The Confidence Of The Called
Message Moments & Highlights
Self Discipline keeps our mind safe
God’s love gives us confidence
Spiritual power gives us confidence
Step out in confidence knowing God has equipped you with an inner power
The Confidence Of The Called
God has equipped every believer with power, love, and self-discipline, replacing fear and timidity with divine confidence. This confidence is developed through three key principles: self-discipline (maintaining a sound mind), embracing God's unconditional love, and accessing the Holy Spirit's power already present within us. Through consistent spiritual practices like regular prayer, Bible reading, and worship, believers can cultivate a sound mind that recognizes God's voice and direction.God's agape love serves as a foundation for confidence, casting out fear and providing assurance of His constant presence and support. The power (dynamis) given through the Holy Spirit provides inner strength and ability that doesn't need to be earned - it simply needs to be accessed. As believers align their thoughts with God's truth and take steps of faith, they can overcome fear and fully embrace their divine calling. This Spirit-empowered confidence enables them to face challenges, use their gifts boldly, and pursue God-given opportunities for growth.
Key Insights From The Message
Related Bible Versus
2 Timothy 1:5-7: "I remember your genuine faith, for you share the faith that first filled your grandmother Lois and your mother, Eunice. And I know that same faith continues strong in you. This is why I remind you to fan into flame the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you. For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline."
Daniel 6: The entire chapter of Daniel 6 tells the story of Daniel and the Lion's Den.
John 10:4: "After tending to the sheep, he calls them out, each by name. He leads them out of the sheepfold, and they follow him because they know his voice."
1 John 4:18: "Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love."
Jeremiah 1: 4-6: "The Lord gave me this message: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” “Alas, Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I don’t know how to speak; I am too young.” But the Lord said to me, “Don’t say, ‘I am too young.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Don’t be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord.
2 Corinthians 12:9: "But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me."
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Good morning, everyone. How are we all doing this morning? Good. Just give me a second while I just, I thought I'll get that ready because I'm definitely going to need lots of water. How are you doing?
How good is it that we can come and just gather and worship our God? Hey, 2025 is a new year. It's an exciting year and I'm so excited to share this word with you today. Equally excited and nervous. So bear with me today.
But you know this word God put on my heart a couple of months ago actually. And I know it's something that, that we have all struggled with or we struggle with could be now, today. So I know that you know, you will get something from this word today. And I know it's not my words that it's God's words. And I hope that you're encouraged and I hope you're inspired and I hope you feel empowered afterwards to step into 2025 and make a difference.
Yeah. Is that good? But before we get into it, we're just going to pray. So, God, we just thank you, we thank you for today. We thank you for this opportunity that we can g together that we can worship you, we can exalt you, we can lift up your name and we just thank you, God, for everything that you have done and everything that you're doing.
But today, God, we just ask for open and expectant hearts as we come around your word today, we know that it is your words God, not mine. So God, we just pray for a faith filled people today that put this word into action when they leave this place in Jesus name and everybody said amen. Amen. Awesome. Who brought their Bibles today or had their phones?
Beautiful. All right, we're going to turn to second Timothy, chapter one, verse five to seven. If you have your Bibles or your phones, I'd love for you to read along with me. Yell out, I've got it. Once I've got it.
And then I'll know who brought their Bibles or not. No, I'm just kidding.
Got it. Awesome. Alrighty. So it says, I remember your genuine faith for you share the faith that first filled your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice. And I know the same faith continues strong in you.
This is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you. For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love and self discipline. What a powerful scripture. Yeah, who's heard that one before? Yeah.
So in this verse, Paul is trying to remind and encourage Timothy. He was kind of like his apprentice to be confident in faith and his God given calling. He sees the strong foundation of faith that Timothy has inherited from both his grandmother and his mother. And Paul is reminding him that he has been called to do something great for God and that is to run the church in Ephesus. And because of this, he needs to stay strong and confident and not be overpowered by fear.
So I have titled my message today the Confidence of the Called Now I remember a time where I struggled with confidence. I was consumed by fear and doubt. And that was the day that Fuwa walked into my church. Now for those of you that don't know, Fua is my husband for a bit of context. So the day that Fua walked into my church, I remember he came in with his family and I was like, who is this guy?
Week after week he kept on coming back with his family. You know, they started to get involved and you know, they just didn't seem to go away. But I was like intrigued. I was like, you know, there's something, you know, there's something about him. And so a few months later he decided to join the music team.
And I was like, well you can't do that. This is my music team. Like, what are you thinking? But during that whole time we'd actually never spoken, like I'd never heard him speak before. And I Actually thought there might be something wrong with him.
Like maybe he was like a mute or something. Maybe he had something wrong and it sounds terrible. It sounds so terrible. Like telling the story now, I'm like, that's so mean. But I think he was just really shy or maybe he just didn't like me.
So he didn't want to talk to me. I'm not really sure. But instead of building up the confidence like a normal human being to go and actually like talk to him and get to know him, I did the next best thing and I started asking his 10 year old niece all about him. Right? Which is what we do, right?
Like how old was he? What did he do for work? Is he single? How come he's not at church today? I was super subtle.
I was so subtle about it, like no one had any idea what I was doing. Now looking back, it probably wasn't the best way to go about getting to know somebody. Instead of asking his niece about him, I should have just built up the confidence to go and talk to him and ask him myself. You know, God doesn't want us to be like this though. God doesn't want us to be too shy to step into the things that he has called us to do.
He doesn't want us to lack confidence or be consumed by fear. So today I want to give you three practices that will help you to be confident, not fearful, and become the person that God has called you to be. Is that good? Are you ready? Awesome.
The first thing is confidence comes through self discipline. So we see in this verse that God gives us a spirit of self discipline. So what is self discipline? So to get a better understanding, I thought we could look at the Greek meaning of this word. For those of you that don't know, in the New Testament, it was originally written in the Greek.
So to get a good understanding, a deep understanding of what the passage is actually saying, it's a great way to. Yeah, research a little bit deeper and go a little bit deeper. So the Greek word for self discipline is sophronismos, which translates to sound mind or safe mind. So what does it mean to have a safe mind? It means to have a sense of security or freedom from fear and anxiety.
It helps us to have a focus and resilience. In order to have a safe mind, though, we need to align our thoughts with God's truth. Do you believe that? So how do we do this? How do we have a safe mind and keep our mind safe?
So to align ourselves with God, we first need to get to Know him and we need to recognize his voice. And this takes intentionality and discipline. So how do we do this? We do this by spending time with him, Joey. By reading his word, by worshiping, by praying.
A great example of this in the Bible is Daniel. Who knows the story of Daniel? Yeah, a few of us. Yeah. Beautiful.
So in Daniel 6, it talks about Daniel's disciplined prayers. So it says a law was passed by the king that for 30 days people were only allowed pray to him and no other gods. Daniel had a very disciplined prayer life, though he would pray three times a day every day. Now, the king's officials went to Daniel's house to try and catch him out because they were jealous of him. And guess what?
They found him praying and they went back and told the king. Daniel already knew about the law, though. That's why he was praying that day. He was praying to ask God for his help. Help.
Daniel was punished for his crime and he was thrown into the lion's den. However, no harm came to Daniel because the Lord protected Daniel because Daniel had a relationship with him and he proved to be loyal and faithful through his discipline. Self discipline is what keeps our mind safe. It isn't easy, but if we want to know the Lord, we need to be disciplined in our time with Him. There is nothing more fulfilling and satisfying than spending time with God, don't you agree?
Than just being in his presence, listening to his voice, allowing him to guide us. Once we recognize his voice, it is easier to eliminate all the other noises and distractions. It is easier to keep our minds safe.
So if God has already given us a spirit of discipline, why do we find discipline so hard?
It's an interesting question, isn't it? I believe it's because we are relying on our own strength and not the Holy Spirit within us. In John 10:4, it says they follow him because they know his voice. And in this verse it is referring to the sheep knowing their shepherd. Just like the sheep know their shepherd and recognize his voice, we need to know the Lord for ourselves.
Do you believe that, church?
Is this something that you struggle with? Being disciplined in your walk with God, hearing God's voice? If it is, maybe your prayer needs to be. Be still, my soul.
Lord, make me open to your voice. Speak for your servant is listening. Help me to rely on your strength and not my own. Let me ask you this. What areas in your life today need discipline?
How disciplined are you in your daily walk with God? Only you can answer that. And are there any areas in your life where you need to Be more intentional about aligning your thoughts with God's truth to keep your mind safe.
Your confidence comes through self discipline.
So that's the first thing. Confidence comes through self discipline. Second thing we see is confidence comes through love. Now, this is no ordinary love. This is God's agape love for us.
Who's heard that word before? Agape love. Agape is the purest form of love.
It is an unconditional love. It is a sacrificial love. It is a selfless love. It is the word used to describe God's love for humanity. God has given us a spirit of love.
And when he says that this is the kind of love that he's talking about. In 1 John, verse 4 to 18, it says, There is no fear in love because perfect love casts out all fear.
Perfect love refers to the unconditional love that God has for us, the unconditional love of the Father. And this love, when fully embraced, assures us of God's acceptance for us, his protection for us. When we understand and trust in God's love, we have no reason to fear. Do you believe that?
Because God's love drives out all fear. Amen. I remember a time. Well, I remember the first time I cooked for Fua. Now, I don't know if you guys know, but Fua was a chef for many years.
Has anyone here cooked for a chef before? Yes. No one? No one wants to do it. I get it.
Yeah. So I was, like, super scared, super nervous. Come on, Steve. You know, Steve cooked us a lovely meal actually, a couple of weeks ago. Roast pork.
Thank you. It was a blessing. It was really good. It was beautiful. Yeah.
Thank you very much. See, Steve stepped out in courage and confidence and decided to cook a meal for a chef. And it was a blessing. Anyway, I digress. So we have been dating for a few months, and I was like, okay, I need to cook for him, right?
To show him that I'm wife material. So I invite him over and I'm like, well, I'll cook him something that I know really well. So I made him chicken stir fry. I'd made this dish, so, like, how hard could it be, right? Chicken stir fry.
I made this dish so many times. I learned to make it at school. I made it for my family every time it was my turn to cook, which is like once a week.
So I'm like, all right, I'm going to give this a go. I'm confident with it. So I invite him over. I cook this meal as best as I can. Carefully, precisely.
I serve it up to him. He eats it all. Like, he smashes the plate, and he's like, thank you. And I was like, oh, my gosh. Yes.
I have nailed it. Like, I have made this dish to perfection. He's definitely going to ask me to marry him now.
A couple of years later, though, I asked him for his honest opinion. Don't ask for a chef's honest opinion unless you really want to take on that constructive criticism and improve your skills, right? So I was like, how did I actually do? Like, I think I did pretty good. Like, honest.
Honestly, like, I want to get better at, you know, my cooking. And he said I'd never had a dish like it. It was unique, it was special. It was so full of flavor. I had never known a dish that could combine both dessert and dinner in one.
You know, like, those two in one, like shampoo and conditioners. It was kind of like that. He's like, it was so sweet. I don't know what you put in it, but it was so sweet. I think I would have went a little too hard on, like, the sweet chili sauce and the sweet soy sauce anyone uses.
Sweet soy sauce. I love it. I'm like, yes, sweet soy sauce. Anyway, I like sweet things, right? So I made it how I would like it.
But it's fine because we've been married now for 11 years, so it all worked out. He obviously didn't marry me for my cooking skills. That's okay. I have learned to make some decent dishes since then, so worry. I have grown, all right?
I took on that constructive criticism, and I, you know, put it into practice. But I should have known there was nothing to fear. Because love casts out all fear, doesn't it? And when your love like this fear dies. That's why Fuwa plays the key so well.
Because I love him so much has nothing to do with his ability.
But you know what? The enemy will try whatever he can to distract you to stop you from what God has called you to do. The enemy can't take your calling, but he will try and take your confidence. If you let him, he will, just like he did with Jeremiah. So Jeremiah hesitated when God called him to be a prophet.
He said to God In Jeremiah, verse 1 to 6 says, O sovereign Lord, I do not know how to speak. I'm too young. The Lord replied, don't say I am too young, for you must go wherever I send you and say whatever I tell you. Don't be afraid of the people, for I will be with you and I will protect you. I, the Lord hath spoken.
You know. The enemy tried to fill Jeremiah's head with doubt, with negativity, with all the reasons that he wasn't ready. But God says to him, I knew you before I formed you, in your mother's womb, before you were born. I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.
God reassures Jeremiah in this moment with his guidance, with his presence. Jeremiah does go on to fulfill the call that God has on his life, to be the prophet, to communicate messages, warnings, judgments, and hope to the people of Judah. But imagine if he didn't.
Imagine if Jeremiah had allowed that fear, that negativity, that doubt to stop him, or the fact that he was too young to stop him. God's people would have missed out on all these important messages from God.
The enemy wants us to be held back, to be distracted. He doesn't want us to be confident in who we are and what God has called us to do. He will do whatever he can to stop us. But when we truly and wholeheartedly embrace God's agape love for us, we know that he will never give us anything that we can't handle. Do you believe that?
Just like he did with Jeremiah, God's love casts out all fear because we know that he is right there with us. He assures us all the time, just like he did with Jeremiah. I will be with you and I will protect you.
If God is with us, then what do we really have to fear?
How deeply do you believe in the depth and purity of God's love for you?
Maybe some of you here are struggling to accept this, but can I tell you, once you accept God's love and embrace his love, confidence will just begin to ooze out of everything that you do. Wherever you go, whatever you do, whatever you say, God's confidence will just begin to. To ooze out. Do you believe that? Come on.
Because it's a confidence that comes from within. It's not a confidence that you're striving for, but one that God has already placed inside of you. So, one, your confidence comes through self discipline. Two, your confidence comes through love. And thirdly, your confidence comes through power.
Now, this power is a dynamis. Power. So the Greek word for power is dynamis. What does this mean? Dynamis.
Power is a strength. It is an ability that resides in something. We don't need to force it. We don't need to work for it. It.
It is already in there. And that is the Holy Spirit inside of us. Just like Paul was Trying to remind Timothy of his generational faith that he inherited from his mother and from his grandmother, as well as his spiritual giftings that God had already given him. God is trying to remind us through this verse that he has already given us a spirit of power. And this power that he's talking about is a power that comes from within.
God through the Holy Spirit has given us a supernatural strength, a power that enables us to face challenges and opposition with courage and confidence.
Church have you ever been in a situation where you've heard the Holy Spirit prompting, you've heard the Holy Spirit talking, but you've lacked the confidence to step in?
Is it just me? I think we've all struggled with that. Lack the confidence to step in because we don't know what to do. The unknown can be scary. You know, this was me for so many years.
I love the Lord and I had a relationship with him and I would hear the whole Holy Spirit speaking, but I was too afraid.
But I knew I had to change something. I had to change my perspective. I had to change my mindset. Instead of thinking about all the areas that I'm not equipped in, I had to think about the area that I am. And the area that I am is to share the love of Jesus with others.
And that call is the same for all of us. Once you know Jesus for yourself, don't keep it to yourself. Have the confidence to step out and share what God has done in your life.
You know, our purpose, our calling is to simply pursue God, to love him, to desire to be with him, to share his love with others, and to be obedient when he calls false.
We are all equipped to share our testimony. We are all equipped to share what God has done in our life, where he has brought us from, and where we are today because of Him. So now I ask myself these questions when the Holy Spirit prompts me, which is usually always followed up with like a big dish of doubt and fear.
What if I am stopping someone from coming to know Jesus?
What if I am stopping the Holy Spirit from working in this situation right now?
What if right now is this person's last chance to get into heaven?
Being a Jesus follower is selfless. It's not selfish. It's about loving others. It's about seeing others as Jesus sees others.
It's about being confident to step in when God calls. Come on. Do you believe that? You know I love this scripture and Pastor Adrian mentioned it this morning in 2 Corinthians 12, 9. My grace is all you need.
My power works best in weakness. Even though you feel weak, God isn't. God is strong. And when you step out in faith and confidence, watch what God will do in and through your life. He has already put this confidence inside you.
He's just waiting for you to grab a hold of of it and step out in faith. You know, we saw this very thing last month with our baptisms, People grabbing a hold of their God given confidence. And I was so encouraged because they didn't let fear consume them. They stepped out in faith and courage in front of everybody here. And that can be a really scary thing to do.
There's like 300 people in this room right now, but you know what? They were like, I'm done. I'm done with living my old life. I'm done with allowing fear and doubt to consume me, to overpower me, to take a hold of me. I want to live my life for you.
I want to do something great for you, God. And you know what? So many of them had so many reasons why they shouldn't. You know, just hearing people's stories that week of the things that went on in their life with their family, with sickness, with depression, with just plagues of the mind, they could have so easily said, nah, I can't do it, I'm not ready next time. And some of them did, but then some of them last minute were like, nah, I'm doing it because I know that God wants me to do this and I'm done with living that life.
You know, I read this recently, fear not or a similar command is made in the Bible 365 times.
Many say that it's a reminder for every day of the year. While the specific count is debatable, it emphasizes God's desire for his people to live in trust, courage and confidence every single day. You know, confidence is not self rooted, it is spirit empowered. It is empowered by the Holy Spirit who already lives inside of us. And as we embrace his love, power and develop self discipline, we can boldly live out our purpose without fear.
If I can be honest with you, Church, I didn't want to preach today or any day for that matter. Public speaking isn't something that I have wanted to do or enjoy doing. I used to make up every excuse I could at school when I had like an oral presentation. Like I'd just be sick out of nowhere.
I've always been afraid to fail or be rejected or not do well. If I could sing my sermon, it would be totally fine. You know, kind of like a musical without the dancing part. I Don't do the dancing, but I could sing it. But you know I, I'm here today not doing this in my own strength.
This is all God working through me because I decided to give my life entirely to Him. And I said, use me God. I am your vessel because I love him, because I want to serve him and I can't imagine my life without him. So I grabbed a hold of that God given confidence that he already placed inside of me. And that is why I'm here today.
The Spirit of God gives us a spirit of confidence. He gives us the power to overcome. And when we rely on the Holy Spirit for strength, in moments of doubt, in moments of weakness, we see his strength outweigh worked in our lives and others.
I came across this picture this week. It actually, it tied in pretty well actually and it says what will you do today that scares you but will help you grow?
What scary are you going to chase in 2025?
It's a big question. It's a scary question.
And I know God has been speaking to each and every one of you. I know that he's been prompting you. I know he's placed things on your heart to step into this year.
Are you going to grab a hold of that God given confidence that he's already placed inside you and step in in 2025 or you're going to continue to be held back by fear, by negativity, by doubt, by all the things that the enemy wants us to feel, all the things that the enemy uses to try and hold us back.
Can I encourage you? Just like Paul was encouraging Timothy to fan into flames the spiritual gift that God has given you? You know, God has given each of us giftings to use for his glory. Do you believe that? Come on.
We're all, we're all made unique. We're all gifted differently because we're all going to reach people differently. I can only reach a certain amount of people. Pastor Adrian can only reach a certain amount of, of people. Moa Justin.
So we need each and every one of you to grab a hold of that God given confidence and step out and use your giftings to reach others for Jesus.
And when you do begin to doubt because that will happen, then remember this verse. For God has not given me a spirit of fear and timidity but of power, of love and of self discipline. And speak that over your life, declare it over your life. That's exactly why God has given us his word in the first place. To encourage us, to equip us, to empower us, to Remind us of who he has called us to be.
He is given, given us a safe mind. He has given us a pure love and an inner power to live a life of confidence and courage without fear. Come on. Are you ready to step into that in 2025? Are you ready to step out in confidence?
Are you ready to do something that you've been too scared to do?
Do you believe that God is with you? Do you believe that he is with there to protect you and to guide you and that he will never give you anything that you can't handle?
God has equipped you with an inner power to succeed.
You just need to believe it for yourself.
Come on. Don't you want to do something great for the Lord? Do you want to do something great for the Lord? Lord, don't you want to step into all that God has for you?
Do you want to influence the world for Jesus? Come on, isn't that what we're called to do? We are Christ followers. We are here to influence the world for Jesus. We are here to step out in confidence and lead the way and be an example for those that don't have any hope.
Because we have a future with hope. Do you believe that? Come on. That's who our God is. That's what he says in his word.
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Building Confidence in Your Divine Calling
God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but one of power, love, and self-discipline. Yet many Christians struggle with confidence in stepping into their calling. Understanding how to build and maintain spiritual confidence is crucial for fulfilling God's purpose for our lives.
What Does Biblical Confidence Look Like?
True biblical confidence comes from within through the Holy Spirit, not from our own abilities or strength. It's about embracing the gifts and calling God has already placed inside us, rather than striving in our own power.
How Does Self-Discipline Build Spiritual Confidence?
The Greek word for self-discipline (sophronismos) means having a "sound" or "safe" mind. This comes through:
Regular time spent with God
Consistent prayer and Bible reading
Intentional worship
Learning to recognize God's voice
Like Daniel who maintained his prayer discipline despite persecution, we need consistent spiritual practices to keep our minds aligned with God's truth.
How Does God's Love Impact Our Confidence?
God's agape love - His unconditional, sacrificial love - casts out all fear. When we truly understand and embrace how deeply God loves us:
We stop striving in our own strength
We trust His presence and protection
We gain courage to step out in faith
Our confidence flows from knowing we're fully accepted
What Role Does Spiritual Power Play?
The Greek word for power used here is "dynamis" - an inner strength that already resides within believers through the Holy Spirit. This power:
Enables us to face challenges with courage
Helps us overcome doubt and fear
Empowers us to fulfill our calling
Works best in our weakness
Life Application
This week, challenge yourself to:
Identify areas where fear is holding you back from your calling
Begin developing consistent spiritual disciplines
Meditate on God's unconditional love for you
Step out in faith in one area where you've been hesitant
Ask yourself:
What God-given gifts am I not using due to fear?
How disciplined am I in my daily walk with God?
Do I truly believe in the depth of God's love for me?
What "scary thing" is God calling me to chase in 2025?
Remember: God has already equipped you with everything needed to fulfill your calling - power, love, and self-discipline. The confidence is already within you through His Spirit. It's time to fan those gifts into flame.
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A discussion guide for the sermon can be found here.