the heart means that, with the help of the lord, I have the full intentions to follow through with all my convictions.
I will not excuse any attitude, action or activity that God is convicting me of.
This giant Saph was defeated by one of King David’s commanders, Sibbechai.
Sibbechai = Jehovah intervened
Every person here today needs Jehovah to intervene in our spiritual life for none of us have the strength to handle this Giant on our own.
Giant of Intimidation
2 Sam 21:19… In another battle with the Philistines at Gob, Elhanan son of Jaare-Oregim the Bethlehemite killed Goliath the Gittite, who had a spear with a shaft like a weaver’s rod.
NIV
Same place another battle. Have you ever felt like you fought the same battle over and over? For David this was another giant, the brother of Goliath
It seems as though Satan feels he nearly won the last time so he attacks again at the same place.
The Goliath that David faced would cry out for someone to come and fight with him. The entire army would be fearful, intimidated by the giant. Then David and a teenager rose up to kill the giant.
Now years later another Goliath, another giant. Notice that other men of the army are now defeating the Giants of the enemy. David was the first one to win a battle with a giant but now others follow his example.
For many believers intimidation is the real problem.
Intimidation Causes:
Fear to defeat our faith
Imaginations to spin
Confidence to fade
Intimidation creates:
Attitudes of failure
Lifestyles of defeat
Influence below standard
Intimidation Replaces;
Hope with despair
Courage with fear
Love with apathy
2 Tim 1:6-7… For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. NKJV
The power to overcome intimidation does not come by being bolder, or just saying no to intimidation.
The power to overcome intimidation is through the authority that comes into our heart and life when we honor and respect the Lord.
When Nehemiah was rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem he was attacked by the giant of intimidation often.
The people did not want to work on the wall at the beginning.
The number of workers was fewer than needed
The enemies spoke words against and began to attack the project.
The money was short, the materials were used, and the plan was big.
Intimidation was defeated because Nehemiah had heard from God and he was proceeding with the project.
If you know you have heard from the Lord you can defeat intimidation.
Never allow intimidation to keep you from being everything God wants you to be.
Giant of Greed
2 Sam 21:19-21… And there was war at Gath again, where there was a man of great stature who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in number; and he also had been born to the giant. And when he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimei, David’s brother, struck him down.
NAS
This giant represents grasping and greed.
It is amazing how believers have a hard time with money and material things in the USA.
One night at an economy motel, a man ordered a 6:00 a.m. wake-up call.
The next morning, I awoke before 6:00, but the phone did not ring until
6:30.
"Good morning," a young man said sheepishly. "This is your wake-up call."
Annoyed, the gentleman let the hotel worker have it.
"You were supposed to call me at 6:00 AM!" he complained. "What if I had a
million-dollar deal to close this morning, and your oversight made me miss
out on it?"
"Well, sir," the desk clerk quickly replied,
"If you had a million- dollar deal to close, you probably wouldn’t be
staying in this motel!"
It is often people want God to stop the harvest they have planted. The principal of sewing and reaping over comes the attitude of greed.
Gal 6:7-9… Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.
The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction;
The one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.
Let us not become weary in doing well, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
Doing well includes so many parts of our life.
Tithing is dong good: So many people request God to help them with a money issue, but they have not been tithing.
God will never curse the harvest of what we sow.
We will always get back what we put out.
• Want friends than be a friend!
• Want financial blessings than be a financial blessing.
• Want compassion give compassion.
This is a very simple spiritual law to understand, but hard to practice.
Jonathan killed this giant and his name means “The Lord Gave.”
This is Jehovah Jireh, my provider acting in our behalf.
The apostles who followed Jesus left their security, jobs, families and homes. They planted into the kingdom of God faithfulness, work, labor and skills.
It is amazing how many people increases their spirituality in times of great distress.
During the times of depression people will move closer to Jesus.
After 9/11/ 2001 the churches filled for a season but soon reverted back to the same basic attendance before 9/11/01
When people face hard things they want God to help them out, but the sowing has all ready been done before the hard thing happens.
The reaping will follow according to the sowing previously done.
• Marriages dissolve because of what has happened over the years. Marriages last because of the sowing the couple plants into the relationship.
• Friendships survive pain, distance, and separation because of the sowing into the relationship.
God is a giver. HE gave the best he could give, His son.
For us to kill the Giant of Greed we must rejoice in the fact that everything we have really belongs to God.
All he wants us to do is to hold on very loosely to what he blesses us with.
There is a giant named greed, sitting in the pews of our churches that we can and must conquer.
Closing
These giants in the church keep the movement of God to a minimum. We miss opportunities of the sovereign move of God because of the Giants Of:
• Pride
• Hypocrisy
• Intimidation
• Greed
