WEBVTT - I Lost My Confidence 0:00:01.520 --> 0:00:02.800 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. 0:00:02.840 --> 0:00:05.840 I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast. 0:00:05.920 --> 0:00:07.760 I wanted to thank you for joining us today. 0:00:08.080 --> 0:00:10.959 Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope 0:00:10.960 --> 0:00:13.000 it gives you perspective to see God is moving in 0:00:13.039 --> 0:00:13.600 your life. 0:00:13.880 --> 0:00:14.680 Enjoy the message. 0:00:17.600 --> 0:00:20.800 Philippians, Chapter three, Verse one. I'll give you my title 0:00:20.840 --> 0:00:22.760 before I read my text. Today we're in a series 0:00:22.800 --> 0:00:25.880 called Triggered, taking back your Mind in the Age of Anxiety, 0:00:26.640 --> 0:00:30.480 and I will keep preaching until you are totally sane, 0:00:31.840 --> 0:00:35.360 until you are no longer hiding Dorito's under. 0:00:35.200 --> 0:00:36.760 Your bed because of. 0:00:36.720 --> 0:00:39.680 Stress, eating and cussing people out in your car while 0:00:39.680 --> 0:00:42.040 you're listening to Elevation Worship at the same time, you 0:00:42.040 --> 0:00:46.960 don't even pause the music. So the series is going 0:00:47.000 --> 0:00:51.120 to go a little bit longer, and this text is 0:00:51.159 --> 0:00:54.240 going to help us today. The apostle paulis in his 0:00:54.320 --> 0:00:57.880 own way, upset and triggered for good reason about something 0:00:57.880 --> 0:01:00.880 that is going on to affect the blak And so 0:01:00.960 --> 0:01:02.640 the title I want to use. I need you to 0:01:02.760 --> 0:01:05.520 announce this title to the person sitting next to you, 0:01:05.560 --> 0:01:06.920 and you don't have to talk to him another time 0:01:06.959 --> 0:01:09.560 after this, it would be the last time that you 0:01:09.640 --> 0:01:11.920 have to talk to him. But tell him this, say, 0:01:12.400 --> 0:01:16.840 I hate to admit it, but I lost my confidence. 0:01:18.720 --> 0:01:20.760 Hey man, Philippians, Chapter three, verse one. 0:01:22.680 --> 0:01:26.800 Further, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. It 0:01:26.880 --> 0:01:28.840 is no trouble for me to write the same things 0:01:28.840 --> 0:01:31.800 to you again, And it is a safeguard for you. 0:01:33.040 --> 0:01:38.720 Watch out for those dogs, those evildoers, those mutilators of 0:01:38.760 --> 0:01:42.640 the flesh. For it is we who are the circumcision, 0:01:43.640 --> 0:01:46.880 We who serve God by his spirit, who boast in 0:01:46.959 --> 0:01:49.480 Christ Jesus, and who put no. 0:01:50.840 --> 0:01:58.080 New, zero, new new confidence in the flesh. 0:01:58.680 --> 0:02:03.720 Though I myself have reason for such confidence, if anyone else, 0:02:03.800 --> 0:02:07.200 if someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence 0:02:07.280 --> 0:02:08.280 in the flesh. 0:02:08.120 --> 0:02:10.840 I have more. 0:02:11.600 --> 0:02:14.120 We're gonna stop right there and talk a little, and 0:02:14.160 --> 0:02:16.359 then we'll work through the rest of the passage. 0:02:16.440 --> 0:02:18.440 But tell you something real quick. 0:02:18.480 --> 0:02:22.880 That seminary professor taught me about preaching when I was 0:02:22.919 --> 0:02:25.640 preaching from the Old Testament Book of First Samuel, and 0:02:25.639 --> 0:02:27.720 there were a lot of names and places that I 0:02:27.760 --> 0:02:30.360 didn't know how to pronounce because they were based on 0:02:30.440 --> 0:02:33.440 Hebrew words. And I took all of them up to 0:02:33.520 --> 0:02:36.280 him to ask him to help me pronounce them correctly, 0:02:36.800 --> 0:02:39.920 because I was preaching in a few days and I 0:02:39.960 --> 0:02:41.680 wanted to make sure I said all the words right. 0:02:42.280 --> 0:02:45.799 And he said he well, first of all, he laughed 0:02:45.840 --> 0:02:48.800 at my list of words, and he said, it's not 0:02:48.840 --> 0:02:52.280 important that you say it right. It only matters that 0:02:52.360 --> 0:02:56.720 you say it with confidence. He said, don't worry about 0:02:56.840 --> 0:03:01.520 mispronouncing the words. Nobody will know that difference if you 0:03:01.600 --> 0:03:05.640 say it with confidence. Kind of seems to be the 0:03:05.680 --> 0:03:09.639 thing these days. It's kind of like, you know, we're 0:03:09.639 --> 0:03:12.680 all it's kind of like we all found a Bible verse, 0:03:12.720 --> 0:03:14.240 fake it till you make it, only it's not. 0:03:14.240 --> 0:03:14.800 In the Bible. 0:03:17.600 --> 0:03:19.400 That's how I was taught to get girls, you know, 0:03:19.480 --> 0:03:22.840 Harold Staley. He said, it is really doesn't matter. You 0:03:22.840 --> 0:03:25.240 could your car doesn't have to. 0:03:25.160 --> 0:03:26.360 Be fast or nice. 0:03:27.040 --> 0:03:31.320 He said, You're not especially good looking or tall, he said, 0:03:31.320 --> 0:03:33.200 but I'm gonna tell you, if you just walk up 0:03:33.200 --> 0:03:36.400 to a girl with confidence, you'd be surprised how much 0:03:36.440 --> 0:03:38.520 better looking confidence can make you. 0:03:39.320 --> 0:03:40.200 But then that's only. 0:03:40.080 --> 0:03:42.160 Kind of true, because there's a fine line between confident 0:03:42.200 --> 0:03:42.680 and creepy. 0:03:43.040 --> 0:03:44.000 Am I right about it? 0:03:47.760 --> 0:03:49.280 And I'm kind of trying to figure that out as 0:03:49.320 --> 0:03:51.680 a parent, Like how much confidence do I really want 0:03:51.680 --> 0:03:55.800 my kids to have? Because you kind of like them 0:03:55.840 --> 0:04:00.160 being confident when they're younger, it's cute. And then in 0:04:00.200 --> 0:04:02.480 their teenage years when they are so confident that they 0:04:02.520 --> 0:04:06.000 no longer believe that you have any knowledge about anything, 0:04:07.000 --> 0:04:07.760 it's an issue. 0:04:07.760 --> 0:04:08.600 It's like, can we find a. 0:04:08.600 --> 0:04:11.800 Middle ground on this this confidence thing? Can you be 0:04:11.920 --> 0:04:17.240 like confident enough to be socially not awkward, but then 0:04:17.279 --> 0:04:19.960 be humble enough to listen to me when I'm telling 0:04:20.000 --> 0:04:25.159 you what's best for you? Is there is there like 0:04:25.200 --> 0:04:27.240 a is there an in between? Is there a middle 0:04:27.279 --> 0:04:30.720 ground on this confidence thing? Like is there somewhere between 0:04:31.120 --> 0:04:33.760 you being intimidated and scared to death and feeling the 0:04:33.800 --> 0:04:36.600 need to apologize for your existence on planet Earth? And 0:04:36.800 --> 0:04:39.520 like Connor McGregor on the other end of the spectrum. 0:04:39.120 --> 0:04:41.440 Is there anywhere? But here's what's happening now. 0:04:42.200 --> 0:04:46.560 It's like, we we have confidence without competence. 0:04:48.880 --> 0:04:49.640 Can I preach a. 0:04:49.560 --> 0:04:51.680 Little bit today before I send you to join any group? 0:04:53.279 --> 0:04:57.960 It's like we are okay, we are we are approaching 0:04:57.960 --> 0:05:00.640 it like they were approaching it in Philip is three, 0:05:01.480 --> 0:05:05.120 where Paul says, you need to watch out for the dogs. 0:05:05.640 --> 0:05:08.000 And I know you're wondering who are these dogs? It's 0:05:08.000 --> 0:05:12.440 in verse two. Who is Paul calling a dog? Who 0:05:12.480 --> 0:05:15.120 are these dogs? And who let them out? 0:05:15.960 --> 0:05:16.839 We need to know. 0:05:20.480 --> 0:05:22.719 And you would assume that these are people who are 0:05:22.960 --> 0:05:26.880 tempting the church at Philippi, the church that Paul founded 0:05:26.920 --> 0:05:30.440 and fathered in the gospel. Maybe they are luring them 0:05:30.520 --> 0:05:36.160 with sin. Maybe he's talking about drug dealers or liberals, 0:05:37.200 --> 0:05:40.960 you know, all the things that threaten the Christian worldview. 0:05:41.040 --> 0:05:44.960 But really what he's talking about here is religious people. 0:05:46.800 --> 0:05:50.919 They're trying to get the newly converted gentiles who weren't 0:05:50.960 --> 0:05:58.599 Jewish to be circumcised with no anesthesia, because that was 0:05:58.640 --> 0:06:02.120 the outward sign of the covenant with the Jewish people 0:06:02.440 --> 0:06:03.240 before Christ. 0:06:04.320 --> 0:06:06.120 But Christ came along and changed that. 0:06:07.080 --> 0:06:10.880 And Paul knows that it's not what you can show 0:06:10.960 --> 0:06:15.000 on the outside, but it's what happens in your heart 0:06:15.080 --> 0:06:18.839 that proves the authenticity of your relationship with God and 0:06:18.960 --> 0:06:24.080 validates your relationship with Him by faith. Everybody say, by faith, 0:06:25.000 --> 0:06:29.479 not flesh. It is impossible for you to please God 0:06:29.560 --> 0:06:35.240 with your flesh, with your effort it is impossible for 0:06:35.360 --> 0:06:39.400 you to impress God with your Bible reading streak. I'm 0:06:39.440 --> 0:06:42.600 sorry he didn't call the angels over today because you 0:06:42.680 --> 0:06:43.400 read a psalm. 0:06:44.080 --> 0:06:47.839 Wow, check this out. She went a whole week. 0:06:47.760 --> 0:06:51.360 Without telling anybody off. Didn't impress God a bit. On 0:06:51.400 --> 0:06:54.599 the other hand, we can please God by faith. And 0:06:54.680 --> 0:07:02.960 so Paul is talking about the dogs. Wooooooo, woo wooooooooo. 0:07:03.360 --> 0:07:06.240 How long are you going to do it? 0:07:06.520 --> 0:07:13.920 Well, no, but he's triggered. He says, what they're doing 0:07:14.080 --> 0:07:18.320 is evil. They're evildoers. They're mutilating the flesh. They're making 0:07:18.360 --> 0:07:22.280 it worse. They're telling you all these rules and regulations 0:07:22.320 --> 0:07:24.440 that will make you acceptable. 0:07:24.200 --> 0:07:27.960 To God, and it's making it worse. 0:07:28.600 --> 0:07:31.560 Because it is teaching you to put confidence in the 0:07:31.640 --> 0:07:32.160 wrong thing. 0:07:33.000 --> 0:07:36.040 And it is a perversion of the Gospel. 0:07:36.080 --> 0:07:38.720 To think that there are things that we can do outwardly, 0:07:39.440 --> 0:07:42.120 or behaviors that we can quit, or habits that we 0:07:42.200 --> 0:07:47.160 can enforce. And sometimes our consistency can become the enemy 0:07:47.240 --> 0:07:51.520 of our humility because we stop doing stuff and start 0:07:51.640 --> 0:07:54.960 doing stuff, and then immediately we start to create categories 0:07:55.040 --> 0:07:58.200 for people who have not yet arrived at the place 0:07:58.240 --> 0:08:02.120 of consistency that we're at and now, God help us, 0:08:02.560 --> 0:08:06.040 because we're raising a generations that don't have to train 0:08:06.200 --> 0:08:09.800 for their trophies. So it's as if we think that 0:08:09.960 --> 0:08:16.280 confidence is our birthright. We have developed a sick, twisted version. 0:08:16.080 --> 0:08:19.000 Of confidence that knows nothing in the biblical context. 0:08:19.840 --> 0:08:29.040 We have put our confidence in confidence, But confidence that 0:08:29.160 --> 0:08:32.960 has developed outside of the process that produces true confidence 0:08:33.120 --> 0:08:37.440 is false confidence. And you know, I'm just thinking about 0:08:37.480 --> 0:08:42.360 it now a little differently than age sixteen, when I 0:08:42.480 --> 0:08:45.600 first gave my life to Christ and was very confident, 0:08:46.760 --> 0:08:50.240 very confident in my ability to live for Jesus, very 0:08:50.320 --> 0:08:55.920 confident in my ability to stay away from certain temptations. Oh, 0:08:56.000 --> 0:09:01.720 it's so easy to be confident when you've never lived 0:09:01.760 --> 0:09:06.199 through a crisis. It's so easy to preach faith when 0:09:06.200 --> 0:09:08.480 you never watched your dad take his die and gasping 0:09:08.559 --> 0:09:11.880 breath from als, and watched his body completely shut down, 0:09:11.920 --> 0:09:14.559 and prayed every prayer that you knew to pray over him, 0:09:14.600 --> 0:09:17.120 and quoted every scripture that you learned and wrote about 0:09:17.120 --> 0:09:18.760 in a book about sunstand still. 0:09:20.240 --> 0:09:24.120 And then things happen to shake your confidence. 0:09:25.640 --> 0:09:29.720 Paul is talking here about people who have lost their 0:09:29.800 --> 0:09:35.240 confidence in the Gospel. Or they are on the verge 0:09:35.320 --> 0:09:39.439 of losing their confidence in the gospel and putting their 0:09:39.520 --> 0:09:44.360 confidence in their performance, and that's dangerous. 0:09:45.760 --> 0:09:49.599 I'm starting to wonder do we need more confidence. 0:09:51.160 --> 0:09:54.040 It's just a question because lately I've been thinking that 0:09:54.160 --> 0:09:57.599 the dangers of overconfidence are just as great as the 0:09:57.679 --> 0:10:02.400 dangers of under confidence, that really. 0:10:02.280 --> 0:10:04.520 Maybe it's not about the amount of confidence that we 0:10:04.600 --> 0:10:05.040 have at all. 0:10:06.280 --> 0:10:08.199 I wrote a little note to my son when he 0:10:08.280 --> 0:10:11.160 turned thirteen, and it wasn't really about him. It was 0:10:11.200 --> 0:10:15.959 about me remembering that age. And one thing I was 0:10:16.000 --> 0:10:19.520 trying to tell him in the note is that everybody, 0:10:19.720 --> 0:10:23.240 in some way is faking it. I just thought I 0:10:23.240 --> 0:10:25.320 would show him that there is no Wizard of Oz, 0:10:25.480 --> 0:10:27.800 just a little short dude behind a curtain, pulling levers 0:10:27.880 --> 0:10:31.920 and posting stuff with filters and captions that are perfectly crafted. 0:10:31.960 --> 0:10:33.320 And they spend an hour and a half to write 0:10:33.320 --> 0:10:35.360 that caption to make themselves sound witty, and they're really 0:10:35.400 --> 0:10:37.240 not that witty off the cuff, And if you compare 0:10:37.280 --> 0:10:39.840 your off the cuff to their manufactured caption, you're going 0:10:39.920 --> 0:10:41.959 to always feel like there's something missing and lacking in you. 0:10:44.520 --> 0:10:48.520 But so hard because it's like, we're living in a 0:10:48.559 --> 0:10:53.400 culture that projects confidence at all costs, and the cost 0:10:53.520 --> 0:10:55.200 of false confidence. 0:10:56.440 --> 0:11:04.320 Is ignorance. The cost of false confidence is ignorance. 0:11:05.040 --> 0:11:07.480 And trust me, some of the people who are the 0:11:07.600 --> 0:11:14.319 most confident are also the most ignorant. Some of the 0:11:14.480 --> 0:11:18.439 wisest people that I've ever talked to in my life 0:11:19.200 --> 0:11:20.560 didn't have a lot of answers. 0:11:20.640 --> 0:11:23.840 They asked a lot of questions. You see what I'm saying. 0:11:24.800 --> 0:11:28.000 But it's tough because we're teaching this to our kids, 0:11:28.120 --> 0:11:32.800 right Just just be confident, you know, be confident. I'm 0:11:32.840 --> 0:11:36.120 trying to find the balance because I do want to 0:11:36.280 --> 0:11:39.200 raise confident kids and I want to be a confident Christian. 0:11:39.280 --> 0:11:42.600 But I'm trying to find I'm trying to find the balance, 0:11:42.679 --> 0:11:45.360 you know. Like our kids are out playing sports, just 0:11:45.440 --> 0:11:46.360 like many of your kids. 0:11:47.040 --> 0:11:49.160 Someone said to me a few weeks ago, stop talking 0:11:49.200 --> 0:11:51.559 about your kids so much in your sermons. We don't 0:11:51.600 --> 0:11:53.600 come to hear about your family. We come to hear 0:11:53.640 --> 0:11:55.880 the word of God. And I'm like, well, I got 0:11:55.880 --> 0:11:57.719 another solution. Just quit coming and you won't have to 0:11:57.760 --> 0:11:58.800 hear me talk about anything. 0:12:00.200 --> 0:12:03.920 That'll be fine, work well for both of us. Let's 0:12:03.960 --> 0:12:04.520 just agree to. 0:12:05.679 --> 0:12:09.640 We don't share the same interests, but that's my life 0:12:09.720 --> 0:12:11.920 right now, is raising these kids. So it's just like 0:12:12.920 --> 0:12:14.839 it's just what I mean. I'm always out at some 0:12:15.360 --> 0:12:17.760 baseball field or football game or. 0:12:17.840 --> 0:12:18.400 Something like that. 0:12:18.920 --> 0:12:22.960 And now even Abby is playing seven year old softball 0:12:23.920 --> 0:12:26.760 and she says she likes it, but I don't know 0:12:26.760 --> 0:12:32.199 if she really likes softball or dugout cheers, because honestly, no, 0:12:32.840 --> 0:12:35.120 I'm gonna make a plea here, and if anybody's watching 0:12:35.120 --> 0:12:37.559 this online that has any kind of authority in girls 0:12:37.640 --> 0:12:41.160 seven year old softball, I'm begging you, in the name 0:12:41.240 --> 0:12:44.760 of Jesus Christ, whose gospel I preach, could we possibly 0:12:44.960 --> 0:12:49.520 ban dugout cheering for seven year old softball? And I 0:12:49.640 --> 0:12:52.760 know it's cute and it's delightful, but I'm just trying 0:12:52.800 --> 0:12:55.880 to protect these girls because I'm listening to them in 0:12:55.960 --> 0:12:59.120 the dugout and not only is it bad for my hearing, 0:12:59.240 --> 0:13:02.160 not only is it and it's rough on their voices, 0:13:02.640 --> 0:13:05.439 but what they're saying in these cheers is not true. 0:13:08.000 --> 0:13:09.480 I heard hat Abby the other day. 0:13:10.920 --> 0:13:13.079 She was doing a cheer my name is Abby, and 0:13:13.160 --> 0:13:15.800 you know what I got, and the whole team said, 0:13:15.800 --> 0:13:19.640 what do you got, Abby said, I got a team 0:13:19.720 --> 0:13:24.800 that is hotter than hot. See right there, we just 0:13:24.920 --> 0:13:27.880 st the realm of reality because I've been watching all 0:13:28.000 --> 0:13:31.320 three innings of this and y'all are not hotter than hot. 0:13:31.880 --> 0:13:34.640 Y'all are not even lukewarm. Baby girl, you're frozen in 0:13:34.720 --> 0:13:37.120 the center. You need to be in the microwave. About 0:13:37.160 --> 0:13:47.839 three more. Then she said, grand slams and homers too. 0:13:48.600 --> 0:13:50.680 I'm like, how about a base hit? Can we start 0:13:50.720 --> 0:13:57.560 with a base hit? Praise the Lord. 0:13:59.120 --> 0:14:04.000 It's danger is to have too much confidence in. 0:14:04.160 --> 0:14:09.480 The wrong place, in the wrong place. But the Bible 0:14:09.559 --> 0:14:13.120 says to be confident. You know, in this I will 0:14:13.200 --> 0:14:14.679 be confident. Doesn't the Bible say that? 0:14:14.840 --> 0:14:17.120 Yes? But the question is in what? Will you be 0:14:17.240 --> 0:14:19.440 confident in what? 0:14:21.680 --> 0:14:26.160 And sometimes we want to have a confident belief without 0:14:26.880 --> 0:14:31.040 the behaviors that build confidence in our lives, you know, 0:14:31.120 --> 0:14:34.440 Because to have real confidence, you gotta have consistency, don't you. 0:14:35.720 --> 0:14:40.160 I mean to have confidence, you gotta have competence. Competence 0:14:40.240 --> 0:14:45.600 is built through consistency. You gotta If you're gonna have 0:14:45.720 --> 0:14:51.040 real confidence, you gotta have character. Amen, Amen, you know 0:14:51.120 --> 0:14:52.960 what I'm gonna spend the rest of my life preaching 0:14:53.040 --> 0:14:55.400 what I think is true, whether anybody says amen to 0:14:55.480 --> 0:14:56.480 it or not, I'm. 0:14:56.360 --> 0:15:01.360 Committing to that. These these little gray hairs. 0:15:01.120 --> 0:15:03.800 That keep popping up or trying to tell me, you 0:15:03.880 --> 0:15:06.120 don't have time to get up there in that pulpit 0:15:06.400 --> 0:15:12.080 and just hype people anymore, because while we're hyping people 0:15:12.800 --> 0:15:17.160 in one sense to believe God, we are actually making 0:15:17.200 --> 0:15:23.760 the problem worse because when their circumstance is not reflecting 0:15:23.840 --> 0:15:30.680 their confession, their faith collapses beneath the weight of unmat expectations. 0:15:33.120 --> 0:15:35.520 And so the Lord was really speaking to me, you know, 0:15:35.760 --> 0:15:39.760 because I go back and forth of feeling really confident 0:15:39.920 --> 0:15:43.000 sometimes and then sometimes I feel I can't find my 0:15:43.080 --> 0:15:45.880 confidence anywhere, and so then I think, well, I had 0:15:45.960 --> 0:15:46.960 too much confidence. 0:15:47.280 --> 0:15:49.560 I need to be more humble. And then sometimes I think, 0:15:49.600 --> 0:15:51.080 well I don't have enough confidence. 0:15:51.320 --> 0:15:53.760 I need to just bump myself in a mirror mirror 0:15:54.040 --> 0:15:56.920 a few times and get out there and put myself 0:15:57.280 --> 0:15:58.080 back in the game. 0:15:58.200 --> 0:16:04.800 Coach, get out there. And I'm back and forth. And 0:16:05.560 --> 0:16:06.720 God spoke to me this week. 0:16:06.800 --> 0:16:09.960 He said, it's not how much confidence you have, is 0:16:10.040 --> 0:16:12.680 where you put it that counts. 0:16:15.560 --> 0:16:17.600 Paul said, I have no confidence in the flesh. 0:16:18.760 --> 0:16:20.880 All of these people who are telling you you need 0:16:20.960 --> 0:16:24.920 to be circumcised and that's how you prove that you 0:16:25.000 --> 0:16:28.480 have a relationship with God. Or you know, this temptation 0:16:28.720 --> 0:16:33.960 that we all have to fake it until we break, 0:16:35.160 --> 0:16:39.880 that's what really happens. You know, you fake it and 0:16:39.960 --> 0:16:43.840 you never make it because no matter how much you 0:16:43.960 --> 0:16:46.360 work to develop your confidence in your flesh, it will 0:16:46.400 --> 0:16:47.120 always fail you. 0:16:48.680 --> 0:16:49.720 It will always fail you. 0:16:51.720 --> 0:16:55.040 And all of this behavioral modification that I know is 0:16:55.160 --> 0:16:59.520 necessary for us to make improvements in our lives. And 0:16:59.600 --> 0:17:02.440 maybe it's important for us to have confidence if we're 0:17:02.440 --> 0:17:04.600 going to stand on stage and give a presentation or 0:17:05.280 --> 0:17:07.200 go into a meeting that we don't feel qualified for. 0:17:07.320 --> 0:17:12.080 I understand that, But my question is, have have you 0:17:12.200 --> 0:17:18.520 put that confidence in the right place? And the other 0:17:18.640 --> 0:17:21.399 day I noticed Holly didn't have her wedding ring on. 0:17:25.160 --> 0:17:27.280 Wasn't anything sketchy. We were just at the house. She 0:17:27.440 --> 0:17:30.200 wasn't going out without her wedding ring on. In fact, 0:17:31.000 --> 0:17:33.520 I got that cover too. I made her put a 0:17:33.600 --> 0:17:37.160 tattoo on her ring finger. So even if she wanted 0:17:37.240 --> 0:17:40.760 to take it off, it says h and s and 0:17:40.880 --> 0:17:43.080 so if she wants to leave me. The dude is 0:17:43.119 --> 0:17:45.680 already going to be narrowed down. His name better start 0:17:45.760 --> 0:17:48.160 with S or she'll have to turn it into an eight. 0:17:48.480 --> 0:17:49.400 But she is mine. 0:17:57.280 --> 0:18:01.800 But I said, where's your ring? She said, oh, I 0:18:01.880 --> 0:18:05.119 put it over here. So I watched him dishes and 0:18:05.200 --> 0:18:07.960 I asked her a question. I didn't have to say much. 0:18:08.520 --> 0:18:10.720 I said, is that a good place to put it? 0:18:11.040 --> 0:18:16.480 Because listen, she lost it once, and when she lost it, 0:18:16.960 --> 0:18:20.679 we had insurance she got a better one. So now 0:18:20.720 --> 0:18:28.639 I'm starting to wonder, are you trying to ask somebody 0:18:28.720 --> 0:18:30.399 next to you is that a good place to put it? 0:18:32.359 --> 0:18:35.920 Because you keep putting your confidence in people, and you 0:18:36.080 --> 0:18:39.960 keep putting your confidence in your performance, and you keep 0:18:40.000 --> 0:18:43.680 putting your confidence in your ability to be disciplined and all, 0:18:43.680 --> 0:18:46.080 I'm a exercise and now I'm gonna stay on my 0:18:46.240 --> 0:18:49.200 diet this time, and I'm gonna pray for fifteen minutes 0:18:49.240 --> 0:18:53.119 every day. You know, I hear people say sometimes I 0:18:53.240 --> 0:18:56.320 gave up on God because some people in the church 0:18:56.520 --> 0:18:59.040 let me down. But let me ask you a question. 0:18:59.520 --> 0:19:03.400 You're a relationship with God is so precious. Why would 0:19:03.480 --> 0:19:06.960 you put your confidence in God in how people. 0:19:06.880 --> 0:19:11.840 Treat you, people will always let you down. People will 0:19:11.920 --> 0:19:13.440 always fall short. 0:19:13.640 --> 0:19:17.040 Even if they have good intentions, they have limited ability. 0:19:17.480 --> 0:19:19.159 Do you really want to put it in people? 0:19:19.600 --> 0:19:22.600 Haven't you spend enough time trusting in people who. 0:19:22.480 --> 0:19:23.280 Eats your needs? 0:19:25.040 --> 0:19:32.639 I feel like preaching? Ask them again, is that a 0:19:32.680 --> 0:19:36.159 good place to put it? Do you really want to 0:19:36.200 --> 0:19:38.879 put confidence in your flesh, your effort, your ability to 0:19:38.960 --> 0:19:44.040 keep the law? Now, Paul said, if you want to 0:19:44.119 --> 0:19:47.040 play the game of who has more reasons to be 0:19:47.160 --> 0:19:53.640 confident on the basis of lifestyle or legality, He says, 0:19:53.640 --> 0:19:57.200 if you want to play the game whose circumcision is better, 0:19:58.520 --> 0:20:00.800 let's play watch this. 0:20:01.760 --> 0:20:04.880 He starts reading off his resume, and what a weird 0:20:04.960 --> 0:20:09.000 game this is. Watch this? You know people try to 0:20:09.040 --> 0:20:09.679 top everything. 0:20:09.920 --> 0:20:14.400 Paul's like, my circumcision is better than your circumcision. 0:20:17.280 --> 0:20:18.320 Because watch verse five. 0:20:19.480 --> 0:20:22.160 I was circumcised on the eighth day when you're supposed 0:20:22.200 --> 0:20:24.080 to be a lot of the Judaizers the dog who 0:20:25.119 --> 0:20:27.440 they were circumcised after the fact, Paul said, I was 0:20:27.480 --> 0:20:29.359 circumcised when I was supposed to be circumcised, because I. 0:20:29.359 --> 0:20:30.680 Was born the way he was supposed to be born 0:20:30.760 --> 0:20:31.520 into the race. 0:20:31.560 --> 0:20:33.320 That God said that he would use to bless all 0:20:33.359 --> 0:20:36.400 the nations of the earth through So I was circumcised 0:20:36.440 --> 0:20:38.720 before all y'all on the eighth day. 0:20:39.800 --> 0:20:43.800 I don't remember it. I'm glad I got that out 0:20:43.840 --> 0:20:47.680 of the way early in life. I was of the 0:20:47.760 --> 0:20:52.200 people of Israel, so I have connections. I was not 0:20:52.320 --> 0:20:52.800 only of the. 0:20:52.800 --> 0:20:56.200 People of Israel. I was of the tribe of Benjamin. 0:20:57.040 --> 0:20:59.320 That was the tribe that the kings came out of, 0:21:00.080 --> 0:21:03.680 the tribe of Benjamin. So he's like, I'm already one 0:21:03.720 --> 0:21:07.479 of God's favorite people because I'm an Israelite, and then 0:21:07.600 --> 0:21:11.159 I'm the favorite tribe within the favorite people. Come on, 0:21:11.280 --> 0:21:15.000 you want to talk about flesh. My flesh is impressive. 0:21:16.080 --> 0:21:16.480 Mm hmm. 0:21:18.040 --> 0:21:19.920 And I was not only of the tribe of Benjamin. 0:21:20.160 --> 0:21:21.840 It was not only a matter of birth. I wasn't 0:21:21.880 --> 0:21:25.720 only born into fortunate circumstances. But I was a Hebrew 0:21:25.840 --> 0:21:26.560 of Hebrews. 0:21:27.560 --> 0:21:29.399 Wow, I was. 0:21:30.160 --> 0:21:34.000 I was a Hebrew of Hebrews. I was competent. Watch this, 0:21:34.840 --> 0:21:39.359 I was connected. I was competent in regard to the 0:21:39.480 --> 0:21:43.480 law of Pharisee. That's the strictest order of religious law 0:21:43.560 --> 0:21:47.399 for the Jewish people. So he says I was on 0:21:47.520 --> 0:21:52.159 a scholarship. I was a prize pupil of Gamaliel. He 0:21:52.240 --> 0:21:55.360 doesn't mention that in Philippians three. He mentions it elsewhere 0:21:55.400 --> 0:21:58.560 that he sat underneath the tutelage of one of the 0:21:58.600 --> 0:21:59.920 greatest teachers of his dad. 0:22:01.200 --> 0:22:06.040 This is like you interned under Elon Musk. Paul said, 0:22:06.119 --> 0:22:09.720 let's talk. You want to talk to me, You dogs 0:22:10.160 --> 0:22:12.080 that think you're so much better than other people. 0:22:12.760 --> 0:22:15.280 He said, I had all of that. I was so 0:22:15.480 --> 0:22:19.200 good at it that I was promoted to the highest level. 0:22:19.640 --> 0:22:23.359 I was so zealous. Verse six, polase I was persecuting 0:22:23.440 --> 0:22:28.080 the church as for righteousness based on the law faultless. 0:22:28.440 --> 0:22:33.760 So stop, make sure we got this. He's connected. He's competent. 0:22:34.680 --> 0:22:38.639 And his character, he says, according to human law and 0:22:38.760 --> 0:22:41.480 what you can measure and what you can see and 0:22:41.600 --> 0:22:48.639 what you can judge faultless. Connect it competent and his 0:22:48.840 --> 0:22:53.520 character is faultless. And he build his confidence to a 0:22:53.600 --> 0:22:56.680 certain level. But then something happened to Paul. 0:22:57.760 --> 0:23:01.400 Paul saw a contrast, and sometimes. 0:23:01.040 --> 0:23:03.160 What we need when we get a little too full 0:23:03.200 --> 0:23:09.359 of ourselves, come on. Happens to all of us. Quiet people, 0:23:09.480 --> 0:23:14.120 loud people, flashy people, low key people. It can happen 0:23:14.200 --> 0:23:16.760 to every one of us that we start to trust 0:23:16.920 --> 0:23:21.320 in our flesh. And about the time you think you 0:23:21.440 --> 0:23:23.320 get it figured out, you know how we do. We 0:23:23.440 --> 0:23:27.040 get our categories exactly right. Okay, here's the kind of 0:23:27.160 --> 0:23:29.959 people that are going to heaven, and here's the kind 0:23:30.000 --> 0:23:32.840 of people that are going to hell. And the way 0:23:32.880 --> 0:23:35.199 I know is there are certain things that people who 0:23:35.240 --> 0:23:38.399 are going to heaven do and don't do, and certain 0:23:38.440 --> 0:23:40.639 people who are going to hell. Here's what they do 0:23:41.200 --> 0:23:43.840 and they don't do. The only problem that I'm finding 0:23:43.960 --> 0:23:46.800 with this is a lot of our confidence that we 0:23:46.960 --> 0:23:50.840 put in our judgments, and our assessment is based on 0:23:51.040 --> 0:23:55.080 our external observations of people, and we can never really 0:23:55.200 --> 0:23:58.200 know anyone's heart. And now here's a case in point. 0:23:58.840 --> 0:24:00.760