Equipped to Stand

Intro:

As we get started tonight, let me hit a quick recap of what we have been looking at in our series: Named and Known. These messages are based on the three core values we have up here in youth

Week 1: We learned that God’s word holds the blueprint for our Identity. We are who He says we are. He is the Potter; we are the clay.

Week 2: We learned that maturity and growth take time. God gives us His word and the Holy Spirit, but it takes consistent application and mature Christians along the way to help us to understand and grow.

Tonight, we are finishing the series with our final Core Value: To Live Authentically.

What does it mean to live authentically?

Authenticity is not about being perfect.

It is about learning to have integrity, where we are the same person at home, at work, and at church. We don’t live a double life.

It is about alignment with God, where we let Scripture guide our thoughts and choices instead of following worldly trends.

It’s where we are honest about our flaws. Admitting when we struggle or fail, rather than pretending we are perfect.

It is a Jesus-focused life that points to God’s grace and empowerment rather than seeking praise for ourselves.

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Submit & Apply:

Turn with me back to Jeremiah 1:4-12. As we read this, I want you to see a pattern that we all face. The pattern goes like this: God-given Identity —> Called to be Set Apart for purpose —> Internal Objection.

Jeremiah 1:4–12 “Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you (Identity); Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations (Set Apart - Called to Mature).” Then said I: “Ah, Lord God! Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth (objection).”

If there is one thing I want you to know tonight, it is this. Every person who has said yes to Jesus has struggled internally with the question, Can I really do what God has asked me to do.

For Jeremiah, His objection was I am to young. What I love most about God is that He doesn’t see us the way we see ourselves. Look at His response to Jeremiah.

vs. 6-7 “But the Lord said to me: “Do not say, ‘I am a youth,’ For you shall go to all to whom I send you, And whatever I command you, you shall speak.

To live authentically in alignment with God, we have to let God’s purpose override our objections. I think there is something powerful here to catch. The Lord said to Jeremiah, Do Not Say, I am a youth.

Why is this important? Proverbs 18:21. Proverbs 23:7.

Proverbs 18:21 “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.”

Proverbs 23:7 “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. “Eat and drink!” he says to you, But his heart is not with you.”

Your words have so much power that they will shape your future. If you speak over your life that you are worthless, you will create a life where you will look for reasons and situations that reinforce being worthless, and it will become your identity.

If you speak over your life that you aren’t smart enough. You will create a life where, in your own mind, you are dumb, and you will look for situations that prove it.

Words have the power to limit your potential.

How do we overcome our internal objections?

God’s word and presence.

vs. 8-10 “Do not be afraid of their faces, For I am with you to deliver you,” says the Lord. Then the Lord put forth His hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me: “Behold, I have put My words in your mouth. See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, To root out and to pull down, To destroy and to throw down, To build and to plant.”

Notice that Jeremiah fulfilling His purpose was the direct result of God’s word and empowerment. Jeremiah didn’t elevate his own life or attempt to do it on his own. God was the one who set Him over nations and kingdom, and the words Jeremiah spoke came from God, not himself.

This matters because it’s easy to think it is all on us, when it isn’t. 

vs. 11-12 “Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Jeremiah, what do you see?” And I said, “I see a branch of an almond tree.” Then the Lord said to me, “You have seen well, for I am ready to perform My word.”

The final part I want you to catch from this passage is that God is ready to perform His word. Jeremiah’s responsibility was to be affirmed in his identity and be set apart for God’s use. God was the one who would use Jeremiah’s life to accomplish His purposes.

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Closing:

This is important to get rooted deep down in our hearts. God told Jeremiah, I am ready to perform My word.

Whose Word? His word. Isaiah 55:8-11.

Isaiah 55:8–11 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts. “For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, And do not return there, But water the earth, And make it bring forth and bud, That it may give seed to the sower And bread to the eater, So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”

Something to understand about God is that He doesn’t speak as men speak. He doesn’t lie (Numbers 23:19), His Word is truth (John 17:17), and when God speaks a word, He releases power to accomplish what He has spoken (Isaiah 55:11).

The power of the Christian life is found in surrender and obedience to God’s word. When we align with what He has said and walk in obedience to do it. We experience the power of that word to change and heal our lives.

I love this because living authentically isn’t about you trying to do it all on your own. It’s simply submission, obedience, and alignment. When we learn to do these things, God can use our life, and He empowers us to do what we feel like we can’t do on our own.

Our biggest battle will be to overcome the internal objections and trust God’s word, but like all things, the more consistently you do it the easier it becomes.

Let’s Pray!

Father, help us to gain a deep hunger for your word. Help us to trust your word and overcome our objections.

Salvation.