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By Pastor Chuck Swindoll

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The Battle is the Lord’s

“The battle is the Lord’s. The day you take on a giant in your own flesh is a day you will face defeat. All the way through this episode, this brief battle, David’s focus is on the Lord his God. No wonder he’s called a man after God’s own heart. Everybody else focused on the giant. David realized that his God was greater than any giant. So when the crucial moment arrives, remember those five words.”

In Come the Giants

“There will always be folks who want to make you look foolish, especially when you decide you’re going to walk by faith and not sight, especially when you determine you’re going to have a ministry that’s different. It’s not based on what everyone else is doing and saying and communicating. It’s based on what you know the Word of God teaches, and that’s what you’re going to be doing. You’re committed to it. And in come the giants, and in come the friends of the giants.”

Fight in Your Own Armor

“May I add that you cannot fight in someone else’s armor. You’ve got armored men and women sitting on this platform whose lives we all respect. They don’t walk on water, but I’ll tell you what, they’re about the best around. But it’s easy to think that something about them will somehow become yours by osmosis. It doesn’t work like that. Someday you’re going to be on your own. You won’t hear their voices anymore. You’re going to be out there in your own valley, and you’ll realize, I can’t fight in their armor, and even though I respect them, their stuff doesn’t fit me.”

God is Bigger Than the Giants

“All giants seem larger than they really are. All giants seem larger than they really are. You think you’ll not be able to get control over whatever that giant is, one I named or maybe one I didn’t name. It seems larger than it really is. It’s not larger than our God. It’s not larger than your Savior.”

Face the Giant of Legalism

“By the way, you got to stand up in the face of a giant, especially if the giant’s name is legalism. You’ll fight it throughout your ministry. I’ve learned that if I don’t deal with legalists straight on, face to face with strong words, they don’t hear you, and they do their best to tear your church apart or to put people under their control.”

Additional Resources

First, sign up for our Chuck’s Insights on Ministry email where we bring you his best thoughts on preaching, leadership, and ministry each week. By signing up, you’ll instantly receive a one-page checklist with 20 preaching insights from Chuck. See this page’s sidebar.

Second, check out our new Preach The Word articles and video series on YouTube where we’re teaching Chuck’s best insights on this important calling.

Third, listen to Chuck’s messages to those in ministry through our Seminary Chapels page. For decades, he offered students at Dallas Theological Seminary his best thoughts on church leadership and ministry. Now, we have put them at your finger tips. Also, you can find them through this YouTube playlist we created for you.

Fourth, if you don’t own a copy of Chuck’s book on preaching, Saying It Well, we highly recommend you add it to your library. It’s his preaching memoir that is also like a practical preaching manual. You won’t be able to put it down.

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