So over the next four weeks or so we’re going to be in a series titled, “Confidence.” Now, I know you know what confidence is. Confidence is believing in something with complete trust and undeniable conviction. Confidence is different than cockiness and arrogance. Confidence is unlike those two things in that it is rooted in a foundation built out of something. With that being said, did you know that Christianity, our religion, is all about confidence? This series is all about examining how people in different situations actually got their confidence on and did the things that they did. But before we get there, I’m going to share with you why we’re even having this series. Open up your Bibles to Hebrews 11:1. If you don’t have a Bible, don’t worry, it’s up on the screen.
Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see. (Hebrews 11:1) The writer of the Hebrews wants Christ followers to know that yeah, life may suck now and it may not look like Jesus is the Lord or the savior given our current situation, but if you have confidence in him, then you can believe it’ll happen, and you can trust that God will be there when He says so.
And so on this topic of confidence, I want to dissect, for a minute, why this attribute of confidence is so important to us. A few weeks ago I was watching a super hero movie, and it kind of strikes me while I was watching this movie, that there is nothing particularly special about this super hero, I mean, yeah if you discount his super powers and strength. I mean, you take those away, and you get to the heart of who that person is, and simply, it is the confidence of that being that makes him the hero. Like have you ever thought it that? If the superhero didn’t believe in something, then he wouldn’t have a movie, at all. It’s true though.
The only reason the super hero overcame any odds was because he or she had developed and practiced enough on the small time to execute on the bigger stage, like when the world was on fire and they had to avenge it. If the character had gone through some of the things that you and I have gone through, or have been broken as badly as we have in real life, there is absolutely no way that he or she could have believed to have done things that he or she does. Like there is no way, a superhero could have survived Queens or Brooklyn, only in Smallville could Clark Kent have become superman. You know it and I know it.
Just look at the Olympics, it’s full swing now. How many of you watched the opening ceremony? Michelle and I saw some of it. But how about the shiny guy from Tonga? How’s that for confidence? He was 1 of 7 athletes from the island and he was walking around shirt off and lubed with body oil carrying their flag. That’s confidence. It takes a certain type of person, with a certain type of mindset and belief about his body to do something like that. I’m not going to say that I’m the fittest guy on the planet, but I definitely know I don’t have the confidence to walk around in a hula skirt and oiled up to carry my country’s flag on international television.
I watching an interview of Serena Williams and the reporter asked her, “how do you manage the pressure of the big games and keep winning with such success?” And I don’t know if you’ve ever heard Serena Williams speak, but it’s like real soft and meek, and she says, “well, I play a lot of tennis.” Here’s what that exchange implied: confidence comes from practice, belief in something comes from the execution of that belief.
So with that understanding we have to go into this series realizing that to have confidence in Jesus Christ, or confidence is God, or confidence in what we believe, we got to actually practice it. That means, you open your Bibles more than once a week so you know God better. That means you pray more than one time a week when I open the room for prayer so you can experience God some more. That means you share Jesus some more in your every day lives to see what it feels like to make disciples. We don’t have confidence in our faith because we’re not practicing it. You don’t wake up one morning a superhero, they all have origin stories that give them the confidence to become. You don’t wake up one morning and become an Olympian, no you swim 6 hours a day and consume 8,000 calories.
But like I was saying, if these athletes and superheroes have gone through even half of the things that we’ve gone through with the circumstances we grew up in, they would be just as unconfident as we are at times. That brings me to Job 4:6.
So Job had lost everything. If you don’t know the story, it’s this: Job was a rich man. He had a lot of grown up children, so he didn’t have to worry about them no more because he wasn’t paying college tuition or their food or anything, they all had their own jobs and such, and he, himself had a lot of money so retirement was the thing he was waiting for, and then he lost it all. He lost his family, no kids, so when he lost his property and business, he had couldn’t lean on them. Now he’s all sad because not only does he not have kids to rely on, he has no money or property and his health is gone. His wife, is all mad at Job because well, he was supposed to take care of her and live longer than her so she didn’t have to watch her husband die. He was feeling like death but he was so sick and smelly that legend says that she had feed him with a stick. It was the same stick she would scratch his skin with, she’d also feed him because he was infectious and she couldn’t get near him. Now his three buddies come to town because they heard the news, which is nice of them and he’s telling them all this stuff and how his wife told him to just curse God and die already and that he was tired of life; and one of them, Eliphaz, says this in verse 6: “Is not your fear of God your confidence, and the integrity of your ways your hope?”
You see all, “confidence” we need confidence when life isn’t going the way we thought it should have been going. We need confidence when we’re hit by a fastball in the face. We need confidence when we no longer have any reason to believe in anything. Confidence only comes from going back to the reason you even showed up today—because you believe there is a God, and that that God gave us His one and only son, Jesus Christ to be a living sacrifice, so that we could be pure and blemish-less before God. He is our confidence. You see the “fear of God” is not being afraid, it’s actually more closely translated to “reverence.” Our reverence toward God is our confidence, that is to say, that we believe that God is awesome. That’s why we are confident in Him. That is why we believe in Jesus.
If we didn’t have confidence that Jesus rose from the dead to give us everlasting life after dying for our sins on a cross, there would be no reason we should have had the confidence to show up to church. Just think about it, there is no reason at all. But we have confidence that Jesus did this because not only is it in the Bible, but it’s backed up historically. It was an actual event.
Yes, that was just the introduction. I want to look at Solomon this morning. More importantly, I want us to see where Solomon’s confidence came from. Because, he didn’t always have it. No, not at all. Solomon was the youngest son of King David. He wasn’t even supposed to be the king. He wasn’t even supposed to have been born. In fact, King David, his dad, had his mom’s husband killed in like a Bourne Identity type of espionage type of assassination, and he was the son they had in David’s late age. Like he had plenty of older brothers that could have taken the thrown. But he was made king after two of his oldest brothers died trying to take the thrown, and then after some political unrest, and then some divine intervention. But imagine being the youngest of the princes, and suddenly you’re thrust into the limelight as the future anointed king of Israel, then having to follow the greatest king of Israel, who united the tribes and established a kingdom. Yeah, overwhelming, I know. Where would a man like this get confidence to rule? 2 Chronicles 1:7-13.
7 In that night God appeared to Solomon, and said to him, “Ask what I shall give you.” 8 And Solomon said to God, “You have shown great and steadfast love to David my father, and have made me king in his place. 9 O Lord God, let your word to David my father be now fulfilled, for you have made me king over a people as numerous as the dust of the earth. 10 Give me now wisdom and knowledge to go out and come in before this people, for who can govern this people of yours, which is so great?” 11 God answered Solomon, “Because this was in your heart, and you have not asked for possessions, wealth, honor, or the life of those who hate you, and have not even asked for long life, but have asked for wisdom and knowledge for yourself that you may govern my people over whom I have made you king, 12 wisdom and knowledge are granted to you. I will also give you riches, possessions, and honor, such as none of the kings had who were before you, and none after you shall have the like.” 13 So Solomon came from the high place at Gibeon, from before the tent of meeting, to Jerusalem. And he reigned over Israel. (2 Chronicles 1:7-13)
Look at what Solomon was doing as he became king, it’s in verse 1-6, but he gathered the people to him and did a prayer service, the Bible says he offered 1,000 offerings, like the 1st one wasn’t good enough, and the other 999 were just to make sure that it was better than good. Solomon believed God would come to him, and God did. We pray for the same reason, because we believe God comes to us in our prayers. Look at how Solomon got confidence—he believed in what he was doing and that God would do for him what God believed to be the best.
Solomon offered everything he had to God, because He knew he couldn’t do it on his own. There was n way, given his upbringing that he had any chance at being even half a great king. So he asked God for wisdom and knowledge. God said, “great, you know I can do that, and because you’re not asking for something stupid, but for the confidence to do something great for my glory, let me give you all that other stuff as well, riches, possessions, and honor. Solomon believed that the word of God was fully guaranteed and lived his life in full confidence that it would happen.
I know you and I doubt that God is for us. We doubt it because we asked God to do things in our life, but we haven’t been given definitive answers like Solomon did. We don’t really see God come to us directly and say while we pray, “what’s up homie?” Not at all. But here’s what I want you take away from here, if we have the confidence to ask God, “how do I bring you glory?” God is going to give us that answer and then some. He’ll say, “just ask in my name.” John 14:12-14 says this, “12 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. 13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that he Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.”
Jesus says this to his disciples. He says yeah, I’ve healed the sick, fed the hungry, and I’ve even raised the dead. But none of these things are anything compared to what God has in store for you if you have confidence in the God of wonders, the God of glory. I truly believe that. I believe that Solomon taught us that if we look for God’s glory in our prayers, that we have so much to be confident in. After all, we follow God. We are Christ followers, we are people who live for the glory of God.
Today, if you need confidence, you need to pray and ask God for confidence. You need to ask God for the confidence to manifest His glory in your life. You need the confidence at school. You need the confidence at your work place. You need the confidence in your home. You need the confidence in your commute. I can keep going on. I want to, right now, have an altar call, but it’s not like who wants to be saved. It’s an altar call where you come up and I will pray with you, we will pray with you so that we can make sure, like Solomon, you can get some confidence from the Holy Spirit up in you.
So let’s all close our eyes.
If you feel like you need confidence in your life because you just have been feeling depressed and out of it, like there is no energy for you to do what you need to do, then I want you stand up. If you feel like you’ve had enough confidence in your life to this point to get you to the place you are, but now you want to take it the next level because you believe God created you for the next level stand now.
If you’re standing, I want you to pray out loud, just like Solomon prayed, “God give us the confidence to go out before this world and represent you, God. I need wisdom and knowledge to believe what I know in my heart to be true—that you are God almighty, and that your will be done here on earth.” I want you to ask God, “God give me confidence. Give me the willingness to practice confidence in you.” Come on, let’s pray.
If you’re sitting here and not standing because you got all the confidence you need, then I want you to lift your hands up and pray for the people who are standing. You don’t need to open your eyes and look around, but you need to put your hands up and intercede for your friends here who need confidence in their lives. They need to live bold lives, pray with them.
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