Tim Green is a local church evangelist out of Day Heights, Ohio.
“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 Ishbibenob, which was of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose spear weighed three hundred shekels of brass in weight, he being girded with a new sword, thought to have slain David. But Abishai the son of Zeruiah succoured him, and smote the Philistine, and killed him. Then the men of David sware 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 Sibbechai the Hushathite slew Saph, which was of the sons of the giant. And there was again a battle in Gob with the Philistines, where Elhanan the son of Jaareoregim, a Bethlehemite, slew the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam. And there was yet a 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.” (II Samuel 21:15-22) Who knows the name of the giant that David killed? Goliath. Right. Everybody knows that. Now I want to ask you this question. What is the name of the second giant that David fought? Ishbibenob. There are not nearly as many people who know the answer to that question. The thought I want to leave with you today is this: Giant killing is a lifetime task. It’s not something like salvation that you take care of once, and it’s over for good. We know that David fought Goliath when he was just a young man. He was just a kid, maybe even a teenager, but a very young man. As a matter of fact, when he came up to the battle, David was right and Eliab, his older brother, was wrong. Eliab was out of place. Of course, Saul was wrong and a lot of other people were, too. David fought Goliath when he was young man. In our text, he’s now fighting Ishbibenob when he’s an older man. Thus, my thought is this. Giant killing, fighting against the giant enemies in your life, is a lifetime task. You’re going to have to battle the enemy for your entire life as a child of God. Some giants that you fight in life may be easier to defeat than others, but there will be giants to face throughout your lifetime. When I was about 10 or 11 years old we lived right next door to the church where my father is still Pastor Emeritus. There was a boy who lived up on the corner whose name was Robin. Then there was a boy that lived in between us. His name was David . We were all about the same age, 10 or 11, and we hung around together. Some people called us the Three Musketeers. I think a more accurate term would have been the Three Stooges. One day David said to Robin and me, “Hey, I want you to go to my fort back in the woods. I’ve got some things that we need to try out.” Well, we went back there in the woods, and there was a big, hollow tree. Stuffed up in that hollow tree David had some newspapers and some matches and some oak leaves stuffed up in that huge tree. He had taken that newspaper and those crushed up oak leaves and had rolled those things up. They were big, giant cigars, oak leaf coronas. He said, “We are going to smoke these cigars.” Now I had never smoked a cigar in my life. I had never smoked a cigarette. I never had any desire. My dad wouldn’t even let me have candy cigarettes. Well, David made these big, oak leaf cigars out of newspaper and crushed up oak leaves. We put those things in our mouths, and David lit those things. I guess we were just as stupid as 10 or 11 year old kids are today. I don’t know. David said, “You’ve got to inhale. You’ve got to breathe in.” I just about scorched everything all the way down to the soles of my feet. There was nothing about smoking that I mistook for pleasure, or something I just had to have some more of. But to some people cigarette and cigar smoking is a big giant that has to be defeated. Sometimes it takes a lifetime to defeat it, and some people never do get victory over that giant. I’ll be honest with you. Smoking cigars and cigarettes has never been a giant in my life since that day. You could put the most expensive Cuban cigar here in front of me and say, “Brother Green, if you smoke this, I’ll give you $100.” That would not even pose a temptation to me. I’m out of the smoking business. I’m not interested in it at all. It all stems way back from that giant getting slain in my life. But I want to tell you something about one of those musketeers. David never quit smoking. A few years ago I went and visited him in his home in Michigan. He came out of the bathroom with a pair of shorts on. His head was stuck over here on his shoulder. He didn’t have a hair on his head, didn’t have a hair on his body. I didn’t even recognize him. He looked like a monster, probably weighed 350 pounds. I didn’t recognize him till he spoke, and then I recognized that voice that I had known since I was a kid. That September he died of lung cancer from smoking cigarettes, just 43 years old when he died. He never got victory over that giant in his life. There are giants to face, and you’re going to have to battle them, and fight them your whole life. It’s not easy being a Christian, especially in this day and age. Maybe we ought to have a little plaque up here on the altar when people come forward that says, “No wimps allowed.” Because if you’re going to be a wimp and just not have any character and fortitude and fight in you, you’re going to have a hard time living the Christian life. It’s a fight. We need to recognize that we have an enemy. Who’s our enemy today? It’s the devil. It’s the world. It’s the flesh. We have a three fold enemy. He’s against us. The devil hates us. Did you ever think about this? The more seriously you take God, the more seriously the devil will take you. I was preaching in Ireland and I got to the missionary’s house. One of the men of the church came over and said, “I’d like to take Brother Green for a ride.” I don’t know if you’ve ever had jet lag or not, but I had a huge case of jet lag. I didn’t care who I was, or what was going on. The missionary tried to get me out of it, but I just wasn’t sharp enough to catch on. I said, “I don’t care. I’ll go with the old boy.” I went on a ride with this guy. He showed me where he got saved in a little, country church, and where a revival broke out years ago and all this stuff. That day he told me a little story that I’ll never forget as long as I live. He said, “You know, I think when a man comes forward and trusts Christ, that it gets the devil’s attention. It’s kind of like a serpent alongside the road. He watches. If that man will follow the Lord in believer’s baptism, that serpent, Satan, may pay a little more attention and perk up a little bit. If that guy gets on fire for God, or gets called to preach, that person really wants to serve God and live for the Lord and clean up his life, and get the power of God on his life, the devil is really going to take notice. If you’re not careful, the devil is going to strike.” Most of us in this room that have served God any length of time, the devil has struck us a time or two. I’m thankful, though, that we’ve been inoculated by the blood of Jesus Christ against his venom, and we have victory. But the devil will take you seriously if you take God seriously in living your Christian life. Now if you’re just slip-shod and careless about it, a Sunday morning kind of a Christian, don’t read your Bible faithfully, don’t pray, aren’t overly concerned about spiritual things and living for God, the devil is not going to pay much attention to you. Why? You’re more on his side than you are on the Lord’s side. I want you to get this thought. Battles in your life are continuous. He said in verse 15, “Moreover the Philistines had yet war again with Israel;...” Verse 18, “And it came to pass after this, that there was again a battle with the Philistines...” Verse 19, “And there was again a battle in Gath,...” It’s a continuous thing. It’s a battlefield, brother, not a recreation room. We’re in a constant conflict with the enemy. A giant, to me, is something or someone that you’re going to have to conquer in your Christian life. Sometimes it may come to you in bare flesh and white lace. Other times it may come to you in dirty language or some filthy television show. I don’t know how the devil is going to come at you, but he will. Here’s what I think. I think the enemy knows your weak point. He knows your strength. I don’t believe the devil is too discriminative about where he attacks. Sometimes you think some area in your life is strong. Do you know what you tend to do? You tend to leave that part of your life unprotected, and put up some reinforcements against the weaker points in your life. Friend, you’re going to be in trouble. The devil will attack you in a heart beat at your strong point. I had a preacher friend, but he’s out of the ministry today. I’d say for a solid decade he was probably the most in demand camp meeting style preacher in his part of the country. He was a great preacher. He could come into an audience and just about turn them upside down, excite them and thrill them. Great Bible truths just seemed to flow out of his lips. After he had fallen into sin, he said, “My strength was my home. That’s where the devil attacked me.” Both of his children’s marriages fell apart, and they later remarried after living in sin for awhile. He got messed up, separated from his wife for awhile, now they’re back together. But the devil attacked him in what he felt was his strength, his home life. He did love his family. They did have a close loving relationship. I think on the inside they had a great family life, but the devil attacked them at their strength, and defeated them. A giant is something or someone that you are going to have to conquer. You know, the Bible says in Galatians 5:7, “Ye did run well;...” The next word is not a ‘what’ that stops us. It’s a ‘who.’ “Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?” Do you know who the who is a lot of the time? It’s you. You stop yourself. You hinder yourself. We like to blame it on our wife, our pastor, or some fellow Christian, or blame it on somebody else in fundamentalism. You teenagers like to blame it on your parents. We like to blame our problems on a lot of other people, but it’s us that stops us most of the time. You were doing real well. Paul said, “You were running well; who did hinder you? Who stopped you?” Now there are two ways to look at giants. Put yourself in David’s shoes as a young boy who came out there. I suppose the rest of Israel looked at that giant like this: “He’s too big. There’s no way we could fight him.” I guess David looked at him and thought, “He’s so big. How could I miss him? I’m going to hit him somehow.” Did you ever play softball or baseball with yourself? You get the ball and throw it up in the air and just wack it yourself. Did you ever do that? Or maybe you got some guys out there and you’re playing flies and grounders and you’re throwing it up and hitting it out to them. Did you ever do that? Did you ever take that ball and throw it up in the air and miss? Reach down and pick it up and throw it up in the air again and swing and miss? Reach down there there and pick it up, throw it again and miss? You strike out and say, “Man, I’m a lousy hitter.” Or you could say, “Hey, I’m a pretty good pitcher!” It just depends on how you look at things, sometimes, whether or not you get victory over the enemy. The war is not over with just one battle. David’s battles continued here. Battles will span a lifetime. If you’re not careful, the older you get in the Lord, you will begin to think you’ve arrived. You think you’ve attained some level of spirituality whereby you could never be blown away. If you lay down your arms and quit standing against the enemy, you’re going to be knocked out of the box pretty quick. Now battles will come to an end some day. Revelation 14:13 says, “...Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord...” This brother we spoke of today who died, his battles with the devil are over. Thank God, the devil is not welcome there in glory. The devil has no power there. I used to be my dad’s associate pastor. We did a lot of visitation. We worked on people and tried to be an encouragement to people. One thing we always did. We took care of older people and helped them and tried to be a blessing. Since I was a little kid I’ve always enjoyed older people. I remember one day we went over to an old lady’s house. Her name was Grandma Greenfield. She had been in my dad’s church probably 20 years at this time. She was over 100, maybe 102 or 103 years of age. She was living with her oldest son. The problem that came up was her son was now too old to care for her. He was 78 years of age. That’s a real problem. I’m for taking care of your parents and all that, but how can you do it when you’re ancient yourself? We went over there to the house. Old Grandma Greenfield was just a little, short gal, laying there in the bed. We walked in the room to have prayer with her and talk with her. She started crying. She said, “Oh, Brother Green, I’m lost. I’m lost.” My dad looked at her and he said, “What do you mean, Grandma, you’re lost?” She said, “Oh, I’m just not saved. I know I’m not saved. I’m ancient. I’m old. I’m going to die and go to hell. I know it.” My dad got mad. He fell to his knees and started praying against the devil and pled the blood of Jesus Christ, our Lord against the enemy and prayed the power of God down on that thing. The devil had come to that old woman when she was 102, 103 years of age, trying to steal from her the joy of her salvation. You think that maybe when you’re having a difficult time that the devil will have some sympathy, so he’ll back off and give you some slack. Are you nuts? He’s going to nail your hide to the wall. He’s got you right where he wants you. It’s a constant battle. Everybody has battles. They’re not only continuous and from varying sources, but everybody has them. Our Bible says, “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:” (I Peter 4:12) It’s normal to have battles. It’s normal. Parents have them. Do you realize, kids, that your parents have battles with the enemy? Parents, you need to realize that your kids have battles with the enemy. We all have them. Did you ever think about this, kids? Your mom and dad are not perfect. My dad is a great Christian. My dad prays 24 hours every week, minimum. My dad reads his Bible, 10 chapters every day, and has for 40 years. I preached with him a few months ago. He said, “I’ve read my Bible 135 times.” My dad is a great Christian. He doesn’t just preach it. He lives it. A lot of us preach it, but we don’t live it. I know preachers. I know them very well. I’ve eaten preachers’ wives’ cooking my entire life. My mom was a preacher’s wife. My wife is a preacher’s wife. I’m constantly the guest in the homes of preachers’ wives. Preachers aren’t perfect. Missionaries aren’t perfect. Evangelists aren’t perfect. As teenagers, we need to somehow forgive our parents for not being perfect. Parents make mistakes. Parents do dumb things every once in awhile. I’ve done some dumb things. I’ve had to talk to my boys and say, “Listen, guys. This was pretty stupid. Would you forgive me? Let’s go on and forget about it and serve God and live for the Lord.” You have to do that every once in awhile. Parents say dumb things every once in awhile. Have you ever had your mother or dad say something to you like, “Johnny, do you want a whipping?” That has got to be the number one winner for a dumb question! “Oh, yes, Mom, please give it to me. I can hardly wait.” How dumb! The battles are never over. The giants never stop coming as long as we’re living in this world. One of the great things about these battles is that it’s a good way to learn how to be like Jesus. We don’t want this part of it, but we need to become more Christ-like in our lives. We’re never going to be as perfect as the Original, but we can be a copy of the original. You know, if you make a copy of an original, people know what it’s a copy of. If I made a copy of a dollar bill or just ran it off on a machine and it came out black and white, you’d know what it was. It wouldn’t be original. It wouldn’t be worth anything really, but at least you’d know what it was a copy of. In this life none of us are going to be as good as Christ, but we ought to try to be like Him. People ought to see things in us that remind them of Him. Sometimes it’s the same battle that spans a lifetime. It’s a long fight and you just keep battling the same thing, and resisting the devil in the same area. Our Bible says, “Neither give place to the devil.” (Ephesians 4:27) Don’t give him ground in your life to set up attacks against you. Don’t let the devil lure you from the safety zone. When we were kids, we used to play this game. I doubt if I have played it in the last two decades. We used to play a game called Sorry. You’d have a little home base and four little guys. You’d turn these cards over to tell you how many spaces to go and you’d go all the way around to see who could get all their guys back to home base first. I used to love it. When you had the chance, you knock the guy back when he’s almost into the safety zone, and he has to start over. But when a guy was in that safety zone, you couldn’t send him back to his home base. There is a safety zone for a Christian. Do you know what I think one of the safety zones is? I think it’s the church. I think that’s a buffer against the enemy. Don’t let Satan lure you away from the safety zone. Now you remember some of these characters here when David was king. There is a guy named Abner and a guy named Joab. They were kind of like his generals, pretty powerful men. Well, Abner is a strange character who kind of went with Ishbosheth, Saul’s son, after Saul had died. They kind of got that worked out, but Joab was always loyal to David. Part of the reason why Joab was one of David’s close companions, he had two brothers Abishai and Asahel. They were the sons of Zeruiah, David’s sister, so Joab and Asahel and Abishai were David’s nephews. They stayed with him through thick and thin, all kinds of problems. I’ve been to the Holy Land several times. One of the neatest places I ever went was the Pool of Gibeah or Gibeon. Fabulous place, that pool, that hole is about half the size of this auditorium. It goes down about 60 or 70 feet to the water. While they had been on opposing sides, a bunch from each army met at this pool. They ‘played games’ that would end with a dagger in the other guy’s heart. Before it ended, twenty four fellows lay there dead, wallowing around in their own blood, what a deadly thing to call a game! That competition/battle got so heated there that Abner took off running. As Abner was running, Asahel went after him. The Bible says that when Abner would go to the right, Asahel would go to the right. When Abner would go to the left, he’d go to the left. He said, “Now leave me alone, boy. Don’t mess with me.” Asahel wouldn’t listen. He kept on coming, so old Abner stopped and took his spear, maybe just with the force of Asahel’s running, he jabbed that thing underneath his fifth rib and that butt end of that spear came out his back. He lay there on the side of the trail, and they had to cover him up. He died there. Joab and Abishai hated Abner over that thing. Down the road of life, David and Abner were trying to resolve their conflicts and get back together. So Abner came over late one night for some midnight intrigue, private meeting. They were doing some under the table working things out. Joab found out about it. Do you know where they were meeting? They were meeting in Hebron, one of the cities of refuge. It was a safety zone there. These boys had the right in Old Testament days to go and kill Abner to avenge the death of their brother. They had every right to do it, but he was in that safety zone where they couldn’t touch him. Now he took off, and you know the story. They lured him back, and old Joab killed him because he was outside of that safety zone. He wasn’t where he was supposed to be and it cost him. I want to tell you something, child of God. If you get out of that safety zone, you’re going to be in trouble. You’ve got to guard yourself. You’ve got to guard your life. You’ve got to stay aware that the devil is out to destroy you, and he wants to lure you away from your safety zone so that he can. Here’s something else you’ll learn. All giants are related. All these giants were related. They’re either called the son of Goliath, or the brother of Goliath. Some Bible scholars I’ve read after said that they were both his sons and his brothers. That’s a wicked mess. All giants are related. I say that to say this. All trials in life are related. All problems in life are interrelated. If you don’t take care of this now, it’s going to show up down the road in some other aspect. This brings this, and this brings that. If you don’t deal with this conflict properly, this problem becomes another problem. It grows and grows and grows. All your chickens one day, friend, are going to come home to roost. You’re going to be sorry. All giants will not use the same weapon. They’re going to fight you differently. You take Goliath. Look back in I Samuel 17. It says that he wore a brass helmet and a coat of mail, brass greaves. He had a target of brass. He had a spear’s head made out of iron, 600 shekels weight, a shield bearer in front of him, and a rock got him right there in the forehead, right between the eyes, and killed him. He had an unprotected place. Here in verse 16 of our text Ishbibenob had a spear that weighed 300 shekels of brass. He was girded with a brand new sword. I wouldn’t be surprised if he had a helmet on, and it had a little flap right here between his eyes with a sign saying, “We ain’t never going to let that happen again to another one of us.” That’s not in the Bible, but it wouldn’t surprise me! They had a little innovation there. We’re going to be protected. You may be able to whip the giant of cigarette smoking and drinking and cussing and doping and all that kind of stuff. But what about the giant of lust, pride, envy, jealousy, malice, temper, lack of self control, gossip, strife, and being a respecter of persons? We Baptists, we call those respectable sins, but I don’t think God does. “I don’t drink and I don’t cuss. I don’t smoke and I don’t do that, but I sure have a lustful eye. I’m full of the pride of life. I gossip.” Sin is sin, friend, and sin is always a killer. I heard an old preacher one time. I don’t know if it’s very Scriptural or not, but it was a good thought to me. He said, “It seems like the besetting sin of young people is the lust of the flesh. You can get through the lust of the flesh, and then you get into your middle age, then it’s the lust of the eye. You get covetous. You want what other people have and you want to be successful and climb the ladder and all that.” He said, “Some people get through that and then you get in your older years and it’s the pride of life. You look back at your accomplishments and get proud of what you did.” I wouldn’t be surprised if the lust of the flesh and lust of the eye and the pride of life attacks all of us, maybe throughout our entire life, but that old preacher might have been right about which part of life makes us most vulnerable to each of those areas. We think, “Well, I defeated the lust of the flesh, and I defeated the lust of the eye.” We get over 50 and 60 and the pride of life kills us. That giant wipes us out. Yesterday’s victories will not kill today’s giant. Here’s David, an old man now. He comes out there and there’s Ishbibenob and David says, “Listen, Ish. I want to tell you something. I’ve already conquered Goliath. So you might as well go back to the house.” He may have whipped Goliath, but that didn’t give him too much success against Ishbibenob. You can’t rest on your laurels. You can’t rely on what you did in the past. The Bible says there in verse number 16 the last little phrase he, “...thought to have slain David.” Ishbibenob just about had him whipped. You’re going to need help today for God’s battles, regardless of how many victories have been won in the past. You’ve come through a great meeting. I suppose everybody in this room has received some help and encouragement, but I’m going to tell you something. What happened last week might help you for a week or two, but it isn’t going to help you the rest of the year. You’re going to have to stay faithful to the house of God. You’re going to have to stay faithful in that Book. You’re going to have to stay faithful to your knees and your prayer closet. You say, “I got all I needed last week.” There are some Christians who went to church every meeting last week and heard probably 30 sermons Someone will think, “Well, I heard 30 sermons. That means the next 30 weeks I don’t even have to go to church. I’ll just stay home.” There’s a brand of Baptists in this country that believe like that. I’ve run into them before. All victories are temporary, and then the giant comes back. That’s why we should be sober and vigilant. Why? Our adversary, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour. You say, “Well, I can handle it. I can take care of it.” Did you ever think about this? Jesus fasting 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness, and at the completion of that thing the devil had no second thoughts whatsoever of attacking the most spiritual individual that ever graced this planet. Do you think he worries much about you? Do you think the devil says, “Oh, I better not attack Brother Green?” You’re out of your mind. Do you think you scare the devil? I don’t think so at all. Notice the guy that came out there in verse 17. “But Abishai the son of Zeruiah succoured him, and smote the Philistine, and killed him....” Who was Abishai? Zeruiah’s son, David’s nephew. When it comes to fighting giants, you’d better have taught somebody. You’d better have taught someone else how to fight so that the battle can be passed on to them. You’d better train your children. You parents in this room, you need to teach your children especially in this day in which we live, how to stand alone. Because they’re going to stick out like sore thumbs, the farther we go into this mess, if the Lord doesn’t come back. We’ve got to be different. We’ve got to stand. We can’t do the things that the world’s doing. We have got to draw a line in the sand and say, “This is as far as we’re going. We’re not going any farther.” If your children haven’t been taught how to stand alone, if you haven’t taught them to wield the sword, if you haven’t taught them how to throw the spear, if you haven’t taught them how to fight the battle, the giant is going to kill them. See, that is one of the problems with second and third generation Christianity. There are a lot of positives to second and third generation Christianity. I’m a third generation preacher, and a fourth generation Christian. My son is a fourth generation preacher. But there are some negatives, too, if you don’t teach them how to handle the difficulties of life when the devil attacks. You may not be able to whip that giant without help. You may get in a jam. You may have the enemy come after you. You’ve got to have somebody that you’ve taught how to fight. Paul said we’re suppose to pass it on. “And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.” (II Timothy 2:2) Teach some others to help you fight the battle. I guarantee you that David was glad that he had taught Abishai to fight. Uncle Dave had taught him how to fight, so when he was needed, he came to his uncle’s rescue, and saved his life. Do you remember those four horsemen of Notre Dame, those football players way back when? Their coach was Knute Rockne. Those boys were great football players, very successful. They got the big head about reading the headlines, and having them posted up in the locker room. In a game that wasn’t a difficult game, Knute Rockne put the third string line in, in front of the four horsemen. He had a quarterback, a full back, and two half backs, the four horsemen of Notre Dame. That defensive line came busting in there and they were knocking those guys for losses, and beating the fire out of them. They came back to the sidelines and said, “Coach, coach, put the four first string in.” He said, “Why?” “They’re killing us out there.” He said, “Why don’t you just hold up your headlines, boys?” Some of us think our headlines can give us victory. We need the help of others. Your pastor needs a church. Your church needs a pastor. Your Sunday school teacher needs you, and you need your Sunday school teacher. Everyone needs everyone else. We have got to help and support one another in battling against the enemy. Look at verse 17, right there in the middle. “...Then the men of David sware unto him, saying, Thou shalt go no more out with us to battle, that thou quench not the light of Israel.” There are some battles. There are some giants. There are some things that it’s too important for you to involve yourself with. There are some battles you just need to leave alone. Stay out of danger, out of the enemy’s reach. It would be a terrible thing to get beaten up by a pygmy or a dwarf. But sometimes we’re all wrapped up with little, old, junky stuff that doesn’t matter. In Judges chapter one there is a king whose name was Adonibezek. Adonibezek had, in his lifetime, in his reign as king, conquered seventy other kings. All right, class, does anybody know what weird thing Adonibezek did to those 70 kings? He cut off their thumbs and big toes. He could have cut off their little finger, not as big of deal. He could have cut off their little toe. He could have cut off their ear. He could have cut off their hair. He could have done a lot of things. He could have cut off their nose or their chin. Do you know what he cut off? He cut off their thumbs and their big toes. Do you know what that teaches me? It may not teach you anything. Some parts of your body are more important than other parts. Do you know what those thumbs do for you? They give you grip. I couldn’t pick up anything, or at least it would make it more difficult to pick something up without a thumb. I’ve got a boy who, all that works on his right hand is his little finger. He has a hard time picking up things. There are some things in life more important. Do you know what happens if you got your big toes cut off? Do you know what you lose? You lose your balance. A lot of Christians have lost their balance, and a lot of Christians have lost their grip. They’re in trouble. Don’t mess around. These soldiers said, “David, you ain’t going fighting no more, man. We don’t want the light of Israel to go out.” There are some things you just need to leave alone. There are some battles you don’t even need to involve yourself in. It doesn’t matter. There will always be another giant to face, another battle to fight, another opposition to conquer until we get to Heaven. We can’t rely on past victory, we’re going to have to win the battle against the enemy that we’re facing right now, or else be destroyed by the devil. That first giant, Goliath, was an important victory, but so was the second one. There will be giants to face in your life and battles to fight until you reach Heaven. You need to focus on today’s victory to win, and depend on God, since the battle is the Lord’s. |
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