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Good morning! I'm so glad you're here today. My name is Manny Arango, and I'm coming all the way from Dallas, Texas. I believe God has a word for us today.
Before we dive in, I want to start with something important: context changes everything. Let me give you an example that might sound strange at first, but then we'll put it in context.
On June 8th, 2024, I will graduate with my doctorate. I'll be Dr. Manny Arango. I'm very excited about this.
But here's the context you need to understand what that really means:
My father was incarcerated for 18 years in Cuba. When he immigrated to this country in the late 70s and early 80s, he started selling drugs for his uncle and abusing drugs. My biological father took me to a crack house for the first time when I was 5 years old.
My mother was pregnant with my older sister at age 12. She gave birth at 13. She was pregnant again at 14 and gave birth at 15. Both of my aunts are prostitutes. All five of my uncles are alcoholics. Every single one of my cousins—I've met them all through glass because they were incarcerated.
And I am the first Arango with a bachelor's degree. The first Arango with a master's degree. On June 8th, 2024, I'll be the first Arango with a doctorate.
I'm the first Arango to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm the first Arango to be water and fire baptized. I'm the first Arango to look every generational curse in its face and declare:
"JESUS SAID I'M FREE. JESUS SAID I'M NOT CURSED. I'M BLESSED. I'M BLESSED IN THE CITY. BLESSED IN THE FIELD. BLESSED WHEN I COME. BLESSED WHEN I GO. MY FATHER CAN'T CURSE ME. MY GRANDFATHER CAN'T CURSE ME. MY UNCLE CAN'T CURSE ME. MY AUNT CAN'T CURSE ME. I'M BLESSED FROM THE CROWN OF MY HEAD TO THE SOLES OF MY FEET."
I'm the first Arango to own property. The first Arango to have kids after marriage, not before.
Do you see what happened? The first time I told you I was graduating with my doctorate, you gave me a polite golf clap. But when I put it in context—when you understood the generational patterns I'm breaking—you gave me a standing ovation. Same content. Different context. Completely different meaning.
If you're a husband in this room, you're a master of context. There's a difference between your wife saying, "I'm okay" and "I'm okay." Same words. One could mean she's very happy. One could mean you need counseling.
When your wife says, "No, you get food. I'm not hungry," that's a test. You understand this as context.
On December 1st, when your wife says, "You don't need to get me nothing for Christmas," don't believe it. Her birthday was in March. She started sending you random links to websites in September. Those links were Christmas gifts. On December 25th, you don't show up empty-handed. You apply context.
We're living in a cultural climate of clips and comments. People take a 45-second TikTok or Instagram clip and respond to it without ever understanding the full context. Then they come back saying, "I heard you said..." They quote the content but ignore the context—the tone, the timing, the reason you said it, what prompted you to say it.
You've experienced the frustration of being taken out of context. I've experienced it. And God has experienced it.
I see Instagram bios that say "Jeremiah 29:11"—"I have plans for you, plans to give you a hope and a future." But the pictures are reckless. That's not what Jesus meant.
Look at Rebecca in the Bible. God told her, "The two nations wrestling in your womb—the younger shall lead the older." Rebecca heard God correctly, but then she took God's word out of context and tricked her husband into blessing the wrong son. How many Christians use a word from God to then manipulate other people? You've used a word from God to act ungodly.
This is why you need pastors in your life—people you submit what God said to you to somebody else, so that you don't just hear the word, but you actually apply what God said in context. The end does not justify the means. You can't take a word from God and then act like the devil and think that since you sprinkled some God on it, it's okay.
Today, I want to take a Bible passage that everybody knows and put it in proper context. We're going to look at the story of David and Goliath in 1 Samuel 17. But the mistake we make is that we immediately jump to chapter 17.
We need to back up to 1 Samuel 13 to get the real context.
1 Samuel 13:19 tells us:
"Not a [smith] could be found in the whole land of [Israel] because the Philistines...said, 'Otherwise, the Hebrews will make [swords] or [spears].'"
The Philistines understood something crucial: If we defeat them without disarming them, our defeat over them will not be permanent. They needed to take away the blacksmiths, the swords, the spears. They understood that as long as the people of God had weapons, they had an opportunity to throw off oppression.
The Philistines are a picture of the enemy's schemes in your life. The devil is not content to simply defeat you. The devil wants to disarm you. He wants to take away your pastors. He wants to take away your swords. He wants you to live a defenseless, prayerless, worshipless, wordless life.
But hear this: You may not be able to control whether he defeats you, but you can control whether he disarms you.
You can make up your mind: "I will enter into His courts with thanksgiving. I'll enter into His gates with praise. I may not be perfect, but I know how to praise Him from a defeated place. I may be anxious, but I know how to praise. I may be depressed, but I know how to praise. I'm going to lift up my voice and lift up my hands and shout unto God with the voice of triumph."
The enemy doesn't just want to defeat you. He wants to rob you of all your weapons. This is why the angels sing better than us—in octaves we've never heard. They sing the same song forever: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty." After we sing the chorus three times, we're tired.
But angels don't worship better than you. No angel has ever worshipped for the blood. No angel has ever worshipped for grace. No angel has ever worshipped for Calvary.
The first time an angel sinned, God created hell for that angel and all his demons. The first time man sinned, God sent His Son to die in your place. When Lucifer got the law, you got grace.
The reason the devil hates it when you worship is because it reminds him that he'll never be able to lift up holy hands in the presence of God again. You are his replacement.
Even from a defeated place, I'll praise. I will not allow the enemy to convince me that God needs my perfection. I will not allow the enemy to convince me that because I cannot offer perfection, I cannot offer perfect praise.
Perfect praise is not praise given from a person that is perfect. Perfect praise is given to the one that is perfect. I can give perfect praise because of the object of my praise, not the subject of my praise. I offer Him praise that is perfect because the one who was perfect was treated like a sinner so that sinners can be treated as perfect. This is the divine exchange—the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Verse 22 of 1 Samuel 13 tells us:
"So on the day of the battle, not a [sword or spear] was to be found in the hand of any of the people with Saul and Jonathan, but Saul and his son Jonathan had them."
Hundreds of thousands of soldiers. An enemy to fight. And they lined up without swords. Without spears. They'd heard stories of a day when they used to have weapons. When they used to have the glory of the Lord. When churches used to be full. Victories of the past told and retold. And now they're lining up to fight with no weapons.
Two swords. That's all. Saul had one. Jonathan had one.
I can imagine David on the day of the battle, looking at Goliath, this giant pacing back and forth.
Everyone around him is saying, "We see him, too. His name is Goliath. It's kind of hard to miss."
But David says something different. David mutters words that I believe summarize his entire perspective:
"I see my sword. I see my sword."
David isn't saying, "I don't see the giant." The giant is right there. Everyone sees the giant.
But David is saying:
"I DON'T SEE GIANTS. I SEE A SWORD. I DON'T SEE OPPOSITION. I SEE AN OPPORTUNITY. I DON'T SEE AN OBSTACLE. I SEE WHAT GOD IS ABOUT TO DO. I DON'T SEE MYSELF AS A VICTIM. I SEE THE VICTORY OF GOD. I DON'T SEE THE PROBLEM. I SEE THE POTENTIAL OF WHAT GOD IS ABOUT TO DO."
The problem is that you've been seeing giants. You know so much about the giant. You have a PhD in your issue. You can tell me everything about your struggle. But here's the issue: You can never fix your faith till you fix your eyes. You can't fix your emotions until you fix your eyes.
Elisha had a servant who was anxious. The servant said, "Hey, there's an army outside." Elisha prayed, "God, open his eyes that he may see that there's more for us than against us." God opened his eyes, and the servant could see that surrounding the physical army was a spiritual army. The servant realized, "I don't need to be anxious because I've opened my eyes to see that the giant opposing me is here to bless me. The giant is here to operate in the gift of giving. He's about to give me a new sword."
Giants are God's delivery system for new weapons.
This is the real revelation: When you put this story in context, you realize that giants isn't about defeating enemies. Giants is about getting weapons.
You see how I gave you the same content? "I'm graduating with my doctorate on June 8th, 2024." The first time, you gave me a golf clap. Once we put that into context, we got a standing ovation.
It's the same with the David and Goliath story. Everyone focuses on the giant. But the real story is about the sword.
How do I know that David is there not just to kill a giant but to get a sword? Because after David defeats Goliath with the sling and stone, he never uses that weapon again. Ever again. Not once. After he uses the weapon he has to get the weapon he needs, he never picks up a sling or a stone in the entire rest of Scripture.
This story was not about killing giants. It was about getting weapons.
Here's what this means for your life: You've been saved for 10 years, but you're still fighting with the weapon you got on year one. Every time God gives you an opportunity to get new weapons, you run away.
God is not going to Amazon Prime a sword to your house. If you're going to upgrade your arsenal, the only way to upgrade is to kill the giant that's holding your sword.
At some point, you're going to realize that the giant of depression is holding the sword of your joy. You're not going to magically wake up one day full of joy. You're going to have to kill this giant in order to get that sword.
You need to wake up to the reality that if God allowed the giant of anxiety to be in your life, it's because God wants to give you the sword of peace. We cannot magically give you peace. But we can certainly kick you into the battlefield and make you confront the giant that you're scared to confront.
This is why David doesn't borrow Saul's armor. Anything you borrow, you have to return. Armor includes a sword. So David refuses to borrow anything Saul provides because:
"Anything I borrow, I have to return. But whatever I kill, I get to keep."
"I want a sword for the rest of my life. Why would I want to return this? I'm about to own this sword because I killed this giant."
You can't live off your grandmother's prayer life. You cannot borrow your mother's gift of intercession. Maybe this giant is actually here to teach you how to pray.
I remember an older pastor at our church—Pastor Al. This man could pray. I mean, the man could really pray. Authority, boldness, poetic. I'm thinking, "Did you prepare this prayer? Did you write this down?" No, it was spontaneous. Just spitting bars. Just praying.
When my wife and I walked through five years of infertility, at first I'd say, "Pastor Al, just pray for me, man. Pastor Al, just pray."
But then I realized: "Why am I trying to borrow Pastor Al's sword? I don't need to borrow his prayer. I need to kill my own giant. This giant is here to teach me how to dig in, how to dig my heels in."
By the time those five years were over, I could pray like Pastor Al. I could pray like Pastor Al because I killed the giant. I went to war for myself. On the day of the battle, I refused to see a giant.
I'm not telling you something I studied. I'm telling you something I know.
During our infertility journey, I started telling my wife, "I see my sword. I see my sword."
She'd ask, "Why are you talking in preacher talk?"
I'd say, "Because I don't see infertility. I see what God is about to do. When mail comes to your house that doesn't belong to you, you write 'return to sender.' When infertility showed up to my house, I'm not bringing this into my house as if it's mine. I MEET SO MANY YOUNG ADULTS WHO SAY, 'PASTOR MANNY, I NEED YOU TO HELP ME WITH MY ANXIETY.'
"The operative word there is mine. If you don't want it, why are you calling it yours? You need to write return to sender. Ship that back to the enemy. Why are you bringing that in your house? Why are you claiming that as yours? I'm not infertile. I'm not anxious. I'm not depressed. Why would I confess that out of my mouth? Why would I make a bad situation worse with the words that come out of my mouth?"
Every time we went to a doctor's appointment and they gave us bad news—and for 5 years, it was always bad news: "You're never going to get pregnant. You need to adopt"—we developed a tradition. Every time they gave us bad news, we went to Target.
Target is a fantastic place. But we went in faith. The first time we went, we bought a crib. Second time, we bought a Diaper Genie. By the time we went back multiple times, I was following other parents around.
"What y'all buying?" "We're buying this crib thing." "Okay, I'm going to buy one too. And I'm going to buy yours."
Because I cannot go where I refuse to sow. If I want to become a parent, I better start blessing parents.
We started buying onesies. By the time we got pregnant, there was nothing left to put on the baby registry. We had already bought everything. And on one of those onesies, we put the words: "I see my sword."
That's my little miracle. My son's about to turn 3 years old. Don't tell me what the doctor told you. Jesus says I'm healed. Don't tell me what the loan officer told you. What do you believe? Do you believe in what the loan officer said, or do you believe that God is Jehovah Jireh?
I went and bought a house. Because you can't say you believe for something you've never prepared for.
God doesn't make the whales and sharks and then go, "Oh, and me. Where am I going to put this?" No. He forms first, then fills. He creates the environment first, then fills it.
There's a lot of us believing God to fill stuff you've never formed. Why would God fill your 800 square foot apartment with kids? You don't have room for kids. Some of you haven't formed space for a spouse. You play video games all weekend and you're in debt. You don't have space for a wife.
For millennials and Gen Z, we saw our parents abuse faith. So now the pendulum has swung all the way to no faith. We call it contentment, but it's not biblical contentment. Paul said, "I've learned to be content in much and in lack." There's some of us who have never experienced much. All you've experienced is lack. And you call that contentment.
Contentment is being okay with any season of life. But some of us are just content with the only season we've ever known. That's not contentment—that's laziness.
So you tell yourself, "I don't even want kids. I don't want a husband." You're lying. Some of you really don't want a husband—awesome. But some of you are just saying that because you're scared you'll never get one. You're protecting yourself from disappointment.
God can't give you stuff that you say you don't want. You said no.
How do I know that David is not just there to kill a giant but there to get a sword? Here's how I know:
When the sling and stone hit Goliath, he dies on impact. Period. Dead.
But then David springs into action. And here's the thing: The Bible doesn't say Goliath falls backwards. The Bible says Goliath falls forward.
Because anybody can make a giant fall. But only a worshiper can make a giant worship.
I don't just want depression to fall. I want depression to bow its knee at the matchless name of Jesus. I don't just want anxiety to fall. I want anxiety to bow. You will bow at the matchless name of Jesus. I don't just want infertility to fall. I want infertility to bow. You will confess that Jesus is Lord.
Worshipers create atmospheres. And when worshipers create atmospheres, everyone worships. It gets contagious.
The moment Goliath dies, David doesn't celebrate. What does David do? He runs over to Goliath and unsheathes his sword and cuts off the enemy's head. Because:
"I'm not playing with no generational curse. I'm not just going to kill it. I'm going to steal from it and I'm going to destroy that thing. I came to kill, steal, and destroy. I did not just come to kill this giant. I came to steal the thing the enemy's been trying to do to me. I'm about to do to the enemy. I'm going to steal, kill, and destroy everything that's been trying to steal, kill, and destroy me."
I want to ask you two questions as we wrap up:
Who needs to make a perspective shift today? You've been seeing giants. You know so much about the giant. You need to shift your perspective to start seeing the swords that God has for you.
If God has allowed the giant into your life, everything in your life is to bring Him glory and to make you better. So if there's a giant, that means there's a sword.
Here's the second perspective: You see the sword. But the sword's almost become an idol.
Everyone you talk to, you just tell them about the sword you don't have. You overemphasize what you could do with a sword you don't have. And you've underemphasized what you can do with the sling and the stone you do have.
Everything you need, you already have. It's right there. But sometimes God has shown us a sword, and we've got tunnel vision. We're so focused on the sword we don't have that we haven't even maximized the potential of the sling and the stone we do have.
When my wife and I's perspective shifted during our infertility journey, everything changed. I stopped getting triggered by Father's Day and Mother's Day, and I started blessing parents. I said, "Yep, I know that there's a sword that I want, but I'm not about to turn that sword into an idol. I have to hold these things in tension."
God, give us real contentment. Biblical contentment. Not just a lie that tells us we're content when we really should be contending for the stuff You've given us vision for. God, give us faith. Don't just give us ambition. Give us faith.
All heads bowed, all eyes closed.
If you're in the room today and you don't identify as a Christian, but something was said today that made you want to surrender your life to the lordship of Jesus—maybe you're saying, "I need a second chance. I need grace. I need forgiveness. I need mercy."
I'm here to tell you: The sermon I just gave is not a motivational talk. It was a sermon. A motivational talk means you need to believe in yourself more. A sermon means you need to believe in Jesus more.
Here's the good news: God treated one man who was perfect as if he was a sinner so that He could treat sinners as if we were perfect. You never have to deal with the consequences of your sin if you place your life in the hands of Jesus.
With all heads bowed and all eyes closed, if you need to get right with God—you've been running away from the Lord, you know you and God aren't on good terms, and you need to get right with God—can you just lift your hands up?
Whether you're online or in the room, I want you to pray this prayer with me:
"Jesus, thank you for loving me. Jesus, thank you for dying in my place. You died for me. You died as me. I confess that you are Lord. And I surrender my life to you today. As of today, I'm a new creation in Christ. The old has gone and the new has come."
Good morning! I'm so glad you're here today. My name is Manny Arango, and I'm coming all the way from Dallas, Texas. I believe God has a word for us today.
Before we dive in, I want to start with something important: context changes everything. Let me give you an example that might sound strange at first, but then we'll put it in context.
On June 8th, 2024, I will graduate with my doctorate. I'll be Dr. Manny Arango. I'm very excited about this.
But here's the context you need to understand what that really means:
My father was incarcerated for 18 years in Cuba. When he immigrated to this country in the late 70s and early 80s, he started selling drugs for his uncle and abusing drugs. My biological father took me to a crack house for the first time when I was 5 years old.
My mother was pregnant with my older sister at age 12. She gave birth at 13. She was pregnant again at 14 and gave birth at 15. Both of my aunts are prostitutes. All five of my uncles are alcoholics. Every single one of my cousins—I've met them all through glass because they were incarcerated.
And I am the first Arango with a bachelor's degree. The first Arango with a master's degree. On June 8th, 2024, I'll be the first Arango with a doctorate.
I'm the first Arango to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm the first Arango to be water and fire baptized. I'm the first Arango to look every generational curse in its face and declare:
"JESUS SAID I'M FREE. JESUS SAID I'M NOT CURSED. I'M BLESSED. I'M BLESSED IN THE CITY. BLESSED IN THE FIELD. BLESSED WHEN I COME. BLESSED WHEN I GO. MY FATHER CAN'T CURSE ME. MY GRANDFATHER CAN'T CURSE ME. MY UNCLE CAN'T CURSE ME. MY AUNT CAN'T CURSE ME. I'M BLESSED FROM THE CROWN OF MY HEAD TO THE SOLES OF MY FEET."
I'm the first Arango to own property. The first Arango to have kids after marriage, not before.
Do you see what happened? The first time I told you I was graduating with my doctorate, you gave me a polite golf clap. But when I put it in context—when you understood the generational patterns I'm breaking—you gave me a standing ovation. Same content. Different context. Completely different meaning.
If you're a husband in this room, you're a master of context. There's a difference between your wife saying, "I'm okay" and "I'm okay." Same words. One could mean she's very happy. One could mean you need counseling.
When your wife says, "No, you get food. I'm not hungry," that's a test. You understand this as context.
On December 1st, when your wife says, "You don't need to get me nothing for Christmas," don't believe it. Her birthday was in March. She started sending you random links to websites in September. Those links were Christmas gifts. On December 25th, you don't show up empty-handed. You apply context.
We're living in a cultural climate of clips and comments. People take a 45-second TikTok or Instagram clip and respond to it without ever understanding the full context. Then they come back saying, "I heard you said..." They quote the content but ignore the context—the tone, the timing, the reason you said it, what prompted you to say it.
You've experienced the frustration of being taken out of context. I've experienced it. And God has experienced it.
I see Instagram bios that say "Jeremiah 29:11"—"I have plans for you, plans to give you a hope and a future." But the pictures are reckless. That's not what Jesus meant.
Look at Rebecca in the Bible. God told her, "The two nations wrestling in your womb—the younger shall lead the older." Rebecca heard God correctly, but then she took God's word out of context and tricked her husband into blessing the wrong son. How many Christians use a word from God to then manipulate other people? You've used a word from God to act ungodly.
This is why you need pastors in your life—people you submit what God said to you to somebody else, so that you don't just hear the word, but you actually apply what God said in context. The end does not justify the means. You can't take a word from God and then act like the devil and think that since you sprinkled some God on it, it's okay.
Today, I want to take a Bible passage that everybody knows and put it in proper context. We're going to look at the story of David and Goliath in 1 Samuel 17. But the mistake we make is that we immediately jump to chapter 17.
We need to back up to 1 Samuel 13 to get the real context.
1 Samuel 13:19 tells us:
"Not a [smith] could be found in the whole land of [Israel] because the Philistines...said, 'Otherwise, the Hebrews will make [swords] or [spears].'"
The Philistines understood something crucial: If we defeat them without disarming them, our defeat over them will not be permanent. They needed to take away the blacksmiths, the swords, the spears. They understood that as long as the people of God had weapons, they had an opportunity to throw off oppression.
The Philistines are a picture of the enemy's schemes in your life. The devil is not content to simply defeat you. The devil wants to disarm you. He wants to take away your pastors. He wants to take away your swords. He wants you to live a defenseless, prayerless, worshipless, wordless life.
But hear this: You may not be able to control whether he defeats you, but you can control whether he disarms you.
You can make up your mind: "I will enter into His courts with thanksgiving. I'll enter into His gates with praise. I may not be perfect, but I know how to praise Him from a defeated place. I may be anxious, but I know how to praise. I may be depressed, but I know how to praise. I'm going to lift up my voice and lift up my hands and shout unto God with the voice of triumph."
The enemy doesn't just want to defeat you. He wants to rob you of all your weapons. This is why the angels sing better than us—in octaves we've never heard. They sing the same song forever: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty." After we sing the chorus three times, we're tired.
But angels don't worship better than you. No angel has ever worshipped for the blood. No angel has ever worshipped for grace. No angel has ever worshipped for Calvary.
The first time an angel sinned, God created hell for that angel and all his demons. The first time man sinned, God sent His Son to die in your place. When Lucifer got the law, you got grace.
The reason the devil hates it when you worship is because it reminds him that he'll never be able to lift up holy hands in the presence of God again. You are his replacement.
Even from a defeated place, I'll praise. I will not allow the enemy to convince me that God needs my perfection. I will not allow the enemy to convince me that because I cannot offer perfection, I cannot offer perfect praise.
Perfect praise is not praise given from a person that is perfect. Perfect praise is given to the one that is perfect. I can give perfect praise because of the object of my praise, not the subject of my praise. I offer Him praise that is perfect because the one who was perfect was treated like a sinner so that sinners can be treated as perfect. This is the divine exchange—the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Verse 22 of 1 Samuel 13 tells us:
"So on the day of the battle, not a [sword or spear] was to be found in the hand of any of the people with Saul and Jonathan, but Saul and his son Jonathan had them."
Hundreds of thousands of soldiers. An enemy to fight. And they lined up without swords. Without spears. They'd heard stories of a day when they used to have weapons. When they used to have the glory of the Lord. When churches used to be full. Victories of the past told and retold. And now they're lining up to fight with no weapons.
Two swords. That's all. Saul had one. Jonathan had one.
I can imagine David on the day of the battle, looking at Goliath, this giant pacing back and forth.
Everyone around him is saying, "We see him, too. His name is Goliath. It's kind of hard to miss."
But David says something different. David mutters words that I believe summarize his entire perspective:
"I see my sword. I see my sword."
David isn't saying, "I don't see the giant." The giant is right there. Everyone sees the giant.
But David is saying:
"I DON'T SEE GIANTS. I SEE A SWORD. I DON'T SEE OPPOSITION. I SEE AN OPPORTUNITY. I DON'T SEE AN OBSTACLE. I SEE WHAT GOD IS ABOUT TO DO. I DON'T SEE MYSELF AS A VICTIM. I SEE THE VICTORY OF GOD. I DON'T SEE THE PROBLEM. I SEE THE POTENTIAL OF WHAT GOD IS ABOUT TO DO."
The problem is that you've been seeing giants. You know so much about the giant. You have a PhD in your issue. You can tell me everything about your struggle. But here's the issue: You can never fix your faith till you fix your eyes. You can't fix your emotions until you fix your eyes.
Elisha had a servant who was anxious. The servant said, "Hey, there's an army outside." Elisha prayed, "God, open his eyes that he may see that there's more for us than against us." God opened his eyes, and the servant could see that surrounding the physical army was a spiritual army. The servant realized, "I don't need to be anxious because I've opened my eyes to see that the giant opposing me is here to bless me. The giant is here to operate in the gift of giving. He's about to give me a new sword."
Giants are God's delivery system for new weapons.
This is the real revelation: When you put this story in context, you realize that giants isn't about defeating enemies. Giants is about getting weapons.
You see how I gave you the same content? "I'm graduating with my doctorate on June 8th, 2024." The first time, you gave me a golf clap. Once we put that into context, we got a standing ovation.
It's the same with the David and Goliath story. Everyone focuses on the giant. But the real story is about the sword.
How do I know that David is there not just to kill a giant but to get a sword? Because after David defeats Goliath with the sling and stone, he never uses that weapon again. Ever again. Not once. After he uses the weapon he has to get the weapon he needs, he never picks up a sling or a stone in the entire rest of Scripture.
This story was not about killing giants. It was about getting weapons.
Here's what this means for your life: You've been saved for 10 years, but you're still fighting with the weapon you got on year one. Every time God gives you an opportunity to get new weapons, you run away.
God is not going to Amazon Prime a sword to your house. If you're going to upgrade your arsenal, the only way to upgrade is to kill the giant that's holding your sword.
At some point, you're going to realize that the giant of depression is holding the sword of your joy. You're not going to magically wake up one day full of joy. You're going to have to kill this giant in order to get that sword.
You need to wake up to the reality that if God allowed the giant of anxiety to be in your life, it's because God wants to give you the sword of peace. We cannot magically give you peace. But we can certainly kick you into the battlefield and make you confront the giant that you're scared to confront.
This is why David doesn't borrow Saul's armor. Anything you borrow, you have to return. Armor includes a sword. So David refuses to borrow anything Saul provides because:
"Anything I borrow, I have to return. But whatever I kill, I get to keep."
"I want a sword for the rest of my life. Why would I want to return this? I'm about to own this sword because I killed this giant."
You can't live off your grandmother's prayer life. You cannot borrow your mother's gift of intercession. Maybe this giant is actually here to teach you how to pray.
I remember an older pastor at our church—Pastor Al. This man could pray. I mean, the man could really pray. Authority, boldness, poetic. I'm thinking, "Did you prepare this prayer? Did you write this down?" No, it was spontaneous. Just spitting bars. Just praying.
When my wife and I walked through five years of infertility, at first I'd say, "Pastor Al, just pray for me, man. Pastor Al, just pray."
But then I realized: "Why am I trying to borrow Pastor Al's sword? I don't need to borrow his prayer. I need to kill my own giant. This giant is here to teach me how to dig in, how to dig my heels in."
By the time those five years were over, I could pray like Pastor Al. I could pray like Pastor Al because I killed the giant. I went to war for myself. On the day of the battle, I refused to see a giant.
I'm not telling you something I studied. I'm telling you something I know.
During our infertility journey, I started telling my wife, "I see my sword. I see my sword."
She'd ask, "Why are you talking in preacher talk?"
I'd say, "Because I don't see infertility. I see what God is about to do. When mail comes to your house that doesn't belong to you, you write 'return to sender.' When infertility showed up to my house, I'm not bringing this into my house as if it's mine. I MEET SO MANY YOUNG ADULTS WHO SAY, 'PASTOR MANNY, I NEED YOU TO HELP ME WITH MY ANXIETY.'
"The operative word there is mine. If you don't want it, why are you calling it yours? You need to write return to sender. Ship that back to the enemy. Why are you bringing that in your house? Why are you claiming that as yours? I'm not infertile. I'm not anxious. I'm not depressed. Why would I confess that out of my mouth? Why would I make a bad situation worse with the words that come out of my mouth?"
Every time we went to a doctor's appointment and they gave us bad news—and for 5 years, it was always bad news: "You're never going to get pregnant. You need to adopt"—we developed a tradition. Every time they gave us bad news, we went to Target.
Target is a fantastic place. But we went in faith. The first time we went, we bought a crib. Second time, we bought a Diaper Genie. By the time we went back multiple times, I was following other parents around.
"What y'all buying?" "We're buying this crib thing." "Okay, I'm going to buy one too. And I'm going to buy yours."
Because I cannot go where I refuse to sow. If I want to become a parent, I better start blessing parents.
We started buying onesies. By the time we got pregnant, there was nothing left to put on the baby registry. We had already bought everything. And on one of those onesies, we put the words: "I see my sword."
That's my little miracle. My son's about to turn 3 years old. Don't tell me what the doctor told you. Jesus says I'm healed. Don't tell me what the loan officer told you. What do you believe? Do you believe in what the loan officer said, or do you believe that God is Jehovah Jireh?
I went and bought a house. Because you can't say you believe for something you've never prepared for.
God doesn't make the whales and sharks and then go, "Oh, and me. Where am I going to put this?" No. He forms first, then fills. He creates the environment first, then fills it.
There's a lot of us believing God to fill stuff you've never formed. Why would God fill your 800 square foot apartment with kids? You don't have room for kids. Some of you haven't formed space for a spouse. You play video games all weekend and you're in debt. You don't have space for a wife.
For millennials and Gen Z, we saw our parents abuse faith. So now the pendulum has swung all the way to no faith. We call it contentment, but it's not biblical contentment. Paul said, "I've learned to be content in much and in lack." There's some of us who have never experienced much. All you've experienced is lack. And you call that contentment.
Contentment is being okay with any season of life. But some of us are just content with the only season we've ever known. That's not contentment—that's laziness.
So you tell yourself, "I don't even want kids. I don't want a husband." You're lying. Some of you really don't want a husband—awesome. But some of you are just saying that because you're scared you'll never get one. You're protecting yourself from disappointment.
God can't give you stuff that you say you don't want. You said no.
How do I know that David is not just there to kill a giant but there to get a sword? Here's how I know:
When the sling and stone hit Goliath, he dies on impact. Period. Dead.
But then David springs into action. And here's the thing: The Bible doesn't say Goliath falls backwards. The Bible says Goliath falls forward.
Because anybody can make a giant fall. But only a worshiper can make a giant worship.
I don't just want depression to fall. I want depression to bow its knee at the matchless name of Jesus. I don't just want anxiety to fall. I want anxiety to bow. You will bow at the matchless name of Jesus. I don't just want infertility to fall. I want infertility to bow. You will confess that Jesus is Lord.
Worshipers create atmospheres. And when worshipers create atmospheres, everyone worships. It gets contagious.
The moment Goliath dies, David doesn't celebrate. What does David do? He runs over to Goliath and unsheathes his sword and cuts off the enemy's head. Because:
"I'm not playing with no generational curse. I'm not just going to kill it. I'm going to steal from it and I'm going to destroy that thing. I came to kill, steal, and destroy. I did not just come to kill this giant. I came to steal the thing the enemy's been trying to do to me. I'm about to do to the enemy. I'm going to steal, kill, and destroy everything that's been trying to steal, kill, and destroy me."
I want to ask you two questions as we wrap up:
Who needs to make a perspective shift today? You've been seeing giants. You know so much about the giant. You need to shift your perspective to start seeing the swords that God has for you.
If God has allowed the giant into your life, everything in your life is to bring Him glory and to make you better. So if there's a giant, that means there's a sword.
Here's the second perspective: You see the sword. But the sword's almost become an idol.
Everyone you talk to, you just tell them about the sword you don't have. You overemphasize what you could do with a sword you don't have. And you've underemphasized what you can do with the sling and the stone you do have.
Everything you need, you already have. It's right there. But sometimes God has shown us a sword, and we've got tunnel vision. We're so focused on the sword we don't have that we haven't even maximized the potential of the sling and the stone we do have.
When my wife and I's perspective shifted during our infertility journey, everything changed. I stopped getting triggered by Father's Day and Mother's Day, and I started blessing parents. I said, "Yep, I know that there's a sword that I want, but I'm not about to turn that sword into an idol. I have to hold these things in tension."
God, give us real contentment. Biblical contentment. Not just a lie that tells us we're content when we really should be contending for the stuff You've given us vision for. God, give us faith. Don't just give us ambition. Give us faith.
All heads bowed, all eyes closed.
If you're in the room today and you don't identify as a Christian, but something was said today that made you want to surrender your life to the lordship of Jesus—maybe you're saying, "I need a second chance. I need grace. I need forgiveness. I need mercy."
I'm here to tell you: The sermon I just gave is not a motivational talk. It was a sermon. A motivational talk means you need to believe in yourself more. A sermon means you need to believe in Jesus more.
Here's the good news: God treated one man who was perfect as if he was a sinner so that He could treat sinners as if we were perfect. You never have to deal with the consequences of your sin if you place your life in the hands of Jesus.
With all heads bowed and all eyes closed, if you need to get right with God—you've been running away from the Lord, you know you and God aren't on good terms, and you need to get right with God—can you just lift your hands up?
Whether you're online or in the room, I want you to pray this prayer with me:
"Jesus, thank you for loving me. Jesus, thank you for dying in my place. You died for me. You died as me. I confess that you are Lord. And I surrender my life to you today. As of today, I'm a new creation in Christ. The old has gone and the new has come."
