Inferiority | Part 1

What were finding studios to see a bar retire here with your revolver scene. You were fighting. Today Adrian Rogers continues in our series getting a handle on your emotions. This is part one of the message. Inferiority will carry many of us struggle to believe God can use us as we are and what little we have to offer, but the trust is God does extraordinary things through ordinary people to give glory to himself that's exactly right. And Dr. Rogers always said you know God doesn't want your ability right. He gave us the ability he want your availability on my hurting said so many times that was always a great phrase that he would say from time to time but I think that's true at me. We we worry about. Are we good enough. Are we position do we have our house in order.

Can God use me the answer to all that is yes. So Adrian Rogers said to that. Do you think that your weakness will keep God from using you is what he had to say. So many of us are comparing ourselves with others in thinking that that because of our weakness, our failures are idiosyncrasies and and negative traits that we have that God could not use us. But the truth of the matter is, as we cling to see these are the kinds of people that God chooses automatic people so that he can do extraordinary things through ordinary people and give glory to himself. So many of us feel that perhaps were too weak for God to use when perhaps we may not be weak enough to depend completely totally upon him, and I want each person listening to this program today to know that whoever they are, and wherever they are, regardless of their weakness. God has chosen them, and God will use them God's plan is to take automatic people and do extraordinary things through ordinary people and their get glory to himself. And so if you have an inferiority complex. It may not be the liability that you think it is, you can turn it into some real service for the Lord Jesus Christ. Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world you think. Also Byron. We struggle with the whole identity thing right. Our identity is in Jesus Christ, not the job not the profession not the hobby, not the interest, the identity is in Christ, you know, the book of Judges, the story of Gideon exemplifies that God uses who others consider the bottom of the barrel to do those big things.

One time I got Roger so you know if you've if you been a quarterback, raise your hand by the club honor Society SGA all these hands went up in the Carnation.

He said you know what maybe God can use you to lie because I do think I think God uses the ordinary to accomplish his task will hear it's always our joy to hear from our lover fighting listeners to see how the ministry is impacting their walk with Christ. I think you have a comment now this is my grandmother always took me to church.

She is the reason I know about Jesus when she became homebound. She watched Pastor Rogers on TV every single Sunday.

When I got older I strayed for my faith became addicted to drugs, eventually losing everything.

I came back to live with my grandma and begin watching Pastor Rogers with her again. It was our time together and I will treasure it forever. She passed away two years ago. So when I found myself again looking for guidance back to the Lord. Pastor Rogers ministry was one that I could trust.

I have grown closer to the Lord that I have ever been in a bar. I think when we hear these testimonies and we talk to our supporters and listeners and friends of the ministry. It's the trustworthiness of the ministry. It's the integrity of the ministry its absolute truth that there drawn to welcome you know we talk today, you know, can God use me. What can God do with little me and in relation to this ministry lover finally getting the gospel out having partners that are faithful to this ministry your little bit heads up to present the message of Jesus Christ to the entire world with lover fighting what that's exactly riding on to say this. This is the perfect time of year to give the level of funding amended. This is our time and we know there are people have a vested interest in what we do because it's the gospel and they have the capacity to do something about it so I just want throw a challenge if I can to say hey maybe it's this year that we raise the bar. Maybe it's this year that we go one step higher. We can never out give God. But when our people rise to the occasion in the gear and they give unconditionally. We can reach the globe for the king what we want to challenge our lover fighting community to give at this year's in to help share the gospel of Jesus Christ is Carrie just alluded to it through those timeless messages that you hear every day with Adrian Rogers on lover finding call with your calendar year-end gift to 1877 love God or you can give online@lwf.org/radio. Once again, we thank you so much for your support well with today's message inferiority part one. Here's Adrian Rogers today. Were you talking about this matter of inferiority, whether or not you feel inferior on a lot of us do feel inferior and our friends don't help us are about one preacher at breakfast one morning.

He asked his wife. He said that honey, how many really great preachers do you think there are in the world today.

She said I don't know, but she said I believe is one less than you think there is real, get put down that way a little bit and admit I was happy I did. You know God just can't use me. God can use him. God can use her God can use them.

But God can't use me. We just feel inferior and we go through life as it were just sucking off, sitting in a corner and feeling inferior.

While I pray God today that God will use this message to remove that thought from your heart and from your mind. I want to show you that God can use you and God can use you now and God can use you where you are and God can use you with what you have.

I heard about a man who sang a song and when he finished singing the people sitting out there said singing again. So he said to himself. Why must've excelled and so he sang again. Then they said to him sing it again.

I thought I did know was that good but he sang the third time in the four-time base at St. he said why they said you going to sing it to get it right.

Listen folks, this is material that you definitely need to hear and get it in your mind and upon your consciousness of how God takes ordinary people, and God does extraordinary things with alternate people and I want us to begin reading here in this grant is chapter 1 and verse 26 for ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh are not many mighty, not many noble, are called but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen EA and things which are not to bring to naught things that are that no flesh should glory in his presence for of him are ye in Christ Jesus. God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption that according as it is written E that Gloria let him glory in the Lord.

Now I don't really know how many of you feel inferior.

Not today. I don't know how many of you some of you may not feel inferior at all and and outwardly speaking, you have no reason feel inferior. My particular survey. Do you want nobody absently on how many people today have been listed in whose if you have how many hoses a pretty good are now how many of you when you were in athletics were Allstate All-American are all-conference what ever Missy hands wonderful all right how many of you have a doctorate of some kind, PhD, MD, PhD or what ever you have a doctorate of some kind earned doctorate limousine MD okay but a few doctors, how many of you ladies have been Miss Tennessee Miss America Ms. Florida Miss world Miss universe or something like that beauty queens MCA chloride is 123 all right how many of you with the president of your high school or college class and Missy you a quite a few college class presidents on how many of you were voted most likely to succeed well, that's amazing.

That's wonderful and I'm glad you're here now if you lifted your hand for any of these things are all of these things. I got wonderful news for you. God can use you to but ill have to work just a little harder to do.

Now I'm not being facetious I'm being serious Allison.use you to work just a little harder to do it imitate what God's plan is and it is a tremendous plan. It is a wonderful, wonderful planet. Here's God's plan and here's the crux of my entire message. Are you listening God takes ordinary people and does extraordinary things for ordinary people and gets glory to himself. The understand that God takes ordinary people, and God does extraordinary things through ordinary people, and thereby God gets glory to himself. Now the very first thing I want to know this is what I'm going to call God's simple people. Now let's look again and not in verse 27 God hath chosen the foolish things of this world confound the wise I like that word foolish or foolish is the word comes from the Greek word we got word moron from and it literally means the nonelection most people who were not the head of the class. Most people don't have an IQ of 130. Those people who are not PhD's, Phi Beta Kappa's God chooses the non-intellectuals to confound the wise, the intellectual top wars I and God had chosen the weak things were looking at where we were. We care literally means those who are physically weak and what we would call anemic, emaciated rundown without physical strength, even sickly, and to confound the things which are mighty. That is, God uses the non-intellectuals to confound PhD's. God uses the weak to confound the All-Americans outright and the base things of the world award base means ignoble of low degree without the proper pedigree, not a blueblood people from the wrong side of the tracks God has chosen the base things of the world, and things which are despised, were here despised means those things that are looked down upon things that the world scorns and ridicules and actually laughs at. Hath God chosen, and then things which are not things which are not. You say pastor is not that they hate me. They don't even know I'm here, right you included here. I mean if you didn't even come up to the level of being hated, you can still be used. Unit may consider unity makers, not these are people.

They never sing. They never preach a sermon they never get the name of the bulletin.

They don't get the lead in silent prayer in the nursery and was about God's little nobody things that are not to bring to naught things that are things of the world. Things are so important that the Bible says these things are just passing away. These are the people. The Bible says that God's chosen. These are God's simple people. Now, having said that, I want to say several things to put it in context. Number one he does not say not any mighty, not any noble call.

You see that he says not many. It doesn't say, not any thank God for PhD's that love Jesus, thank God for the movie stars that love Jesus, thank God for the millionaires that love Jesus, thank God for the All-Americans and love Jesus. Thank God for the beauty queens that love Jesus, thank God for an unto whomsoever much is given of the same so much be required. The apostle Paul was one of these mighty he was one of these. Nope, he was a Pharisee Hebrew of the Hebrews. He was one of those learned men of this generation, and he was used of God and God took that brilliance and used but before God could use a set I count all these things, but done that I might win Christ right he laid them in the dust before the Lord Jesus Christ and I'm not saying that God does not use people who are extraordinary people. Thank God he does. I say now is that I am not putting a premium upon laziness are mediocrity or halfhearted mess when I say that God uses ordinary people out.

You misread me. If you thought that if I'm talking about just being lazy and indifferent and expecting God to use you. For example, you may not have mountains of muscles, you may not have bulging biceps, you may not be a towering giant, you may not be the athletic type your body maybe sick and weekly pay this much different. No matter what kind of body you have, every ounce, every inch every nerve every fiber every sin you every corpuscle must be given to Jesus Christ somebody's well said, it doesn't take much of a man to be a Christian. It just takes all there is, of him. You see anything less than all, is not enough for the Lord Jesus Christ the same thing in Lexington, you may not be brilliant. You may not be witty and and have a mind some people have the date they just seem to be so intelligent. You may be like the guys that I got a mind like a blotter. It soaks up everything within get back with me. That's what you are.

You will have that maybe you have an average IQ maybe less than I dear friend that is no excuse for not studying right for the Scripture says we are to study to show ourselves approved under God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed. I heard a preacher one time had a reputation as being a foxhunting what much of a preacher but a good foxhunting one time a Quaker meeting on the street and said if I were a fox I would hide me where they cannot find me a preacher said where is that he said, in thy study hello we are to study the show ourselves approved under God, maybe you don't have the voicebox maybe don't have the lung capacity. Maybe you don't have just quite that here, here, like other people here which you know that God has given your voice and you want to sing for him.

Then, dear friend. I don't care what canvassing you are. It ought to be your sacred and holy ambition to sing in the spirit and make your voice make the sweetest sound they can make for Jesus Christ and that right no matter what you want to sing or not you still need to practice. You need to prepare any to play and I'm not talking about laziness. I'm not talk about mediocrity when I tell you that God will to take ordinary people and do extraordinary things through them, but I am telling you, dear friend, that there is a way in which God is going to get glory to himself by choosing people just like many of us who think of ourselves as being quite ordinary and sometimes thereby thinking that we're going to have to sit on the sidelines in the quote while the superstars do their stuff not so my dear friend, God has been looking for people just like the ordinary average person that comes to church on Sunday morning. Now. So with thinking. First of all, about what I want to call God's simple people.

Now the Bible says God is just make up his mind that is going have to use no God chooses God actually goes after these kind of folks. These are the ones that God chooses now. The second thing what you notice it is God's special power. I look if you will, in verse 30 you will find out here's the way this thing works. Look in verse 30 but of him that is of God, are ye in Christ Jesus. That's where I am. I'm in Christ Jesus. God, that is Jesus is of God made unto us wisdom, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.

You see, I am in Christ.

Christ is in me and if I don't have wisdom. Does that was Jesus and he is in me.

If I don't have righteousness who has righteousness. Jesus and he is in me. If I don't have sanctification who has sanctification Jesus and Jesus is in me and so he is made unto me wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption that is all I need. He supplies I may be ordinary.

He is extraordinary he is in me, and therefore he does something through me. One of the greatest secrets I've ever learned is this. And I want to learn here I learned after I was already in ministry is quite simple. It is very important.

I learned that God didn't want me to do anything for him. He wanted to do something through me folks as more than a turn of phrase that is more than just some slicker way of saying something that is a fundamental basic truth. I want to get down your heart. God wants to do something through your people say why just serve God and my poor little awake way I feel. I say will quit. He doesn't want you to serve him in your poor little awake way he wants you to serve him and his mighty glorious dynamic way for the Bible says it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure is that it is God that worketh in you. God works through you and what we need to do is to make ourselves available to God and Savior God on part of being inhibited. I want to be inhabited, and I want you to inhabit my humanity, and I want you to live your life through me and I say nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the life I now live. I live by the faith of the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Now I want us as we looking at God's special power to see how that works out.

I was to use an illustration from word of God. For example, let's think about God choosing the foolish things I remember I said the word foolish means the non-intellectuals.

I think for an illustration I will use Billy Sunday Billy Sunday was the evangelist of his day. He was the Billy Graham but why don't we this day. Now Billy Sunday was different from Billy Graham milligrams cultured erudite educated intellectual not the Sunday Sunday was an ex-baseball player YMCA clerk that God called into the ministry. He had laughable ideas use slang language. Make time to do acrobatics on the platform he would do bizarre things take a pull up a chair and smash it on the pulpit sometimes. To illustrate, repentance, ego, backflip, and whole of this I heated strange, weird thing right. He really did not expect that to me I can't do one by Allison. You say what God could use that. It is said that Billy Sunday 1/1,000,000 men to Jesus Christ I say will that's an exaggeration. Okay, let's say half a million you look at it anyway you look at it. He was mildly used of the Lord. I meet people all over who came to faith in Christ and who are good solid citizens of the kingdom of heaven were saved on the ministry of medicine now minute time as some man has all of the accouterments of learning he has. He's been the seminaries got all the polish all the class.

He has all of the background and so forth peasant menus like the sun and they perplexed about. I mean no doctor sounding brass Prof. tinkling cymbal. Why doesn't God use him, why did God use Billy Sunday Billy Sunday's biographer called him God's joke on the minister and don't mimic those things about Billy Sunday but I'm just trying to tell you this, that God did that to show that he could take what the world would call something foolish and yet here was a man who loved God and was really just being himself and God took that man chose that man with his mighty power and he won hundreds of thousands of people saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and then the Bible says God chosen the weak things of the world. I remember I told you this word week means want it means physically weak when we were down in Florida with all one time we have a thing called a week of champions. We rented a high school gymnasium brought all the best athletes we knew from all over the United States, the coming of the testimony people from athletes in action.

The Fellowship of Christian athletes and others, all stars all Americans professional football players and so forth become give a testimony. It was a great week high school students gain these men share the faith that I had in the Lord Jesus Christ next Sunday when I preached in my particular church down.

Then I gave the invitation, a college student came forward.

He said I won't profess faith in Christ.

I said wonderful when we save he said during the week of champions I said what night he said the night the Paul Anderson was there laughable as one of you see Paul Anderson legs like marrows arms like watermelons. He just a great big strong man.

He was the strongest man in the world people asking serve will you ever wants a 97 pound weakling. He said yes. When I was four years old, big and strong and his testimony was basically this if the strongest man in the world needs Jesus so you want to get testimony, but when I assess student as it was nicer than I Paul Anderson was acid. What was it Paul Anderson said that really impressed.

He said I don't remember what Paul and then he said was what so-and-so said and mentioned another man's name I could remember try figure out which athlete was he when he come from our memory.

When an athlete. All he was even on the program at all. We had a time of free testimony and in that time free testimony man in a wheelchair rolled himself forward paraplegic in a wheelchair. He could get on platforms of some men took a wheelchair and everything and lifted him up. He wheeled around and with a face shining like the noonday sun told about his faith and his love for the Lord Jesus Christ and you talk about the joy that had in the Lord Jesus Christ that college student said when I saw that man when I saw the joy that he had when I saw the reality of Jesus Christ and that emaciated bottle.

I said to myself that is reality. I set myself if I can do that that man. Maybe you can do something for me as I gave my heart Jesus Christ and that on form. That night was the strongest man in the God you paraplegic in a wheelchair because Jesus Christ God so the weak things of this world to confound the might and coming up tomorrow will your part two of this important message from God's word. But today you may have questions about who Jesus is Lord what he means to you. How to begin a relationship with God through Christ anywhere find God's love page@lwf.org/radio find resources there and materials that will answer questions you may have about your faith again, go to the website LWF.org/radio and click find God's love.

Thank you for studying in God's word with us today.

Remember if you'd like to start receiving daily devotions and links to the program sign-up for our daily names. Find out more LWF.org/radio join us tomorrow for the conclusion of inferiority on word