TargetPoint with Vince D’Acchioli

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microphone. Oh my gosh. All right, let me, let me, um, I, I'm so sorry guys. You, you saw, you saw Bentley earlier and I didn't have my microphone. I don't, I don't know what happened.

Why my microphone wasn't working. So for those of you who are just tuning in, I am so sorry, you know, I, in fact, let me do this again. Come here. Come here, Ben. Come on.

Come on up here. Come on. Come, come. Okay. So here he is.

And what I, what I was saying when my microphone was off, is, you know, I think in heaven, our animals are going to talk to us. And the first person I want to talk to is that guy, Balaam, because, you know, that not only did the donkey talk to Balaam, you know, but it appears as though Balaam was not surprised that the donkey talked to him. So I mentioned earlier, and you couldn't hear me. You better be careful how you treat your animals because in heaven, they may have something to say to you anyway. Um, I, in my devotion time this morning, I was reading streams in the desert and the title was, There We Saw the Giants.

And I am, I turned it, I just turned it on. Somebody came in and said, is your mic off? I just told him, I just had a turn thing. I am so sorry. I don't know how I did that.

My microphone was not on earlier and you couldn't hear any of my lead in. And it was really incredible. It was a funny lead in, you know? So anyway, um, today, I don't know where the broadcast is going to go, but, uh, if you're just tuning in and you're on our Facebook page, please simply like the page. And if you're on our YouTube channel, please subscribe.

I believe we're also going to some other platforms. Um, Telegram, I think we're on as well and Rumble and MeWe. I, I don't know. I've got people helping me try to figure out what platforms to go on because of the crazy world we're living in right now. There's no, no telling when we're all going to get shut down because the people don't like our message today, particularly the Christian message, but also when it borders into the political realm, which I'm going to probably do today.

And hopefully I will offend some people that deserve to be offended. Um, and, uh, I call them the non-thinkers. We've got way too many of them right now, but today we are facing a lot of giants, giants that we never saw before are coming to the fore. And I think there's an awkwardness in the body of Christ on how to face these giants. So when I read this this morning, it struck me.

So let me read it to you and draw some conclusions and, and, um, um, make some observations about how we can use this devotional in the world we live in today. Here's what it says. Yes, the Israeli spies saw giants, but Joshua and Caleb saw God. You have to forgive me guys. I, I'm going to, I'm going to use my cheaters here.

Uh, what do you think? Make me, they make me look distinguished. Yeah. Uh, those who doubt still say today we can't attack. They are stronger than we are.

I can't tell you how many times I have been miserable because I'm looking at what's going on in our culture right now. And I'm thinking to myself, it is way too strong for me. It's way too powerful. I don't know how I could possibly have any kind of victory here. And this is, and that's a lie.

Okay. Yeah. Those who believe say we should go up and take possession for, we can certainly do it. Okay. Giants represent great difficulties and they stalk us everywhere.

They are in our families, our churches, our social life, our culture, even our hearts. We must overcome them or they will devour us. Just as the ancient Israelites, fearing those in Canaan said the land, excuse me, we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw are of great size. We should exhibit faith as did Joshua and Caleb who said, do not be afraid because we will swallow them up.

Excuse me. Boy, I'm having all kinds of difficulties today. Maybe it's an attack. Maybe the enemy is not going to like this message. Do not be afraid because we'll swallow them up.

In effect, they told the others we will be stronger by overcoming them than if there had been no giants to defeat. Get that. We'll be stronger by overcoming them than we would have been had there been no difficulty. Watch this. In fact, unless we have overcoming faith, we will be swallowed up, consumed by the giants who block our path.

With that same spirit of faith that Joshua and Caleb had, let us look to God and he will take care of the difficulties. God will take care of the difficulties. We encountered giants, listen, only when we are serving God and following him. It was when Israel was going forward that the giants appeared. For when they turned back into the wilderness, they found none.

If you're going in the right direction, guys, they're going to be giants. If you don't see any giants, hello, you're probably going in the wrong direction. Don't buy into the lie. Many people believe that the power of God in a person's life should keep him from all trials and conflicts. However, the power of God actually brings conflict and struggles.

You would think that Paul, during his great missionary journey to Rome, would have been kept by God's sovereignty from the power of violent storms and of his enemies. Yet, just the opposite was true. He endured long, difficult struggle with the Jews who were persecuting him. He faced fierce winds, poisonous snakes, and all the powers of earth and of hell. And finally, he narrowly escaped drowning by swimming to shore at Malta after a shipwreck nearly sent him to a watery grave.

Does this sound like a God of infinite power? Yes, it is just like him. And that is why Paul told us that once he took the Lord Jesus Christ as his life in his body, a severe conflict immediately arose. In fact, the conflict never ended. The pressure on Paul was persistent, but from the conflict, he always emerged victorious through the strength of Jesus Christ.

And dear ones, so will we. Paul described this in quite vivid language. Listen carefully. This is really good. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed, perplexed, but not in despair, persecuted, but not abandoned, struck down, but not destroyed.

We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus so that, listen, the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. What a ceaseless and strenuous struggle he related. It is nearly impossible to express in English the impact of the original language. Paul gives us five different images in succession. Now listen carefully.

This is really good. In the first, he has a picture, he has us picture enemies completely surrounding and pressuring, but not crushing him because the heavenly police have protected him and cleared a path just wide enough for him to escape. The literal meaning is we are crowded from all sides, but not defeated. And guys, listen, don't you feel right now that you're being crowded from all sides? You've got to believe though that you are not defeated.

Okay, you've got to get this. The second image is that of someone whose way is completely blocked or thwarted by the enemy, yet he has persevered for there is just enough light for him to see the next step. Paul said, perplexed, but not in despair, as one literal translation put it, without a road, but not without a side road of escape. And you ever feel like you look on all around you and there's no pathway, there's no pathway, but there is, there is. We just have to be discerning and you can't be discerning unless you're crawling up in Father God's lap.

You've got to get this, guys. The third picture, persecuted, but not abandoned, is one of the enemy in hot pursuit of him while the divine defender stands nearby. He is pursued, but not left alone. The fourth is even more vivid and dramatic. The enemy has overtaken him, struck him, and knocked him down, but it is not a fatal blow.

That in many ways is how I feel sometimes, that we're being struck and we're being knocked down, but it's not fatal. It's not fatal. Why? He is able to rise again. He has been struck down, but not destroyed or literally overthrown, but not overcome.

Guys, we've got to get this. You may feel sometimes like it's over. It's not over. Okay? In the fifth and final image, Paul advances the thought still further, giving us a picture that appears to be one of death itself.

We always carry around on our body the death of Jesus, yet he does not die. For the life of Jesus comes to his aid and he lives through Christ's life until his life work is complete. That's a huge, huge idea and a huge promise. He goes on, Is that you? Do you expect that all of this stuff is just going to happen and there's going to be no struggle, no pressure in our life to go through?

It's the exact opposite. When conflict comes and the battle rages on, they become discouraged and surrender. God has nothing worth having that is easily gained, for there are no cheap goods on the heavenly market. The cost of our redemption was everything God had to give and anything worth having is expensive. Difficult times and places are schools of faith and character.

If we are ever to rise above mere human strength and experience the power of the life of Christ in our mortal bodies, it will be through the process of conflict that could very well be called the labor pains of the new life. It is like the story of Moses, who saw that though the bush was on fire, it did not burn up. Although Satan's demons tried to extinguish the flame in Moses' life by continually pouring water on his plans, they could not because God's angels were ever vigilant, pouring oil on the flame to keep it burning brightly and they're still there for you and I today. Dear child of God, he concludes, you may be suffering, but you cannot fail if you will only dare to believe. Listen, stand firm and refuse to be overcome.

Believe starts there. You've got to believe. You've got to believe God has our back. God is in the midst of all the things that are going on right now, especially in our culture. But I want to focus as I close on the two words, stand firm.

Stand firm. We need to fight. We need to be in the battle, but we need to do it in the appropriate way. We're not talking about bloodshed. We're not talking about physical fighting.

We're talking about this is a spiritual battle, but there are some things that we can do behaviorally that can lend itself to being victorious in the battles that we find ourselves in right now. And what are those battles? They're all around us, guys. There are lies and fabrications coming our way every single day. Our country right now is at war.

We're at war with our spiritual enemy, the devil, but on a practical sense, we are at war in the details of our life. What the enemy is doing is working through, in my view, he's working through the Democrat Party right now. I'm sorry if you call yourself a Democrat. The Democrat Party that exists today, guys, is not the party of Kennedy. It's not the party I grew up with.

In fact, my family was Democrat. Most of my life I was Democrat, but I'm not going to put a happy face on what is absolutely evil. If you look at all of the things that their platform stands for, it is absolutely anti-God, and it's anti-constitution. We are being destroyed from within. We're being fed a bunch of lies every single day, and it's deliberate, and it's intended to get us to fight each other.

That's the way you conquer a nation, from within. You get them divided. It's all class warfare. It's all about dividing us along racial lines and all of those things. You divide like that, and you will conquer.

It happens through a mechanism called fear. We are being told lies every single day. I remember growing up in a world where you saw the evidence, and you saw the facts, and you weighed them, and they informed your opinions. Today, that is completely reversed. Our opinions are being formed, and we're being fed a bunch of nonsense to believe certain things.

Once those opinions are formed, we only look for facts that support the opinion. It is completely the opposite of any kind of objective thought. That's the reason why today many people don't have any ability to apply critical thought to anything. Instead of doing their homework, they believe everything. We had a perfectly legal and righteous election.

There was never any fraud or any cheating. Well, that is one person's view. The other view is it was a total fraud. It was completely taken away, and there is so much evidence that it's undeniable. Which one of those are you going to believe?

Well, I'll tell you what, don't believe either of them, but do your homework and come to the conclusion. Use your brain. Don't just listen to one side of an argument. Research. Find out what is underneath that you're not being told, and don't consider everything a conspiracy theory.

You know, I used to think there's a lot of conspiracy theories. I'm not so sure anymore. If someone calls it a conspiracy theory, that's the reason why you should look into it, because that's a good way of trying to get you to shut up. Okay, the vaccines are safe and healthy. Okay, that's one person's view.

The other side of that is that no, they're deadly, and they're killing people at a rate that is being suppressed and hidden. You don't believe that? That's fine. All I'm saying is do your research. You may come out the other end after doing your research, validating that they are safe, or you may come out the other end thinking, no, there's no way I'm taking this vaccine, but you need to make that decision.

Don't let CNN or Fox News convince you of what decisions you need to make. Do your homework. Get up and research, and then make an informed decision. And then after you research, here's the key. Lay it before God.

Just like Hezekiah did when he got the bad news from Sennacherib. He took the letter and he placed it and laid it before God. He says, Lord, this is the evidence. These are the facts. This is what the world is saying.

What do you say? What is your spirit wanting to tell me about how I should think? Guys, I could go down a laundry list of hot button items, whether it's abortion, climate change, you name it. Second amendment, first amendment, censorship. There's stuff going on in our culture right now that is absolutely amazing to me.

But what's most amazing to me is how people are being led and deceived and like sheep going to the slaughter. Why? Because we're not being thoughtful. We're not standing up. We're not fighting back.

So not only do you do your research, when you come out with a conclusion, share it. Don't be timid. I don't care if you get shut down on every social media channel. Keep going. Keep moving.

Keep talking. Keep convincing. Okay. Keep moving forward. Because if we don't, if we don't band together around some objective truth, then we're all headed for some very ugly days in my view.

So are there giants? You bet. But none of them are too big for our God. That's all I want to share with you today. And until Friday, guys, don't.