Jentezen Franklin - The Profile Of A Giant Killer
The thought that I have is "The Profile of a Giant Killer". What does it take to be a giant killer? I want to point out and highlight certain qualities, certain characteristics that are found in, then and now, in giant killers. This is Samuel, in 1 Samuel 16 had anointed David to be king of Israel, which is amazing. He's anointed and he is proclaimed and prophesied, "You will be king of Israel", but the first thing that he does, if he's going to conquer his giant, is his daddy, who was there when he was anointed and pronounced king of Israel, turns to him and says, "Hey, boy; go get some bread and some cheese and deliver it to your brothers that are on the front line".
Now, he's been anointed to be king, but the first point that I want to make is you will never see an unsubmitted giant killer. Even though he's been anointed king, he's still submitted because the Bible said, "And he did what his father told him to do". If you're going to be a giant killer, if you're going to do things that will change the world, you must understand authority and you must submit to authority. He was about to be the president of the nation; and yet, when his daddy told him to do something, he submitted to his father and he became a cheese pizza delivery boy and he obeyed his father, because there's a principle.
God will not use people who do not submit to authority because you're under rebellion when you're not under authority. Submit yourself to authority, the authority of God's word, the authority, of spiritual authority that God puts over you, and your giants will fall in your life. It's very important that you be under authority. The second thing that I see in this story, it says that, in verse 20, If you're going to be a giant killer, you're going to have to submit to authority. Secondly, "David rose early in the morning". Now, this is a deep point. If you're going to be a giant killer, giant killers are disciplined. If you're going to kill a giant, you've got to get up early. I don't hear no teenagers saying amen right there.
Lazy people don't kill giants. If you don't get out of the bed and pray - it takes discipline to kill giants. Get out of the bed and read the Bible. Start the day off with the Word of God and in prayer. Praise is a form of discipline, whether you feel like it or not, you just do it. Some of you guys who really work out all the time in the gym; and that's awesome, but the same discipline that you have for the body, it takes for the spirit. And you have to discipline yourself. And he rose up early. Giant killers get up early. I don't mean you've got to get up at the crack of dawn, but I do mean you put God first in your day and in your life.
The next thing that happened is the Bible said in the, I love the King James on this particular verse. It said, "and he came to a trench". A trench is a low place. It's a place that's been dug out. We don't know if it was five feet or six feet, but it was a ditch. It was a trench. And he's in a low place and here comes Goliath across the field. Goliath looks like a giant already. He's nine feet, and then he's low, down beneath the earth, looking up. So he looks, even though he's nine feet, he looks 15 feet high. Your enemy will always show up when you're at your lowest point. Usually the giants come when you're about as low as you think you can get and you think it can't get any worse, and here comes a Goliath.
The big point that I want you to see is simply this: the enemy looks bigger because you're down. If you'll get up, you'll find out it's not as bad as you thought it was because the God in you is bigger than the giant in him. But as long as you stay down, the enemy looks bigger than you are. You have to get up. Giant killers get up. It's not that they don't go through valleys and hard times, but they don't stay down. And the Bible said they were in the trench and the army came out when they saw Goliath coming. And I love the next part. The Bible said, "and he shouted". They shouted as they came out of the trench. They went forth and they shouted for battle. If you're going to kill a giant, you can't be silent. I've never seen a silent giant killer. We have to lift our voices. If we're going to have victory in this nation, we've got, we cannot be silent. If we're going to have victory in our families, we cannot be silent. If we're going to have victory over our families and our churches, we cannot be silent. Church cannot be a quiet little place where there's no shouts of victory.
The ball game, they have signs that say, "Louder, louder, louder, louder, louder". We've got people in church wanting it quieter and quieter and quieter. But giant killers shout. Giant killers are shouters. Giant killers lift their voice like a trumpet and give the sound of triumph. Come on; is there any giant killers in this place? You let the devil do all the talking and that's why you're intimidated and afraid. But when you open your mouth and shout, "My God is bigger; and you come at me with a sword and a shield, but I've come in the name of the Lord, of the Most High God". He's on our side. If you believe it - shout.
You have to lift your voice. Victory comes in a sound. That's why in the upper room in Acts 2, there came a sound from heaven as a mighty rushing wind. Giant killers are shouters. Turn to somebody and say, "You must not be a giant killer". Tell 'em, "Giant killers are shouters". I know we're all different. I know we all come from different backgrounds. But I'm going to tell you something. If you let the enemy... The Bible said for 40 days and 40 nights, Goliath, every morning, would put on his armor. What was he doing? Trying to intimidate. And he'd take it off. Do you know how long it would take him to put all that one? And he'd walk out and he would blaspheme the God of Israel.
The deal is this: who are you going to let fill your valley? You going to let the voice of fear and worry and depression and discouragement, or are you going to get right in the valley - it belonged to Judah, the scripture said. Judah means praise. You have to get in the middle of that valley and say, "Devil, you're not going to do all the talking. If you're going to do some trash talking, I'm going to lift my voice and shout unto the God that I serve that is mightier than any giant in my life". Somebody give God a praise. Giant killers are submitted. Giant killers get up early. They're disciplined. They're disciplined in prayer. They're disciplined in praise. They're disciplined in the Word. Giant killers don't let the enemy do all the talk, but we talk back. We fill the valleys that we get in with praise. It belongs to Judah. It does not belong to fear. It does not belong to the lies of Goliath. It belongs to Judah.
Verse 25 says that David, when he heard this Philistine defying the God of Israel, that he said, "What will happen to the person who defeats him"? And they said, "You'll become rich with money. There are three rewards. The king will give you lots of money. You'll get to marry his wife", not his wife, his daughter. 'Confused that time with this time; I'm sorry. "You can marry his daughter. And you won't have to pay any taxes for the rest of your life".
How many of you'd go fight right now for that? The Bible said that they said it again. It was said again in another verse. And then, he goes down, in verse 28, and Eliab, his older brother saw him coming and he got intimidated because his brother was coming, and Eliab said, "Who did you leave your few sheep with? What are you doing here? How dare you come to fight Goliath? Why did you leave your". In other words, it was a put down. "Where's your few little sheep. You don't belong here. You're not supposed to be here". And the Bible said in verse 30 that he said again, "Tell me again, what is the reward"? Verse 30; he said, "Tell me again, what is the reward", and they told him again, that, "you know, hey, if you fight, guess what'll happen. The king'll give you great wealth and you'll get to marry his daughter. And not only that, but you'll have tax free living".
In other words, three times, he was reminded before he went to fight Goliath of the reward. Giant killers are focused on the reward. I'm saying to you that if you're facing a giant, you don't face and focus on the giant; you focus on the reward. And he kept saying, "You mean to tell me. Tell me again. Tell me again what the reward is". Notice the mentality of a giant killer is the fact that there's a reward at the end of this battle. What I want you to understand is the Bible tells you that there's a reward. You're telling me there's streets of gold? You're telling me there's walls of jasper? You're telling me that I have eternal life? You're telling me that there's a heaven; that if I keep my eyes on the prize and I won't quit, I'm going to have that place called heaven?
I've come to remind you today, somebody who's fighting a giant, that there's a place where there's no more sorrow, there's no pain, there's no suicide, there's no death, there's no tears, there's no depression, there's no cancer, there's no heart disease, there's no Alzheimer's, there's no worry, there's no discouragement. Get your eyes off the risk and get your eyes on the reward. The problem is hell has taken heaven off of the table and nobody's preaching about heaven, and nobody's preaching about eternity. I refuse to let hell take heaven off of the table. Somebody said, "Well, you know, I'd live for Jesus if there were no heaven". But you can't do that. There is a heaven and we're headed there. And that's why you need to slay the giants that are trying to stop you. Heaven's going to be worth it all. Somebody say amen.
There is a reward. There is a reward. Look at verse 34. It tells us something else about a giant killer. The Bible said that when Saul said, "Why should I let you fight", he spoke up and he said, "There was a lion and there was a bear. I was keeping my father's sheep. One night, a lion and a bear came after 'em. And I went out and I caught the bear and I caught the lion and I slew 'em and I killed 'em. In other words, what I want you to see is this. I did what was right in the dark".
If you're going to be a giant killer, a giant killer has got to be the same in the dark as you are in the daylight. We need a call in this day and age for giant killers that have character. There are 82 million free pornographic websites on the internet. There must be a call for character, that you slay your personal bear and lion and then you get to fight God's enemy. Until you defeat your personal enemy, you'll never defeat God's enemy. And God's is watching what you do with the lion and the bear that nobody sees but you and God. And if you defeat that, then He says, "I can trust you with something that is My enemy, that can change things in your family and in your life, and perhaps in the nation".
If you don't get victory over the Goliath of pornography, it will bring a curse to your family and a curse on your children and your children's children. I want you to notice something else about giant killers. Giant killers must have character. Giant killers must have discipline. Giant killers are shouters. Giant killers rise up early. Giant killers are submitted to authority. And then, I want you to notice that giant killers don't have two different outfits. They don't have two different wardrobes. When Saul came with his armor and said, "Put my armor on", David said, "I'm not going to put your armor on. I am what I am".
See, there's a lot of Christians that have two wardrobes. They act one way when they're around the church, and you wouldn't recognize 'em if you saw 'em on a Friday night. They have one playlist when they're around their Christian friends on their iPod and around their parents, but they've got another playlist of filthy songs when they're around their unsaved friends. They have two kinds of vocabulary. "Praise the Lord, brother; hallelujah; glory to God", when they're in church. But when they're in school on Monday, "Blankety, blank; blankety, blank", with the best of 'em. You're not a giant killer. A giant killer doesn't have two wardrobes and is one thing one day and something else 'cause people are saying it's okay another day.
I love what David said. David said, "I have not tried that. I've got to be me". Giant killers have got to be "me". God anointed me to be me, not to be you. And giant killers learn to just be you. And it's okay to be different. You don't have to be like them. Be you. The devil wants you to feel insecure about who you are and what you've got. "Is that all you've got, that little sling? That little rock? My Lord, what a pitiful little thing".
I tell you, in know this story 'cause I've lived it. It's funny to me. God doesn't use the people He ought to use, who've got all the fancy stuff and all the fancy swords and the shields and the equipment, and they've got everything going for 'em. But He looks for little people that's got a little sling and a rock, and they say, "God, all I've got is this and I'm totally submitted to you and I'm a giant killer and I've got to be me and know it's rough and I know it's raw and I know I look silly, but I'm going to do the impossible". And when you walk out there, the anointing takes what you've got and He can do more under the anointing with your sling than all the latest technology. Somebody shout, "I'm a Giant Killer".
Notice something else about a giant killer. Have you ever noticed that verse 40 said that he picked up five stones in a brook? He wasn't fighting but one giant; why'd he get five? 'Cause he wanted to make sure that he had enough if he missed. I think that he went to the maximum of how many time he had missed and he remember, "I tried to kill that thing five times, and on the fifth one, I hit him, so I'm going to get five just in case I miss", which tells me this: giant killers are determined. And if they don't kill the giant with the first stone, they'll bust into the bag and pull another one out and say, "Well, if I didn't get you with prayer, let me get fasting going here. And if that don't get you, let me get two or three gathered in His name, bind them and loose them. And if that don't work, then bless God, I'll get my praise on and I'll go in there and do warfare with my praise. And if that don't work, then we'll, My God, we'll call 21 days of fasting and prayer".
See, giant killers don't quit 'cause they hit opposition. Giant killers are determined. Where there's a will, there's a way. You have to have backup stones if you're a giant killer. If I didn't get it this way, I'll go around the other way. And if I don't get it that way, I'll dig a tunnel. And if I don't get it that way, I'll build a bridge. But I'm going to get to it because giant killers are determined. He said in verse 45, "I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts", verse 47, he said, "and all the assembly shall know".
Eliab's, you know those people who put you down and tell you you can't do nothing, why don't you stay with your few little sheep, they're going to know, 'cause I'm a giant killer. The city's going to know, 'cause I'm a giant killer. Critics are going to know, because I'm a giant killer. Use your critics as fuel. Hallelujah. And I like this part. The Bible said in verse 51 that David goes out and he throws that stone and he hits Goliath and he falls down and he didn't have a sword and he took Goliath's sword and he begins to cut his head off.
Please listen to me. You have to not just knock the enemy down; you have to chop his head off. He'll come back if you don't cut his head off. The Bible said he took the head of Goliath and took it home and put it in his tent at home on a pole, in his house, to remind himself the head is the authority. I have authority over the enemy, not just out there, but in my own home. The same God that saved and delivered over there in church, He gives me authority and victory in my own home, with my own family. Can you see him? I can see him. I can see him in my mind. I can see David as he gets, I think he stood on top of Goliath and everybody's looking and Eliab's looking and, "Eliab, we've never had this kind of victory in our home", 'cause that was his brother, "but what I'm about to bring home, I'm going to set up in the house and you're going to see victory in our house". Can you see him? He looks at Goliath, "You big ol'".
Come on. You know what I'm talking about. Look at him. You big ol', big headed, corn fed, baby Huey, trash talking, lying, deceiving, defeating God's people, humiliating, and blasphemous, don't you ever try to come in my house again. If you do, I'll take your head off. You've got to get mad at the devil. You've got to realize greater is He that is in us. We're not a bunch of people who just go around wounded and beat up all the time. He's given us the sword of the Spirit and you need to say, "Don't you ever, you big ol' fat headed corn fed. Who do you think you are? This is not your house. This is not your family. These are not your children. I'm in a covenant with God and He said if I would believe Him, I would be saved, and my house". Come on, giant killers. Shout.
The Lord says, "I want to set up authority over the devil in your family tent this morning". Everybody just reach over and grab the head of the Goliath. Come on, pick it up. It's dripping and everything. And say, "This is great in here, but I'm taking this one home and I'm going to set it up in my house and depression isn't going to live in my house and fear isn't going to live in my house and condemnation isn't going to live in my house and addiction isn't going to live in my house and unforgiveness isn't going to live in my house and offenses aren't going to live in my house". "Love is going to live in my house. Joy is going to live in my house. Peace is going to live in my house. The anointing of the Holy Ghost is going to live in my house. And I'm taking this big ol' headed, corn fed, trash talking, devil and I'm going to... The same authority... This really moved me in church".
That's great. We know how to have church in church; we need to learn how to have church at home. But I dare you to pick it up and say, "This time, we're going to get in the car and be sweet to one another. And this time, we're going to have a wonderful little honeymoon this week because I'm going to love you and you're going to love me and the kids are going to act right and we're going to kick rebellion out of our kids, in Jesus' name, 'cause we've got authority over the enemy in our tent". Quit acting like a loser. You're a giant killer. "I don't know what I'm going to do". I know what you're going to do. You're going to stand up on your hind legs; you're going to pull out the sword of the Spirit, and you're going to fight. "Who do you think you are"? That's what giant killers do.