What Would It Be Like to Always Be Confident?

Always Confident

What Would It Be Like to Always Be Confident?

I. Introduction

A. II Corinthians 5:6a (NLT) So we are always confident.

1. Paul was not confident in !

B. II Corinthians 12:10c (NLT) For when I am weak, then I am strong.

C. Genesis 2:25 (NLT) Now the man and his wife were both naked, but they felt no shame.

1. God created us to be in authority—but also high in vulnerability.

D. Matthew 28:18 (NAS) “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.”

E. People saw—in Jesus—more than they’d ever seen before. And, they saw more than they’d ever seen before!

F. Genesis 25:24-26 (NLT) ²⁴And when the time came to give birth, Rebekah discovered that she did indeed have twins! ²⁵The first one was very red at birth and covered with thick hair like a fur coat. So they named him Esau. ²⁶Then the other twin was born with his hand grasping Esau’s heel. So they named him Jacob.

1. “Jacob”—“the grabber” or “the ”

G. Genesis 25:27 (NLT) As the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter. He was an outdoorsman, but Jacob had a quiet temperament, preferring to stay at home.

H. Genesis 25:28 (NLT) Isaac loved Esau because he enjoyed eating the wild game Esau brought home, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

I. Genesis 27:11-12 (NLT) ¹¹“But look,” Jacob replied to Rebekah, “my brother, Esau, is a hairy man, and my skin is smooth. ¹²What if my father touches me? He’ll see that I’m trying to trick him, and then he’ll curse me instead of blessing me.”

J. Genesis 27:13 (NLT) But his mother replied, “Then let the curse fall on me, my son! Just do what I tell you. Go out and get the goats for me!”

K. Genesis 27:18-19 (NLT) ¹⁸So Jacob took the food to his father. “My father?” he said. “Yes, my son,” Isaac answered. “Who are you—Esau or Jacob?” ¹⁹Jacob replied, “It’s Esau, your firstborn son. I’ve done as you told me. Here is the wild game. Now sit up and eat it so you can give me your blessing.”

1. Jacob learns this little lesson that if you can’t get what you want by being who you —maybe you can get it by pretending to be someone you’re .

2. The only way to have true confidence in life is to just be .

L. Genesis 28:12-13 (NLT) ¹²As he slept, he dreamed of a stairway that reached from the earth up to heaven. And he saw the angels of God going up and down the stairway. ¹³At the top of the stairway stood the Lord, and he said, “I am the Lord, the God of your grandfather Abraham, and the God of your father, Isaac. The ground you are lying on belongs to you. I am giving it to you and your descendants.”

M. Genesis 28:14-16 (NLT) ¹⁴“Your descendants will be as numerous as the dust of the earth! They will spread out in all directions—to the west and the east, to the north and the south. And all the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your descendants. ¹⁵What’s more, I am with you, and I will protect you wherever you go. One day I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have finished giving you everything I have promised you.” ¹⁶Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I wasn’t even aware of it!”

1. True, ultimate confidence only comes when we place our confidence .

2. It’s much better to have a little confidence in , than a massive amount of confidence in !

N. II Corinthians 5:6-8 (NLT) ⁶So we are always confident, even though we know that as long as we live in these bodies we are not at home with the Lord. ⁷For we live by believing and not by seeing. ⁸Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord.  

O. Our God !

1. Our confidence is in the who is able!

2. “God, this is and facing this day together. Everything that I have to go through today—I’m confident that You’re going to go through it with me.” 

P. Genesis 28:22 (NLT) “And this memorial pillar I have set up will become a place for worshiping God, and I will present to God a tenth of everything he gives me.”

1. Jacob the grabber, becomes Jacob the !

2. “I don’t have to do this by myself. This is going to be and together! We can do this together.”

II. Conclusion