Real Life Radio

Jack Hibbs: Cut it off! Watch it, watch the thoughts. Watch out. It can turn into a Goliath. Cut it off. It will kill you, and it kills everybody involved. Cut it off.

David J: This is Real Life. Welcome to Real Life Radio with Pastor Jack Hibbs. I'm David J, thanking you for joining us today as we listen, learn, and are challenged by God's Word, the Bible.

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David J: On today's edition of Real Life Radio, Pastor Jack continues now in his series called First Samuel and a message titled "Winning the Battles of Life, Part 5." Samuel of the Old Testament was the last judge of Israel and the first of its prophets. So here as we continue in chapter 17, we'll consider how God wants to empower our lives, not with physical strength or power that comes from the world, but through the power of the Holy Spirit.

You see, the true story of David and Goliath is not just about underdogs or personal heroism. It's about living in the confidence that comes from belonging to Christ, no matter how much the enemy tries to fill us with fear and redefine our identity. So today, Pastor Jack teaches us that we often see ourselves as small and insignificant when we're facing giants.

Life can be a painful struggle at times, both physically and spiritually. But like David, we need to have a heart that will fight back against the enemy who God says has already been defeated. Now with his message called "Winning the Battles of Life, Part 5," here's pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs.

Jack Hibbs: Listen, we rarely by faith take on our problems. We rarely by faith take on our problem. It's our problem, but we belong to God. He's gone to great lengths to tell us that. So what's bugging you is his problem. Have you noticed?

This morning, I got up early, drove down to the property, got my Bible out, read this chapter that we're in and a few other chapters of the Bible, looked at the building, and I said it's too big. I said, "God, it's too big." I've been telling him this now ever since they put the walls up. I've been telling him, "God, I think it's too big." And I've been reminding him, "You have a huge, huge problem."

Because God, I didn't ask for this. Your thing, you've done it. And the most beautiful thing about all that's gone on, the more you get behind the scenes, you know God did it because if anybody walks around here and says, "Yeah, we got it taken care of," let me know who they are. Tell me who they are. I want to know. Because I can honestly tell you that person knows nothing about what's going on.

God's doing something. And I drive by and I say, "Lord, it's so big. And are you going to be able to do this? What's the thing here?" And I start talking to him like he's somebody sitting next to me, and he nudges me and says, "Hey, I'm not somebody sitting next to you. I'm sitting on a throne up here. I started something and I'm going to finish it with or without you. I'm going to do something here that's quite frankly none of your business. It's my business."

And when I hear that, or I remember that, and I look at the Goliath, and it could be whatever, maybe the Goliath in your life isn't an apparent problem. What if it's a huge, huge blessing that's so huge, it's like yikes? He says, "I got it, I got it. Just keep your hands off of it. I got it." Okay, but Lord, will you tell me that about every half hour?

Listen, we rarely take it by faith. David, look what it says. It says that he took a sword—I love this—he took a sword and he drew it out of his sheath and he killed him and cut off his head with it. And when the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled. Time out! Wrong, wrong, wrong. That wasn't the deal. Stop. Somebody should have stopped the footage. Stop. Cut!

The deal was earlier in this chapter, whoever's champion wins, the losers serve the winners. Remember? All of the Philistines were supposed to become servants of Israel if David lost, vice versa, back and forth. Goliath goes down, everyone's supposed to throw their armament up and say, "We quit." The deal was whoever won wins the deal. The enemy, even emotions within us, will lie to us every time. They'll never keep their word, ever.

So in verses 52 to 58, watch what happens. We follow a God of great victory. Now the men of Israel, verse 52, and Judah arose and shouted and pursued. Can you mark that in your Bible? This is great. They arose. I want to ask the question: what were they doing beforehand?

Were they sitting down watching this circus? "Hey look, there's a kid going out there. Let's watch this guy get eaten by this giant." By the way, details. David pulls the sword out of Goliath's sheath. And probably, his armaments were huge. We read about them earlier, they're huge. He probably walked up over his chest, down his shoulder, and got the blade onto his neck.

He walks backwards, then forwards. Walks backwards, then forwards. But of course, devotionally we've got to put this to our spiritual battles, right? That thing that's been hassling you in your life, God wants you to cut that thing until it bleeds. And some things in life, people, you've got to cut off. You've got to just cut them off. Maybe it's that person or that thing.

What is it? God's speaking to some of you right now. Cut it off. Is it the girl at the water fountain? Cut it off. Is it that boss or, "Oh, but he's such a nice guy." Cut it off, watch the thoughts. Watch out. It can turn into a Goliath. Cut it off. It will kill you, and it kills everybody involved.

Notice Goliath's even dead now. And isn't it strange, again I argue to know the nature of your God, he says he even weeps over the death of the wicked. Does God in heaven say, "Hooray! Goliath's dead!" No. The Bible says he weeps over the death of the wicked. There's no victory in this for God, so to speak. You think God was challenged by Goliath? The whole thing was to teach Israel, teach David, teach us that battles, no matter how big they are, are fought in the spirit realm.

And we've looked to Ephesians chapter six, verses 10 through 18, and we always should. But our God is a God of victory. And listen, they arose, they shouted, they pursued the Philistines as far as the entrance of the valley of the gates of Ekron. And the wounded Philistines fell along the road of Shaaraim, even as far as Gath and Ekron. Then the children of Israel returned from chasing the Philistines and they plundered their tents.

Verse 54 says, and David—I have this highlighted—and David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem. I want to see that replay. And he put his armor in his tent. Wait, wait, wait, David, why would you put Goliath's armor in your tent? You know why? It wasn't important.

But wait, is it Goliath's armor or is it David's armor that Saul tried to give him? He gave that back. Did David have any armor? Apparently not. Remember he's got a sling, he's got a staff, he's got a pouch, he's got stones. Why not parade Goliath's armor around? "Look at this breastplate! It's huge! This belonged to the guy that I took down!" God says, "I'll get the glory, and I'll share the glory with nobody else."

"Okay David, how big was that fish?" "Man, that fish was so big!" "How big? Show us the fish." "All right." And he holds up this head. David goes from the battlefield and he carries the booty of the battle, the loot. While others were plundering tents, David is putting Goliath's armor in the tent because who cares about that armor? It's nothing.

I've got his head. I've got his head. And David carries it all the way to Jerusalem. Did he put it in a bag or what? I want to know this. David, how did you do that? You're a little guy. That's a big head. Did you drag it? Did you put it in something? You know, did you play with his eyes? Did you put carrots up his nose? "Goliath, talk now!" I don't know, I'm a guy. It's the way we think.

But David's going to Jerusalem, he's got this head. He's carrying this head with him. A moment ago this head was shooting its mouth off. "Yeah, you know what? Watch out, you bunch of Israelis! My gods are going to whip your God! You send this little boy out here!" Then boom, David cuts off his head, carries his head.

Verse 54, he brought it to Jerusalem, put his armor in his tent. Verse 55, when Saul saw David going out against the Philistine, he said to Abner, the commander of the army, "Abner, whose son is this? Who is this youth?" And Abner said, "As your soul lives, O King, I do not know." Verse 56, so the king said, "Inquire whose son this young man is."

Then as David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand. And Saul said to him, "Whose son are you, young man?" So David answered and said, "I'm the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite."

"I'm just a shepherd." I know we've had a lot of fun with the story, but the truth of the matter is, it's time to wake up your friend. We're almost done here. Here's the deal. I think we have supersized our problems. Would you like that regular or supersized?

Well, if you worry about things, they're supersized. Give them to God and they're just regular things. Didn't the Bible teach us that Elijah was a man who suffered the same kind of passions as we do? Did you know that? Paul says, "I'm the chief of sinners." Paul wasn't lying when he said that. Paul didn't know me. I'm the chief of sinners. Good, stay that way. Keep thinking that way. That's a good thing to keep thinking.

You see, part of Paul's great success is that he knew that he was the chief of sinners because all Paul was responsible for was to present his sin, not yours, not mine, his sin before God. God would take care of the rest. That's all you're asked to do and that's what I'm asked to do, is to present my own sin before God. "Pastor, will you pray for me that God will forgive me of my sin?" Don't ask me to do that. I'll tell you no. I'll hold your hand right now, but you're going to tell God yourself. Because I can't, nor the Pope, lead you to that place. It's impossible says the Bible. Can't do it.

Jesus is the mediator between man and God. And we go to him. "No man cometh unto the Father but through me," said Jesus. Wow.

We see the giant killed. You say, "Well Pastor Jack, it only took like a couple months to kill him." Yes, it did. And you know what? Maybe there was a reason for all that. We had guest speakers and I went on vacation and whatever else came up. Things happened. It seems like this giant was just going to live on. But you know what the cool part about it was? We all knew, didn't we? Didn't we all know he was going to die?

In fact, I noticed there's more out here tonight than normal. You guys came because you didn't think he was going to die tonight. I know you. But the giant is dead. Okay now listen, we can look at this and say, "Boy, that must have been something." You know what? There's Goliaths running around in our lives. And they're always yelling at us, and sometimes I think we become too accustomed to their voice.

And we've almost accepted them living in our house. They yell, they hoot, they holler, they say things about our God, they make fun of the verses that we go to, they tell us things in thoughts like, "You know what? That applies to the guy next to you, not you. Because God really knows who you are. Who do you think you're fooling? God's smart. He knows you. And you're a bum. You're a creep. You're a fake. God knows who you are. You think you're going to take a Bible verse and you're going to hang on it and believe in it, and it's going to change your life?" The answer is yeah, exactly right.

Well Christian, I want you to be thinking right now. God wants you and I right now to enter into the battle that has already been won. You see, God had the plan before Goliath ever showed up. God had called his little David to a big battle. And you may see yourself so small and insignificant.

And I want you to know that God right now wants to win through you these battles of life in the area of your emotional giants that you fight with. The power of fear, insecurities—they bind you up. They rob you. They get you worried, pinned down. You're full of anxiety. They conquer you personally. They make you weak. You tremble. It could be employment, whatever it is, but it's emotionally a giant. For those of you, that's where you're at.

Right now, ask God to slay the giant. Physical giants, flaws—maybe they're just physical flaws or aging is painful. Or maybe crippling infirmities. Maybe you're old and it hurts, and every day's a struggle. And your heart's more in love with Jesus now than ever before, but your body just won't go with the flow. And you might want to ask God tonight, "God, I love you either way, but will you help me now with these physical giants?"

What about the spiritual ones? The giants listed in Scripture that bug us that we so rarely even consider: demons, spiritual deception, false doctrine. Even people within the church to wreak havoc, people that would sow things that do not build up but tear down. Even born-again Christians get used by Satan in this area to bring people to get their eyes off of Jesus.

These are spiritual giants. No wonder why God says he hates the fact that there are those who sow discord among the brethren. Those are spiritual giants. And false doctrine and this cry around the world that everybody come together and worship under the same roof different gods. That's deception. Maybe it's time for you to stand up and start fighting spiritual giants.

Father, I pray in Jesus' name that we would have the heart to fight for unity in the church. That's your will. You want us to win. Lord, I pray that you would put it within us to fight for love in our homes. It's your will that we win. Holiness at our work—we'll win that fight. Lord, if we present ourselves to go to fight, to run toward the confrontation, there'll be peace.

If there's husbands here tonight and your wife is next to you, maybe you want to take her hand. Wife, take a husband's hand. And maybe there's thoughts or words that need to be said tonight. Let's let the giants die. Let's kill them tonight. In this marriage, let's kill the giants.

Maybe you're a young woman and you have burdens, and the Lord wants you to lift your hands to him. Because you know when you lift your hands, it's certainly a sign of surrender, but it's also, "Here Dad, take these burdens." Maybe young man tonight you need to bow down. You're proud. You need to humble yourself. You need to get more filled with God than you are yourself and say, "Lord, I want to be a godly young man, not some nut running around town without a vision or purpose. I want to be a young man for God. I want to be a David tonight."

Maybe in your family there's bitterness that needs to be washed away. That's a huge giant in the lives of people. Tell them tonight. This is the night when things die. Lord, this bitterness is destroying my relationship. I ask you to take it away. Maybe you're a son tonight and you need to let the giants of the past die. Maybe between your father or your mother or daughters, between your dad and your mom, whatever. Brothers and sisters, same household. Why let the giants rob you? They're a bunch of liars anyway. Let the giants die.

Father, tonight we come as a church. We dedicate ourselves unto you. We present ourselves to you. And in the name of Jesus Christ, Lord, I humbly pray that you would take this church and whatever you have in store for it, all the world might know it's of you and not of any one of us. Lord, may we be a humble people, overwhelmed, shocked, blown away, on our knees in awe of what you do.

And Lord, keep us from criticizing what you do. The weird thing is you do it through people. We don't like that very often, God. We'd much rather have you do it our way, we think. Lord, teach us to be patient, to wait, and to see what great things God has for those who love him. Forgive us, Lord, of trying to tell you how to be God. Forgive us, Father, for our battle plans when you've got the entire war already won and handled.

So tonight in one accord, all of God's people, with in mind our giant or giants, we lift them up unto you, Father, and we ask you, Lord, to take them from us. And we choose now tonight, by faith, to walk in victory and to drag, as it were, these heads of victory all about, that they might be testimonies from here to Jerusalem. God delivered into my hands this mighty problem that became a trophy of the living God who delivers. And we give you, Lord, our worry, our health, our fear, whatever it might be. And we lift it up to you now. And all of God's people in agreement with that said, Amen.

David J: You're listening to Real Life with Pastor Jack Hibbs. You know to hear more episodes and maybe catch up in the series, just go to jackhibbs.com. That's jackhibbs.com. And for now let's get back to our teaching. Once again, here's Pastor Jack.

Guest (Male): So as you heard from our broadcast, Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. And if you'd like to know what a commitment to Christ can mean in your life personally, we would love to help you out with that. Go to jackhibbs.com/knowgod. That's k-n-o-w God.

And there you'll be guided through what a commitment to Christ can mean in your life and the freedom that you'll find in knowing God. Don't miss out. That's the Know God tab at jackhibbs.com.

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This program is made possible by the generous contributions of you our listeners. Visit us at jackhibbs.com, that's jackhibbs.com. Until next time, Pastor Jack and all of us here at Real Life Radio wish for you solid and steady growth in Christ and in his Word. We'll see you next time here on Real Life Radio.