Courage
Notes
Transcript
Today we are wrapping up this series. For the last few weeks we have been talking about staying positive in a negative world. Negativity is all around us, there is so much negativity everywhere. Unfortunately, for many of us, most of the negativity we face comes from ourselves.
You may really want to do something, but you are down on yourself about your abilities. The guys want to play basketball or golf and suddenly you overwhelm yourself with negativity, “Basketball? I’m like a thousand now, I can’t play basketball. I would just embarrass myself.” That negativity may fire up in your mind when you start thinking about your future. You can’t be certain about your future, especially with how things have been going in life lately.
Maybe your spouse asked you for a favor, but you feel inadequate. You don’t believe you can do it good enough. Maybe sometimes you feel insecure around others. Maybe you lack confidence as a parent or a spiritual leader. Maybe simply walking past a mirror is a shot to your confidence.
If you have ever felt this way, God has a special message for you and me both today as we study confidence. Confidence has always been at the top of my list of struggles. While I am up here reading off this list of random insecurities, in the back of my mind I am going, “Yep, got that one. Uh-huh, that too. Spiritual leader, check. Embarrass myself on a basketball court?!? YEAH, DUH!”
If that’s you too, you have probably given yourself “the talk.”
“You can do this. You can do this. It’ll be easy, you’ve got this! Man, this should be easy. DON’T BLOW IT! All it would take is for one thing to go wrong. One missed step. Maybe I shouldn’t try. I am gonna miss that one thing. Really, I’ll never make it anyway.”
Then you give up. If it’s your diet you give up and go all in and blow it big. Can’t do it anyway, right? You don’t think you can be a good spiritual leader, so you cancel the bible study. You can’t be a great parent, so you let the kids learn for themselves. When it comes to being insecure around others, often times some people will swing the other way to compensate for their self-perceived lack of confidence by acting like the most confident person in the room. They might share all of the best stories, know all the answers, and tell the funniest jokes, but many times those people are actually the most insecure!
In fact, just for fun I have a list of three different types of insecure people. There are the People Pleasers, the Fishers, and the One-Uppers. I think the internet just calls it “cringe.” At one point or another I have been all three of these. Maybe even all at the same time.
People pleasers-
What do people pleasers do? “Hey man, that was amazing! You are so great! I think you are amazing. Do you need anything? Is there anything I can do for you? Do you need some money? Here I have some money, take it. You can have all of it.”
Do you know any people pleasers? Raise your hand if you know someone like that. Go ahead, raise your hand. Don’t point at them, just raise your hand. See, some of you raised your hands to please me, so thank you. Thank you very much. I am pleased.
Fishers-
Then there are Fishers. Fishing for complements or pats on the back or whatever. They are the people who will post a picture of themselves and just say, “Oh, I just feel so blah today.” Hoping someone will come back, “No way! You are beautiful.” I probably do this one more than I’d like to admit. Honestly, after church I will ask Amy, “How did I do today? Was it good? Did anything really stand out or have an impact? Which part?”
One-Uppers-
Then there are the one-uppers. Anybody know one of those? Anyone else know two? “My son got an ‘A’ in math.” “Oh, congratulations. That’s great. My kid got straight ‘A’s.” If you catch a fish this big, they have caught one that much bigger. “Man, I had the flu last month and felt horrible.” “That’s nothin’! I was sick for 3 months and the doctors couldn’t figure out what it was. It almost killed me. Turns out, it was a new disease and they’re named it after me.” The one-uppers.
Even though I’ve struggled with these insecurities, the biggest and most tragic is when the insecurities have kept me from following my dreams. By nature, I am the type of person who will choose not to do something if I don’t think I can do well. I’ll never forget sitting on the back of our motorcycle trailer before a race we had in Stillwater. I think it rained all night before the race and it was muddy. I was so nervous that I sat on the trailer holding my stomach because I felt like I was going to yak.
Dad pushed me to do a lot of stuff that I didn’t think I could do, so if it weren’t for him I would have quit a lot more often. That morning he could have told me I didn’t have to race and I would have been changed and loaded up in 10 seconds. Instead, he told me the strangest thing. Apparently he knew me better than I knew myself because he simply said, “Everyone is going to struggle just as much as you will, but you can handle it.”
I didn’t quit that day, but there have been plenty of other times when I have. How many people quit before they even begin because of insecurity? They never go to the job interview because they don’t feel qualified. They never go back to school because they don’t think they are smart enough. They never lead a bible study or prayer group because they don’t feel spiritual enough. They don’t even try because they don’t have confidence.
Today we are talking about confidence. If you are taking notes, I want to start with an important principle. We need to learn how to be confident, but what we don’t need is more self-confidence. This is our driving thought for today…
WE DON’T NEED SELF-CONFIDENCE.
WE SHOULD CULTIVATE GOD CONFIDENCE.
There is a big difference between self-confidence and God confidence. We don’t need to be confident in ourselves, we should cultivate God confidence.
There is a great story about confidence in the book of Exodus. When God told Moses to go to Pharaoh and free the Israelites, Moses was so focused on his insecurities that he pretty much ignored God’s encouragement. He’s thinking, “I don’t have the self-confidence I need,” while God is saying, “no, actually you need more God confidence.”
The first thing Moses said to God was, “Who am I to do this job? I can’t do that!” God’s like, “I’ll be with you. I am taking care of it.”
“Yeah, but what if they ask who sent me?”
“Then tell them I did. Anyway, here is the plan…” God draws all of this out on the dry erase rock and lays out all of these detailed plans and then Moses, clearly not listening, asks.
“What if they don’t believe that you sent me?”
So God gives him three different signs to prove who sent him. Then Moses said, “Pardon me, God… Yahweh… Um, I’m not good with words. I only know small words, and not too many of those. I’m a little slow, I don’t know any good jokes.”
“Listen, Moses, I’m going to help you. I know plenty of big words. I am the one who made mouths so that they could say the big words.”
“Pardon me, Mr. God, sir. Um, send someone else.”
I imagine at this point, if God has ever been angry enough to speak through His teeth this was probably one of those moments. “What about your brother, Aaron? Is he good enough? I have already sent him and found him much more agreeable. You and he will go together, mmm-kay?!?”
Moses would never have enough self-confidence. He needed God confidence. When speaking to the Corinthians, Paul referenced Moses and the Exodus. He talked about how they traveled with God. He took care of them and gave them everything they needed, but most of them got a little too self-confident. Everything was going well for them, what was there to worry about? Some of them even tested God and then died from snakebites. Then Paul said this in 1 Cor 10:12…
1 Corinthians 10:12 (MSG)
12 Forget about self-confidence; it’s useless. Cultivate God-confidence.
We need to forget about self confidence because it’s really just useless. Instead we are going to ask God to develop something deep within us. A faith in Him. Confidence in God. Why not focus on self-confidence? Because scripture says that my heart is deceitful above all things. We have an unbelievable ability to deceive ourselves. Why be confident in my self if I might just end up tricking myself.
My flesh is also weak. Spiritually, I can be on fire one day and struggling with desire the next. Paul said, “I put no confidence in the flesh.” You could be the most obedient, law abiding citizen of the most strict Jewish law, but, in Paul’s words, is “worthless compared to Jesus.” Why would I put confidence in my own flesh when Christ has done so much more?
My heart is deceitful, my flesh is weak, and my behavior is inconsistent. I can be on fire for God one day, and then hiding in dark places the next. Passionate for God for three, four, five days, then on day six I see a squirrel and completely lose focus.
It’s not bad to have self-confidence. It is important to feel good about yourself or to acknowledge gifts that God has given you and believing, “I can do this!” But if you really want to go all in with God and live a life that completely glorifies Him, you will never do it putting confidence in yourself alone. You will only do it by cultivating a God confidence.
Last week we mentioned David and how he was on fire for God when he was younger. Before he became king he spent quite a bit of time running for his life, yet he still praised God. Like we talked about last week, he was enthusiastic. How? Why not just give up? Because instead of being self-confident David found his confidence in God…
7 My heart is confident in you, O God; my heart is confident. No wonder I can sing your praises!
3 TRUTHS TO HELP YOU CULTIVATE GOD CONFIDENCE
For the rest of our time this morning, I want to focus on three important truths that can help us cultivate a God confidence. We are going to look at some more verses that have the word confident in them, or some variation of confidence, and let them work to build in us a confidence, not in ourselves, but in God. If you are taking notes, the first truth is this…
MY GOD IS ALWAYS FOR ME.
MY GOD IS ALWAYS FOR ME.
My God is always FOR me, even when it doesn’t seem like it. How many times have you heard, “God is just out to get me.” What a strange thought. If you’ve ever thought that, did you ever stop and think about that for a second? For one thing, if God was “out to get you,” you’d be got. With God there is no try, only do or do not. Yoda stole that line from God.
Even human parents care enough about their kids to punish them if they are doing something bad. I saw this video the other day of these kids on a swing and this little boy was just hanging out while this girl was swinging real big. At one point the boy just starts walking and he walks right through the path of the swinging girl. The whole time the parents are yelling and screaming at him. The girl just whooshes right by him. It was close, but he didn’t get hit, and the parents are still yelling. All the kids were looking around like, “What did I do?” All but the girl swinging. Whoosh! finally the boy turns and walks through the path of the swing again and just gets taken out.
God doesn’t want to see us get taken out by a swing because we aren’t paying attention. He might even send something your way to get your attention. In other words, He isn’t out to get you so much as He is out to get your attention, because He is always for you.
Romans 8:31 (NLT)
31 … If God is for us, who can ever be against us?
My God is always for me and nothing is gonna stop Him or take Him away.
When I think of God in terms of a parent, I tend to think of my parents. I am very blessed to have parents who have always been for me. Earlier I mentioned my dad’s encouragement at that race. When we don’t feel like we can do something as well as we should, or we don’t feel good enough, it can carry a lot of weight. My dad always had more confidence in my ability to race than I did and I never wanted to let him down. I didn’t want to crash. I didn’t want to break down. I didn’t want to get comfortable during a race. I always wanted to win.
Some of us tend to do the same thing with God. We don’t want to strike out. We don’t want to fail. We don’t want to be one of these failure stories that we read in scripture. Soon we go from doubting ourselves to becoming our worst critic. We start thinking that the reason we need to get to church is to wash off these stains. Or we avoid church because we are afraid people will see the smoke coming off our backside as we run in the door.
We think that we are supposed to make God happy. We forget that our God is always FOR us. I love this quote from Craig Groeschel…
We don’t live FOR God’s approval. We live FROM God’s approval.
Do you find yourself doing life for the approval of God, or are you living full of God confidence FROM the approval of God?
35 So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you!
Why does it bring you great reward? Because God is for you. The second truth that will help cultivate God confidence is that…
MY GOD ALWAYS HELPS ME.
MY GOD ALWAYS HELPS ME.
I am sure everyone has a story like this one. I know my uncle Mike does, and his is even better. When my brother and I were younger we were the errand boys. Where we grew up, my dad worked out of a barn that was next to the house, but it was separated by a cedar tree row. Often times, after the sun would go down, you could see a light in the barn that didn’t get shut off that day. Obviously, now it was up to one of us brave boys to turn it off.
I was afraid of the dark, so I really didn’t like going down there. I don’t remember if Dusty was, but it didn’t really matter, because even if he was he would just get over it so that he could mess with me. I don’t even remember if we went down there together very often, but, like I said, it didn’t really even matter. As soon as the lights were turned off it was every brave man for himself as we raced back to the house before whatever lived out there decided to take advantage of the opportunity.
Thankfully, it’s not that way with God. God won’t take the flashlight and turn it off just to hear you scream.
Hebrews 13:5–6 (NLT)
5 … “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.” 6 So we can say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper, so I will have no fear…”
No matter what you are going through. No matter what you are facing. GOD. WILL. NEVER. LEAVE. YOU. I can’t even begin to count how many times God has been there for me in the worst of times and the best of times. He is your helper when you are trying to save your marriage. He is your helper when you face a difficult conversation. He is your helper when you are on a mission to get out of debt. He is your helper when you feel lead to start a ministry. As with Moses, He is your helper when you are supposed to say something but you freeze and can’t even remember how to speak. He gives you the words to say. The strength to endure. The faith to move forward. The peace to carry on.
1 God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.
Looking back, I would say this verse has always come to life for me every time I have faced serious trouble. God cared so much that He was always there. Ever-present. My God always helps me. He is always for me. Third, if you are taking notes…
MY GOD IS STILL WORKING IN ME.
MY GOD IS STILL WORKING IN ME.
I’m a work in progress. Some of you may already repeat this every day. It’s not an excuse, it’s the truth. God is still working in you. Maybe you did the wrong thing and it haunts you. You are full of doubts. There is this one sin that has you tripped up and you feel stuck. Doing the “Christian thing” has become one of your task list items so you do what you need to check the boxes.
Let me tell you, if you are waiting until you do feel good enough, it will never happen. There is only one spiritual leader in the bible that started out as a good spiritual leader. His name was Jesus. Every time I prepare a message to share on Sundays in the back of my mind I am thinking, “Boy I hope they don’t figure out that I am the one that needs to hear this.”
I want you all to know how much I do appreciate your encouragement, but to be honest there is not a single Sunday that I feel like I am good enough to preach. In fact, most of the time I don’t even describe what I do as preaching. I never feel worthy of Amy. She loves me and is a great person and I never feel like I deserve her or treat her as good as she should be treated. I always feel like I am failing.
I think the reason I like Moses’ story so much is because I think I get where he was coming from. I by no means think I am anything like Moses or am someone that should be looked up to in any way, but my first reaction is always, “I can’t do that! Why me? God, you need to find someone else.” Every week Mike and I pray before service and part of my prayer is that God would help me get out of His way. It’s my opportunity to stop worrying about my self-confidence and put all of my confidence in God.
I know I don’t have what it takes to do this, but the good news is that I’m not confident in my own abilities. I’m confident in God. I’m confident that He is still working in me.
6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
God is not done with you. He is going to continue working in you every single day. He is always for you, He will always help you, and He is still working in you. If you feel inadequate, if you don’t think you are good enough, if you feel like a failure, God is still working in you to cultivate a God confidence in your life.
Let’s see some God confidence this morning. If you are ready to exchange self-confidence for God confidence, ready to let God cultivate confidence in Him in your life, raise your hand this morning!
*God we give it all to You. We know You are always for us, You will never abandon us, and you are carrying on your good work in our lives. God, I pray that we would have an unshakable confidence in you and that we would live out the divine calling you have placed on each one of us. I pray that the voices of negativity and discouragement would never be able to talk us out of the faith we have in who you are and what you can do through us. For those who are discouraged I pray that they would be confident that You will carry on Your good work in them until it’s completion.