now today i want to talk about facing
your giants
uh it's easy to talk about giants as
long as they're lumbering over
someone else's landscape but when you
find them at your doorstep or
discover that one has invaded your home
or even more dangerously
come inside your head you realize how
intimidating
a giant can be
they have several names these giants of
ours
there's a giant called fear
even though most of us don't want to
admit it most of us
entertain fears
whatever may be your giant let me
let me tell you that i've learned over
the years that giants work most
effectively
in valleys when we have hit a valley
that's when the giant begins to march
toward us and intimidates us
the most there's a giant that appears in
the pages of the scriptures
in the 17th chapter of first samuel
a story you have heard since you were a
child in sunday school
we read in verse 2 of first samuel 17
that
saul and his men the men of israel had
gathered and
camped in the valley of elahh
and what makes the valley intimidating
is not the landscape
it it is the it is the presence of a
champion
he's called that more than once in this
chapter
in fact the emphasis always falls on the
externals
when you deal with giants in this case
we read that the philistines stood on
the mountain on one side and
israel stood on the mountain on the
other side
and the valley between them than a
champion
came out from the armies of the
philistines
named goliath i i know you know the
story
i know you're familiar with where it's
going but i want to ask you for a few
moments
to uh to put yourself in that valley
and to imagine looking across the way
and seeing this uh a huge
uh imposing individual in full
armor we read that he was about nine
feet seven inches tall he says choose a
man for yourselves and let him come down
if he's able to fight with me and
kill me we will become your servants and
we read
they were intimidated to the point into
verse 11
that they gave way to dismay
and fear see it greatly afraid
there he is for everyone to see
he's a he's a warrior from his earliest
years and he is
he he's nobody to mess with
and israel knew it and all retreated to
their
to their tents now suddenly the text
moves us
about 10 15 miles due east to a little
hamlet
named bethlehem and there at bethlehem
there is a family and the father whose
name is
jesse says to this young man david
uh i want you to take this to those who
are in battle and he gives him
gives him some supplies some food he's
this situation for the first time
and he hears the voice of goliath
david who uh is unintimidated
fresh out of the field
he is a he is a lover of god
and and his heart is pure
now listen to saul saul said to david
you're not able to do it
and that encourages you he says you're
but a youth and
and he's been a warrior from lord who
delivered me look at his eyes his eyes
are on the lord
what a wonderful way to deal with giants
as the lord delivered
me from the paul the lion the paw the
bear well he'll deliver me from the
hand of this philistine and chose five
smooth stones from the brook
and put them in a shepherd's bag which
he had
even in his pouch so he takes this he
takes this pouch he's got
hanging from his waist and he puts these
stones in his pouch
and and we read and he approached
the philistine
david stands there with the stones
rattling in the bag on his hip
and a stick in his hand
and david says to him
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you come to me with a sword and a spear
and a javelin i come to you in the name
of the lord of hosts the god of the
armies of israel
whom you have taunted
verse 49 david put his hand into the bag
took from it a stone and struck the
philistine and killed him
and he brought the he brought the head
to
to jerusalem and notice in verse 54 he
put the weapons
in his tent david's tent
don't go too quickly over this wrap-up
of the battle
that's significant what else is in
david's tent
how about the paw of a bear how about
the mane of a lion
or the tail just a reminder
of those lion and bear moments
when god
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wrought a victory through him he put the
weapons in his tent
all giants seem larger than they really
are
you think you'll not be able
to uh get control over whatever that
giant is
it seems larger than it really is
it's not larger than our god it's not
larger
than your savior never forget your own
lion and bear stories
every one of you has some i have some
that's why i say to you don't don't ever
forget what god has done for you
it's a little cliche count your many
blessings you can put it that
way but think of them as god's
powerful working
in and through your life
never forget your own lion and bear
stories remember
that magnificent impossible situation
that god turned around for you remember
that prayer
that you offered in a weak faith and by
the grace of
god he answered following
every giant victory
place a reminder in your mental trophy
case
when the crucial moment arrives remember
these five words
the battle is the lord's
the battle is the wars
the day you take on a giant in your own
flesh is a day you will face
defeat all the way through this
this episode this this brief
battle david's focus is on the lord is
god
no wonder he's called a man after god's
own heart
everybody else focused on the giant
david realized that his god was greater
than any giant there is no
giant so great that he is not greater
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still
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you