God of The Nobodies

Porch, how are we doing? Are we doing okay tonight? Great to see you. I'm glad to have you here with us in Dallas, Texas, but also glad to have all of our Porch.Live locations tuning on from around the nation. Special shout-out to Porch.Live Tulsa, Fresno, and, for the very first time, Porch.Live Springfield. Let's go, Porch.Live. Love it. Anybody from the Midwest in the room? We love the Midwest.

Well, there's one movie where the top A-list celebrities of the 1990s all assembled together to form what is arguably one of the greatest cast lists of all time. It included an acting ensemble with household names like Val Kilmer, Ralph Fiennes (who you know as Voldemort), Sandra Bullock, Helen Mirren, Steve Martin, Martin Short, Sir Patrick Stewart, and Michelle Pfeiffer.

Not just that. It had an amazing acting ensemble, but it also had award-winning musical composition by the one and only Hans Zimmer. Not just that. It also boasted a title track sung by not one but two powerhouses, Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey. You see, there was good reason why the world was eagerly waiting and watching, anticipating the day when this movie would launch, which it eventually did in 1998.

What movie am I talking to you about? An animated Bible story known as The Prince of Egypt. If you've never seen the movie, then take the reference from your peers. It's well worth the watch. The Prince of Egypt is a retelling of one of the most iconic stories in all of human history. It's the story of a guy by the name of Moses who goes to Egypt to free God's people, the nation of Israel or the Hebrew people.

Like any good Hollywood historical adaptation, there's a little creative license, but what you find as you watch the movie is they really do a good job of honoring the essence of the entire story, and they depict some very specific scenes that are amazing to watch that bring the story to life in a way that has touched me for a very long time. It's my favorite animated movie. Rather than tell you a little bit about it, I thought I would show you one of those scenes in specific. So, take a watch as Moses engages the burning bush.

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Now, there are a lot of Moses movies out there and plenty of burning bush scenes you could watch, but the reason we wanted to pick this one, specifically, for you is I think it shows Moses wrestling with his sense of self better than any other film. The reason that's important for us is that's exactly what we're talking about tonight.

You see, all series long, as we've been making our way through The Relationship Series, we've been talking about "What is God's design for relating to others?" Tonight, as we bring The Relationship Series to a close, we want to talk to you about what God's design is as you relate to yourself. For us to do it, we're going to be in the book of Exodus, chapter 3. What you need to know is we're going to work through three different ways in which we relate to ourselves. We're going to talk about insignificance, insecurity, and inadequacy.

To catch you up on the story as we find ourselves in chapter 3 of Exodus, we see that the Hebrews are enslaved to Egypt. They're under Pharaoh, and Pharaoh has feared the expansive growth of this fledgling nation. He has grown so fearful that this nation is growing so quickly that he has enslaved the entire population. Not just that. In order to exercise even further population control, he orders the death of every firstborn son within a Hebrew family. He decrees genocide.

Yet, as God would have it, we meet Moses, who is a firstborn Hebrew son who is actually adopted into Pharaoh's household, raised by Pharaoh's own daughter, all for the purpose of eventually overthrowing Pharaoh through the power of God himself. What we find, as we come to verse 1, is God's call to Moses to step into this grand purpose, yet before he begins to unpack the purposes he has for Moses, he needs to right Moses' perspective of self. So, this is what it says, starting in verse 1.

"Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. And Moses said, 'I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.' When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, 'Moses, Moses!' And he said, 'Here I am.'"

As we open the story, we see that God is moving toward Moses. We see it in verse 1. He moves toward Moses all the way in the land of Midian. Just for your perspective, Midian is 500 to 600 miles away from Egypt. Meaning, Moses has gone a long way from where he grew up. He has journeyed into the land of Midian, and he's at Mount Horeb. When you translate Horeb directly from the Hebrew, it means barren or desolate. That's where God finds him.

He's shepherding his father-in-law's flock, which means Moses has no sheep to his own name. To put this into perspective for you, Moses has left the halls of Highland Park and traveled into the wild and waste of West Texas where he lives nowhere of significance, with no one of significance, doing nothing of significance, yet it's out in the mundanity of Midian that God meets with him.

Some of you need to know that tonight. Some of you need to know in the sea of sand you see within your circumstances, and as barrenness abounds within your own life where you feel like, "Man, I'm only in an insignificant place. I'm stuck where I am. I can't get out of this spot," God will come to you there. You don't need to be within the halls of power or seated amongst the privileged for God to come to you, because God comes to Moses in an insignificant setting. He doesn't just come to catch up with him. If you keep reading (we'll jump down to verse 9), it says:

"'And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.' But Moses said to God, 'Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?'"

God moves toward Moses, yes, but he also has a mission for Moses. Namely, he wants to use Moses to liberate his people, to free his followers, to change the destinies of people for generations. He has a grand plan in store for the life of Moses. This is a world-changing, life-altering invitation.

How does Moses respond? "Yes! Finally! I've been waiting for this moment." No. "I'm going to spring into action. I'm going to pack my bags, I'm going to load my camel, and I'm going to start riding off to Egypt immediately. We're going to get there as soon as possible, God." No. "Finally. It's about time you figured out that I was the guy." No. That's not Moses' response. What is Moses' response? He gets nervous. He starts pitting. He starts sweating. He starts second-guessing that God has the right guy.

He looks like that NFL draft you don't want to pick. He's the guy who's walking across stage, and you're like, "No, don't do it! Don't pick that guy!" because he's the one who's walking up to the commissioner, shaking his hand, and saying, "Hey, are you sure about this thing? Did they actually pick me? Y'all could have gone with someone better." What would that guy inspire in the mind's eyes of his fans? No confidence. The fans don't want to cheer his name. The fans don't want that guy at all. Porch, that guy is exactly who God wants. Just look at the way God responds to him. Verse 12:

"[God] said, 'But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.' Then Moses said to God, 'If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, "The God of your fathers has sent me to you," and they ask me, "What is his name?" what shall I say to them?'

God said to Moses, 'I am who I am.' And he said, 'Say this to the people of Israel: "I am has sent me to you."' God also said to Moses, 'Say this to the people of Israel: "The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you." This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.'"

God doesn't respond to Moses by boosting his confidence, by stroking his ego, by hyping him up. He doesn't even agree with the guy. He doesn't come to Moses and go, "Yeah, man. You're definitely a work in progress. Let's get a personal improvement plan together and get you into tip-top shape, because this is going to be a big job, and I don't know that you're ready for it." That's not God's approach to Moses whatsoever.

What is God's approach to Moses? As Moses looks at him and is like, "You have the wrong guy. Who am I?" God looks at him and says, "Who are you? Who am I? I Am That I Am. You're asking the wrong question. I am the one who is going to be with you. Don't worry about yourself. Worry about me. I'm the one who's coming with you on this grand journey."

You see, true significance is not found in who you are; it's found in who God is. Meaning, if you want a right view of yourself, then you need to get a right view of him. That's how you get a good view of yourself. You get a good, long view of him. You need to know him as he is. The good news is he gives us three descriptors for himself. He tells us exactly who he is. He gives us three things.

He says, "I will be with you." What does that mean? No matter what in your life leaves you feeling insignificant…where you come from, the job you have, the past you carry, the shame you feel, the sort of people you surround yourself with, the struggles you endure…if God is with you, if he is present in your life, then insignificance is not your story. Isaiah 41:10 tells us, "…fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."

Psalm 23:4 says, "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me." Zephaniah 3:17 says, "The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing." The presence of one who is significant dignifies that which is insignificant.

I remember, in 2015, reading an article about someone who made $60,000 because they sold a bag of air on eBay from a Kanye West concert. Sixty thousand dollars for a bag of air! Listen to me, Porch. If the presence of Kanye West can take something as insignificant as a Ziploc baggie of air and auction it for $60K, how much more valuable do you think the presence of God in your life will make you? Infinitely more valuable, because he's with you.

The second thing he tells us is his name. He says, "I Am Who I Am." Listen. There's an entire sermon locked up in that statement. That's something for another time, but just to give it to you very simply, God is saying, "I am." He is. He is not the God of just one thing…God of water, God of rivers, God of war, God of love, God of harvest. He is not the God of one thing; he is the God of everything. He is self-existent.

Before anything was, he is. He has always been. He will always be. And he is self-sufficient. He needs no one or nothing. Hello. The bush was on fire yet not consumed. He defies natural order because he is self-sufficient, he is self-sustaining, and he is self-directed. He doesn't take orders from anybody. He's the one in charge. He's the one who makes the calls. He's the one who determines where and when and what he does.

Yet, here's the thing. If God is eternally constant, totally independent, and supremely dominant, so transcendent above all other beings, yet he is with you, then just think about it. Though God has always been, he wants to be with you. Though God needs no one or nothing, he wants to be with you. Though God does not take orders from anyone, he wants to be with you, because that's who he is. He is God powerful yet God present.

Thirdly, he's a God of promise, because that's what he tells us. He gives us a promise. He says, "I'm the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." Why is he rolling that line out? Because he wants them to know, "Hey, the word I gave to your family in times past I will keep in times to come. I was the same God back then as I will be today as I will be in the future. I'm not just a God who reigns over everything; I'm a God who relates to a specific people, to my people, to those who call on my name and believe in my Son."

Why does any of this matter? Because when you combine a God who's present with a God who's powerful with a God of promise, what you get is a God so significant, where everything he says about himself changes everything you see about yourself. Friends, I don't know if you don't like what you see in the mirror, but if you don't, if you wake up and take a hard look at yourself and you don't like what's staring back at you, then listen to me. It's time for you to stop telling God about yourself and time to start telling yourself about God. That's the right step for you, and that step can begin tonight.

Now, some of you are here and are like, "Listen. I get that. Insignificance is part of my story. I'm ashamed of where I come from. The things I've done…yeah, I wish I could take those back. My family are not the greatest of people. But it's not just insignificance that gets in the way, Kylen. I have some insecurities. I've done some things. I've been some places. What do you have to say about that?"

Well, thankfully, Moses can relate to you pretty well, so we'll keep reading. We're actually going to jump down to chapter 4 and read this in verse 1: "Then Moses answered [God], 'But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, "The Lord did not appear to you."'" Why is Moses so insecure as to think that the people of Israel won't listen to him, won't believe him when he shows up?

God literally just said, "Hey, go and declare my name to them. When they ask, this is who I am. I Am That I Am. Go and tell them this is my name." Yet Moses has a rebuttal. "But, God, what if they don't believe me?" Why is he so insecure to think that these people won't believe him? Because he knows and they know what he did in the past. He knows and they know he already ruined his reputation, and he fears there's no coming back from it.

So, what did he do? Well, we don't have time to read it, but if you go and look at Exodus 2, you get a story about Moses in his younger years. What you see is a young man who has all this unbridled passion for the very thing God is calling him to do. He wants to deliver his people, the Hebrew people, God's people, out of slavery. That's what he's burdened for. That's what he wants to do, yet he tries to do it in his own strength. He tries to do it by his own power.

So, he springs into action. He sees an Egyptian who's attacking a Hebrew. He says, "That's not cool." He jumps in. He kills the Egyptian, which is probably taking it a little bit too far. Then he buries the body in the sand and tries to hide the evidence. He does such a bad job at hiding the evidence that he actually gets exposed in front of everybody. Everyone knows what Moses did. Everybody knows. He's at the top of Egypt's most wanted list.

Not only that. Rather than becoming the deliverer his people desired, he becomes a murderer that all of them despised. He's ousted. He's rejected. No one wants anything to do with him. He is ostracized into the wilderness, into the land of Midian. That's why this whole proposal from God feels so hard to stomach. It doesn't make any sense. "God, you can't send me back there. They know what I did. I'm not just a nobody from nowhere. I actually used to be a somebody who blew it in front of everybody, so I can't go back. You've got the wrong guy."

It reminds me of a time in my life when I made the switch from corporate into ministry. I left the safety of the corporate work environment and made my way into the instability of the ministry world, yet I did so knowing, "Man, I think this thing could work. I believe and I have some friends around me, community, who have edified the fact that 'Yeah, you love the Bible, and you have some communication gifts. Yeah, they need to be worked out, but you have some raw potential. Get out there and go for it.'" So I stepped into ministry.

The thing you need to know about teaching is the only way to fully assess how good you are at it is to hard launch. You just have to go for it. So, I finally got the chance to do that. In 2017, I stood onstage with a speaking opportunity for the very first time in my life. It was a crowd of several thousand people. It was awesome, a meaningful moment for me. I remember it like it was yesterday.

The evening came. The worship started. The people stood. The hands were raised. Worship came to a close, the people applauded, the drums washed out, and I felt, "My moment is here. At long last, this is it. This is my chance. This is what I've been preparing for. Tonight marks the journey as I move my way into being a preacher of God's Word, and not just a preacher but a powerful preacher of God's Word. I'm going to do this thing. Tonight is the night."

So, as the drums washed, in slow motion I rose from my seat and began to make my way to the stage. As I ascended the steps and walked to the center, rather than share a few announcements and then transition us really smoothly back into worship, I, like a deer in headlights, froze. "What's my line? What am I supposed to say?" You see, my moment had arrived, but I had not. Rather than proving myself to be a speaker the likes of which all people would want to listen to, all I'd proven was I didn't know how to speak at all.

Moses is in a really similar spot. He wanted to be a deliverer, but when the moment came, he blew his chance. He failed. He knows it, everyone knows it, and he thinks there's no coming back from it. That's why he's insecure. He didn't just make some questionable decisions that led to a bad reputation; he made an irreversible decision that ruined his reputation. He doesn't think these people will believe God sent him because he doesn't believe he deserves to be sent. The reason for it is he's so preoccupied with his past. He's so stuck in the rear view he can't move on.

The truth of the matter is, Porch, if we can be really honest with ourselves tonight, some of us are in that exact same place. Some of you look back, and you know the things you did. You know the choices you made. You know the people you hurt. You know the secrets you hid. You know the places you went and the words you spoke. You know all of it, and as you look back, you can't even contemplate moving forward because of everything you've done. All the history behind you haunts you.

So, rather than open yourselves to the opportunity that God may want to do something in you, you close yourself off from the possibility that God wants anything to do with you. You feel like Moses. You feel like a failure. You ruined your reputation. You wrecked your witness. You did that thing which cannot be undone, and now no one will ever believe God actually wants to use you. If that's you, then listen. You won't feel worthy until God enters your story. Do you want to feel worthy? If you're here and you don't know Jesus, then you will find worth nowhere else. You won't feel worthy until God enters your story.

That's why God gives Moses three different signs in verses 2-9 of chapter 4. He does it to boost his believability, not just so people believe, "Man, Moses really changed," but so people believe "Moses was really changed by God." That's what God cares about. He isn't like the world that just wants to medicate us with self-help strategies and positive self-talk and improving our self-image. He's not like that.

God doesn't just want you to become different. God wants to be the reason you become different, because the difference he's going to make is a difference no one else can make. It'll be a difference the likes of which the world will look at and be like, "That is crazy! Did you know that guy? Did you know that girl? I knew them back in the day. They were heinous. They were wild. They were crazy. Yet look at them now. They're not heathen; they're holy. Something has changed. They have a different pep in their step. They're walking with a new kind of confidence."

That sort of difference won't come by way of anything in this world. It will only come by way of Christ. That's what God cares about. That's why he turns Moses' staff into a snake. Think about it. The Pharaohs with their headdresses looked like cobras. God is saying, "I have power over the powers in your story." Why does he do the whole bit with leprosy? Because God is saying, "Hey, I have power over life and death itself."

The last sign he gives him is he turns water into blood. Why does he do that? Why does he affect the Nile? Because the Nile was seen as the sole source of provision to the Fertile Crescent, to the nation of Egypt. God is saying, "No, no, no. The Nile doesn't have the power to give and take away. I have the power to give and take away. I am the power to provide."

Do you have the power to make a mess of your past? Yes, but God has the power to make something meaningful of your future. He has the power to do that, a power the likes of which you will find nowhere else. Paul says it like this in 1 Corinthians 1:28-29: "God has chosen what is insignificant and despised in the world—what is viewed as nothing—to bring to nothing what is viewed as something, so that no one may boast in his presence."

You see, God is the difference maker. He's the sea splitter. He's the miracle worker. He's the storm calmer. He is the grace giver. God is the one who can take back what you feel can never be taken back. He's the one who can heal what you feel can never be healed. He's the one who can clean what you feel is too deep a stain, the likes of which no one can ever make well.

He gives grace like you wouldn't believe. The reason we know it is we don't need to look at three different signs. We need only look at one singular Son, the Son of God, who stepped down into our story and was not merely preoccupied with our past. "I've got to fix them." He was crucified by your past, yet when he rose forth from the grave, he left all of your insecurity in the grave with him. He rose forth into new life, and if you place your faith in him, you can rise forth and have the same.

"But, Kylen, I know I'm forgiven. I know that. I'm not worried about my past. I've placed my faith in Jesus. It's not the past I'm worried about; it's the future. Yeah, I think God wants to do something, but I don't have the raw materials to do it. I see some of the places he wants to lead me, I feel some of the dreams I want to chase, and I don't think I have the ability." Your problem isn't insignificance, it's not insecurity; it's inadequacy. So, what do we do with that? Well, Moses deals with inadequacy too. We read this in verses 10-12:

"But Moses said to the Lord, 'Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.' Then the Lord said to him, 'Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.'"

You see, Moses sees all that God wants to do in his life, yet he resists the call of God, not once, not twice, not thrice, but five times, which feels laughable when you read it all the way through. Not just because he's that friend who keeps coming up with excuses and never is willing to commit to Friday night plans. It feels laughable because he has somehow forgotten the fact that he's talking to God. He starts by telling God, "But, Lord, I'm insignificant. I'm a nobody from nowhere." God is like, "No, man. I'm the one who's going to make you significant."

"But, God, I have insecurities. Look at the things I did in my past. I know, everybody knows, and there's no coming back from that."

"Don't worry about those things. I can provide all the believability you need. The credibility gap you feel… I can fill it actually."

"But, God, I'm inadequate. I don't have the tools or the training to do that which you're calling me to do. There has to be someone else. You've got the wrong guy."

Here's the crazy thing. He's saying all of it to a burning bush, this supernatural spectacle, this unfathomable phenomenon. He is staring at a manifestation of the presence of God, yet he is so engulfed by his inadequacies that he misses God standing right in front of him. That's what happens when we become consumed by our constraints, when we're engulfed by our inadequacies.

Contrary to the way a lot of people preach this passage, Moses isn't in the middle of an identity crisis. He knows exactly who he is. He is well acquainted with all of his weakness. He is telling God every one of his flaws. This story is not about a man who is delusional about who he is. This is a story about a man who is disappointed by who he is. He knows he has problems, so much so he can't even see past them to the plans God has for his life.

Is that happening to you? Are you thinking too much of your problems that you're willing to punt on the plans God has for your life while you settle into sheepherding on the back side of nowhere? Is that you? Too often, we look at ourselves, and all we see is "I'm not smart enough to start that nonprofit, God. I know there's a great need, and I want to fill it, but I'm not smart enough to do that."

Or "God, I know my family has some problems. Many of them don't even believe in you, yet, God, I'm not bold enough to actually transcend being the kid young brother or the kid young sister. I actually am not enough to do that, Lord." Or "God, I know I have some problems and some pain I really need to work through and some forgiveness I need to give, but, God, I'm actually not strong enough to do those things."

Or "God, I'm not eloquent enough to preach your gospel, to share Jesus Christ with my entire department. Lord, I'm not faithful enough to believe that you can save my entire department. I don't think I'm enough. I'm not smart enough. I'm not witty enough. I'm not pretty enough. I'm not funny enough. I'm not good enough. I'm just not enough."

God answers Moses in the same way he answers you tonight and in a way the likes of which I wouldn't have guessed. He says, "Don't you think I know that? Do you think your weaknesses or your inadequacies, all of the constraints and limitations you feel…? Do you think that stuff catches me off guard? I made you that way. You're exactly as I want you to be. You are who I want you to be. If I wanted you to be someone else, I would have made you into someone else. But no, you're exactly as I want you to be."

You see, Porch, if you're good enough for God, then you're enough as is. If you are enough for God, then you are enough as is. Now, am I saying that in this point to give you license to seek after your sin and indulge all of your desires? No. That's not why we're talking about this. I'm saying this because so many of us look at ourselves, and we know what God says about us, that he says we're enough, yet that's not enough for us.

We know what God says, but we don't care what God says about us; we care what we say about ourselves. You see, too often, we want to be like the dudes at the gym. We want to fudge our numbers. We want to make ourselves look way bigger than we actually are. In the process of doing that, we expose ourselves for being far smaller than we actually want to be seen.

We don't feel like we're enough, so we feel like we need to get better. We need to grow up. We need to move on. We need to mature more quickly. We want to be smarter. We want to be stronger. We want to be braver. We want to be bolder. Whatever it is for you, whatever it is you feel is insufficient in your life, you want for it because you believe you're not enough for yourself and, because you're not enough for yourself, you'll never be enough for anybody else.

That's my story at least. As far back as I can remember and more frequently than I'd like to count, I have fallen just shy of sufficient for the things I've wanted in life. Whether it wasn't being popular enough in grade school or athletic enough in high school or impressive enough in college or smooth enough with the opposite sex or smart enough in the corporate world or even talented enough in ministry, I have been repeatedly confronted by the fact that I don't care so much what other people have to say about me; I care far more what I have to say about myself. What I have to say about myself in times past, as I look in the rear view and consider my story…

I see a life littered with limitations all pronouncing the same judgment that I'm not enough. I felt for so long like I was in a perpetual state of second place, that I was nobody's first choice. As I grew older and processed my past, what I eventually learned was because I was so dissatisfied with myself, that dissatisfaction didn't just turn into a fear of falling short and failing along the way. What it turned into was a deep-seated self-hate. I hated my hardwiring. I hated my personality. I hated the way God made me to be, because I had dreamed dreams so great, yet I was too small and insignificant, too small and insecure, too small and inadequate to reach them.

I found myself where Moses finds himself at the very end of this story. After he rolls out all of the excuses he can give God, he has nothing left to hide behind, so he just looks at the Lord and says, "God, I don't even like who I am. God, I'm not enough. So, God, please just pick somebody else. God, I have given up on myself. I don't want to move forward. I don't want to lean into the life you'd have for me. The purposes you have are far too big because my perspective of self is far too small. God, please choose someone else."

I love the way the story ends, because it says God is angered, which feels like such a weird swerve. "God, why would you be angry in this moment?" God is never once angered over the course of this passage. As Moses rolls out all of his resistance and puts forward all of his pushback, God works through every single excuse.

The moment when Moses is finally willing to just give up on himself, God is angered. "No, Moses. Don't do it. I have not given up on you. I have plans for your life. I have something I want to do. You may feel too small, but I am too big. I can make up for whatever weakness you feel. I am strong enough to bridge the divide, to fill the gap, to lead you where we're going to go. Don't give up. Don't say you want someone else, because I don't want anyone else. I want you."

As I experienced the truth of that message in my life, it changed everything. It unlocked me from all of these self-deprecating, self-shaming, self-hating thoughts. It allowed me to walk with God in a way that I wouldn't have dared dream was possible. I would never have thought I'd do the things I've done, be the places I am, or know him like I do.

Friends, if you're here and you want to move from feeling so despicable to feeling so desirable, desired by God in heaven, then take it from someone who knows. You don't need to keep looking at yourself. You need to start looking to him. You need to see that Jesus Christ came into your insignificance. He was seeking you in life when you were too unimportant to seek.

You need to look to Jesus Christ who came into your insecurities, who served you in a death when you were too unworthy to love, and you need to look to Jesus Christ who came into your insecurities, saving you with a resurrection that has qualified you for everlasting life. If you're here and you want a new perspective on yourself, then don't look inward before you look upward. Look to him, and in seeing him rightly, I promise you'll see yourself rightly as a result. Let me pray for us.

God, we love you. God, I want this truth so badly for these people, because this story feels like my story, my life racked and riddled by so much self-hate. I know, God, there are some in this room who feel the same way, who look at themselves and are just disgusted. They're just disappointed. They want for more. They have a dream, a desire, a goal, an ambition they want to reach, and it's not even self-seeking. It's to make a difference in the world.

Yet, God, they look at themselves and say, "I don't have the raw materials. I don't have the right resources. I don't have the sort of faculties required to get me to that place." Yet, God, you look at them and say, "No, I want you as you are, because I'm going to use you as you are. The worse the odds the greater the glory for me. You may feel weak, but in your weakness, I will make myself strong." The reason we know it is, God, into the weakness of our sin you made yourself most strong, because you sent Jesus to save us forever.

If you don't know Jesus Christ, then you can be saved tonight, and you can find all of the significance, all of the security, and all of the adequacy he offers by simply receiving the gift of salvation by placing your faith in him. Others of you are going to need to process with someone. That's what we're here for. That's what tonight is about. We're going to do it as long as it's required.

God, we love you, and we sing to you now. It's in Christ's name we pray, amen.