The Battle with the Giant of Intimidation: Part One by Dr. Rod Mattoon

About this sermon

In PART ONE of this message we take a look at the Giant of Intimidation that we all have to face at one time or another in our lives. What is intimidation? It is defined by Cambridge Dictionary as "the action of frightening or threatening someone, usually in order to persuade them to do something that you want them to do." Intimidation comes from the Latin word intimidat, which means to "make timid." Intimidation emphasizes bullying, exploiting, or manipulating others, solely for one's own advantage. Bullies are master intimidators. It is interesting to note that the word "bully" first appeared in 1530. Get this, the word meant "sweetheart". It is derived from an old Dutch word that means "lover or brother," depending on how the word was used. Over the centuries, the meaning of the word has kept changing. It went from "fine fellow" to "a loud, swaggering person" to "a ruffian," and eventually "a protector of prostitutes or pimp." The saints of God have been dealing with intimidation for centuries. So what are the traits of intimidators? How do they behave? In this message we look at eight traits of an intimidating person. All of us have to deal with intimidation. We face it in our childhood years as we are confronted with intimidators and bullies at school, in our neighborhoods, or in our own families. As we get older, we face intimidators in high school, college, at our place of employment, and even in our churches. Some wives are intimidated by a harsh husband who is verbally or physically abusive. If that is the way you treat your wife, you need to seek her forgiveness and get matters right with the Lord in your life. Husbands are to love their wives, not intimidate them. It is sad that some Christian women regret marrying their husbands because of their harshness, hardness, haughtiness, and hatefulness toward them. Such treatment drains a wife of her joy and happiness and fills her with dread, discouragement, and depression. If you have beaten your wife down emotionally, you have nothing to brag about. You ought to be ashamed. * Ephesians 5:25- Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; We end the message by asking, “How do you deal with the Giant of Intimidation? How do you overcome it?” The answers are in the next message. This message was preached on Sunday morning, September 21, 2025, at Lincoln Land Baptist Church.