Transcription
You don't need me to tell you that the world is full of bottles and wars and conflict, and it seems like that's been part of human history. That after all this time, there have been people, there have been conflicts and battles, right back to Cain and Abel in the early chapters of Genesis.
And I was thinking about some of the greatest, our most famous battles of all time. The Battle of Normandy, I thought of. And I thought of, as you drive around Northern Ireland, there's a wee battle in 1690 that people seem to like to draw murals about. And then there was another one in 1916 that some other people like to mention. There was the Battle of Waterloo. There was the Battle of Stalingrad during World War II. The Battle of Hastings, which was in what year? Mike, how does everybody know that? It's like, drummed into you, isn't it? It's like you forget, like, your spouse's birthday, but you remember that Battle of Hastings was 1066. And footballers, the battle for the premiership, or the battle not to be relegated. Then in boxing, I was thinking about the battle between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. Then there was Rocky and Apollo Creed. Rocky and Ivan Drago.
3,000 years ago, there was a battle which is probably the most famous battle of all time. It was a battle in the Middle East, and it's one that we have learned about as children. And it's very easy that when we know a story so well, that we actually switch off and we think, "Well, I know that. There's nothing to say." But I really believe over the next 3-4 weeks, there's a lot to say. I'm going to lay a foundation as we look at killing giants.
But the biggest battle, probably, in our world today is for attention. My background is in marketing and advertising, and I still would study a lot of thought. And marketers will say that the biggest battle in the world today is for eyeballs, as to get people to pay attention to you, to get people to pay attention to your message. Because we are bombarded, literally every day, with media and social media, and we are scrolling through people's lives, and we're going through Facebook feeds, and we're bombarded, bombarded by advertisements and billboards and television. And we're overwhelmed with messages telling us, "This is how you should live. This is how you should look. This is how you should think."
So the battle today is for your attention. And we're going to see in a little while, maybe not today, I don't think we're going to get to that, but next week, that the battle actually begins in your mind. That you never win a battle until you have won it up here. And most of the battles we fight are in our mind.
But that's like a first Samuel 17, verses 1 to 3. "The Philistines first gathered their forces for war and assembled at Socoh in Judah. Saul and the Israelites assembled and countered the Philistines and drew up their battle line to meet the Philistines. The Philistines occupied one hill and the Israelites another, with a valley in between them."
So here we have two sides. We have the Philistines. They have been a thorn in the side of God's people for many years. They were originally a party from Crete. They were a sea people and they came across and they occupied the coastal regions of Palestine. And then up in the mountains, we have God's people, Israel, the children of Yahweh. And this battle line has been drawn on this valley called Elah, or Azekah. And on one side, you have the Philistines. On the other side, you have the Israelites. And the valley is in the middle because nobody wants to go down into the valley. Think about it from a war point of view. If you're on top of the hill and the other army comes down into the valley, you've got the advantage. And so they're standing facing each other at opposite sides of this valley.
And I'm not going to dwell on this point, but I simply want to say this to you today: that you're in a battle, and you have an enemy. You're in a battle, and you have an enemy. Right now, there is a spiritual battle going on all around us, between good and evil, light and darkness, God and the angels, and sin and demons. Honestly, I said it was a joke in the first service, nobody laughed.
So it's just to say, I'm that, that you said to a fish, "What do you think about the water?" And they go, "What water?" Because that's what they're in all the time. And then I said, "Well, we use the expression like a fish out of water." I'm so away. Thank you for the three of you that laughed. There'll be five points available at the back afterwards. Come and collect it.
But, but a fish doesn't do what's in water until it's out of water because it's surrounded all the time. And many of us don't realize that around us all the time is this spiritual conflict, this invisible conflict between good and evil. We see the manifestation, we see the effects of it, we see the impact of it in our world around us through things that happen. But very often, we forget that behind the physical thing, there is a spiritual reality. Behind the corrupt government, there is a spiritual reality. Behind that person at work who you think has certain things themselves, there's actually a spiritual reality. Behind some of the issues and obstacles and opposition and problems you are facing, behind those things, there is a spiritual enemy.
Paul talks about this in Ephesians 6. He says this: "Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood." In other words, it's not against, you know, Joel or worker or RCA or or your annoying neighbor. Your struggle is not against flesh and blood. That might look like them. It might come dressed up as them, but it is against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
A radically of quote this week by Eugene Peterson, who paraphrased the Message translation. He says this: "Reality is mostly made up of what we cannot see. Reality is mostly made up of what we can see, tears, touch, and so on, physical things. But most of reality is actually invisible. The real struggles aren't against physical things, but the spiritual things behind that." And because we can't see it, we don't think it exists. And if we don't realize that there is a spiritual battle, we will never confront it. We will never deal with it. We will either ignore it, or we will just give in to it and be defeated by it. And that's what the enemy wants us to do.
Jesus tells us in John 10:10, he says, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy." You see that word "only"? The enemy has only one mission, one purpose, one goal, and that is to destroy your destiny, to kill your future, understand what God wants to do in you and through you. He wants to destroy your family, your marriage, your health, your purity, your wholeness, your witness, your confidence, your love for God. That is his mission.
Sometimes people come to me and they're sick, or they're going through a difficult thing, and they say, "I wonder, is God doing this to me?" And I always point them to this first and I say, "This is what you're going through. Is it stealing, killing, or destroying? Or is it bringing life, and life more abundantly?" It's also Jesus says, "I have come that you may have life, and have it more abundantly." Anything that steals, kills, or destroys from your life is not from Jesus. It's from the enemy. Jesus says, "I have come that you may have life, and have it more abundantly." Anything that gives life, anything that breathes life and and and gives you more abundant life is from Jesus.
I was reading the news on the BBC this morning, and while the Allies and the Syrian army, backed up by the Russians, have taken back most of Syria from ISIS, or ISIL, or whatever they call themselves these days, and there's still this one little pocket in a place called Idlib, I'm sure I pronounced it perfectly. And there's this little pocket where there's still resistance. There's this little pocket where there's still conflict. There's this little pocket where the ISIS fighters, or the ISIS fighters, are entrenched, and they're fighting to the death.
And I was thinking, if I were to text some of us and drop us there in an airplane today and fly off and leave, either you would be so sure you're in a conflict. You would see bodies around you, you would hear guns, you would hear explosions. And so you would take the necessary precautions. And yet, we are in a spiritual battle all the time. But because we don't see the casualties in the same way, because we don't hear the bombs or hear the guns, we forget that we're in a spiritual war zone, an invisible war zone. The casualties are all around us in the form of those who are wrestling with addictions, abuse, poverty, despair, violence, racism, immorality.
And we live in a culture which is hostile to everything we believe. We live in a culture which is hostile to our identity as Christians and our beliefs. And if we accept it all and think, "Well, that's just the way it is," we will become passive and defeated. But if we realize that there's actually an enemy behind us, that Satan has an agenda that he's pushing through groups and people and individuals, we need to stop fighting the individuals. And we'll get to that in a second. And realize that the real battle is with the enemy.
In the battle between Israel and the Philistines, you were either on one side or the other. There was no middle ground. Honestly, to see them in the world, you pick a side. You might not think you're picking a side, but if you're not for Jesus, Jesus said, "If you're not for me, you're against me." He says, "If you're not on my side, you're in the other team." There's no neutral zone. There's no middle ground.
That struggle you have with temptation isn't just about some character weakness in your life. It's about the enemy's attempt to destroy you. That struggle with your marriage isn't just about you and your husband or your wife. That's about the enemy's attempt to destroy you and your witness and your family. That struggle you have with looking at things that you shouldn't look at and doing things you shouldn't do isn't just about your purity. It's about the relationships you're going to have. It's about the marriage that you might have. It's about your future. And so he could be in five years, ten years, twenty years from now. The devil isn't as concerned about what you're doing now as he is about who you will become. He wants to steal and destroy what has yet to be birthed in your life.
And the moment you accepted Christ, if you're a Christian here, you became part of the army of God. You signed up as a recruit for God's army. I heard a story about a young man coming out of church, and the preacher enthusiastically shook his hand and said to him, "Our army in the Lord's army." He said, "Our army?" He says, "Well, how come I never see you in church?" He says, "I'm in the Secret Service." But when you sign up, there's no Secret Service in the kingdom of God. Your faith might be private, but it is, or it might be private between you and God, but it's also public. It's a, it's it's something that affects every part of your life.
And so when we face an enemy, we have a few choices. We can give in, let them win, or we can fight. Or we can pretend that if we just wait long enough, it might go away and do nothing and be paralyzed by passivity. And we'll see in a while that's what Israel were doing here. But let's keep reading verses 4 to 7.
"A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, he about the Philistine camp. His height was six cubits and a span. He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing five thousand shekels. On his legs he wore bronze greaves and a bronze javelin was slung on his back. His spear shaft was like a weaver's rod. On its iron point weighed six hundred shekels. A shield-bearer went ahead of him."
So, among the Philistines, was this guy. Well, not so much among them, but towering over them was this hulk, this beast of a man called Goliath. Nine foot, nine foot, nine tall. He had a mirror grip NBA basketball player, but he's not like, real skinny and lanky like a lot of tall people. He's built like a tank. He's a walking tank. He's a human weapon of mass destruction. 22-inch collar, 54-inch waist. His armor alone weighed a ton. The metal point on his spear weighed over a stone. Everything about him was intimidating. He looked terrifying.
And I knew this concerned a little bit, right? But I want to ask you this morning: Are you facing a giant? And if so, what is it? Are you facing a giant? And if so, what is that giant that you're facing? It won't be some nine-foot soldier standing in front of you, but it will be something that terrifies you. It will be the other thing that when you think about it, your stomach flips. It will be the thing that keeps you awake at night, the thing that goes round and round your mind, the "what if," the worst-case scenario. It could be in your marriage. It could be in your work. It could be something you're struggling with. You're addicted to some compulsion that you, that you are trying to overcome, but you can't.
Because here's the thing about Goliath: Goliath wasn't born as a giant. Now, I'm sure he was a bit of a bruiser. Like, I'm sure it wasn't the most pleasant birth in the world for Mrs. Goliath, okay? I'm sure. And, you know, but, but he wasn't born as a giant. He was born as a baby. But he grew. And most, or many of the giants in our lives don't start as giants. They start as babies. They start as small decisions, small compromises, small choices that we make. And they seem insignificant. "It's important. It's just a bit of fun. It's just a bit of a crack. Sure, everybody's doing it. I'll do it once. I deserve it. I'm tired. I need a wee bit of relaxation. I deserve a better pleasure. Sure, I'm going for lunch with her, and, and she's not my wife, but it's just lunch." I mean, there's no harm in it. "I shouldn't be texting this person. I know that. I know it's not good. But, but sure, it's just a text message." "I shouldn't be doing this person, but it's only one." "Won't be at." "I mean, that's no problem." "So, I won't do I shouldn't be fiddling the books here, but, but sure, I mean, the taxman, well, I needed more than he does, and I'm sure nobody will ever notice."
And it starts small, and then it grows, and it grows, and it grows until it becomes a giant. I read about a woman who was mauled and killed by her pet tiger recently that she kept at home. Now, that's tragic, but you do have to ask the question, "Who keeps a pet tiger?" And did they have it common to them? Yeah. But here's what I think happened. I think she didn't buy a killer. She bought a wee furry, wee pet, wee fluffy, wee thing, wee wee cub. Maybe she called him Flossie, or Snuggles, or Fred, I don't know. Or we'll call him Tiger. And she snuggled him, and she played with him, and she stroked him, and she fed him, and she fed him, and he grew, and he morphed over time into what he really was and showed his true colors. He went from a playful cub to a savage killer.
And it's similar to many of the giants, I think, in our own lives. They start small. They seem harmless. They seem innocent. They seem fun. But they form habits and behaviors and beliefs and patterns that become incredibly difficult to break. Every person who had an affair didn't decide one day to have an affair, but they did decide to flirt or send a text message. Every person addicted to drugs didn't go, "I want to be addicted to drugs." They just wanted a bit of pleasure. Every addiction in your life, everything in your life that's a giant, everything that destroys people, didn't start as a giant. It started as a baby. And that's why the decisions you make today are so important. We think they're small decisions, but your decisions determine your direction, and your direction determines your destination. And you cannot go that way and expect to end up over there. If you make choices day after day, they will lead you in a certain direction, and one day your life will either turn out for good or for bad, depending on what direction you have chosen.
I wonder what the giant is that you're facing today. In the last few weeks, I've met people here facing fearsome giants of cancer. Just this past week, somebody in our, in our congregation has had a diagnosis. People here facing fearsome giants of depression, loneliness, marriage troubles, rejection, fear, addiction, money and death problems, struggling with particular sins, work pressures, anxiety, stress, depression, and maybe unemployment. And that giant is taunting and harassing and insulting and demoralizing and destroying their confidence. And I could go on. I wonder what giant you're facing.
And the battle for us won't be in a physical battle like the Battle of Elah. It will be in the battle of your home, and the battle of your work, yes, and the battle of your marriage, in the battle of your heart. See, this was a very public battle. Everyone could see this battle. Most of our battles are deeply and immensely private. It happens behind closed doors in our homes and in our hearts. Nobody knows. We come to church, we put on a great front, we sing the songs, we go through the motions, and nobody really knows what's going on inside.
I hadn't planned to share this this morning, but during the first service, I felt the Lord prompt me to share it. When we were in Dublin, we were leading a thriving and growing, the fastest-growing church, probably in the whole Republic at that stage. And I got up every week and I preached a storm, and we were growing, and everything looked great, and we looked like the most amazing couple, and, and just, we looked like we were just holding it all together. But by year four, I was a mess inside. I was exhausted, and I was empty. And yet, every Sunday, I got up and did my thing. Every Sunday, I got up and people got saved. Every Sunday, I got up, a great man of faith, leading these people forward. And yet, inside, I was dying. And the only person who knew, a few people knew, but most of the, most of it was my wife, because she says, "Here I am." Behind closed doors, and she could see that I was falling apart. She could see that I was exhausted, that I was burnt out, that I wasn't in a good place. But nobody else knew. I was just a great man of faith who was leading a thriving rural church.
And I said that to you to give you permission to admit what you may be struggling with this morning. See, I have realized something that people really have much more to our weaknesses than our strengths. I get to stand up here and tell you, fear the stories, and we're going, and I do have those. Believe me, I have loads of stories of breakthrough and God's doing. But actually, the stories many people connect to are the stories of our brokenness, the stories of our pain, of our woundedness. And I would say that to you, even as you talk to people who aren't believers, we don't have to tell them hyped-up stories. Sometimes we just have to share our own brokenness and how Jesus has made us. And not, not talk a little bit about how, not she and her hideout, but it was a very private battle that nobody knew about. And hundreds of people were sitting there every week, completely unaware of what was going on in my heart.
But this is what I want you to see: that the arrival of a giant in your life brings also a moment of potential, of opportunity for God to bring out what he has put inside you. Giants have a purpose. Here's what I've discovered in my own life and seeing giants in other people's lives, that the arrival of a giant, the arrival of an obstacle, opposition, problem, whatever you want to call it, whatever you're facing, very often is a sign that God is wanting to shift, transition, move, or do something significant in your life. Very often, the arrival of a giant is a sign that there's something on the other side of the giant that God wants to get you to, but you're not ready for it yet. But the way he's getting you ready is by facing the giant, by confronting the thing that terrifies you most.
And so most of us see giants as a wall that's blocking us. Why not see them as a door? And the bigger the giant, the bigger the door. And the bigger the door, the bigger the room on the other side of the door. And that's what I'm trying to start to do. When I start to see problems, when I start to see obstacles and opposition, what I ask myself is, "What's on the other side that the devil is trying to stop me accessing? What's on the other side of this that if I get through this giant, if I confront it, what will be there that's worth getting?" And facing the giant, we become a man or woman prepared for the next stage that God has for us.
Think about David here. For the whole of Israel, for the whole of Saul's army, all they could see was this giant, imposing obstacle and opposition. And David looked, and he saw a massive opportunity. Goliath was the best thing that ever happened to David. Goliath did for David in a day what hard work couldn't do in ten years. Remember, David was somebody he was unknown, undervalued, and unappreciated. Little boy in the field looking after the sheep, whose dad even forgot about him. He goes from not in 24 hours to, were the number one hit record. And Israel, Saul has killed his thousands, and David his tens of thousands. That's plan on Kula, a.m. all the time. And in Israel, the next day. And we'll get to that. But the giant did more to move David towards his destiny, had been anointed king, had gone back to the field, had had the heart for Saul. The giant did more to propel David towards kingship, to have people recognize him as not just a worshipper, not just a shepherd, but also a warrior, because they wanted a warrior to lead them. Remember when they brought up King? They said, "We want someone to lead us into battle." Who would have thought the wee shepherd boy could have led anybody in battle? And yet, when he steps up, suddenly people see him differently. He was anointed before nine people, his seven brothers, his seven brothers, his doubt in Samuel, so only him and nine other people knew the anointing. But that day, what was done in private became visible in public.
Let me try and give some examples from my own life. All I can do is give examples, and I hope that you can find some way to apply them to yours. I tell personal stories not just to tell personal stories, but to illustrate and also for you to be able to connect with them and maybe apply them to your own life. When I was ordained 13 years ago, in 2006, I went to Shankill Parish, Ligoniel, as the curate assistant minister. And there, and I went there, and there was already another curate there, William, who'd been there five years, and Morris, our director, who'd been there about three, I think, at the time. And so I thought, "This is good. This is going to be a breeze." You know, I'm the bottom of the food chain here. Before any problems get to me, they'll go through Morris and William. You know, I'll get the fungal toenail or something to deal with, like, that'll be it. You know? And within a year, Morris, or within a year, William had left. And six years, or six months later, Morris left. Nothing personal against me, obviously. But I found myself on my own, leading one of the largest parishes, if not the largest, in the Church of Ireland. Twelve hundred families, four services, no Sunday, three, three funerals a week, and 20 to 30 people in hospital at any one time. And I felt completely overwhelmed. And we all thought we would have a new rector within three months. It turned out to be 16 months. I was on my own. Sixteen months. I got up at 6 a.m., 7 days a week, and worked from 6:00 to midnight. And I don't know how I did it. I can only say it was the supernatural strength of God, because I have no idea how I did it. But that was the biggest giant I have ever had to face at that point. It seemed overwhelming. It seemed all-consuming. It seemed like it was going to wipe me out and destroy me at the time. And yet, we came through it.
But something else happened. A few things happened. Two things. One is, I grew more in those 16 months as a leader than I've ever grown before. God developed skills and abilities. I found myself in situations that I never thought I'd find myself in, and circumstances and fearsome problems I never thought I'd have to face as somebody two years out of theological college. But God developed something in me during that time that would never have been developed if I had through me and just as an assistant.
But the other thing was this, and this was never my intention or anybody's intention. God got me noticed by some people, particularly the bishop. He, before, thought the bishop had just seen me as a young smart aleck with a funny haircut. I mean, though it was kind of the way, you know, that young guy in Shankill with the weird haircut. Me, the more sensible one. Obviously, back then it was ridiculous. But they stopped it. But during the vacancy, during those 16 months, I would meet the bishop regularly. I would spend hours with him. He would mentor me. He would talk to me. He would ask her things. He would come and visit, and he would realize the church was flourishing. The church was still growing. The church was doing well. And he began to see me differently. He began to see that there was actually some leadership ability on me.
And here's why I'm saying this. I'm not a purpose and sadness, because at the end of my time in Shankill, when the new minister came in, and we were ready to move on, we felt a call to Dublin to a church which was called Cor. Then there was a trustee church, like our church, who was the chairman of the trustees, Bishop Harold. It's the only time a church has never advertised a leadership post, because Harold came to me and he said, "You're the only person for this job, because I've watched you over the last two years, and I knew that you're right for this job." And he brought us to Dublin because Harold had already witnessed what had happened in Oregon.
But then the story continues. Because we finished in Dublin, we took a sabbatical up the North Coast for a year. At the end of our time there, there's just that the church in Craigavon called Hope, looked at a minister. And I get a call. Craig, what do you think about it? No, what do you think about it? Craig, I think you're the right person for it. Okay. God has spoken to us. He has called us here. And who's the bishop? And it all goes back to 13 years ago, or 12 years ago, when I first, my biggest giant. What I didn't realize was that giant back then was preparing me for everything that has ever happened since. I would not be here if Morris and William hadn't left back then. I knew that for a fact.
And what I'm saying is this: Don't miss the thing beyond the thing, because you're so focused on the thing. What I mean by that is, when you have a giant in front of you, all you can see is a giant. Don't miss what's beyond the giant. Don't miss what it's preparing you for. Don't miss what it's getting you ready for. Don't get so focused on the giant that you miss what potentially is on the other side of that giant.
When a giant appears in your life, it's often a sign that God is preparing you for a transition, for something to move in your life. I was talking to Irene, a midwife, a few weeks ago, and Irene is a midwife, and she was talking about transition. And she was telling me the very last stage of labor is transition. That's actually called transition. It's the very last bit before the baby comes out. I'm not going to pretend I'm an expert, because I get heckled when I do that. But, but it is the boost. It is the most difficult and most painful bit of labor. Where you're, where you're, it's the most painful bit. And honestly, the bit where the mom just wants to give up. And sometimes, in that place of transition, when we face a giant, when we face an obstacle, we just want to give up. But if we can just push, something beautiful will be birthed. Something will come out that will bring new life and new hope. But it's trying to push through the transition. It's trying to push through that thing, that obstacle or opposition, when it seems so huge. If we can really grasp that, we will look at a job differently. You will look at the problem differently. You will look at the obstacle or opposition differently, because you will see it as a doorway. You will see beyond it to what maybe God has on the other side of it.
The other thing a giant can do is blast us out of our comfort zone, because we all like comfort. We all like familiarity. We all like routine. We all like what we already knew. And that's what this has done. To go on to two services, that blasted me out of my comfort zone. I was very comfortable with one service. At halftime, I could have done that forever. And I had a packed church, everybody was happy. I didn't have to get up an hour earlier. I was very comfortable with that. And yet, God grew us to the point where he challenged us to step out of our comfort zone, to step out of the boat and walk on the water. And I would quite honestly have rather stayed where I was. I'm being real honest with you. But I believe it became so obvious that if we are genuinely a church that wants to reach people who don't know Jesus, we have to create space for them, otherwise we're just a social club. And so that is why we're doing it. And I want to tell you, it has been uncomfortable for all of us. It's uncomfortable. And I think it's okay to acknowledge that. That's okay, because God grows us through discomfort. God grows us through resistance.
I know it's completely apparent. I left weights forever, 10 years, and never grew a muscle. You lose people. You see them in the gym day after day. Unlike in 10 years, to actually look like weaker than they did. I was one of those people. And then I discovered something: that to build muscle, you have to lift weights. It's called resistance training for a reason. You have to lift weights that are just a little bit too heavy. And when you do that, the muscle breaks down. The muscle fibers actually break down, and then they rebuild themselves, and muscle growth. And that's exactly the same spiritually. God is wanting us to grow spiritually. Some of us are stuck and stagnant and uncomfortable. And God has sent, I have so much more. And sometimes he will send a giant into our lives. He will send some sort of obstacle or opposition into our lives, not to harm us, but to push us. I thought, "Police, we're stuck." And to the unknown, where we're trusting him again, because when you're comfortable, you don't have to trust. But when you're doing something you've never done before, when you're under the unknown, when you're being stressed, you have to trust. You have to have faith.
I want to tell you something. I had a wobble yesterday afternoon. I thought 15 people might show up for the first service. I thought it'd be me and the band and the sound guys, and that might be it. Great man of faith. I had a wobble. I'll tell you, I was like a bear with a sore head at lunchtime yesterday. I was just a grumpy old git. For a few hours, just for a few hours. But I was a grumpy old git. And it was because I was feeling the stress of this morning. I'm, I'm happy to tell you that. But we still push through. We still press on in spite of that. And God has blessed it.
And I want to say, he, just because you're anxious, just because you're stressed, just because you're fearful of something, doesn't mean it's not God. Sometimes people say, "I know it was God, because everything just went smoothly." Maybe the devil was clearing the road for you. Because the Bible I read says that in this life, you will have tribulation. You will have trouble. And that you have an enemy who will seek to oppose you on every side. So maybe you need to find out, actually, you know, why I've discovered when there's resistance, it's normally a good thing. Now, not if you've just been a complete shape and annoyed everybody. But if there's actual spiritual resistance, that's very often a sign that you're advancing. Because the enemy doesn't take notice of slumbering, sleeping Christians, but an army on the march. The enemy will take notice. And so what I have discovered is that actually the, the resistance, the opposition, is actually often a very acute thing.
We don't go looking for battles. Anyone who goes looking for battles, don't be their friend. Okay? Anyone who goes looking for fights, don't be their friend, because you'll end up getting involved in things you shouldn't. But when they do show up, we recognize them. And we wonder, "What's going on here?" Behind the battle.
Let's finish off verses 8 to 11. "Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, 'Why do you come and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not soldiers of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me. If he's able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects. But if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us.' Then the Philistine said, 'This day I defy the ranks of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other.'"
Not only does Goliath look intimidating, he sounds intimidating. And those days, the hard wood was called a representative battle, where instead of a whole army coming and slaughtering each other and causing massive bloodshed and loss of life, they would send their best soldiers trying to represent each side. And so there was a lot at stake in this fight. Look at what Goliath says: "If we have you, then we will become your servants. But if I win, you'll become our servants." This wasn't a playground scrub. There was a lot at stake here. This was a fight that would determine Israel's future.
I mean, the same way, you need to realize this, that not all battles are created equal in your life. There are some battles that don't matter that much. And one of the things I'm learning is to make sure I don't fight battles that aren't worth fighting. Don't fight battles that even if you win, you don't actually win anything. And don't get involved in battles that are nothing to do with you. But there are some battles where the outcome will determine your future. Where if you confront something and face up to it, in five years, your life will look one way. And if you don't, and your life will look completely and totally different. There are some battles that we have to fight. There are some battles that we have to confront. There are times when we need to step up and step out.
When you face opposition, weigh up how important or significant it is. Is it worth fighting? If he later on, David's brothers criticized him, especially his older brother, and he just turned away and he ignored him. David realized, "You know what? That's not a battle worth fighting. I'm going to stay focused on the giant." So often, the church, we've been fighting with our brothers and sisters, and we've missed the real enemy. And we need to ask ourselves sometimes, "Is this a battle worth fighting?" Because what's on the other side? If I win, if there's nothing worth winning, don't fight it. If it's just a battle for the sake of a battle, ignore it. But if there's something on the other side to do with you and your destiny, to do with injustice, something that you're passionate about, then take it on and give it your all. There's a time to stand up. There's a time to step up. There's a time to fight.
And what I wrote during the worship earlier was this: "You can't conquer what you don't confront." You can't conquer what you don't confront. I talked earlier about my time in Dublin when I was empty and exhausted, and there came a day, it was a Monday afternoon in October 2015, when I realized I need to deal with this. And I made an appointment and got to see a doctor at five o'clock that afternoon, and I confronted what I've been hiding. I brought it out into the light and began to heal. But that was the hardest thing I had to do, because I was the leader. I was the man of God. I was the one who helped everybody else. And I had to be well endowed. But I needed help. And all the stuff. But I wouldn't be starting here today if I hadn't confronted that giant. And you know what the biggest giant probably was? My pride. It was overcoming my pride. As a man, I took a journey of six or nine months of restoration, but I decided, "I'm not going to live with this anymore. I'm not going to live like this anymore. I'm going to deal with that."
And I want to ask you today, as I finish: What battle do you need to fight? What do you need to confront right now? What's in your life right now that you've just assumed, "This is just me. This is just the way it is. This is just the way my marriage is. This is just the way my finances are. This is just the way my thought life is. This is just the way my relationships are." But actually, God said, "That is not the way I intended for them to be." You need to step up and fight. Fight for your future. Fight for your destiny. Fight for the call I have in your life, because there is so much more I have for you on the other side of that giant. But you need to take that giant down. And when you step up to it, Goliath must fall. But you must step up, because if you don't step up, nothing changes. What have you settled for?
I'm going to play a video now, just as we finish, and it's 3 or 3 minutes long, and it's by Steven Furtick, "I Will Fight." And it's a little bit American, I'll warn you that upfront, okay? And if you're American here, I mean, everybody else except you. And it is a little bit American, but it speaks so much truth of what I've been trying to say. The Christian life is not a playground, it's a battleground.
So today, I will give no place to fear or failure. I will not accept the trace of apathy in my attitude or actions. I will reject complacency and embrace the greatness that God has planted inside of me. I will waste no opportunity to glorify God and maximize everything he has entrusted to me. I will fight. My battle is not against flesh and blood, but against a spiritual enemy who opposes me. So I will draw the battle lines and face my enemy with the bold determination. My enemy fights against me because he fears me. Every time I resist him, he must flee. And every time he reminds me of my past, I will remind him of his future. I will make no excuses, but through every obstacle, I will find a way. I will not procrastinate my progress. I will not defer my destiny. I will not waver when I'm weak. I will not cower when my circumstances take a turn for the worse, because greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world. I will fight. Even if I lose the battle, I will win the war, because I am more than a conqueror through Him who loves me. I will reject the lies that echo in my mind, telling me that I don't have what it takes, that my best is behind me, or that humiliation awaits me. The devil is a liar, and my God always causes me to triumph through Jesus Christ, my Lord. I'm unashamed to represent a kingdom that is unshakeable. No one will be able to stand against God's plan for me all the days of my life. With my God, I will advance against every truth. With His help, I will scale every wall. Though my enemies surround me, my God surrounds my enemies. Though they may come in one way, they will flee seven ways, because no weapon formed against me will prosper, and every evil thing that rises against me, I will condemn. I will fight. My heart is steadfast. My purpose is immovable. I am always abounding in the work of the Lord, and my potential is unlimited, because the limitless God lives within me. I will find the cross is before me, the world is behind me. Never turn back. I'll never give up. I'll never settle. I'll never stop short. I will press toward the mark for the prize that is already mine. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, shall be able to separate me from my God. And if my God is for me, who can be against me? I will.