28, November 2004
Dakota Community Church
Who Do You Think You Are?
Introduction:
Do you suffer from an inferiority complex?
This is the result of Satan’s lies.
He begins early in life and continually assaults us with the idea that we are somehow no good.
Even the Church has co-operated with errant doctrines – We are worms!
Webster’s Dictionary defines inferior:
1: situated lower down: LOWER
2 a: of low or lower degree or rank b: of poor quality: MEDIOCRE
3: of little or less importance, value, or merit
4 a: situated below another and especially another similar superior part
Does that sound like the work of Christ?
Yet many Christians feel this way and in fact are convinced that they are inferior.
In fact the opposite of this definition is given to the children of God:
Deuteronomy 28: 13
The LORD will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the LORD your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom.
How and why does this happen?
1. The devil has a counter plan for your life.
We know that God has a plan for us.
Jeremiah 29: 11-13
11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD , "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
The devil also has a plan – he will not stand back and allow the plan of God to succeed unchallenged.
John 10:10
10The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
John 8: 44
44You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
This is the root source of all the other causes!
2. We suffer under flawed authority figures.
Although most do not intend to do so, many parents, teachers, coaches, pastors and others that we want to please can have a devastating effect. In cases where they are unresponsive or negative or worst of all abusive it can have a crippling effect.
John 10: 42-25
42Jesus called them together and said, "You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 43Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. 45For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
1Timothy 3: 1-13 (Msg.)
1If anyone wants to provide leadership in the church, good! 2But there are preconditions: A leader must be well-thought-of, committed to his wife, cool and collected, accessible, and hospitable. He must know what he’s talking about, 3not be overly fond of wine, not pushy but gentle, not thin-skinned, not money-hungry. 4He must handle his own affairs well, attentive to his own children and having their respect. 5For if someone is unable to handle his own affairs, how can he take care of God’s church? 6He must not be a new believer, lest the position go to his head and the Devil trip him up. 7Outsiders must think well of him, or else the Devil will figure out a way to lure him into his trap.
8The same goes for those who want to be servants in the church: serious, not deceitful, not too free with the bottle, not in it for what they can get out of it. 9They must be reverent before the mystery of the faith, not using their position to try to run things. 10Let them prove themselves first. If they show they can do it, take them on. 11No exceptions are to be made for women--same qualifications: serious, dependable, not sharp-tongued, not overly fond of wine. 12Servants in the church are to be committed to their spouses, attentive to their own children, and diligent in looking after their own affairs. 13Those who do this servant work will come to be highly respected, a real credit to this Jesus-faith.
3. Some fall victim to insecure peers.
The recent movie and books about “Mean Girls” shed some light on this common issue.
Most are picked on now and then but others are targeted and mistreated throughout school years.
Quote:
“Self-esteem and Ego are inversely related—when one goes up, the other goes down…a person with low self-esteem is highly sensitive…The greater our self-esteem, the less hurt we feel when someone is disrespectful.”
- David Lieberman
Romans 3: 4
Not at all! Let God be true and every man a liar.
Psalm 109: 25-28
25 I am an object of scorn to my accusers; when they see me, they shake their heads.
26 Help me, O LORD my God; save me in accordance with your love.
27 Let them know that it is your hand, that you, O LORD, have done it.
28 They may curse, but you will bless; when they attack they will be put to shame, but your servant will rejoice.
4. We are inundated with the mass media message.
Television shows, beer commercials, fashion models, magazine covers – everywhere we go a completely unrealistic standard is held up before our eyes and we cannot help but realize that we can never be what we are led to believe that we are supposed to be.
Romans 12:1-2
1Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. 2Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
The Swan is an example of this in the extreme!
Anorexia has become an epidemic.
Statistics show 81 percent of 10 year-olds are afraid of being fat, while 72 percent of 7 year-olds are dieting. Research also indicates that young girls would rather be dead than fat. In the U.S., the number of children with eating disorders and related issues continues to increase.
Remuda Ranch, Programs for Anorexia and Bulimia, the leading treatment facility for women and girls suffering from anorexia, bulimia and related issues, today opened a new treatment facility specifically for girls under age 13.
Posted By: News-Medical in Child Health News
Published: Monday, 24-May-2004
People today feel inferior about everything about themselves.
- Their looks. Eyes, nose, teeth, hair, chest, weight, and height – ugly only they see.
- Their intelligence. I’m so stupid!
- Their economic status. The clothes make the man.
- Their past. Mistakes they continue to pay for.
- Self worth. I am just no good, you don’t really know me.
All of it is nothing but a pack of lies!
The TRUTH Is:
1. You are God’s creation.
Psalm 139: 13-17
13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, 16 your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. 17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!
Be bold about how you look – not conceited.
Carry yourself with dignity. Have you ever met someone who is not what society calls good looking but as they talk you see them in a different light?
2. You are worthy.
2Corinthians 5: 17-21
17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
You feel unworthy because of your past?
You have low self esteem because you are not good enough?
You must decide what you are going to believe.
3. You are a winner who is destined to succeed if you don’t quit.
Romans 8: 37-39
37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Name the enemy that can defeat God in you!
1John 5: 4-5
4for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 5Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.
In fact the Bible says that the only way we can know defeat is to quit – to give in – to faint before the harvest!
Galatians 6: 9-10
9Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
What about economics? What does God really want for us financially? Are we to be winners in this arena as well?
2Corinthians 8: 9
9For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.
Philippians 4: 11-13
11I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13I can do everything through him who gives me strength.
2Corinthians 9: 10-11
10Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. 11You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion
4. You are a needed part of the Body.
Galatians 3: 26-29
26You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, 27for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
1Peter 2: 9-12
9But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
11Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. 12Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
I will close with the scripture I began with.
Deuteronomy 28: 12- 13
12 The LORD will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. 13 The LORD will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the LORD your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom.
Always at the top – Never at the bottom!
Believe the truth!
Reject the lie!
Now one more time:
Who do you think you are?
If you would like the Powerpoint I created for this message which includes Title, Point, and Scripture slides - contact me - dcormie@mts.net
