Confidence in Christ

I.                    What do we place our confidence in?

a.       Money, job security, economic status

b.      Looks, clothes, makeup, beauty, physical fitness

c.       Personality, charm, popularity, reputation

d.      Intelligence, grades, GPA

II.                  What is true confidence?

a.       False confidence: focusing on yourself

b.      True confidence: focusing on how God sees you

c.       Psalm 139:14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

III.                How has this truth been distorted in our past?

a.       Lies/hurtful words from parents, teachers, friends, enemies, etc.

b.      Comparing yourself with others.

                                                               i.      Envy: wanting what someone else has.

                                                             ii.      Jealously: being afraid that what you think you have will be taken away from you

c.       Negative self image: appearance, race, personality, etc

IV.                How have these negative words/thoughts/events affect our relationship with others?

a.      Hurt people hurt others

                                                               i.      Using words that have hurt us to tear down others: James 3:6,9 The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness.

                                                             ii.      Insecure about ourselves: paranoid of protecting our reputation

                                                            iii.      Cannot trust others because fear that they will hurt us

V.                  How has Jesus set us free from this negative cycle?

a.       He is our healer and redeemer

                                                               i.      He restores our identity back to our Father. We are now sons and daughters of the Living God!   2 Corinthians 6:18 "I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty." God is now the one who looks out for us, we don’t need to protect ourselves.

                                                             ii.      On the cross, He took away every single lie from us and gave us the truth. When God turned His back on Jesus, he took away the lie that we were meant to apart from God and gave us the truth that we will be with Him forever.

VI.                What is the good news for us now?

a.       We can live in freedom! 2 Corinthians 3:17 “where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom”

b.      We can live by the fruits of the Holy Spirit: Galatians 5:22-23

c.       We can FORGIVE others: Ephesians 4:32 “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”

d.      Healed people heal others: now we can speak life and truth to others

e.      We can love others: Mark 12:31 “Love your neighbor as yourself” 

                                                               i.      You cannot love others if you have not received love from God and have embraced who you are.

VII.              We must live in this truth daily and make it our foundation.

a.       John 15:4 “Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.”

b.      Matthew 7:24-27 (The wise and foolish builders) Jesus must be our rock, our firm foundation!