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Ambassador Baptist College has
been a great blessing to me personally and through the years and we
have had many different young people come to our church through
ensembles and opportunities to preach and church internship
and have made lasting friendships with many of them. The first
time I ever remember hearing Brother Comfort preach was in
Danville, Virginia at South Hall Baptist Church, W.C. Bradley
was the pastor. And it really impressed me as
a very young child at that time, that he was memorizing scripture
because of losing your eyesight, correct? And it just impressed
me back then. I was not aware at the same time
the lady that I would marry lived in Nova Scotia, Canada and moved
to New Brunswick, Canada. She was growing up under the
ministry of Brother Comfort as well at Emmanuel Baptist Church
in Moncton, New Brunswick. And Pastor Mel Reed just passed
away last week. And so there's been an impact
in my wife's life and my life early on through the ministry
of Brother Comfort. Now, I was really distressed
in evangelist class this morning. I asked the young guys in there
how many of them already had somebody in mind to marry. And
Brother Bill, was it just one? Just one guy in the evangelist
class already has any idea who he might think is interested
in him. So ladies, look out some of these
guys in evangelist class. They're going to need a good
wife to travel with them around the country someday. And fellows,
wake up. You've only got the rest of this
year. You're going to need a wife. Turn with me to 2 Samuel chapter
21. 2 Samuel chapter 21 verses 15 through 22. Now there's some
difficult names to read in this scripture. I went to a great
source of information on how to pronounce these names, missionary
Dalton Heath. And he said, well, pastor, this
is what I do. When I get to a name that I can't
pronounce, I just go. I'll try not to do that this
morning, but there's some names that I'll just say might have
a southern accent on them today. Verse 15. Moreover, the Philistines
had yet war again with Israel. And David went down and his servants
with him. and fought against the Philistines,
and David waxed faint. And Ishbi-benab, which was the
sons of the giant, the weight of whose spear weighed 300 shekels
of brass and weight, he being girded with a new sword, thought
to have slain David. And Abishai, the son of Zerui,
succored him, and smote the Philistine, and killed him. Then the men
of David swear unto him, saying, Thou shalt go no more out with
us to battle, that thou quench not the light of Israel. And
it came to pass after this, that there was again a battle with
the Philistines at Gob. Then Sibachi, the Hishethite,
slew Seth, which was of the sons of the giant. And there was again
a battle in Gob with the Philistines, where Elhenna the son of Jerorigum,
that's the one I was afraid of, a Bethlehemite, slew the brother
of Goliath, the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like
a weaver's beam. And there was yet another battle
in Gath, where was a man of great stature, that had on every hand
six fingers, and on every foot six toes, four and twenty in
number, and he also was born to the giant. And when he defied
Israel, Jonathan, the son of Shimeah, the brother of David,
slew him. These four were born to the giant
in Gath and fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his
servants. I want to preach a message to
you this morning, finishing off the giants. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I pray this
morning as we look into your word, that the Holy Spirit of
God would use me to have an impact on the lives of each person here. I pray, Lord, that your word
would infiltrate our hearts and would penetrate our hearts, and,
Lord, even my heart as I preach about the giants that we face
in our lives today, and that, Lord, we just can't let them
stay out there. We have to finish them off. I
pray, Lord, that you would bless. I pray for these students that
are facing the giant of discouragement, the giant of finances, the giant
of schoolwork, the giant of responsibility, all of these things that may
face them in their lives. I pray that you would help them
to be victorious and to live a life for you that will be pleasing
to you. Pray now that you'd bless during
this time in Jesus' name. Amen. I believe the closest I've
ever come to being near a giant is with Brother John O'Malley
at Worldwide. But these giants were much taller
than Brother O'Malley. If I feel small beside him, I'm
sure I would feel small fighting these giants that David and some
of his men would fight. We're not necessarily, though,
going to face physical giants that can destroy us physically.
I think the giants that we need to be afraid of in our lives
and that we need to allow God to help us to defeat are those
giants that threaten our spirituality and our spiritual growth in our
life. David, I believe, was empowered
by Almighty God when he brought down the greatest giant of his
day, Goliath. Goliath's relatives, some speculate
brothers, some others, but they're his relatives, Ish-be-benab and
these others that we're talking about. David did not kill them
in his youth, but later in older age, Ish-be-benab almost killed
him. And if it had not have been for
another servant that was with him, David could have died. King David in his older age,
had to rely on other men that he had trained to help him fight
the battles. You fellows that go out and pastor
in your churches, you better be in the business of training
other men to be able to stand with you and to be with you when
you have battles to fight. Any giants that you can defeat
early in life, you ought to go ahead and defeat them. David
did. He defeated Goliath. We'll talk
about that a little bit more. I want you to look at these giants
and see how they were conquered. And then I want to encourage
each of you to determine this morning that those sinful giants
that are in your life right now need to be destroyed. if there are any there. If so,
then you need to identify them, you need to confront them in
your life, and I want to encourage you to finish off some giants
in your youth. First of all, I want you to see
fighting the first giant. If you'll remember, Goliath had
the whole Israeli army at a standstill. nobody would challenge Goliath. Goliath was challenging all of
Israel. And David decided to go up and
to see his brothers. And as he went there, of course,
they thought he came just to see the uniforms and the armor
and all of those things. But God was planning on using
David. Some of you may not know how God's going to use you yet,
but you will find out eventually how God's going to use you. David
went out and as he saw that the army was not moving ahead and
was not defeating Goliath, this young man decided that there
was a cause worth fighting for. And he decided to do something
about it. Maybe you'll want to turn back with me to 1 Samuel
chapter 17 and verse 40. Prior to this verse, they had
tried to take armor and put it on David. You can't fight your
enemies and somebody else's armor. You have to fight them with what
God has given you the ability to do. And in verse 40 of 1 Samuel
17, David took his staff in his hand and chose him five smooth
stones out of the brook. Now, some people want to really
take this and say, well, he knew there was Goliath and then four
more giants, and so there were five stones that he took. Maybe
so, but maybe he thought if his first shot didn't get him, he
would need four more. I don't know. But we do know
that there are four more giants that we see in 2 Samuel that
he had to take care of. And he took them and he put them
in his shepherd's bag. Isn't that interesting? Not his
armor, but his shepherd's bag, what he was familiar with. And
even in a script, and his sling was in his hand, and he drew
near to the Philistine. You're going to find yourself
very close to the giants in your life. And you're going to have
to be prepared to take care of those giants when they come.
But with God's power, David didn't need five stones. David only
needed one stone. And David used one stone to slay
Goliath. When you have God's power available
to you and you're not afraid to attack the giants that you're
gonna face in your life, God can put some extra power in that
slingshot and in that stone and can bring down that giant with
one shot. I want you to see what David did
as he faced his giant. Now in our youth sometimes we
will say and do things because we're not very careful about
what we're saying and doing, but I believe David was very
careful, and this is not recorded when he faces the giants in his
older age, but this is really powerful. When David faced Goliath,
there was no showdown between David and Goliath as far as David
was concerned. The showdown was between Goliath
and David's God. And look what he says in verses
45 through 47. Thou comest to me with a sword
and with a spear and with a shield. And he doesn't say after that,
and I'm coming to you with a slingshot and five smooth stones. He says,
but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God
of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defiled and defied. Now, if I was Goliath, that would
anger me. And I'm sure that it did. And
then David, this young man, goes on to say, this day, am I going
to bring you down with my slingshot? This day will the Lord deliver
thee into my hand, and I will smite thee and take thy head
from thee, and I will give the carcass of the host of the Philistines
this day unto the fowls of the air and to the wild beasts of
the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God
in Israel. not that I'm going to be the
greatest slingshot and marksman that there is, but there is a
great God in Israel. And all this assembly shall know,
the ones that have been standing by and doing nothing, all this
assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with sword and
spear, for the battle is the Lord's, and He will give you
into our hands. You're going to conquer giants
in your life, and you're going to conquer sinful giants, and
you're going to be a spiritual success. You're going to need
to do it in the power of the name of God, and not just your
human efforts. In verses 53, 51 we see, so David
prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone
and smote the Philistine and slew him, but there was no sword
in the hand of David. Therefore David ran and stood
upon the Philistine and took his sword and drew it out of
the sheath thereof and slew him and cut off his head therewith.
And when the Philistine saw their champion was dead, they fled. You know why you're not having
victory over sin? Do you know why the devil and
his cohorts are not fleeing from you? You're not attacking the
enemy. And when the giant came down,
the rest of the enemy fled. So that's the first giant. Conquering
the first giant in your life is always going to be a really
big deal and a big victory. And it was to David. However,
there's no real final victory until we begin to bring down
all of the giants that we face in our lives. Second thing I
want you to see this morning is finishing off the other four
giants. And by the way, as we read that
scripture, every one of them was from the same area. They went to battle with who?
The Philistines every time. Finishing off giants, some giants,
is gonna require extra help. I have a really simple point
under this. Fighting giants alone can kill you. Look at verses 15 through 16.
Moreover, the Philistines had yet war again with Israel. And
David went down and his servants went with him and fought against
the Philistines and David waxed faint. and Ishbi-Benab, which
was of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose spear was
weighed 300 shekels of brass and weight, he being girded with
a new sword, thought to have slain David. He thought he was
about ready to kill him. Can I tell you giants that you
will not destroy right now in your youth will confront you
later in life when you no longer have the strength that you have
of your youth. What a great victory over Goliath
that David had. But later in life, here's another
giant, Ishbi Benab, who almost takes David out. There are four
successive contests here. There's not just the one great
giant, Goliath, but there were four successive contests where
David and his men faced giants. Now, if you are going out into
the ministry as a pastor, as missionary, as an evangelist,
or as a wife of one of these guys. You're going to face one
giant and maybe have victory, and then you're going to have
another battle and another giant, and you're going to need some
folks that you can count on to help fight these giants. Four
successive contests that they had. provoked during the latter
period of David's reign. And when David almost died, those
that he had trained decided that they needed to start fighting
the battles and let the king be king and not go out to battle
any longer. Fighting giants alone can kill
you. I am so thankful for the men in the ministry that I can
pick up a phone and I can call at a moment's notice. I have
a brother that I call often, and my other brothers as well,
and then other people that I have confidence in in the ministry.
And I'll tell you, it's a whole lot better to get the advice
of some other guys before you attack an enemy than to just
jump out and attack the enemy. It's good to listen to other
fellas. Fighting giants with help can
save your life, verse 17. But Abishai, the son of Zeruiah,
suckered him and smote the Philistine and killed him. The one that
was about to kill David, Zeruiah, killed him. Then the men of David
swearing at him saying, thou shalt go no more out with us
to battle that thou quench not the light of Israel. These fellas
decided that it was time to protect the king. and in his age not
to send him out to battle any longer. Abishai came alongside
King David and helped him finish off giant number two. Ecclesiastes chapter four verses
nine through 10. Every one of you preacher boys
need to know this scripture. It says two are better than one
because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they
fall, the one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him that is
alone when he falleth, for he hath not another to help him
up. I'm so glad that God allows us to have assistant pastors.
I'm glad that, write this down, I'm glad that God allows us to
have faithful deacons who will stand with us and be with us
and not make us fight the battles all alone all the time. There's
gonna come a time you're gonna find yourself down and the enemy
ready to finish you off. And it's gonna be real assuring
that there's somebody else there to help take that enemy out.
Giants have a way of multiplying. With Goliath, they killed Goliath,
they chased the Philistines, they killed many of them, the
battle was over. In this chapter, it was one successive
battle, one successive giant after another. And David discovered
that in his life at this time, he's not the giant killer he
was at one time. There comes a time when we will
have to give up lesser things to protect the things that more
important and train others to fight some of those things. It
was difficult for David to lay aside his armor and weapons,
but it was a very wise thing for him to do. See, if they had
killed David, it would not have been just another soldier. It
would have been the king. It would have been the leader.
And these men were wise enough to know we ought to be fighting
this battle. So giant number two is conquered
with the help of Abishai, a well-trained and proven fellow soldier. In
2 Samuel 23, verses 18 through 19, it tells us what a soldier
he was. And Abishai, the brother of Joab,
the son of Zariah, was chief among three. And he lifted up
his spear against three hundred and slew them, and had the name
among three. Was he not most honorable of
the three? Therefore he was their captain.
Howbeit he attained not unto the first three." So here was
a man that had a wonderful record. Don't be afraid of other people's
spiritual successes. You may need their help because
of their spiritual successes. Don't envy another guy because
God has allowed him to have successes that you have not seen. He may
deliver you one day from problems. And then finishing off the rest
of the giants required other trained servants. And that's
what's going on here. You're preparing to be giant
killers. You're preparing to come behind
these men and keep the cause of Christ going forward. as you're
sitting in class and these men are teaching you, they're helping
prepare you to fight battles ahead that they've already fought.
and they want you to be successful as well. In 2 Samuel 21, verse
18, Sibachai conquered a giant. Verse 18, it came to pass after
this that there was again a battle with the Philistines at Gob.
Then Sibachai, the Hushethite, slew Sath, which was one of the
sons of the giant. Elhanan conquered a giant in
verse 19. And there was again a battle
in Gob. Does that sound like your life? You get over one battle
and you've got another one. With the Philistines and El Hanan,
the son of Jerorogam, a Bethlehemite, slew the brother of Goliath,
the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver's beam.
And then Jonathan conquered a giant in chapter 21 verses 20 through
21. And there was yet a battle in
Gath where it was a man of great statue that had on every hand
six fingers and on every foot six toes, four and 20 in number. And he also was born to the giant.
And when he defied Israel, Jonathan, the son of Shimei, the brother
of David, slew him. Four of David's great champions
defeated four of the Philistines great champions in verse 22.
These four were born to the giant in Gath and fell by the hand
of David and by the hand of his servants. Well preacher, what
does this have to do with me? I'm not going to face physical
giants. I believe that you're going to
find and face giants that are far more terrifying than a physically
huge giant. And this is fighting the giants
in your life that I want you to see now. You will never be able to fight
any spiritual giants in your own human flesh. Flesh is not going to defeat
flesh. One more time. Flesh is not going
to defeat flesh. You're going to need help. And
I thank God that as believers we are never alone. The One who has conquered every
sinful thought, every sinful temptation is with us. and his name is the Lord Jesus
Christ. In Romans 8, verses 36 through 37, it says, as it is
written, for thy sake, we are killed all the day long. We are
counted as sheep for slaughter. It doesn't sound like we have
a winning battle. And then you come to verse 37.
Nay, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through
him that loved us. And so it's only going to be
through the power of the Lord Jesus Christ, the power of God
Almighty Himself, the power of the Holy Spirit of God, that
you're going to be able to defeat spiritual giants in your life.
It's only through their help that you're going to be able
to do that. Satanic and worldly giants are trying to destroy
us every day. Satan is roaming about to and
fro, seeking whom he may devour. and you're going to have to determine
to fight giants. We can be conquerors because
Christ is with us, helping us. John 15, 5 says this, Without
me, ye can do nothing. Without the power of Christ,
without what you know about Christ, without reading His Word, without
seeing what you need to do to conquer sinful giants in your
life, you're going to need the help of the Lord Jesus Christ. You're going to need His presence.
You're going to need His power. His presence is an absolute necessity
in your life if you're going to conquer any giants. we'll have to fight with his
power. Philippians 4.13 is my life verse. I can do all things through Christ
which strengtheneth me. Do you know? I can fight giants
through Christ which strengtheneth me. Hey, can you say Philippians
4.13 with me? Will you try? And will you say
it like you've got a giant that you've got to defeat? Will you
do it with me? On the count of three, I want
you to do it. One, two, three. I can do all things through Christ
which strengtheneth me. Are you sure about that? Now
this time, do it like you're really sure. I can do all things
through Christ which strengtheneth me. Now if you determine to fight
giants in your own human strength, you're only going to get what
human strength can do. And could it be that we fail
so many times in our Christian lives because we're operating
only in our human strength? It's amazing to me we had a battle
that we were facing and some things that don't say that you
don't get afraid sometimes. You work in a ministry all your
life, and you get concerned about some things, and you're trying
to move the church forward, and it always seems like there's
a giant that's saying, I'm not going with you. And we had a major battle, and
we're still fighting some battles with this. But there was one
particular issue, and in a staff meeting one morning, I said,
well, let's just pray that God will change his mind. Do you know what God did? He
changed his mind. I think a lot of times we sit
back and we contemplate and try to figure out how to win the
battles on our own. When we have a source that can
win the battles for us, and we need to use that source, our
Heavenly Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit. You
fight giants in human strength, you're gonna get human results.
You fight giants in Christ's strength, you're gonna get supernatural
results, things that you didn't expect. Now, let's bring this
down and make it personal. If I don't make an application
of this, all I've done is give you a lecture. Here's that personal
application. You are fighting giants. Number
one, here's five giants that I believe that you fight. and that need to be conquered.
Giant number one, unbelief. How many of you remember the
day you were saved and faith conquered unbelief? That's wonderful. Always the first giant to be
conquered in your life is unbelief. This giant on the battlefield
of unbelief is always yelling out, don't believe that, it's
not true. But faith is the giant slayer
of unbelief. And when you trusted Christ and
put faith into action, you conquered unbelief if you're saved. And
if you're here and you're unsaved today, you need to let faith
conquer unbelief. That's giant number one that
needs to be slayed. You know what? I believe believers
sometimes, though we're saved and on our way to heaven, and
we believe in the saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, sometimes
we still don't believe God like we ought to about the temporal
issues going on in our life. and maybe even after salvation,
we need to attack this giant as well. Giant number two, a
stubborn and ruthless giant. I'm not sure that you're familiar
with him, but more than likely you are. Giant number two, I
gave them names I could pronounce, is called self. This giant always yells out on
the battlefield, I'm in charge and I'm going to rule over you. The giant of self. You know that
giant shows up when somebody makes a better grade than you
and you think you studied as hard as they did. That giant
shows up on a daily basis, doesn't he? And can I tell you the giant
slayer that will destroy self? It's called sanctification. Becoming
more like the Lord Jesus Christ every day can slay self, unbelief
in self. Giant number three, covetousness. This is a conquering and self-absorbed
giant who must have everyone and everything for himself. The giant of covetousness always
yells out on the battlefield, I want more control and I want
what you have. Covetousness. Can I tell you
who the giant slayer of covetousness is? It's called contentment. Be content with what you have. Whatsoever state you're in, be
content. So that's three giants that we
face. Giant number four, and really these guys are all in
the same family. It's called flesh. A controlling
giant that also wants his way. The giant of flesh is always
yelling out on the battlefield, I am king and I can do whatever
I want to do. Let's say when you came to Ambassador
Baptist College, you submitted yourself to their leadership
and this giant of flesh will attack you when you don't feel
you're being treated fairly. Can I tell you the giant slayer
of flesh? Obedience. If you don't learn to obey now,
you're gonna have a hard time in the ministry later. Learn to control this giant of
flesh, or it is always going to control
you. And the last giant, giant number
five. This giant is fierce. He's a domineering giant. He's related to all of the others
that I've given you. And he believes that he is the
greatest. This giant called pride always
yells out on the battlefield, I am the greatest. No one compares
to me. And I don't believe there's a
person in this room that that giant doesn't yell out to every
now and then. This giant is only gonna be killed
by one, and his name is Meekness. Meekness is the giant slayer
of pride. And I wanna say this to you.
It takes more courage to be meek than it does to be proud. It takes more courage when somebody
else is allowing that giant of pride in their life to say, I'm
number one. I can do it better. You'll face
that in the ministry. It takes more courage to be meek
and realize that without Christ, you can do nothing. Meekness, someone has said, is
strength under control. And oh, how we need meekness
today. With Christ, you can conquer
all of these giants. No doubt, some of you this week
have face the giant of unbelief. No doubt even this week, you
face the giant of self. I deserve this, I should have
this. The giant of covenants, how come their school bill didn't
get paid and theirs got paid and mine didn't? How did they
make such a good grade on a paper and I worked just as hard? Flesh,
every one of you will face it every day in pride. This morning, which giants must
you conquer in your life? It can be any of these five.
If you've never trusted Christ as your Savior, that's the first
giant to go, the giant of unbelief. And even at a Christian college,
there could be people that have never trusted Christ as Savior
and need to be saved. And then you are enabled to conquer
the rest of the giants a little bit easier when that has taken
place. Ted's bowed this morning. I'm
just curious. You know the giants in your life.
I'm just curious if there's anybody here this morning would say with
an uplifted hand, There is a giant or there are giants in my life
that I must begin to conquer. Please pray for me today, Pastor
Daniel, anybody, anywhere. Amen. Heavenly Father, thank
you for your word. Thank you for your account about
these giants being conquered. I pray now that you'd bless in
the invitation that your will would be accomplished in Jesus'
name.
Finishing Off the Giants
Series Fall Semester 2015
| Sermon ID | 81721544271642 |
| Duration | 37:50 |
| Date | |
| Category | Chapel Service |
| Bible Text | 2 Samuel 21:15-22 |
| Language | English |
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