I Lost My Confidence

0:00:02.080 --> 0:00:04.640 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdik. I'm the pastor of Elevation 0:00:04.880 --> 0:00:07.120 Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank 0:00:07.160 --> 0:00:10.480 you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope 0:00:10.480 --> 0:00:12.520 it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to 0:00:12.560 --> 0:00:17.920 see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message. Philippians, 0:00:17.960 --> 0:00:20.759 Chapter three, Verse one. I'll give you my title before 0:00:20.760 --> 0:00:23.120 I read my text. Today we're in a series called Triggered, 0:00:23.520 --> 0:00:26.520 taking back your Mind in the Age of Anxiety, and 0:00:26.960 --> 0:00:31.920 I will keep preaching until you are totally sane, until 0:00:32.240 --> 0:00:36.240 you are no longer hiding Dorito's under your bed because 0:00:36.280 --> 0:00:39.160 of stress, eating and cussing people out in your car 0:00:39.200 --> 0:00:41.600 while you're listening to Elevation Worship at the same time, 0:00:41.680 --> 0:00:46.519 you don't even pause the music. So the series is 0:00:46.520 --> 0:00:50.720 going to go a little bit longer, and this text 0:00:50.760 --> 0:00:53.800 is going to help us today. The apostle paulis in 0:00:53.840 --> 0:00:57.200 his own way, upset and triggered for good reason about 0:00:57.240 --> 0:01:00.360 something that is going on to affect the believer. And 0:01:00.440 --> 0:01:02.160 so the title I want to use, I need you 0:01:02.240 --> 0:01:05.200 to announce this title to the person sitting next to you, 0:01:05.240 --> 0:01:06.640 and you don't have to talk to him another time 0:01:06.640 --> 0:01:09.240 after this, it would be the last time that you 0:01:09.319 --> 0:01:11.600 have to talk to him. But tell him this, say, 0:01:12.080 --> 0:01:16.559 I hate to admit it, but I lost my confidence. 0:01:18.440 --> 0:01:23.720 Hey man, Philippians, Chapter three, verse one. Further, my brothers 0:01:23.720 --> 0:01:27.240 and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. It is no trouble 0:01:27.280 --> 0:01:29.120 for me to write the same things to you again, 0:01:29.840 --> 0:01:33.360 And it is a safeguard for you. Watch out for 0:01:33.440 --> 0:01:39.959 those dogs, those evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh. For 0:01:40.040 --> 0:01:43.959 it is we who are the circumcision, We who serve 0:01:44.080 --> 0:01:47.760 God by his spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and 0:01:47.800 --> 0:01:57.760 who put no new, zero, new new confidence in the flesh. 0:01:58.360 --> 0:02:03.440 Though I myself have reasons for such confidence, if anyone else, 0:02:03.480 --> 0:02:06.920 if someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence 0:02:06.960 --> 0:02:12.120 in the flesh, I have more. We're gonna stop right 0:02:12.120 --> 0:02:14.640 there and talk a little, and then we'll work through 0:02:14.960 --> 0:02:18.160 the rest of the passage. But tall you something real quick. 0:02:18.160 --> 0:02:22.560 That seminary professor taught me about preaching when I was 0:02:22.600 --> 0:02:25.320 preaching from the Old Testament Book of First Samuel, and 0:02:25.360 --> 0:02:27.400 there were a lot of names and places that I 0:02:27.440 --> 0:02:30.080 didn't know how to pronounce because they were based on 0:02:30.120 --> 0:02:33.120 Hebrew words. And I took all of them up to 0:02:33.200 --> 0:02:35.959 him to ask him to help me pronounce them correctly, 0:02:36.480 --> 0:02:39.600 because I was preaching in a few days and I 0:02:39.639 --> 0:02:41.399 wanted to make sure I said all the words right. 0:02:42.000 --> 0:02:45.480 And he said, he well, first of all, he laughed 0:02:45.520 --> 0:02:48.480 at my list of words, and he said, it's not 0:02:48.560 --> 0:02:52.000 important that you say it right. It only matters that 0:02:52.040 --> 0:02:56.400 you say it with confidence. He said, don't worry about 0:02:56.520 --> 0:03:01.200 mispronouncing the words. Nobody will know the difference if you 0:03:01.280 --> 0:03:05.360 say it with confidence. Kind of seems to be the 0:03:05.400 --> 0:03:10.400 thing these days. It's like, you know, we're all it's 0:03:10.480 --> 0:03:12.600 kind of like we all found a Bible verse, fake 0:03:12.639 --> 0:03:14.480 it till you make it, only it's not in the Bible. 0:03:17.280 --> 0:03:19.120 That's how I was taught to get girls, you know, 0:03:19.160 --> 0:03:22.520 Harold Staley. He said, it is really doesn't matter. You 0:03:22.520 --> 0:03:26.040 could your car doesn't have to be fast or nice, 0:03:26.720 --> 0:03:31.000 he said. You're not especially good looking or tall, he said, 0:03:31.000 --> 0:03:32.880 But I'm gonna tell you, if you just walk up 0:03:32.880 --> 0:03:36.080 to a girl with confidence, you'd be surprised how much 0:03:36.120 --> 0:03:39.640 better looking confidence can make you. But then that's only 0:03:39.760 --> 0:03:41.840 kind of true, because there's a fine line between confident 0:03:41.880 --> 0:03:47.920 and creepy. Am I right about it? And I'm kind 0:03:47.920 --> 0:03:49.560 of trying to figure that out as a parent, Like 0:03:49.600 --> 0:03:52.120 how much confidence do I really want my kids to have? 0:03:53.760 --> 0:03:57.040 Because you kind of like them being confident when they're younger, 0:03:57.040 --> 0:04:00.960 it's cute. And then in their teenage yeers, when they 0:04:00.960 --> 0:04:04.240 are so confident that they no longer believe that you 0:04:04.280 --> 0:04:07.720 have any knowledge about anything, it's an issue. It's like, 0:04:07.760 --> 0:04:10.440 can we find a middle ground on this this confidence thing? 0:04:11.040 --> 0:04:15.760 Can you be like confident enough to be socially not awkward, 0:04:16.600 --> 0:04:19.080 but then be humble enough to listen to me when 0:04:19.120 --> 0:04:24.520 I'm telling you what's best for you? Is there is 0:04:24.520 --> 0:04:26.600 there like a is there an in between? Is there 0:04:26.600 --> 0:04:29.480 a middle ground on this confidence thing? Like is there 0:04:29.480 --> 0:04:33.000 somewhere between you being intimidated and scared to death and 0:04:33.040 --> 0:04:35.799 feeling the need to apologize for your existence on planet Earth? 0:04:36.120 --> 0:04:38.719 And like Connor McGregor on the other end of the spectrum, 0:04:38.800 --> 0:04:42.320 is there anywhere? But here's what's happening now. It's like 0:04:42.880 --> 0:04:49.200 we we have confidence without competence. Can I preach a 0:04:49.240 --> 0:04:51.360 little bit today before I send you to join any group? 0:04:52.960 --> 0:04:57.640 It's like we are okay, we are We are approaching 0:04:57.640 --> 0:05:01.480 it like they were approaching it in Philippians three, where 0:05:01.520 --> 0:05:04.800 Paul says, you need to watch out for the dogs. 0:05:05.360 --> 0:05:07.680 And I know you're wondering, who are these dogs? It's 0:05:07.680 --> 0:05:12.120 in verse two. Who is Paul calling a dog? Who 0:05:12.160 --> 0:05:16.039 are these dogs? And who let them out? We need 0:05:16.080 --> 0:05:21.960 to know And you would assume that these are people 0:05:22.000 --> 0:05:25.320 who are tempting the church at Philippi, the church that 0:05:25.400 --> 0:05:29.400 Paul founded and fathered in the gospel. Maybe they are 0:05:29.480 --> 0:05:34.080 luring them with sin. Maybe he's talking about drug dealers 0:05:34.200 --> 0:05:39.440 or liberals, you know, all the things that threaten the 0:05:39.600 --> 0:05:43.320 Christian worldview. But really what he's talking about here is 0:05:43.760 --> 0:05:50.160 religious people. They're trying to get the newly converted gentiles 0:05:50.160 --> 0:05:57.880 who weren't Jewish to be circumcised with no anesthesia, because 0:05:57.880 --> 0:06:01.000 that was the outward sign of the covenant with the 0:06:01.080 --> 0:06:05.840 Jewish people before Christ. But Christ came along and changed that. 0:06:06.760 --> 0:06:10.559 And Paul knows that it's not what you can show 0:06:10.640 --> 0:06:14.599 on the outside, but it's what happens in your heart 0:06:14.760 --> 0:06:18.480 that proves the authenticity of your relationship with God and 0:06:18.640 --> 0:06:23.760 validates your relationship with Him by faith. Everybody say, by faith, 0:06:24.680 --> 0:06:29.159 not flesh. It is impossible for you to please God 0:06:29.240 --> 0:06:34.960 with your flesh, with your effort. It is impossible for 0:06:35.040 --> 0:06:39.080 you to impress God with your Bible reading streak. I'm 0:06:39.120 --> 0:06:42.320 sorry he didn't call the angels over today because you 0:06:42.360 --> 0:06:46.520 read a psalm. Wow, check this out. She went a 0:06:46.600 --> 0:06:49.760 whole week without telling anybody off. Didn't impress God a bit. 0:06:50.960 --> 0:06:54.159 On the other hand, we can please God by faith. 0:06:54.200 --> 0:07:02.400 And so Paul is talking about the dogs. Wooooo, whooooooooo, 0:07:04.839 --> 0:07:06.560 how long are you going to do it? Well, no, 0:07:09.880 --> 0:07:14.200 but he's triggered. He says, what they're doing is evil. 0:07:14.320 --> 0:07:18.560 They're evildoers. They're mutilating the flesh. They're making it worse. 0:07:19.480 --> 0:07:22.320 They're telling you all these rules and regulations that will 0:07:22.360 --> 0:07:27.360 make you acceptable to God, and it's making it worse 0:07:28.280 --> 0:07:31.280 because it is teaching you to put confidence in the 0:07:31.320 --> 0:07:35.200 wrong thing. And it is a perversion of the Gospel 0:07:35.760 --> 0:07:38.440 to think that there are things that we can do outwardly, 0:07:39.160 --> 0:07:41.840 or behaviors that we can quit, or habits that we 0:07:41.880 --> 0:07:46.880 can enforce. And sometimes our consistency can become the enemy 0:07:46.920 --> 0:07:51.240 of our humility because we stop doing stuff and start 0:07:51.320 --> 0:07:54.680 doing stuff, and then immediately we start to create categories 0:07:54.720 --> 0:07:57.920 for people who have not yet arrived at the place 0:07:57.920 --> 0:08:01.880 of consistency. That we're at and now, God help us, 0:08:02.240 --> 0:08:05.760 because we're raising a generations that don't have to train 0:08:05.880 --> 0:08:09.520 for their trophies. So it's as if we think that 0:08:09.680 --> 0:08:15.320 confidence is our birthright. We have developed a sick, twisted 0:08:15.440 --> 0:08:18.720 version of confidence that knows nothing in the biblical context. 0:08:19.520 --> 0:08:28.800 We have put our confidence in confidence, But confidence that 0:08:28.840 --> 0:08:32.719 has developed outside of the process that produces true confidence 0:08:32.800 --> 0:08:37.160 is false confidence. And you know, I'm just thinking about 0:08:37.160 --> 0:08:42.080 it now a little differently than age sixteen, when I 0:08:42.160 --> 0:08:45.360 first gave my life to Christ and was very confident, 0:08:46.440 --> 0:08:50.000 very confident in my ability to live for Jesus, very 0:08:50.000 --> 0:08:55.600 confident in my ability to stay away from certain temptations. Oh, 0:08:55.720 --> 0:09:01.400 it's so easy to be confident when you've never lived 0:09:01.440 --> 0:09:05.880 through a crisis. It's so easy to preach faith when 0:09:05.920 --> 0:09:08.240 you never watched your dad take his die and gasping 0:09:08.280 --> 0:09:11.559 breath from als and watched his body completely shut down, 0:09:11.640 --> 0:09:14.240 and prayed every prayer that you knew to pray over him, 0:09:14.280 --> 0:09:16.800 and quoted every scripture that you learned and wrote about 0:09:16.840 --> 0:09:22.199 in a book about sunstands still. And then things happen 0:09:22.280 --> 0:09:28.400 to shake your confidence. Paul is talking here about people 0:09:28.440 --> 0:09:33.360 who have lost their confidence in the gospel, or they 0:09:33.400 --> 0:09:36.640 are on the verge of losing their confidence in the 0:09:36.640 --> 0:09:44.120 gospel and putting their confidence in their performance, and that's dangerous. 0:09:45.480 --> 0:09:51.040 I'm starting to wonder do we need more confidence. It's 0:09:51.080 --> 0:09:53.880 just a question because lately I've been thinking that the 0:09:54.000 --> 0:09:57.760 dangers of overconfidence are just as great as the dangers 0:09:57.760 --> 0:10:02.960 of under confidence, that really, maybe it's not about the 0:10:03.000 --> 0:10:06.560 amount of confidence that we have at all. I wrote 0:10:06.559 --> 0:10:08.720 a little note to my son when he turned thirteen, 0:10:09.480 --> 0:10:11.320 and it wasn't really about him. It was about me 0:10:12.240 --> 0:10:16.040 remembering that age. And one thing I was trying to 0:10:16.040 --> 0:10:19.680 tell him in the note is that everybody, in some 0:10:19.840 --> 0:10:23.400 way is faking it. I just thought I would show 0:10:23.440 --> 0:10:25.360 him that there is no Wizard of Oz, just a 0:10:25.360 --> 0:10:28.640 little short dude behind the curtain, pulling levers and posting 0:10:28.640 --> 0:10:31.679 stuff with filters and captions that are perfectly crafted. And 0:10:31.720 --> 0:10:33.120 they spend an hour and a half to write that 0:10:33.160 --> 0:10:35.200 caption to make themselves sound witty, and they're really not 0:10:35.240 --> 0:10:37.120 that witty off the cuff, And if you compare, you're 0:10:37.160 --> 0:10:39.640 off the cuff to their manufactured caption. You're going to 0:10:39.679 --> 0:10:41.800 always feel like there's something missing and lacking in you. 0:10:44.200 --> 0:10:48.240 But so hard because it's like we're living in a 0:10:48.240 --> 0:10:53.120 culture that projects confidence at all costs, and the cost 0:10:53.240 --> 0:11:02.439 of false confidence is ignorance. The cost of false confidence 0:11:03.360 --> 0:11:06.959 is ignorance. And trust me, some of the people who 0:11:07.000 --> 0:11:13.800 are the most confident are also the most ignorant. Some 0:11:13.880 --> 0:11:17.600 of the wisest people that I've ever talked to in 0:11:17.640 --> 0:11:20.720 my life didn't have a lot of answers. They asked 0:11:20.760 --> 0:11:24.560 a lot of questions. You see what I'm saying. But 0:11:24.640 --> 0:11:27.959 it's tough because we're teaching this to our kids, right 0:11:28.080 --> 0:11:32.800 Just just be confident, you know, be confident. I'm trying 0:11:32.800 --> 0:11:36.240 to find the balance because I do want to raise 0:11:36.280 --> 0:11:38.920 confident kids and I want to be a confident Christian. 0:11:38.960 --> 0:11:42.320 But I'm trying to find I'm trying to find the balance, 0:11:42.400 --> 0:11:45.080 you know, Like our kids are out playing sports, just 0:11:45.120 --> 0:11:47.760 like many of your kids. Someone said to me a 0:11:47.800 --> 0:11:49.800 few weeks ago, stop talking about your kids so much 0:11:49.880 --> 0:11:52.480 in your sermons. We don't come to hear about your family. 0:11:52.760 --> 0:11:55.320 We come to hear the word of God. And I'm like, well, 0:11:55.320 --> 0:11:57.280 I got another solution. Just quit coming and you won't 0:11:57.280 --> 0:12:02.480 have to hear me talk about Anything'll be fine, work 0:12:02.520 --> 0:12:05.440 well for both of us. Let's just agree to. We 0:12:05.480 --> 0:12:09.800 don't share the same interests, but that's my life right now, 0:12:09.880 --> 0:12:12.920 is raising these kids. So it's just like it's just 0:12:12.960 --> 0:12:16.000 what I mean. I'm always out at some baseball field 0:12:16.080 --> 0:12:20.000 or football game or something like that. And now even 0:12:20.000 --> 0:12:24.360 Abviy is playing seven year old softball and she says 0:12:24.400 --> 0:12:27.040 she likes it, but I don't know if she really 0:12:27.120 --> 0:12:33.120 likes softball or dugout cheers, because honestly, no, I'm I'm 0:12:33.160 --> 0:12:34.880 gonna make a plea here, and if anybody's watching this 0:12:34.960 --> 0:12:37.560 online that has any kind of authority in girls seven 0:12:37.600 --> 0:12:41.000 year old softball, I'm begging you, in the name of 0:12:41.120 --> 0:12:44.800 Jesus Christ, whose gospel I preach, could we possibly ban 0:12:45.160 --> 0:12:49.440 dugout cheering for seven year old softball? And I know 0:12:49.559 --> 0:12:52.600 it's cute and it's delightful, but I'm just trying to 0:12:52.640 --> 0:12:55.720 protect these girls because I'm listening to them in the 0:12:55.800 --> 0:12:58.840 dugout and not only is it bad for my hearing, 0:12:58.960 --> 0:13:01.880 not only is it loud and it's rough on their voices, 0:13:02.320 --> 0:13:06.680 but what they're saying in these cheers is not true. 0:13:07.679 --> 0:13:11.240 I heard hat Abby the other day. She was doing 0:13:11.240 --> 0:13:13.280 a cheer. My name is Abby, and you know what 0:13:13.360 --> 0:13:16.200 I got and the whole team said, what do you got? 0:13:17.600 --> 0:13:20.559 Abby said, I got a team that is hotter than hot? 0:13:21.240 --> 0:13:26.120 See right there, we just sought the realm of reality 0:13:26.320 --> 0:13:29.520 because I've been watching all three innings of this and 0:13:29.600 --> 0:13:33.040 y'all are not hotter than hot. Y'all are not even lukewarm. 0:13:33.120 --> 0:13:35.600 Baby girl, you're frozen in the center. You need to 0:13:35.600 --> 0:13:45.720 be in the microwave. About three more. Then she said, 0:13:45.800 --> 0:13:49.160 grand slams and homers too. I'm like, how about a 0:13:49.200 --> 0:13:56.920 base hit? Can we start with a base hit? Praise 0:13:56.920 --> 0:14:03.720 the Lord. It's dangerous to have too much confidence in 0:14:03.840 --> 0:14:09.200 the wrong place, in the wrong place. But the Bible 0:14:09.240 --> 0:14:12.840 says to be confident. You know, in this I will 0:14:12.880 --> 0:14:15.000 be confident. Doesn't the Bible say that? Yes? But the 0:14:15.080 --> 0:14:19.160 question is in what? Will you be confident in? What? 0:14:21.400 --> 0:14:25.880 And sometimes we want to have a confident belief without 0:14:26.600 --> 0:14:30.760 the behaviors that build confidence in our lives, you know, 0:14:30.840 --> 0:14:34.200 Because to have real confidence, you gotta have consistency, don't you. 0:14:35.400 --> 0:14:39.880 I mean to have confidence, you gotta have competence. Competence 0:14:39.960 --> 0:14:45.360 is built through consistency. You gotta if you're gonna have 0:14:45.400 --> 0:14:50.760 real confidence, you gotta have character. Amen. Amen, you know 0:14:50.800 --> 0:14:52.680 what I'm gonna spend the rest of my life preaching 0:14:52.720 --> 0:14:55.120 what I think is true, whether anybody says amen to 0:14:55.160 --> 0:14:59.920 it or not. I'm committing to that. These these little 0:15:00.120 --> 0:15:03.160 ray Harris to keep popping up or trying to tell me, 0:15:03.480 --> 0:15:05.400 you don't have time to get up there in that 0:15:05.440 --> 0:15:11.360 pulpit and just hype people anymore, because while we're hyping 0:15:11.480 --> 0:15:16.520 people in one sense to believe God, we are actually 0:15:16.560 --> 0:15:22.760 making the problem worse because when their circumstance is not 0:15:22.920 --> 0:15:28.760 reflecting their confession, their faith collapses beneath the weight of 0:15:28.960 --> 0:15:34.920 unmat expectations. And so the Lord was really speaking to me, 0:15:35.080 --> 0:15:38.480 you know, because I go back and forth of feeling 0:15:38.640 --> 0:15:42.360 really confident sometimes and then sometimes I feel I can't 0:15:42.360 --> 0:15:45.280 find my confidence anywhere, and so then I think, well, 0:15:45.320 --> 0:15:48.120 I had too much confidence. I need to be more humble. 0:15:48.360 --> 0:15:50.800 And then sometimes I think, well I don't have enough confidence. 0:15:51.040 --> 0:15:53.560 I need to just bump myself in a mirror mirror 0:15:53.760 --> 0:15:56.680 a few times and get out there and put myself 0:15:57.000 --> 0:16:03.160 back in the game. Coach, get out there. And I'm 0:16:03.200 --> 0:16:06.440 back and forth. And God spoke to me this week. 0:16:06.480 --> 0:16:09.680 He said, it's not how much confidence you have, is 0:16:09.720 --> 0:16:16.040 where you put it. That counts. Paul said, I have 0:16:16.080 --> 0:16:19.320 no confidence in the flesh. All of these people who 0:16:19.360 --> 0:16:22.160 are telling you you need to be circumcised, and that's 0:16:22.200 --> 0:16:26.000 how you prove that you have a relationship with God. 0:16:26.120 --> 0:16:29.440 Or you know, this temptation that we all have to 0:16:31.680 --> 0:16:36.080 fake it until we break, that's what really happens. You know, 0:16:38.080 --> 0:16:42.720 you fake it and you never make it because no 0:16:42.800 --> 0:16:45.120 matter how much you work to develop your confidence in 0:16:45.160 --> 0:16:49.080 your flesh, it will always fail you. It will always 0:16:49.080 --> 0:16:54.480 fail you. And all of this behavioral modification that I 0:16:54.520 --> 0:16:58.400 know is necessary for us to make improvements in our lives, 0:16:59.200 --> 0:17:01.880 and maybe it's important and for us to have confidence 0:17:01.880 --> 0:17:03.400 if we're going to stand on stage and give a 0:17:03.440 --> 0:17:06.320 presentation or go into a meeting that we don't feel 0:17:06.359 --> 0:17:11.520 qualified for. I understand that, but my question is have 0:17:11.520 --> 0:17:17.520 have you put that confidence in the right place? And 0:17:17.920 --> 0:17:20.760 the other day I noticed Holly didn't have her wedding 0:17:20.800 --> 0:17:26.880 ring on. Wasn't anything sketchy. We were just at the house. 0:17:26.920 --> 0:17:29.880 She wasn't going out without her wedding ring on. In fact, 0:17:30.680 --> 0:17:33.240 I got that cover too. I made her put a 0:17:33.280 --> 0:17:36.879 tattoo on her ring finger, so even if she wanted 0:17:36.920 --> 0:17:40.520 to take it off, it says H and S. And 0:17:40.600 --> 0:17:42.760 so if she wants to leave me, the dude is 0:17:42.800 --> 0:17:45.400 already going to be narrowed down. His name better start 0:17:45.440 --> 0:17:47.880 with S or she'll have to turn it into an eight. 0:17:48.200 --> 0:17:58.960 But she is mine. But I said, where's your ring? 0:18:00.080 --> 0:18:03.400 And oh, I put it over here. So I watched 0:18:03.440 --> 0:18:07.000 him this is and I asked her question. I didn't 0:18:07.000 --> 0:18:09.760 have to say much. I said, is that a good 0:18:09.760 --> 0:18:12.840 place to put it? Because listen, she lost it once 0:18:15.080 --> 0:18:18.600 and when she lost it, we had insurance she got 0:18:18.600 --> 0:18:24.920 a better one. So now I'm starting to wonder, are 0:18:24.960 --> 0:18:29.240 you trying ask somebody next to you is that a 0:18:29.240 --> 0:18:33.320 good place to put it? Because you keep putting your 0:18:33.359 --> 0:18:37.239 confidence in people, and you keep putting your confidence in 0:18:37.280 --> 0:18:41.120 your performance, and you keep putting your confidence in your 0:18:41.160 --> 0:18:44.920 ability to be disciplined. And ah, I'm a exercise and 0:18:44.960 --> 0:18:47.199 now I'm gonna stay on my diet this time, and 0:18:47.320 --> 0:18:50.679 I'm gonna pray for fifteen minutes every day. You know, 0:18:50.800 --> 0:18:54.000 I hear people say sometimes I gave up on God 0:18:54.359 --> 0:18:57.399 because some people in the church let me down. But 0:18:57.520 --> 0:19:00.880 let me ask you a question. Your relationship with God 0:19:01.040 --> 0:19:04.760 is so precious. Why would you put your confidence in 0:19:04.920 --> 0:19:10.080 God in how people treat you. People will always let 0:19:10.119 --> 0:19:14.000 you down. People will always fall short, even if they 0:19:14.040 --> 0:19:17.920 have good intentions, They have limitability. Do you really want 0:19:17.960 --> 0:19:20.919 to put it in people? Haven't you spend enough time 0:19:21.000 --> 0:19:25.840 trusting in people who meets your needs? I feel like preaching? 0:19:31.400 --> 0:19:33.240 Ask them again, is that a good place to put it? 0:19:35.200 --> 0:19:37.240 Do you really want to put confidence in your flesh, 0:19:37.320 --> 0:19:41.760 your effort, your ability to keep the law? Now, Paul said, 0:19:43.040 --> 0:19:45.840 if you want to play the game of who has 0:19:45.920 --> 0:19:49.680 more reasons to be confident on the basis of lifestyle 0:19:50.640 --> 0:19:54.119 or legality, he says, if you want to play the 0:19:54.160 --> 0:20:01.560 game whose circumcision is better, let's play watch this. He 0:20:01.600 --> 0:20:04.880 starts reading off his resume, and what a weird game 0:20:04.920 --> 0:20:09.400 this is. Watch this? You know people try to top everything. 0:20:09.600 --> 0:20:17.280 Paul's like, my circumcision is better than your circumcision because 0:20:17.320 --> 0:20:21.080 watch verse five. I was circumcised on the eighth day 0:20:21.119 --> 0:20:23.120 when you're supposed to be. A lot of the Judaizers 0:20:23.160 --> 0:20:26.920 the dog who they were circumcised after the fact. Paul said, 0:20:26.960 --> 0:20:28.760 I was circumcised when I was supposed to be circumcised, 0:20:28.760 --> 0:20:30.040 because I was born the way he was supposed to 0:20:30.080 --> 0:20:32.159 be born into the race. That God said that he 0:20:32.160 --> 0:20:33.800 would use to bless all the nations of the earth 0:20:33.840 --> 0:20:37.920 through So I was circumcised before all y'all on the 0:20:37.960 --> 0:20:43.240 eighth day. I don't remember it. I'm glad I got 0:20:43.240 --> 0:20:47.159 that out of the way early in life. I was 0:20:47.200 --> 0:20:51.560 of the people of Israel, so I have connections. I 0:20:51.720 --> 0:20:54.560 was not only of the people of Israel. I was 0:20:54.600 --> 0:20:57.960 of the tribe of Benjamin. That was the tribe that 0:20:58.000 --> 0:21:01.800 the kings came out of, the Benjamin. So he's like, 0:21:01.920 --> 0:21:06.240 I'm already one of God's favorite people because I'm an Israelite, 0:21:06.880 --> 0:21:09.600 and then I'm the favorite tribe within the favorite people. 0:21:10.640 --> 0:21:13.879 Come on, you want to talk about flesh. My flesh 0:21:13.960 --> 0:21:18.720 is impressive. Mm hmm. And I was not only of 0:21:18.760 --> 0:21:20.760 the tribe of Benjamin. It was not only a matter 0:21:20.800 --> 0:21:24.399 of birth. I wasn't only born into fortunate circumstances. But 0:21:24.480 --> 0:21:29.959 I was a Hebrew of Hebrews. Wow, I was. I 0:21:30.040 --> 0:21:33.760 was a Hebrew of Hebrews. I was competent. Watch this, 0:21:34.520 --> 0:21:39.080 I was connected. I was competent in regard to the 0:21:39.160 --> 0:21:43.200 law of Pharisee. That's the strictest order of religious law 0:21:43.240 --> 0:21:47.159 for the Jewish people. So he says I was on 0:21:47.200 --> 0:21:51.879 a scholarship. I was a prize pupil of Gamalio. He 0:21:51.920 --> 0:21:55.080 doesn't mention that in Philippians three. He mentions it elsewhere 0:21:55.119 --> 0:21:58.280 that he sat underneath the tutelage of one of the 0:21:58.280 --> 0:22:02.000 greatest teachers of his day. This is like you interned 0:22:02.119 --> 0:22:07.639 under Elon Musk. Paul said, let's talk. You want to 0:22:07.680 --> 0:22:10.800 talk to me, You dogs that think you're so much 0:22:10.840 --> 0:22:13.480 better than other people. He said, I had all of that. 0:22:14.600 --> 0:22:17.280 I was so good at it that I was promoted 0:22:17.760 --> 0:22:21.520 to the highest level. I was so zealous Verse six. Please, 0:22:22.040 --> 0:22:26.600 I was persecuting the church as for righteousness based on 0:22:26.800 --> 0:22:30.159 the law faultless. So stop, make sure we got this. 0:22:30.880 --> 0:22:36.480 He's connected. He's competent. And his character, he says, according 0:22:36.840 --> 0:22:40.000 to human law and what you can measure and what 0:22:40.040 --> 0:22:45.720 you can see and what you can judge faultless. Connect 0:22:45.760 --> 0:22:51.760 it competent and his character is faultless. And he build 0:22:51.840 --> 0:22:56.000 his confidence to a certain level. But then something happened 0:22:56.000 --> 0:23:01.040 to Paul. Paul saw a contrast, and sometimes what we 0:23:01.119 --> 0:23:03.560 need when we get a little too full of ourselves, 0:23:04.960 --> 0:23:09.920 come on. Happens to all of us. Quiet people, loud people, 0:23:10.600 --> 0:23:14.280 flashy people, low key people. It can happen to every 0:23:14.280 --> 0:23:19.040 one of us that we start to trust in our flesh. 0:23:19.200 --> 0:23:21.960 And about the time you think you get it figured out, 0:23:22.040 --> 0:23:25.760 you know how we do. We get our categories exactly right. Okay, 0:23:25.960 --> 0:23:28.359 here's the kind of people that are going to heaven, 0:23:28.920 --> 0:23:31.360 and here's the kind of people that are going to hell. 0:23:32.080 --> 0:23:34.359 And the way I know is there are certain things 0:23:34.400 --> 0:23:36.919 that people who are going to heaven do and don't do, 0:23:37.600 --> 0:23:40.040 and certain people who are going to hell. Here's what 0:23:40.080 --> 0:23:42.960 they do and they don't do. The only problem that 0:23:43.000 --> 0:23:45.920 I'm finding with this is a lot of our confidence 0:23:46.280 --> 0:23:50.040 that we put in our judgments, and our assessment is 0:23:50.119 --> 0:23:54.080 based on our external observations of people, and we can 0:23:54.200 --> 0:23:57.440 never really know anyone's heart. And now here's a case 0:23:57.480 --> 0:23:59.920 in point. And I told this story the wrong way 0:24:00.080 --> 0:24:01.600 last night, so if you were here last night, I 0:24:01.680 --> 0:24:04.040 messed it up. But here's how it actually happened. That's 0:24:04.080 --> 0:24:05.800 why I put no confidence in the flesh, because I 0:24:05.800 --> 0:24:07.639 can't even tell my own stories right while I'm preaching 0:24:07.640 --> 0:24:09.879 about confidence. That's how much I need the Holy Spirit. 0:24:10.640 --> 0:24:13.040 But I was watching a sermon with my father in 0:24:13.119 --> 0:24:16.520 law when I was first starting in ministry, and he 0:24:16.680 --> 0:24:19.480 was telling me how the person preaching the sermon was 0:24:19.560 --> 0:24:22.840 cocky and arrogant. He said, look at him. You can 0:24:22.920 --> 0:24:26.720 tell he's strutting around that stage. He's wearing a five 0:24:26.760 --> 0:24:31.000 thousand dollars suit. Look at him. He's cocky and he's arrogant. 0:24:31.400 --> 0:24:35.280 Even his tie is loud. He's cocky and he's arrogant. 0:24:35.560 --> 0:24:38.560 He's so cocky and he's arrogant. Of course, I asked 0:24:38.560 --> 0:24:40.520 my father in law, have you met him? No, but 0:24:40.600 --> 0:24:43.879 you can tell he's cocky and he's arrogant. Do you 0:24:43.920 --> 0:24:45.959 know anybody who's met him? No, but I don't have to. 0:24:46.040 --> 0:24:49.760 You can tell he's cocky and he's arrogant. And I said, 0:24:49.840 --> 0:24:53.240 just kind of innocently, well, who's somebody that you think 0:24:53.320 --> 0:24:56.359 is not cocky and arrogant? That would be better to 0:24:56.359 --> 0:24:59.560 model my ministry after, because he was in ministry and 0:24:59.600 --> 0:25:01.680 I wanted to hear his wisdom. And he named the 0:25:01.760 --> 0:25:04.280 name of somebody that I knew. It was a man 0:25:04.320 --> 0:25:11.120 who had the Greek New Testament memorized. No, not the 0:25:12.160 --> 0:25:16.600 not the Little Philippians four thirteen, in the whole New Testament. 0:25:16.760 --> 0:25:18.399 He would show up. I took the class with him 0:25:18.400 --> 0:25:21.960 one time. He would say the Bible verse without looking 0:25:22.000 --> 0:25:25.120 at the Bible. But he wouldn't say it in our translation. 0:25:25.200 --> 0:25:27.399 He would be translating it in his mind from Greek. 0:25:29.119 --> 0:25:31.439 He never looked at the Bible to teach us the Bible. 0:25:33.040 --> 0:25:35.960 And my father in law said, that guy, that's a 0:25:36.000 --> 0:25:38.960 man of God. That's a humble man of God. That's 0:25:39.000 --> 0:25:41.840 a man of God who knows what matters and what doesn't. 0:25:42.160 --> 0:25:44.520 That's a man of God who is understated. That's a 0:25:44.520 --> 0:25:50.040 man of God. And twelve months later, the man of 0:25:50.080 --> 0:25:53.240 God who knew the Bible in Greek had left his 0:25:53.320 --> 0:25:56.720 wife for a woman in Russia. He had been taking 0:25:56.800 --> 0:26:02.440 mission trips to Russia, mission trips to Russia, but one 0:26:02.520 --> 0:26:06.000 mission he went for and he never came back. And 0:26:06.119 --> 0:26:10.000 the man that was cocky and arrogant is still serving 0:26:10.040 --> 0:26:13.600 God today, and his kids are in ministry too. And 0:26:13.680 --> 0:26:16.679 here's what I'm trying to say. Let's stop being so 0:26:16.920 --> 0:26:21.000 quick to categorize people based on what we see with 0:26:21.160 --> 0:26:25.040 our eyes or where they are in certain behaviors in 0:26:25.119 --> 0:26:29.240 their lives. Judge nothing before the appointed time. You don't 0:26:29.280 --> 0:26:31.679 even know what battles they're fighting, and you don't know 0:26:31.720 --> 0:26:33.960 how far they've come. And you don't know what has 0:26:34.000 --> 0:26:36.720 taken them, just to keep running the race, and they 0:26:36.800 --> 0:26:39.119 might be limping, but they might make it to the 0:26:39.119 --> 0:26:48.399 finish line because they lived. I don't know anymore. I 0:26:48.520 --> 0:26:52.879 put no confidence in the flesh. I don't have categories. 0:26:52.880 --> 0:26:55.919 They're not as clear anymore for who's a godly person 0:26:56.000 --> 0:27:00.119 and who's not, and who God has favored, and oh 0:27:00.200 --> 0:27:02.880 God hasn't because some of the people that I thought 0:27:02.880 --> 0:27:05.720 were walking in the favor of God were faking it. 0:27:07.880 --> 0:27:11.639 But I know it till they fell apart. Paul's writing 0:27:11.640 --> 0:27:16.280 to Damascus one day a Hebrew of Hebrews, a Pharisee 0:27:16.320 --> 0:27:21.680 of Pharisees, in regards to the law, righteousness, connected and competent, 0:27:22.280 --> 0:27:25.719 connected and competent, And all of a sudden he was 0:27:25.760 --> 0:27:29.560 blinded by a light on his way to imprison Christians 0:27:29.880 --> 0:27:33.560 in Damascus and bring them back to Jerusalem to be sentenced. 0:27:34.160 --> 0:27:36.400 And something happened to him that will happen to all 0:27:36.440 --> 0:27:39.520 of us in one way or another. If it hasn't 0:27:39.520 --> 0:27:43.120 happened to you yet, send me a text message when 0:27:43.119 --> 0:27:47.480 it does. God in his mercy and God in his 0:27:47.640 --> 0:27:52.359 wisdom knew that if I allow Paul to remain confident 0:27:52.920 --> 0:27:56.760 in his flesh. He will not fulfill my purpose for 0:27:56.840 --> 0:27:59.560 his life. He will live the rest of his life 0:28:00.119 --> 0:28:05.360 putting his confidence in himself and his competence and his character. 0:28:05.920 --> 0:28:07.720 And so all of a sudden you can read it. 0:28:07.720 --> 0:28:11.760 In Acts chapter nine, a blinding light throws Paul from 0:28:11.760 --> 0:28:14.879 his horse. He is thrown to the ground on the 0:28:14.880 --> 0:28:19.840 way to exercise his gift with authoritative letters from the 0:28:19.920 --> 0:28:23.480 Jewish Ruling Council. He falls off of his horse, and 0:28:23.560 --> 0:28:27.159 a voice from heaven asks him, Saul, who do you 0:28:27.240 --> 0:28:29.800 think you are? And Saul said back, I don't know 0:28:29.840 --> 0:28:31.960 who are you? And the voice said I am Jesus. 0:28:32.480 --> 0:28:35.399 And Paul spent three days blind and someone had to 0:28:35.480 --> 0:28:37.640 lead him by the hand. You know, that's when life 0:28:37.680 --> 0:28:41.440 gets really interesting. When you're used to leading others, when 0:28:41.480 --> 0:28:44.120 you're used to knowing what to do, when you're used 0:28:44.160 --> 0:28:46.800 to making it happen, when you're used to smiling and 0:28:46.840 --> 0:28:49.400 getting through it. But then every once in a while, 0:28:49.640 --> 0:28:52.000 something will come along in your life and you'll say, 0:28:52.440 --> 0:28:55.400 I didn't take a class on this, I didn't read 0:28:55.440 --> 0:28:58.920 a book about this. Nobody told me it would feel 0:28:59.040 --> 0:29:02.360 like this. I wasn't prepared for this. I didn't know 0:29:02.400 --> 0:29:08.520 it would be like this, and Paul said, I lost 0:29:08.640 --> 0:29:16.040 my confidence. I lost my confidence and I had to 0:29:16.080 --> 0:29:20.760 start all over. And I had to I had to 0:29:20.760 --> 0:29:23.320 give up all my connections because everybody hated me that 0:29:23.360 --> 0:29:26.840 I used to serve with. And I had to start 0:29:26.880 --> 0:29:28.840 all over because I didn't know how to preach Jesus 0:29:28.840 --> 0:29:31.600 because I just met him, and I had to humble 0:29:31.640 --> 0:29:34.280 myself and I had to reevaluate my character because I 0:29:34.280 --> 0:29:37.760 had been comparing myself to others. You know how we do. 0:29:38.920 --> 0:29:42.000 Holly preached this brilliant message to the ladies a couple 0:29:42.080 --> 0:29:48.160 weeks ago, and everything about it was good. But I 0:29:48.200 --> 0:29:53.240 just want to correct one thing she said. She said, 0:29:53.280 --> 0:29:56.600 we need to stop comparing ourself to others, and I 0:29:56.600 --> 0:29:59.560 think she's wrong about that. I think we need to 0:29:59.560 --> 0:30:04.000 compare ourself to others every chance we get, until we 0:30:04.040 --> 0:30:08.600 are so sick of comparing ourself to others. You know, 0:30:08.680 --> 0:30:12.560 because if you compare yourself to others long enough, you 0:30:12.600 --> 0:30:14.680 will come to the place eventually. If you're not there yet, 0:30:14.720 --> 0:30:16.960 you'll get there. Just keep doing it, keep comparing yourself 0:30:16.960 --> 0:30:19.560 to others. Just keep right on doing it, and do it. 0:30:19.760 --> 0:30:22.240 Do it to make yourself feel better. Do it. When 0:30:22.240 --> 0:30:24.800 you see somebody whose kids are on drugs, you just 0:30:24.840 --> 0:30:28.560 silently tell yourself, my kids would never do that. Go ahead, 0:30:28.600 --> 0:30:30.680 go ahead and go ahead and do that. Just go 0:30:31.080 --> 0:30:32.959 ahead and do it. Just go ahead and do it. 0:30:33.080 --> 0:30:35.040 When you see somebody who's not married, I'll tell you 0:30:35.080 --> 0:30:37.480 if they go ahead and compare yourself to them, because 0:30:37.480 --> 0:30:39.120 you know you're better than them. That's why you're married, 0:30:39.160 --> 0:30:40.720 they're not. Just go ahead, compare yourself. Go ahead and 0:30:40.720 --> 0:30:42.360 do it. Go ahead and do it too. The other 0:30:42.400 --> 0:30:44.000 way to go ahead and compare yourself to people that 0:30:44.040 --> 0:30:46.600 are better than you all the time, just all the time. 0:30:46.760 --> 0:30:49.440 Look at everybody sucking in on the ground, and then 0:30:49.480 --> 0:30:52.520 compare yourself bloated after a whole day of running your 0:30:52.560 --> 0:30:55.520 kids around, and then compare yourself who didn't have time 0:30:55.560 --> 0:30:57.600 to eat healthy because you actually care about other people 0:30:57.640 --> 0:30:59.360 and that's why you had to go through McDonald's. But 0:30:59.400 --> 0:31:01.840 compare yourself to them, you won't even know that they're 0:31:01.840 --> 0:31:03.840 selfish and that's why their body looks like that because 0:31:03.880 --> 0:31:05.880 they never they never have time for anybody else and 0:31:05.880 --> 0:31:07.560 all their things going. Here's what I want you to do. 0:31:07.600 --> 0:31:09.960 I want you to completely compare out of context for 0:31:10.000 --> 0:31:12.120 as long as you can, and don't ask the question. 0:31:12.160 --> 0:31:13.880 You know, like, they're real successful on their job, but 0:31:13.920 --> 0:31:16.240 I wonder are they happy? Don't ask that question, because 0:31:16.280 --> 0:31:18.360 if you can compare across all the categories, you might 0:31:18.400 --> 0:31:21.520 see that their success is costing them their fulfillment. But 0:31:21.600 --> 0:31:24.400 don't do that. Just compare, Just completely take it all 0:31:24.400 --> 0:31:27.160 out of context and compare what people show you to 0:31:27.920 --> 0:31:30.200 what you can see, and don't take time to wonder 0:31:30.200 --> 0:31:32.240 what's really going on, and don't take time to stop 0:31:32.280 --> 0:31:34.520 and think about how they're so gifted and they're so wonderful. 0:31:34.560 --> 0:31:37.360 Just compare yourself to them until you feel so terrible 0:31:37.600 --> 0:31:41.400 that the only place left for you to go, the 0:31:41.440 --> 0:31:44.560 only thing left for you to conclude, the only thing 0:31:44.680 --> 0:31:47.640 left for you to do, is to fall down off 0:31:47.720 --> 0:31:52.640 your horse and say, God, I'm sick of myself. I'm 0:31:52.720 --> 0:31:57.200 sick of false standards, I'm sick of worldly measurements, I'm 0:31:57.240 --> 0:32:01.240 tired of my flesh, I'm tired of keeping I'm tired 0:32:01.280 --> 0:32:04.960 of falling short, I'm tired of looking around. And in 0:32:04.960 --> 0:32:09.440 that moment, you will come to the point that Paul 0:32:09.480 --> 0:32:12.760 came to in verse seven, where he said, I compared 0:32:12.800 --> 0:32:18.360 myself to everyone else so long, and it finally brought 0:32:18.400 --> 0:32:21.880 me to a point, not because I hit the bottom, 0:32:22.120 --> 0:32:26.960 but because I was on top. And then something happened 0:32:27.000 --> 0:32:34.520 in my life. I compared myself to Jesus. And when 0:32:34.560 --> 0:32:38.200 I compared myself to him, I didn't have anything left 0:32:38.200 --> 0:32:48.320 to brag about. When I compared myself to him, I 0:32:48.360 --> 0:32:52.000 wasn't such a good person after all. When I compared 0:32:52.000 --> 0:32:55.440 myself to him, I lost my confidence in me. I 0:32:55.480 --> 0:32:58.200 lost my confidence and how nice I am, and how 0:32:58.240 --> 0:33:01.200 sweet I am, and how polite I am, and how 0:33:01.320 --> 0:33:03.720 educated I am. When I compared myself to the fullness 0:33:03.720 --> 0:33:06.920 of wisdom that was revealed in Jesus Christ, I didn't 0:33:06.920 --> 0:33:08.880 bring up my IQ anymore, and I didn't show them 0:33:08.880 --> 0:33:12.040 my sat scourse. When I compared myself to him. My 0:33:12.120 --> 0:33:15.280 posture changed. When I compared myself to him, I quit 0:33:15.320 --> 0:33:17.160 trying to be first place in a race that I 0:33:17.200 --> 0:33:20.040 realized I couldn't win. When I compared myself to him, 0:33:20.200 --> 0:33:22.440 I fell off my horse and I was led by 0:33:22.480 --> 0:33:26.680 the hand. And Paul says in verse seven, Now whatever 0:33:26.720 --> 0:33:33.560 were gains to me, I consider loss. I lost my confidence. 0:33:33.600 --> 0:33:40.680 But watch this, I gained Christ. Speak this message today 0:33:41.800 --> 0:33:46.400 in the hopes that someone who has lost your confidence 0:33:47.080 --> 0:33:51.160 in yourself would realize that this is a necessary step 0:33:52.360 --> 0:33:56.040 for you to receive the righteousness that comes by faith. 0:33:56.960 --> 0:33:59.640 And that's what Paul says here. He says, I lost 0:33:59.640 --> 0:34:03.680 my cane actions. I lost my sense of competence. I 0:34:03.720 --> 0:34:05.520 found out I wasn't so good at everything. You know 0:34:05.560 --> 0:34:07.320 how life is, man, just about the time you master 0:34:07.400 --> 0:34:11.000 a set of skills, the whole game changes. By the 0:34:11.040 --> 0:34:12.799 time I figure out how to get my kids to 0:34:13.320 --> 0:34:17.480 you know, sh then they are teenagers and I'm trying 0:34:17.520 --> 0:34:19.080 to get them to talk to me, you know, the 0:34:19.280 --> 0:34:25.279 whole opposite changes. So it is designed that way, is 0:34:25.320 --> 0:34:29.320 designed that way. I wonder if God is trying to 0:34:29.320 --> 0:34:31.480 strip you of your confidence today so that you can 0:34:31.520 --> 0:34:36.799 gain something greater. I lost my confidence to preach to 0:34:36.840 --> 0:34:39.000 people and tell them, you know, if you do this, 0:34:39.080 --> 0:34:41.600 God's going to do that. I don't make those kinds 0:34:41.640 --> 0:34:45.080 of promises anymore because now I have a different kind 0:34:45.200 --> 0:34:49.239 of confidence. It's a kind of confidence that doesn't come 0:34:49.239 --> 0:34:55.000 from circumcision and changing your behavior, getting it right, knowing 0:34:55.000 --> 0:34:58.520 all the answers. It's it's in inward confidence. I wonder 0:34:58.560 --> 0:35:01.440 if that's the real contrast here, is that we are 0:35:01.440 --> 0:35:05.399 trying to project confidence and God is trying to impart it. 0:35:07.560 --> 0:35:10.000 I wonder if we're so busy trying to be confident 0:35:10.760 --> 0:35:15.400 and seem confident that we have isolated ourselves so we 0:35:15.440 --> 0:35:18.279 stay in places where no one really knows us and 0:35:18.280 --> 0:35:21.280 no one can really touch us, because we have gotten 0:35:21.320 --> 0:35:24.400 so good at looking confident, but on the inside, we 0:35:24.560 --> 0:35:28.120 have lost a sense of ourselves, and we have lost 0:35:28.200 --> 0:35:31.279 touch with our humanity as we project into the world, 0:35:31.360 --> 0:35:33.920 pretend images of who we wish we were and who 0:35:33.920 --> 0:35:36.560 we think we should be. But Paul said, I lost 0:35:36.600 --> 0:35:39.840 all that. I lost all that, and you know what, 0:35:40.320 --> 0:35:43.760 I'm glad I lost it. I'm glad I got knocked 0:35:43.760 --> 0:35:47.680 off my horse. Glad I got my heart broken, Glad 0:35:47.719 --> 0:35:50.880 I got my plans disrupted. I'm glad I found out 0:35:50.960 --> 0:35:54.319 that the world wasn't flat. I'm glad I found out 0:35:54.320 --> 0:35:57.279 that it didn't revolve around me. I'm glad that I 0:35:57.320 --> 0:35:59.040 didn't know what to do, because if I'd have kept 0:35:59.080 --> 0:36:01.919 trusting in my flot, I would have spent the rest 0:36:01.960 --> 0:36:05.960 of my life measuring myself against an irrelevant standard. But 0:36:06.080 --> 0:36:11.080 something wonderful happened when I lost my confidence. I gain Christ. 0:36:12.000 --> 0:36:15.360 And what is more versea, I consider everything a loss 0:36:15.440 --> 0:36:19.000 because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ, Jesus, my Lord, 0:36:19.040 --> 0:36:22.120 for whose sake I have lost all things. I'm letting 0:36:22.120 --> 0:36:24.760 it go. I'm not trying to get back on my horse. 0:36:25.040 --> 0:36:27.480 I don't even want to ride in that direction anymore. 0:36:27.719 --> 0:36:30.920 I've been down that road, and I'm ready for something better. 0:36:31.760 --> 0:36:35.960 I consider them garbage that I may gain. Christ. Take 0:36:36.040 --> 0:36:40.200 the whole world, Take my skills, take my knowledge, take 0:36:40.280 --> 0:36:44.640 my insight, take my appearances, take my youth, But give 0:36:44.680 --> 0:36:48.879 me Jesus. I want to be found in Him, not 0:36:48.960 --> 0:36:51.960 having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, 0:36:53.200 --> 0:36:57.640 but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness 0:36:57.680 --> 0:37:00.960 that comes from God on the basis of faith. Stand up. 0:37:01.000 --> 0:37:05.200 It's not about how much confidence you have, it's about 0:37:05.200 --> 0:37:11.080 on what basis you've built it. And the answer to 0:37:11.120 --> 0:37:25.120 our anxiety isn't just more confidence, it's more Christ. He 0:37:25.160 --> 0:37:28.080 says Verse ten. I used to know a lot of 0:37:28.120 --> 0:37:31.040 things about the law. I used to know a lot 0:37:31.080 --> 0:37:34.839 of things about life. But now look what happens after 0:37:34.880 --> 0:37:39.520 you lose your confidence and your arrogance and your prejudice 0:37:40.160 --> 0:37:45.400 and your presuppositions. He said, now that I've lost my confidence, 0:37:46.560 --> 0:37:51.080 I want to know Christ. I don't want to know 0:37:51.120 --> 0:37:54.640 about him. I don't want to know what I think 0:37:54.680 --> 0:37:59.319 I know about him. I want to know Christ. Yes, 0:37:59.480 --> 0:38:06.840 to know the power. Watch this of his resurrection. So 0:38:07.040 --> 0:38:12.520 after you have lost your confidence, you can expect a resurrection. 0:38:18.160 --> 0:38:20.879 I told my friend what I was going to preach 0:38:20.920 --> 0:38:22.320 to you today. I said, I'm going to preach on 0:38:22.400 --> 0:38:24.440 I lost my confidence. And he texted me after I 0:38:24.520 --> 0:38:27.840 preached it the first message, and he said, did you 0:38:27.840 --> 0:38:31.840 get it back? And I said no. I told the 0:38:31.840 --> 0:38:37.799 people to let it die. To let that confidence that 0:38:37.840 --> 0:38:41.200 we put in what we can see and then what 0:38:41.239 --> 0:38:44.719 we can know, and then what we can feel, let 0:38:44.719 --> 0:38:48.880 it die. Let it be nailed to the cross. You know, 0:38:48.960 --> 0:38:51.799 God will allow certain circumstances in your life, and he 0:38:51.840 --> 0:38:58.600 will use those circumstances to crucify your false confidence. And 0:38:58.640 --> 0:39:02.920 if we don't understand this, we will try to pray 0:39:03.200 --> 0:39:05.520 our confidence back down off the cross, and we'll try 0:39:05.520 --> 0:39:07.560 to get it back, and we'll go back into those 0:39:07.600 --> 0:39:12.239 same modes. But only after it dies can it be resurrected. 0:39:13.040 --> 0:39:18.560 As faith. I lost my confidence, and I'm glad I did, 0:39:19.640 --> 0:39:23.520 because while I was confident in me, I could not 0:39:24.160 --> 0:39:29.520 have faith in him. And I wonder if today God 0:39:29.520 --> 0:39:33.200 brought you here not to give you back your confidence, 0:39:34.480 --> 0:39:38.319 you know, so you can get the girl and win 0:39:38.360 --> 0:39:42.480 the bid. I wonder if God brought you here to 0:39:42.520 --> 0:39:47.720 give you something better then, now that we have buried 0:39:48.600 --> 0:39:51.160 your need to prove that you're better than everybody, helps 0:39:51.200 --> 0:39:56.000 because you realize that all of our righteousness is like 0:39:56.000 --> 0:40:01.240 filthy rags. Are you ready now for a resurrection of faith? 0:40:01.520 --> 0:40:04.879 That's what had to happen to the disciples. They were 0:40:04.960 --> 0:40:09.520 so confident in Jesus as an earthly king. When he 0:40:09.560 --> 0:40:14.440 went to the cross, it killed their confidence because they 0:40:14.440 --> 0:40:16.719 couldn't understand how he could set up a kingdom and 0:40:16.760 --> 0:40:21.399 die on a cross. But he had to crucify their 0:40:21.480 --> 0:40:26.319 confidence in order to give life to their faith. The 0:40:26.360 --> 0:40:32.160 same thing is happening in your life right now. You're 0:40:32.160 --> 0:40:37.080 getting older, or you got rejected, or something's happening in 0:40:37.080 --> 0:40:39.040 your body and it's not working like it used to. 0:40:40.680 --> 0:40:44.840 God is trying to give you something greater than confidence 0:40:44.880 --> 0:40:49.120 in your flesh. I've seen what my flesh can do, 0:40:50.239 --> 0:40:53.479 and I put no confidence in it anymore. I've seen 0:40:53.480 --> 0:40:56.680 what my effort can accomplish. I don't want to preach 0:40:57.000 --> 0:41:01.719 based on my opinions anymore. I'm ready now for the 0:41:01.800 --> 0:41:05.920 righteousness that comes on the basis of faith. Will you 0:41:06.000 --> 0:41:08.200 lift your hands in God's presence, Father, I thank you 0:41:08.280 --> 0:41:11.320 for the word that you sent forth from this pulpit today. 0:41:13.400 --> 0:41:17.239 While I understand God that there's a deep need in 0:41:17.239 --> 0:41:20.440 all of our hearts to feel assured that everything is 0:41:20.480 --> 0:41:22.680 going to be all right, I understand that also there 0:41:22.680 --> 0:41:25.680 are times that are necessary for us that we have 0:41:25.760 --> 0:41:30.600 to question everything, and sometimes we have to be shaken 0:41:30.680 --> 0:41:33.719 to our core in order to find a foundation that 0:41:33.800 --> 0:41:36.880 is worth building on. And I just believe today that 0:41:36.920 --> 0:41:40.359 you didn't give me this word so that I could 0:41:40.600 --> 0:41:43.640 preach it for myself. I believe that there is a 0:41:43.680 --> 0:41:47.760 brother or a sister who has lost their confidence because 0:41:47.800 --> 0:41:51.720 their circumstances have changed, or they've come to a place 0:41:51.760 --> 0:41:55.120 where something that used to work for them doesn't work anymore, 0:41:55.239 --> 0:41:57.680 or they have not been affirmed in certain ways. And 0:41:57.719 --> 0:42:00.919 I believe that you sent me here to tell them today, 0:42:01.000 --> 0:42:05.319 let it go and receive something better. And so as 0:42:05.360 --> 0:42:07.200 their hands are lifted to you, and their hearts are 0:42:07.239 --> 0:42:12.040 open to you. God, would you in each and every 0:42:12.040 --> 0:42:18.080 heart in this place fill our perspectives with faith, take 0:42:18.080 --> 0:42:21.920 away our confidence and our flesh. God, even if we 0:42:21.960 --> 0:42:24.600 can do it in our own strength, we can't sustain 0:42:24.640 --> 0:42:29.320 it in our own strength. We need you, We need you. 0:42:29.320 --> 0:42:34.719 You are our righteousness, and you are the only confidence 0:42:35.320 --> 0:42:40.480 that we have. Well, I hope you enjoyed the podcast today, 0:42:40.560 --> 0:42:42.480 and if you did, there are just a couple things 0:42:42.560 --> 0:42:45.680 I'd love for you to do. Number One, subscribe to 0:42:45.719 --> 0:42:48.880 our show. That way, the most recent episode will always 0:42:48.920 --> 0:42:52.120 be in your feed, waiting for you ready when you are. 0:42:52.520 --> 0:42:55.680 And Secondly, if this ministry has impacted you and you'd 0:42:55.719 --> 0:42:58.000 like to help us continue to reach others, you can 0:42:58.000 --> 0:43:00.279 click the link in the description and you can give 0:43:00.360 --> 0:43:04.280 now and I'll see you next time on the Elevation podcast. 0:43:06.160 --> 0:43:10.920 M m HM