Video Transcript: How Great Are You?

How great are you?

It could be dangerous to have the wrong estimate of yourself. If you're a person who's thinking of telling other people about God and about the way of salvation, you kind of need to ask the question Who am I to be speaking for God? And if you're going to be someone who's leading a whole group of people, maybe even a church again asks the question, who am I to be doing this? 

How great are you? 

If you are born-again, your greatness is God-like

Well, one answer to that is that if you are born again, you have God-like greatness. Here are a couple of passages from the Bible. God has granted to us His precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature. (2 Peter 1:4)

 Now it would take a long time to explain what all it means to be partakers of the divine nature, but at the very least, it means something big. You have been made a participant you've been brought into communion with God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and the very life of God Himself comes into through His Holy Spirit living in you, another Bible verse, God chose to make known how great are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you the hope of glory. (Colossians 1:27) 

Who are you to witness for God? You are someone who has Christ in you, you are someone who is a partaker of the divine nature, you are someone who has a God-like kind of greatness. That is what authorizes any Christian to witness for God. That is what authorizes people chosen by God to be leaders in his church. 

Beholding and becoming

The Bible says that the more you revere God's glory, the more you reflect God's glory, there's a connection between the holding and becoming the more you know of God, in a sense the greater you become. Scripture says we all, with unveiled faces beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord, who is the spirit. (2 Corinthians 3:18)

 You have God's Spirit living in you, you're moving from one degree of glory to another. The more you revere God's glory, the more you reflect God's glory, and this is true of you, if you are a born-again believer in Jesus Christ. How great are you. Well, sometimes we don't take God's estimate and God's word for the greatness that he puts in us and we tend to underestimate ourselves and to be underestimated by others. Let me give you a few Bible examples of this. 

Underestimated by others 

Joseph in the book of Genesis, had dreams of becoming great, and we know from how these dreams turned out that they were true dreams they were God given dream. How did his brothers, react to that? Well, they despised, Joseph because his greatness involved him being greater than them, and they persecuted him, and they tried to ruin his life. Joseph wasn't the only one. 

Moses was a man called by God, and with a special destiny upon him. But when he spoke up and was going to try to liberate the Israelites his countrymen at first snubbed him. But later, God used Moses in a mighty way, and sent him to free a nation. If Moses had just gone by what his countrymen thought of him, he would have quit if he had gone just about what Pharaoh thought of him, he would have quit, but he had to go by what God made.

 David was not very highly esteemed by his brothers, maybe you remember the story of how David was out in the field, taking care of sheep. When the great prophet Samuel came to David's home because David's father Jesse had all of David's brothers gathered together to see which of them might be anointed by God to be king. But they knew that the kid of the family, the youngest was obviously not going to be God's choice so they let him look after the sheep, while the other brothers were examined. Well, God gave the prophet Samuel the message that it was not going to be any of those brothers. And so finally the young boy David was brought in, and he was anointed to be king. Now later on. David's brothers still didn't think very highly of them in the story of Goliath. Goliath a giant comes out and challenges the army of Israel to a fight, but nobody dares to face the giant, nobody dares to go up against him. 

And David is there, visiting, bringing some stuff to his older brothers who are there for the battle, and David says well who's going to fight this Philistines? And his brother Eliab gets very angry at David and accuses him of just being there to watch the battle and being a troublemaker and being no good. And David is kind of cut down by his brother, but David volunteers to go face the giant and he goes to see King Saul and King Saul to underestimates David. He tells David that he's just a youth and Goliath is a veteran warrior and huge besides and there's no way David could win. Now when we read the story of David and Goliath, we sometimes think that David was just a kid, and he got lucky. But what did David think? David knew that God had already anointed Him to be the next king of Israel. And so, he knew that he was not just acting on his own wishes, but as God's anointed and David already knew also what God had already done through him. He told Saul. Hey, when a bear came along and tried to kill my father sheep. I killed the bear, when a lion came along and tried to get the sheep. I killed the lion; I can take out this giant too. We're reading the story wrong if we think that David is just a kid who got lucky. David was an anointed King to be, who was a bear killer, and a lion killer, but whose brothers didn't see it in Him and who is King didn't see it in, in them either. But God made it happen. So be careful about being underestimated by others. Sometimes it can be your own family members sometimes it can be your own brothers, and you can't let yourself just be limited by what they say of you. 

Here's an example that has nothing to do with ministry but just comes from my own life. I have three older brothers, and then a sister, and then myself and a younger brother so there are three boys a girl, and then the two youngest boys, and we were always called the little boys, when we were growing up, or the scrubs. Paul and I my younger brother were just called the scrubs or the little boys. Well, I got to be about six foot six and 220 pounds. And Paul is about the same size and we're both all bigger than the big boys ever got. My brother, Paul was one of the scrubs, but he was also called scrub. Growing up, he was the youngest. Well at some point. His nickname changed, and they started calling him Bear. A Bear feels a little better than scrub, he turned out to be an all-state center and basketball, and so forth. Now, my point is, when you grow up in a family, especially if you're one of the younger ones, they may underestimate you and what you're able to do and it doesn't matter so much if they just think you're the little boys, but when you're underestimated spiritually, or in terms of God's calling them that can sometimes hold you back. Some people who are mature adults in ministry are still held back by what their parents or their siblings, said to them, once upon a time, so if you're looking at serving the Lord, if you're looking at going into ministry, don't just go by the opinions of others even if they're your own family members. Think of Jesus.

Jesus himself, his brothers, at one point thought he was crazy. His neighbors didn't believe in him, and he was the very Son of God. Now, if Jesus' own brothers didn't believe in Him, there's a possibility that you might have some brothers and sisters who think you're getting a little too big for your britches. If you're going to be an ambassador for Jesus Christ. Well at that point it's time to listen to Jesus Christ and not listen to the naysayers around you. You also have to be careful not to listen to the naysayer within you, not to underestimate yourself. Sometimes it's not just the voices of others saying that you don't measure up, or you're not very great, or that you can't do it, sometimes it's your own voice. 

Underestimating yourself

Moses, when God told him to go to the people of Israel and to go to Pharaoh and say, let my people go. Moses said well I can't do that. I can't speak well. Now was that really true? In reality, Scripture says Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians he had a great education. And he was mighty, in his words, and in his deeds. (Acts 7:22) God says that Moses was lighting in his words, and Moses says off. I can't speak well you remember what God originally said to Moses, God said, hey, who gives man his mouth.

When God calls if God knows what he's doing. Some people are scared to speak and if you're going to serve the Lord, you may have a fear of speaking to others as fear, a fear of speaking in public, or a fear of starting conversations with people about the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't let a false humility hold you back. Don't underestimate what you can do, or rather what God can do through you. I remember when I was in college, majoring in mathematics and computer science and aceing those subjects. My worst grade in college was in speech, and yet I was getting this overwhelming sense that God was calling me to become a preacher of the gospel. What was I supposed to do in that? Well, ultimately, I just knew that God was calling me to do that. And I think if he's calling me to be a preacher of the gospel, then he's going to have to help me and enabled me to preach. Now Moses wasn't the only one who underestimated himself.

 Gideon was hiding out scared to death of the Midianites. When God first came to him and the angel of the Lord came to Gideon and said, The Lord is with you, mighty warrior. And what did Gideon say Did he say, Well, it's so good to know that God is with me and it's wonderful to know that I'm a mighty warrior. No sir, that's not what Gideon said, Gideon said, if the Lord is with us, why has all the bad things happened to us? And then he said, why are you choosing me, I'm the wimpiest guy in the wimpiest family in the wimpiest tribe in Israel, I can't do it. Well, that's what Gideon said, But God had said, The Lord is with you, and God had called him a mighty warrior, and before the story was over, Gideon had become a mighty warrior, because God was with him. Another case of underestimating yourself Jeremiah

Jeremiah was called to be a prophet and when God laid his call on Jeremiah, Jeremiah said, Well, who am I, I'm just a kid. I'm just a youth. And God called him to be a mighty prophet to the nations. When God calls you, you don't have the right to say, I can't do it, to underestimate your God given greatness is not great humility. It's small faith. I will say that again, to underestimate your God given greatness is not great humility. It's small faith if God says he's given you this kind of greatness. And this kind of calling, then it's true of you, and you don't have the right to talk back to God and contradict him, if he's calling you to serve Him, and to do His ministry, whether it's leading a church planting a church, whether it's ministering in a smaller group setting, whether it's leading your family in the ways of the Lord with authority and power. If God has set you to do that, then you don't have the right to say, I can't, because God is the one who empowers and enables. Now you may be concerned. Yeah, but if I start thinking about this god given greatness I you know I already have kind of a problem with pride and a lot of us do, let's face it, and I'm not saying that humility is unimportant, we need to be humble before the Lord and humble in our relations to others, but humble does not mean lying to yourself about who you are in Jesus Christ. It does not mean say, Yeah, I know I've got the Holy Spirit in me, but I still don't amount to a hill of beans, if you've got the Holy Spirit in you. You have all mighty power, ready to be unleashed

 Healthy humility though,

Recognize the certain things that are true, number one left to yourself, you'd be a ruin. If God had not saved you, you would be a sinner headed for hell, going from bad to worse. Also, God accepts you. And when he accepts you it is not based on the fact that you are growing in your goodness though if you've been born again your goodness is growing, but your acceptance is based on Jesus perfect life, and his terrible suffering and death on the cross and God accepts you on the basis of Jesus, not on the basis of what he later does in you. And so, it helps you to stay humble, if you say Lord, even if I'm growing in your grace, the grace itself is always based on what Jesus did not on my latest achievements. Your Greatness grows from Jesus, Jesus said, apart from me you can do nothing, I'm a vine, your branches, branches, without a vine are just dead. And so, our life, our power, our fruit comes from Jesus and that keeps us from taking all the credit for ourselves and that keeps us humble. Here's another thing that really, really helps to maintain proper humility. Even if you have some god given greatness, it is still puny compared to God, the givers, greatness.

When you will become proud. The main problem is that you're out of touch with God. If you know the greatness and majesty and power of God, then you always feel very small compared to him, and very sinful, compared to his holiness. So, if you've got a problem with not enough humility, don't say Oh, I'm going to work on my humility to say, I need to get closer to God and that humility thing will take care of itself. Oh, by the way you have a long way to go. And so, it before you're tempted to become proud don't just look at how far you've come and look at how far you have to go. And finally, and this is extremely important. Other God-fearing people may be as great, or greater than your healthy humility recognizes the greatness God has put in you but also recognizes that someone else who has been born again is destined to be a prince or a princess in God's kingdom, just as you are, and they may have an even higher role. And so being humble means not trying to make yourself more important than everybody else to realize your own importance in God's eyes and your own value in God's eyes but then to recognize that tremendous value and importance in others.

 How great are you?

let's just look at some of those things the Bible says again. You are the light of the world. Jesus said I am the light of the world, but then he also said to his disciples, you are the light of the world. You are the one who shines in this darkness as Christ shines from you and through you. The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good. Maybe you've been taught to think that your heart you're just bad, and always bad, and nothing but bad, but if you've been born again, God has given you a new heart, they're still that old flesh that old sin nature that you have to fight against. But you are a good person with good treasure in a good heart, who produces good if you have the life of Jesus Christ, and that's pretty great. Jesus talks in another place about the good soil, where the word bears fruit and he says that good soil is a noble and good heart. If you belong to Jesus, you have a noble heart. A good heart.

 We are God's children. We're heirs, think of who your children out your children are the King of the universe. We're heirs of the King of the universe, and if your heirs are the one who has everything. That means everything belongs to you and the Bible says exactly that. You belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God. And all that is God's and is Christ is yours. All things are yours, says the Scripture. He who did not smear his own son gave him up for us all willy not together with him graciously give us all things you're God's son or daughter. You're an heir of God's kingdom. You're a chosen race, a royal priesthood, your kings and priests, you're a holy nation of people for God's own treasured possession. How great are you. Well, don't you know that you're God's temple. You're God's temple, and God's Spirit lives in you. You're strong. I write to you young men because you are strong and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one. You're an overcomer, through the Lord Jesus Christ, even against the powers of Satan and his demons themselves. You have God's greatness and power to do that and overcome the evil one. Oh, and there's this one. Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? Do you not know that we are to judge angels? Sunday we are going to get promoted to a position where we are exalted even above the Great and Holy Angels of God we're not quite there yet, but it's a hint that because we're sons and daughters of the King. We get promoted, even higher than the Kings greatest servants. That's what it means to be a child of God. That's what it means to be an ambassador of Christ. How crazy is that that is really, really great. And with that greatness comes a name. 

What is your name?

Abram

The Bible has quite a few cases of renaming. Remember, Abraham was kind of a mockery to have a name that meant father, when you have no children. And then God goes ahead and names of Abraham, which means father of many nations and, well, it seemed like a strange name for a guy with no kids. But Abraham became the father of a great nation of the Jewish people. But also, the Father by faith, of all who share the faith of Abraham. And so, God gave Him a name and it stuck, Abraham, and it was true. 

Jacob means trickster, or grabber and Jake was kind of a snake and a cheater who was always grabbing stuff. But after a wrestling match with the angel of the Lord God renames him in Israel, the one who wrestles with man and with God, and wins. So instead of being trickster, He's named wrestler. This mighty wrestler. And as God continues to work in his life. Israel becomes a mighty man of God.

Simon, Jesus’ disciple was renamed Peter the rock. Well, the rock denied Jesus three times. Even later on the rock. For a while, kind of chickened out and refused to eat with Gentiles because he was worried what some of the Jewish believers might think of him, you can read about that in Galatians two, the rock could blow it pretty badly. But Jesus had called in Peter the rock that rocky would be eventually. He would be crucified upside down for his testimony to Jesus Christ, he would write great Epistles of truth in the Scripture. He didn't seem like a rock right away, but he became what Christ named him.

James and John were just fishermen, Jesus nicknamed them bow on Earth as the sons of thunder, and they became mighty apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ, Saul, the killer was renamed Paul. And he became a new person by the grace of Jesus Christ. And he says, I don't even deserve to be mentioned I certainly don't deserve to be called an apostle, and yet by the grace of God I am what I am, and I've worked hard, and I've achieved great things. So, God gave Paul, this new identity and made him a mighty apostle. 

You are what God calls you

 You are what God calls you. You don't remember anything else, just take those six words and memorize them. I am what God calls me. You are what God calls you and you don't have a right to call yourself different than what God calls you, you are what God calls you, if God gives you a name that is who you become. If God gives you a mission. That is what you accomplish.