WANTED: SPIRITUAL GIANTS
Gal. 2:9
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR
1. In a Florida Army training camp there was a grueling obstacle course all the recruits had to daily complete. On the final stretch of the endurance test they had to grab a rope and swing across a broad deep pond.
2. Under the glaring southern sun, the water looked so inviting to the men that most of them soon developed the habit of making it only half way across and dropping into the refreshing water.
3. That is, until an enterprising lieutenant made the pond the new home for a large alligator!
4. From that day on the recruits left the ground on one side and fell sprawling in the dust on the other, and not even one carelessly dropped into the water!
B. OUR NEED FOR CHALLENGES
1. We tend to want to do things the easy way, but a spiritual truth is, “If you want milk and honey on your bread, you’ll have to go into the land where there are giants!”
2. If you want the real spiritual blessings of God, you’ve got to get out of your comfort zone and tackle some giants.
C. WANTED: SPIRITUAL GIANTS
1. Not only is it beneficial for us to move out in the spiritual with God, God needs spiritual giants to help Him accomplish His purposes.
2. “There was a man sent from God and his name was John.” God always has a man or woman to operate through.
3. In Gal. 2:9, Paul speaks of Peter and John as being “pillars” in the church at Jerusalem.
4. God’s giants are listed in the Hebrews “Hall of Faith.” They did great things for God. But you say, “I couldn’t be one of those!” You can with GOD as your helper!
5. The title of this message is “Wanted: Spiritual Giants.”
I. MISCONCEPTIONS OF A SPIRITUAL GIANT
A. SOMEONE WHO NEVER SINS, IS CARNAL, OR MAKE MISTAKES
1. All of God’s men and women had their ‘moments.’
2. Examples of being human:
a. Sarah laughed at God’s promise.
b. Elijah said, “Take my life Lord.”
c. Peter withdrew from the Gentiles at Antioch.
d. Paul argued with Barnabas.
B. SOMEONE WHO FROM BIRTH IS A SUPERMAN/ WOMAN
1. Not a normal person who had a childhood and grew up like you. But they did!
2. Keith Green has a song with the line, “Prophets don’t grow up from little boys.”
C. SOMEONE WHO WALKS AROUND IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD
D. NO! Spiritual giants are people just like us who:
1. lead ordinary lives;
2. Make mistakes, even sin.
3. But grow up to be people of profound trust in God and obedience to God.
4. So YOU can be a spiritual giant! But how do you get there?
II. WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BE A SPIRITUAL GIANT?
A. SAMSON – HIS NAZARITE VOW
1. Judges 13:3-5, 24-25.
2. His exploits? He killed a lion, tied 200 foxes together by their tails, killed a 1.000 Philistines with a jawbone, carried the gates of Gaza 38 miles.
3. Samson probably didn’t look strong. That’s why the Philistine’s wanted to learn the secret to his strength. Only a ‘giant’ could pick up the gates of a city or defeat 1,000 men.
4. His strength was founded in his Nazarite consecration. When he lost that, he lost his strength.
5. The same may be said of our separation to God. “Without holiness no man shall see the Lord.”
6. The vessels of the Temple, when dedicated to God, became sacred. Belshazzar incurred God’s wrath with he handled the improperly.
7. When we surrender to God we become vessels fitted to the Master’s use. We must keep our consecration!
B. PAUL – FULL OF THE SPIRIT
1. Paul was no spiritual pygmy, he was a giant of the Faith. His accomplishments for Christ were phenomenal. Paul not only recognized the presence of the Holy Spirit, he recognized his power.
2. He could say, “When I am weak, then am I strong” 2 Cor. 12:10. God told him, “My strength is made perfect in weakness” (12:9).
3. Paul urged the Ephesian believers to be strong, not in themselves but “in the Lord and in the power of His might” and “Be filled with the Spirit” (6:10; 5:18).
4. We need the Holy Spirit not only as an indwelling guest, but as our divine enabler! Being filled with the Spirit was a requirement to be one of the 7 deacons of Acts 6.
5. The Hebrew of Judges 6:34 “the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon” actually says “the Spirit of the Lord clothed Himself with Gideon.”
6. If we want to be spiritual giants, we must be filled with the Spirit!
C. DAVID – FAITH IN GOD
1. When Moses and Israel reached the Jordan, Moses sent 12 spies to look over the land (Num. 13). 10 of the spies brought back an evil report of giants, “We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes…” Fear of giants so paralyzed them that they went back into the desert defeated!
2. Years later, when they came back a second time, the so-called “giants” told them, “We have heard how the Lord dried up the waters of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt and what you did to Sihon and Og.” Josh. 2:10. Being giants or grasshoppers was really connected to faith!
3. The same was true of the teenager David facing the giant Goliath. Size doesn’t necessarily dictate victory. David saw himself, in God, more than equal to Goliath. David was the giant and Goliath was the pygmy!
4. The Bible says “Resist the devil and he will flee from you” Jm. 4:7. Yet sometimes when we resist, he doesn’t flee, but laughs. Why? Because we forgot the first part of the verse “Submit yourselves to God…!”
5. David’s secret was that he looked to God and not his own resources. We ought to send the devil out of here on crutches and with casts!
6 J. Hudson Taylor said, “All God’s Giants have been weak men who did great things for God because they reckoned on His power and presence with them.”
7. Many Christians estimate difficulties in the light of their own resources and thus attempt little and fail in the little they attempt.
D. EAT GIANT FOOD
1. We see from the example of our Lord in the incident after the transfiguration, how that some spiritual feats require prayer and fasting beyond the normal exertions.
2. Also, the Word of God is spiritual food: without it we’ll we weak and stunted. The fellowship of believers – like coals in a fire heating each other up – is another valuable resource.
3. All these are the equivalent of eating giant food. If you want to be a spiritual giant, you must eat giant food!
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION
1. We’ve all heard of “shrink-resistant” fabrics. A young man bought a shirt in a department store. It said on the label, “Shrink-resistant.”
2. He took it home and wore it the next day. Then he washed it. After being dried he put it back on and – what? – it would no longer fit!
3. So he got it and drove back to the store and confronted the salesman, “I bought this shirt and it was supposed to be shrink-resistant, but afterward it shrank. I want my money back!”
4. The salesman answered. “No, you can’t have your money back. What “shrink-resistant” means is that the shirt will shrink, but it doesn’t want to!”
B. THE CALL
1. May I encourage all of you spiritual giants to be shrink-resistant! To resist allowing the enemy to cause you to shrink in your spiritual power and ambitions.
2. Instead, I challenge you to become spiritual giants, pillars of the church, people of influence who can rock their world and turn it upside down.
3. Let’s become such a threat to the kingdom of darkness that the demons tremble to see us waking up in the morning!
4. Don’t wait for others, start something yourself. Go out there and take the land and subdue it!
5. God says, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go” Joshua 1:9.
6. Prayer and dedication to be people who will change their world for Christ.
