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Confidence
13 Plays2 years ago
Are you confident? Is your confidence misplaced? Are you encouraging confidence in others? Vernon looks at how the apostle Paul addressed these issues in some of his letters to the church.
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Transcript
Confidence in Belief (Q&A)
00:00:02
Speaker
This is your host Vernon Terrell with Grace Ministries International and it's time for Walking Free. And welcome again, this is Vernon and I want to ask you about your confidence. Are you a confident believer?
00:00:34
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Are you one who walks confidently? And I'm not talking about arrogant and like when Paul said when he was writing to the Romans and those in Rome and he said and talked about these folks who were confident
00:01:01
Speaker
and those who are relying on the law, yet boasting in God and saying how they know his will and because they're so learned.
Confidence in Christ
00:01:10
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And in verse 19 of chapter two, he said, and they're confident. He said to them that you yourselves are a guide to people who are blind, a light to those in darkness, a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of the immature, possessing
00:01:28
Speaker
in the law of the embodiment of knowledge and of truth. And then he says, yet, those of you who teach someone else, are you not teaching yourself? And he goes on and basically tells him, no, you're blind. You're confident, but you better watch out about what you're confident in and you think you're so confident. So yeah, confidence can be,
00:01:56
Speaker
You know, we can be blinded and confident in the wrong thing. And so that's more of a humbling thing, more of something to be aware of. But I do believe the Lord would have us to walk confident. And in walking confident, we're walking in humility and walking in grace and walking in love. Confident in who? In Christ in us. In the God who loves us.
Holiness and Grace
00:02:28
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I like when Paul was writing his second letter to the Corinthians and he said about himself that our proud confidence is this and this idea of proud confidence, this idea of boasting. Well, he's boasting in this that the testimony of our conscience
00:02:55
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that in holiness and godly sincerity, we've conducted ourselves in the world, and especially toward you, he's writing to them. He says, not in fleshly wisdom, but in the grace of God. That is the confidence, that number one, that we're walking in holiness and sincerely, authentically,
00:03:21
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And that means, yeah, we're gonna mess up at times, but we are sincerely walking in the holiness that has been given us to us in Christ. Not in fleshly wisdom, but in the grace of God. And that's how we conduct ourselves. That's how our behavior is in the world.
Identity in Christ
00:03:50
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and we're gonna see behavior is important. And I've said it many times and I'll keep harping on it that sometimes we think, you know, we get our theology right and that's enough. Well, that's great. You understand the truth of your identity. You understand that God made you righteous and holy and pure and complete and blameless. That's amazing.
00:04:18
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You understand that your old self died literally with Christ on the cross when you believed, when you received the forgiveness in life in Christ. So you believe that, that's amazing. And you believe that you died, the old you died, and you were raised up brand new, 2 Corinthians 5, 17, the new creation in Christ.
00:04:46
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That's beautiful. You believe that. You believe that you're dead to sin and alive to God. Yet you walk contrary to what you believe. You walk in criticism. You walk in with an attitude, a bad attitude.
00:05:13
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Paul says in 2 Corinthians 1-12, our proud confidence is this, it's the testimony of our conscience, that in holiness and godly sincerity, we have conducted ourselves in the world. Parenthetically, he says not
God's Adequacy
00:05:32
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in fleshly wisdom, the wisdom of the world that says, you gotta be first, you gotta get ahead, sometimes you gotta step on people,
00:05:45
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The ends justify the means. Now we walk in the grace of God. How's your walk? Are you confident in believing that your way is the right way? Are you walking in humility and grace in this world? And not only
00:06:15
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our confidence, but are we giving hope to those we minister to? Are we encouraging confidence in those we minister to? Or are we encouraging codependency? Will they depend on us or depend on someone else for their okayness? I want to be the one who is encouraging confidence
00:06:45
Speaker
confidence in the God who loves them, confidence in the Holy Spirit who empowers them, confidence in the one who gives them life and meaning and joy. That's what I want to impart. And that's what Paul did over and over. He would encourage them that he is confident in them through Christ.
Adequacy Beyond Achievements
00:07:15
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He would say in 2 Corinthians 3, for such is the confidence we have toward God through Christ, always letting those that he's ministering to, letting them know of where his confidence lies. And what does that look like in 2 Corinthians 3 for this confidence that we have toward God through Christ? He says not that we are adequate
00:07:44
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in ourselves, so as to consider anything coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant. Not of the letter, but of the spirit, for the letter kills, but the spirit gives life.
00:08:14
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And that's the type of confidence we wanna share. We want to point others that we minister to, to look to God through Christ for their confidence, for their adequacy. We want them to know that they're adequate, absolutely, but their adequacy comes from God. They've been made brand new.
00:08:42
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and they're joined and united with the Spirit of God, and therefore they are adequate as servants of this new covenant. I'm all for getting more learning. If you can go to school, go to courses, get certified, Grace Ministries offers a number of ways to do that.
Stand Firm in Faith
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But in Christ, you are adequate.
00:09:11
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You don't need a piece of paper to tell you that you're adequate. Christ is your adequacy. But absolutely, grow and learn, discover more. But always remember where your adequacy and confidence comes from. Paul continues in his letter in chapter seven. He used that same word, my confidence,
00:09:39
Speaker
in you is great. In fact, he says, my boasting in your behalf is great. Because he's pointing them to their adequacy, which is in Christ. And we need to be speaking words of confidence and encouragement to those that we minister to over and over. That's what Paul did.
00:10:09
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Later on in chapter 10, he says it again. He talks about his confidence in Christ. And I want you to be confident. The enemy wants us and gives fires, missiles of doubt, of regrets,
00:10:38
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mostly based on our poor behavior and poor performance, and wants to chip away at our confidence. Don't let him, don't let the enemy chip away at your confidence. Stand firm in the freedom where Christ has set you free, Galatians 5.1. Stand firm in your freedom.
Understanding Christ’s Love
00:11:10
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You know, in Ephesians chapter 3, Paul writes, and he says this, and he's talking about the unfathomable riches of Christ in verse 8. The unfathomable riches of Christ and this mystery
00:11:40
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that was hidden in God for throughout the ages which has now been revealed. And he says in verse 11 that this was in accordance with the eternal purpose which he carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord. In whom?
00:12:06
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We have boldness and confident access through faith in Him. And that's why he's telling those in Ephesus, don't be discouraged about my tribulations and your behalf. That's your glory. I have confident access, how? Through faith in Him.
00:12:36
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Our circumstances sometimes don't lend itself to a lot of confidence. If my confidence is based on my circumstance, I'm in a lot of trouble. I'm going to be up and down. My confidence isn't in my circumstance. My confidence and my boldness is in Christ Jesus, my Lord.
00:13:04
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and I have this access, this confident access through faith in Him. I want to encourage you to step into that access that you have to your Heavenly Father, to that omnipotent power, to that victory that is already yours in Christ, I want you
00:13:33
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to step through in confidence by faith in Him. I want you to choose boldness, and boldness doesn't necessarily mean that you're gonna be standing on the street corner and boldly proclaiming you may, but sometimes that's the picture we get
00:14:02
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No, it's standing firm in the freedom where Christ has set you free. In boldness and confident access through him, it's in boldness in the midst of the circumstances. That's why Paul was telling him, don't be discouraged because of all the tribulations that I'm experiencing. I'm standing firm in boldness and confident access
00:14:32
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And in verse 14, for that very reason, I bend my knees before the Father. Are you bending your knees before the Father, just looking to Him? Because you have confident access to Him, so you can bend your knees confident in your blameless access to Him.
00:15:02
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from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. And you know, Paul was not praying for himself. He was praying for them to those he was ministering to. In the midst of his tribulation in prison, he was praying that God would grant them, that God would grant you.
00:15:31
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according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit and the inner man and the inner self, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ
00:16:01
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which surpasses knowledge that you may be filled to all the fullness of God. Now, verse 20, to him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works within us, to him be glory in the church.
00:16:31
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and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever, amen.
Faith Over Flesh
00:16:36
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That is confidence in the one who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think. How's your confidence now? Do you believe and know that the omnipotent God
00:17:00
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is in you living and working through you in victory and power. Do you realize that you are victorious in him? Do you realize that you have the victory right now? Do you realize that you have power? You can stand boldly in the midst of whatever you're going through because greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world
00:17:28
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That's what I'm talking about. That's what Paul is talking about. That's why he could say when he wrote to the Philippians, those in Philippi, for I am confident of this very thing in Philippians 1.6 that he who began a good work among you will complete it by the day of Christ Jesus.
00:17:55
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God is at work. He's at work in you and through you. Say, I don't see God working through me. He is working through you. He is always working through you and he's working in you. He desires more than you do for you to experience his life and his peace and his joy and his victory and his presence
00:18:26
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Sometimes we just need to slow down and stand firm. Stand firm in that freedom where Christ set you free. And that's why he challenges the Philippians with his own experience of how he walks in Philippians chapter three.
00:18:56
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where he challenges about where is your confidence. He says, look, beware of the dogs, what a word. Beware of the evil workers, beware of the false circumcision. Those who are putting bondage on people, those who are putting the rules and regulations to get God to like them,
00:19:25
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to get God to love them and for them to be okay with God. Beware of folks who are doing that. He says, look, we're the true circumcision. Those who realize that Christ is the Messiah, the one who fulfilled the law, who worship Philippians 3-3 in the Spirit of God and take pride in Christ Jesus and we put
00:19:56
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No confidence in the flesh, in our own performance, in our own doing to get to make God to be okay with us. You can't do it. We put no confidence in the flesh.
Approach with Confidence
00:20:17
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He goes, look, I myself could boast as having confidence in the flesh. If anyone else could, I could.
00:20:26
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He goes, look, I was circumcised the eighth day. The nation of Israel, the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews. As to the law, folks, I was a Pharisee. As to zeal, I persecuted the church. And as to the righteousness which is in the law, well, they found me blameless. Now, if you really read his testimony, you'll hear that, yeah, he was messing up.
00:20:57
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but he was keeping that letter of the law and doing the offerings. If there was one to mimic, he was the guy. But he says, whatever things were gained to me, in verse seven, Philippians three, those things I have counted as loss because of Christ.
00:21:16
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More than that, I count all things to be lost in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom, by the way, I have suffered the loss of all things. And I count them mere rubbish so that I may gain Christ and may be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the law. Been there, done that,
00:21:46
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but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith. In verse 10, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being conformed to his death. If somehow I may attain
00:22:13
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to the resurrection of the dead, and you will attain to the resurrection from the dead. Why? Because you're in Christ. Where is your confidence? Is it in old coping strategies that worked well, worked good enough?
00:22:33
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Or is your confidence in Christ? Is your confidence in Christ in the midst of whatever you're going through? I want you to know you can have confidence in Christ. Not in the strength of your flesh, in the strength of your performance, in the strength of the old ways, old things that you used to do.
00:23:02
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You know, the writer of Hebrews, in Hebrews 4.16, that writer said this, he said, therefore, let's approach the throne of grace with confidence. Is that how you
00:23:26
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approach the throne of grace, he can. You know why you can approach the throne of grace in confidence? Because in Christ, there is no more judgment. In Christ, you are blameless. In Christ, you are fully righteous, and you are joined with Jesus Christ, the person of the Holy Spirit. So you can approach
00:23:54
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the omnipotent God, his throne of grace with confidence so that you can receive mercy and find grace for help at the time of your need. Come to him. Stop going back to old strategies and old patterns and old habits and approach the one who loves you more than you can ever know.
00:24:26
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and stand confidently. Walk confidently. Don't talk about it. Don't just spout the theology of it. Stop just talking about it. Be confident in Him and start walking it.
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You've been listening to Walking Free, a production of Grace Ministries International in Marietta, Georgia. For more information, go to our website at gmint.org. That's gminc.org.