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Guest (Female): Welcome to PowerPoint with Jack Graham.

Jack Graham: I want to remind you that the same God who empowered David to defeat the giant Goliath is available to you in order that you may meet the challenges of your lives today.

Guest (Female): On today's PowerPoint, Dr. Graham brings a message about how God will give you victory after victory when you trust in him. Now, here's Dr. Graham with his message, Facing Your Giants.

Jack Graham: Take your Bibles and turn to 1 Samuel chapter 17. Let me ask you a question: how many giants are you facing in your life? Of course, I'm not talking about physical giants, but there are giants that threaten us and taunt us, even terrorize us on a daily basis. Many of us are facing fears in our lives, in our homes, our marriages, our jobs, and these fears require courage as a response.

That's really the theme of this message today is courage because I want to remind you that whatever giant you may face, all of us need courage in order to combat the giants of our lives. I want to remind you that the same God who delivered Israel and who empowered David to defeat the giant of Gath, Goliath, is available to you in order that you may meet the challenge of your lives today, that you might defeat the giants of your life, these fearful, fierce tormentors.

I truly believe that more men are afraid than we are willing to admit and that so often our fears keep us from achieving the success in life that God has planned for us, that keep us from experiencing the victory that is promised to us in the Lord Jesus Christ. What I want to show you in this passage, as we take a fresh look at this story that most of us have been hearing all of our lives, what I want to show you are some of the principles of victory, if you will, principles of conquest that were true in David's day and are true in our day because the God of David is our God in Christ. This God is able to deliver us from the hands of any enemy and of any giant.

Think with me first of all about the challenge, the challenge of the living God. Now, the story that we have before us in 1 Samuel chapter 17 is really the story of the conflict of the ages since Satan rebelled against God at the beginning of time and this battle between good and evil. This battle rages today, and it's never been clearer that there is evil that exists in the world and that the battle of the ages is to fight against evil in the world, to fight against the Philistines and to destroy the enemies of God.

Now, in verses 1 through 3, we have the scene that I want to show you. Now, the Philistines gathered their armies together to battle and were gathered at Socoh, which belongs to Judah, and they encamped between Socoh and Azekah in Ephes Dammim. Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and they were encamped in the valley of Elah and drew up in battle array against the Philistines. The Philistines stood on a mountain on one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side with a valley between them. So, this is known then as the Valley of Elah.

The size of this challenge against God was an amazing giant. Verse 4: "And a champion went out from the camp of the Philistines named Goliath from Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. He had a bronze helmet on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was 5,000 shekels of bronze. And he had bronze armor on his legs and a bronze javelin between his shoulders. Now, the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and the iron spearhead weighed 600 shekels, and a shield bearer went before him."

Well, there was this great giant, the giant of Gath known as Goliath. Well, just how big was this bad boy? When you read the numbers here, they are difficult to translate over into numbers today, but he was somewhere between nine feet, six inches tall and nine feet, nine inches tall. This giant was armed to the teeth. His armor weighed somewhere between 150 and 200 pounds. His spearhead weighed about 20 pounds. Just his spear. So, it was a huge challenge.

But in verse 8, we find out and we hear the shouts of this giant. What was this giant doing? He stood and he cried out to the armies of Israel and said to them, "Why have you come out to line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and you the servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves and let him come down to me." Here was the big challenge. This giant is shouting at them. He's defying God. He's blaspheming God. He's mocking these Israelites every day. He said, "Why don't we, instead of us fighting as armies, you just send down one man to fight me? We'll just go mono-a-mono, and it will be a winner-take-all." Guess what? Nobody was lining up to go down and fight the giant.

So, in verse 16, we see the seriousness of this challenge. And the Philistine, that is the giant, drew near and presented himself 40 days, morning and evening. When Saul and all of Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid. Now, let's just stop here for a moment for an application because there's some of you that I'm talking to today who are paralyzed by your fears, and you are not getting done what God wants to get done in your life because some giant is threatening you.

You've allowed the fears to consume you, and the fears that meet you every morning and say goodnight to you every evening. You've allowed these fears to dominate your life. So often we're not champions because we're afraid. So often we're afraid of failure. Have you ever noticed that so often the worst time for fear in our lives is when we first get up in the morning and that fear is right there to threaten us? When's the other time the fears are so often there? When we lay down at night, and you can't get away from the threats and the challenges. Day and night, they come. That's what was happening to the Israelites. This was the challenge to the living God and to the people of God.

But second, I want you to notice then the champion of the living God. Enter David, the one constant of all champions is that they must have heart. Courage is not the absence of fear; it is the mastery of fear. Courage, someone described, is a brave way to be scared. It is to confront those enemies, to confront those giants even when we are frightened, to face and to deal with the enemies and to do it with confidence in God. David is a brave heart, and there are several characteristics of brave hearts in every generation. One is consistency.

David was faithful. Even though David was a king in waiting, he kept tending the sheep. He was faithful in the little things. Too often, we want to succeed in the sensational. We want to win big battles and fight great fights, and yet we are unprepared because we have not taken care of business in the little things, in the preparation and the consistency of our lives. David was taking care of the sheep and doing what God had called him to do when no one else was watching. That's a champion. David was consistent in the small things and not just in the big things. And that's the difference between people who are champions and people who are not.

Look in verses 34 to 37. David said to Saul, "Your servant used to keep his father's sheep, and when a lion or a bear came out 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 arose against me, I caught it by its beard and struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both lion and bear, and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God."

This is making the point of the consistency, of the preparation. It's the principle of preparation if you want to be a champion. Is David swaggering here? No, he's not swaggering. He's not bragging. He is confident in his God and his abilities because he said, "As a shepherd, I've taken on enemies before. I've taken on these wild animals in protecting the sheep." Many times, I'm sure David had worked on his fighting techniques and the use of that slingshot and so on. He was confident in his God and in his abilities. Your giants may be bigger than you are. You need to know that you are ready because you've been faithful in the little things in your life, and you are ready because you have a God who is greater than any giant in your life.

Guest (Male): July 4th, 2026 will be a day of great celebration for the 250th birthday of our great country. However, there has never been a more important time in our 250 years as a nation where we need God to move in power and heal our land. That's why I'm inviting you to join Dr. Graham in a prayer challenge for our nation. To join, simply text the word "Cry" to 59789. Again, text "Cry" to 59789.

Remember that your support of PowerPoint Ministries helps people encounter Jesus through clear biblical teaching. Through the support of friends like you, lives are being strengthened, faith is being renewed, and seekers are discovering the hope only found in Christ. Your partnership is so vital that when you give this month, we'll send you Dr. Graham's book, "Life According to Jesus," as our thanks. It's a powerful journey through the Gospel of John that shares wisdom from the life of Christ to help you respond to real-world struggles. To give your gift, text "April" to 59789. Again, text "April" to 59789. Now, let's get back to today's message, Facing Your Giants.

Jack Graham: These Israelites didn't want to fight this giant. They were saying, "Look how much bigger this giant is than we are." David was saying, "Look how much smaller this giant is than God is." He was confident and full of faith, and it was his faith in God that vanquished his fear. The only way to overcome fear in our life and possess courage is to believe in a God who is able.

Look down in verse 45. David goes out to the Philistine. David said to the Philistine, "You come to me with sword and spear and with javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied." David was encouraged by his past victories. He was encouraged and confident in the greatness of his God. David knew where his power existed. His power was not in himself. He was confident in the spirit, not in the flesh.

Earlier in the passage, Saul, who should have been the one fighting this giant, he was the leader of Israel, he was the king of Israel, but Saul, like the rest of them, was afraid. But he offered David his armor. David was testing this armor and he was walking around in this armor and it was too big. David said, "Look, I don't need this armor. God's protection is all the protection I need." There you see his heart, his heart for God. Remember that old song "You Gotta Have Heart"? Well, you gotta have heart when you face great giants. Not by might, not by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord.

And so he was consistent. Look down in verse 40, we see this conquest of the living God, his instruments in the conquest. He took his staff in his hand, and he chose himself five smooth stones from the brook. And in verses 41 to 44, we hear the insults coming of the giant. The Philistine came, began drawing near to David. He's coming right at this young man and the man who bore the shield with him. And he looked at David. When the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was only a youth, ruddy and good-looking. So the Philistine said, "Am I a dog that you come to me with sticks?" And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. And the Philistine said to David, "Come to me, and I'll give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beast of the field."

But David was not about to be intimidated. David's faith was real. He had consistency and he had courage. The giant was infuriated and David was ready to take him on. So he didn't allow the intimidation of the giant to destroy or to defeat him. Well, notice the impact of David's life. He took those stones and he took one of them, and as the giant is coming at them, I mean, he's got this thing above his head and he's whirling it around. Before Goliath even gets his helmet on and before that dude in front of him can get the shield up, David lets it go and that stone makes impact and contact and the giant falls. All 500, 600 pounds of him with a thud.

Boom! Can you imagine that? Now, get this. You have the armies of the Philistines on one side, they're watching this heavyweight championship of the world. You've got the armies of Israel on the other side. Little David runs out there, no armor, just slingshot. Wham, wham, wham, boom! He goes down. David runs to him. Now, think about it. This was one of the most dangerous parts of the battle. David then runs to him, while the giant is down for the count, he pulls the giant's sword and severs his head. And the Philistines began to run.

Keep your place there in 1 Samuel 17 and just go over to the book of Acts in verse 13. Here's a little commentary on David that I wanted you to see this morning, which gives you some insight into his heart and into any champion's heart. Acts 13 and verse 22: "And when he had removed him, he raised up for them David as king, to whom also he, being God, gave testimony and said, 'I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart, who will do my will.'" How do you know you're a man after God's own heart? Here's how you know. A man after God's own heart is a man who is committed to doing the will of God, no matter the cost, no matter the consequences.

And if you're looking for a short sentence to describe why this man was a champion, there it is. David responds to the challenge and he stands alone, and therefore he stands alone in victories. Champions say, "Somehow, some way, we are going to get it done." And that's what David did. Why was David so committed to doing the will of God? Because he knew there was a purpose in this, there was a cause in this. What was the cause? This filthy Philistine was defying the God of Israel. This giant was blaspheming God Almighty. He was humiliating the people of God. David said, "Is there not a cause?"

The cause, you see, is the glory of God. In our generation, are there not giants, enemies of the cross that threaten and taunt and blaspheme the God of gods? Sure there are. We face them every day. So often, we cower down and we hunker down and we're afraid to meet the big challenges of our times. But I simply ask you, guys, is there not a cause? The glory of God is at stake in our generation. We need men after God's own heart who have a heart for him to do the will of God, no matter what.

Can you imagine what happened to the Israelites when they saw the big, bad giant fall down? This is the same guy who's been coming out 40 days and 40 nights. And now he goes down. It was an impossible thing. God won this victory through a teenage boy with some stones and a slingshot and a borrowed sword. Why? To demonstrate for all of us that it's not great talent or great education or great physical strength, that it's not our ability, our expertise, our human wisdom that will win the day. God has chosen the foolish things of this world to confound the wise.

If the Israelites had a nine-foot giant to send out against the Philistine's giant and Israel's giant beat the Philistine's giant, no big deal. A fair fight, a big fall, and it was over. But when God uses a little teenage boy and a stone, guess who gets all the glory? God gets the glory. Guess who gets the glory when we fight in the power of Jesus Christ, knowing that we can't but he can, being prepared, being fully committed, but at the same time knowing that we are weak and it is in our weakness that he is made strong.

What does this great old story mean to me? We can all face the giants of life with confidence and faith in Christ. To live a Christian life, to raise a family in a generation that is tough, to raise kids that are godly and wholesome, to be faithful to Christ and to the church, to be consistent in our witness, there are giants. But we confront the giants and when we do, we can defeat the giants.

Guest (Female): You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the message, Facing Your Giants. Let me remind you that your support helps bring the life-changing truth of Jesus Christ to people across the world through PowerPoint Ministries. This month, we'd love to send you Dr. Jack Graham's book, "Life According to Jesus," as our way of saying thank you for your gift. In this transformative journey through the Gospel of John, you'll discover not just what Jesus might do, but what he actually did when facing life's hardest questions. We'll be excited to send you this resource because your generosity helps place this kind of biblical teaching into the hands of seekers and believers alike, equipping them to live according to Jesus's example every day. To give your gift, just text "April" to 59789. Again, that's "April" to 59789.

July 4th, 2026 will be a day of great celebration for the 250th birthday of our great country. However, there has never been a more important time in our 250 years as a nation where we need God to move in power and heal our land. That's why I'm inviting you to join Dr. Graham in a prayer challenge for our nation. To join, simply text the word "Cry" to 59789. Again, text "Cry" to 59789. Pastor, what is your PowerPoint for today?

Jack Graham: It was a great demonstration of what God can do through a man totally committed to fight for God's honor, no matter what the cost. It was also a turning point in the lives of so many Israelite soldiers who had been terrified for days by the taunting and the tormenting of this Philistine giant. Seeing David's courage and God's supernatural power turned them back into men, back into real soldiers, back into defenders of the glory of God.

So today, perhaps as never before in our time, God is looking for champions. He's looking for people just like you to trust him and to face up and to face off the giants in your life. Don't let any fear keep you from being the person God has saved you to be. Now, I know that you may be facing some very big giants in your life, huge giants that have made you fearful, and maybe you have given up hope of ever winning the battle. Well, let me tell you something: the biggest giant ever is the one called death. And when Jesus cried out, "It is finished," and when Jesus came out of that grave, that big, ferocious giant of death was defeated forever. Because of Jesus Christ, you can have eternal life and it can begin right now by trusting him, receiving him as your Lord and your Savior. And if God would defeat that giant for you, the ultimate terrorist, just imagine what he can do with the other giants that you're facing. Take courage, my friend. Be strong and bold in the Lord. Trust in almighty God. You are more than a conqueror through him who loves you, and then begin watching the giants of your life fall.

Guest (Female): And that is today's PowerPoint. Remember, when you give a gift to PowerPoint, we'll send you Dr. Graham's book, "Life According to Jesus." Just text "April" to 59789. And join us again next time as Dr. Graham brings a message about how your friendship can share Christ's transforming power with others. That's next time on PowerPoint with Jack Graham. PowerPoint with Jack Graham is sponsored by PowerPoint Ministries.