It's Sunday morning, a beautiful morning in the Hill Country. Perhaps it was a morning just like this when Jesus rose to life again.

I've been in my office, all alone in the quiet for a couple of hours. In a matter of moments, Allan and Jimmy will arrive and we will move into our Sunday morning routine.

We'll visit briefly about our weekends and then we will pray. Earnestly pray. We'll pray for every person who comes to this building this morning -- that they will come with open hearts to receive God's message. That they will come with passion to worship the LORD with enthusiasm. That they will receive their marching orders for the week and then, go back into the world renewed and filled with hope.

This morning, I'm beginning a new sermon series called "Defeating Your Goliaths." It is a series I've done in the past that has been warmly received. Like the 9'9" champion from Gath, we have giants that come into our lives defying the work and will of God. Goliaths like temptation, doubt, bitterness, loneliness, discouragement, worry and anger. For the next several weeks, I am going to unpack the Bible's teaching on these giants. My prayer this morning is that we won't see these besetting sins as impossible giants to conquer, dismissing our inability to overcome with the cliche, "I am only human." My prayer is that we will see the power and possibility of God to overcome, not in our own strength but, like David, with a heavy reliance upon the LORD. It is only through God that satanic strongholds can be conquered!