The Giant That Shows Up When Everything Is Going Right

There's a giant I want to warn you about. Unlike the others we've faced in this series, this one doesn't show up when everything is falling apart. This giant shows up when everything is going right.

We've spent the last several weeks running through the book of Joshua together, watching God bring His people victory after victory — crossing the Jordan at flood stage, watching the walls of Jericho fall, defeating enemies on every side. And now we've arrived at Joshua chapter 24, the final chapter. Israel is standing in the Promised Land. The land God swore to Abraham centuries earlier, at the very same location where Joshua has now gathered the people.

They had every reason to celebrate. And right in the middle of that celebration, Joshua looks at the crowd and delivers a warning.

A Milestone Is Not the Finish Line

Before I tell you about the giant, let me tell you about Molly Huddle. 

She's an American distance runner who competed in the 10,000-meter race — that's 25 laps around the track — at the 2016 World Championships in Beijing. She ran 24 and a half laps against the world's greatest distance runners. As she approached the finish line in third place, she did what so many of us do in that moment: she raised her arms and began to celebrate.

Her fellow American, Emily Infeld, sprinted underneath her arms and crossed the line first.

Nine-hundredths of a second separated them. Less than a tenth of a second. The finish line didn't move. Molly just eased up.

That's the giant of enough. He doesn't try to convince you to quit. He only wants to convince you that it's okay to ease up.

Three Lies the Giant Whispers

Joshua saw this giant coming. After recounting God's faithfulness — the battles won, the land given, the cities they didn't build and the vineyards they didn't plant — he says this in Joshua 24:14-15:

"Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve... But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

Joshua is refusing to let yesterday's victories become an excuse for neglecting tomorrow's faithfulness.

I think the giant of enough whispers three specific lies to get us there:

"I've done enough." I've worked hard enough, sacrificed enough, done my part. I've earned the right to ease up. This lie gives us permission to get comfortable.

"I know enough." I've heard this before. I've learned all I need to know. This lie gives us permission to stop growing, stop listening, stop being shaped by God's Word.

"I have enough time." I'll deal with that later. I'll get serious about God someday. This may be the most dangerous lie of all. As a mentor once told me: you always pay in leadership — the only question is whether you pay today or tomorrow with interest.

Complacency has a way of always charging interest.

Choices, Convictions, and Covenants

Here's what I find remarkable about Joshua's response. He doesn't just ask the people to decide better or feel more strongly. He moves them all the way to a covenant.

Choices change. Convictions, if we're honest, often bend around our preferences and what's convenient for us. But Joshua 24:25 tells us: "So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day."

A covenant is a binding commitment with eternal consequences. Joshua is saying: your relationship with God isn't something you get to renegotiate on your terms.

And here's where it gets beautiful for us. Centuries later, at the Last Supper, Jesus said to His disciples in Luke 22: "This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood."

When Jesus died on the cross, He made a new covenant — one we were invited into not because of what we had done, but because of what He did.

The Only One Who Is Enough

Here's the truth the giant of enough doesn't want you to hear: you and I could never do enough on our own. The Bible is clear that all of us have sinned and fallen short of God's perfect standard. No amount of trying harder, being better, or getting more serious can save us.

That's why Jesus came.

He lived the perfect life of obedience we couldn't live, went to the cross and paid for our sins, and then — in what might be my favorite three-word verse in all of Scripture — declared in John 19:30: "It is finished."

Not "try harder." Not "do a little more." It is finished.

I used to run track in high school and college. Some of the best races I ever ran were the ones where our team had already won the meet before we even stepped to the line. The victory was already decided. We just got to go run — free from pressure, free from the weight of having to earn something.

That's what following Jesus looks like. He already won the meet. We get to go run our race — not to earn the victory, but because He already secured it.

Come to Him Today

If you're in a season where the giants haven't fallen yet, I want you to hear the story of Caleb. Joshua's oldest friend. Eighty-five years old. Still facing giants. Still waiting. And yet, God had not become unfaithful. The unfinished battle didn't mean God had abandoned him.

Jesus said it this way in Matthew 11:28: "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."

Not "come to me when you've won." Not "come to me when you've done enough." Just come.

That's the invitation. And it's enough.

---

If this message resonated with you, I'd encourage you to watch the full sermon and share it with someone who might need to hear it this week. And if you're ready to take a next step in your faith — whether that's starting a conversation, getting connected, or simply saying yes to the invitation Jesus is extending — I'd love to hear from you.

---

Hashtags: #SlayingGiants #TheGiantOfEnough #JoshuaSeries #ChurchOfEstrella #ItIsFinished

 

Your Limitations Don't Limit God

Have you ever looked at what you can't do and let it decide what God won't do? I think most of us have — and this past Sunday, I shared from Joshua 13 about why that's one of the most dangerous traps we can fall into.

God Already Knows Your Limitations

In Joshua 13:1, we read something that stopped me in my tracks:

"Now Joshua was old and advanced in years. And the Lord said to him, 'You are old and advanced in years, and there remains yet very much land to possess.'"

I love how direct God is here. The writer tells us Joshua is old, and then God tells Joshua he's old. That's a pretty blunt way to open a conversation. But here's what I want you to notice: God wasn't telling Joshua anything Joshua didn't already know. He wasn't surprised by the limitation. And neither is He surprised by yours.

What strikes me most is what God says next. Right in the same breath, He says there's still much land to possess. Two realities, side by side: Joshua is old, and God's mission is not finished. Joshua's circumstances had changed — but God's purpose for Israel had not.

The Mirror That Lies About God

When I was preparing this message, I kept coming back to this image: those fun house mirrors that stretch you out or squash you down. They don't change the person standing in front of them. They just distort what that person sees.

That's exactly what the giant of limitation does in our lives. It can tell the truth about me while lying about God. I might actually be too old, too young, too inexperienced, or too under-resourced. Those limitations might be completely real. But the giant takes what I lack and uses it to convince me of what God cannot do.

When I make my capacity the measure of what God can accomplish, I make myself the measuring stick for God. And that's a measuring stick that will always come up short.

Your Assignment Can Change — Your Calling Doesn't

Back in Joshua 13, God gives Joshua a specific word. He says in verse 6:

"I myself will drive them out from before the people of Israel. Only allot the land to Israel for an inheritance, as I have commanded you."

Did you catch the distinction? God tells Joshua what God is going to do, and He tells Joshua what Joshua is going to do. He doesn't say, "Figure out how to become young again." He gives Joshua a specific assignment within a mission that is much bigger than Joshua himself.

This is something I think the church needs to hear. Your assignment can change with age and season of life — health, finances, family responsibilities, new chapters — but a changed assignment isn't a canceled calling. God isn't asking you to be faithful with someone else's assignment. He's asking you to be faithful with yours.

The Apostle Paul understood this deeply. In 1 Corinthians 12:15-16 and 21-22, he describes the church as a body and lets the body parts speak:

"If the foot should say, 'Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,' that would not make it any less a part of the body... The eye cannot say to the hand, 'I have no need of you,' nor again the head to the feet, 'I have no need of you.' On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable."

One body part looks at what it lacks and concludes it doesn't matter. Another looks at what it has and concludes it doesn't need anyone else. Both are wrong. My gifts don't make me indispensable, and my gaps don't make me insignificant. We are no more our gifts than we are our gaps.

The Secret Paul Discovered

In Philippians 4:11-13, Paul writes something we often misread:

"I have learned in whatever situation I am in to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In every circumstance I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me."

We love that last verse. We put it on gym walls and coffee mugs. But Paul wasn't saying Jesus would make him capable of anything he wanted. He was saying that Christ is sufficient in every circumstance — including the ones we cannot change or control.

God didn't eliminate Joshua's age. He didn't remove Paul's hunger. He provided what they needed to remain faithful within their limitations. And I believe He does the same for us.

Availability Over Ability

Here's the conclusion I keep coming back to, and I want to leave it with you:

I don't defeat the giant of limitations by becoming more capable. I defeat it by becoming more available to the God who is able.

God's mission has never depended on any one person doing everything. It has always required His people to trust Him with who they are and what He's placed in their hands — limitations and all. Nobody is too old, too young, too poor, or too inexperienced to be part of what God is doing.

The question isn't whether you're qualified. It isn't whether you can do everything. The question is much simpler: Are you available?

As we launch our second service next Sunday to make room for more people who need Jesus and a church family, I want to invite you to ask that question honestly. Maybe you can't do everything — none of us can. But can you invite someone? Can you serve in one small way? Can you show up and say, "God, I don't know what I can do, but I'm available"?

That's all He's ever asked. And it's always been enough.

If you want to go deeper on this, I'd love for you to watch the full message and share it with someone who might need to hear it this week.

---

Social Media Excerpt (Facebook/Instagram): Your limitations are real. But here's what I've been sitting with all week: they don't determine what God can do through you. Joshua was old. Paul was hungry. And God used both of them powerfully. The question isn't whether you're qualified — it's whether you're available. Read this week's message recap and share it with someone who needs to hear it. 👇

Hashtags: #AvailableNotCapable #GiantsSeriesPart5 #JoshuaChapter13 #ChurchOnline #FaithOverLimitation

 

When the Evidence Looks Convincing But the Story Is a Lie

Meta Description: Deception doesn't need you to believe something ridiculous—just something reasonable that isn't true. Here's the weapon that defeats it. URL Slug: defeating-the-giant-of-deception Featured Image: A close-up of worn, dusty sandals or old bread on a wooden surface, evoking the ancient story with a sense of mystery and caution.

---

My youngest daughter, London, is a terrible liar. Not a terrible person — I love that girl more than words can say — but she cannot get all the details to match. There have been moments where I've looked at my wife Stephanie and whispered, don't tell her how we know. I genuinely fear the day she figures out how we keep catching her.

The Gibeonites, however, had no such problem.

A Deception Built, Not Just Told

This past Sunday, we were in Joshua chapter 9, and I want to bring you back into that story because I think it has something urgent to say to all of us.

Israel had been building momentum. They'd crossed the Jordan, brought down the walls of Jericho, and defeated Ai. The surrounding kings took notice and formed an alliance to fight back. But one group — the Gibeonites — decided they wouldn't fight Israel. They would fool Israel.

They didn't just tell a lie. They built one.

Worn-out sacks. Cracked wineskins. Patched sandals. Tattered clothes. Dry, crumbly bread they claimed was still warm when they left home. Every piece of evidence matched the story. Every detail confirmed the next. They didn't give Israel something to simply hear — they gave them something to see, to touch, to examine.

And that's what makes this kind of deception so dangerous. It doesn't look ridiculous. It looks completely reasonable.

Israel Had the Right Questions — But Silenced Them Too Soon

Here's what struck me most in preparing this message: Israel wasn't hopelessly naive. The discernment alarm bells were going off. They pushed back and asked the Gibeonites directly, "What if you actually live among us? How can we make a covenant with you?" That was a great question. Really good intuition.

But then the Gibeonites did what clever deceivers always do — they didn't fold, they just added more. More explanation. More detail. More evidence. And eventually, Israel let the convincing evidence silence their questions.

We live in a moment where this has never been more relevant. We can watch people build entire worlds that never happened. A picture can depict something that never occurred. Audio can fabricate words someone never spoke. But here's the thing — AI didn't invent deception. Joshua 9 was written thousands of years before anyone knew what artificial intelligence was, and the Gibeonites already understood: if you can make the evidence fit the story, the story becomes easier to believe.

Believable does not always mean true.

The Problem Wasn't the Bread. It Was That They Never Asked God.

Joshua 9:14 is the gut-punch of the whole passage: "The men took some of their provisions but did not ask counsel from the Lord."

They looked at the bread. They just didn't look to God.

Israel had information. Plenty of it. What they lacked was wisdom — the perspective of the One who could see what they couldn't see. And three days after signing the agreement, the truth came out. They were never incapable of discovering it. They were just three days away from clarity when they demanded an answer.

I wonder how many of us have made painful decisions because we — or someone else — demanded an answer today to something God would have made clear tomorrow. Urgency is often the enemy of discernment.

The Weapon That Defeats the Giant of Deception

You can't defeat deception with more information, more suspicion, or more cynicism. The weapon is discernment — and here's what discernment actually looks like. I want to walk you through it using one simple word: ASK.

A — Admit that you don't know it all. Discernment begins with humility. Israel's mistake wasn't looking at the bread. Their mistake was believing the bread could tell them everything they needed to know. The moment I admit I don't have the highest vantage point, I put myself in a position to ask the One who does.

S — Seek what God has said. Proverbs 2:4-6 puts it this way: "If you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God, for the Lord gives wisdom." Don't ask, "What makes sense to me?" Deception is specifically designed to make the wrong thing make sense to you. Ask instead, "God, what does your Word say about this?"

K — Keep your yes on the table before He answers. Proverbs 3:5-6 says: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths." Discernment isn't just discovering the truth — it's being willing to follow wherever it leads. God, if you say go, I'll go. If you say stop, I'll stop. If you say wait, I'll wait.

Our Hope Isn't in Never Being Fooled — It's in the One Who Is Truth

I want to be careful here, though. ASK is a practice, not the ultimate answer. The answer is Jesus.

Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 1:24 that "Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God." Jesus doesn't merely give wisdom — He is the wisdom of God. And in His own words, in John 14:6, He says: "I am the way, the truth, and the life." Not I know the truth. I am the truth.

I said it on Sunday and I'll say it again here: unbelievable does not mean untrue. If I told you that three days after being buried in a tomb, a dead man walked out alive — you'd say that's unbelievable. But truth walked out of that grave. And our hope isn't in our ability to recognize every lie. Our hope is in the One who is truth, who defeated sin and death, and who now calls us to carry that truth to people who desperately need Him.

---

Stale bread is a poor substitute for the Bread of Life.

This week, I want to challenge you to simply ask. Admit you don't see everything. Seek what God's Word says. And keep your yes on the table before He even answers.

The giant of deception is defeated by discernment — and discernment starts with humility before God and ends with obedience to whatever He says.

If you're not yet following Jesus and something in this resonated with you, I'd love to talk. 

And if you're already walking with Him, let me ask you this: Who has God placed in your life that needs to hear the truth? Don't just look at the bread — at their personality, their past, their Sunday habits — and make a covenant with that conclusion without ever asking God. Invite them. You might be three days away from a breakthrough you can't yet see.

---

Social Media Excerpt (Facebook/Instagram): Israel had the right questions. The discernment alarm bells were going off. But they let convincing evidence silence their questions — and never asked the One who could see what they couldn't. Sound familiar? This week's message from Joshua 9 is one I think we all need to sit with. Link in bio to read the full blog post.

Hashtags: #GiantsInTheLand #Joshua9 #Discernment #ChurchOnline #BibleTeaching