Slaying Your Giants pt. 2

Mark Finley: But Jesus is stronger than the evil one. He is more powerful than any of his greatest temptations, more mightier than his strongest appeals. Jesus is King of Kings. Jesus is Lord of Lords. Jesus is our mighty warrior in battle.
HopeLives365 Announcer: This is Hope Lives 365 with Pastor Mark Finley. Today's message, "Slaying Your Giants, Part 2." Enjoy, and remember you can always catch up with past messages and stay up to date with Hope Lives 365 and Pastor Mark by going to HopeLives365.com. And now, Pastor Mark Finley.
Mark Finley: God loves to do the impossible. God loves it when in our weakness and our frailty, we approach our giants in the name of Jesus. You see, doubt robs God of his ability to deal with the situation. Faith opens the door for God to work a miracle. There is one thing that limits God's ability to deliver us from the giants we face. It's doubt and unbelief. You remember in Psalm 78, verse 41, there's a very unusual text. "Can you limit the illimitable one?" Can you limit the illimitable one? In describing Psalm 78, verse 41, if you have your Bible, turn to it. If not, we can look at it on the screen. Psalm 78, verse 41. Can you limit the illimitable one? Psalm 78 is the description of Israel wandering in the wilderness. And it shows how Israel's unbelief kept them from entering into the promised land. God wanted them to go into the promised land, but as the result of their unbelief, their doubt of God's power, because they saw the giants and didn't see the power of God, because they saw the formidable armies and they didn't recognize that God's angels could have delivered them. Verse 41 says, "Yet again and again," this Psalm 78, "They tempted God and limited the Holy One of Israel." What did they do? What's that word that's so key in that text? They did what to the Holy One of Israel? They did what?
Mark Finley: Limited him. How did they limit the Holy One of Israel? They limited the Holy One of Israel by their doubt, by their unbelief. So when we face our giants, we limit what God can do by doubt and unbelief.
Mark Finley: Hebrews, chapter 3, verse 19. Hebrews 3, and verse 19. For every giant that we face, God will strengthen us to face the giant.
Mark Finley: Does this mean that God is always going to miraculously heal us? No. Does this mean that God is always going to miraculously when we need money, send a send a million dollars in the mail and we can win the lottery? Not at all. The health, wealth, and prosperity gospel is not the gospel at all. It is humanism.
Mark Finley: But what does it mean when Scripture says that that that God is going to enable us to face the giants? Here's what that means, that God is going to strengthen us for whatever problem we face, and either he is going to solve the problem, or he's going to give us the courage to deal with it.
Mark Finley: Look at Hebrews, chapter 3, verse 19. Doubt and unbelief rob God of what God wants to do. Faith opens the door for the miracle of God either in our own hearts or in the circumstance. Hebrews, chapter 3, verse 19. Why did they not enter the Promised Land?
Mark Finley: So we see that they could not enter in because of what? Unbelief. A negative mindset of doubt and unbelief limits what God wants to do for us.
Mark Finley: During those times of life when the giant seems so large, it is well to remember that God is our giant slayer. During those times of life when the problem seems unsolvable, it's important to remember that there's no unsolvable problems for God. No challenge is too great for God to handle. No difficulty is too difficult for him to unravel.
Mark Finley: Matthew 19, verse 26. When we face our giants, we say with God, read it off the screen with me. Matthew 19, verse 26. Reading together.
Mark Finley: With men, this is what? This is what? But with God all things are what? Do you believe it? Is God a giant slayer? I love what it says in the book, *My Life Today*, page 181. *My Life Today*, 181.
Mark Finley: Worry is blind and cannot discern the future. But Jesus sees the end from the beginning. In every difficulty, in how many difficulties, everybody? Every difficulty. How many difficulties? Every difficulty. He has a way prepared to bring relief.
Mark Finley: Our Heavenly Father has a thousand ways to provide for us, of which we know nothing. Those who accept the one principle of making the service and honor of God supreme will find perplexities vanish and a plain path before their feet.
Mark Finley: How many ways does God have to solve our problems? How many ways? A thousand. A thousand that we don't see. Let me give you a very simple illustration of this that took place where we were building this church a number of years ago, 2015, 2016. We're getting ready for our grand opening of the church. We had sent out our invitations. We needed one final inspection.
Mark Finley: So the inspector came through, looked at the church, and then he walked out in the parking lot and he walked out on the road. And he saw the light out there, a car had hit it, it was knocked down. And he said, "I can't give you the permit for your grand opening because you own those lights out there." I said, "Wait a minute, those lights are on the road." He said, "Did you know that you own half the road?"
Mark Finley: Because it's a private road and your church owns half the road. I thought, "Well, I'm going to put up a tollbooth if we own half that road." We need a little extra for the church. And so anyway, that's what he said to me. He said, "You own half the road." And he said, "We can't give you."
Mark Finley: Now, you don't go down to Lowe's and buy a light pole that looks like this. Let me show you the light pole. Here's the light pole we need. So we need the light pole like this. You don't go down to Lowe's and say, "I want a light pole." They don't have them there. You don't go down to So I'm thinking, "Lord, we can't open. We got to open in five days." How many ways does God have to solve our problems? How many ways? A thousand.
Mark Finley: So I began to pray. And it's good to make friends with people. So I made friends. I had made friends previously with the manager of this whole shopping center. I knew her well. I knew her by name. I knew I had her personal phone number. So I called her. I said, "Look, I'm in a real problem. I said, "Where can I purchase a light light pole like that? We need a light pole."
Mark Finley: "This is a giant for us. We're going to open our church. We have all these people coming." She said, "Pastor Mark, something very strange happened." She said, "You know that store right next to Giant over there?" She said, "Nobody rented it, and we are using that as a storage place." And she said, "I don't know why this happened, but the other day I walked in there and there was one light pole on the floor." One light pole on the floor.
Mark Finley: And she said, "Pastor Mark, here is the combination to the lock. Go down and take that light pole. It's my gift to your church." So I called the guys up that were working on the church and I said, "Don't wait. I'll meet you at that store. I know the combination, we're getting that light pole." And here it is, the day we got the light pole, and now you're going to see the next picture, the day the light pole is up.
Mark Finley: Look. That was a giant for me. You may say it was a little giant, but we had this church ready to open. God, it was God's illustration to me, that when we face our giants, God has a thousand ways to solve that problem.
Mark Finley: Did God know that that light pole was in that store all the time? Did God know that? Did we know that that light pole was there? I had no, absolutely no clue that that light pole was there. But God knew that light pole was there.
Mark Finley: Do you know the solution to the problems you face? You don't know them. But we can trust God in every possible situation, because God knows the end from the beginning.
Mark Finley: Why did God wait to the last minute to reveal where that light pole was? Because God wanted us to trust him by faith. God is bigger than any giant you face.
Mark Finley: God often doesn't answer our prayers immediately because he wants us to develop faith. And when we doubt and we have unbelief, it limits what God can do.
Mark Finley: Here's the fourth lesson from the story. When you face your giant, remember how God has delivered you from some giant in the past. When you face your giant, I want you to take your Bible and turn to 1 Samuel 17. Some of you may be facing giants right now. Some of you are going to face giants this week that you don't know anything about.
Mark Finley: First Samuel, chapter 17, verse 30 to 37. Why was it that David could face Goliath? Why could he do that? David could face Goliath because he had already tackled a bear and he had already tackled a lion. And he saw God's deliverance in the past.
Mark Finley: First Samuel, chapter 17, verse 30 to 37. Eliab tries to insinuate doubt. Go back and work with the sheep. The king tries to insinuate doubt. You're a little boy. Go back there.
Mark Finley: The Goliath taunts him. But what does David say? Then he turned from him toward another, and he said the same thing. So they're all taunting him. And when the words which David spoke were heard, they reported him to Saul and sent for him.
Mark Finley: David says to Saul, "Let no man's heart fail because of him," that giant. "Your servant's going to go and fight this Philistine." And Saul said to David, "You're not able to go him. You're just a boy, a youth." Verse 34. David says to him, "Your servant used to keep his father's sheep. And when a lion and a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, I went after it and struck it and delivered the lamb from its mouth. And when it rose against me, I caught it by its beard and struck it and killed it. Your servant killed both the lion and the bear, and this uncircumcised one will be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God."
Mark Finley: Moreover, David said, "The Lord who delivered me," now get this, don't miss it. "The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, he will deliver me from the hand of the Philistine." Saul says to David, "Go in, and the Lord be with you."
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Mark Finley: What does David say? Does David say, "I can go in my own strength?" David said, "Look, I know God, I know God. God delivered me from the bear. God delivered me from the lion. I have confidence in this God." When you are faced with a giant, remember three things.
Mark Finley: First, remember how God delivered you in the past. Secondly, review God's past working in your life. Thirdly, rehearse God's goodness in his past dealings with you. God has been working in your life, and he has not forsaken you, and this God is a good God.
Mark Finley: Psalm 27, verse 13. The greatest evidence that God is going to deliver you from your giant is what God has done for you in the past. God will not forsake you when you face your giants. Psalm 27, verse 13.
Mark Finley: Scripture says, "I would have lost heart." What's that mean, "I would have lost heart?" I would have become discouraged, disappointed. "I would have lost heart unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of God in the land of the living." David says, "God's led me in the past, and I am going to see God's goodness when I face my giant."
Mark Finley: Psalm 31, verse 19. Psalm 31, verse 19. "Oh, how great is your goodness," which you have laid up for those who fear you. That's who trust you, which you have prepared for those who trust you in the presence of the sons of men.
Mark Finley: The goodness of God. Psalm 52, verse one. David through the Psalms, in spite of the challenges that he faced, in spite of the difficulties that loomed before him, in spite of the giants that he confronted, David in the Psalms continually speaks of the goodness of God.
Mark Finley: Psalm 52, verse one. "Why do you boast in evil, oh mighty man? The goodness of God endures continually." When you are facing your giant, maybe your giant is a health problem. Maybe your giant is a family problem. Maybe your giant is a financial problem. Maybe your giant is a relationship problem. Maybe your giant is an attitude of despair or discouragement.
Mark Finley: What's your giant? When you're facing your giant, remember the goodness of God. Rehearse how God has led you in the past. Recognize that the God of Heaven is a good God. Focus on God's goodness.
Mark Finley: The more we focus on the giants, the larger the giants become. Fear grows as you feed it. Fear grows as you feed it. The more we focus on God's goodness, the more we sense his goodness, the more our faith grows.
Mark Finley: Do you remember the story, some of you may have read it, Paul Bunyan's *Pilgrim's Progress*? Paul Bunyan wrote that in Bedford. My wife and I lived in England for a number of years, and we went up to Bedford to go through the museum of Paul Bunyan, where he wrote *Pilgrim's Progress*.
Mark Finley: And in that story, he tells the story of Pilgrim and Hopeful. And they're traveling, you know, to the celestial city. That's the whole point of it to get from earth to the celestial city. And as they're traveling, they come to Doubting Castle. Doubting Castle. And they get to Doubting Castle and the giant is in Doubting Castle.
Mark Finley: And he grabs Hopeful, he grabs Christian, and he throws them in the Dungeon of Despair. And so they're in the Dungeon of Despair. And Christian is complaining, you know, we're in the Dungeon of Despair, the giant's going to eat us up, you know, we're in the Dungeon of Despair, the giant's going to kill us. And Hopeful is trying to encourage him. He's trying to encourage him.
Mark Finley: But all day all night, Christian is, you know, he's complaining, they're in the Dungeon of Despair. All we see is the giant. But then as they pray through the night. And as they're praying, Christian remembers that he has the key of promise in his sack. And he takes out the key of promise, which represents the word of God, and confidence in God's word, and he opens the prison doors, and Hopeful and Christian walk out on their journey to the celestial city.
Mark Finley: Are you in Doubting Castle? Are you in Doubting Castle? Do you see the giant right before you? Here's the incredible good news. You've got the key of promise. The promises of God's word, and in those promises of God's word, they free us from the Doubting Castle and put us again on the pathway to celestial city.
Mark Finley: The key that unlocks our doubts and demolishes our fears is faith in the promises of God. Now, there is a fifth lesson from the story. David began where he was and he used what he had. And the only place to begin is where you are.
Mark Finley: Begin with the faith that God has placed in your heart already. You might say, "Pastor, my faith is pretty weak." Take your Bible and turn to Romans chapter 12. Romans chapter 12. I'm speaking to somebody here this morning who is facing a great giant, but you are feeling that your faith is quite weak.
Mark Finley: Faith is a gift that God puts in our heart, not something that we work up in our human strength. And in Romans, chapter 12, verse 3 it says, "For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think. But to think soberly, and it's the last part of the verse I'm interested in, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith."
Mark Finley: God has dealt to each one a measure of what? Faith. Where do we get faith? Where does that faith come from? God. When we come to Christ as a Christian, God places within our heart a measure of faith. As we exercise that faith, that faith grows. And Jesus said, "If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, and you say to this mountain, this giant, to move, it's going to move."
Mark Finley: So as you exercise the faith that God has given you, and do not live in the Dungeon of Despair with a heart filled with doubt, but as you believe that Jesus is a giant slayer, your faith is going to grow and grow and grow.
Mark Finley: Begin where you are. Now, notice, here are the five smooth stones that God has given us in his word to slay the giant every time. Here they are: First, prayer. Psalm 46, verse 10. "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in time of what? Trouble. Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth be removed, and the mountains carried into the midst of the sea; though the waters swell thereof." Look in verse 10 in 46. "Be still and know that I am God."
Mark Finley: Psalm 46, verse 10. What does God do? When you are facing a giant that you cannot handle, facing a giant that is bigger than you, facing a giant that terrifies you, God calls us to find strength and power in prayer.
Mark Finley: Psalm 46, verse 10. He says, "Don't be frustrated. Don't let your stomach be in a whirl. Don't let your head be in headache fashion. Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I'll be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge." Find in God our strength. Find in God our power.
Mark Finley: The second smooth stone is the Word of God. Acts 20, verse 32. The Word of God. The Word of God builds us up when we feel weak. The Word of God strengthens us when we feel frail. The Word of God enables us to face the power of the evil one.
Mark Finley: Acts 20, verse 32. Paul says, "Now, brethren, I commend you to God and the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those that are sanctified." Look, when you are facing a giant in your life, God is bigger than the giant. Come to God in prayer. Be still and know that I am God. When you're feeling weak, know, the Word of God will build you up.
Mark Finley: Reach out not in doubt but in faith. Hebrews 11, verse five. Hebrews 11, verse five. The five smooth stones to slay any giant that you face. Hebrews 11, verse five. Notice what it says, "He that comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of those that diligently seek him."
Mark Finley: So we come to God in faith. We pray. We spend those still moments seeking God's strength. We come to the Word of God and we are built up. We come by faith and believing that he is a rewarder to those that diligently seek him. We claim the promises of God. Second Peter, chapter one. Second Peter, chapter one.
Mark Finley: You see, the devil wants to terrorize us. The devil wants to intimidate us. But in the face of prayer, in the face of the Word of God, in the face of of of faith, God is indeed a giant slayer. Second Peter, chapter one. We come armed with the promises of God's word.
Mark Finley: Notice, speaking of those promises, 2 Peter 1, verse 4, "By which have been given to us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped." We escape the giant of fear. We escape the giant of worry. We escape the giants of problems before us, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And how do we do that? By claiming the promises of God.
Mark Finley: And lastly, what's that fifth smooth stone? Look at Psalm 50, verse 23. Psalm 50, verse 23, church. When the giant stands before us, we kneel before God in prayer. When the giant boasts of his victory, we boast of the Word of God. When the giant insinuates doubt, we speak faith. When the giant claims what he's going to do, we quote the promises of God.
Mark Finley: When the giant tries, says, "I'm going to defy you," what do we do? Psalm 50, verse 23. "Whoever offers praise glorifies me, and to him who orders his conduct aright, I will show the salvation of God." We praise God and we see his salvation.
HopeLives365 Announcer: You've been listening to Hope Lives 365 with Pastor Mark Finley. We hope you've enjoyed today's message and remind you that you can find more in our many ministry resources at HopeLives365.com. And you can support this ministry by going to HopeLives365.com/donate. And now, a final thought from Pastor Mark.
Mark Finley: Now, one thing that the devil wants us to do is this: run from our problems. And here's a principle. Never run from your problems when you're facing the giants. Run to Jesus. Because if you try to run from your problems, they are going to run to you.
Mark Finley: David did not run from his problems. We confront the enemy with prayer. We confront the enemy with the Word of God. We confront the enemy with faith. We confront the enemy with the promises of God's word. David assails the giant. Jesus assails the giants we face.