Discover how to defeat the giants in your life with this powerful message from Tony Evans. Start the new year fresh as you apply these spiritual truths to life’s challenges.
hello Glen Arden
it’s an honor to be with you you may be
seated
it’s always a privilege for me to be
here with my good friend pastor and
secret sister Jenkins and to their great
family spiritual family here and my wife
will be joining me for the final service
but it’s great to be with you here today
pastor asked me to just mentioned we
have we brought two books with us today
that will kind of go a little a lot
deeper into what we going to share with
you now on spiritual warfare victory and
spiritual warfare and the battle is the
Lord’s so they’ll be in the back for
those who want them afterwards to take
you deeper than but hopefully we will
give you a great introduction to the
principles of it today so let’s go to
the Lord in prayer father I ask that you
will take the words with my mouth
meditations of my heart make them
beneficial and acceptable to your people
so that we will all grow and learn the
secret of victory
in Jesus name Amen a man went to the
doctor one day and told the doctor doc
I’m hurting all over all parts of my
body are in pain
he said well everywhere he said well
yeah everywhere he said well touch your
forehead he touched his forehead and
said ah so well touch your ear he
touched his ear with oh wow touch your
shoulder just as shoulder with ah doctor
said you idiot you got a dislocated
finger it’s a see sometimes it seems
like everything is wrong
when actually only one thing maybe will
I want to call your attention to verse
Samuel 17 in a very familiar story you
know it backwards and forward you’ve
heard it all of your life David and
Goliath and I want to give you maybe a
little different take on it today
because I want to tell you how to defeat
the Giants in your life first of all
we’ve got a problem the problems name is
Goliath and he’s a giant
we told him chapter 17 verse 6 that his
height was six cubits and a span that’s
approximately nine foot six inches tall
so he’s a giant a giant is something
that looms large in your life it’s huge
it’s intimidating it’s so big
a giant is any noun person place thing
or thought that looms too big to conquer
in your world you know when something’s
a giant in your life because it not only
intimidates you but it controls your
emotions because verse 11 says and when
Saul and all the Israel heard these
words of the Philistine that they were
dismayed and greatly afraid verse 24
says when all the men of Israel saw the
man they fled from him and were greatly
afraid you know you have a giant in your
life when it’s telling you what you got
to feel when it’s controlling your
emotions when it’s causing your piece to
become destroy
be it a person place thing or thought
that’s a giant in your life you know
when something is a giant in your life
because it just won’t go away
verse 16 says the Philistine came
forward morning and evening for forty
days and took his stand you know when
something is a giant because it shows up
in the morning and will let you go at
night it’s attacking you all the time
day after day after day after day Giants
come in all shapes and sizes there
financial Giants and medical Giants and
circumstantial Giants and their
financial Giants their their emotional
Giants they all have one thing in common
they want to own your world they want to
shape your emotions they want to dictate
your well-being so here we are with a
giant enter a young man named David a
teenager who comes upon the scene where
this giant has intimidated a whole
nation saul and his army bringing food
from his father jesse to his brothers
who on the battle line and david comes
and he faces the same problem with a
different perspective now if i were to
ask you what did David used to kill
Goliath the Giant in his life I’m sure
many of you would say a stone and a
slingshot and certainly that was used as
part of the program I would like to give
you an a more potent reason why David
was able to slay the Giant and if you
grab this reason it will enable you to
slay the Giants
in your life the nouns the people the
places the things the thoughts that are
seeking to control your world you see
David had a different perspective and he
recites it twice in verse 26 and in
verse 36 then David says in verse 26 he
spoke to the man who was standing the
Midd who was standing there saying what
will be done to the man who kills the
Philistine and takes away the reproach
from Israel for who is this
uncircumcised Philistine that he should
talk the armies of the Living God he
says now in verse 36 your servant has
killed both a lion and a bear and this
uncircumcised Philistine will be like
one of them since he has taunted the
armies of the Living God now if you read
that verse too fast you’ll miss it David
saw something that Saul and none of the
other soldiers in Israel saw all of them
saw a nine-foot 6-inch giant what David
saw when he looked at him is that man
has not been to the doctor
who is this uncircumcised philistine
everybody else was looking up here David
was looking down there and David says
that man has not been to the doctor who
is this uncircumcised philistine it was
the presence or absence of the
circumcision that shifted David’s
perspective a perspective is not what
you see a perspective is how you look at
what you see let me give you the
spiritual principle for victory and
spiritual warfare it’s this if all you
see is what you see you do not see all
there is to be seen let me say that
again if all you see is what you see
then you do not see all there is to be
seen it is the enemy’s goal to keep you
seeing only what you see because if he
can keep you seeing only what you see
you will only react to what you see but
if what you see is all you see you will
not see all there is to be seen a a
little boy one day lost his contact
lenses they popped out of his mouth in a
carpeted area so he’s panicking 30
minutes looking for this contact he
tells his mother mama the contact popped
out of my eye I can’t find it she said
let me help you son and in less than 60
seconds she found the contact lens after
he’d been searching 30 minutes
he said mama how could you find it so
quickly when I’m gone so long trying to
find it she says because son we weren’t
looking for the same thing you are
looking for contact lens I was looking
for a hundred and fifty dollars that was
lost down there
just depends on what you’re looking at
that will determine what you see he says
who is this uncircumcised philistine now
what was it about circumcision that
caught David’s attention well in Israel
the sign of the Covenant for the male
was circumcision circumcision brought
you under the Covenant of God
so circumcision was a coven mental Act
so the question now is what is the
Covenant a covenant in the Bible is a
spiritually binding bond a spiritually
binding bond
it was superglue a covenant in the Bible
was something God established to
inaugurate an official relationship with
his people so he established a covenant
with Abraham he established a covenant
with David his tabs are coming with
Israel the Bible says marriage is a
covenant the Bible says when you get
saved you become part of the New
Covenant the Bible says when you take
communion you are participating in the
New Covenant of his blood whenever God
wanted to establish something officially
and make it legal in the spiritual realm
he would covenant it so this is an
official term that unfortunately many of
God’s people don’t know about but it is
the authoritative term of how God
relates to his people David says that
man hasn’t been to the doctor so that
man is not on the Covenant now why was
important to know the man wasn’t in the
covenant because covenant provides a
covering when you’re under covenant
you’re under cover let it was out of
what was raining husband when I came in
this morning it was raining outside
and why was raining outside you know
when it’s raining you have an umbrella
the umbrella is meant to cover you
now you
and have an umbrella but not be under it
or you can have an umbrella and be under
the covering of it when you open up the
umbrella it does not stop it from
raining it just stops it from raining on
you because you’re under cover
if you’re not saved today you’re not
with a covenant you don’t have an
umbrella if you are saved today you have
the Covenant but you may not be under it
so you’re still going to get wet so
everybody who’s saved has the Covenant
but the question is are you operating
underneath it in football everything is
dependent upon the location of the
football first downs are determined by
where the football is placed touchdowns
are determined by whether the football
across the plane of the goal line field
goals are determined but whether the
ball goes to the post complete passes
are determined by whether the ball was
dropped or caught you take away that
football and a billion-dollar industry
collapses that one little thing controls
everything else the victory or defeat
and the spiritual battles of your life
will be determined by your proximity to
the Covenant so if you don’t understand
the covenant if you’re not in the
covenant or if you’re not underneath the
covering of the Covenant then that means
you are on your own so many Christians
all those saying are on their own and
are running from the Goliath’s in their
lives because they are not under cover
they’re not underneath the covering
covenant of God it is your alignment to
this covenant see many Christians want
to date god when he wants a wedding ring
they want to be in the vicinity of God
without making a covenant ‘el commitment
to God and wonder why they don’t have
victory and authority when the Giants
show up in their lives and so what they
do is they they they transfer covenant
for activities and wonder why I go to
church it’s not working I read my Bible
it’s not working I pray my prayers and
nothing is working I had a problem in my
garage not too long ago and that is I
went to get in my car to go to the
office for a meeting and I pushed the
garage door opener and the door would
not open I push and I push and I push
and I push but the door would not open I
went over and tried to push it up but
the door was too big and too heavy it
would not open so now I’m frustrated
because it’s not that I’m not trying
it’s not that I’m not pushing it’s not
that I’m not trying to lift the problem
over my head it’s just that nothing was
working so I pick up the telephone and I
called the garage repairman and I said
my garage door is not working and I
don’t know what else to do I need you to
do something to let me out so I can get
my car to the garage so I can go to my
meeting he said you’ll be a favor I said
what he said go over to the garage store
keep the phone in here go over to the
garage door so I went over to the garage
door he said now look down to your left
and to your right I looked down to my
left I looked down to my right he says
you see two square canisters I said yes
he said which way are they pointing I
said one is pointing over here and the
other one is pointing out he said that’s
your problem those canisters aren’t
talking to one another because they’re
not aligned with one another so they’re
not getting the signal and because
they’re not getting the signal you don’t
have the power to open up the door the
power is missing because of the
Raymond is missing so if you’ll just
take this one and turn it so it faces
that one you’ll find power that was
already available that was not talking
to one another so I took this canister
made it face that canister push the
button and that which I was trying to
force just rose up all by itself because
I was in proper alignment if you are not
confidentially aligned then despite the
fact you’re safe despite the fact you go
to church despite the fact you read your
Bible despite the fact you pray without
governmental alignment that you cannot
draw down divine authority and if you
don’t even know to think to look behind
what you see see everything visible and
physical is preceded by something
invisible and spiritual everything
visible and physical is preceded by
something invisible and spiritual so if
you want to correct something that’s
visible and physical you must first
identify and correct the thing that’s
invisible and spiritual but if you do
not first identify and correct the
invisible spiritual cause you cannot
come up with a visible physical cure if
you do not identify the visible physical
cause then you cannot come up with a
physical physical solution so what Satan
wants to keep you doing is to keep you
dealing with what your five senses per
take up what you see here taste he wants
to keep you in the physical so that you
miss the spiritual so that you’re not
governmental so that there is no
authority that you can draw down from
heaven but what you see what you can’t
see that you can deal with something
beyond what you do see because if all
you see is what you see you do not see
all there is to be seen
and so David sees the fact that this man
has not been cut this man has not been
to the doctor so he has no
ina thority associated with him he just
a big guy he’s looking big so let me
give you let me let me give you a little
uh a thing to do it’s real simple thing
you know do you do identify the giant in
your life whatever that giant is in your
life that thing that looms large that is
intimidating that is controlling your
emotions and I want you to right now
before I even finish the rest of my
sermon give it a name I want you to give
that giant the name Goliath because if
you give it Goliath you’ll know where
it’s going to wind up so let’s move on
and see where this giant winds up so
David now is decided that he’s detected
the spiritual default in this man the
Philistine in verse 41 comes and
approaches David with the shield bearer
in his hand and he looks at David with
disdain he says you’re a youth verse 42
you’re ready and he says am i a dog that
you come to me with a sticks and stone
with slingshots and then Goliath makes
the spiritual mistake he’s going to make
a spiritual mistake and any giant
outside of God’s will in your life is
going to make the same spiritual state
and it’s the spiritual mistake you want
your giant to make you need your giant
to make this mistake what was the
mistake he says in verse 43 the
Philistine said to David am i a dog that
you call that am i a dog in verse 43
that you come to me with sticks and the
Philistine cursed David by his gods
oh now the Philistine went spiritual
because he cursed David by his gods you
know many of you know my son was a
Washington [ __ ] for one year and he
came out of Beyla and he’s a Washington
[ __ ] and we came up to the games and
and he was a fullback so
so the quarterback gets the ball and
would hand it off and sometimes he got
the handoff and we handed off to my son
Jonathan well my son Jonathan got the
food got the ball something happened
when the quarterback got the ball
everybody came out to the quarterback
because the quarterback had the ball but
once he handed the ball off everybody
left the quarterback it went over to my
son of the halfback whoever got the ball
okay
because whoever had the ball inherited
the problem
okay the enemy’s coming out to the
quarterback as long as the quarterback
has the ball but once the quarterback
hands off the ball the enemy has to go
to where the ball is whoever is holding
it so guess what Goliath says I’m coming
to you in the name of my god David says
you come to me varies for t5 with the
sword in the spear but I come to you in
the name of the Lord of hosts the God of
the armies of Israel whom you have
taunted oh you think your God is better
than my god he made it a spiritual
battle between gods
guess what David did he hands the
football off he says i’ma let my god buy
your God imma get you God’s fighting
because if I can get my god
against your God then I can handle you
against me because I’ve handed the
problem all to somebody who’s bigger
than you and your gods because he
understood the Covenant and because he’s
operating covenant aliy he knows David
as he knows Goliath is not operating
covenant elite he knows he has authority
now let me show you something David does
he does an amazing thing when you’re
operating covenant alee he says I come
to you in the name of the lord of the
armies of Israel
he uses God’s name
now there’s a whole theology of names
but let me summarize it for
you names in the Bible God has 85 names
in the Old Testament 85 different names
why does God have 85 different names
because he attaches the name to a
situation and the name he attaches is
relevant to the need of the scenario so
when you see these 85 names popping up
all through the Old Testament that’s
because they’re all these different
scenarios he’s addressing so guess what
he’s got a name for your giant okay
because his name always pops up in
different scenarios so when he creates
in Genesis 1:1 he uses the name Elohim
in the beginning Elohim created heaven
linear because that’s his creative name
when he creates man he uses the name
Yahweh or Jehovah capital L capital o
capital R capital D when you see all
four letters capitalized that’s your
hova because that’s God’s relational
name because now he wants to relate to
man when he wants to show you he’s in
charge he’s got a Hebrew name I don’t
know I don’t need your boss your manager
the one who tell you what to do when
when you need somebody to meet a need
he’s Jehovah Jireh Genesis 22 so he got
all these names cuz he’s got all these
situations we’re in in which we need the
name of God so David’s in a battle so
guess what name he uses Jehovah sabah
jehovah sabah means the lord who
oversees and army why does he use that
name cuz goliath and the philistines are
an army so god’s got a name for whatever
giant you’re facing in your life okay
you’ve got the appropriate name now
names are very important in the Bible
and they’re important to us – if I say
Bill Gates you think money if I say
Serena Williams you think tennis you
know because those names have a reality
attached to it you’re not gonna name a
child Hitler you’re not a name the child
Benedict Arnold because what is attached
to that name you don’t want to be
attached to that child if you call
somebody chubby that means they’re fat
because somebody’s slim that means
they’re skinny because that name is
reflecting a characteristic so God’s got
all these names to reflect this
character for the circumstance you find
yourself in what he wants you to do is
he wants you to make your physical
battle a spiritual battle so he can deal
with the spiritual reality which
empowers you to deal with the physical
reality that you’re facing that you’re
intimidated by Satan wants to keep you
only dealing with the physical skip the
spiritual because you know that you skip
the spiritual he can control your life
on the physical but if you ever see the
Covenant and are operating undercover
being able to draw down Authority then
you can use the name of God to overcome
the false gods that are bringing about
the physical challenge that you’re
facing in your life many of you know my
son Anthony and the singer and he’s a–
and when he first started singing he was
you know he was just learning his way in
and he asked me to pick him up from the
airport I said okay he told me what
flight he was on so I went to pick him
up he’s a third person off the plane
we’re walking to baggage claim and as we
walk in the baggage claim halfway to
baggage claim I stop I look at him I
said oh no you didn’t he started
laughing because he knew exactly what I
meant you see if you the third person
off the plane you in first class if you
the third person off the plane you in
first class but he didn’t have
first-class ticket he didn’t have
first-class money what he had was my
name
cuz he’s a junior so I knew what he had
done he had gone up and said my name is
Tony Evans and I’m an executive Platinum
flyer and do you have any upgrades they
said oh dr. Evans we’re glad to have you
flying with us again today guess what he
did he used my name but because it
became his name because he’s covenant
and as my son he could claim my
authority to be both up to first class
he didn’t have the authority but he had
my name and when he used my name
he got clothes that didn’t belong to him
you may not have a name that has
authority in hell but God has a name
that has authority everywhere and if
you’re undercover you can use that name
to claim divine authority we work we
wore medication we want occasion in on
and Niagara Falls when the kids were
young and we drove all the way from
Texas to Niagara Falls New York long
drive got there we read like 2:00 in the
morning got there and we were all just
dog tired went up to the hotel and I
hadn’t made reservations exactly
and all my planning I forgot to make
reservation and only a couple hotels at
Niagara Falls and all of them were full
the next closest hotel that we could
even get to was an over an hour away
it’s 2:00 in the morning with dog-tired
I forgot to get it so nobody is happy in
my car
nobody is happy cuz dad forgot to get
the hotel there were a lot of people in
front of us everybody was told no more
rooms no more rooms no but rooms so I’m
frustrated now mad don’t want to talk to
nobody you know because you know I made
a mistake I failed and in my failure it
was affecting the well-being of my whole
family I said all we can do is get
something to eat
and let’s get something to eat even
though it was still open
let’s give something eat and we’ll just
have to find a hotel that’s when
Priscilla mitts war room herself
that’s when Priscilla said but daddy we
haven’t talked to God about this problem
I need her to tell me that I don’t need
to tell me that I’m the pastor I tell
you that you don’t tell me that she said
no daddy you we haven’t talked to God
about this problem so I’m caught in
between like I’m not even talk to God
mood right now so I told her you pray so
she prayed she bowed her little head
she’s a young teenager by maybe 13 years
old and she says now Lord you know we’re
in a situation we can’t fix you know we
didn’t make reservations we stuck out
here Lord and and we’re tired Lord and
and and we haven’t consulted you my dad
haven’t consulted you
so she praises this eloquent prayer says
Amen I say okay now let’s get practical
let’s eat and then we’ll go find a hotel
while we were eating to get ready to go
to get the next hotel find another hotel
the manager comes over to the table he
said sir weren’t you one of those
families looking for a room I said yes
where there were some people in front of
you I can’t find them
one of the families had an emergency
they got to leave right away do you
still need a room I looked at Priscilla
and said shut up shut up shut up
but she was operating under covenant I
was looking at the circumstances I was
looking at the reality Goliath is real
you can’t deny him he’s 9 foot 6
don’t make him smaller than he really is
but understand that behind him there is
a spiritual reality he has not been to
the doctor so he doesn’t have final
say-so over your life over your world
over your well-being and so forth family
I want to challenge you today to go on
the offense against your Goliath the
things that loom large in your life that
looks undefeatable and start dictating
to it in the name of God in the name of
God a couple of days from now we will be
having our first great-grandchild
my granddaughter will be
having a child she no husband in Houston
and um
everybody is looking forward to this
well I have mixed emotions I’m excited
but it reminds me how old I am so it’s a
mixed situation but when my
granddaughter her name is Karis was a
little girl she was over my house and
she was screaming she was outside the
yard
screaming I’m rushing to the door a dog
was chasing her not Reverend Robert the
dog was dog was nipping at her so she’s
terrified because she’s a little girl
the dog is so much bigger
she calls me papi she said papi papi
the dog the dog you don’t the dog papi
she ran into my arms huffing and puffing
and screaming and the dog her she’s
huffing and puffing and screaming
because she’s terrified she’s a little
girl being chased by a Goliath dog but
after a while the dog barking at my feet
with her in my arms she looked up at me
with tears coming down her eyes and then
she looked down at the dog she looked up
at me did she look down at the dog she
looked up at me again did she look down
at the dog one more time she looked up
at me and this time she looked down at
the dog it went then anything here
where’d she get that power from we
should get that authority from where did
she get that ability from to stare her
Goliath in the face and make fun of it
because she knew that the one coven
literally holding her was bigger than
the one that was against her the one
that was scaring her was smaller than
the one hold
her and when you understand that you’re
in the hands of a powerful God all the
devil and his Giants can do is make
noise Rara and you can go
nananana claim your authority in the
name of Jesus Christ
god bless you the books will go into
more detail