From His Heart

Larry Nobles: Today on From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Schreve, a message that just about everyone can relate to, because we're all insecure about something.

Dr. Jeff Schreve: How do you break free from the giant of insecurity? John chapter 13 verse 1 says this. Now before the feast of the Passover, Jesus, knowing that his hour had come, that he should depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. And during supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the father had given all things into his hands and that he had come forth from God and was going back to God, rose from supper and laid aside his garments and taking a towel, he girded himself about.

Then he poured water into the basin and began to wash the disciples' feet, to wipe them with the towel with which he was girded. You know, in that passage we get such an insight into the the core of who Jesus was as the God man, and especially into his humanity. See, because Jesus was extremely comfortable in his own skin. Jesus didn't deal with insecurity, or if he dealt with it, he didn't succumb to it because he knew who he was and he was very comfortable in his own skin. And from this passage of scripture, we can learn a lot in terms of how to defeat the giant of insecurity in our own lives.

It all comes down to believing the truth and practicing the truth and letting the truth set you free. So three key truths. First truth. Believe the truth that you have infinite worth. How do I defeat the giant of insecurity? I believe the truth that I have infinite worth. Now Jesus knew who he was and he never had a a question of well, maybe I'm not uh you know, maybe I'm not the son of God. He never had that. He always knew who he was. Interesting when he started his ministry, remember he began his ministry with the baptism from John.

John didn't want to baptize him. Jesus said permit it to fulfill all righteousness. He baptized him. The heavens opened. The Father said this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. The spirit descended on him like a dove and then he went from there into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. He fasted for 40 days and there after the fast, the devil came and said these words. If you're the son of God, command these stones to become bread. I I Jesus, I don't know if you're really the son of God. Why don't you prove it to me?

If you're the son of God, let's go up to the temple, the pinnacle of the temple, jump down because the scripture says he will give his angels charge concerning you, lest you dash your foot against a stone. And so you need to prove to me who you are because I'm not so sure who you are. I am not so sure who your father is. Hey, Jesus knew his father was God. Jesus knew who he was and Jesus didn't fall for that temptation. Jesus knew he was the son of God. He knew he had infinite worth and value.

So you and I need to understand the same as God's creation. We have infinite worth and value. See, it says your worth is not rooted in self. It's rooted in God. The reason people fall into difficult problems with insecurity is they're trying to find security in self, in what they do, in what they achieve, in how much money they have, in what they do for a living, in in some book they write or this or that or the other or they win a an NBA championship. Uh if I can do something, if I can become president, then I can find worth.

Your worth isn't rooted. It's not supposed to be rooted in self. It's supposed to be rooted in God. It's rooted in the one who created you. Genesis 1:27. And God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created them male and female. He created them. In the image of God, he created him male and female. He created them. David said in Psalm 139, I will give thanks to you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works and my soul knows it very well. Created by God.

Larry Nobles: Pastor Jeff will continue that From His Heart in just a moment with an illustration of a very unique purchase, a book with a price tag of 30.8 million dollars. No kidding. Stay with us. It's hard to believe From His Heart is in our 21st year of sharing God's word together on radio, television, and online. God has done so much more than we could have ever imagined and he's led you and others to partner with us in this exciting journey. Listen to this letter we received from a gentleman that was really encouraged by the program. He says, Pastor, I am recently a healed alcoholic and addict and I've given the Lord control of my life.

Your ministry speaks so well to me and I want you to use the money God gives me to not go to alcohol and drugs, but to help reaching other people who desperately need the Lord in their lives like me. I want to help you continue your ministry as the Lord continues to give his blessings to me. What a wonderful letter that is and that pull on his heart by the Holy Spirit is why this ministry exists, to turn hearts to the Savior. From His Heart has been broadcasting in English all these years, but we want to expand our reach to partner with pray.com to help translate our daily radio and weekly TV programs into Spanish and Portuguese.

That's about three quarters of a billion people that can be reached. This is a formidable task to actually accomplish and it'll take considerable resources to produce and distribute and we need your help. For your gift today of any amount to help us, we'd like to say thank you by sending you Pastor Jeff's inspiring series, The Land of the Giants, and the booklet, When You Don't Like Yourself. To get these resources and help us, thank you for sending it today by calling 866-400-BIBLE. 866-400-BIBLE or go to fromhishart.org and request the Land of the Giants series in the format of your choice and the popular booklet, When You Don't Like Yourself.

We don't have enough words to truly thank you. This ministry exists because of you and those who help us to bless others around the world. Thank you very very much. Now let's get back to today's message, part one of the lesson called The Giant of Insecurity. Here again is Pastor Jeff.

Dr. Jeff Schreve: Now in 1994, there was a book, a notebook that was sold at auction for 30.8 million dollars. Bill Gates bought it. It's like chump change to Bill Gates, but it was the the most expensive book ever purchased, 30.8 million dollars. 72 pages, the writings of Leonardo da Vinci from the 16th century. That's how old that notebook is. And so Bill Gates gladly paid 30.8 million dollars for that work of Leonardo da Vinci. Now get this. It wasn't worth 30.8 million dollars because of the ink. It wasn't worth that because of the drawings. It wasn't even worth that because of the scientific ideas that were presented in it.

It's worth 30.8 million dollars because of the author. That's why it was so valuable because that was from the hand of Leonardo da Vinci, the master. Listen, you are created by God. You are a God original. And because you're a God original, the Bible says you're his workmanship. And uh we can feel very good about the fact that we were created by God, a God original. You know why evolution and natural selection and this idea that you just came from some kind of primordial soup is such a damaging idea? Because if that is true, then you are not worth anything.

Uh you're on par with a fly, with a cockroach. But the Bible makes it clear that God created you different from any other of his creation. He created you in his image. As it says in 1 Corinthians, man is the image and glory of God. So your worth is to be rooted in God, not in self. Secondly, your worth is to be understood in his love for you. God has tremendous love for you. John 13:1 It says Jesus, having loved his own who were in the world, who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

He loved them to the utmost. This is the last night with his guys and he loved them with the utmost love. All his love is being poured out in this time with the guys Thursday night before his arrest and crucifixion. Hey, we understand our worth through the love of God. Now notice this. God doesn't love you. He doesn't love me because you and I are valuable. We're valuable because he loves us and he has chosen to love us. He has chosen to put his image upon us. And the scripture says very clearly in John 13:1 that Jesus loved his own to the utmost.

It says in John 15:9 the Lord Jesus said, just as the Father has loved me, I have also loved you. Abide in my love. Now how much does the Father love Jesus? Jesus says, just as he has loved me, that's how much I love you and abide in my love. And then his in his great high priestly prayer in John chapter 17, he says in verse 23, I in them and you in me that they may be perfected in unity so that the world may know that you sent me, and watch this, and loved them even as you have loved me.

How much does the Lord love you? God the Father loves you, little old you. He loves you as much as he loves Jesus. That's what John 17:23 teaches us. That's tremendous that God would love me like that. But he does. And when you understand that you are loved by the team, as the song says, then it makes my heart want to sing. Wow. He doesn't love me because I'm valuable. I am valuable because he loves me. And while I was yet a sinner, Christ died for me. See, the real test of value is how much will someone pay?

What are they going to pay? Cuz that determines value. Sometimes you'll have some kind of sporting event or some kind of concert and the ticket prices just start to go up and up and up because people see that event as so valuable that they can sell a seat at the football game, Super Bowl or whatever, and it's you know, I spent $25,000 on this seat. And you think that's that's insane. Who would spend that? Well, it's somebody that thought it was worth that. How much did the Lord spend on you and on me? For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood. As of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. Your worth is understood in his love for you and then your worth is understood in his acceptance of you. I love Ephesians chapter 1 verse 6 in the King James. It says this. To the praise of the glory of his grace by which he made us accepted in the beloved. Accepted in the beloved. Who's the beloved? Jesus. Jesus is the beloved and when I accept him, the Father accepts me and I'm accepted in the beloved.

And nothing will change that. See, we we tend to get in a performance based acceptance with God and we think, you know, if I'm performing well and I'm doing this thing called the Christian life well and there are no glaring sins in my life and and I'm uh you know, I'm having my quiet time and I'm doing all the things I'm supposed to do and I'm not missing a prayer time and um my thought life is pure and when I'm doing all that, then God really loves me. But if I'm not doing that, then the Lord doesn't love me anymore.

He doesn't accept me anymore. One thing that is so freeing to know. God does not accept you on the basis of you. He accepts you on the basis of Jesus who is the beloved. And the moment that I receive Christ, he receives me and God looks at me as I am in Christ and he accepts his son, so I am accepted in the beloved. And nothing can change that. That's why when you're saved, you're saved forever because you're accepted in Jesus. I like to play golf. It's really the only sport I can play anymore. I'm just kind of broken down old high school jock and used to love to play basketball.

I can't play that anymore and racquetball, can't play that anymore and touch football, can't play that anymore. Baseball, never could play that. Wasn't any good at that. So I've started to play golf. I'm horrible at golf. You know, when God created me in his image, he didn't give me the golf gene. He gave it to other people. Didn't give it to me. And so I remember playing golf. I used to play a lot with Todd Williams. Todd who is superintendent of Pleasant Grove a few years ago and Todd and I became good friends and Todd was a really good player.

He got the golf gene when God created him and uh so we would play together and I always got a lot of strokes per dollar and that's how I did it. You know, you you you always hit that score that has three digits and that's not good in golf. But after a round, Todd would often say this to me. He'd say, well, Jeff, good news is you're still saved. Yeah, I guess that's good news. Thanks, Todd. Really encouraged me. Uh but you know, here's what he's saying. He's saying, you know what? You played terrible and guys know and girls too, if you play golf, you know that golf is an embarrassing game.

It's really embarrassing. When you're on the first tee and there are people around, you're just like you guys neither need to leave or close your eyes cuz I'm getting ready to hit. And if you dribble one or whiff one or knock it in the lake, you know, 10 yards to the right, whatever it might be, I mean, it's embarrassing and so uh that kind of a sport can make you feel like I'm worthless. I'm no good at golf. Well, you might not be any good at golf, but that doesn't have anything to do with your worth.

Your worth doesn't have anything to do with that game. God's acceptance of you doesn't have anything to do with your golf score. Praise the Lord. And uh so he just accepts you the moment that you accept Jesus. And hey, I can feel good about myself. Why? Because I have infinite worth. Jesus knew who he was. He knew he was the son of the Father and he was secure in that. Believe the truth that you have infinite worth.

Larry Nobles: Today you heard part one of the message, The Giant of Insecurity, part of Pastor Jeff's seven lesson series, The Land of the Giants, how to deal with your biggest problems. And it's our thank you gift for your support this month to From His Heart along with the popular booklet, When You Don't Like Yourself. To get these resources, call 866-400-BIBLE. 866-400-BIBLE or go to fromhishart.org and know that when you support From His Heart, you are truly helping touch the world with these types of messages that encourage us spiritually, practically, and eternally. I'm Larry Nobles and we trust that you'll join us tomorrow.

Don't miss the conclusion to The Giant of Insecurity. That's Friday on From His Heart. From His Heart is the listener supported broadcast ministry of Dr. Jeff Schreve, speaking the truth in love to a lost and a hurting world. Remember that no matter what, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. Find out about that when you go to fromhishart.org.