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.