Growth Spurt: Did You Get Taller?

Happy New Year! You may be seated.

Wow.

I love you all so much.

So grateful to be here.

Jeremy, um.

Dang.

He prayed that prayer, and I needed to drink water.

I was like, I haven't even done anything yet.

So excited to be with you all, so honored to serve.

And please keep uh Pastor Robert, his father, the whole family, Debbie, Karen, Evans, everybody in your prayers.

I think we need to be on the offensive this year.

There's some things that God has for us, and we need to be on the offensive.

We shouldn't be passive.

So excited.

Like, oh, y'all keep that energy, because like I, yeah.

I think it's gonna be that kind of night tonight.

Don't you think it should be that type of night tonight?

I think so.

Alright, so if you have your Bibles, I want you to go to 1 Samuel chapter number 17.

The book of 1 Samuel, chapter number 17.

This is a prophetic message to you.

Okay?

Um I've been on a sabbatical.

I've I actually just got back to Embassy City Church after an 11-week break.

Uh they told me to go away and not to care about anybody but myself.

I didn't know how to act uh given that much time, but uh they gave it to me graciously, the elders and the residents of our community, and I come back refreshed, and I felt like God gave me a word right before I came back.

And I know I know it wasn't just for Embassy City, it was for the body of Christ.

He gave me two words, and those two words were growth spurt.

Growth spurt.

He said, Tim, this year the body of Christ is going to have a growth spurt.

Individually and corporately, you are stepping into a growth spurt.

Now, as I begin to think about this, uh, David entered my mind.

I don't know why David entered my mind.

I know it was inspiration by the Holy Spirit, and he led me to go back and read chapter number 17.

Now, uh uh due to uh time constraints, I don't have time to read all 58 verses.

I would love to.

Like it was a bedtime story, right?

Tuck you in.

Uh but I just want to read uh several verses uh in your hearing, and then uh I'll give you the title of the message, and then we'll pray and get on with it.

Is that alright?

We're gonna start at the fourth verse.

This is uh the battle between uh the Philistines and the Israelites.

They meet in this valley.

Starting at the fourth verse, it says this Then Goliath, the 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.

Let me stop there.

Um, just for context, I'm sure there's a few people in here, male or female, that weigh right about right around 125.

Or at least you think so.

If you do weigh around that much, he was wearing you.

That's how heavy this was on him.

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

The shaft of his spear was as heavy and thick as a weaver's beam, tipped with an iron spearhead that weighed 15 pounds.

His armor bearer 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.

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.

That's a challenge.

Verse 16 says, For 40 days, every morning and evening, the Philistine champion strutted in front of the Israelite army.

Can we stop right here?

It's one thing to be taunted, it's another thing to have someone strut when they taunt you.

Have you ever seen someone just full peacock taunt you like this?

It's not just a taunt of I defy you, it's I defy you.

That should have made somebody mad on day one.

For forty days, this guy comes out twice a day.

That means if you know a little bit of math, eighty times in forty days, during their breakfast and their dinner, this guy came out to taunt them.

They gave no response.

I wonder how many of us find ourselves listening to the taunts of the enemy and being so paralyzed by fear that we just let it run in the background now and never speak up and defy what the enemy is trying to bring into our lives.

Verse number 23, as he was talking with them, Goliath the Philistine champion from Gath came out from among the ranks.

Now, by the time uh we are here in this story, uh David has come down to deliver some bread and some cheese to his brothers, and he was just innocently gonna drop it off and go back.

And around this time, Goliath came back out.

I don't know if it was for his morning taunt or his evening taunt.

It was one of the taunts, okay?

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

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

They got used to living in fear, it became their normal.

And when David showed up and he saw what's happening, he's like, What how are you guys?

How long has this been going on?

Who is this?

And how long have you been listening to him?

Verse number 32.

David just decides to volunteer.

He says, Don't worry about this Philistine, David told Saul.

I'll go fight him.

Don't be ridiculous.

Saul replied, 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.

But David persisted.

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

Ooh, I'm not sure.

I'm not sure that's a good resume.

You might need some help, David, on how to put together a resume.

You've been taking care of sheep and goats?

Yeah, I have.

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

I'm gonna take y'all slow.

This is story time tonight.

Understand that.

When a lion or a bear comes to steal a lamb from the flock, he doesn't wait till it advances on him.

He said, I go after it.

Can we just respect David's gangster real quick?

This is I just need to appreciate the gangster in this.

You run after them?

Because I would be like shoe, and be like, ha ha.

David's running after lions and bears.

And I and I rescue the lamb from his mouth.

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

When's the last time y'all read this?

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 will rescue me from this Philistine.

Finally, Saul consented.

This is so funny.

All right, go ahead.

And may the Lord be with you.

Like, I mean, just God bless you, man.

I don't.

Hey man, get a body bag for David.

This won't last long.

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

David put it on, strapped the sword over it, and took a step or two to see what it was like, for he had never worn such things before.

And then he says, I can't go in these.

And I'm not used to them.

So David took them off again.

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

Then, armed with only his shepherd's staff and sling, he started across the valley to fight the Philistine.

David replied to the Philistine, because at this time Goliath's like, Really, this is the guy?

I waited a month and a half, and this is the best you got?

Here's David's reply to the Philistine: You come to me with sword, spear, and 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 defied.

Today the Lord will conquer you, and I will kill you and cut off your head.

See, y'all used to this from youth church.

See, that was that was the G-rated version of the story.

This is full frontal rated R version.

He cut off his head?

I never heard that in David and Goliath.

And then I will give your dead body, then I will give the dead bodies of your men to the birds and wild animals.

David.

And the whole world would know that there was a God in Israel.

And 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.

That's good.

That is good stuff right there.

So so the title of this message, I want you to write this down.

We're talking about growth spurt.

And so the title of this message is simply, Did you get taller?

It's the title of the message.

Did you get taller?

Let's pray over the word, shall we?

Holy Spirit, grow us up.

Amen.

Did you get taller?

That's one of the questions you ask when someone's had a growth spurt.

My sons, Nathan and Noah, are now eleven and nine years old, and because Juliet and I are around them all the time, we don't notice their growth spurts as much.

We see them every single day.

Just praying for them to get out.

Hurry up.

But for people that haven't seen them in a while, when they come over, they walk in, they'll be like, oh my goodness, you're getting so tall.

We know that they're getting taller because there's they're there's and they're growing because there's things that are changing with them.

Their appetites are increasing, they're sleeping more, and and so I just want you to have a context to what a growth spurt really is.

By definition, a growth spurt is an occurrence of growing quickly and suddenly in a short period of time.

That's what a growth spurt is.

You you you grow quickly and suddenly, bang, like that, in a very short period of time.

The phenomenon of a growth spurt is that you can't control it.

I wish you could.

I want it to be six foot one inches.

That was my prayer.

But when I got to five nine, the Lord said, that's enough.

Anything beyond that is just ego.

Stop him there.

I lamented it for years until I realized that at 5'9 with a size 9 shoe, everything in America was made for me.

I don't have big and tall issues.

I take it right off the rack, put it on.

Infants! I've gotten used to it.

Some of you all might be thinking to yourselves, wow, Mint, I think, wow, Tim, did you have a girl spurt?

Because your pants, I can see your ankles.

Are you?

Do your pants fit?

Did you you grow?

No, simply in tailoring is called a no-break pant.

Look it up.

Increased hunger and sleeping are physiological signs of a growth spurt.

That's happening in my house all the time.

By the grocery bill, we know that our kids are growing.

Anybody beside me got some kids that you're like, but you just ate.

The amount of times that we have to tell them to get out of the bed is a sheer sign that they are growing.

They're sleeping more.

Those are physiological growth spurts.

But we can have spiritual growth spurts too.

If you've given your life to Jesus Christ, you will never stop growing.

The moment you think you've stopped growing, that's when boop, it's time to grow again.

When the Holy Spirit led me to go back to the story of David and Goliath, I was shocked to look at it with fresh eyes because for years, for the 23 years that I've been preaching, I've always seen David and Goliath as an underdog story.

I never saw it as a growth spurts story.

I didn't see it as a coming of age story, a boy turning into a man.

All because he delivered some lunch at the right time.

So there's three things in David's showdown with Goliath that I would like to pull out and share with us.

Because these are some signs of spiritual growth spurts for David.

He grew up in a moment.

And I want to give you these three signs, these three spiritual signs of a growth spurt, because as they were for David, I believe they're going to be for you.

Are you ready?

Point number one, please write this down.

There are three signs of a spiritual growth spurt.

Point number one is you can see yourself winning.

You know you're having a spiritual growth spurt when you can see yourself winning.

1 Samuel 17 and 32 says, Don't worry about this Philistine.

That's what David told Saul.

I'll go fight him.

You know you're having a spiritual growth spurt when you start volunteering for some fights.

You know you're having a spiritual growth spurt when the enemy that has been taunting you in areas of your life, you finally get sick of it and say, you know what?

Let's just fight then.

I am no longer gonna be on the sidelines.

I am no longer gonna be paralyzed in fear.

You wanna fight?

Cool, I want to fight.

And I'm taking the fight to you.

I'm not waiting till you come over here.

If I even see you on my block.

If it even looks like you're coming to intimidate me, my wife, my kids, we are going to be in a fight.

I am ready for the fight.

Anybody ready to fight this year?

2020 has to be different.

You cannot allow the enemy to come in and sit on things like he did in the past.

You volunteer to fight now.

And it will be shocking because when you have uh been bullied for a while and you stand up, the bully will go, oh what?

You usually just give me the lunch money.

What do you mean you're not gonna give me the lunch money now?

You know you're having a spiritual growth, Spurt, when you can see yourself winning.

I'll go fight him.

But but you've never even fought a champion before.

Yeah, but I can I think I can get him.

I know I've never faced this in my marriage before, but but I think we can handle it.

I know I've never seen this behavior in my children before, but I think we can conquer this.

I know our finances have never been this compromised, but I believe we're gonna get through it.

Let's just buckle down and fight.

Let's get on our knees and pray.

Let's ask God for a revelation of what he wants to do in this season.

Because I know who I'm fighting with and what I'm fighting for.

One of the signs of a spiritual growth spur is that you can see yourself winning.

Point number two, please write this down.

Second sign of a spiritual growth spur is that the type of problem doesn't matter anymore.

The type of problem simply doesn't matter anymore.

1 Samuel 17, starting at the 34th verse, but David persisted.

I have been taking care of my father's sheep and goats, he said.

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 its mouth.

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

I have done this to both.

Now let me go slow on this because I really want you to get this.

I have done this to both lions and bears, and I'll do it to this pagan Philistine too.

I'm gonna read that again.

I have done it to both lions and bears, and I will do it to this pagan Philistine too.

One more time.

I have done this to lions and bears, and I will do it to this pagan Philistine too.

He does not say, I have done it to lions and bears, but I've never had to face a giant like this.

No, the type of problem doesn't matter to David anymore.

He goes, the lion got him, the bear got him, Goliath, I'll get him.

The type of problem doesn't matter anymore.

Maybe the enemy has stopped bothering you in certain areas of your life because you've got the victory, but he always bothers you in another area because you've never fought back.

You need to start seeing that problem as the same as the others.

The same God that delivered me financially, is the same God that will deliver me relationally, is the same God that will deliver me spiritually, is the same God that will break the generational curse.

The problem simply doesn't matter any more.

Whatever you bring to me, I know that God has given me the grace to win and get the victory in this area.

David says, um, let me give you my resume.

I uh I fight.

I'm a champion too.

Really?

Who have you fought?

Lions, okay.

What else?

Bears.

Okay.

But do they do they have 125 pounds of Metal on the on them?

No.

But uh they're kind of the same to me.

How are they the same to me?

I got intrigued about this.

You you should always stay curious when you read the Bible.

And so this thought hit my mind, and I know the Holy Spirit gave it to me because I had never thought about this.

I've read about David and Goliath for 23 years, y'all.

I've preached him off and on for 23 years.

I have never thought about this.

The Holy Spirit said, uh, why don't you check the height of these animals?

And so I went to Google and I asked Google, hey Google, how tall is a lion standing on its hind legs?

Like if he just went full thriller and stood up on its hind legs and stretched out.

How tall, how tall would the lion be standing on his hind legs?

Straight up.

The lion is between seven and ten feet tall, standing up on his hind feet.

I said, Hey Google, how tall is a bear standing on its hind feet?

A bear is between eight and a half and nine and a half feet tall.

Standing straight up.

Goliath was nine feet seven and a half inches.

So let's get David's perspective.

This lion is about as tall as that bear.

Is that about as tall as that dude?

I clubbed him.

I clubbed him.

I'ma get him.

See, I'm trying to help somebody realize today that it doesn't matter what situation you are facing right now, the God of your salvation has given you the victory.

It's the same size to God.

You don't have, he doesn't have big problems and little problems.

They're all the same size to him.

And he's given you the grace to take it down.

This is gonna be good for somebody this year.

There's gonna be some stuff that comes up in your life this year that you're gonna be like, it ain't nothing.

This is same, mm-hmm, same thing.

Well, you're not scared, you're not threatened.

No, because the same God that delivered me in 2018 is the same God that delivered me in 2019 will be the same God that delivered me in 2020.

Come on, somebody.

You are gonna have a growth spurt this year.

Which brings me to point number three.

Point number three, uh uh a sign that you are having a spiritual growth spurt.

You know who conquers and you know who kills.

A sign that you are having a spiritual growth spurt is when you know who conquers and you know who kills.

Let me change the inflection on it so that you can maybe receive it a different way.

You know who conquers.

You know who kills.

You know who he conquers.

You know who gets to kill himself.

You know who conquered death, hell, and the grave.

You know who gets to kill some generational curses.

You know who rolls with all power in his hand.

You know who gets to walk in victory and integrity and blessing.

You know who conquers, and you know who kills.

I'm a wordsmith, and so I pay attention.

I catch everything in conversation.

And I'm a literalist, and so when I hear people talking, I have to really, ooh, most conversations people are using a lot of you know um uh you know figures of speech, and I'm like, no, you didn't really mean that, but I don't want to correct you because it'll be too awkward.

So yes.

I'm gonna run to the store real quick.

I'm like, no, take the car.

I'm so sorry.

Your car is right there.

Why are you running to the store?

You know who conquers, and you know who David knew this.

1 Samuel 17, 46.

This is what he says today the Lord will conquer you, and I will kill you, and cut off your head.

When you just matter-of-factly declare this, he just walks out there.

Hey, Goliath! Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I know, I know.

You defy everybody.

I get it.

You're gonna die today.

Yeah, yeah, you know, whatever.

You are gonna die today.

The God I serve has already conquered this situation.

I'm gonna kill you.

Yeah, yeah.

I'll be right there.

You gotta understand the confidence of David in this moment.

David is about to go find Goliath.

What a slingshot.

A slingshot he has never used in battle.

We have no record record in the scripture that he ever used this weapon in battle.

So he shows up to the fight with something he's never used before.

Remember, he clubbed lions and bears with the bat.

No slingshot.

He goes into the battle with Goliath with a slingshot, and then he never uses a slingshot again, as far as we know in scripture.

David was confident in two things.

Please write this down.

He was confident in his God, and he was confident in his skill set.

You have to believe that there is something on the inside of you.

There is something that God has already put on the inside of you.

You're not waiting to get something from God.

God is waiting to get something out of you.

When he goes into this battle, he says, God's gonna conquer it, but I'm gonna kill it.

And here's the perspective David has.

He shows up to battle and he doesn't show up to battle and go, do it, God.

You've conquered it.

Knock him down.

Go ahead, God.

Conquer.

God's like, Yeah, I did.

Fight.

No, I don't want to get more messy.

You're you're a conqueror, so so go conquer.

There's people that are like, come on, God, this year, supernatural debt cancellation.

I believe it, God erased the debt.

Oh God, oh God, erase the debt, God.

God's up there like, oh Tammy, oh Tammy, pay the bill.

Oh Tammy, stop by the heels.

Oh, Tammy.

Get out of that big cover note by Akira.

They work really well now.

You have to know who does the conquering and who does the killing.

David goes down there.

Now, now I know I here's what I know.

I know David did not know that the first rock he threw was gonna kill Goliath.

But what David did know is that he wouldn't need more than five tries.

Talk about confidence in your skill set.

I believe God's gonna show up in the fight, and I believe I've been so good practicing with my slingshot, I won't need more than five tries to knock you down.

He goes down to the battle.

Scripture says he runs down to the valley.

First.

Can you imagine Goliath just standing there?

Now here's what I want you to understand the miraculousness of this whole victory.

Goliath is not posing to be struck in the head.

He's like moving around.

He's a warrior.

He's like, right?

He's getting in position.

David is this head is moving around.

This head has a helmet on.

This head has armor up to here.

Only this much of the face is exposed.

Do you know what type of uncanny accuracy you have to have to throw a rock so hard, so fast, with such velocity, that it doesn't just, it actually penetrates into the skull.

That's what scripture said.

It was like a hollow point rock.

I love preaching in Texas.

I love y'all.

I'm like, y'all got guns, y'all got guns, y'all got guns.

Okay.

He hits him with the rock, it sinks into his forehead.

The first rock.

This is how we know it was God.

It wasn't David.

David didn't know the first one was gonna kill him.

When it did, he was probably like, oh.

I think there's gonna be some victories this year that you have that are gonna surprise you.

Can somebody receive that?

I I really do believe that this year there's gonna be some things that you step into that you think are daunting and huge, and the first time you try, it's gonna work, and you're gonna be like, I only prayed one time, and that wow.

I didn't even think.

I mean, I believed God, but I didn't even, you know.

I usually gotta enter in like for 11 days, but this happened on the first time.

Now, for people that might be a little squeamish, prepare thyself.

David hits the floor.

It sounded louder than that, but I mean, I'm not David, Goliath, obviously.

Stay with me.

Okay.

You guys were like, huh?

No, no.

He meant Goliath, baby.

Goliath hit the floor, and it's not over.

Right?

Because remember, David runs after the animals that threaten him.

He doesn't run away.

Goliath hits the floor.

David runs up to him, pulls out his sword, prepare thyself, knocks off the helmet of Goliath, picks him up by the hair.

He's a man of his word.

He said he was gonna take his head off.

He took it off and brought it back to Saul.

Came straight to the tent.

Is this him?

No, don't get screamish now, dog.

You didn't want to look for like a month and a half.

Is this the dude?

Get a good look.

Is that him?

He's yours.

I believe in 2020, the growth spurt that we're gonna have, you're gonna walk away with things in your hand that used to live in your head.

That was the Lord right there.

You are gonna walk away with things in your hand that used to threaten you and live in your head.

God's giving you the victory.

You're having a growth spurt.

You're gonna be able to go into some fights now that you're not gonna just be waiting for, oh, I hope it goes away.

You're like, oh, you want to fight?

Let's fight.

It's not gonna matter what type of problem it is anymore.

I have always have victory in this area of my life, but this one always makes me stumble.

No, the problem's not gonna matter anymore.

God's just gonna give you victory across the board.

No matter what the situation is, you're gonna have the victory.

And lastly, you're gonna do it because you know who conquers.

And you know who kills.

If you receive this message today, I believe that this year is gonna have a new context for you.

Problems that come, you won't be like, oh my god, again.

You'll be like, okay, we have to fight.

Some of you are probably like, Tim, I'm already in one.

No worries.

Take these principles and understand that you don't know what you have in you until you have a giant in front of you.

Did you get taller?

That's not just your hair.

I think you got looks like you got taller.

It looks like you're getting more victory now.

Looks like you're a little bit freer now.

It looks like you got more peace now.

It looks like you got a little more joy on you now.

I think you got taller.

You're having a gross bird.

And it looks good on you.

Would you bow your heads and close your eyes?

What is the Holy Spirit saying to you through this message?

I think somebody grew two inches just hearing this word.

I think somebody's leaving with their faith taller.

Walking out of here than maybe when you came in.

Here's what I know.

God's giving you the victory.

There's no devil in hell that can stop you.

He's conquered anything you can come up against.

All you have to do is kill it.

God, I pray for a supernatural grace for you to conquer.

And for us to kill.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.