If you know your identity, you're not willing to tolerate garbage

HUMILITY = MATURITY

NOT

LONGEVITY = MATURITY

Ephesians 2:10 (NLT)

For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

We were created as a 1 or 1 masterpiece. There's a specific calling and mission on each and everyone's life. It's a calling and destiny you were created for but sometimes our head gets in our way ...
Our brain will put the puzzle pieces together to keep the perception moving, it's up to us to tune our heart to the Holy Spirit to discern truth from lie to keep our progress pure. 

Proverbs 2: 1-6 (CSB)

My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, 2 listening closelto wisdomand directing your heart to understanding;3 furthermore, if you call out to insightand lift your voice to understanding,4 if you seek it like silverand search for it like hidden treasure,5 then you will understand the fear of the Lordand discover the knowledge of God.6 For the Lord gives wisdom;from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.



Proverbs 3 says it like this ...

Proverbs 3:5-6 (CSB)

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding; which might tell you the rubber arm next to you is your own 6 in all your ways know him, and he will make your paths straight.

So what happens when you do all that, commit yourself, and go all-in with excitement ... then the next thing you know, God has you in some crazy position/place/ministry/title/ etc ...

Those moments when we forget the past pain and yearn for the comfort of something familiar over the discomfort of growth - because we don't feel qualified.‍

How many people have been there?

I gotta be completely honest with yall ... I had ZERO intention of coming to Kansas City and serving on the pastoral staff of this church, or any church, at any point in my life. I didn't go to school for it. I had zero training in ministry. I came from a church of about 20-30 people in Lawton, OK. That feeling of being underqualified has been prevalent in my time here in KC, which is no coincidence since it matches up with the decision Amanda and I made to give God ALL of our hearts. ‍

BUT NONE OF THAT MAKES THIS ANY EASIER, UNTIL YOU BEGIN TO COMBAT LIES WITH TRUTH!

Which brings us back to Pt's initial question ..

"What lie did you believe?"

That I am in no way, shape or form qualified for this!

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU BELIEVE THE LIE THAT YOU AREN'T QUALIFIED?

1. You're off-course for your life -

Anything other than obedience is a sin, and buying a lie prevents us from truly stepping into our calling. The Devil doesn't have to kill you, only drive distance between you and God.

In John 8:44, Jesus calls Satan the father of lies, stating his very nature is that of dishonesty and lies. In 1 Peter 5, he's described as a roaring lion, seeking who he may devour. He can be dangerous; as PT said last week, he can twist half truths and create skewed perspectives that allow a rubber arm to seem real, but he's also already been defeated.

2. You give up authority and allow strongholds -

Authority is a gift from God to His creation. We've been granted authority to no longer allow sin to rule our lives. If we give ground, we'll actually begin helping the enemy fortify those lies in our mind.

Believing lies leads to behaviors, and responses, that build an ecosystem where the lie can thrive and destroy your life from the inside out.

I've been there. I know that feeling intimately... Where you're stuck in a pattern of self deprecating behavior and find it hard to fight back. Not only do you feel unqualified for the places God's taken you, not you don't even feel qualified to come to God with your problems.

DON'T BUY THAT LIE!

Scripture is clear about the battles we'll face, we have to be willing to use the weapons we've been equipped with.

2 Corinthians 10: 3-5 (CSB)

For although we live in the flesh, we do not wage war according to the flesh, 4 since the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but are powerful through God for the demolition of strongholds. We demolish arguments 5 and every proud thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to obey Christ.

So what does the bible say about qualifications?

1 Samuel 16:7 CSB

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or his stature because I have rejected him. Humans do not see what the Lord sees, for humans see what is visible, but the Lord sees the heart.”

God is always looking to the heart of His people. That doesn't necessarily mean the most put together, or even those that appear to make the correct decisions. God knows what's at work when no one else does. You're there for a reason if he's placed you in a position. So we can step boldly and confidently into the doors he's opened. There's no time to discuss qualifications. If God's opened the door, you're equipped, through the Holy Spirit, to own it. As we continue to pursue His presence and perfect will for our lives, God will reveal more pieces of the puzzle to us. But another cool thing happens along this journey that can help bring about the boldness and confidence needed to step fully into our calling.

Past experience

God doesn't lie, can't lie, so when we can look back at his faithfulness in our lives to boost our confidence that he's never left our side.

1 SAMUEL 17:32-37 (NIV)

David said to Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.” 33 Saul replied, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.” 34 But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, 35 I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. 36 Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. 37 The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.” Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you.”

David remembered what God had done for him in the past, which gave him confidence to step out in faith in the moment - in spite of the obvious!

SUPPORT FROM YOUR COMMUNITY

2 TIMOTHY 1:5-8 (NIV) - Paul edifying Timothy

Dont mis-hear me, you dont need a single person to motivate you other than God. We're not dependent on other people for that. What I am saying is, the right people in your life will confirm and edify the calling of your life, not challenge it.

Acts 4: 5-13 CSB

4 While they were speaking to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple police, and the Sadducees confronted them, 2 because they were annoyed that they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. 3 So they seized them and took them into custody until the next day since it was already evening. 4 But many of those who heard the message believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand.

5 The next day, their rulers, elders, and scribes assembled in Jerusalem 6 with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and all the members of the high-priestly family. 7 After they had Peter and John stand before them, they began to question them: “By what power or in what name have you done this?”

8 Then Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit and said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders: 9 If we are being examined today about a good deed done to a disabled man, by what means he was healed, 10 let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified and whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing here before you healthy. 11 This Jesus is the stone rejected by you builders,

which has become the cornerstone. 12 There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved.” 13 When they observed the boldness of Peter and John and realized that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed and recognized that they had been with Jesus.

The impact to other people is our unexplainable confidence, sometimes in positions it appears we have no place being

2 Corinthians 3:5, NLT

It is not that we think we are qualified to do anything on our own. Our qualification comes from God.

1 Thessalonians 5:24

He who calls you is faithful; He will surely do it

You either chose to believe a God who doesn't lie, or your brain. If you're not believing God, I have to ask you - where is your faith?

‍