I Lost My Confidence

Summary

Elevation with Steven Furtick

Episode Title: I Lost My Confidence
Release Date: August 15, 2025
Host: Pastor Steven Furtick (Elevation Church)
Podcast Provider: iHeartPodcasts

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Overview

In this episode, Pastor Steven Furtick continues his series titled "Triggered: Taking Back Your Mind in the Age of Anxiety," exploring the complex relationship between confidence and faith. Drawing from Philippians 3, Furtick challenges the cultural obsession with self-confidence and invites listeners to re-examine where true confidence should be placed. Using personal anecdotes, biblical exegesis, and pointed humor, he conveys the message that losing self-confidence can be the gateway to gaining authentic faith in Christ.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Confidence: Definition and Dangers (00:35 – 09:01)

• Text: Philippians 3:1–3, where Paul warns the church about "putting confidence in the flesh."
• Furtick humorously recalls advice from a seminary professor: "It only matters that you say it with confidence"—a sentiment he contrasts with biblical truth.

  “It kind of seems to be the thing these days... it's like we all found a Bible verse, 'fake it till you make it', only it's not in the Bible.” (02:25)

• Explores the dangers of overconfidence, especially when it’s detached from competence or humility. Uses parenting teens as an analogy:

  "There's a fine line between confident and creepy... As a parent, how much confidence do I really want my kids to have?" (03:54)

• Challenges the notion that confidence is always a virtue, highlighting that projecting confidence can sometimes mask ignorance or create division.

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2. The Real 'Dogs': Confidence in Religious Performance (09:01 – 11:54)

• Unpacks Paul's warning to the Philippians about "dogs," explaining these are religiously rigorous people urging Gentiles to rely on external markers (circumcision) for righteousness.
• Key Insight: Religious confidence based on external acts is a "perversion of the Gospel."

  “It is a perversion of the Gospel to think there are things we can do outwardly… that will make you acceptable to God.” (08:05)

• Spiritual authenticity is rooted in the heart and faith, not routine or rule-following.

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3. False Confidence vs. True Confidence (09:01 – 16:08)

• True confidence arises from perseverance and faith, not from fabricated or externally validated confidence.
• Personal story: Furtick recounts how his youthful confidence was untested until life’s real challenges came—most notably through his father's illness:

  “It's so easy to preach faith when you've never watched your dad take his dying, gasping breath...” (09:52)

• Discusses society’s misplaced value in outward projections of confidence—especially online—and the consequences of "confidence at all costs."

  “The cost of false confidence is ignorance. Trust me, some of the people who are the most confident are also the most ignorant.” (11:36)

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4. Confidence, Comparison, and Competence (12:19 – 16:08)

• Commentary on youth sports and dugout cheers highlights the culture of unearned self-esteem.
• Furtick jokes about his daughter’s softball team cheering, "My name is Abbey and you know what I got? I have a team that is hotter than hot."

  “Y’all are not hotter than hot... Y’all are not even lukewarm.” (13:48)

• Critiques the idea that confidence should come without competence or consistency.

  “To have real confidence, you have to have consistency, don’t you? To have confidence, you have to have competence. Competence is built through consistency.” (14:51)

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5. Where Do You Place Your Confidence? (16:11 – 21:40)

• "It's not how much confidence you have, it's where you put it that counts." (16:40)
• Illustrates with anecdote about his wife’s wedding ring—just as with valuables, the placement of confidence determines its safety and utility.
• Warns against placing confidence in other people, performance, or discipline, as these are inherently unstable and fallible.

  “Why would you put your confidence in God, in how people treat you? People will always let you down.” (19:19)

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6. Paul’s Credentials: Carnival of Comparison (20:06 – 26:48)

• Furtick humorously outlines Paul's religious “resume” from Philippians 3, underscoring the futility of relying on personal merit.
• Paul, though supremely qualified by human standards, concludes these qualifications are worthless compared to gaining Christ.

  “He built his confidence to a certain level. But then something happened to Paul. Paul saw a contrast.” (22:53)

• warns against making judgments or creating spiritual hierarchies based on surface-level observation:

  "We can never really know anyone's heart... Let's stop being so quick to categorize people based on what we see with our eyes." (24:28 & 26:48)

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7. A Turning Point: Losing Confidence to Gain Christ (27:53 – 37:28)

• Retells Paul’s Damascus road experience as a metaphor for the spiritual transformation that comes from losing false confidence.

  "Paul said, I lost my confidence. I lost my confidence and I had to start all over." (29:41)

• Paraphrases a message to those suffering from comparison: sometimes you have to "compare yourself to others until you are so sick of it you finally fall off your horse and say, 'God, I’m sick of myself.'" (31:46)
• The real spiritual breakthrough happens when we stop measuring against others and encounter Christ:

  “When I compared myself to Him, I didn’t have anything left to brag about.” (33:00)

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8. Letting Go: The Death of False Confidence is the Birth of Faith (36:40 – 43:00)

• Climax of the message: Losing confidence in oneself is not a tragedy but an opening for genuine faith in Christ.

  “I consider [all things] garbage, that I may gain Christ. Take the whole world... But give me Jesus.” (37:00)

• Challenges listeners to let their self-confidence "die" so it can be resurrected as faith:

  “Only after it dies can it be resurrected as faith. I lost my confidence, and I’m glad I did. Because while I was confident in me, I could not have faith in Him.” (39:30)

• Ties the message back to dealing with anxiety—not by building more confidence, but by building greater faith in Christ.

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Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• On False Confidence:
  "It's so easy to be confident when you've never lived through a crisis." (09:37 — Steven Furtick)
• On Religious Performance:
  "It is a perversion of the Gospel to think there are things we can do outwardly or behaviors we can quit… that will make you acceptable to God." (08:05 — Steven Furtick)
• On Parenting/Comparison:
  "Just keep comparing yourself to others, until you fall down off your horse and say, 'God, I’m sick of myself…'" (31:46 — Steven Furtick)
• On the True Place for Confidence:
  "It's not how much confidence you have, it’s where you put it that counts." (16:40 — Steven Furtick)
• Paul’s Realization:
  "Now, whatever were gains to me, I consider loss. I lost my confidence. But watch this. I gained Christ." (32:42 — Steven Furtick)
• Letting Go:
  "Only after it [your confidence] dies can it be resurrected as faith. I lost my confidence, and I'm glad I did." (39:30 — Steven Furtick)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Series and Sermon Introduction: 00:35 – 01:27
• Personal Anecdote on Confidence: 01:27 – 03:54
• Biblical Context — Philippians 3: 04:42 – 09:01
• Rebuking False Confidence: 09:01 – 11:54
• Dangers of Comparison and Social Projections: 11:54 – 16:08
• Children’s Sports and Confidence Culture: 12:19 – 14:31
• Building Consistent Confidence: 14:38 – 15:25
• Placing vs. Amount of Confidence: 16:11 – 16:40
• Wedding Ring Anecdote/Application: 17:40 – 19:19
• Paul's Resume Metaphor: 20:06 – 26:48
• Judgment and Comparisons in the Church: 24:28 – 26:48
• Paul’s Damascus Experience: 27:53 – 29:10
• The Descent From Comparisons to Christ: 31:46 – 33:00
• The True Nature of Faith: 36:40 – 37:28
• Closing Prayer and Faith Declaration: 43:00 – End

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Conclusion

In "I Lost My Confidence," Steven Furtick delivers a nuanced, energizing message that challenges listeners to let go of self-reliance and discover the security of faith in Christ. Through humor, storytelling, and biblical exegesis, he dismantles the myth of self-sufficient confidence and guides the audience toward "a resurrection faith"—one that is humble, enduring, and rooted not in the flesh, but in the transformative power of Jesus.

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Transcript

[Steven Furtick]

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[Steven Furtick]

Hey, this is Stephen Furtick. 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 you perspective to see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the Message Philippians Chapter 3, Verse 1 I'm going to give you my title before I read my text today. We're in a series called Triggered Taking back your mind in the Age of Anxiety. I will keep preaching until you are totally sane, until you are no longer hiding Doritos under your bed because of stress eating and cussing people out in your car while you're listening to Elevation Worship. At the same time, you don't even pause the music. So the series is going to go a little bit longer. This text is going to help us today. The Apostle Paul is in his own way upset and triggered for good reason about something that is going on to affect the believers. The title I want to use I need you to announce this title to the person sitting next to you. You don't have to talk to him another time after this. This will be the last time you have to talk to Him. But tell them this. Say I hate to admit it, but I lost my confidence. Philippians 3:1 further my brothers and sisters rejoice in the Lord. It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you. Watch out for those dogs, those evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh. For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by His Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus and who put no new 0 new new confidence in the flesh. Though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If anyone else, if someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more. We're going to stop right there and talk a little and then we'll work through the rest of the passage. I'll tell you something really quick that a seminary professor taught me about preaching. When I was preaching from the Old Testament book of 1 Samuel, there were a lot of names and places I didn't know how to pronounce because they were based on Hebrew words. I took all of them up to him to ask him to help me pronounce them correctly because I was preaching in a few days and I wanted to make sure I said all the words right. First of all, he laughed at my list of words. He said, it's not important that you say it right. It only matters that you say it with confidence. He said, don't worry about mispronouncing the words. Nobody will know the difference if you say it with confidence. It kind of seems to be the thing these days. It's kind of like we all found a Bible verse, fake it till you make it, only it's not in the Bible. That's how I was taught to get girls. Harold Staley said, it really doesn't matter. Your car doesn't have to be fast or nice. He said, you're not especially good looking or tall. He said, but I'm going to tell you, if you just walk up to a girl with confidence, you'd be surprised how much better looking confidence can make you. But then that's only kind of true because there's a fine line between confident and creepy. Am I right about it? I'm kind of trying to figure that out as a parent. How much confidence do I really want my kids to have? Because you kind of like them being confident when they're younger, it's cute. Then in their teenage years when they are so confident they no longer believe you have any knowledge about anything, it's an issue.

[Co-host or Guest]

It's like, can we find a middle.

[Steven Furtick]

Ground on this confidence thing? Can you be confident enough to be socially not awkward, but then be humble enough to. To listen to me when I'm telling you what's best for you? Is there an in between? Is there a middle ground on this confidence thing? Is there somewhere between you being intimidated and scared to death and feeling the.

[Co-host or Guest]

Need to apologize for your existence on.

[Steven Furtick]

Planet earth and Conor McGregor on the other end of the spectrum? Is there anywhere. Here's what's happening now. Confidence without competence. Can I preach a little bit today before I send you to join an egroup? We are approaching it like they were approaching it in Philippians 3 where Paul says you need to watch out for the dogs. I know you're wondering, who are these dogs? It's in verse two. Who Is Paul calling a dog?

[Co-host or Guest]

Who are these dogs and who let them out? We need to know.

[Steven Furtick]

You would assume these are people who are tempting the church at Philippi, the church Paul founded and fathered in the Gospel. Maybe they are luring them with sin. Maybe he's talking about drug dealers or liberals, all the things that threaten the Christian worldview. But really what he's talking about here is religious people. They're trying to get the newly converted Gentiles who weren't Jewish to be circumcised with no anesthesia because that was the outward sign of the covenant with the Jewish people before Christ. But Christ came along and changed that. Paul knows that it's not what you.

[Co-host or Guest]

Can show on the outside, but it's what happens in your heart that proves.

[Steven Furtick]

The authenticity of your relationship with God and validates your relationship with him by faith.

[Co-host or Guest]

By faith, not flesh.

[Steven Furtick]

It is impossible for you to please God with your flesh, with your effort. It is impossible for you to impress God with your Bible reading streak. I'm sorry he didn't call the angels over today because you read a psalm.

[Co-host or Guest]

Wow. Check this out. She went a whole week without telling anybody off.

[Steven Furtick]

Didn't impress God a bit. On the other hand, we can please God by faith. Paul is talking about the dogs. How long are you going to do it? They'll know he's triggered. He says what they're doing is evil. They're evildoers. They're mutilating the flesh. They're making it worse. They're telling you all these rules and regulations that will make you acceptable to God and it's making it worse because.

[Co-host or Guest]

It is teaching you to put confidence.

[Steven Furtick]

In the wrong thing. It is a perversion of the Gospel to think there are things we can do outwardly or behaviors we can quit.

[Co-host or Guest]

Or habits we can enforce.

[Steven Furtick]

Sometimes our consistency can become the enemy of our humility.

[Co-host or Guest]

We stop doing stuff and start doing stuff, and then immediately we start to create categories for people who have not yet arrived at the place of consistency we're at now. God help us, because we're raising a generation who don't have to train for their trophies. It's as if we think confidence is our birthright. We have developed a sick, twisted version of confidence that knows nothing in the biblical context. We have put our confidence in confidence.

[Steven Furtick]

But confidence that is developed outside of the process that produces true confidence is false confidence. I'm just thinking about it now a little differently than age 16 when I first gave my life to Christ and was very confident, very confident in My ability to live for Jesus. Very confident in my ability to stay away from certain temptations. Oh, it's so easy to be confident when you've never lived through a crisis. It's so easy to preach faith when you never watched your dad take his dying, gasping breath from ALS and watched his body completely shut down and prayed every prayer you knew to pray over him, and quoted every scripture you learned and wrote about in a book about sun standstill. Things happen to shake your confidence. Paul is talking here about people who have lost their confidence in the gospel or they are on the verge of losing their confidence in the gospel and putting their confidence in their performance. That's dangerous. I'm starting to wonder, do we need more confidence? It's just a question. Because lately I've been thinking that the dangers of overconfidence are just as great as the dangers of underconfidence. Really? Maybe it's not about the amount of confidence we have at all. I wrote a little note to my son when he turned 13. It wasn't really about him. It was about me remembering that age. One thing I was trying to tell him in the note is that everybody in some way is faking it. I just thought I would show him that there is no wizard of Oz. Just a little short dude behind a curtain pulling levers and posting stuff with filters and captions that are perfectly crafted. They spend an hour and a half to write that caption to make themselves sound witty, and they're really not that witty off the cuff. If you compare your off the cuff to their manufactured caption, you're going to always feel like there's something missing and lacking in you. Because it's like we're living in a culture that projects confidence at all costs. The cost of false confidence is ignorance. The cost of false confidence is ignorance. Trust me, some of the people who are the most confident are also the most ignorant. Some of the wisest people I've ever talked to in my life didn't have.

[Co-host or Guest]

A lot of answers.

[Steven Furtick]

They asked a lot of questions. Do you see what I'm saying? It's tough because we're teaching this to our kids.

[Co-host or Guest]

Just be confident.

[Steven Furtick]

Be confident.

[Co-host or Guest]

I'm trying to find the balance because.

[Steven Furtick]

I do want to raise confident kids.

[Co-host or Guest]

And I want to be a confident Christian. But I'm trying to find. I'm trying to find the balance. Our kids are out playing sports just.

[Steven Furtick]

Like many of your kids. Someone said to me a few weeks ago, stop talking about your kids so much in your sermons. We don't Come to hear about your family. We come to hear the word of God. I'm like, well, I have another solution. Just quit coming and you won't have to hear me talk about anything.

[Co-host or Guest]

That'll be fine.

[Steven Furtick]

It will work well for both of us. Let's just agree to. We don't share the same interests, but.

[Co-host or Guest]

That'S my life right now is raising these kids.

[Steven Furtick]

I'm always out at some baseball field or football game or something like that. Now even Abbey is playing seven year old softball. She says she likes it, but I don't know if she really likes softball or dugout cheers.

[Co-host or Guest]

Honestly, I'm going to make a plea here.

[Steven Furtick]

If anybody is watching this online that has any kind of Authority in girls 7 year old softball, I'm begging you, in the name of Jesus Christ, whose gospel I preach, could we possibly ban dugout cheering for seven year old softball?

[Co-host or Guest]

I know it's cute and it's delightful.

[Steven Furtick]

But I'm just trying to protect these girls because I'm listening to them in the dugout.

[Co-host or Guest]

And not only is it bad for.

[Steven Furtick]

My hearing, not only is it loud and it's rough on their voices, but.

[Co-host or Guest]

But what they're saying in these cheers is not true. I heard Abby the other day.

[Steven Furtick]

She was doing a cheer.

[Co-host or Guest]

My name is Abby and you know.

[Steven Furtick]

What I got the whole team said.

[Co-host or Guest]

What do you have? Abbey said, I have a team that is hotter than hot. See, right there, we just left the realm of reality. I've been watching all three innings of this. Y' all are not hotter than hot. Y' all are not even lukewarm. Baby girl, you're frozen in the center. You need to be in the microwave about three more.

[Steven Furtick]

Then she said, grand slams and homers too.

[Co-host or Guest]

I'm like, how about a base hit? Can we start with a base hit?

[Steven Furtick]

Praise the Lord. It's dangerous to have too much confidence.

[Co-host or Guest]

In the wrong place. In the wrong place. But the Bible says, be confident in this. I will be confident. Doesn't the Bible say that? Yes, but the question is in what.

[Steven Furtick]

Will you be confident in what? Sometimes we want to have a confident belief without the behaviors that build confidence in our lives. To have real confidence, you have to have consistency, don't you? To have confidence, you have to have competence. Competence is built through consistency. If you're going to have real confidence, you have to have character. Amen.

[Co-host or Guest]

You know what?

[Steven Furtick]

I'm going to spend the rest of my life preaching what I think is true. Whether anybody says amen to it or not, I'm committing to that these little gray hairs that keep popping up are trying to tell me, you don't have time to get up there in that pulpit and just hype people anymore. Because while we're hyping people in one sense to believe God, we are actually making the problem worse. Because when their circumstance is not reflecting their confession, their faith collapses beneath the weight of unmet expectations.

[Co-host or Guest]

The Lord was really speaking to me.

[Steven Furtick]

I go back and forth of feeling really confident sometimes. And then sometimes I feel I can't.

[Co-host or Guest]

Find my confidence anywhere. Then I think, well, I had too much confidence.

[Steven Furtick]

I need to be more humble. Then sometimes I think, well, I don't have enough confidence. I need to chest bump myself in.

[Co-host or Guest]

A mirror a few times and get.

[Steven Furtick]

Out there and put myself back in the game. Coach, get out there.

[Co-host or Guest]

I'm back and forth.

[Steven Furtick]

God spoke to me this week. He said, it's not how much confidence you have, it's where you put it that counts. Paul said, I have no confidence in the flesh. All of these people who are telling you you need to be circumcised, and that's how you prove you have a relationship with God or this temptation that we all have to fake it until we break, that's what really happens. You fake it and you never make it. Because no matter how much you work to develop your confidence in your flesh, it will always fail you. All of this behavioral modification that I know is necessary for us to make improvements in our lives. Maybe it's important for us to have confidence if we're going to stand on stage and give a presentation or going to a meeting we don't feel qualified for. I understand that, but my question is, have you put that confidence in the right place? The other day I noticed Holly didn't have her wedding ring on. It wasn't anything sketchy. We were just at the house. She wasn't going out without her wedding ring on. In fact, I have that covered, too. I made her put a tattoo on her ring finger. So even if she wanted to take it off, it says H and S. If she wants to leave me, the dude is already going to be narrowed down. His name better start with S or she'll have to turn it into an eight. But she is mine. But I said, where's your ring? She said, oh, I put it over here. I was washing the dishes. I asked her a question. I didn't have to say much. I said, is that a good place to put it? Listen, she lost it once. When she lost it, we had insurance and she got a better One.

[Co-host or Guest]

Now I'm starting to wonder. Ask somebody next to you, is that.

[Steven Furtick]

A good place to put it? Because you keep putting your confidence in.

[Co-host or Guest]

People and you keep putting your confidence in your performance, and you keep putting your confidence in your ability to be disciplined. Oh, I'm going to exercise. I'm going to stay on my diet this time. I'm going to pray for 15 minutes every day. I hear people say, sometimes I gave up on God because some people in the church let me down. But let me ask you a question. Your relationship with God is so precious. Why would you put your confidence in God, in how people treat you? People will always let you down. People will always fall short, even if they have good intentions, they have limited ability. Do you really want to put it in people haven't used. Spend enough time trusting in people to meet your needs. I feel like preaching.

[Steven Furtick]

Ask them again. Is that a good place to put it? Do you really want to put confidence in your flesh, your effort, your ability to keep the law? Now, Paul said, if you want to play the game of who has more reasons to be confident on the basis of lifestyle or legality, he says, if you want to play the game whose circumcision is better, let's play. He starts reading off his resume, what a weird game this is. You know, people try to top everything. Paul is like, my circumcision is better than your circumcision because watch verse five.

[Co-host or Guest]

I was circumcised on the eighth day.

[Steven Furtick]

When you're supposed to be. A lot of the judaizers, the dog, they were circumcised after the fact. Paul said, I was circumcised when I was supposed to be circumcised because I was born the way you're supposed to be born, into the race God said he would use to bless all the nations of the earth through. I was circumcised before all y' all on the eighth day. I don't remember it. I'm glad I got that out of the way early in life. I was of the people of Israel, so I have connections. I was not only of the people of Israel, I was of the tribe of Benjamin. That was the tribe the kings came out of the tribe of Benjamin. So he's like, I'm already one of God's favorite people because I'm an Israelite. Then I'm the favorite tribe within the favorite people. Come on. Do you want to talk about flesh? My flesh is impressive. I was not only of the tribe of Benjamin, it was not only A matter of birth. I wasn't only born into fortunate circumstances, but I was a Hebrew of Hebrews. Wow. I was a Hebrew of Hebrews. I was competent. I was connected. I was competent in regard to the law. A Pharisee. That's the strictest order of religious law for the Jewish people. He says, I was on a scholarship. I was a prized pupil of Gamaliel. He doesn't mention that in Philippians 3. He mentions it elsewhere. That he sat underneath the tutelage of one of the greatest teachers of his day. This is like you interned under Elon Musk. Paul said, let's talk. Do you want to talk to me? You dogs who think you're so much better than other people? He said, I had all of that. I was so good at it that I was promoted to the highest level. I was so zealous. I was persecuting. The church, asked for righteousness based on the law. Faultless. So stop. Make sure we have this. He's connected. He's competent. And his character, he says, according to human law and what you can measure and what you can see and what you can judge. Faultless. Connected. Competent. And his character is faultless. He built his confidence to a certain level. But then something happened to Paul. Paul saw a contrast. Sometimes what we need, when we get a little too full of ourselves. Come on. It happens to all of us. Quiet people, loud people, flashy people, low key people. It can happen to every one of us that we start to trust in our flesh. About the time you think you get it figured out. You know how we do? We get our categories exactly right. Okay. Here's the kind of people who are going to heaven. And here's the kind of people who are going to hell.

[Co-host or Guest]

The way I know is there are certain things people who are going to.

[Steven Furtick]

Heaven do and don't do. Certain people who are going to hell. Here's what they do and they don't do. The only problem I'm finding with this is a lot of our confidence that we put in our judgments.

[Co-host or Guest]

And our assessment is based on our.

[Steven Furtick]

External observations of people.

[Co-host or Guest]

We can never really know anyone's heart. Here's a case in point. I told this story the wrong way last night.

[Steven Furtick]

So if you were here last night, I messed it up. But here's how it actually happened. This is why I put no confidence in the flesh. Because I can't even tell my own stories right while I'm preaching about confidence. That's how much I need the Holy Spirit. I was watching a sermon with my Father in law, when I was first starting in ministry, and he was telling me how the person preaching the sermon was cocky and arrogant. He said, look at him. You can tell he's strutting around that stage. He's wearing a $5,000 suit. Look at him. He's cocky and he's arrogant. Even his tie is loud. He's cocky and he's arrogant. He's so cocky and he's arrogant. Of course. I asked my father in law, have you met him? No, but you can tell he's cocky and he's arrogant. Do you know anybody who has met him? No, but I don't have to. You can tell he's cocky and he's arrogant. I said, just kind of innocently, well, who's somebody you think is not cocky and arrogant? That would be better to model my ministry after. Because he was in ministry and I wanted to hear his wisdom. He named the name of somebody I knew. It was a man who had the Greek New Testament memorized. No, not the little Philippians 4:13. No, the whole New Testament. He would show up. I took a class with him one time. He would say the Bible verse without looking at the Bible, but he wouldn't say it in our translation. He would be translating it in his mind from Greek. He never looked at the Bible to teach us the Bible. My father in law said, that guy, that's a man of God. That's a humble man of God. That's a man of God who knows what matters and what doesn't. That's a man of God who is understated. That's a man of God. Twelve months later, the man of God who knew the Bible in Greek had left his wife for a woman in Russia. He had been taking mission trips to Russia, mission trips to Russia. But one mission he went for, and he never came back. The man who was cocky and arrogant is still serving God today. And his kids are in ministry, too.

[Co-host or Guest]

Here's what I'm trying to say. Let's stop being so quick to categorize people based on what we see with our eyes or where they are in certain behaviors in their lives. Judge nothing before the appointed time. You don't even know what battles they're fighting. And you don't know how far they've come. And you don't know what it's taking them just to keep running the race. They might be limping, but they might make it to the finish line because they limp. I don't know anymore. I put no confidence in the flesh. I don't have categories. They're not as clear anymore for who's a godly person and who's not and who God has favored and who God hasn't. Because some of the people I thought were walking in the favor of God were faking it. But I know it. Until they fell apart. Paul is riding to Damascus one day, a Hebrew of Hebrews, a Pharisee of Pharisees, in regards to the law of.

[Steven Furtick]

Righteousness, connected and competent.

[Co-host or Guest]

All of a sudden he was blinded by a light on his way to imprison Christians in Damascus and bring them back to Jerusalem to be sentenced. Something happened to him that will happen to all of us in one way or another. If it hasn't happened to you yet, send me a text message when it does. God in his mercy and God in his wisdom knew that if I allow Paul to remain confident in his flesh, he will not fulfill my purpose for his life. He will live the rest of his life putting his confidence in himself and his competence and his character. All of a sudden, you can read it. In Acts 9, a blinding light throws Paul from his horse. He is thrown to the ground on the way to exercise his gift with authoritative letters from the Jewish ruling council. He falls off of his horse, and a voice from heaven asks him, saul, Saul, who do you think you are? Saul said back, I don't know. Who are you? And the voice said, I am Jesus. Paul spent three days blind and someone had to lead him by.

[Steven Furtick]

By the hand.

[Co-host or Guest]

That's when life gets really interesting, when you're used to leading others, when you're used to knowing what to do, when you're used to making it happen, when you're used to smiling and getting through it. But then every once in a while, something will come along in your life and you'll say, I didn't take a class on this. I didn't read a book about this. Nobody told me it would feel like this. I wasn't prepared for this. I didn't know it would be like this.

[Steven Furtick]

Paul said, I lost my confidence. I lost my confidence and I had to start all over. I had to give up all my connections because everybody hated me that I used to serve with. I had to start all over because I didn't know how to preach Jesus because I just met him. I had to humble myself and I had to reevaluate my character because I had been comparing myself to others. You know how we do. Holly preached this brilliant message to the ladies a couple weeks ago. Everything about it was good, but I just want to Correct one thing she said. She said we need to stop comparing ourselves to others. I think she's wrong about that. I think we need to compare ourselves to others every chance we get until we are so sick of comparing ourselves to others. If you compare yourself to others long enough, you will come to the place eventually. If you're not there yet, you'll get there. Just keep doing it. Keep comparing yourself to others. Just keep right on doing it. Do it to make yourself feel better. Do it. When you see somebody whose kids are on drugs, you just silently tell yourself, my kids would never do that. Go ahead and do that. Just go ahead and do it. Just go ahead and do it. When you see somebody who's not married, I'll tell you if. Go ahead and compare yourself to them because you're better than them. That's why you're married and they're not. Just go ahead and compare yourself. Go ahead and do it. Go ahead and do it the other way, too. Go ahead and compare yourself to people that are better than you all the time. Just all the time. Look at everybody sucking in on the gram. And then compare yourself bloated after a whole day of running your kids around. Then compare yourself who didn't have time to eat healthy because you actually care about other people, and that's why you had to go through McDonald's. But compare yourself to them. You won't even know they're selfish and that's why their body looks like that, because they never have time for anybody else and all their things are going. Here's what I want you to do. I want you to completely compare out of context for as long as you can.

[Co-host or Guest]

Don't ask the question.

[Steven Furtick]

They're real successful on their job, but I wonder, are they happy? Don't ask that question. Because if you could compare across all the categories, you might see that their success is costing them their fulfillment. But don't do that.

[Co-host or Guest]

Just completely take it all out of context and compare what people show you to what you can see. And don't take time to wonder what's really going on. Don't take time to stop and think.

[Steven Furtick]

About how they're so gifted and they're so wonderful. Just compare yourself to them until you.

[Co-host or Guest]

Feel so terrible that the only place left for you to go, the only thing left for you to conclude, the only thing left for you to do is to fall down off your horse and say, God, I'm sick of myself. I'm sick of false standards. I'm sick of worldly measurements. I'm Tired of my flesh. I'm tired of keeping up. I'm tired of falling short. I'm tired of looking around. And in that moment.

[Steven Furtick]

You will come to the point Paul came to in verse seven, where he said, I compared myself to everyone else so long. And it finally brought me to a point. Not because I hit the bottom, but because I was on top. And then something happened in my life. I compared myself to Jesus. When I compared myself to Him, I didn't have anything left to brag about. When I compared myself to Him, I wasn't such a good person after all. When I compared myself to him, I lost my confidence in me. I lost my confidence in how nice I am and how sweet I am and how polite I am and how educated I am. When I compared myself to the fullness of wisdom that was revealed in Jesus Christ, I didn't bring up my IQ anymore and I didn't show him my SAT scores. When I compared myself to him, my posture changed. When I compared myself to him, I quit trying to be first place in a race I realized I couldn't win. When I compared myself to him, I fell off my horse and I was led by the hand. Paul says in verse seven. Now, whatever were gains to me, I consider loss. I lost my confidence. But watch this. I gained Christ. I speak this message today in the hopes that someone who has lost your confidence in yourself would realize that this is a necessary step for you to receive the righteousness that comes by faith. That's what Paul says here. He says, I lost my connections. I lost my sense of competence. I found out I wasn't so good at everything. You know how life is, man. Just by the time you master a set of skills, the whole game changes. By the time I figure out how to get my kids to shh, shh, then they are teenagers and I'm trying to get them to talk to me. The whole opposite changes. It's designed that way. I wonder if God is trying to strip you of your confidence today so you can gain something greater. I lost my confidence to preach to people and tell them, if you do this, God is going to do that. I don't make those kinds of promises anymore because now I have a different kind of confidence. It's a kind of confidence that doesn't come from circumcision, changing your behavior, getting it right, knowing all the answers. It's an inward confidence. I wonder if that's the real contrast here. We are trying to project confidence and God is trying to impart it. I wonder if we're so busy trying to be confident, seem confident that we have isolated ourselves so we stay in places where no one really knows us and no one can really touch us. Because we have gotten so good at looking confident. But on the inside, we have lost a sense of ourselves and we have lost touch with our humanity as we project into the world pretend images of who we wish we were and who we think we should be. But Paul said, I lost all that. And you know what? I'm glad I lost it. I'm glad I got knocked off my horse, glad I got my heart broken, glad I got my plans disrupted. I'm glad I found out the world wasn't flat. I'm glad I found out it didn't revolve around me. I'm glad I didn't know what to do. Because if I'd have kept trusting in my flesh, I would have spent the rest of my life measuring myself against an irrelevant standard.

[Co-host or Guest]

But something wonderful happened.

[Steven Furtick]

When I lost my confidence, I gained Christ.

[Co-host or Guest]

What is more verse 8 I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ, Jesus, my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I'm letting it go. I'm not trying to get back on my horse. I don't even want to ride in that direction anymore. I've been down that road and I'm ready for something better. I consider them garbage that I may gain Christ. Take the whole world. Take my skills, take my knowledge, take my insight, take my appearances, take my youth. But give me Jesus. I want to be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that.

[Steven Furtick]

Which is through faith. Faith in Christ. The righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. Stand up. It's not about how much confidence you have. It's about on what basis you've built it. The answer to our anxiety isn't just more confidence. It's more Christ, he says. Verse 10 I used to know a lot of things about the law. I used to know a lot of things about life. But now look what happens after you lose your confidence and your arrogance and your prejudice and your presuppositions. He said, now that I've lost my confidence, I want to know Christ. I don't want to know about him. I don't want to know what I think I know about Him. I want to know Christ. Yes, to know the power of his resurrection. After you have lost your confidence, you can expect a resurrection. I told my friend what I was going to preach to you today. I said, I'm going to preach on. I lost my confidence. He texted me after I preached it, the first message, and he said, did you get it back? I said, no. I told the people to let it die, to let that confidence we put in what we can see and in what we can know and in what we can feel. Let it die. Let it be nailed to the cross. You know, God will allow certain circumstances in your life and he will use those circumstances to crucify your false confidence. If we don't understand this, we will try to pray our confidence back down off the cross and we'll try to get it back and we'll go back into those same modes. But only after it dies can it be resurrected as faith. I lost my confidence, and I'm glad I did. Because while I was confident in me, I could not have faith in him. I wonder if today God brought you here not to give you back your confidence so you can get the girl and win the bid. I wonder if God brought you here to give you something better. Now that we have buried your need to prove that you're better than everybody else because you realize that all of our righteousness is like filthy rags. Are you ready now for a resurrection faith? That's what had to happen to the disciples. They were so confident in Jesus as an earthly king when he went to the cross. It killed their confidence because they couldn't understand how he could set up a kingdom and die on a cross. But he had to crucify their confidence in order to give life to their faith. The same thing is happening in your life right now. You're getting older or you got rejected, or something is happening in your body and it's not working like it used to. God is trying to give you something greater than confidence in your flesh. I've seen what my flesh can do, and I put no confidence in it anymore. I've seen what my effort can accomplish. I don't want to preach based on my opinions anymore. I'm ready now for the righteousness that comes on the basis of faith. Will you lift your hands in God's presence? Father, I thank you for the word you sent forth from this pulpit today. While I understand God, that there's a deep need in all of our hearts to feel assured that everything is going to be all right. I understand that also there are times that are necessary for us that we have to question everything. Sometimes we have to be shaken to our core in order to find a foundation that is worth building on. I just believe today that you didn't give me this word so I could preach it for myself. I believe there is a brother or sister who has lost their confidence because their circumstances have changed or they've come to a place where something that used to work for them doesn't work anymore, or they have not been affirmed in certain ways. I believe you sent me here to tell them today, let it go and receive something better as their hands are lifted to you and their hearts are open to you. God, would you, in each and every heart in this place, fill our perspectives with faith? Take away our confidence in our flesh, God, even if we can do it in our own strength, we can't sustain it in our own strength.

[Co-host or Guest]

We need you.

[Steven Furtick]

You are our righteousness and you are the only confidence we have. Thank you for joining us. Special thanks to those of you who give generously to this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible. You can click the link in the description to Give now or visit elevationchurch.orgpodcast for more information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. You can share it with your friends. You can click the share button, take a screenshot and share it on your social stories and tag us LevationChurch. Thanks again for listening. God bless you.

[iHeart Sports Announcer]

Iheart presents the big three playoffs this Sunday. The remaining four teams battle to make the championship in the most physical, fierce and competitive basketball league in the world. The action starts with the Big three Monster Energy Celebrity game, then Dwight Howard and his LA Riot take on Montrez Harrell and Dr. J Chicago triplets. The finale will see popular Miami 305 with stars MVP Michael Beasley and Lance Stevenson take on Nancy Lieberman's Dallas Power who will make it to the Big Three championship. The no holds bought action starts Sunday at 3pm Eastern, 12 Pacific only on CBS.

[Steven Furtick]

This is an I Heart Podcast.