Who Do You Think You Are?

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.