Host (1:35)
Thanks for listening to our podcast and thanks for supporting the ministry. If you enjoyed today's message, why don't you be a blessing and share it with a friend? We appreciate you and pray for God's very best in your life. Well, God bless you. It is always a joy to come into your homes. We love you and we believe that your best days are still out in front of you. We pray for you every single day. If you're ever in our area, I hope you'll stop by and see us. I promise you we'll make you feel right at home. But thanks for tuning in and thanks again for coming out today. I like to get started each week with something funny. I heard about these two little boys. They were spending the night with their grandparents. Before they went to bed, they got down on their knees to say their prayers. The youngest one started praying at the top of his lungs, saying, God, I pray that you'll give me a new bicycle and I pray that you'll give me a new PlayStation and pray that you'll give me a new DVD. His brother said, why are you screaming? God is not deaf. The little Boy said, I know that, but Grandmother is all right. Hold up your Bible. Say it like you mean it. This is my Bible. I am what it says I am. I have what it says I have. I can do what it says I can do. Today I will be taught the word of God. I boldly confess. My mind is alert. My heart is receptive. I will never be the same. In Jesus name, God bless you. I want to talk to you today about being secure in who God made you to be. One of the greatest needs we all have is to feel important and to be admired. Deep down, we all want to know that we're wanted, we're needed, and we're valuable. But too many people are trying to get this value the wrong way. They think if they work hard enough or if they look good enough, if they impress their friends, then they'll feel important. Then they'll get that respect they need. In the back of their mind, they're always trying to prove something. Trying to prove they're successful, trying to prove they're talented. I know people that work 80 hours a week trying to prove to themselves that they're important. They don't feel good about who they are unless they're achieving, unless they're impressing the people around them. But anytime we're trying to prove something, the root cause is insecurity. We need to learn to get our value from who we are and not from what we do. We need to know, deep down in here, we are children of the Most High God. We've been created in his image. He's already accepted and approved us. We don't have to go through life trying to prove our worth, trying to make somebody respect us, trying to make people think that we're important. No, we should have a quiet confidence. We don't have to live to impress people. We can be secure simply in the fact of who God made us to be. But I know people. They only feel good about themselves if they're doing something that looks important. If they have the right title behind their name, if they drive the right car, if they're keeping up with their friends. But if you have to have a certain position in order to feel valuable, if you have to be in a certain group or wear certain clothes, then you have your value. Your worth in the wrong places. Your position, your job may or may not be considered important. Your income may be large or small, but you cannot allow those things to determine your value. If you do, you'll constantly live in this proving mode. I've got to prove to my Friends that I'm as good as they are. I've got to prove to my peers that I can build a big church. Got to prove to my parents that I can make it on my own. It's good to have goals. It's good to stretch our faith. But we should not do things that simply to impress people so we can feel good about who we are. It's very freeing when we realize I don't have anything to prove. I don't have to feel bad about myself because I can't do something that someone else can. I don't have to feel inferior that my brother is a medical doctor and I never got my college degree. I realize he got the brains, I got the looks. But seriously, my security doesn't come from what I do or what I wear or who I know or the title behind my name. My security comes from the fact that I'm a child of almighty God. We have to get our value from who we are and not from what we do or we'll go through life constantly struggling, competing with others, trying to prove we're important, trying to convince people to respect us. Look at my accomplishments. Look at the car I drive. Look at how good a shape I'm in. No, the problem is that's all superficial. Those things can change. If we put our value in that and it goes down, then our self worth and our self image will go down as well. Insecure people are always comparing. Once we compare, the next step is we start competing. A friend gets a promotion. Instead of being happy for them, it makes us feel bad toward ourselves. A co worker loses 20 pounds. Instead of letting that inspire you, it depresses you. Think, man, I am so overweight. Or maybe a neighbor pulls in with a new car. Instead of focusing on your race, you think, man, I've got to work harder, I've got to keep up with them or I'm going to feel inferior. I'm going to feel less than. I know people that have spent their whole life struggling trying to get their worth and value from positions, titles, cars, what they wear. But that is a never ending cycle because there will always be someone ahead of us. And if we go around constantly competing and comparing, it just wears us out. It's like we're on a treadmill. We're constantly working but not going anywhere. We'll never get to that place where we really feel good about who we are because there's always one more thing, somebody else to keep up with. And I'm asking us today to step off of that. Treadmill. Make a decision. I'm going to relax. I don't have to prove that I'm important. I don't have to impress anybody to feel good about who I am. I know I am a child of the most high God. That's where I get my value, from who I am and not from what I do. It's important that we don't get our whole mixed up with our due. In other words, you may be a successful businessman, or maybe you're a gifted teacher, or at the office you can operate the equipment like nobody else. And that's great. That's your gifts, your talents, God's favor. But keep it in perspective. That's what you do. That's not who you are. And if you get your worth and value from your occupation or your accomplishments or what you do, then if for some reason you're not able to do that, or if it's not as important in other people's eyes as you think it should be, then you'll feel inferior, less than your self worth and self image won't be what it should be. And it's good to be accomplishing. It's good to be productive. I hope you have a great job. But what I'm saying is you should get your value from the fact that you're a child of God and not from your position and not from your talents. Because these days we put so much emphasis on our title, on where we fit into the company's flowchart. How does this look to people? Will this impress my friends? And of course it's good to have a good title and to want to be successful. But many times we go overboard trying to impress people. We make sure our title is listed, our accomplishments, our credits, make sure people know what neighborhood we live in, what school we went to. But that just breeds competitiveness. And there's a healthy confidence that we should have. I guess you could even call it a healthy competitiveness to where we see somebody succeeding and it inspires us to rise higher. Not out of jealousy, for the wrong reason, but it challenges our faith. But there's also this unhealthy competition to where we're doing things just to keep up, just so people won't think that we're less than in the back of our mind. We think we have to prove that we're still important and prove that we're acceptable. But if you'll learn to get your value from who you are and not from what you do, it will free you from the frustration of this unhealthy competition that's never really satisfied. We have to recognize God's given us all different gifts. And some gifts look more important than others. You may think, well, I would like to be able to do what he or she does. They're in leadership. But God may have given them the gift of leadership, the gift of administration. They're good at it. It comes naturally to them. But God's given you a different gift. Maybe you're good with your hands, a skilled musician, a cabinet maker. Maybe you're a great teacher or you have great people skills. You could sell anything. In the natural. Those gifts may not look as important as other gifts, but you have to be content with what God's given you. You have what you need to fulfill your destiny. It may not be that you're necessarily going to be the leader, you may be the helper, but what I'm saying is you don't have to feel less than. Just take the gift God's given you and make the most of it. Be the best that you can be and understand. In God's eyes, the janitor is just as important as the CEO. The usher is just as important as the pastor. The person taking tickets down there at the ballpark that's making $10 an hour, he's just as important as the ball players that are making millions. Why? Because we're all created in the image of Almighty God. It's very freeing when we realize we don't have to compete compare. We don't have to try to get the right title to prove our worth. No, get your value from who you are, not from what you do. I heard about this man that ran a big company. He didn't feel like he was getting the respect and admiration that he deserved. So he decided to take some action and prove to his employees who he was. He got this big sign and put it on the door at his office. It said, the boss, the big cheese, the top dog, the head honcho, the buck stops here. He sat back in his desk feeling so proud, feeling so important. A few minutes later, one of his employees came by and said, sir, your wife just called and she said she wants her sign back. Get your value from who you are, not from your position or your title. It's like this guy was bragging to all of his buddies was the head of his house. He said, yeah, guys, I'll run things at my house. About that time, his wife stepped up and gave him that look. He put his head down and said, I run the vacuum, I run the dishwasher, I Run the lawnmower. Victoria always says, joel's the head of our house, but I'm the neck that turns the head. Several years ago, I was in the front lobby after the service, greeting visitors, and I'd been there about an hour. The line was very long. And I noticed the next man that came up was a gentleman that I'd met earlier in the week. He was the CEO of probably the largest corporation in the world. He treated me so nice at the event we were at together, and I was so surprised to see him. I said, why didn't you tell me you were coming? You didn't have to wait in this long line. I could have got you parking. You could have sat with us. He said, no, Joel, I didn't want any preferential treatment. I just wanted to come out and enjoy the services. And I thought, here he could have had that big shot mentality. He could have thought, don't they know who I am? I'm important. I'm not waiting in this line. No, he knew. He had nothing to prove. He knew who he was. He had this quiet confidence. The scripture says there in Romans 12, verse 6, that we've all been given gifts and talents that differ. The fact is, not everyone is gifted to be the boss or to be the leader. And it's important that we accept the gift God's given us and not allow it to frustrate us. Because too many times we're only going to be happy if we're in a certain position, if we're leading the team, if we're one step ahead of where we are. But it may be that we're not gifted to be in that position. And if you have your worth in attaining a certain position or having a certain title, that's when you go through life frustrated, feeling less than feeling inferior. It's because you have your self worth in what you do and the position that you want. But if we can just realize this. Scripture is saying God made you like you are on purpose. He's given you the gifts and talents you need. You don't have to go around frustrated, feeling less than because you don't have a certain position or you can't do something that someone else can do. I know when I hear Marcos Witt, minister. He's our Spanish pastor, of course, and many times after he gets through speaking, he'll burst out into a song and it comes natural to him. It looks totally effortless and he's got this great voice. He's won three Grammys, sold millions of recordings, and the Other night, after he ministered, he did just that. He started singing. And man, I could feel the goosebumps. And when I walked out of here, I was tempted to think, God, that is not fair. How come? He got two good gifts. He can minister and sing. See, human nature wants to compare. But I've learned instead of comparing and feeling less than and like, we've got to prove ourselves in another area, I recognize those are the gifts that God's given him. We should not complain about what we can't do. We shouldn't feel the least bit inferior when somebody else shines in a certain area. Accept what God's given you. Take your gift and develop it. But don't get your value from your gift. Get your value from who you are. Remember, God's given us all different gifts. And yes, Marcos has a great voice, but I have more hair than he has. Don't tell him I said that or he'll feel inferior. Take this in the right way. We have to accept our limitations. In other words, we're not going to be good at everything. I may have a desire to sing. I can pray and ask God to help me. I can go take voice lessons. But if God has not given me that gift, it's not going to happen. And here's the key. I don't have to feel inferior. I don't have to feel less than. I just have to recognize that is not an area that God's gifted me in. Now I've got to be open and willing enough to accept it. A while back I was meeting with a group of pastors here. During the meeting, they asked me if I would share on a certain subject. It had to do with the end times and the book of Revelation. And I didn't think twice. I said, you know, men, that is not a subject that I'm very knowledgeable in. I mean, I'm just not an expert in that area and I'm going to have to pass and allow somebody else to share. Well, their eyes got this big. They said, joel, you mean you're the head of this large ministry and you don't know all the facts and details about the end time doctrine? I said, I hate to disappoint you, but. But I don't know all the facts and details about the present day doctrine, much less the end time doctrine. You say, joel, didn't that make you feel inferior? Weren't you a little bit embarrassed to admit that? Not a bit. I don't feel less than just because I'm not Mr. Super Christian. I Just stay in the anointing that God's given me. And I may not be able to explain all the doctrine, but I can encourage people. I can plant a seed of hope. I can challenge and inspire us to come up higher. You've got to know not only what you are, you need to know what you're not. Now I recognize I'm not a theologian. I'm not a debater, I'm not a line by line, precept by precept minister. I'm an encourager, and I do my best to stay in the area of my main gifting. It's when we try to be something that we're not, or when we look down on others that don't do it just like us. That's when we get off course. Stay in your anointing. I remember right after I first started ministering, a reporter asked me what I thought about the second dispensation of the Spirit. I said, I'll be glad to tell you if you'll just explain to me what it was. I thought, dear God, I must have missed the first one. But I realized we can all grow. We should always be learning. But we need to know what our gifts are, what we're good at. Naturally. One time in the New Testament, John the Baptist was baptizing people, and he was having such great success. There were so many of them. They finally asked him, john, are you the Messiah, or should we keep looking? Without missing a beat, he said, no, I am not the Messiah. See, John knew what he was and he knew what he was not. And it's just as important to know what you're not as it is to know what you are. Because if you don't realize what you're not good at and what you can't do, then you'll get pulled off into all these other areas. They may look important, they may be impressive, they may feed our ego, but they're outside of our anointing. And it's easy to do things because this is going to make me look good. This is going to prove to my friends that I am talented. But once we get outside of what we're called to do, it's a constant struggle. There's no grace for it. You have to run your race. This is what Moses did one time. He was trying to do it all. He was being the judge, the administrator, trying to keep everybody happy. Finally, he said, I can't do it all. I need some help. What he was saying was, these are not my strengths. And he focused on what he Was good at. My point is, he didn't feel inferior. Well, you say, joel, I can't do that. People may look down on me. They may think I have a weakness. The fact is, we all have weaknesses. When you really know who you are, you won't live to impress people. It's very freeing to go through the day and not have to prove your worth and prove your value. Try to impress somebody over here and try to make somebody respect me over there. No, take the pressure off yourself. Some of you are constantly competing. If you're not competing with others, you're competing with yourself. You're not going to be happy until you get that promotion, until you get that new title. You feel like you have to prove your worth. Why don't you learn to accept yourself right where you are? You don't have to go to the next level in order to feel good about yourself. You don't have to drive a certain car. You don't have to be in with a certain group. We have to get past this feeling that we have to constantly prove ourselves. I got to prove my ministry, make sure it keeps growing. Got to prove that I'm a good mother. Work night and day. No, just relax. You don't have to carry that burden. As long as you're being your best, you have nothing to prove. Just be confident and stay in your anointing. It's good to stretch. It's good to get out of our comfort zones, but we need to learn to always stay in our strength zones. Focus on what you're good at. A while back, we were thinking about hiring this gentleman. He was very gifted, very talented. He was a leader in his field. We wanted him to manage this certain department. It was a little outside of what he was used to doing, but we thought he would stretch and be willing to do it. He tried it for a while, but after several weeks, he said, you know, I'd love to do this, but I'm just not good at it. My main gifting is in this other area, so I'm going to have to pass. And I so appreciated the fact that he recognized his limitations. Some people would be too proud. Some people would be too caught up in the big promotion. But he realized even though he was exceptional in one area, he did not have the same gifting in this other area. And the fact is, what he went back to was much less impressive. It wasn't in management, didn't have the big title. But see, he knew what he was called to do. He wasn't trying to prove himself Trying to impress people. He got his value from who he was and not from what he did. He had this quiet confidence. And I'm all for stretching again. I'm all for getting out of our comfort zones, but we have to work with the gifts God's given us. There's nothing wrong with saying, I'm not good at that. I'd love to be in management, but I think my real gift is in teaching. I'd love to run the company, but I believe I'd be a better supervisor. A lot of people can't do that because they think they have to prove their worth. That's why there's so much comparing and competition these days. And all that does is steal our joy. I remember when we were renovating this facility, a friend of mine came by and he's a pastor as well. And he, too was in the process of building a new auditorium. It was going to seat four or five thousand people. He was very successful, done very well. But when we came into our facility, we walked into the auditorium together, and I'll never forget what he said. He shook his head and said, joel, how am I supposed to go back excited about my new place after seeing this place? And he was halfway kidding, but I had to encourage him like I'm encouraging you to run your race. Don't compare your life to somebody else's life. Don't compare your dreams to other people's dreams. I know my father has put me 40 years down the road when it comes to the size of our church. Some of you have gotten a lot of breaks. Others, you've gotten just a few. And it's easy to think, well, this isn't fair. I wish I had what he had. I wish I had his talent. Or I wish I had her metabolism. She can eat anything she wants. She never gains a pound. I look at the refrigerator and gain weight. No, don't compare. Do you know comparing leads to frustration? Some of you, like my friend, you were excited about your life until you started comparing. You were excited about your husband until you met Susie's husband. You found out he brings her breakfast in bed. He rubs her feet, he takes her fresh cut flowers. Now you're wondering what happened to your old goat. I mean, your husband. Don't compare your husband to somebody else. Just run your race. If we compare ourselves to other people over time, maybe even subconsciously, we may not realize it, but we start to compete with them. We'll start being overly critical, start finding fault. That jealous spirit rises up. Why does she wear that? Or why does he drive that car? Why does Marcos have to sing after the service anyway? That's not necessary. When we compare, it not only poisons our own life, but it causes us to lose our focus. I remember one time, years ago, my father wanted to build a new sanctuary. They were in the auditorium that held 1,000 people for several years. They had drawn the plans and saved up the resources, but it just didn't seem like he could get it going. And four or five of his pastor friends, men that were much younger than he was, they were building these large auditoriums. And every time my father heard this, it got him all fired up and he'd try to make it happen. In the back of his mind he was thinking, I can't let them outdo me. I'm getting older, I've got to get going. See, when we compare, that competitive spirit comes out. And many times that's what frustrates us. It causes us to lose our focus. We don't appreciate where we are and we start thinking, well, I've got to prove I'm talented. I've got to prove I'm successful. My father tried again and again, but something always stopped it. It was because it wasn't the right time. We have to learn to run our own race. Just as God has given us specific gifts, he also has an individual plan for each of our lives. And the good news is, I don't have to keep up with you and you don't have to keep up with me. Our attitude should be, I am secure in who God made me to be. I don't have to compete with my co worker in order to feel good about myself. I don't have to be in competition with my friend, try to outdo them, try to make people accept me. It's very freeing. It takes all the pressure off of us when we realize we're not in a contest with anybody. We're not competing with a colleague, competing with a family member, competing with a friend. If they rise higher and more power to them, we don't have to feel inferior, we don't have to feel less than. Let's just run our race. Let's be who God made us to be. If we don't understand this principle of not having to always prove ourselves, then life is going to be very frustrating. Because as I mentioned, there will always be somebody that's ahead of us. No matter how talented you are, there will be somebody that's more talented. You may be good looking like me, but there will always be somebody that's better Looking. No matter how much weight you lose, one of your friends will be thinner. You may pray 30 minutes a day. You're feeling so good about yourself, feeling so holy, you find out a neighbor prays an hour a day and he doesn't even go to church. Now you're down, discouraged. That competitive spirit comes out. Well, I got to outdo him. No, you have nothing to prove. After all, your worth and value doesn't come from what you do. It's it comes from who you are. When you really understand this, you won't live in competition, competing with other people, trying to prove your importance. I'm asking you today to take the pressure off yourself. Don't live to try to impress people. Don't go around competing, trying to keep up with everyone. Run your race. Stay in your anointing. Remember, you've got to know not only what you are, know what you're not. If you'll get your worth and value from who you are, a child of the Most High God. And not from your position or title or friends, but instead you'll be secure in who God made you to be. And I can promise you, you'll have that quiet confidence. You'll be happier and you'll live that life of victory that God has in store. Amen. Do you receive it today? We never like to close our broadcast without giving you an opportunity to make Jesus the Lord of your life. Would you pray with me? Just say, Lord Jesus, I repent of my sins. Come into my heart. I make you my Lord and Savior. Friends, if you prayed that simple prayer, we believe you got born again. Get in a good Bible based church. Keep God first place. He's going to take you places that you've never dreamed of.
