God doesn’t need you to build his church - He is building His church and the gates of hell can’t stand against it;

God won’t love you any more or any less based on your performance as a leader, he is already as crazy about you as he was when he made you;

The Father’s dream for you is that you become more and more like his Son;

God is after your heart not your skills. If things get difficult that is a good thing. Leadership carries with it a unique suffering that is a good thing if you understand that;

Your primary purpose is to know and love God. He will use the difficulty adn failures more than the victories as He drawss you to Himself.

Say each of these three times before going any further:

“The Father himself loves me;”

“Jesus is enough to satisfy my heart;”

The Spirit gives me everthing I need.”

I see this a lot in the church as well. We are so success driven in the States. So for many people as long as they are out-performing themselves for the last period of measurement, they are fairly happy about themselves. That eventually leads to a crisis, since we can’t always out-perform ourselves.

I would love to see a follow-up series on what does success look like for a Christian.

I am a pastor of a young and (I guess) fairly successful church, but I don’t often feel that way. There can be 3,000 people on a weekend and I can still feel like a loser making absolutely no difference at all!

Two weeks ago 104 people came to Christ — I wondered why it wasn’t more (if I’m honest). Nearly 1,000 this year, and I wonder if the people will tire of me by next week!

Anyway, I’ve learned that self esteem is a black hole, while finding your worth in Christ never fails!

Thanks for your post!

Pastor Rob Singleton
http://www.robsingleton.net
http://www.southbrookchurch.com

As far as “esteem”… GOD SAID: “Let us make man in our image and after our likeness”… And God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them (Genesis 1:26-27; cf. 9:6). The key, for me, is to KNOW my creator and by doing this, I know who I am.

Peace.

One of those moorings is discovering who God is. Although it would seem that a preacher would have that base covered, it hasn’t been for me - even though I have taught lessons on that subject.

But as I discover who God is - His promises, His character, His desires for us - I found out more of who I am in relation to the reality of who God is.

As A.W. Tozer said, A proper knowledge of God rids us of a hundred lesser evils.

Growing up in an atmosphere of fearing the pastor and putting ministers in a pedestal (then watching them fall), I grew up with the notion that pastors don’t have fun and are not human, but superheroes.
I started to mimic them and do the same things that they did.
But inside of me, I knew that it was all a front that I was putting on.

I need to be me.
Like me or not, I need to be me.
What Jesus has called me to be.

I believe there is an ID epidemic in the Christian body.

People who get it need to lead others to IT! Churches need to provide more resources to believers so that some day we can operate as I believe the body of Christ was intended to operate: In unity - Out of an abundance (an overflow) of Christ - loving our very enemies and those people who come against us because we see their single need Christ/truth (not licking our wounds - mindless arguing/gossip)!

The general population of believers has no power - no power to overcome little things - like rejection from a friend, a stranger, a headache, bad traffic…no power. How then can we even begin to do the greater works of Jesus?! Seriously - why would anyone want what we have?

Craig, I would love to see you pour out truth to LC and see the power of the Holy Spirit BURN out of this city into ALL the world! On my knees and leaning myself patiently upon HIM!

One more thing…to everyone…I started praying Eph. 1:17-23 for myself and then for all believers - I CANNOT believe how God has flooded the eyes of my heart to know Him and the flood of LOVE inside of me is overwhelming!! It’s CRAZY! PLEASE look this up and pray it!!!!

I am so excited typing (and typing so fast!) this because I know this very reason is my purpose - why God put me here on this earth - this time! whew!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When I lead people, I have them take a piece of paper and draw a line down he middle..on one side, I have them write all the things people say about them - good or bad. On the other side, we go through scripture (eph. is great for this - there is SO much of it) and we we write what God’s word says I am in Christ(a masterpiece, righteous through him, not my works), etc.

We look at the lists; tear it in half and THROW away what people say. If it doesn’t line up with God’s word, we don’t place our value in it. It’s a great visual!

When you read the bible, keep a list with 2 columns - Who is God (His attributes) and WHO does He say you are in Christ. Result: Fall in Love with God and ID recognition! Awesome!

It’s pretty hard to put your full esteem in something that you can’t see and can only hear in the quiet moments.

I need more spiritual esteem in all those areas you listed! I think we allow our soul to be too linked to those areas (and others). For me (if I can go on a bit) it comes down to faith too. I am who I am and I’ll do what I can do but I’m called to be a man of faith who trusts God to do what I can’t. If I’m faithful and obedient, God will do the impossible… sometimes even through me. That’s a cool thought.

But yeah… I need to keep growing in my spiritual esteem so that the bad weeks don’t kill me! Thanks again for your continued life-giving input into the Kingdom of God around the world… SUCH an inspiration!

I struggle…

I have times where I believe that I am living all of life for Christ alone… good, bad, or ugly…

But sometimes I struggle feeling used of God… and it is a temptation to lose focus…and start looking around at how he is using others and feel terribly insignificant…and give up, or sometimes stop…

I have found that when I lose focus… and start to look around… (Like Peter in the boat on Galilee), I start to sink…whether it is depression, or losing motivation to minister, etc…I know its pride, and not very servant like… I wish it weren’t true.. but I do compare…and I do get depressed by it…

I know that with Jesus at the helm, it is possible to walk on water though… so eyes off others, I am going to ask Jesus for help, and trust Him! Lord help me keep my eyes on you!

Whether He uses me or not… it is still better to serve one day in His courts than ten thousand elsewhere!

The way you write and teach has changed the way a lot of us (well, I know it has changed me) live and teach.

I have purposed, the last few years, to live life the way God uniquely created me to live which is only found in Christ. Warren Wiersbe wrote that authentic people are people with direct firsthand experience, people who make mistakes but don’t accept any mistake as final. I’m working on not accepting any mistake as final.

My ‘liberation’ came through someone on my lead team who reminded me that we do what we do for “An Audience of One.” This truly has served to change my focus radically. I am also learning that my sense of spiritual value grows in direct proportion to my becoming more like Christ as I grow to love Him more and more. This requires a committment of time and effort (even when I don’t feel like it) spent in His presence. I am plagued by the question “If you didn’t have to stand up and preach every weekend, would you spend as much time in prayer and study as you do now simply because you love God?”