These are the sermon notes for Wade Shoemaker’s Wednesday night message from August 13, 2015
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Intro:
I want to talk to you about something that is very important to each and every one of us. Some because you are going to be making a HUGE transition from one grade to the next and for all of us because we are transitioning into a new season in our lives as a church family. New pastor, new goals, and a new outlook.
These things are HUGE and I want to give you a few tips on how we handle the giants in front of us!
A little background…..
1 Samuel 17:2-16
2 Saul and the Israelites assembled and camped in the Valley of Elah and drew up their battle line to meet the Philistines. 3 The Philistines occupied one hill and the Israelites another, with the valley between them.
4 A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. His height was six cubits and a span. 5 He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing five thousand shekels; 6 on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung on his back. 7 His spear shaft was like a weaver’s rod, and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels. His shield bearer went ahead of him.
8 Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me. 9 If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us.” 10 Then the Philistine said, “This day I defy the armies of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other.” 11 On hearing the Philistine’s words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified.
12 Now David was the son of an Ephrathite named Jesse, who was from Bethlehem in Judah. Jesse had eight sons, and in Saul’s time he was very old. 13 Jesse’s three oldest sons had followed Saul to the war: The firstborn was Eliab; the second, Abinadab; and the third, Shammah. 14 David was the youngest. The three oldest followed Saul, 15 but David went back and forth from Saul to tend his father’s sheep at Bethlehem.
16 For forty days the Philistine came forward every morning and evening and took his stand.
Here are a few giant killing strategies for you!
1. Attack your giant quickly!
Remember that each of us have different giants, but this will apply to all!
No matter what it is that’s coming against you, you have to remember that the longer you wait to take care of it, the bigger it gets. It’s here where most people allow fear to set in during the battle or battles with their giant. It’s not that it’s gotten any bigger really, or even that it’s any scarier than it was before.
We’ve just allowed ourselves to dwell on it and paint our own picture of it.
And as big it can get when we dwell on it, we can also shrink it in our minds and try to justify that we’re ok with this giant on our back. That maybe it’s not that big of a deal.
You know I don’t need to worry about that right now, its not really hurting me. I’ve got plenty of time. But you don’t have plenty of time and it does hurt in the end. It creeps up on you and then BAM, the deadline has come and gone, and now that assignment, ticket, or application is late and now what
you didn’t think was that big of a deal, is now a giant in your life that you can’t shake.
Even David in this story, ran from his giant with the rest of his people the first.
1 Samuel 17:23-24
23 As he was talking with them, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, stepped out from his lines and shouted his usual defiance, and David heard it. 24 Whenever the Israelites saw the man, they all fled from him in great fear.
We don’t always win or defeat the giants of our life the first time we try to handle them.
That’s just part of it. But we never quit. As long as we get up at least one more time than we’ve fallen, we are winning.
David pulled himself together and said, “I’m not letting this stop me. I’m gonna handle my giant. I’m gonna get this dude.”
We can all learn a lot just from this. If we allow our giant to marinate in our lives and become something we think is too big to overcome, we will NEVER excel in the ministry aspect of our life, we’ll never raise money for something we need, we’ll never get hired for that job that seems to big, and you’ll never launch that business you’ve been thinking about.
We hear a lot of people these days say “Well I’m praying about it.” And we should, but don’t use that as an excuse of why you aren’t doing something.
You see, if someone would’ve stepped up and handled Goliath In the beginning, then his threat would have never reached it’s size. He couldn’t have terrorized the people with threats and he would’ve been out in his place long before David.
2. You must overcome discouragement.
1Samuel 17:28-33
28 When Eliab, David’s oldest brother, heard him speaking with the men, he burned with anger at him and asked, “Why have you come down here? And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the wilderness? I know how conceited you are and how wicked your heart is; you came down only to watch the battle.” 29 “Now what have I done?” said David. “Can’t I even speak?”
30 He then turned away to someone else and brought up the same matter, and the men answered him as before. 31 What David said was overheard and reported to Saul, and Saul sent for him.
32 David said to Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.”33 Saul replied, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.”
A LOT of people will be supportive and encouraging in your life and along the way for you. BUT there will always be some who will be a negative voice in your life.
Some who it makes their day to see you hang your head. You think David showed up and everybody started cheering because they believed that he would be their giant killer? NO!! His brothers made fun of him, talked about him, hated on him, and acted like he was crazy.
You will have these people in your life and will need to overcome it to get to the giant to kill it! Always remember that on the other side of discouragement is destiny.
3. Be faithful in the little things.
1 Samuel 17:17-18
17Now Jesse said to his son David, “Take this ephah of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread for your brothers and hurry to their camp. 18Take along these ten cheeses to the commander of their unit.
This is something really hard to do for some. This is something like a servants heart.
Help people, show attention to people that can’t do anything for you. Open doors for people.
Remember that small doors open to big rooms. Most doors are about 7ft. tall and most ceilings are 8ft tall. Most rooms are bigger than the door! Small doors open to big rooms.
Sometimes it’s not about showing up ready to show out. Sometimes just serving and playing your part can put you in front of your giant. There’s not anybody in the history or the world who would’ve thought that by David bringing his brothers some bread and cheese that he
would be positioned to slay his giant.
So remember to be faithful in the little things.
4.God is bigger than your giant.
1 Samuel 17:45-47
45 David said to the Philistine, “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 deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, 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.”
Some of us need to realize this. It’s super easy to catch, but truthfully, it’s super hard to do.
We can get caught up in how big this problem or giant in our life is and begin to put all our worry and time into trying to figure it out, when in reality, if we would shift our focus to Jesus, then our problem wouldn’t seem so big because our God is always bigger.
There’s more to it than just praying. We have to put our trust in Jesus! If we would quit looking up at our giant in fear, and start bowing our heads before God, our giant would become a smurf! Put your eyes on Jesus and get them off your problem!!
5.Remember how God has helped you in the past.
1Samuel 17:34-37
34 But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, 35 I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it.
36 Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. 37 The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.” Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you.”
Before the battle I’m sure David was a little jumpy. Kind of scared. I mean, he’s about to go against a guy over 9 ft tall with over 200 lbs of armor. The tip of Goliath’s spear was as big or bigger than David’s head.
Don’t think for a second that David was fearful. He wasn’t stupid. But he looked back on what God had done for him in the past. He remembered those smaller giants in his life.
He remembered the bear he killed with his bare hands. He remembered the lion he slayed. And in all honesty, if I kill a bear and a lion, I am most definitely not worried about a big man.
Sometimes we need to remember what God has pulled us through or pushed us through so we can understand that what’s ahead is just a stepping stone.
6.Realize that blessings follow defeating giants.
1Samuel 17:25-27
25 Now the Israelites had been saying, “Do you see how this man keeps coming out? He comes out to defy Israel. The king will give great wealth to the man who kills him. He will also give him his daughter in marriage and will exempt his family from taxes in Israel.”
26 David asked the men standing near him, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?” 27 They repeated to him what they had been saying and told him, “This is what will be done for the man who kills him.”
If God puts something in front of you that’s a giant, you can bet that there’s a giant of a blessing after you slay it. It might be a job, or money, a friendship, or maybe even a giant weight off your shoulders, but there will be a blessing.
Closing:
If there’s any of you who have a giant in your life that’s holding you back or even if you see one coming, I’m gonna ask that each of you remember these things. Take them with the understanding that each of you have the ability to conquer anything with Jesus!