Facing Your Giants | Four12

So wonderful to be back with you guys in California. I'm feeling very encouraged this morning because before Andrew warned me not to get the preach wrong. I actually woke up to very encouraging words and I could hear him at my door and he was going, "Oh, you're such a good boy. You're doing so well. Oh, well done, well done. It's going to be a great day. Oh, it's well done." And I just thought, "Thank you, Andrew." And then I walked out and he was speaking to his dog. But I received the encouragement anyway. And I long for the day when he speaks to me like Luna. [LAUGHTER] But it's a joy to be here from the Iron Man. I've been serving with Jonathan there for 16 years now. And I really love what the Lord is doing through 412 and the churches. And I just want to just say how much our family, our churches have been transformed through the work of this apostolic movement. And it's a joy to be here this morning. A joy to be able to speak to you. I have my beautiful wife with me, Kaz. And we've left our three children at home. We have Holly, who's 23. And then there's Connor, 19. And Miss Jiff is 13 now. And we're just delighted to be with you. And really trust that the Lord is going to do something in us this morning through this work. And I'm going to look at a very common story. A story that you've probably all known so well since you were little children either going to your Sunday schools or your kids' workers. But we're going to look at the story of David and Goliath. But I really pray that the Lord is going to bring a fresh perspective to us this morning and show us some of the beautiful, deeper hidden truths in this wonderful story in First Samuel. Somebody once said this. They said the challenges are what make life interesting. But overcoming them is what makes life meaningful. And I think that we've all grown up with stories of giants. We remember Jack and the Beanstalk, Gulliver's Travels, all of these kind of fairy tales that we were aware of. But the reality is that giants don't simply exist in children's books. Giants are very real. They're very spiritual. And they are very, very powerful. And every single one of us, at one point or another, is going to face a giant in our life. It could be an emotional giant. It could be a depressive giant. It could be jealousy. It could be inadequacy. It could be something else that the Lord is confronting us with in order to shape us and to change us into the likeness of His Son, Jesus. Now, if you are in a church like mine, you will be all too aware of the spiritual giants. Our church faces a lot of spiritual opposition on the Isle of Man, slander, accusation, falsity, gossip, all of these things that come against us. But I actually think that the Lord is using them to strengthen us, to reform us, and to cause us to be like His Son. And I think the same is happening here in San Clemente. And I really want to speak into that. And so today, as we jump into the Scripture, we're jumping into the middle of a raging war in a huge wide open valley, just 15 miles west of Bethlehem, the birthtune of David. Two great armies are opposing one another. On one side, we have Israel, and on the other side, we have the Philistines in the valley of Ila. And the Israelite army is in a position where they are absolutely paralyzed by the presence of a real life giant. This guy is nine feet tall. His brass armor weighs in at a cool 90 kilograms. The sun is reflecting off his brass work, and it is blinding the eyes of the Israelites. They cannot see because they are so blinded by the outward appearance of this man. David, however, had no fear of Goliath. David was of a different spirit. It's not because he didn't realize the scale of the man. He could see what was before him, but he was not blinded by the outward appearance of man, but he was strengthened by the inner presence of God. And this is a secret to overcoming our giants that rather than seeing the externals, we say, Lord, you are present. Lord, you are almighty. Lord, you are powerful. The same God that raised the dead Christ from death to life dwells in us today. Is that good news in the house of God? So we have all that we need to overcome. And so I want to look quickly or slowly at six principles from this beautiful story. And the first is this. If you're going to learn to slay your giants, then you need to know that giant slayers gain power through submission. It's really important. I think in our Western culture that submission is a rarely celebrated gift. In fact, I think when we hear the word submission, some of us even cower back and we think, well, that means freedom is being taken away. It means that I'm going to be put in a box. It means that there is restriction that is coming against me because I was not raised like that in the West. In the West, I have been taught to look after number one. Care for yourself. Make sure that everything's OK with you. Believe in you. God believes in you. If you heard that, God did not believe in me when I was growing up, let me tell you. I was a disaster of a person. But the Lord strengthened me. And I think that we need to understand that when we talk about biblical submission, what we're not talking about is manipulative control, which I think is so often what we think of. And as I've been praying about your nation, and it's not common only to America, but where I come from in the UK on the Isle of Man, this thing is powerful and it's real. And I think that one of the strongholds over the West is fierce independence. Even on our little island, we have a three-legged flag that means, however you throw me, I will stand. That is the nature of the island that I come from. And the reality is that these strong principalities and powers creep even into the life of the church, and that we can actually become subject to them. And the problem is that we don't see freedom in the way that God sees freedom, because I think the way we think is this, that if I can do whatever I want to do, then I will be free. But the reality is that normally when I do whatever I want to do, I become bound in the consequences of sin. And actually, free will that is outside God's will is bondage and slavery. And God wants us to live free of those consequences. Think about Adam and Eve. They're given a consequence in the garden. There's one thing you cannot do. But they go outside of the will of God. They exercise their free will. They step out of their lane. And suddenly, the whole of mankind comes under bondage to slavery and sin, because a man and a woman could not could tell their appetites for Godlessness. And the same is true for us today. And we read in the scriptures over and over that God is encouraging us to submit to certain people, to submit ourselves to leaders. And I want to say this about leadership and submission. Submission is different to surrender. Normally, when we surrender, we have no other option. Our backs against the will we just have to give up and give in. Submission is not that. Submission means I have a choice to do something different, but out of love or out of a desire to honor, I'm going to put my own desires to one side to come under something that rather than constricting me is going to set me free. And I'll give you an example of how it works for my own life. When I first came to the Isleman to work under Jonathan, I found it quite difficult. And I think what it was is that he carried very strong governmental authority. And I thought that actually he was at fault for my difficulties and that I would labor under him. He was quite straight with me kind of encouraging me strongly to do the right things. And I would phone my dad sometimes at home. And I said, Dad, I'm struggling. This guy is so strong. And my dad would say, yes, that is what you need. The Lord has raised him up to raise you up. And it was good wisdom for me. And it was absolutely true. And I think what I began to discover is that my issue in submitting to Jonathan was not his issue but mine. And then it was confirmed one day in a powerful prophetic word. So this guy in our congregation comes to me and he says, hey, you and I think that you are struggling to yield fully under Jonathan. And I lied and said, I'm not. And he said, the Lord God says, you are. And I said, well, sometimes can he be wrong maybe? And he's like, no, and I say, no, I don't think so either. So I know the problem is with me. And then he pulls out this word that was the craziest word I've ever been given. He said, the problem is this that you have signed your name in a book in a castle in Scotland. And I'm like, that is whacked. And I thought about it. And I thought that I just discarded the word. And then I slept that night and the Lord reminded me, you signed your name in a book in a castle in Scotland. Let's see the castle. This is my clan castle, beautiful, isn't she? So that is the McCray castle where I come from. And in that castle, there's a book called The Book of Clans. And it's a register for anyone that is a McCray. So I innocently signed my name in that book about 20 years ago. Now in the word, the guy said, you need to find the book and read the first page and rub your name out of the book. I could not believe it when I eventually got to this castle. I read the first page and it says, the McCrays shall have no chieftain. They will not be ruled. And I realized that something generational, something ancestral was presiding over my life as a stronghold over my life that wasn't just causing issues with Jonathan, but actually with all authority figures. And so I rub my name out of the book. I prayed through it, renounced some stuff, and things started to really change. And I began to notice that actually the more I gave myself to Jonathan, rather than feeling like I was being constricted and curtailed, I felt like I was becoming freer and bigger. It was almost like the Lord was blowing wind into my sails as I gave myself more and more to His authority. And then the Lord showed me this thing. And I know it's complex, but it's true. The Lord said, he said this, you have to put yourself under what God puts over you, or you'll never get over what God wants to put under you. So if we never come under the authority God has put over us, then we're never going to overcome the giants in our lives that God wants under our feet. Because actually we come into power and authority as we give ourselves to power and authority. This is why Ephesians 521 tells us to submit yourselves to one another. Why? Not just to obey one another, but out of reverence for Christ. Because if we love Jesus, then our desire is to be like Jesus who considered it nothing to give up equality with God not to grasp at those things. And we are to have the same mindset as Christ Jesus and to become people who are easy to lead, people who are easy to come under authority. Now what on earth does this have to do with David and Goliath? I'm glad you asked a great question. So let's have a look at that in 1 Samuel 17, 17 to 18. The word says this, that one day Jesse, the father of David said this, take this basket of roasted green and these 10 loaves of bread and carry 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 are doing. Now you can imagine that the man that Jesse is speaking to is going to become his ruler. That this is the man that one day will become the king of Israel and unite the tribes together in 12 tribes. And he is a powerful, mighty, mighty king. But David's journey towards kingship starts with a simple act of obedience and submission to his dad. And this is key in our lives as Christians. Because very often God starts to release more to us as we come faithful under little things. So his dad says, I want you to take cheese sandwiches to your brothers. And so David being an obedient son takes the basket. He goes to his brothers. He brings the cheese to them. And his legacy begins to open up. But I wonder how often we will not pick up cheese sandwiches in the church, not physical ones, but the little things. Like you may have come to church this morning and you may think, I want to be a captain in the church. I want to rise up in the church and I want people to notice my ministry, because my ministry is awesome. My ministry is really powerful. I'm so prophetic. I'm such a good preacher. That guy up there with a funny hair, he's even got a funny accent. I should be preaching this morning, but you're not. And I've got the mic, so I'm going to talk about you. And if it's stinging your heart, you've got to deal with it this morning, because you'll never be free until you deal with it. But actually, it's in those small areas where we come in and we say, I'm just going to lay things down. I'll lay my ministry down. I'm actually going to lay myself at the leader's feet. I'm going to give myself to this house. I'm going to devote myself to the house. And God will raise up what God wants to raise up. But it only comes when we submit not surrender. It's not when you're out of luck and Andrew's pushed you against the wall. It's when you have a choice and your choice deviates from his. And we say, I choose today to follow Jesus. I choose today to follow Andrew. Peter actually tells us. He says, submit yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. And think about this. David arrives at the army of Israel. He's not even a soldier. He was just there to deliver the bread and the cheese. But David is in the right place at the right time, because he humbled himself to the desire of his dad. And as he gave himself an obedience, the Lord started to open up a mighty ministry, a new chapter in his life. And God is calling us to be a people who are not submitting to culture. They're not saying, well, we are the land of the free. We are the independent. The Lord is saying, no, they're in the kingdom. There's no independence. In the kingdom, there's interdependence. Where you love one another, where you lean on one another, where you help one another, you build one another up, you encourage one another, you pray for one another. There are 59 of them in the New Testament. This is what God is calling the church to be. A place of interdependent relationships, where we are not dependent on ourselves, on our wisdom, on our own desires. But we're saying, God, I want to give myself to you. I want to give myself to your house. I want to give myself to your leader so that I can flourish in all the things you've called me to do. And we do it because we love Jesus. We do it because we want to honor him. Here's the second principles. Giant slayers gain confidence through a new perspective. And one of the things that I have discovered in my life when I face any giant in my life is this. My tongue is very important. Because the more I talk about my giants, the bigger they become. The more I talk, the more insurmountable they become in my house, we have a rule. When there's a disaster in the church, one of us will come home and say, hey, this is what's happened in the church today. We will say you can speak once. And once we all know the rest of the time, it's prayer. Because speech magnifies and prayer diminishes. And when we pray, the things that are so hard to overcome become smaller and smaller as Jesus becomes bigger and bigger over our circumstances, and the way that we talk changes our perspective. You see, faith comes through which part of your body? Through your soul, you should be an elder. It comes, he'd be a good elder, Andrew, despite what you were saying this morning, I am a fanboy, fanning boy. I'm for him. Let's do it. Let's do it now. You see, an elder already. But actually, faith does come through our ears. And the way that you speak is going to largely determine the way that you feel. And if you talk about God, if you talk about His greatness, like we sang this morning, worship was powerful. It was beautiful because we beheld Jesus. We didn't tell Him what we were going to do for Him. We looked at Him and we saw Him face to face. And it was beautiful and powerful. And if you talk about the size of your Goliath, I can tell you your hope will fade away. So when David comes to his brothers, the word of God tells us that the army of Israel is in a low place. David rolls up early that morning and left the sheep with a keeper and took and went, as Jesse had commanded him, and he came to the low place to the trench as the host was going forth to fight and shouted for the battle. Now, I think the giants always look bigger from a low place. So when I am downcast, when I am losing hope, when I am low, they seem to be insurmountable. How can I overcome this? It seems impossible, but we've got to be people who stop looking up at our giants and we praise our way out of the trench. We start telling the giants, look how big my God is. Look how great Jesus is. We can overcome with Him. We don't have to look up at our giants. We look down on them because we have Jesus with us. And one of the ways that you're going to do that is that you interdependently seek perspective. So rather than living as an independent person who just lives in their own wisdom, on their own kind of ways of moving things forward, we say, no, I'm not going to look at my own wisdom anymore. I'm going to be a Proverbs 3, 5 and 6 person. I'm going to acknowledge the Lord in all of my ways. I'm going to fix my eyes on His wisdom. And He will make all of my giant small and my paths straight. So we've got to get perspective from people. We've got to get perspective from leaders and we've got to get out of our trenches and say, hey guys, it's not as bad as I first thought because now somebody is blowing breath into my lungs. It's like Joshua and Caleb going into the land of milk and honey. And they see a very different perspective to the other 10. To the others, they said, we're like grasshoppers. We cannot overcome them. We're in the low place. We're in the trenches. But Joshua and Caleb just saw this beautiful land that they needed to get whatever it took. And with the Lord, it could be done. And in fact, in Numbers 14, 6 to 9, Joshua told Israel, do not rebel against the Lord. Do not be afraid of the people in the land because we will devour them. Their protection is gone, but the Lord is with us. So do not be afraid. So church, our giants shouldn't scare us. Our giants are tiny to our God. There's nothing that should cause us to feel unable to come over them because God is with us. He's still on his throne. Jesus is still ruling. He's still risen from the cross. He still carries all glory, power, and blessing and honor. And with him, all things are possible. Wasn't that so similar? To David, he said to Saul, look, the Lord has already rescued me from the poor of the lion, the poor of the bear, and he will rescue me from this Philistine. But if we can change our perspective, if we can see God, rather than our giants, then our confidence will grow. We'll get out of the trenches and with a new perspective, we start to overcome. Principle number three, giant slayers focus on the reward, not the risk. I love this. In overcoming every single giant, there is a moment of risk. In fact, we were talking, Andrew and I were talking about worship in our churches this morning. And we were saying that one of the things that releases the presence of God is when worship leaders take the risk. And they step out into that slightly risk. Like, I loved what Elijah was doing. Like, I felt tired watching him bouncing around. But wasn't it beautiful the way he took the risk and he just broke into something that felt like the presence comes? Because we're not staying safe, but we're taking faith risks. And the thing I love about God is, as I step out in faith, he steps in in power. We've got to be people who will step out. And in overcoming this giant, David has to risk a moment. Because he knows, he's looking at this guy. He knows he's much more powerfully stronger. He's got this huge sword, this huge javelin. But I love the question that David asks the soldiers. It's not what any of us would have asked. But he didn't seek details of the problem. He asked for details of the reward. Now, I like this. Because it's true, I think, that when we face our giants, we break them down into microscopic detail. We start to analyze where are the things that are going to be really difficult to attack and to overcome. How do I do this? There's something in my background. There's something in my life story that just makes me weak. There's a fracture in me. I was bullied at school. I feel a bit insecure. But no, the Lord is saying, no focus on the reward. Stop focusing on the microscopic and focus on the reward. And sometimes I think that we get so much focus on the giant. And we speak so much about the giant that we lose faith in what God wants to do. We see it even in our churches when community slander comes or newspaper articles come out. We can become so transfixed on what's being written that we lose sight of what he's speaking. And we need to be people that listen to the voice and not to the noise in the community and say, no, God, I am not having my faith but at risk. But I'm going to be like, David, I'm going to take a risk. I'm going to step out in faith and I'll see what you do. And so David simply says this. He doesn't say how big is he. He doesn't say how heaviest is armor. He says, hey, what would I get if I kill him? Listen, 1 Samuel 1725, the king will give great wealth to the man who kills him. He will also give him his daughter in marriage and will exempt his family from taxes in Israel. Now, I am telling you now, when I was David's age, if somebody had offered me their daughter in marriage, I would immediately have been there. If as a Scotsman, I had been told I could be exempt from taxes, I'm doubling down. Like, I'm in. I'm going to be wealthier. I'm going to have a hot wife. This is going-- and I got one anyway. And I pay taxes, though. That's the only thing. But David wants the reward because he's not focusing on the scale of the problem. But he's trying to remember, no, what do I get? When I overcome this thing. And whatever you need break through it, and however risky the process of getting their seams, the reward is always worth the risk with Jesus. It's always worth going for it, because think about it. If David had said, he's too big, he's too hairy, he's too scary, then Israel becomes a slave nation again. But because he's willing to risk, Israel is going to live free. It is worth fighting your giant, not just for your sake, but for the benefit of your family, for the benefit of your friends. Fight your giant so that they can be free with you. Isn't that what the apostles did? When they sang hymns at midnight in that jail in Macedonia, and they broke the chains of every person in there, because they took the risk, they went with God, and God came, and he broke through for them. Now, Jesus took a risk on the cross. Of course, he knew what was going to happen, but imagine that when the Father said to him, "He's on the best way to overcome death is to die." That probably sounded pretty odd, but for the joy set before him. Jesus was willing to lay his life down as a sacrifice for your sin, for my sin, so that every giant we would ever face in our life could be overcome because there is an inner presence. There's an inner power. There's an inner confidence that was purchased for us in blood, and resides in us today by the Spirit of God. We are in such a good place. I love actually what we sang earlier. In Philippians 3, 13 to 14, that Paul said, "Look, I focus on this one thing. I forget the past. I'm looking forward to what lies ahead. I'm pressing on to reach the end of the race and to receive the heavenly prize for which God through Jesus Christ is calling us. But if we're going to get there, then we've got to take a risk because I want you to know this. I think in America, a lot of people love Jesus. They love the idea of Jesus. A lot of people in the UK love Jesus, but I don't think they're saved by Him. Because loving Jesus is not being saved. The Word of God tells us if we confess with our mouths that He is the curious, the master, the one under whom I have no rights of my own, and that I confess that He was resurrected on the third day, that's the person that will be saved. Not the lover, not the one who's living like the devil on Friday and I coming to church on satan Sunday morning, but the one who says, "No, Lord, actually my act of worship to you is to lay my whole life down as a living sacrifice, fully submitted under your will, fully submitted to what you've put over me so that I can get the things under my feet that you want to be there. God is looking for people who will be lauded by Him, mastered by Him." And I think that Paul was so willing to make those faith steps and so must we be. Here's the fourth principle. Giant Slayers ignore voices of discouragement. And one of the most important things in getting victory in the valley is being careful which voices you're listening to, because there are many voices speaking all the time, not just personal voices, but media voices, all sorts of voices that are speaking out against things that we love, things that we hold dear, our values, tearing us down, saying, "All sorts of funny things like you guys want 10% of people's wealth to make the members." And I always say, "That's not true, we want 100%. It's all or it's nothing, it's much worse than 10." The Lord wants the whole thing, He wants our lives, He wants our wallets, He wants our cars, He wants everything, all things in us. God wants, because He wants us to be devoted to Him. And I think that sometimes the only people that are speaking into our situations are the winers. We need to say no to winers, come on, let's get it up and let's shout this together. Wining, this is a no-wining, say to the person next to you, I'm sick of your whining. Today is the day that you're going to stop whining, you whining, whining, whining, whining. No more whining. The church is a wine-free zone unless Jesus turns water into it. That's what we're part of. And so David comes along, he's not listening to the whining, little whining, whining voice, it's going to be so big. Nobody can take him. David just walks home because he's smaller than God. He is. My problem is smaller than God. It's easy for God. And I would much rather listen to David's voice and the whining's voice. I want to learn how to silence the voices of discouragements. And here's the first voice that David faces in 1 Samuel 1728. When Eliab, his brother, his oldest brother, heard him speaking with the men, he burned with anger at David and asked, "Why have you come down here?" And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the wilderness? I know how conceited you are and how wicked your heart is. You came down only to watch the battle. Has anyone in church leadership ever faced one of those voices? Misreads your heart, tells you what you're doing wrong. Listen, every church leader knows a hundred things that they are getting wrong and 200 more than you do. So don't come and tell them what they're doing wrong. Come and tell them how to fix the problems. No whiners, but solution bring us. That's what we need. And Eliab was slandering his brother, David. And here's three things I think that whiners always do. The first is they undermine your purpose. They do. Why have you come here? Who are you, Andrew, Sally? He's anointed. What a blessing he is to the United States. But how often, I wonder how often people have spoken to him and caused him to feel undermined in his purpose. Guys, I want to encourage you, encourage him. The best thing you can do for Andrew is encourage him. Give thanks for him, pray for him on a daily basis. And like he said to me this morning, you are doing a great job. And in the lunar voice as well, that's what we want. Speak to him like this little doggy. Make him feel welcome. Here's the second thing that the voices of the sent do. They undermine your significance. Did you notice what Eliab said? It wasn't enough to say, who did you leave your sheep with? Did you see it? With whom did you leave your few sheep? It's like it's not enough to get the knife in. Eliab's got to turn it. You're such an insignificant brother with basically nothing under your care. And he's trying to belittle by stating the insignificance of what David has done and what his responsibility is. We have to ignore these things. Voices of descent will also try to undermine your integrity. You are conceited. Your heart is wicked. You came to watch and to spectate. This is the deceit of the enemy trying to cause doubt in us. But we have to say no to the lies of the enemy. And yes to the truth of Jesus. And say no, I choose to listen to my shepherd's voice and to follow my shepherd's voice. And you will not undermine me. He is my integrity. He is my redeemer. He is my regenerator and my reformer. So I will follow the Lord Jesus and he will make things good. So David came to that place because the Lord led him there. Andrew came to this place because the Lord led him here. And he has come to honor his king. And David has gone to honor his dad. He came to check on the brothers. So we silence the voice of the enemy and we learn to recognize his tactics. Here's number five. We're coming into land in the next hour. Important. Giant slayers don't try to be somebody they're not. So there is only one of you. If there were two of me, my wife would be in big trouble. One is enough. One you in McCray on the earth is enough for the earth. Now I want to say this. It doesn't matter if your neighbor has a gun. If God anoints your pebble, then he's given you the weapon that you need for the purpose you've been called to. And the enemy will never cease trying to make us feel insecure about what we carry. Very often, I wonder, just by a show of hands, who in this room sometimes feels like they are inadequate for the kingdom of God. Just raise your hands and look around. Look around. Look, and you are all coming from ministry at the end. So I have a photographic, it's not true, but let's say I have a photographic memory. I saw you, Ashley Gabriel. You'll be up the front, getting deliverance at the end. You're going to be set free, and we're taking photos today. And we're posting them on Facebook. But actually, insecurity is something that we all feel so often in the kingdom. It's a very vulnerable place to be. Because often the Lord calls us to do things. That we don't know if we can do them or not. That's the whole point that we lean into him. And that he enables us to do the things that human beings can't actually do. But we've got to deal with these feelings of insecurity. And God actually has given us the strength, the wisdom, the weapons, that we need to do everything that He has called us to do. Think about the way the enemy worked when Jesus was scoring. He's hanging on the cross. The enemy was thinking victory is mine. He didn't understand what was happening on the cross when Jesus died. But do you know that people even came out from their graves when breath left Jesus' body? It wasn't at the resurrection. It was when sin was broken. Because the thing that makes us dead is sin. And what makes us alive is that a sacrifice for sin has been paid. But resurrection life is the proof of what has been done for us. And the hope that one day we will be with Jesus in eternity. We have more than enough. But God wants you to know that you are enough for Him. That what He has put into you is enough for the purposes that He calls you to if you will submit yourself to His ways. He has put an anointing in your sling. And if there's an anointing in your sling, don't ask for your neighbor's gun. Don't compare. Don't look at what other people have and say, I wish I could prophesy like that person. Don't do that. They'll say, I have my own sling. And my sling carries an anointing. And my sling will topple the giants that God wants me to deal with in my life. But look what Saul did in 1 Samuel 1738 to 40. He dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head. He fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around because he was not used to them. I cannot go in these. David said to Saul, because I am not used to them. So he took them off. Then he took his staff in his hand. He chose five smooth stones from the stream. Put them in a pouch of his shepherd's bag and with his sling in his hand, he approached the Philistine. He takes five pebbles. Why? Does anyone know? For everyone always says that. That's so last summer, bro. For his brother, you don't know that. There's nowhere in the Bible. Jonathan's been doing this at home as well. Going, it's for the four brothers. We don't know Jonathan. But I like it. I like it. And it's wise if there are four big brothers, make sure you've got four spare stones. But here's the thing. God has put several pebbles in your bag to topple your giant. So sometimes when I pray, my giants topple. But sometimes they don't. So I go back into my bag and I get fasting out. And I fastened pray. And suddenly when I'm fasting and praying, giants that seem insurmountable are starting to fall. But I need more pebbles because sometimes I'm going to worship my way through my giants. There are times when I am going to see my giants fall because I decided to pray in unity with other brothers and sisters. There are times when my giants are going to fall when somebody prophetically gives me a revelation of what I need to do to get new perspective from God. This is why we're in the church because we need each other to topple our giants. And one stone is never enough. And the Lord's going to give you five or six or 10 or 20 in order that you can topple everything that stands in your way. We need these things. So if the anointing is in your sling, then use your sling. And don't go for your neighbor's gun. Here's the final thing. Giants lay as no, that the battle belongs to the Lord. And I want to close with a story from a friend of mine. Eric was a missionary in Ecuador. He was a very straight-laced conservative Christian. He would find what happened here this morning, very, very strange. Prophecy and gifts of the Spirit being used, he would struggle with that. But many years ago, he was working into an area of Ecuador. And he came across a witch doctor that was converted out of witchcraft into Christianity and gave his life to Jesus. And one day, they were walking around a local town in which they were intending to share the gospel with many of the people there. And as they walked into the town, a group of 20 witch doctors stood at the other end. It was a bit like a Western standoff, where they were at one end of the town and these 20 witch doctors are at the other. And the witch doctors started to mock them and to throw curses against them. And then the witch doctor who had been converted that was standing with Eric began to say, "You have no power over us." Because we come at you in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. And as he spoke, the 20 witch doctors began to scream and they ran away. Now, Eric was shaking to his bones and telling his friend that was so risky and so Eric decided to go into a bar for a drink to calm his nerves. And when they went into the bar, people came up to them and said, "That was amazing." And Eric was like, "What was amazing?" They said, "Who were all the men with you?" They were at least 200 men dressed in white standing behind you. We all saw them and the army of the Lord stood with Eric and the witch doctor and overcame the giant of opposition in that town in Ecuador. That is a true story. Scores of angels. Think about David. When David faces up to Goliath, he had no fear. And he said, "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin. But I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, who you have defied. This day, the Lord will deliver you into my hands." And like, it's the best moment in the Bible, apart from the resurrection. But I love this bit. And you can see the Holy Word drama. Like David is going for it and then he starts, I think he goes too far. And like the army of Israel is like, "Yeah, yeah, yeah." And then David Goliath says, "I'm going to strike you down and cut off your head." And they're like, "Mm, okay, okay." And all those gathered here will know that it's not by all right. David, just shoot, and I will just do the business. They'll know it's by the spear or the sword that the Lord says for the battle is the Lord's. And he will give all of you into our hands. I love it. This is the secret to toppling the giants that it's not our battle. The battle is his. It's not by might, it's not by power, it's by the Spirit says the Lord. And when you have the Spirit of God, you have everything that you need to topple every single giant that you face in your personal life, in your family life, in your community life, and in your church life, and in your kingdom life. We have all that we need because our confidence is not in me. It's not even in Andrew or Jonathan. Our confidence is in the Lord. It's where the power and the anointing comes from, think about that moment. When Peter sees a revelation of Jesus, Lord, I know who you are. You are the Messiah. Then the Lord says it is good for this knowledge is not come from man, but from heaven. And the Lord says, I tell you, Peter, that this day and on this rock, I will build my church. And the gates of Hades will not overcome it, and I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatever you bind on the earth will be burned in heaven and whatever you list on the earth will be list in heaven, guys. We've got to remember who we are because we forget so often. We are kingdom people. We are carriers of the Spirit of God. We are proclaimers of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are miracle workers. We are demons there. We are healers to the blind. We are people who raise the dead. We are the church of Jesus Christ. We have everything that we need, everything that we need is in Jesus. But the question is this, are you in Jesus? Are you in Jesus? Are you in Him? Or do you just love Him? Do you love the idea of who He is? Or do you love who He wants to become in your life?