Talking To Your Giants

I've entitled the message, Talking to Your Giants.

Now I've shared this story doing children's ministry and camps and vacation Bible schools

for 30 years.

I've shared this story.

Today's probably the first time that I've actually preached a message from this story

to grownups.

Look to the person beside you and say, am I a grownup?

I thought I was just kidding.

We're going to be looking at the story of David and Goliath.

Has anyone ever heard that story before?

Has anyone ever heard it?

You know, most of the time when we look at the story of David and Goliath, we talk about

how David is just a young boy, probably 14 to 17 range somewhere in there.

We talk about the giant who could not walk under that basketball net without his head

hitting it.

It's a pretty tall dude, right?

He was like nine feet tall.

We talk about how big the giant is.

We talk about how young and how inexperienced of being a warrior that David was.

We talk about a sling and a stone.

But today we're going to focus on something different in the story.

We're going to focus on the words.

Everybody say the words.

And I really want us to pay attention to it because I believe we can learn something by

looking at the words that were said.

So we're going to start out by reading 1 Samuel 17.

Yeah, I'm going to read like 47 verses.

That's a lot of verses.

Look to the person beside you and say that's a lot of verses.

Most people when they talk about David and Goliath, they don't actually read the Bible.

They just tell the story, which is what I would do, you know, in front of, I don't know,

900 children or in front of 100 children or in front of five children.

I just I would tell the story.

How many of you know it's important to hear the word of God?

If we're going to have faith, we have to hear the word of God because faith comes by hearing

and hearing by the word.

First Samuel 17, starting verse three, the Philistine and Israelite armies faced each

other on opposite hills with the valley between them.

Then Goliath, a Philistine champion from Gath, came out of the Philistine ranks to face the

forces of Israel.

He was over nine feet tall.

He wore a bronze helmet and his bronze coat of mail weighed 125 pounds.

He also wore bronze leg armor and carried a bronze javelin on his shoulder.

The shaft of his spear was very heavy and thick as a weaver's beam tipped with an iron

spearhead that weighed 15 pounds.

Now be hard enough to throw something that weighed 15 pounds and the actual shaft of

the spear was more than that.

His armor barrier walked ahead of him carrying a shield.

Goliath stood and shouted a taunt across to the Israelites.

Why are you all coming out to fight?

He called.

I am the Philistine champion, but you are only the servants of Saul.

Choose one man to come down here and fight me.

Everybody say words of the giant.

If he kills me, then we will be your slaves, but if I kill him, you will be our slaves.

I defy the armies of Israel today.

Send me a man who will fight me.

Words of the giant.

When Saul and the Israelites heard this, they were terrified.

Everybody say terrified.

And deeply shaken.

Everybody say deeply shaken.

So the giant spoke and everyone was overcome with fear from the words of the giant.

Let that settle in because it's going to mean more than just a little bit.

When the giant spoke, hundreds, maybe even thousands of men even saw the king who stood

a head tall, head above everyone else, the Bible tells us.

So he could set his chin on every man's head that's out there.

He was overcome with fear.

Now let's talk about David.

Now David was the son of a man named Jesse, an Ephraite from Bethlehem in the land of

Judah.

Jesse was an old man at this time and he had eight sons.

Jesse's three oldest sons, Eliab, Abinadab, and Shimea.

You said it.

That's why I cut out verses one and two.

You tell me how to pronounce the names of those things.

Anyway, Jesse's three oldest sons had already joined Saul's army to fight the Philistines.

David was the youngest son.

David's three oldest brothers stayed with Saul's army, but David went back and forth

so he could help his father with the sheep in Bethlehem.

I want to remind you at this point that David has already been anointed by God by the prophet

Samuel.

He's already been anointed as the next king of God's people.

So keep that in mind.

For 40 days, everybody say 40 days.

A lot of times when we look at this story, we think it might have happened a day or two,

but no, this had gone on for 40 days.

They were standing, God's army on one hill, the Philistines on the other hill for 40 days.

And Eliath walked out and issued this challenge every morning and evening.

So he did it twice a day.

The Philistine champion strutted in front of the Israelite army.

I guess if you're nine feet tall, you can do a lot of strutting, right?

One day, Jesse said to David, take this basket of roasted grain and these 10 loaves of bread,

share them quickly to your brothers and give these 10 cuts of cheese to their captain.

See how your brothers are getting along and bring back a report on how they're doing.

David's brothers were with Saul and the Israelite army at the valley of Elah fighting against

the Philistines.

No fighting yet, but it was a standoff.

So David left his sheep with another shepherd and set out early the next morning with the

gifts as Jesse had directed him.

He arrived at the camp just as the Israelite army was leaving for the battlefield with

shouts and battle cries.

Soon the Israelite and Philistine forces stood facing each other, army against army.

David left his things with the keeper of supplies and hurried out to the ranks to greet his

brothers as he was talking with them.

Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath came out from the Philistine ranks.

Then David heard him shout his usual taunt to the army of Israel.

It's not listed again, but I want to give you the words of the giant again.

I'm the Philistine champion, but you're only servants of Saul.

Choose one man to come down here and fight me.

If he kills me, then we will be your slaves, but if I kill him, you will be our slaves.

I defy the armies of Israel today.

Send me a man who will fight me.

David heard this for the first time.

Everybody say first time.

His response was a little bit different.

Even though he's the youngest one there hearing it, his response was a little different.

Remember, he knew that God had anointed him the king of Israel, and now Israel is being

defied.

He's not actively the king yet, but as far as God's concerned, he's been anointed the

future king, and now this giant is speaking against his future.

As soon as the Israelite army saw him, they began to run away.

It says they went out shouting, but now when the giant talks to them, they run away in

fear and fright.

Have you seen the giant?

The men I asked?

When the giant spoke, they were overcome with fear.

They ran away and spoke words of defeat.

That was their response when the giant spoke.

Look to the person beside you and say, I hope you listen.

Hope you listen.

Have you seen the giant?

The men ask?

He comes out each day to defy Israel.

The king has offered a huge reward to anyone who kills him.

He will give that man one of his daughters for a wife, and the man's entire family will

be exempted from paying taxes.

It's a nice gift.

Who looks at their stub in January and says, I paid a lot of taxes.

So David asks the soldier standing nearby.

Now what will a man get for killing this Philistine and ending his defiance of Israel?

Who is this pagan Philistine?

Who is this anyway?

He's a pagan.

We're God's people.

He just worships a big stone statue of Dagon.

We have a living God.

Who does this pagan Philistine think he is anyway?

I mean, why isn't somebody doing something?

Why are we allowing him to defy the armies of the living God?

Why is everybody scared?

Why is everybody running?

You're acting like you don't even have a God.

The giant spoke.

David didn't run away in fear.

No David began to speak against the giant.

Those are his first words, right?

And these men gave David the same reply.

They said, yes, that is the reward for killing him.

But when David's oldest brother, Eliab, heard David talking to the men, he was angry.

What are you doing around here anyway?

What about those few sheep you're supposed to be taken care of?

I know about your pride and deceit.

Well, let's get this straight.

He knew that he was standing in line one day and the prophet looked at him and looked up

to God and said, surely, Eliab is the one who's going to be the king.

But God said, no, he's not the one.

Everybody say he's not the one.

And he went down from the oldest to finally getting to David, the youngest, and God said

he's the one.

Because David saw that God saw that David was a man after his own heart.

What about those few sheep you're supposed to be taken care of?

I know about your pride and deceit.

Well, he's just saying, I know that you were an anointed king and I wasn't.

I'm still mad about it.

You just want to see the battle.

What have I done now?

David replied.

I was only asking a question.

He walked over to some others and asked them the same thing and received the same answer.

Then David's question was reported to King Saul and the king sent for David.

Here's what David said to the king.

Everybody say David said this.

Don't worry about this, Philistine.

David told Saul, I'll go fight him.

What does the king say?

Everybody say words.

Don't be ridiculous.

There's no way you can fight this Philistine and possibly win.

You're only a boy and he's been a man of war since his youth.

David hadn't lost a fight since third grade.

I'm sorry.

Goliath hadn't lost a fight since the third grade is what I meant to say.

He was big as the biggest men when he was just a boy.

Don't be ridiculous, David.

Don't be persistent.

I've been taking care of my father's sheep and goats.

When a lion or a bear comes to steal a lamb from the flock, I go after it with a club

and rescue the lamb from his mouth.

If that animal turns on me, I catch it by the jaw and club it to death.

I have done this to both lions and bears.

And I'll do it to this pagan Philistine too.

For he has defied the armies of the living God.

The Lord who rescued me from the claws of the lion and the bear, who rescued him?

Who rescued him?

The Lord who rescued me from the claws of the lion and the bear will rescue me from

this Philistine.

Listen, even when his brother and King Saul spoke against David, he continued to speak

words of victory and faith.

He continued.

Look to the person beside you and say, remember that.

Saul finally consented.

I mean, after all, no one else is volunteering to fight.

We've been out here 40 days listening to the same threats every day.

No one else has stood up.

All right, go ahead, he said.

And may the Lord be with you.

Then Saul gave David his own armor, a bronze helmet and a coat of mail.

David put it on, strapped the sword over it, took a step or two to see what it was like,

for he had never worn such things before.

I can't go in these, he protested.

I'm not used to them.

So David took them off again.

He picked up five smooth stones from a string and put them into his shepherd's bag.

Then armed with only his shepherd's staff and a sling, he started across the valley

to fight the Philistine.

Goliath walked out toward David with his shield bearer ahead of him, sneering in contempt at

this ruddy faced boy.

Am I a dog?

That you come at me with a stick?

And he cursed David by the names of his gods.

Do you think I am a dog?

Then he said this to David, everybody say the Giants words.

Come over here and I'll give your flesh to the buzzards and the possums.

That's what he eats dead stuff, right?

Come over here and I'll give your flesh to the birds and the wild animals, Goliath yelled.

The Giant spoke to David.

How will David respond?

I don't know.

You're a lot bigger than you, you know, now that I'm getting close to you, you're a lot

bigger than you look when I was up on the hill.

I mean, look at that sword.

It's as tall as I am.

I don't know.

I better run back.

I better run back home to the sheep.

This guy is huge.

He didn't even have to use a sword to kill me.

How's David going to respond?

Tell you one thing, he didn't respond like that.

Here's what David said to the Giant who was talking trash to him.

I like to call this a trash talking time in the Bible.

Here's the first record of trash talking right here.

David replied to the Philistine, you come to me with a sword and a spear and a javelin.

Notice that he didn't say, but I come at you with a shepherd staff and a sling.

That's not what he said.

You come at me with a sword, a spear and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of

the Lord of Heaven's armies.

The God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defiled.

Today everybody say today.

Today the Lord will conquer you.

God's going to conquer you.

And I'll kill you and cut off your head.

And then I will give the dead bodies of all those men on the hill behind you.

I want to give the dead bodies of your men to the birds and the wild animals.

You'll see who gets eaten by the buzzards and possums.

Listen, he says, I'm going to do this and here's what's going to happen.

The whole world will know that there is a God in Israel.

Just let that sit there.

Let it sit there a minute.

Do you know that when God's people are victorious, the world knows that there's a God?

Everyone assembled here will know that the Lord rescues his people.

But not with sword and spear.

This is the Lord's battle and he will give you to us.

But say David's words.

As Goliath moved closer to attack, David ran quickly out to meet him.

Most time we don't get this picture.

I mean, David's running at the giant.

He's not running away from the giant.

He's not hiding from the giant.

He's running after the giant.

Running to meet him.

Reaching into his shepherd's bag and taking out a stone, he hurled it with his sling,

hit the philistine in the forehead.

The stone sank in.

Goliath stumbled and fell face down on the ground.

So David triumphed over the philistine with only a sling and a stone for he had no sword.

So he took Goliath's sword and chopped Goliath's head off with his own sword.

And then he took his head home with him.

Does anybody want to get a head in life?

David just got a head in life.

Who's heard that story?

I'm here today to tell you that your words are important.

The words that come out of your mouth are important.

We need to remember that our words are important.

I'm not just making this up.

This is all in the Bible.

Let's look at some verses.

Well, here's what David said and then Paul quoted David even in the New Testament.

Saint Corinthians 4.13 where Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit says this,

we have the same kind of faith, everybody say faith.

We have the same kind of faith that David had.

And he said, I believed in God so I spoke.

I believed in God so I spoke.

See your words are important.

He didn't say I believed in God so I thought about it.

He didn't say I believed in God and I meditated on it even though meditating on it is a good

thing.

But you can believe God and meditate on what he said and still not see the manifestation

of what he said if you don't say it.

Jesus said speak to the mountain.

He said that.

He said it.

Speak to the mountain.

If your faith isn't big enough to move your mouth, it'll never move your mountain.

If your faith in God is not big enough to move your mouth, then you will never defeat

your giant.

What we're talking about today will make a huge dramatic difference in your life.

It's not just like little religious talk time.

This is real.

We can have the same faith that David said.

Same kind of faith he had when he went up against Goliath.

He believed in God so he spoke.

When his giant spoke to him, he spoke back.

First Peter 3 10.

If you want to enjoy life, who wants to enjoy their life?

It's okay to enjoy your life.

Who wants to enjoy your life?

If you want to enjoy your life and see many happy days, it's not talking about Monday,

Tuesday happy days.

Who wants to have some happy days?

Who's had some days that weren't too happy?

Who wants to have some more happy days?

Who wants to enjoy your life?

Well, God says if you want to enjoy your life and see many happy days, keep your tongue

from speaking evil.

Watch your words.

Watch your words.

Let's keep going.

Proverbs 18 21.

The tongue can bring life or death.

It doesn't say the tongue can speak life or death.

It says the tongue can bring life or death.

When the tongue speaks death, it brings death.

When the tongue speaks life, it brings life.

Those who love to talk will reap the consequences.

This can be an amen or an oh me.

It's up to you.

Because if you're speaking death, the consequences are going to be death and it would be a good

time for an oh me.

But if you're speaking life, the consequences are going to be the life of God.

And then the words are amen.

Let it be.

Your words bring life and your words bring death.

It's up to you which one.

Proverbs 21 23.

Watch your tongue.

And keep your mouth shut.

And you will stay out of trouble.

Now let me tell you something.

We all face trouble.

Has anyone in the room never faced any kind of trouble?

We face trouble, right?

All the trouble that we face is not a result of the words that we have spoken.

But some of it is.

Hello?

Don't just sit there and say, well, all my trouble, none of it comes from what I've said.

Don't just sit there like that because every single one of us have had trouble come to

our lives that was brought on by the words that we spoke.

And if we would not have spoken those words, that trouble would not have come upon us.

So if you're going to speak things to sabotage yourself, it's better to just not speak.

Is that what this says?

Is that what the Bible says?

Some of you backed up on me when I said, is that what the Bible says?

Is that what it says?

James 3, 3 through 5, we've alluded to this a lot, but let's actually read it.

We can make a large horse go wherever we want by means of a small bit in his mouth.

Put a bit in the horse's mouth, you can turn that horse.

Unless I'm on the horse's back, I'll have trouble with horses, even those trail horses

that are just supposed to follow the tail in front of them.

I know I've told some of you this story, but I was on a trail horse.

We were just following, right?

There's a guy leading us.

Horse is just supposed to walk.

Well, my horse did not want to walk through the mud puddle.

Every horse in front of me walked right through the mud puddle, but my horse did not want

to get his hooves wet.

So he refused to go.

And there was a bank.

There's a bank going down on one side, bank going up on the other side.

We're on a narrow path.

There's a mud puddle.

The horse does not want to go through the mud, through the water.

So he decides he's going up the hill to go around the mud puddle.

It's pretty steep.

He had a bit in his mouth and I had, I mean, I had the reins in my right hand and I had

his nose on his right shoulder, but he kept running up the hill through a cedar tree.

It wasn't too fun.

We make a large horse go wherever we want by means of a small bit in his mouth.

A small rudder makes a huge ship turn wherever the pilot chooses to go.

Even though the winds are strong, everybody say a rudder compared to the size of a ship,

rudder is a very small thing.

But that rudder decides the direction.

It sets the direction of the ship.

The bit in the horse's mouth sets the direction of the horse.

Everybody say, wow.

I mean, you know, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure this out, right?

It's in the Bible.

Why is this in the Bible?

Well, it's in the Bible because God is not talking about bits in a horse's mouth or rudders

on a ship.

Everybody stick your tongue out at me.

He's talking about our tongues.

In the same way, everybody say the same way.

The tongue is a small thing.

So God saying your tongue is just like a bit in the horse's mouth.

It determines where that horse is going to go, the direction that it's going to go, the

rudder on this huge ship, even though it's small in comparison to the ship, it sets a

course for the ship and where the ship's going to go.

This is a spiritual truth that we need to learn today.

Your tongue sets the direction for your life.

Your tongue sets a direction for your life.

Not my tongue, not your husband or wife's tongue, not your kids or your parents tongue.

Your tongue sets a direction for your life.

And direction sets your destination.

If you want to go to New York, you can't go south.

Wow.

You'll never make it to New York going south from here.

Never.

You'll never make it.

You'll never make it to victory by talking defeat.

For those of you who don't know, the church gave me this for my birthday, my birthday.

And this is actual church people sitting in a room saying amen.

So if it gets quiet, I need an amen.

All I have to do is hit my amen button.

Many people are held hostage by their words.

Here's the good news.

You can be free.

I said you could be free.

When you put your words in agreement with what God says, there is power in your words.

Because the God who said it is watching over His word to perform it, the Bible says.

So if you will begin to say what God says about your life or your direction, you know

what, you're aligning yourself on God's side and I want to be on God's side.

Speaking in opposition to what God says is actually aligning yourself against God.

You're separating yourself from the source.

You're separating yourself from the one who is faithful and the one who is good.

You're separating yourself from Him.

If you speak words contrary to the words that He says about you.

Don't want to go too fast because I want you to get it.

I've never been accused of being too fast.

Think about Jesus.

Jesus spoke to create.

Has anybody ever read in Genesis?

In the beginning was the word, that's John chapter 1, that one is.

John 1 · chapter mention

In the beginning what God said, let there be light.

You know what, it was dark.

God didn't say, boy it sure is dark.

This is a dark place.

It's so dark.

It's so much chaos.

There's just so much chaos.

Is that what God said?

Nope.

He said light.

He said order.

He spoke to create.

Now you might have heard some different theories.

But they're just theories.

And those theories were made up by people who didn't want to be accountable to a holy

God.

That's another sermon another day.

Theories.

Jesus spoke to create.

When Jesus was on this earth, we have record of him speaking to trees.

We have record of him speaking to fevers.

We have record of him speaking to storms.

He didn't say, it sure is a bad storm.

I don't know if we're going to make it or not.

This storm's so bad, I don't know.

We might just drown.

Well that's what the disciples were saying.

That's not what Jesus said.

Jesus said peace, be still.

Jesus not only spoke to these things, Jesus told us, he told you to speak to mountains

and trees.

I don't have the verses up.

I mean I had a whole lot more verses in the sermon and I looked at Jeffrey and I said

people don't want to listen to an hour and a half, two hour sermon.

So I got to cut it back.

Jesus told you to speak to mountains and trees.

If you're going to be a person of faith, if you're going to please God because it's impossible

to please God without faith, if you're going to be a person of faith, you've got to speak

to the things that are blocking you from experiencing the life of God and receiving the promises

of God.

You've got to speak to those things.

A lot of you might say, well that's foolish to speak to some inanimate thing, is it?

If you say yes, you just said Jesus was being foolish by speaking to these inanimate things.

I wouldn't go there if I was you.

And he told you to speak to mountains and trees.

Not literal mountains or literal trees.

Speak to the things that are blocking you from experiencing his life.

What is it that's blocking you from experiencing all that God has for you?

His love, his life, his peace, his joy, his provision.

What is blocking you?

If something's blocking you, you need to speak to it.

Here's the deal.

Your giants are speaking to you.

They speak to you every day.

Your giants speak to you every day.

Every day.

And guess what?

You're not the only one.

All of us hear giants speaking to us every day.

Every single one of us.

You might say, well you don't experience that like I do.

We all hear giants speaking to us every day.

What are your giants?

This is not an all-inclusive list, okay?

Here's the great thing about God.

The Holy Spirit will shine light on your giant that's speaking to you, even if I don't mention

it.

If you listen.

What are your giants?

I'm just going to list some of them that talk to me.

Fear talks to me sometimes.

Does fear talk to you sometimes?

Am I the only one?

You're looking at me like fear's never talked to me.

I'm not talking about it like talks where you can hear it with your ears, but you're

going to hear it between your ears.

Lack talks to you.

How you going to make it?

This don't happen.

How you going to make it happen?

What you going to do when this happens?

Weakness talks to you.

You don't have the strength or the ability.

You can't do it.

I just can't.

I just can't do what I want to do, what I need to do.

I just can't do it.

I'm too weak mentally or physically.

Doubt speaks to us.

Loneliness.

Nobody cares.

Nobody understands.

Doubt speaks to us.

This is one of the very first ones in Genesis.

The serpent talked to Eve.

He said, did God really say?

Did God really say?

All of us hear this voice.

Did God really say this?

Did God really say what the preacher said he said?

Did God really say that?

Most of the time I'm just reading it straight out of the Bible, so God said it.

Has anyone's past ever talked to them?

You'll never be good enough.

You remember what you did.

You remember what happened.

If everybody found out this, they'd be done with you.

What about shame?

Shame talked to you.

Really messed up this time.

What about worried?

Does worry talk to you?

What if this happens?

Anytime you hear a what if between your ears, that's worry talking to you.

What if this happens?

What are you going to do if this happens?

If we let our minds and our words run with that, what about disease talking to you?

Anybody ever had disease talk to them?

Has anybody ever put your words in agreement with disease?

It's like, you know, this time of year, I always get sick.

And we're just setting up an expectation to be sick.

That person has on a mask, I'm going to probably get COVID now.

Because they came to work with COVID, so they were in a mask, I'm still breathing their

air.

So I'll probably get it too.

What about temptation?

Does temptation speak to you?

This is what you need to feel better, to have enjoyment.

This is what you need.

Everybody say giants.

Like I said, this isn't an exhaustive list.

That's all I just came up with, because that's what the preacher deals with.

And I figure that all of us deal with these.

If you don't, God bless you.

Giants, everybody say giants.

Here's my question.

This is about to be over.

I don't know how painful it is or whatever, but this is about to be over.

Here's my question.

When are you going to start speaking to those giants?

Just like Goliath brought those threats to David, David just didn't agree with those

and put his words in agreement with the threats from the giant.

No, he stood in victory and stood in faith and said what he was going to do.

So when are you going to start speaking to your giants?

Here's the deal, every single one of these giants that I just mentioned, God has spoken

to that giant and it's up to you to put your words in agreement with what God said or are

you going to put your words in agreement with what the giants say?

It's up to you.

I would think it would be awesome if you could say, hey Dean, will you speak God's word over

me?

I'll give you a hundred bucks a week if you'll just speak this truth over me as I'm facing

my giants, would you just say it for me because the deal would be I would gain victory over

the giants but you wouldn't and you'd be short a hundred dollars.

So when are you going to start speaking?

We're going to rapid fire some things but I'm going to tell you there are a whole lot

more verses in the Bible.

I could not exhaust everything that God said about these subjects.

I'm just going to give you an example of how you can speak to the giant when he speaks

to you.

When fear begins to speak to you, speak to fear, say fear you have to leave because God

has given me power, love and a sound mind and you don't come from God.

So you have to leave right now.

And you might say, well that's not going to work.

If that's what you say, guess what?

It's not going to work.

You have to stand in agreement with what God said.

You got to know it, you got to believe it, you got to have confidence in it and you got

to speak it.

You might have to speak to this fear giant, you might have to speak to it more than one

sentence, more than five sentences.

You might have to speak to him every day.

But if you keep speaking to this giant of fear one of these days, you're going to chop

his head off and he's not going to have power over you anymore.

Lack, how am I going to make it?

Don't know if I'm going to make it or not, don't know what's going to happen.

Well lack, you have to go.

Here's why you have to go, because God is my good shepherd and I will not want.

Lot more verses.

The names of them.

God, you are El Shaddai.

You are the one who meets all of my needs.

Lack you have to leave because El Shaddai is my God.

He satisfies me and meets all my needs.

He's more than enough.

My God's more than enough so I'm not going to listen to your lies anymore.

Lack you have to go.

Weakness, weakness, leave my body and mind right now because I am strong in the Lord

and in the power of his might.

I am strong.

The Bible says let the weak say I am strong.

So weakness leave.

I'm strong in the Lord.

I'm strong in his power.

I'm strong in his might.

So leave.

You have to speak with authority.

Loneliness.

Loneliness, you can't bring me down anymore.

You're not going to bring me down anymore because I know God is always with me and I

am never alone.

I have a family of faith who loves me and is with me.

I'm not alone and I'll never be alone.

God will never leave me or turn his back on me.

Doubt, did God really say?

Doubt you have to leave my mind right now.

Anytime words of doubt from the giant of doubt come between your two ears, just say doubt

you got to leave my mind because I have faith in God and he gives me hope, he gives me joy.

If you're wondering where I put my words in agreement with God if you haven't figured

it out yet, these are the verses that I'm basically quoting.

When your past begins to speak to you, listen here past, you can't hold me captive anymore

because I'm a new creation in Christ.

You have no hold over me anymore.

Everything I've ever said, everything I've ever done, hey Jesus paid for it on the cross.

I'm not being held accountable for it anymore because Jesus took care of it.

I'm new in Christ.

Shame.

You talk about this one a lot.

It's like I messed up again and God's mad at me and I'm just ashamed because I can't

do the right thing or say the right thing.

Some of you can get in shame over not speaking to your giants.

Listen, shame you cannot bring guilt and condemnation on me anymore because I'm in Christ and I

am free from all condemnation.

So I'm not going to receive this condemnation anymore.

I'm not going to receive this guilt anymore.

I'm not going to receive this shame anymore because I'm in Christ and I'm free from you.

Person who God sets free is free indeed.

Worry, what if this happens?

What if that happens?

What if?

What you going to do?

What you going to do?

What you going to do?

What if?

Worry, you have to leave my mind because I release all your anxieties.

Worry, you're just filled with anxiety and I release all your anxieties to Jesus.

They're not going to come on me anymore.

I'm giving them to Jesus.

I cast all my anxiety on Jesus.

He cares for me.

He cares about me.

You're not going to stick anymore.

What happened?

Thought the screen changed but it didn't.

Disease.

I tell you, I don't have a reason why when I went to the emergency room, when I called

Jeffrey and said, could you please take me to the emergency room?

If not, I got to call the ambulance.

About two years ago, some of you might remember that, some of you might not even have heard

of it.

They told me what was wrong.

Had three back surgeries and I got a new bulging disc.

It's hitting a nerve that was causing severe pain.

Spent the day in the emergency room.

They didn't have a room for me in urgent care so I wound up in the kids' room with planes

painted on the wall and cartoons on the wall and MRI and skins and all kinds of stuff.

I wouldn't have gotten in a room unless I told them, if you don't give me a room, I'm

going to get on the floor because I can't stand or sit anymore and you're just going

to have to pick me up when you come.

They put me in a room, they did all this stuff, they said I've got a, or I had a bulging disc.

Well guess what?

Before Jeffrey got there, all of a sudden I started putting my words in agreement with

what God said.

Did the pain leave immediately?

Didn't leave immediately but let me tell you what happened.

By the next morning, that severe pain was gone.

There's been some residual feelings every once in a while that try to creep up.

But if you'd have been around the bus, you'd probably thought I was crazy because I started

screaming.

I was saying, you know, pain you gotta leave.

I mean I was just screaming.

Pain, pain you gotta leave.

I was still hurting.

But the giant was speaking to me and I was speaking back.

You gotta leave.

I've got a, I've got the plan of God, I've got a fulfilled plan of God.

I didn't miss a Sunday, I was preaching the next Sunday.

I have a purpose.

You gotta leave.

I was supposed to go to a pain management doctor and all this stuff but guess what?

Never did.

Disease, pain, you have to leave my body.

Does everybody know that God is Yahweh?

Or Rafa, do you know that's who He is?

He told us that.

He says, I'm the Lord you're healing.

That's what God said.

I thank God for nurses.

I thank God for doctors.

I do.

They're agents of God.

Because guess what?

Without God, doctors and nurses wouldn't be able to do anything for us.

God is the healer.

He made your body to heal itself.

He made your body to heal itself.

As long as your body is healthy, as long as you're eating the right thing and doing the

right thing, your body is working towards healing.

That's because I am healer made you.

No disease.

Hey, here's what I say every day.

We talk about taking a shot.

Here's a shot that I take.

I'm in the hands of the Lord.

The most high is my safe resting place.

No evil will come near me and no disease will come near my house.

Straight out of the Bible.

And it says, because you have said, everybody say say, because you have said, I'm in the

hands of the Lord and the most high is my safe resting place.

Because you say that, then no evil will come near you.

No disease will come near your house.

That's what the word says.

You can believe what you want to believe, but that's what the word says.

Disease you have to leave my body because the Lord is my healer.

He is Yahweh.

Raffae.

He is the Lord, my healer.

He sent his word to heal me by the stripes of Jesus.

I made a hole.

Gave you a lot more verses than that.

Temptation.

The thing that easily trips you up, the Bible talks about.

It's not the same thing for all of us.

But each one of us has temptation towards things that will trip us up in our faith.

Well, every single one of us.

And that temptation starts to bear on you.

And trust me, it will bear on you until you start having your words and actions in agreement

with what it's calling you to.

Does anybody know what I'm talking about?

You might not want to admit this in church, but.

Temptations, you can't control me anymore.

You got to speak to it.

Speak to it.

You can't control me anymore.

I've been set free from your power.

I'm dead to you.

Just go ahead and tell your temptation.

I'm dead to you.

I'm alive to God.

I'm dead to sin and alive to God.

I have been set free from your power.

The only power temptation has over you is the power that you allow it to have over you.

When you begin to win the war of words.

You'll begin to win in life.

Who wants to win?

You begin to win the war of words.

You'll begin to win in life.

Last verse, Hebrews 10 23.

Let us hold fast.

Let us hold on with bulldog tenacity.

I've got a grand puppy.

She likes to play tug.

She'll latch on to any toy.

And I can't pull it out of her mouth.

I have to distract her.

She even tempts me with it.

She'll like.

And as soon as I start to pull it, she'll latch back down on it.

I can't take it away from her unless she lets me.

Hold fast to the words.

Everybody say words.

Hold fast to the words of hope.

Hold fast to what you are saying to your giants without wavering.

Here's the deal.

You can't tell fear it has to go and then embrace it five minutes later and start speaking

in fear.

You can't.

You can't say, you know, you can't quote all these verses and then five minutes later,

you can't say, well, that's probably not going to work.

I know the preacher said to do it, but I did it.

But I doubt anything's going to come of it.

Hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering.

Here's why.

If we will continue to believe, if we will continue to have confidence.

And what God has said, if we continue to put our words in agreement with what God has said,

you know what?

God is faithful.

Somebody say God is faithful.

God is faithful.

And if you will continue talking to your giants and words of faith and words of victory, you

will see the head chopped off of that giant.

But if you waver, you won't.

Look to the person beside you and say, hold fast, hold fast.

If you catch yourself not holding fast, just jump back on the holding fast train as quick

as you can.

Stay on the holding fast train.

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