Insecurity

Insecurity. How many of you are insecure tonight? Don't worry, it's kind of like how many of you are gullible? Yes.

That's the work that we, tonight I'm going to be sharing about insecurity. So did you know that that's what the voice is in your head? That's the guy. Yeah.

You didn't know he looked like that, did you? So now you know it's easy. When you see him come and you can get rid of him. He's the chatter box.

And the gentleman that was on the left hand side is Steve Furtec, the one who has put this together and written the book, Crash the Chatter Box. And hopefully you were here last Wednesday night when Pastor John Harper spoke, gave the introduction and tonight is the session on insecurity. And we're going to take you through this. And Pastor John is going to be speaking next Wednesday.

We'll be off then a Wednesday. And then he will finish on the last Wednesday of the month on the 30th. And hopefully you will come. I have really gotten a lot out of this book.

This is kind of a different book because as I have read it, I'm like, wow, it's not just that it's a book on a spiritual level. It has helped me to understand the things that come into our mind and how to take care of those things that come into our mind. Because we want God to speak to us. And we've talked about that through hearing the voice of God that we heard on Sunday nights and then Wednesdays.

And now as Pastor John brought this to me, I wasn't too sure about the title. But then as I started reading the book, I said, wow, I need this book. So if you want to get the book and go to the bookstore, get it online, and read tonight, this is three chapters put into one. It's on insecurity.

Webster's Dictionary Defines Insecurity Is Not Confident About Yourself, or the Ability to Do Things Well. So let me share a story with you. When I was called into the ministry and then I was going to be going to Bible School. There was a number of things that took place.

I had only been saved maybe about four years and had only walked with God for about four years in my life. And then I'm going to be getting ready to go to Bible School. And as I did, I had some opportunities that came. There were some distractions right before I had an opportunity.

And I've shared this on Wednesday night, the day before I'm to go to Bible College. I had an opportunity to work in a jewelry store and probably make more money than I had made in about the last three years. And it was just a distraction is what it was. And so I prayed about that.

And so I'm getting ready. And I even had the same day I had a gentleman come over and he prayed for me. And through him there was a vision that came. The next day there was a scripture that confirmed the vision that I saw the day before.

My mom had given me the scripture Psalms 32, 8. I will instruct you and guide you in all that ways and keep my eye upon you. And I don't have time to get into the vision. And so that day I guess my mom, I said, Mom, what's the scripture?

She goes 30, Psalms 32, 8. I said, what's it say? She goes, you look it up. And I thought, well, I've got 13 hours to drive down the Baton Rouge, Louisiana from Springfield.

I have time to look that up. So I drove for a little while and before I looked it up. But 13 hours in that car. And this is what took place for a lot of those hours.

I was a young Christian. I didn't know the word of God that well. And I kept thinking, all these men and women that I was going to go to Bible College with, they were going to be so far ahead of me that they were raised in good Pentecostal churches, filled with the Holy Spirit. Speaking in tongues, they were able to do miracles, walk on water, and everything else.

It was the truth. I mean, there was times when I almost turned around. Almost turned around because I would just hear this chattering in my head that I wasn't worthy enough, that I wasn't good enough, that I was going to go down there and I was going to be the one that they were going to point at and laugh at and everything else. Well, later when I got down there and started meeting some of these guys, I found out they're just like I was.

We were all just trying to do the same thing and that was to get a good education, learn about God, learn how to share God, learn about the church and to get into ministry. And so that's the way that the devil works. That's the way that the devil works. And he wants to get in your mind and tell you these things, which are not true.

Some of them are just a little twisted. He'll tell you a little bit of truth, but he'll also tell you a little bit of lie. So we have to be very careful about what we put into our head and what we hear in our head that we protect our hearts in them. So how do you personally approach insecurity?

For some, they don't have any problems with insecurity. You've seen him on TV. I think he's running for president. His name is Donald Trump.

I don't think he has any problems with insecurity at all. Whether you like him or not, that's irrelevant. But in today's society, we can see that there are so many things that bombard us and just hit us about our shortcomings in life. We can see magazines where they airbrush the weight off of people, the pimples off your face and all these other things.

Nobody looks like that. You can see that whenever you see these things on TV, that there really aren't the standards that we live by, that we hold people at a higher standard, that when you see those models that are going to take pictures, they have spent hours on them to make them look just right. For me, it's 20 minutes. And what you see is what you get.

I can't do anything about it. We look at others and we wish that we had their life, we had their family, we had their money. Don't let the chatter be overwhelming in your head. So let me help you.

You're not perfect. Okay? Now this isn't coming into your head. This is just the truth.

You're not perfect. There was only one who was and that was Jesus and you're not Jesus. But we are to be Christ-like. We're to walk after Him and we're to live our lives and others see Christ in us.

So would you rather be so good looking that everybody sees you for the outside or would you rather be Christ-like that people see Jesus Christ inside of you? That's a question that you need to ask yourself. So we have this chatter box. We have that man in our head.

And he'll tell you about the shortcomings that you have. He'll try and distract you. That's what the chatter box is all about. To distract you from the focus of what God wants to do in your life.

If I had a camera that could take a picture of you and it would show all of your shortcomings, your sins, your mistakes, all those times when you failed, how many want to get that picture taken tonight? I'm just going to show it on Facebook. That's okay, right? No, none of us want that.

But sometimes that's what the chatter box will kind of make it look like. That he'll point out your flaws. He'll point out those things that maybe you have kind of hidden a little bit. Not that you want to hide from different people, but all of us at one time or another, we didn't look the greatest, but we wanted people to see us looking good.

It's not always what's on the outside, but it's what's on the inside that is really what we're supposed to work on. And the chatter box will just keep speaking in your ear and keep speaking in your ear until you finally just shut them off and you understand who you are and who you are in Christ. Now I understand that there are insecurities and let me just share a few that we do have because going to a brand new job, you might have a few insecurities. What's it going to be like?

I've never done anything like this. This is a new field for me to be in. Maybe getting married. You know, before I got married, I didn't know what it was all about.

To be honest with you, I'm still working on it. There are some insecurities that you can have. Having a baby. There are no manuals that come with babies.

But there's a lot of chatter in your head before, I'll be honest with you. Before we had a baby, I'd never changed a diaper. That first time was, well, thankfully Kim showed me a couple of times. You know, and after a while, I could do a blindfolding.

Done. I was more insecurities about it. And I didn't kill the little baby. You know?

But the devil, and really the devil would do that. So you're going to screw this up. You're going to mess this baby up. All these different things that he'll speak into your life about what you're doing.

What God maybe has spoken to you about in your life. It's the little things that the devil will whisper in your ear. That you're not worth it. You have a lack of ability and those things that you need to take care of.

Remember that you are created by God and God doesn't make junk. When you walk away from a conversation, sometimes you'll hear, oh, you shouldn't have said that. Oh, man, I'm guilty of that all the time. That was really stupid.

They're going to think this about you. They're going to tell somebody else that you said that. And the thing is, 99 times out of 100, those things don't even happen. They don't even happen.

It's when we walk away that the chatter starts. The chatter is there to get you to believe that your self-worth is nothing. So what do you do to beat yourself up about the chatter that causes you, those things? What is it that causes you to have insecurities?

What is it that the devil is whispering in your ear that causes you to dislike yourself, to be ashamed, to hide, to reject others, to think that you are not worthy. That's what the chatter is all about. Adam and Eve had a little problem and we're going to get into Genesis chapter 3 if you want to turn there in your Bible. Just to chapter 3 in beginning verse 1, it says, now the serpent was more crafty than the beast of the field which the Lord God had made.

And he said that a woman, this is the serpent speaking, the devil speaking. Indeed God has said, you shall not eat from any tree of the garden. He's asking a question. Great question.

And is he telling her something that she didn't already know the answer to? She already knew the answer. That's the way sometimes the devil works. It's for you to question yourself.

Did God really tell us that we couldn't eat? I got to process this. No. Because it goes on and the woman said to the serpent, from the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat.

But from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, you shall not eat from it or touch it lest you die. So she gave the right answer. The devil comes up and says, listen, are you allowed to eat any of the trees or you're not allowed to eat any of those trees, are you? He knew where he was going before he started this conversation.

And that's the way that the devil works. We just have to be smarter to him. And she was kind of innocent. She goes, no, God has told us that any tree of the garden we can eat except for that one over there that's in the middle of the garden.

And as a side note, I don't know why God put it in the middle of the garden. I would have put it way over there behind some mountain. And then the serpent said to the woman, you surely shall not die again. He's trying to set this all up.

This is the second layer of what he's trying to do. You surely shall not die. For God knows that in the day that you eat from it, your eyes will be open and you will be like God knowing good from evil. Now here's the twist.

He says, you can eat from it, but what happens when you do that you'll know good from evil? Now if I was even, I thought about this, there's a couple of things that she could be thinking. She could be thinking, if I eat it, then I will know good from evil. If I know good from evil, I know what to do.

The good stuff. And I can stay away from the evil stuff. She could have thought that maybe that fruit tastes better than the other fruit that we've been eating from. Maybe there's something different about that tree that if we do eat it, because he's already planted a thought in her mind that if we do eat it, there is something that God has special for us.

He's tempted her to do something that God has told her not to do. When a woman saw that the tree was good for food and then it was delight to the eyes, there you go, through the senses. And the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she was going to be wise. She took from its fruit and she gave it to her husband and with her and he ate.

He works on the senses at times. He works on the senses at times. You know, for men we struggle sometimes with lust. We see some woman go by and say she's beautiful, isn't she?

You know when as some would say, you know as a gentleman shared last night, you know, some women like the shop walking by a store, you would look nice in that dress that cost $500. Your husband won't mind, right? You're going to look like a thousand bucks in that $500 dress. Then the eyes of both of them were open and they knew that they were naked and they sewed big leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.

The devil has a way of getting in and he can layer things, he can show us things that are not the truth. And he'll get us to question ourselves if we're not careful. The question ourselves. The chatter will twist the words to cause us to wonder if he can cause you to be able to be off just one degree.

I did this one time, I was showing a couple of guys, I said, is being off one degree that bad? So I took a point and I drew a line and I went up one degree and I said, you know, about an inch? I said, that's not so bad. And I drew it out, now, now, now.

Eventually it was like this far off. If you go long enough, you'll be way off the mark. Just one degree. And that's all it takes for the devil to put one thought in your mind and you chase after it in your life for you to chase after it.

He wants you to see that your word, your self-worth is not much. You're not a good mother. Your coworkers don't like you. You said a stupid thing in that conversation.

It's an old card that you're driving and people are pointing at you. He wants you to get to a place of uncertainty. So what is the chatter box whispering in your ear tonight? Number two, how can I live in confidence every day?

It's only by the Almighty God and the fact that God loves each and every one of you. I'm not saying that we need to be cocky or arrogant. No, we need to be humble. Webster's again describes confidence as a feeling or belief that you can do something well or succeed at something.

Let's look at Jeremiah in chapter one. It's a great story and it's a story that we can apply to our life. Jeremiah, chapter one, beginning in verse one. The words of Jeremiah, I'm just going to go through the first three verses here because it sets kind of the precedence of words coming from the words of Jeremiah, the son of Hecaya, the priest who were at Enthof in the land of Benjamin to whom the word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah, the son of Ammon king of Judah in the 13th year of his reign.

And it came also in those days of Jukim, the son of Josiah, the king of Judah until the 11th year of Zechiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah until the exile of Jerusalem in the 5th month. I don't have time to get into all of that part. But now God speaks to Jeremiah. Now the word of the Lord came to me saying, before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.

Do you think that was just for Jeremiah and nobody else? That's for you also. Before you were formed in the womb, God knew you. God knew you.

He goes on, and before you were born, I consecrated you. I have appointed you, a prophet to the nations. Then I said, alas Lord, God behold, I do not know how to speak because I am a youth. What's the problem?

Insecurity in his life. I've been the same spot in my life. You probably have been the same spot yourself because everywhere I, because of my youth, verse 7, but the Lord said to me, do not say I am a youth because everywhere I send you, you shall go and all that I command you, you shall speak, do not be afraid for I will deliver you, declares the Lord. Verse 9, then the Lord stretched out his hand and he touched my mouth and the Lord said to me, behold, I have put my words in your mouth.

See I have appointed you this day over the nations and over the kingdoms to pluck you up and break you down and destroy and to overthrow and to build and to plan. Wouldn't you like to hear that in your life from the Almighty God that before you were born, before you were conceived, I knew you. God knew you before you were born and if God knew you, he's going to take care of us if we walk after him. If we allow him to stick into our lives and administer to us in that way.

Jeremiah was uncertain. He said, but I can't do this. I'm a youth. I'm too young for what you have called me to do and you can see others in the Bible the same way they had uncertain in their life because God had called me to do it.

If God calls you to do something, I can just promise you, you can't do it, but God in you can do it. Okay? Did you get that? Because if God says, okay, I just want you to walk across the street.

I can do that. But if God said, I want you to walk on the water, no. Only if God says it can I do it and that's the only way it's going to happen. That's why Peter did.

Jesus said, come to me. Didn't he? Walk on the water. The other guys weren't getting out of the boat because they didn't hear anything.

There was some insecurity there for them. So when God tells you to do something or he's going to do something in your life, just get ready and know that the only way that I can do it is with God's help in my life. The only way that I have been able to do a lot of things in my life and to be places and to minister in places is because of God. When God says, I want you to go on a mission strip and it costs us $2,000, don't worry about the $2,000.

God will help you to get it if he's called you. It's simple. We think, oh, I can't go because of this and then I talk to so many people who are called on mission strips but they don't go because of uncertainty. There's things in their life that God has called them to do but because of uncertainty, they don't do them, they don't step out.

God says it's time to walk on the water and we're like, oh, I'm staying in the boat. Nobody's going to point a finger at me because there's 10 other guys in here. Peter's saying, okay, I'm coming. Jeremiah did the right thing and that he talked with God.

He talked with God. He shared his thoughts and his shortcomings. I'm too young. I don't know how to speak.

And God told him it's okay. I'm going to take care of you. And then he also touched him. He touched him.

I can be confident in a lot of things in life. Being in front of people up here, I'm okay. Ministering to people in the hospitals, I'm okay. Praying with people for their needs, I'm okay.

You know, there's other things that I'm pretty confident in. There's some things I'm not so confident in. If you ask me to come out and work on your engine in your car, you're sadly mistaken. You're sadly mistaken.

If you want me to do surgery on you, listen, I'm in a hospital all the time. I should know how to do surgeries, right? Who's ready? I'll take your gallbladder out tonight.

You really, you want that. To fly a plane, would you get on a plane? If you saw me as the pilot knowing that I don't have any pilots training? No, I am not confident in those things at all.

There is no confidence. You know, I talk about the physical and the spiritual a lot. And the thing is, is that the spiritual takes place in the mind and in the heart, but it's played out in a flesh. And when I don't have confidence in things, then that's when we back away from things.

So we don't step up and do them. And when God calls you to go over and witness to somebody or go and share faith to do something, he's going to touch you enough that you're going to walk through it and you'll be able to do it. Remember the first time that I went out and I shared the gospel with somebody. It was after a wasis on a Thursday night and we had a guest speaker come in and share.

And as he came in and shared, then they said, we're going to go on on the streets. I struggled. I really struggled that night. I couldn't do it.

Now if you want to go on the streets right now, let's go. I'm with you. We're going to knock door to door. We're going to go wherever the people are.

I don't care if it's a good part or a bad part of town. We'll go and we'll share. Let me move on. I'm going to move on quickly.

So God gives us confidence in who I am and that's what I need. You need to shift the focus back to God and who you are in him. He's created us. The chatter will attack your confidence.

Just understand that if God says that I am a child of God, that I am something special. And so are you. Moses was another who had insecurities about leading the children out of Israel. Same thing.

You have a speech problem. You have a speech problem. Don't let the devil beat you up because you'll regret it. When I was down in Columbia, Illinois, I passed her down there for 10 years and after the first year I became the assistant preserver of the section over 23 churches and there was a preserver.

He was over those 23 churches that we kind of would oversee him. Right now I'm the assistant preserver here in this section. There's 16 churches and I work here. But there's things that we help them do.

And after then the next year the preserver resigned because he was leaving our section and going into another section. And he even said before all the other ministers in that section he goes, you'll be a fool, not to vote Paul in as your next preserver. The next meeting was coming up. I was about ready to have a baby.

Christmas was coming. And you know what happened? I ended up going to the emergency room because of stress. Yes.

There was so much I was thinking I can't do this. I can't become the preserver. And there's so much that's on there. I got this old baby coming and Christmas is coming and all the things at the church and everything else.

So it came down to the election and I went to our district superintendent and I said if my name is written I don't want it. He was very wise. He said why don't you just let God do what he wants to do. And so I withdrew my name.

And so there was another gentleman who was elected the preserver. So he was preserver for about two or three years and then he resigned and so we had another election coming. And so I still assistant preserver now for four years. The election comes and I go to the district superintendent and I said I don't think that, I know my name probably will come up.

I'm not writing it down but I'll probably come up and I don't want to do it. Why don't you let God do what he wants to do. So I withdrew my name and didn't get elected again. Again assistant superintendent.

Two more years this gentleman resigns and now we're going to have another election again. And it ends up that a friend of mine, same thing happens. The devil's just you're not worthy. I was the smallest church in the section.

We had the smallest church in the section. And I know I could have won all three of these elections easily. Third time come I had to teach the man what the job was. I don't know what to do.

I said don't worry I've done this now for seven or eight years. I know what you need to do. I want to teach you what you need to do. And it came down that really God spoke to me one time and he said listen this is what I wanted you to do and you didn't do it.

So now when these things come about whatever God wants to do, I'm assistant president because I was not at a meeting and got elected. And I really didn't want it but I will do it because I want to serve. I want to do what God wants me to do. Don't let the devil tell you that you're not worthy, that you're not good enough.

So number three, how can I let God's approval be enough for me? Jesus was tempted just as we are and he heard the chatter of the devil. If you go over to Matthew chapter four, you can see the story of him being tempted. And this is a great chapter for us to look at and we can see the temptations that he went through.

The devil was speaking to him and it wasn't necessarily in his ear but physically he was talking to him and he said you throw yourself off the temple. He turned the bread into the stone and so on. He used the word of God. He used the word of God.

But let me help you with what Jesus knew in that. He was approved by God. And if you look at Matthew chapter three verse 16, it says after being baptized Jesus came up immediately from the water and behold the heavens were opened and he saw the spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting upon him. That's amazing right there.

And behold a voice out of the heaven said, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. God approved of Jesus, his son. And he tells the world, this is my son in whom I am well pleased. That's what we need to hear.

God is pleased with you tonight. He loves you tonight. We'll make mistakes. We'll fall.

We'll stumble. If you're following after God and you're doing the things that he wants you to do, he is pleased with you tonight and he approves. Let the chatter motivate you to improve your life. There's a great little saying that Steve Furtec in the book he says, when you are already approved, you don't have to prove.

When you're already approved, you don't have to prove. I don't have to prove that I am the care pastor and the executive director of adult ministries in this church. It's already been approved. I got business cards to prove it if you want.

Give one day after a service. Been here for 13 years. People come up and they don't know me and they ask and yeah. But hopefully I shouldn't have to prove that to really anybody in here because I've been approved to do that.

You do know that God loves you. Maybe you're struggling with that. Maybe you don't understand how or why because of what that chatter is in your life. You're growing up.

It wasn't good. You didn't feel love. You didn't hear. I love you.

You were neglected. Had parents that needed Jesus. Let me tell you tonight that God really does love you. He wants the best for you.

He wants you to succeed because you represent him and not the devil. The devil wants you to fail. And if you do, then that brings destruction. Paul the Apostle said it great.

In Romans 8 verses 37 through 39. But in all things we overwhelmingly conquer through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalies nor things present nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. If you're walking with God, there's nothing that can separate you from that love.

He loves you so much that he knew you before you were created. He knows your day today. He knows what tomorrow is going to be. He has numbered the hairs on top of your head.

He knows how many times your heart beats in a day. Those how many times you blink your eyes. He knows your thoughts. And he still loves you.

Because he's not looking at all this stuff that the devil is chattering in your ear. He sees what you can do for him. And he loves you. A few years ago, I was asked to speak on Father's Day.

I said, I asked if I could speak on Father's Day. And I prayed about it. Because I felt I had a message from God. And really it was just a few words, the message from God.

But I preached about half an hour message. Because I wanted to. Preaches whole big message to say this one little sentence. And it's still true today.

Because God still brings this up. And the whole thing that God wanted me to share with the church on that Sunday morning is, I love you. I love you. Not just for me, but for them.

For them. We need to understand that. The answer is knowing that God has approved you. You're still going to have chatter in the ear.

You're still at times going to have insecurity. But understand that God has approved of you. He loves you. And if he tells you to do something or ask you to do something, you can do it.

Don't say, but I can't do that. Just say, God, let's go. I'm going to ask you to stand the night. Heavenly Father, we just thank you for your love.

Thank you for your son Jesus Christ. We thank you that you have given us the power. Father, thank you that before we were created that you knew us. Father, I pray that you would help each and everyone here tonight.

Sense and know your love. If they don't, if they're dealing with insecurities and the devil has really been just speaking into their ear, I pray tonight that they would just take a few minutes at the end of this service. Find somebody and pray with them. Father, I pray that when we get that chattering in our ear, we'll say, devil, God's created me.

I'm his child. You have no room in my life. Not in my ear. Nowhere.

Because I'm loved by the Almighty. And I'm not going to listen to you anymore. Father, I pray that you would just minister your love as we leave here tonight, that we would help others to see. Father, that they are worth it, that they're loved by you and that you've created them special because you've approved.

Father, we give you all the praise and all the glory in Jesus' name. Amen. God bless you. Have a great night.