Prescription for Insecurity

All right. Let's do it. Help me welcome our friends tuning in at our Porch.Live locations. If you didn't know this, we have Porch.Live satellite locations all over the country. Tonight, help me welcome Porch.Live Scottsdale, Porch.Live Greater Lafayette, and Porch.Live Des Moines, Iowa. Let's give it up from Dallas to our friends watching online. Of course, my friends in the room, I'm so glad you guys are here.

We are in our fourth week of our series Anti Suppressants, where we are addressing the things we have been shoving down deep, deep, deep. Right off the bat, here's where we're heading tonight. Tonight, we're talking about no longer suppressing insecurity. We're about to all be in each other's business. This message actually made me really insecure. I'll just start off the bat. But do you know what else made me insecure?

Being up here usually every week is a weekly opportunity for me to make sure I really understand where my security comes from. I usually do okay at it. I'm learning. I'm getting better, but situations like a couple of weeks ago happened… Unexpectedly, a friend asked me to send him my last talk. I went to YouTube. I clicked the link. I usually keep myself from going and reading any comments, but every now and then, YouTube displays that one comment.

I read it, and here's what it said: "JD Rogers…" First off, put some respect on my name. There's a D in that last name. "…you dress like a clown and preach like a clown. No fear of the Lord in you at all. But there's still time to repent and Hallow the Name of Jesus alone." Reformed1, I just want to say, thank you for your feedback. I apparently did not listen with these pants. I get it. I was like, "You know what?" I went and looked at photos. I was like, "I kind of do dress like a clown." But hopefully, I don't preach like a clown.

The second time… I'm going back farther and farther in the insecurities of JD. In college, my first crush… I'm a freshman. I'm in the band, so I'm really cool. Hey, it was drumline, though, I will say. Yeah, I wore the bandanna and all that. But my first crush… I decided to aim high. She was like the "it" Christian girl athlete on the volleyball team. She was just kind of the known Christian girl on campus, and I was like, "I might as well shoot my shot."

So, I'm texting her, trying to make my way in, and her friend… This girl was probably an Enneagram Two, I would say, but her friend was an Enneagram Eight. So, one day, she just walked up to me, and she was like, "Hey, buddy, come here, come here." She was like, "I'm just going to let you know, because she won't, she probably will never… She will never date a guy who's under 6 feet and not an athlete." I know, I know. I've obviously healed from it.

I remember in that moment being like, "Well, dang. I don't think I can ever… Maybe cowboy boots. I don't think I'm going to be able to fix this. So how do I deal with this insecurity now in my heart?" Let's go back even farther…a preteen JD. I grew up in the country, small town East Texas. Yee Yee stuff all the time. I know; it's hard to believe. The 903. Beast Texas.

My hometown was so country… And this is in the twenty-first century. If someone's barn were to have a big limb fall on it in a storm or if it somehow burned down, people from our church locally would come and have a day dedicated to rebuilding a barn. It was a whole thing. The women would cook, and the men would be building. I'm sure some women helped, by the way. I'm from the country.

I remember wanting to immediately… I don't know what instinctively gave me this desire, but I remember in this moment, as a preteen boy, I wanted to prove that I was worthy of being a man around all of these older men. I remember there was this moment where… I guess it was the rite of passage, looking back now. My dad was like, "Hey, JD, go to the old barn and get a board stretcher. We need it for this project. Go get a board stretcher."

I'm like, "Okay," and I'm thinking, "I have no idea what a board stretcher is, but I can't let them know that, because that'll make me less of a man." So I go across the yard. I'm running over to the old barn, and I'm like, "Okay. Uh, process of elimination. That's a shovel. That's a hoe. That's a hammer. I don't know what that is. This must be a board stretcher." So I grab it, and I come out, and I'm like, "Dad, is this it?" He's like, "Yeah." I'm like, "Yes! I did it."

So, I'm running across, and I go to give him this tool, and everyone just starts laughing. People are hitting their knees, like, on their backs, slow motion, "Ha! Ha! Ha!" Young me is looking around like, "Noooo!" Everyone is like, "There's no such thing as a board stretcher!" I remember my chin started to quiver. I know. My dad was like, "Uh-oh." I ran away, and I was sitting alone.

In that moment, as a young boy, I thought to myself, "I'm going to do whatever it takes to get out of this town. If this is what being a country man is about, knowing things and doing things…" Things that just weren't natural to me, for whatever reason. "If this is what it takes and this is how they are, I want nothing to do with it." At a young age, what was just a funny moment, for whatever reason, stuck in my mind, and then it took root in my heart, and for the rest of my junior high and high school and into college years, I worked and worked and worked.

My parents didn't go to college. I didn't have a fund waiting for me. People from my town don't usually get out. It's one of those places. But I was like, "I will do whatever it takes." Do you know what that created? It created something in me that I didn't get to enjoy things out of a place of security and just being JD. No. It was all birthed out of insecurity to prove something, which created an exhausted young man.

I think if right now I asked, "Hey, do you struggle with insecurities?" there might be some of you who would say, "No. I'm a pretty confident person," but the reality is we don't even realize… Until we're really talking about it and doing a deep dive, we don't realize how much of our lives are just riddled with insecurity. I mean, think about all of the times…

Think about why you selected that photo. You took 10 photos. Why did you pick that one? Because there was something you saw that you liked better about yourself or how you were standing or how you looked. You didn't look at your friends. Boom! You looked at you, and that was the one you picked. Forget your friends. Your Instagram is for you. You're trying to get chose.

Or think about when you're about to speak up in a work meeting. There are some of you who can barely speak. Some of you might have never spoken up in a work meeting. You're just thinking and thinking and thinking. You want to make sure it's so profound and so calculated, and you want to make sure you sound really smart and like you're worthy to have a seat at the table, because you're insecure about your competency.

Or maybe your finances. You know, your coworkers are hanging out at happy hour. Your salaries come up. They're like, "What do you make? Over or under 50?" You're like, "Over," and they're like, "How much? Bro, you can tell me, and I'll tell you." You know you add the numbers up some, because you're like, "I want to look like I'm making a little more bank than this." It's because you're insecure. You don't think it's enough, and you think that is what points to who you are.

I mean, the amount of times we look in a mirror a day… When you're in your car, before you get out, you're looking in your phone selfie camera, making sure nothing is in your teeth, because you're going, "Whenever I walk into this building, I'm not thinking about who I am; I'm thinking about who I am through their eyes, because I just want to find security." So much of who we are is riddled by insecurity.

Maybe your mom, at a young age, made a comment about your weight, and you have thought about what you eat and how much you work out. It's not just because you want to be healthy and you want to live and steward your body like God calls you to, but it's because you don't want to feel overweight. It's birthed from that thing your mom or that guy said about you. Or maybe because your dad only acknowledged you when you were succeeding growing up, everything now is about climbing the corporate ladder, because you're insecure about what if you fail.

Last time I taught, I talked about King David's greatest failure. I love King David. Tonight I hope to redeem him, because we're going to talk about a familiar story where we highlight one of his greatest moments in history of being a king. It's David versus Goliath. A lot of you might know this story from your childhood. You might know about the slingshot and all that stuff with the giant, but I actually want to talk about the path to David's purpose in that moment.

The path to get to that battle and that victory in that moment was riddled with opportunity after opportunity for potential insecurity, but what we see and what I want us to model out of David in his young adult years… I mean, this was a man who we're going to see was very secure, but he wasn't secure in himself. That's the main thing I want… The objective of tonight's message is this. This message is intended to show us who we are in light of who God is. Tonight, we're going to see who we are in light of who God is.

I think, a lot of times, when you talk about insecurity, what the world is going to feed you is who you are and stop there. "Hey, you're beautiful. Hey, no, you're this. Hey, no, you're that." Sure, it feels good for about 10 minutes, and then you lie down at night alone, and Boom! All of the anxieties and insecurities are back. That's why it's really important that you hear me say tonight we're hitting who you are in light of who God is. Who you are by yourself, you will remain riddled with insecurity, but if you see yourself in light of who God is, it can change everything for your life, like it did David's.

So, if you have your Bible, open up to 1 Samuel, chapter 17. This is a very long chapter, so we're not going to read it all, so I need you guys really dialed in, really focused in. I know you think, "I already know this story." I really think you might not have seen it from this perspective, so lock in with me. Anytime we're reading or talking about this storyline, it's really important that you track with me.

Here's what we see. Saul, tall, dark, and handsome, is elected king by the people of Israel. Think the coolest guy in high school, the quarterback, the jock. He had everything going on for him. That's who's king right now. Then in 1 Samuel, chapter 16, Saul is really upsetting the Lord, so God tells Samuel to go and anoint a new king. He says to go to the house of Jesse. So he goes to Jesse's house and says, "Bring me all of your sons."

Jesse brings all of his sons, oldest to the youngest, and God says to Samuel, "Hey, don't look on the outside appearance, like man does. I look at the heart. I want to pick someone who's a man after my own heart." So, he goes through all of the sons, and basically, God is like, "Nope. Not him. Not him. Not him." Then Samuel goes, "Are you sure all of your sons are here?" Like the runt of the bunch, Jesse is like, "Oh yeah. I do have one son, but he's the short youngest kid named David. He's probably out running around, frolicking with the sheep. I don't think he's your guy."

He's like, "Call him." So he brings David. It says he was kind of short and ruddy, but he was handsome. He did have that going for him. So, he brings him up, and God says, "This is him." So now he's anointed king, but this is important: although he was anointed and promised to one day be king, he was not yet king. There was a calling and a mantle on his life, but just because there was a calling does not mean there was not a path that still had to be taken to prepare him to get to that calling. There was an anointing placed on him, but there was still preparation to be done.

So, he goes back to shepherding the sheep. You go to this other scene now in 1 Samuel, chapter 17. Picture this. There's the big, bad army known as the Philistines. The Philistines are on this side, then there's a valley, and then the Israelite army is on this side. For 40 days, this giant known as Goliath would come down, and the acoustics of the valley would make his voice echo up to the Israelites.

He would say, "Here's the deal I'm willing to propose. You can send down one soldier, and gladiator-style, we will fight to the death. If he beats me, the Philistines will be slaves to Israel. If I beat him, you will be slaves to us." It says the Israelites… No one was willing to go down and fight him. Everyone shook in terror and fear. They were insecure.

One day, just a normal day, David was in the fields. He had no idea. He woke up just okay with being a shepherd boy. He had no idea he was about to be sent to be a soldier on the front lines of God's battle. His dad calls him in and says, "Hey, son, I want you to go. I want you to take this charcuterie board of meat and cheese to the soldiers. They're probably hungry. It's snack time. Take them a Lunchable. I want you to pack it up, go get a report, and tell me how your brothers are doing." David is like, "Okay."

He leaves the sheep with someone else to watch them, and he heads to the battle. He's there. He's working his way through, looking for his brothers. He starts to pass out some food. All of the soldiers are grabbing it, and he's trying to find his brothers. As he's there, he hears this same taunt from Goliath that has been going on for 40 days. "Send someone down to fight me. If I win, we take Israel. If you win, you can have us, the Philistines." This is what happens. First Samuel 17:22:

"David left his things with the keeper of supplies and hurried out to the ranks to greet his brothers. As he was talking with them, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, came out from the Philistine ranks. Then David heard him shout his usual taunt to the army of Israel. As soon as the Israelite army saw him, they began to run away in fright.

'Have you seen the giant?' the men asked. 'He comes out each day to defy Israel. The king has offered a huge reward to anyone who kills him. He will give that man one of his daughters for a wife, and the man's entire family will be exempted from paying taxes!' David asked the soldiers standing nearby, 'What will a man get for killing this Philistine and ending his defiance of Israel? Who is this pagan Philistine anyway, that he is allowed to defy the armies of the living God?' And these men gave David the same reply. They said, 'Yes, that is the reward for killing him.'"

Immediately, what we see is in this opportunity where David is met with an enemy who is taunting his God, where everyone else has bowed down in insecurity and has been frightened, David immediately has a different response. He immediately is like, "Who does this guy think he is that he thinks he can stand up and defy the people of God?"

What gave him that kind of security? A little shepherd boy. How can he suddenly go to this place? How can he be so confident? How can he walk in his purpose and his calling without any experience? That's what we're going to see. We're going to learn from this story in David's life how to fight your insecurities.

The reason I want us to really know how to identify and fight insecurities is because I believe, as the people of God, there are going to be only more and more opportunities for us to walk in our purpose and our calling as children of light in a dark world. We are promised in John 16:33 that in this world… I don't have to convince you. You see that in this world you will have trouble. You will have people who disagree. You will have people who fight, who rage on social media, who are looking for what you have to say in your workplace.

It says, "In this world you will have trouble." You will. Anytime a child of God has an opportunity, they will be met with opposition. They will. That's what happens when you look different. You will be met with opposition. If you are insecure, you will be like the Israelite army. You will shrink back instead of stepping into the purpose and calling God has for you. That was not David's story. David stood up when everyone else fell back, because he understood how to fight insecurity.

1. Check the source of your insecurity. Whenever a lie or a doubt or something harsh about yourself or an insecurity comes into your mind, the first thing you can do to fight against it is not to just dismiss it (men, I'm especially talking to you), not just to suppress it and shove it down, but it's to address it and then identify the source of where it's coming from. "Where is this coming from? Who is saying this to me? What is informing this thought?"

Before David made it to fight against Goliath and to walk in his calling, I want you to see the opposition he met. It came from family. It came from authority. It came from his enemy. It came from every which way. Look at this. Check the source of your insecurity. So, David is like, "Hey! Who is this guy? Let me at him. I'll take him on. What's the reward?" We see in verse 28, "But when David's oldest brother…" Sometimes it'll be your own blood.

"But when David's oldest brother, Eliab, heard David talking to the men, he was angry." If you're an older sibling, you know what I'm talking about. You know when your little brother or sister shows up, and you're just annoyed for no reason? You're like, "Why are you here?" Or if you're the little sibling, you know what it's like for the older sibling to be like, "Why are you here?" That's what's happening in this moment. He was angry.

"'What are you doing around here anyway?' he demanded. 'What about those few sheep…'" I mean, he could have said sheep. He could have said herd. "What about those few sheep you're supposed to be taking care of? I know about your pride and deceit. You just want to see the battle!" Hold up. God just anointed David a chapter before this because he said he was a man after God's own heart, so what does he mean by, "I know that you're full of pride and deceit, that you just want to be here to be a part of the action; go back to your job"?

See, sometimes in life the people close to us can say things to us that cause our biggest insecurities. Just because they are your family, just because they love you, just because they're your close friend does not mean they're always going to say everything right. People are able to say things that can really damage you, but the thing is you have an opportunity to believe it and live like it's true or to take it and reject it.

Basically, what his brother is saying to him here is, "Hey! What are you doing here?" He's assigning motive to David. He's like, "Get out of here. You don't belong here." Imagine the embarrassment, as a little brother who looks up to his big brothers and all of the soldiers. Imagine the potential embarrassment he must have felt with all of the other soldiers hearing him. He's like, "Get out of here. You don't belong here. Get back to your few sheep."

He felt neglected. I'm sure he felt really insecure, but also, what he's calling him is an imposter. He's saying, "You don't belong here." I thought that was interesting, because this week, I did an Instagram box on my story, and I asked, "Hey, what are some of the biggest things that make you insecure?" One of the top things by far… I'm going to talk about four of the top things I realized that people said over and over. One of the top things was imposter syndrome.

People now, because of social media or because they're living for other people's perception… They're thinking about what other people think of them. It's hard for them in their minds to reconcile what's real and what to show anymore. Everyone feels so insecure about who they are, so they're walking around going, "Wait. Do I even know who I am? Wait. When that person said that thing, is that true? What's true?" We can't tell what's true anymore.

For those who know God, for those who have a relationship with Jesus and abide with him daily, you need to know there are people who are going to come for your motives. There are people who are going to come for your intentions and question why you posted what you did or why you won't say a certain thing in the workplace.

They're going to come and say, "I know why you did that. You hate gay people." Or "I know why you did that. You hate transgender people." Or "The church and Christians hate, hate, hate…" They're going to question your motive. They're going to question your intention. If you let the wrong source inform your security, you're going to back down and not stand up.

The next one we see is Saul, tall, dark, and handsome. Verse 33. Saul hears David causing a ruckus. He's like, "What's the reward? What's the reward?" Essentially, Saul is like, "Bring him over here." So, David walks over to the king, and here's what the king, the biggest guy on the block, says to him. "'Don't be ridiculous!' Saul replied. 'There's no way you can fight this Philistine and possibly win! You're only a boy, and he's been a man of war since his youth.'"

The second thing in the question box that I saw people say they're most insecure about is something in them believes they're too much. They're too loud. They're too annoying. They're too much. Insert whatever it is for you. Someone said something to them that made them believe they were too much. What's funny is Saul then says, "There's no way you can beat this man, because essentially, you're not enough," which was the third thing people said the most.

You have some people believing, "I'm so insecure because I believe I'm too much." Then you have a whole other group saying, "I'm too insecure because I'm not enough." That's what he's saying here. Saul is saying, "Hey, don't be ridiculous. Calm down. You're just a boy. You're being too much. Shh!" But then you also have him saying, "You're not enough. You could never beat this guy, because you're just a boy, and this guy has been fighting since he was a boy."

There have been people who have told you or you've even told yourself or culture has told you and informed you that you have to look a certain way to be enough. Or maybe because someone has never asked you out or swiped on you or because you're always the fifth wheel… All of these things point to, "What must it be? In some way, I'm either too much or I'm not enough. That's why I'm never chosen."

Or maybe when you were a kid, you were just being yourself, and someone said, "Hey, chill out." So, ever since then, you just feel like you're being yourself, but you're wondering in the back of your mind, "Is this too much?" Something is taken from you because you're listening to an unreliable source.

The last one we see is David's enemy, Goliath. Saul lets him go. He's like, "All right. Your funeral. If you want to go, you can go fight him." So he sends him down, and this is what Goliath says. "Goliath walked out toward David with his shield bearer ahead of him, sneering in contempt at this ruddy-faced boy." I'm like, "Man, they really did him like that in the NLT."

"'Am I a dog,' he roared at David, 'that you come at me with a stick?'" Shout-out to all my men who have been called a stick, by the way. You were a late bloomer. I mean, I talk to a lot of guys, and I'm like, "Man, what got you motivated?" He's like, "To be completely honest, bro, I was a late bloomer."

He's like, "When everyone else was hitting their growth spurt, when everyone else was getting in the gym and it was actually working… It wasn't until tenth or eleventh grade that I hit my growth spurt, and for those four years, everyone made fun of me. Everyone told me I was little. Everyone told me I would never start, so I had to work harder than everyone else to prove something."

The problem is now they're tall, dark, and handsome, and they still think they're a stick, because they're trying to fix it themselves. They still see themselves as that small junior high boy, which tells me… What is the actual solution? They've listened to a nonreliable source. He says here, "Hey, am I a dog that you throw a stick in front of me?" I personally don't relate to David. I'm not team stick; I'm team thick.

I have a lot of love, and I always have. Jennah loves it. Do you know what song I relate to? "All of me loves all of you, love your curves…" I'm more that. So, mine is the opposite. Mine is like, "Oh, I'm too big, so I need to get smaller, and then people will take me more seriously. Or maybe if I were taller…" Like that girl. Maybe that girl would have liked me back in college if I were taller.

It never fails. Every week, I'm down here, and someone comes down, and they're so excited. They're like, "Hey!" I'm like, "Hey." They're like, "First time at The Porch. I came from out of town" or "I came from this state." They're like, "I was introduced to The Porch two months ago, and I've just been binging The Porch." They're like, "What did you say your name was again?" I'm like, "JD." They're like, "JD, JD…" I'm like, "I'm not JP." If you know, you know.

They're like, "Yeah, I started at the beginning, and I've been listening to all these talks, and I thought it was JP." I'm like, "It was JP." They're like, "I thought you'd be taller." I'm like, "I'm not JP." If I wanted to listen, I would be like, "You know what?" When I drove home, I'd be like, "I'm not JP. I'm not six-foot-seven. I'm not as wise as him. I'm not as smooth as him." (Seriously. That guy is huge. Some of you are like, "Six-foot-seven?" The guy is a giant.)

But you know what? That's an unreliable source. God doesn't want me to be up here and be JP. He wants me to be JD, and he wants you to be you. The world and people are going to make stupid comments that make you think, "I would be better if I were like [so-and-so]. If I wasn't this small or if I wasn't this big, if I was just like this, then people would see me and take me seriously or someone would want to ask me out." All of these insecurities we will let creep in because they're coming from an unreliable source.

So, first in how to fight insecurity is you have to be able to identify and check the source of your insecurity. "Where is this lie coming from?" Do y'all remember citing your source when you wrote papers? It's the worst part. I'm like typing fire, and then I'm like, "Oh my gosh. I've got to cite this paper." So then, honestly, what I'd do… I'd go to that engine where you put the link in. You know, MLA, APA, Chicago…whatever it might be. It was the worst part.

But why was it the most…? I mean, teachers would make sure you knew, and if you didn't cite your source, automatic fail. You had to cite your source. Why? Because they wanted to make sure you understood the importance that what you were researching was reliable. What informed your research? What informed what you were writing about a particular topic? Was it reliable? Which website were you not allowed to use? Wikipedia. Why? Because anyone can go in at any time and say what they want to say, change what they want to change, and edit what they want to edit.

The problem is if right now I were to go and cite the sources that inform who you are in a lot of your minds, you're using Wikipedia. You're letting anyone, any day come in and say what they want to say, edit what they want to edit, and take what you know to be true and replace it with something else. You're letting an unreliable source determine who you are. You need to check the source. "Where is this coming from?" Then what do you do with that?

1. Respond to the lies with truth. You can't just stop at acknowledging "This is wrong" or "This is bad." You have to then be willing to change it. You have to be willing to inform yourself by other reliable sources. So, you have to be able to know truth. Look at how David quickly responds to each of these responses. His brother says, "Hey, why are you here? Get out of here! I know your heart, pride and deceit. Get back to your few sheep."

What does he say? Verse 29: "'What have I done now [you nagging older brother]?' David replied. 'I was only asking a question!' He walked over to some others and asked them the same thing and received the same answer." Basically, he hit him with that "Thank you, next." He's like, "Thank you, brother. I'm going to the next people." He gave him no time. Why? Because he understood "This is not a reliable source." So he went somewhere more reliable.

Some of you are giving way too much mental attention to people who want no good for you and have nothing good to say. You need to remove those people's words out of your mind and replace them with what is true. What was the lie presented to David that could have made him insecure in this moment from his brother? He said, "Hey, get out of here. Get back to where you belong. I know your heart. I know your motives. You just want to be in the action. Get back!"

But what did David, a man after God's own heart, know? He said, "God looks at my heart. It's only God who knows my heart." God truly is the only one. People all day will want to say what they want to say about why you do what you do. People might say, "Hey…" You might just genuinely love fashion, so you just want to post. Maybe someone inspired you to want to get out and post what you're wearing, but you think, "What if people think my motive is I want to be some famous influencer?" so you don't do anything.

Or maybe you actually just like teaching people about fitness, so you start posting workout videos or you start opening up an opportunity for your coworkers to come to a class, but then you think, "I don't want to come off as that guy. What if people think my motives…?" God wants to use you to bring God to the fitness world, but you let unreliable sources and people questioning your motives and perceptions keep you from doing something great for God and using what he has called you to do for his good and his glory.

Guess what. I have to think all the time, "Do people think when I post this I'm trying to be some celebrity pastor? Or when I wear this…" I just like these clothes. Honestly, my wife picked these out. "…I'm just trying to be this guy I'm not. I love people, and I love God's Word. That's all I'm about, but what do people think?" If I let people questioning my motive rule me, I would do nothing.

I'd rather get up here, and I'd rather you get out there and be obedient to God and potentially have some people question your motives than to do nothing for God at all. When you let people and their potential misperception of you or their words about you or what they think of you dictate what you do for God, it will create paralysis, where instead of doing something, you just do nothing. You sit there and go, "Well, I don't want people to think this."

One day, you are going to stand before God, and he's going to ask you, "What did you do with what I gave you?" How sad would it be if your response was, "Well, God, I really wanted to. You saw me, but I just didn't want people to think I was being too much. I didn't want people to think I was trying to be someone I wasn't." You have to know… God knows your heart, and God is putting desires and calls and purpose on your life for his glory. No one else's.

The second response we see is to Saul. Saul says, "Hey, you're too little. You're too weak. You're just a boy. There's no way you can take this guy on." He said, "Hey, Saul…" Look at verse 34. "But David persisted. 'I have been taking care of my father's sheep and goats,' he said. 'When a lion or a bear comes to steal a lamb from the flock, I go after it with a club and rescue the lamb from its mouth.

If the animal turns on me, I catch it by the jaw and club it to death. I have done this to both lions and bears, and I'll do it to this pagan Philistine, too, for he has defied the armies of the living God! The Lord who rescued me from the claws of the lion and the bear will rescue me from this Philistine!'" He's probably breathing heavily. Saul is like, "Okay. Take some armor. I'll let you get out there."

It says David persisted. He's like, "Saul, Saul! King, if I may, I get why you would think that looking at me, but here's what I'm trying to tell you. When you look at me, don't look at the size of these arms or the height of this man. Look at the size of my God, and look at his power, but don't just look up. Look back. Look back at what he has done in my life. When I was a shepherd boy, he rescued me out of the palm of lions and bears, and that God will rescue me today." That was where his security was.

Your story, your opportunity to look back and point people back to who God has been is an opportunity for you. It's a weapon for you to remind people of what God wants to do now. The lie was, "You can't win the battle of today." The truth he replaced it with was, "I can't, but God can, because the God who was faithful then will be faithful now." You have a battle every single day. You have a purpose and a calling God wants you to walk in, and you have an opportunity…

People are going to say, "Are you sure you really want to start that business? Are you sure you really want to leave corporate for ministry? Are you really sure you want to give up vacation to go on that trip? That sounds crazy. That sounds lesser than. That's a big weight. That's a big challenge." You get to not let that decide for you or who you are. You get to say, "Hey, here's the truth: the God who has always been faithful will be faithful."

For me, being a husband has brought on a whole new level of insecurities. When Paul says in 1 Corinthians 7, "The married man is anxious about pleasing his wife," he meant it. That's not because of anything she's doing. There's something in me, as a man, that's like, "Am I doing this right? Does she feel affirmed today? Am I doing all of these things right?" Guess what. It's only going to get more when I become a father. I'm going to be like, "Am I being a good husband? Am I being a good dad? Am I good at this? Am I enough? Did I sign up for this? What am I doing?"

Then I start to get insecure, because I'm like, "Well, if I had a dad, if he hadn't died seven years ago, I would still have a model and a person to go to to ask, 'Dad, when you were my age, how did you lead Mom? How did you make her feel loved?' or 'Dad, when you had a newborn, how did you raise him? How did you make sure he would go the right way? When you were raising me, how did you do it?' If I had that, then I would be good. Then I would be secure."

But that's an unreliable source. That's a lie. Here's the truth. Seven years without my earthly father… I have watched God take that moment and walk with me every single step of the way. He has provided father figure after father figure and man after man who I can call at the drop of a hat to ask questions and to be there for me, but people, the Enemy, and myself want to tell me, "Hey, I don't know if you can do this."

I'm just left, like David, with "Hey, I get why you would think that. I can't, but if you look, the God who has always been faithful will lead me as I lead her and my family." It's the same for you. Whatever your insecurity is, and you're afraid to walk forward, look back. Replace the lie that makes you afraid of the future with the truth of the past, and let it inform your next step.

The last one is Goliath. Ooh, this is the one. This one gets me hyped. Goliath was like, "Who's this stick?" and David was like, "Stick? I'll show you. I'm about to stick this rock up in your…" No. That's not what he said. What did he say? Verse 45. David replied to this nine-foot giant covered in bronze armor:

"You come to me with sword, spear, and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of Heaven's Armies—the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. Today the Lord will conquer you, and I will kill you and cut off your head. And then I will give the dead bodies of your men to the birds and wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel! And everyone assembled here will know that the Lord rescues his people, but not with sword and spear. This is the Lord's battle, and he will give you to us!"

I mean, talk about the most epic William Wallace Braveheart-looking speech of all time. I read that, and I'm like, "Let's go!" I'm so pumped. My name is John David. I'm literally like little David. "Let's go!" I just get it. The truth here is he's like, "You know what, Goliath? Pretty much, I am a stick. I pretty much am just dust. I was literally made from dirt, but, again, the God who has been faithful is the God who will claim victory today. He's present today. He is the victor."

Like I said earlier, where we get it so wrong with insecurities is we try self-help, and we try just doing more and being more active and being more successful, and we think we are the solution to our insecurity, that we can find security in anything else other than God, but what David understood, what informed this moment, the truth that informed him… When he was met with a lie, the truth he said was "God is the victor, today and in this moment," and he is for you.

"It's God who fights my battles. It's God in whom I trust. It's God who gives me security and strength. And you, Goliath? You put your trust in that weapon in your hand, in that armor you're wearing, but I don't have any of that. I have the only true thing that will bring security in the face of opposition, insecurity, giants, fear, and death." He says, "The only thing I trust is my God, and today he will have victory."

Now, obviously, David could not see… I'm sure he was like, "And he will win. Right, God?" That's what he was probably like. Obviously, he couldn't see the end result, but he was so secure in who God was. He had heard of the God who split seas. He had heard of the God who had already beaten opposing armies, and he was like, "God will fight my battle." That is where security comes from.

When you look and you get the right source to inform your beliefs of who you are, and when you understand how to differentiate between lies and truth, everything will change about who you are in light of who God is. So, here's what I want you to do. Here's where I want you to go. In today, in your battles, in your insecurity, here's the place you go to find security: God's Word, God's Spirit, and God's people.

Now, remember, when you go to God's people, people will let you down. People will sometimes fail you, because they are sinful too, and they need grace just like you do. So don't just go to any person; go to God's person in your life who is submitted to his Spirit and his Word, that when you go to them, they don't say, "Well, here's what I would do" or "Hey, if that makes you happy, do it."

Go to people who will say to you, "Hey, have you prayed about it and sought the Spirit of God to give you discernment to make that decision or to inform that belief in your life?" Or second, "Hey, it sounds like you're insecure about that. What does God's Word say about that?" and will take you to his Word. But that means we have to know his Word. We have to be in tune with his Spirit to be able to identify others who are as well.

That's my challenge to you. It's really simple. In the face of insecurity, your reliable source… Run to God's Word, his Spirit, and his people, and together with all of those things…your surrendered heart and their commitment to lead you to his Spirit and his people…you differentiate the lies and replace them with truth.

I'll close with this. Finally, my biggest insecurity: basketball. I don't know why, but God just chose to surround me with a bunch of guy friends who love basketball and played college basketball. I was typically the guy for a long time… It was like, "What are we going to do today?" and everyone was like, "Pick-up basketball," and I was like, "Yeah, I think I've got to work on this project" or "I think I've got to go wash my fish," or whatever. "I'm not going to make it. I just caught a stomach bug. I've got to get out of here."

The reason was I was deathly suppressing this "I like people to see me do what I'm good at, and that ain't it. Keep me off the court." I'm like, "You don't want me on the court." It would always be like, "JD, why? Come on, man. It's fun. It's just for fun." I'm like, "No. You guys don't do nothin' just for fun. Trust me. I'm not going to be the last pick like I was in junior high." So I would leave.

Finally, last summer, I had some extra time, and I was like, "You know what? Enough is enough." I was like, "It's time to get in the lab." Do you know what it took? I'm like, "Bring up the goal." I'm kidding. Here's the thing. In order to do that, I had to go to a really vulnerable place. Truly. It sounds so small, but I did. I had to call my friend who played college basketball and say, "Hey, can you teach me how to play?" He was like, "Yeah. Yeah, of course."

I was like, "Okay. I don't really have shoes or anything." I walked up in my Ultraboost. I get in there, and he's like, "Okay." I'm this guy. I'm that guy. I just hate this. I feel really vulnerable right now. I don't want to look at myself. He was like, "Okay," and he was patient with me. He was like, "All right. Elbow in. Knees bent, just a little." He was like, "Catch, shoot, and follow through." Hand in the cookie jar.

I was like, "Okay." Every time at first it was so mechanical. I was like, "Knees bent. Elbows in. Catch. Shoot. Follow through." Just over and over. But eventually, the ball started to go in the hoop. I was like, "I don't want to know how to do a layup. I just want to know how to make a three. Yeah, tall guys can dunk, but that gets you two. I want to get three." I mean, I was out here daily that summer at the three-point line, over and over and over.

By the end of the summer, I was like, "Come on." I was like, "Hey, what's everyone doing this Saturday? Y'all trying to ball?" Then I even said, "Yo, Jennah, I want you to come watch me." That's how you know you have confidence. So she came. She's on the sidelines. I mean, I am ready. I'm thinking, "Bent knees. Elbows in. Catch. Shoot. Follow through. Do it. You've worked on this. All of those times of preparation. No one saw. You walked with your boy. It's time to let them see. This is your moment."

I get the ball, and, I mean, I am alone. I hear, "Shoot it, J!" I shoot. Buckets. I mean, buckets. Over and over the buckets came. Sure, I missed some, but the point is I got off the sidelines and got in the game, and joy was on the other end. Victory was on the other end. So many of you are like the Israelites on the sidelines of life. There's an opponent, that insecurity that's holding you back, and it's taunting you. You know God wants more for you.

You know that secret sin you won't confess is keeping you on the sidelines of your life, and you're insecure that you're still struggling with porn. You've confessed it to your community for six years, and you still went back. "No way I could lead the Community Group next year. No way I could lead a Bible study." Or "Man, no one has asked me out for years. If no one wants to choose me, why would God? Why would God want me to do something great? Why would God want me in the game?"

But just like that day I had to call my friend and say, "Hey, this sounds really stupid, but I'm really insecure about this," I'm asking you to call the friend. Meet with a friend tonight and say, "This might sound dumb, but I'm really insecure about this. It's keeping me on the sidelines, and I want to get in the game. I want to experience the victory that's on the other side of vulnerability."

If you will be vulnerable, if you will say it out loud, stop suppressing, start addressing, bring it out to your friends… If you'll say, "Hey, I've been listening and operating out of unreliable sources. I want your help in replacing bad practice and all of these lies and inform them with truth so I can be free to get in the game. Will you help me?" If you'll start to walk with them, you'll start to see that security is not found in anything you can do or change.

It's simply found by operating and being with God's people in the life God has for you. Joy, freedom, and victory are on the other side. Security is not found in ourselves. Security is found in who we are in light of who he is. When you understand who he is, it'll inform everything about who you are and who you are not, and it will change everything, but you have to be willing to address it, bring it out in the light, and walk with God's Word, God's Spirit, and God's people. Let's pray.

God, I thank you for this message. Honestly, I'm feeling insecure right now, because I have no idea how long I just went. You do. For anyone checked out, would you bring them into this moment right here? Would you remind them that the thing they may not have even known at this point, because they've just suppressed it and said they're fine for so long…

Would you remind them of what's true, that you love them, that you love them so much? Sure, David had some rocks and a sling. Sure, Moses had a staff that split the sea. Sure, Gideon had the God of angel armies on his side, but you've given us something so much better. You've given us your one and only Son.

Because he came down and lived a perfect life, and because he paid the death on the cross that we deserved and took every insecurity, every lie, and every addiction and hung on the cross, and then he didn't just leave it there; he buried it in the grave, but he rose again in a new life, victorious, and conquered sin once and for all, we now can live a new life off the sidelines and into freedom, into victory, not because of anything we are, but all because of who God is, because of who you are, because of what your blood has purchased, and it's us.

So, for the person tonight who has not received the gift that is you, who does not feel secure in your love, would that change tonight? Would they understand that you bought them with a price, and you're never going back? You went all in. You love them, you cherish them, and you want them. You want a life free in the game. So, would you help people tonight take a step off the sidelines into an obedient life with you? May it be. For your glory, in your name I pray, amen.