My Confidence Is Coming Back

Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and.

This is our podcast.

I wanted to thank you for joining us today.

Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith.

Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving in your life.

Enjoy the message.

Are you excited for the Word of God today? Let's get to it. Look at Hebrews Chapter ten, verse thirty five through thirty seven, and this is a scripture that is so loaded with power. I almost feel like I could read it, drop the mic, walk off the stage and not even say anything about it.

But I'm not going to do that. I'm and keep the mic and talk about it for a little while. Let me read it.

It says, so, do not throw away your confidence. It will be richly rewarded. Now you need to perseverere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised.

Four in just a little while. Touch your neighbors say. It won't be long now, It won't be long. Now, in just a little while.

He who is coming will come and will not delay. Instead of giving this message a title, I just want us to make a faith declaration together.

You're ready.

Now, I need you to say this loud and proud, so you convince the devil that you mean business. Shout out so loud your neighbor gets startled when you say it. You're ready, Come on in every location, Are you ready?

Say this?

My confidence is coming back. Tell five people yours is too. Yours is too my confidence. You may be seated, God bless.

You coming back.

It's coming back quickly. That God kind of confidence, not that Instagram confidence posting something taking it down four times if it doesn't.

Get enough likes in three minutes.

Letting half my body hang out of my clothes so somebody will tell me I look good.

That's not confidence, that's compensation. I want a God kind of confidence.

It's important that I say that because confidence has a context. If I were to say it in a Biblical context, it would mean something different than in a Kardashian context. You just want to get no slightment to any Kardashians. No Kardashians were harmed in the making of this sermon. I'm just saying that context is important, and the writer of Hebrews has a daunting task in that he is trying to strengthen and reconstruct, in some ways, the confidence of a group of Christians who are in crisis. In

And it's amazing what you can get up above when you focus on Christ in your crisis.

In order to bring them to this focal point of Christ in crisis, he starts in Hebrews chapter one by giving them a context of the superiority of Christ and the New Covenant in this setting. In this context, he presents them with a picture of a Christ who is better, better than the angels theological term the superiority of Christ. But we would just say he's better. He's better than anything you can name. He's better than anything you can inhale.

You can date.

He's better than anything that you can give your life to.

He's better. Somebody's shout, he's better.

He's better than the mediator of the old covenant.

That's Moses.

And it is in this context that he must present to the people a motivation for perseverance by establishing their confidence in crisis. And so not only does he provide a contrast the mosaic sacrificial system and the.

Temple cultic law to the hope that we have in.

Jesus Christ, that the sacrifice has been made once and for all.

You know how I know it's been made once and for all.

I saw your car coming into the parking lot today, and I didn't see any bulls or oxen on.

The bike rack of your vehicle.

I didn't see you with the knife to slit their throats so that you could make atonement for your sins. Why because you came in with confidence that Christ is enough, that Christ is enough to atone for my sin and to make write all of my mistakes. And the author of Hebrews is re establishing the confidence of people who have lost their confidence. I found out in life you can lose a lot of things and get them back if you keep your confidence. The devil cannot take your calling.

He doesn't change his mind when you lose your way.

So since the devil can't take your calling, he attacks your confidence because if he can get you to give him your confidence, he can keep you from functioning in your calling.

If he can get you to believe that.

You're raising your kids just like your mom raised you, and your mom raised you in a way that was detrimental and destructive, he can get you to repeat the patterns and miss the opportunity for progress. Because he stripped you of your confidence. You can have a great calling and no confidence. Joyce Meyer says, and she's coming for a Code Orange revival, so maybe she'll tell you when she comes. She said, a believer without confidence is like

More divided than it's ever been.

And he shouldn't have said that in that context because there was an older African American pastor, probably over the age of seventy, who had lived through segregation. And he spoke up and said, young man, I appreciate your sentiment, but allow me to provide some context. And about fifteen minutes later, that white guy wanted out of the room. Asked me the other day he said, Daddy, are all presidential elections this crazy? Because he's only ten and he's

To lose your sense of context.

I'm laughing because a lady over on my right side was hitting a man I don't know what that was about. But touch somebody and say, keep it in context.

That's what you.

Gotta do, Eve, because the serpent will come up to you and say, did God really say you can't eat from any tree in the garden? And you got to remember God didn't say he can't eat of any tree. He said, don't eat of that tree. But the enemy wants to take it out of context, to get you to look at all the things you can't do and miss all the things you can do, and to get you to think that Christianity is boring, or that it's about rules and regulations, to take it out of the

Do not throw away your confidence see us a pretty powerful.

Admonition exhortation within itself, but when you give it its full context, it's even more powerful. Would it be all right if I backed up just a few verses and give you some context.

I would love to give you the whole Book of Hebrews.

I didn't think it'd be good for us to do the whole book in one day, but maybe we could hit verse nineteen real quick, where he's encouraging this community of faith that is an identity crisis, losing friends because of their faith, suffering loss in their personal life, in their relationship with their possessions because of their faith. And he says, therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have somebody shouted, we have confidence.

Now. We may not be accessing our confidence right.

Now, but we have it. How many of you have a phone? How many of you are talking on it right now? Just because you have it doesn't mean you're using it. Sometimes we think we need more confidence, when all we really need to do is use the confidence that we already have by virtue of the power of Christ in us.

I feel like preaching a.

Little bit today because somebody's going to get their confidence back. By the time I put my microphone down, the Lord told me some of you have been losing your confidence, but he wants you to know that you have confidence to enter the most holy place that was the place where only the high priest could go. And even he couldn't go in the wrong way, or he wouldn't come out, well,

Didn't go in ceremonially clean.

You would fall down dead in the presence of the glory of God. How many are glad for a new Covenant? I think the whole top section of Blakeney would fall over dead if you had to be clean to come to church today, I think the whole I think the preacher would fall dead on the stage if you had to be clean to come to church. And so he's he's talking about this new Covenant and he's excited about it, telling them come on in to the most Holy Place.

And having our bodies washed with pure water.

I was only going to read verse nineteen, but the context of this is so powerful. I think I ought to keep going? How many think I ought to keep going? Come on, this is the covenant, the promise of God. This is your relationship with him. Describe to find and elaborated upon.

Let us hold.

Unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful, He who promised is faithful. You hadn't always been faithful to him, but he's always been.

Faithful to you.

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward good deeds, not giving up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another.

And all the more as you see the day approaching.

And so he's helping me before he tells me to keep my confidence, He's helping me to see where my confidence comes from. Let's talk about where Christian confidence comes from. Because there are three things he mentioned in the text I just read, and they all start.

With the letter C.

At least they will when I get done with them. Helps me remember them better. He mentions, your conscience, it's kind of hard to have full confidence when you have a troubled conscience. It's kind of hard for me to get up and preach to you when I have things in my life, areas in my life where I haven't

We just read it in Hebrews.

He said that the most holy place the presence of God, that place of surrender, that place of contact with God. That's the place where the blood of Jesus is sprinkled to purify your conscience. But if you don't have confidence, you won't come in. So now the only place where God can heal your conscience you don't go into.

Because you've lost your confidence.

You stop coming to church at the time when you needed church the most. I'm gonna look at the camera because somebody's watching me online today. You almost came, but you felt guilty about something, and you let the devil tell you that you couldn't come. But the context of my relationship with God is not my behavior, is the blood of his son. It was already shed. And when

How I'm a father. I needs your help. I'm in a crisis. Come on in.

Hear the voice of God saying to somebody, come on in, Come on in. I know what you did last summer. Come on in. I know what you did in your twenties. Come on in.

I know what you did at nine forty seven am. Come on in. Tell somebody say, come on in.

We need you to know that the context of Christian confidence is not your ability to conform to a set of behaviors.

That's the old covenant.

That's bringing a turtle dove to church and sacrificing it. But we have a great high Priest, and he is the context of my confidence. A context of my confidence is a clear conscience. And then you know what else I need. I need a community. I know your confidence has been shaken lately.

That's why you need some people. Would you tell the person next to you, I need people like you in my life. I really do, I really do.

Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing.

I need people in my life because.

I really believe if I hadn't grown up at Monk's Corner United Method Church and it Jackie didn't tell me God has a special plan for your life. When I first got saved, I might have gone right back to the way I was living. The temptation that is being countered by the author of Hebrews is the temptation to turn back that no sooner do you get started in the pursuit of a promise from God than you lose your confidence and turn back. You lose your confidence because

That's why you need certain other people, certain other people. You can't do this alone.

I like to say, back in the early days when I first started preaching, you have to follow Christ for yourself. But you cannot follow Christ by yourself.

So I need a new community.

I need a new community, somebody to look me in the eyes from time to time and say I think you still got it.

I think you ought to press on.

If you don't have those people in your life, there is no hope for you holding on to your confidence. Because everybody in their head has a little confidence committee. They sit around that table, and you have the committee member called past experience.

And boy, he'll speak up real quick when you decide to do something for Gott. You tried that once, how'd that go?

He'll show you the treadmill that you bought, it's now a cote rack. And then there's past experience. And let's see who else sits at the table. You got past experience, and maybe you got the committee.

Member of self loathing and doubt and all these people. If you don't have one time the profit.

Elisha needed to teach his protege faith because they were surrounded by enemies. And that's all that the protege could see. That's all he could see, what was against him. I took away his confidence. He cried out, oh my Lord, what shall we do now? Sometimes that's that's the only prayer you can pray.

And Elisha gave him a different context.

When he prayed, open his eyes, Lord, that he may see. And when he blinked and opened his eyes again, nothing had really changed except.

His vision opened his eyes.

The second time he saw that what was surrounding them was surrounded by the armies of the Living God.

You know, I believe.

God wants to bring people in your life who can surround what surrounded you until you see the protection, the provision, and the promise of God coming to pass in your life.

I'll be honest.

There are certain people I look for when I preach because they boost my confidence.

Certain people I look away from real quick Taylor secret.

The right side of this Valentine campus is really spiritual. They will shout you down, only to be matched by this intersection.

And the people in the.

Back as well as the left side of the room. Look, give me a wide shot. Can you show the other campuses how we built this room. We built this Valentine campus where you can't sneak in, you can't fall asleep.

Somebody will see you. We wanted you to know when you come to.

Church you're surrounded, because you might up to church in trouble, and we and tempted and tested and try, but somebody shall I'm surrounded. Come on, tell seven people you're surrounded. Even if you want to go back, I won't let you. Even if you want to fall short. I'm not about to let you quit. You've come too far by faith.

We're gonna lean on him together.

We're going forward surrounded, got a community even within our staff.

It shocked me.

On Wednesday, I've been teaching our staff and one of the subjects I brought up was confidence. And in between sessions, we were singing one of my favorite new songs that's gonna be recorded for the new album, and we sang it today in church.

Many of you be watching on TV and you won't get to hear it yet.

But the song says, I believe I'll see you do it again. I believe I'll see you do it again. And we were singing it and the staff singing it, and there's a line in that song that says, this is my confidence. You never failed me yet, this is my confidence. And the Spear of the Lord spoke to me and said, go up on stage right now. And I was supposed to introduce Holly for her session, and the Lord told me she won't mind.

She can wait and give an alter call for your staff. And I said, Lord, you mean that I got staffed that aren't saved. He said, well, yeah, probably that too. But that's not the kind of alter call. I mean, I'm skidded.

And he said, I want you to call for people who are having a crisis in confidence. So when I did it, I said, I want you to come forward. If you're having a crisis in confidence, I want you to come to the stage.

I thought three people would come.

I turned around, and all of a sudden, they didn't come to the stage. They started coming on the stage. They misunderstood my instruction, and it wasn't three of them. It was more people that came to the stage than stayed in the seats.

And the next thing I know.

I was surrounded by these staff members and I went through everything in my head.

I was like, did they hear what I said?

Because I didn't say if you struggle a little bit with your confidence, you know, because if you give an altar call broad enough, you can get the whole room to come.

You know what I'm saying. If you felt.

Defeated, come, you know, you could just stretch it out if you're here today.

But I didn't say, if you, you.

Know, weren't outfit today and you're not feeling so good about it anymore, you feel kind of fat, come on to the stage and pray over your outfit.

I said, a crisis and confidence.

And over half my staff came and I prayed with them for about twenty minutes, and I said, we are going to leave some chains on the stage today. But probably the best thing I did for him was turn around and give them some context that there are times where the pressure to preach becomes so great, and my doubt in my own ability to lead the church becomes so strong. There have been times where I have fantasized about just walking out on independence and hoping maybe a

I was just.

Trying to get them to see that their lack of confidence does not have to be the death of their calling.

And the Devil's got some of you right now.

You are at that Hebrew's ten crossroads of confidence, trying to decide whether to stay and raise your children or not, trying to decide whether continuing to pursue Christian values is even possible, or should you just.

Give into the addiction and go back the other way? Trying to decide.

I called my staff on the stage, and I even shared that about my own life, because I have seen too many callings abandoned at the crossroads of confidence.

And if you just would have pressed on a little more, you would have seen the breakthrough.

The author said, in just a little while, he who is coming, he who is coming, will come and not delay.

When the devil really puts the pressure on.

That's a side that you are in proximity to the promise that you've been pressing toward. We're praying on the stage, and I felt my confidence coming back, and it just hit me.

If that was my staff, and they are paid to be.

Christians, what's going on in the congregation, what's going on out there?

What is the devil telling you?

If he's telling the preacher, you know, you probably preached your best sermons by now, and they all heard everything you got to say. You know, you built that Valentine building too big, Never gonna fill that one up. That's what he's saying to me. I can't imagine. I mean, I'm the man of God. I can't imagine what he's telling you. I can't imagine the mistakes that he's bringing up. I can't imagine the dumb decisions that he replays in your mind. Just that five clip that runs randomly every

Guy says something to everybody who came to church. Oh God, I know you're struggling a little bit.

I know you got some things, but you're around the right people right now, and we're going to do this together.

But it's going to take consistency.

Don't give up meeting together. Encourage one another all the more. As you see the day approaching. You see his biceps.

They didn't get like that one time in the gym.

The first time he went to pick up the forties, they were real heavy and he it was grunting on himself. Now he just picks up the eighties in the nineties because he picked up the fifties and the sixties. Confidence comes from consistency. Well, I guess you're not confident. You only let me preach to you once every three months. You only open your Bible on special occasions, Like, I guess you're not confident? How could you be? Confidence comes

I thought that was so great. How do you deal with the big moments? Well, I played a lot of tennis.

You see somebody who has a lot of confidence, they tell you how they got it.

They prayed a lot of prayers.

Yeah, how softly Serena speaks after she wins, I played a lot of tennis.

You see somebody who asked tremendous peace in their heart. They forgave a lot of people.

You see somebody who knows how to persevere through dry seasons and hard times. They read a lot of Bible verses, and so he sets confidence within the context of a clear contest, within the context of a strong community, within the context of a commitment to consistency. And now he says, let me get to my preaching part. How'd you like that set up? This won't take long, So do not throw away your confidence.

It will be richly rewarded. Don't do it. Don't throw away your confidence. It will be richly rewarded.

And you need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has problemise. Now, it's interesting to me that in order to get them to press forward, he tells them to look back. In verse thirty two, the writer says, if you want to go forward, here's what you need to do, remember those earlier days. This fascinates me because I've always been told that the way to gain confidence is to

You just got to even behind.

Well, in this particular instance, the author advocates a type of memory management that will actually build your confidence.

Remember those earlier days.

After you had received the light, when you endured in a great conflict, full of suffering.

He says, You've been through much worse than this, and you made it.

Do you know what I know. I don't know what you've been through. I don't know what it looked like. I don't know how horrible it was.

You could tell your story, I could tell my story. I know one thing about you. You made it.

You're still here. I know that about you. I don't even have to know your name. I just know by the fact, by the virtue of the fact that you showed up, that you made it. And so sometimes it's

Me, and all he says, is this really.

Because I thought I remembered you in a white jeep Cherokee, a nineteen ninety white jeep Cherokee where you would leave on a Thursday and you would go preach at.

A youth rally in Squirrelville, Georgia. And you would go preach at the youth rally Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Saturday night. You would leave, stop.

At the gas station, get six diet and dues, drive back to Shelby, North Carolina, through the middle of the night and get back and lead worship, be there for the rehearsal at seven am and have everything set up for the worship team and you would lead the music. And then Sunday night you go to Charlotte and do your little core team meetings for your church plan that you were asking me to bless.

And you would have the families there and no.

New people would have showed up, but you would pre trite through it, and you wouldn't get discouraged, and you wouldn't get defeated, and you wouldn't get disappointed.

But you'd just pretrike through it.

And you stand up and say things boldly, and then you get up Monday morning with a hangover, holy hangover, and you would get in your write jeep Cherokee again and drive to Greenville. And sometimes you have Elijah three months old screaming in the backseat, and Holly and Elijah would go with you and you drop them off at your in laws house, and then you go to seminary and you'd sit there from nine am to nine pm in a systematic theology class.

And you get back to Charlotte and you do it again, and you do it again. You do it again, and you did it before, and you can do it again. And you did it before, and you can do it again. You did it before, you can do it again. And some stands up on the inside of me and I tell.

The devil, I'm that same dude that ran up and down the roads of I twenty six and I eighty five in a cheap Cherokee with the newborn baby. I believe God. Then I believe God. Now I saw him come through, then I'll see him come through again.

I've seen him move a mountain, and I believe. Somebody said, I believe.

I'm gonna preach until your confidence comes back.

How do you get it back? You get it back in the gap? Touch?

Somebody say, you get it back in the gap?

Can I talk about the gap?

Give me eight minutes? Come here, man, help me preach about the gap. Please please please come here, JJ, help me preach about the gap. Who else should help me preach about the gap? I think Jared Hogan's beard should help us preach about the gap.

Come on, there's this gap.

He said that after you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. So we're on a journey and we're making progress. But in the midst of our progress we lose our confidence. Where do we lose it? We lose it in the gap. There's always a gap, he said. There is a space of time between when you have done the will of God and when the will of God becomes a parent in your life.

There's a space. There's a gap. So these gentlemen will each represent something.

JJ.

You represent where I want to be and you, sir name please LaMarcus.

LaMarcus is going to represent where I am, and I'm frustrated.

In the gap.

Where I am is not where I want to be. Who I am is not who I want to be. I'm in the gap. So here I get discouraged, and here I get weary, and here I want to quit, and here I want to withdraw. See, the church that the writer of Hebrews is addressing are not so much walking away from their faith as they are weakening in it. It's not a matter of we don't believe in Jesus anymore. It's a matter of wanting to withdraw from believing for

Between where I was and where I am. Come on, talk to me, somebody, talk to me. We're gonna put it in context today. We're gonna put it in context. Today. You've been wanting to quit because all you see is this. But every once in a while, I'm almost done.

Every once in a while, you need to look back over your shoulder, look back with me, and remind the devil. I'm not where I want to be. I'm not who I'm gonna be, but I'm not who I was. So I think if I already made it this far, if I've already seen this much, if I've already believed God through so much breaking and through so many battles, I think I'll press.

On and see what the end is gonna be.

In that good, in that good, I got it back in the gap.

I got it back.

When I look back and realize that God is.

Still with me. And so you're gonna have to get your confidence back in the gap. Somebody shot My confidence is coming back, and I need you to understand that my situation didn't change.

Yet, but the return of my confidence for seeing the improvement of my situation in just a little while, He who is coming will come and not delay.

But I'm not waiting for.

Him to come back for my confidence to be restored. I'm gonna raise him right now. I'm gonna bless him right now. I'm gonna believe that right now.

Come on, help, let me preach.

The spirit of God is in this place, and my confidence is coming back. See because in that gap is every lion and every bear that I've already killed. So come on, Goliath, my confidence is coming back.

My confidence is coming back.

I don't know the way forward, but the same God who got me through that gap.

Is with me in this one. Clap your hands, get God.

Praise.

Come on, clap your hands, get God. Do you know what praised us? Everyone's standing, everyone's standing. Do you know what praised us?

Praise puts your problem in context. When you praise God with your mouth, when you praise God in your mind, when you praise God in your heart, it puts your problem in the context of God's power.

Some of you allowed your problem to weaken your confidence. This is beautiful the way the Lord gave it to me.

I'd like to give it to you, and I get out of your way.

He said, do not throw away your confidence.

The reason that spoke to me is because a lot of us would blame life experiences and circumstances, and even.

The devil for taking our confidence.

Something that happened to using someone said to us something someone did to us. But the author of Hebrews didn't talk about other people or the devil. He said, your confidence is your responsibility.

Do not throw away your confidence.

For those of you who have lost confidence in your life today, listen to me.

Nobody took it from you. They can't.

Nobody can take away from you what they didn't give to begin with. When you lose your confidence, it's because.

You gave it away. Here's the good news.

If you're the one who gave it away, you're the one who.

Can get it back. Come on, Church, take it. Take it back.

Take back your confidence, take back your hope, take back your future, take back your dream.

Take back your calling. Take it back.

In the name of Jesus, we have a great high priest.

The cortness rip.

The veil is gone, the blood is set, The place is me, The way is before you, the past is behind you.

Get up a sell a friend.

So we say with confidence Hebrews thirteen six.

The Lord is my helper. I will not be afraid. No no, no, that's not how we say it. We say it with confidence. How would you say it if you were confident? Let me hear you try it.

So we say with confidence. Now I'm not the devil, but if I were, I would not be convinced. So we say, with the Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid.

Let me see how that felt. I say. We tried it at another time.

So we say with confidence, for.

Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. Try it again.

So we say, with confidence, the Lord is my helper.

I will not be afraid. The Lord is my helper. I will not be afraid. For Lord you matter help the devil. I will not be afraid. For Lord is my helper. I will not be afraid. I will not fear. My God is still be My God.

Is still great. My God is too faithful.

My God is too good, My God is too wise, My God is too awesome.

It's gracious to a mason.

I've come to the farm to quit, and my confidence is coming.

Thank you for joining us.

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