Defiant Giants Series

• An armor-bearer who carried a massive shield for him.

-Goliath is described as their “champion.” The word translated literally means “the man of the between.” That is a very vivid way to describe the fact that Goliath wanted to fight the battle somewhere between the right and the wrong.

-Shade it with gray so that confusion is created in the mind of the people of God. A massive amount of that kind of warfare is going on in our times. Not really right but not really wrong either.

-There are a ton of smooth questions forcing the hand of the church in our times by asking, “Is it a heaven or hell issue?” I have a feeling that if there is that kind of reasoning going on, it probably is not going to be healthy to my soul.

-He yelled at them. In 1 Samuel 17:10 he told them that he defied the armies of Israel. That word defy is too weak. He scorned them, he mocked them, and they responded by running to their tents. Forty-days this intimidation went on.

-Defiant giants such as:

• Death that wields a sword and mocks all of us.

• Sin that threatens to beset us and bring us down.

• Satan roaring and seeking whom he may devour.

• Temptation at every turn in life.

• Prayerlessness that wants our life of power choked out.

• Religious tradition that seeks to stifle the very life of the Spirit.

• Dead and formal worship that is lifeless.

• Resistance to holiness because of accusations of legalism.

-There is a host of other giants that are doing their best to destroy us personally and corporately as a church.

-They really long to control us with fear. Saul and his armies had been controlled by fear for the whole forty days before David ever got there.

IV. THE POWER OF THE NAME!

-The solution for defiant giants is found when David spoke up to the giant.

1 Samuel 17:45-47 KJV Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. [46] This day will the LORD deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases 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. [47] And 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.

-On that day, David set the two powers that faced him into perspective. The Philistine side of destruction was limited to weapons of destruction such as swords, spears, and loud intimidating lies.

-Then David puts the Lord’s side of the matter in front of Goliath, “but I come to you in the Name of the Lord of Hosts!” If you look carefully in the Bible you will find that this is the first instance of anyone coming against the enemy in the Name of the Lord.