Latest / How to Faith a Life Podcast with Faith Womack / Christian Confidence BECAUSE of the Cross

Transcript

Christian Confidence BECAUSE of the Cross · How to Faith a Life Podcast with Faith Womack

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Hi and welcome back to the How to Faith a Life podcast.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: Today, I if you are watching this on YouTube, the thumbnail is like a bunch of mean comments I've gotten on my channel before.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um, if you're, you know, listening to this, just listening to this, I should say, um, you don't get to see that.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: But today I kind of wanted to adjust, like I get questions often of like, how does that not stick with you?
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: How does that not weigh down on you?
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: And I've been honest on my channel of like it does to a degree, but it comes down to this inherent, life-changing theological truth that I think more of us need to like live off of.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: Today I wanted to kind of take a deep dive into this idea of confidence in the Lord and how informative it is on our idea of salvation and kind of unpack with you my journey and some realizations or epiphanies that I've had more recently.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: Let's begin.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: You're listening to the How to Faith a Life podcast, where we wrestle with questions on how to live a life of faith, from everything from books to Bible studies, even Bible study tips.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: This is your place to wrestle with the hard questions and dive deep into what scripture really says for the Christian walk.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: Make sure you've subscribed to this podcast on your favorite podcast streaming services, review this podcast so other people can find it, and share with other believers who want to ask the hard questions.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: Now, with all that said, let's begin.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: Now I want to open up with this saying I am not compliment seeking.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: Like in my thumbnail, I was really, I talked to Joe about this yesterday.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, this is actually my second take on recording this podcast because I just wanted to make sure that I wasn't coming off like I was looking for compliments or looking for affirmations, but really genuinely get to the heart of this, how this impacts our theology, how we think about God and um relate to him in the ways that we call out to God, in the ways that we seek his face, in the ways that we relate to other people.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um, all of this is impacted by our confidence.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and this isn't like a worldly confidence.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: I think in Christian culture, we have two extremes.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: We either have those who basically have a worldly confidence in themselves, and then they just kind of pile on God's love on top of that.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: So maybe it's like, I've got everything figured out, oh, and Jesus loves me.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: So that's just like the icing on the cake, or we have the total other end of the spectrum, and that's like the strong, um, probably like hyper-Calvinist, um, total depravity like nailers, the people who um will not let you forget that you are a sinner and you're totally depraved and you have nothing good in and of yourself.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: And there's those like two kind of ends of the spectrum, and y'all know I love on my channel just kind of trying to seek a middle ground, a biblical middle ground, I should say.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: And so I am going to open up sharing with you guys a TikTok that I shared recently because um I was kind of chewing on these ideas, and I think it summarizes it really well.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: And this is what I kind of wanted to unpack in this podcast.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna unpack it, but let me just play it for you guys really quick.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: When your confidence rests in what Jesus did on the cross, paying for your not-enoughness, it doesn't bother you anymore when people say you're too loud, too obnoxious, too dorky, or too ridiculous, because it doesn't ever depend on you anyway.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: It's all on Jesus' work on the cross.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: So rest in his work already completed, done and promised.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: The basis of this idea is while we do not continue in our brokenness or our sinfulness, there's an aspect to which God made us us for a good reason.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um He made us uniquely us.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: Remember, God doesn't need us, He's not codependent on us like we are on Him.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: He could have gone without us.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: And yet He still chooses or chose to create us.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: And not only that, but create us all different.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: And not only that, but create us all different in this season like of time and of history where we're living on the planet at the same exact time, but we have different histories, different backgrounds, different worldviews, different gifts, different callings.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: There is no like chance in this.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: There's no, oh, he just kind of rolled the dice and sprinkled a little this and threw in a little bit of that.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: Like, we're this what are those Powerpuff girls?
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: The Powerpuff Girls.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: It's not like that.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: Like he intricately does not repeat himself.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: There is not a single person on this world that is an exact copy of another.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: God is so amazing in that he doesn't copy and paste like we do, he doesn't um uh repeat himself or repeat his creativity.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: He doesn't need us, but in his abundance of glory, he has created us and created us uniquely.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: Again, he doesn't need us and yet he still created us.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: So he really wanted us.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: If he doesn't need us, and he still went through the trouble of creating us, all different, all unique, all with different stories, history, backgrounds, and worldviews, he really wanted you.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: And he really wanted me, and he really wanted us to live on this planet at this time in history and these cultures with these these worldviews with these histories for a reason.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: I was talking about this last night with my patrons and a newer patron that just joined just started breaking out in tears.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: And I watched as she it kind of hit her anew, this truth.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: And it broke my heart that this was something that she hadn't heard previously in the church.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: And it broke my heart that this is something that I'm just unpacking at 27 years old.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I know I'm young, but the moral of the story is I I would have loved to truly know this truth before getting to this age and you know having babies.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: You know, when I was younger, it could have really strengthened my confidence just to have this idea of like God didn't need me, but he wanted me, and he wanted me to be me.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: So let's build off of this idea of who are we as Christians?
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: We are we're I I look at myself, and y'all guys saw if you're watching on YouTube, the comments on that I'll get, and now I can like share them and giggle about them because yeah, there's like a piece of truth in all of them.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, I'm too loud, yes, I'm ridiculous, yes, I um wear ridiculous earrings, yes, I can be immature at times, you know, blah blah blah, like yes, yes, yes.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: But um at the end of the day, how can I live with myself if I'm going to constantly be a victim or um like even just care about what other people think?
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: If you talk to anybody anywhere, Christian or not Christian, they would encourage you to like not care what other people think.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: We know that is like generally a good idea, but as Christians, we know in a deeper, like life-giving way, how little we need to care about what other people think about us because we know that it's not about us.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: So um, salvation is not based on anything we bring to the table.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's something that the church needs to remind ourselves of time and time again.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um, Ephesians 2, 8 through 9 is by grace we have been saved, not by ourselves or our works, is by grace.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: His loving kindness, his hased, as it's used throughout the Psalms in the Old Testament, um, his faithful, gracious love.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: That is what we've been saved by.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: And if we've been saved all by grace, if we've been saved all by his love over us, then yes, it is okay if I am too loud.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, granted, I will continually ask the Holy Spirit to continue sanctifying me, but like there's an aspect to which I'm loud and obnoxious, and God just like created me that way, and that's wonderful.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: And don't get me started on the ways that people take.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: Is it first Peter, gentle and quiet spirit?
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I should look that up.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: But they take it out of context.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's a gentle and quiet spirit, not a gentle and quiet personality.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: But anyway, don't get me, don't, don't get me there, girlfriend.
• 8:04
  unknown: Anyway.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so there's an aspect to which you might look at yourself and you might loathe the size of your body.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: You might loathe the way that your face looks, you might loathe the way that your voice sounds, you might loathe your background, your history, the way that the world perceives you.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: I know that people click on my videos and their first perception of me is a valley girl.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: And that's by the way that like my tonality and my voice and the way that I talk.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: And there's like literally nothing I can do about that.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I guess I could spend hours and upon hours and try and change that, but is that worth my time?
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: No, that's worshiping man and what man thinks and judging the book by a cover or whatever.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: And so um, there's an aspect to which we can live our lives serving man by just trying to please man and measure up to even what like Christian culture tells us we need to be.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: Christian culture often um exemplifies this one picture of what um a woman or a man should be like.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: Like we have this ideal, and we talked about this a couple weeks ago with my podcast episode on like Christian Gnosticism and motherhood.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: It kind of applies to all of womanhood.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: We tend to exemplify this one picture of what a Christian woman looks like, and that is that is how what is the word I want to use?
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: I the only words that are coming to mind are like really strong words, and I know that might push somebody off, but like that is disgraceful to God's creation.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: God's creation is abundantly um gloriously unique and variant, and like there's so many ways that God has created us to be different and yet glorify Him and beautiful in our differences.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, allow terrain.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna roll with it though.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: So, one book that comes to mind when I was kind of trying to gather my thoughts on this topic is Jeremiah.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: All throughout the book of Jeremiah.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, editing and apparently dyslexic faith.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: I meant to say Joshua here.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: So I think later I correct myself, but it's totally Joshua.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: It's definitely not Jeremiah.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, cool.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks.
• 10:02
  unknown: Bye.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: God continually reminds Jeremiah over and over and over and over and over again to not fear and to have this confidence in what God has appointed and called him to do.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: And that sounds well and good for us to look onto other people's lives and say, yeah, well, like clearly they're called, clearly they, you know, have been gifted towards X, Y, and Z.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: But I think what we forget is to see ourselves in that story.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: As much as I love to pound the fact of like you are not the hero in the Bible story, and like you are not David, at the end of the day, the truth of where we can rest our confidence does apply to us.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: And our confidence is never, should never be set in who we are, um, what we have accomplished, you know, that will constantly fail.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um I was when I was actually creating the thumbnail for this podcast, I was going through um a certain video that I knew had a lot of mean comments, and I was looking through, like just trying to find some examples of mean comments I could put in the thumbnail, like um laughing and like being humbled by it and all that kind of stuff.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: And I actually came across a comment I had never read before, but Joseph was in there like defending me, sweet Joseph.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, he's so kind and thoughtful, and he's like, that is not true.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna defend my wife.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: Anyway, um, and the comment was something along the lines of like, okay, I don't care if you have a Bible degree.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: If you have to mention that, then like you are full of yourself and no one should have to read off the resume.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: And like, okay, yeah, granted, there's an aspect to which like I could totally like never mention the fact that I've got Bible degrees, but also there's another aspect of where like people want to know that I'm not just like another girl with no education, just spouting what she thinks the Bible means, you know.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: Like, where's the balance in this?
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: Where's um the God glorifying, like, yeah, that is part of my story, and God did provide.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't in me that I got to go to Bible college or seminary, it was God providing all the way.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: So, anyway, there's just like a quick example of like we can live according to like what man thinks, but at the end of the day, you are worshiping man, you are constantly going to be your happiness, your satisfaction with your life and yourself and who God's created you to be will constantly be dependent on other people instead of the rock, instead of the truth that we have found.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's what he calls Jeremiah to do, like Jeremiah, um, Joshua to do.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: You know, Joshua's stepping into the role, following up Moses.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: Like, can you imagine the pressure?
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: The people with their eyes on you, like, I cannot imagine.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: And God continually tells him to be strong and courageous, and it's not being strong and courageous in himself, but for the Lord your God.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: Sorry, I'm trying to remember the verse.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: For your Lord your God will be with you.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: He is with us.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: Us living on this side of the cross, we have the Holy Spirit living within us, guiding us and leading us, and we can have our confidence not in the fact that we can measure up and be enough, not in the fact that like we've, you know, reached some new level of sanctification and now we're worthy of being used by God in the kingdom.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: No, but he knows we are not worthy and he has drawn us to himself or brought himself to us, however way you want to word it.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: He has redeemed us, is redeeming us, and he doesn't ask us to measure enough because he is more than enough.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, people, quick interruption.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: This podcast is sponsored by my Patreon page.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to support this ministry, there on my Patreon page, I have weekly printables, blogs, we have a monthly Bible study, we have a weekly fellowship time, and then we're on an app.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's kind of like Marco Polo where we can share videos and text messages and links and everything back and forth to each other and have these conversations and little threads going.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: And it has been so fruitful.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: So if you want to join Patreon and join in on this fruitful fellowship and the Bible studies and get all the extra content from my channel and all that, check out the link down below in the description box and I will see you guys on Patreon.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: Now let's get back to the podcast.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: I know I'm throwing a lot of concept at you, and I really don't want this to be, I don't want you to be picturing me when you listen to this.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_00: I really want you to be thinking about your own lives because I think I understood like conceptually about Christian confidence in the Lord, but I didn't like know Christian confidence in the Lord until maybe this last year, where I started getting like railed by strangers on the internet.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm telling you guys, it was it's been so sanctifying and so good.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: So again, I'm not like asking for compliments or for you guys to be like, don't listen to those people.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_00: Like in some ways, it's like it's so humbling and like good in a lot of ways because I'm a sinner and I can get puffed up, or I can, you know, just get caught up in sinful habits or habits that lead to sin, whatever.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: Like in the ways that I talk about myself or whatever.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_00: I don't even know.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: Like it has been actually really good and sanctifying in a lot of ways.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: But I want you to think about your life and the ways that you live your life, how you choose what to put on in the morning, or how you choose to present yourself in a quick elevator kind of conversation, or how you uh prepare yourself to walk in front of crowds.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: One of my least favorite things to do is to walk into a like crowded room in a in like a spot where people can see me.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_00: So like last night I walked into the gymnasium at the local school, and like everybody was already sitted, seated in the bleachers, and so we walk in and we're and like everyone can see us walking in, and my kids are kind of making a commotion, and I'm like, oh no, I'm like not dressed well, my makeup is like 12 hours old, and I just everyone stop looking at me, just don't look at me.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: And I felt like the stairs, right?
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: What if it was not about me and how I look?
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_00: Because none of that matters.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: None of my salvation or my value rests on me and how I look.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_00: All of my value is caught up in Christ, all of my life is caught up in Christ.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: My citizenship is in heaven.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_00: I'm an ambassador of Christ not because I earned that spot or because I'm awesome or I'm even a good ambassador, but because he's appointed and called me despite me.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: He can use me despite me because he's more than enough.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to think about like every big character in the Bible that we like admire and that we look up to.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: Moses, Joshua, David, Saul, sometimes we look up to him.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um, who else?
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um, New Testament, like Paul, Peter, like all of them are quote unquote like losers at times.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: All of them mess up big.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_00: And yet today in our Christian like culture, we look at ourselves and we're like, yeah, but God can't use you because you aren't articulate enough in your YouTube videos.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: Or yeah, but God can't use you because you could totally lose 20 pounds, or yeah, but God can't use you because you have that weird birthmark on your cheek, you know, or whatever.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_00: And God looks at us and he's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_00: I made you that way.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I've called you and I've died for you, and I've given my life for you so that you don't ever have to think that it depends on you.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm sorry I'm getting like worked up, but like, what is the cross if we still think it depends on us and who we are?
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_00: Do we truly understand the cross?
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, like it it can be good and it can be sanctifying when I get like mean comments, or like when the world tells me I'm too much, but they can go find less.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_00: I know that I am loved and adored by God.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: And ma'am, they're just other sinners, they're just other messed up people.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: Their worldview is sin-ridden, their personality is sin-ridden, their um the way they present themselves to the world, they can probably lose five pounds or whatever.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: Like it they are messed up too.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_00: But the perfect one loves me despite my brokenness.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_00: And so while the world tells me that I won't measure up, God can still use me.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: You see, there's like what?
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_00: Isn't it like seven billion other people in the world?
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: Like you're never gonna please all of the people around you, even all the people in the church that tell you that you don't measure up or that you don't fit what they wanted you to be.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_00: But Christ died for you.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_00: If you were a believer, Christ, Christ has died for you, and the Holy Spirit has taken up residence in your heart, and now everywhere you walk is holy ground.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: If the Holy Spirit, if God can live within you, not because you're worthy, but because the cross was more than enough, then how dare you say, well, this this isn't this isn't enough.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_00: Because he died knowing that you're not enough, but he is more than enough.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_00: He is more than sufficient.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_00: The cross was more than sufficient.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_00: Second Corinthians tells us that his power is made perfect in our weakness.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: Hello, my Bible's flipping open.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_00: What if we truly believed that?
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: You know, y'all know I love to preach it.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: We believe the Bible is true, and that's why we're faithful to the Bible, and that's why we watch as it changes our lives and we don't want to change it, right?
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: Like those are my three big words that I love to use: true, faithful, and change.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_00: We believe the Bible's true, so we want to be faithful to it and watch as it changes us, not we change it.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: What if we actually believed the Bible was true when it came to loving ourselves, not because we've earned the love, but because Christ loves us.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: Not because we have it all figured out or because we're good.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_00: Loving and accepting ourselves, not because, you know, we've earned any kind of love or because we are worthy or because we deserve the love, but because Christ loves us, we can rest in that love.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_00: You know, the world is constantly like, you're enough, like love yourself, like self-love, like all those things, but they fall flat because they're not rested in a perfect cross love.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_00: We know we are not enough.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_00: That's why the world's constantly telling us, you're enough, you're enough, you're enough.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_00: Because we all know deep down within that we're not.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_00: And our brokenness points us to a need for a savior, but so often we think we need to be the savior, and even us Christians fall into those lies of like, hey, I'm not enough.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: Let me try and measure up and be enough and earn his love.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, I've gotten the cross, okay, I've gotten salvation.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: Now let me kind of like earn it.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: Let now let me kind of like follow up with something.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not in anything you can do.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to picture like the tallest mountain you have ever seen, or the tallest building you've ever seen.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I want you to imagine standing at the foot of that mountain or that building, or even just like a tall tower, whatever it is that's coming to your mind.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: Picture a tall thing, okay?
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_00: And you're at the very foot of it.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_00: And you have to look up at the peak of it, you have to crank your neck all the way back so that your neck and your back's now hurting.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_00: You can still barely see the top of that tower or that mountain.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_00: That is a small, problematic, insufficient picture or metaphor of God's righteousness.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_00: We might try and hop to gain a little bit of like goodness or or to be good enough.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_00: We might try and like sneeze and gain a couple inches, but we will never be able to jump high enough to reach the top of that mountain tower pole thing that you're picturing in your brain, okay?
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: We will never, like, it's too high, it's too far off, and that is why we have the cross.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_00: So far be it from us to say, Jesus, your work on the cross wasn't enough.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I still don't like the fact that I'm squirry and ADHD-y and ridiculous and obnoxious.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_00: Like the world tells me that's not enough, so I'm just like not gonna receive your love.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not going to rest in your love, and I'm gonna tell you that you can't use me because I'm not enough.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_00: What if our confidence is set not in who we are and what we bring to the table, because we bring nothing to the table, but it's rather set in the cross.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_00: And if Jesus truly died for me and my brokenness, none of that can get in the way because he is God Almighty.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_00: And his sacrifice on the cross was more than enough.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_00: And if I sack and if his sacrifice on the cross was more than enough, I can't mess that up.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_00: I can't lose his love, and nothing can separate me from the love that is in Christ Jesus, my Lord Romans 8.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_00: I'll put it.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: This way.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Ephesians 3 and Hebrews 4 both kind of give us this picture of because we have faith, or Ephesians, for example, says, through faith in him, we can then approach God with freedom and confidence.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_00: It's because we have our faith in him that we can approach him with confidence, that we can live our lives with confidence, because our faith isn't in ourselves.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_00: Our faith is in God's work and him knowing that we're not enough, but still saying, I'm gonna use you despite you.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna love you despite your brokenness.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_00: And I made you quirky and I made you dorky and I made you exactly how you are with your history and your story and your worldview because I'm just that awesome.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm going to redeem you and sanctify you and use you all along the way.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_00: He doesn't ask us to be like a perfect Christian today so that he can use us.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_00: He is sanctifying, has called, redeemed us, not because of us, but because of his work on the cross, which was more than sufficient.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't know what kind of quote unquote mean comments you get, whether you're at your family reunion and people are telling you, when are you gonna have your next kid?
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_00: or when are you gonna stop having kids or when are you finally gonna finish your degree?
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't know the kind of pressure that you have on you where you feel like you're not enough and that you shouldn't have any confidence and you feel that like total depravity.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_00: But even while knowing your weakness, your brokenness, your total depravity, you can have your confidence not in yourself, but in the one who is called, sent, redeemed, and is sanctifying you.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_00: So, Christian, don't have your confidence in yourself.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_00: You will fail yourself, but have your confidence in the word.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_00: Then the word tells us that we can set our lives on the cross.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_00: That that can be our confidence.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_00: This is hard.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_00: This is a hard topic because we use a lot of this phraseology, but we use it very blandly, and it's like we've watered it down and and we forget like the amazingness of if we are Christians, we can walk boldly in the f in faith that He is going to work through and despite us.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_00: Second Timothy tells us that the Spirit of God does not make us timid, but gives us power, love, and self-control.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_00: Live in the Holy Spirit working in your life and sanctifying you.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_00: And that confidence that you don't have to be enough for everybody else.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_00: That's not what God's asking us to be.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_00: He is more than enough.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_00: And so use your weaknesses, like that 2 Corinthians, his power is made perfect on our weakness.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: Use your weaknesses to point other people to the one who is more than enough.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_00: And when people tell you that you're not enough, chuckle and remember that that is the gospel, that the cross is that good news, that you don't have to be enough.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_00: It never depended on you in the first place.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_00: He is more than enough.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_00: Father God, I pray for the listener on the other end of the internet.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_00: God, you see them and their beautiful uniqueness and their giftings and their talents and their calling and their story and the ways that you've redeemed them.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_00: God, it's all unique and all point to your glory.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_00: And while we confess, God, we sometimes knock ourselves.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_00: We don't feel like we are enough, or we don't look like what we want to look like, or we don't sound like what we want to sound like, or maybe we don't feel like we're smart enough or pretty enough or whatever, God.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_00: We don't feel like we're enough because we know we're not enough.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_00: But you don't ask us to be enough.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_00: And so, Lord, we speak that truth of our hearts while we confess that we tend to believe the lies from the world, that we need to be better and be more.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_00: May that end today.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_00: But rather, when we feel the world telling us we need to be more and show up and be better, bring this truth to mind.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_00: That you don't ask us to be more and be better and to save ourselves.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_00: But you are more than enough.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_00: For it is by grace we have been saved through faith, not by works.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_00: So that we don't ever need to boast.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_00: And because we don't ever need to boast, we also don't ever need to condemn ourselves or dwell in our now enoughness.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_00: Because that was bought, paid for.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_00: That was like the whole point of the cross.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_00: And if we are truly Christians, defined by the cross, we will live in and through the cross, not confident in ourselves, but confident in the cross being more than enough.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_00: And God, as we seek your sanctification, we also know that there are things that you specifically made us to be.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_00: Whether we're quirky, whether we're dorky, whether we are, I don't know, whatever our personalities are, and however you've made us, whatever parts of our story, God, and we thank you that you can redeem our uttermost, most broken parts.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and you are sanctifying us, and God.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_00: So while we lean into that truth and that work that you are doing, and we thank you for that work, help us to also have ears and eyes to see the ways that you've made us for our specific callings, God.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_00: And remember at all times that we don't have to be enough for other people, but we just need to be faithful in who you've made us and called us to be.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_00: Seeking you all of our days because you are more than enough.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_00: And you are our everything.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_00: Father God, we thank you for the cross.
• 27:34
  unknown: I'm not gonna cry.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna cry.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_00: God, the cross which we proclaim now to be our life, our everything, the rock on which we stand.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_00: God, may we never find our value in what the world says about us.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_00: The world will always have opinions.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_00: We will never be enough for everybody, but you are the answer that they truly long for.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_00: Help us in our weaknesses to remember to point to you and the heart of salvation.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_00: And remember always that those comments or the world's desire for us to be more and do more is a heart cry for them to know salvation.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_00: And it's in your name we pray.
• 28:33
  unknown: Amen.