Inferiority | Part 1

From the Love Worth Finding studios in Memphis, Tennessee, I'm Byron Tyler, here with Kerry Vaughn, the CEO of Love Worth Finding. Kerry, today, Adrian Rogers continues in our series, Getting a Handle on Your Emotions. This is part one, the message inferiority. You know, Kerry, many of us struggle to believe God can use us as we are and what little we have to offer. But the trust is God does extraordinary things through ordinary people to give glory. to Himself. Well, that's exactly right. And Dr. Rogers always said, you know, God doesn't want your ability, right? He gave us the ability. He wants your availability. Oh, I've heard him say that so many times.

And that was always a great phrase that he would say from time to time. But I think that's true. I mean, we worry about are we good enough? Are we positioned?

Do we have our house in order? Can God use me? The answer to all of that is yes. Well, Adrian Rogers said to that, do you think that your weakness will keep God from using you? Here's what he had to say. And I want each person listening to this program today to know that whoever they are and wherever they are, regardless of their weakness, God has chosen them and God will use them.

God's plan is to take ordinary people and do extraordinary things through ordinary people and there get glory to Himself. And so if you've had an inferiority complex, it may not be the liability that you think it is. You can turn it into some real service for the Lord Jesus Christ. Greater is He that is in you than He that is in the world. You know, I think also, Byron, we struggle with the whole identity thing, right? Our identity is in Jesus Christ, not the job, not the profession, not the hobby, not the interest. The identity is in Christ.

Yeah. Well, you know, in the book of Judges, the story of Gideon exemplifies that God uses who others consider the bottom of the barrel to do those big things. One time, Dr. Rogers said, you know, if you've been a quarterback, raise your hand.

Beta Club, Honor Society, SGA, all these hands went up in the congregation. He said, you know what? Maybe God can use you too.

Right? Because I do. I think God uses the ordinary to accomplish His task. Well, Kerry, it's always our joy to hear from our Love We're Finding listeners to see how the ministry is impacting their walk with Christ.

And I think you have a comment now. This is my grandmother always took me to church. She is the reason I know about Jesus. When she became homebound, she watched Pastor Rogers on TV every single Sunday. When I got older, I strayed from my faith, became addicted to drugs, eventually losing everything. I came back to live with my grandma and began watching Pastor Rogers with her again.

It was our time together, and I will treasure it forever. She passed away two years ago, so when I found myself again, looking for guidance back to the Lord, Pastor Rogers' ministry was one that I could trust. I have grown closer to the Lord than I have ever been. You know, Byron, I think when we hear these testimonies and when we talk to our supporters and listeners and friends of the ministry, it's the trustworthiness of the ministry. It's the integrity of the ministry.

It's absolute truth that they're drawn to. Well, you know, we talked today, you know, can God use me? What can God do with little me? In relation to this ministry, Love Worth Finding, getting the gospel out, having partners that are faithful to this ministry, your little bit adds up to present the message of Jesus Christ to the entire world with Love Worth Finding. Well, that's exactly right. And can I just say this?

This is the perfect time of year to give to Love Worth Finding. I mean, this is our time. And we know that our people have a vested interest in what we do because it's the gospel, and they have the capacity to do something about it. So I just want to throw a challenge, if I can, to say, hey, maybe it's this year that we raise the bar.

Maybe it's this year that we go one step higher. We can never outgive God. But when our people rise to the occasion and they give, and they give unconditionally, we can reach the globe for the kingdom. Well, we want to challenge our Love Worth Finding community to give at this year's end to help share the gospel of Jesus Christ, as Kerry just alluded to. It's through those timeless messages that you hear every day with Adrian Rogers on Love Worth Finding. Call with your calendar year-end gift to 1-877-LOVEGOD. Or you can give online at lwf.org slash radio.

Once again, we thank you so much for your support. Well, with today's message, Inferiority, Part 1, here's Adrian Rogers. Today, we're going to be talking about this matter of inferiority, whether or not you feel inferior or not.

A lot of us do feel inferior, and our friends don't help us. I heard about one preacher at breakfast one morning. He asked his wife. He said, honey, how many really great preachers do you think there are in the world today? She said, I don't know.

But she said, I believe there's one less than you think there is. And we all kind of get put down that way a little bit. And many of us have the idea, you know, God just can't use me. God can use him. God can use her. God can use them. But God can't use me.

We just feel inferior, and we go through life, as it were, just sucking our thumb, sitting in a corner, and feeling inferior. Well, I pray God today that God will use this message to remove that thought from your heart and from your mind. Now, I want to show you that God can use you, and God can use you now, and God can use you where you are, and God can use you with what you have. I heard about a man who sang a song, and when he finished singing, the people sitting out there said, sing it again. So he said to himself, well, I must have excelled. And so he sang it again, and then they said to him, sing it again. So he thought, I didn't know I was that good, but he sang it the third time. The fourth time, they said, sing it again. He said, why?

They said, you're going to sing it till you get it right. Listen, folks, this is material that you definitely need to hear and get etched in your mind and upon your consciousness of how God takes ordinary people, and God does extraordinary things with ordinary people. Now, I want us to begin reading here in 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 26. For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty, and base things of the world, and things which are despised hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not to bring to nought things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence. For of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption, that according as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Now, I don't really know how many of you feel inferior or not today.

I don't know how many of you, some of you may not feel inferior at all, and outwardly speaking, you have no reason to feel inferior. You don't mind if I take a little survey, do you? I want everybody to be absolutely honest. How many people today have been listed in who's who?

If you have, lift your hand. How many who's who's? Hey, pretty good. All right.

Now, how many of you when you were in athletics were all state, all American, or all conference, whatever? Let me see your hands. Wonderful.

All right. How many of you have a doctorate of some kind? A PhD, MD, THD, or whatever?

You have a doctorate of some kind, an earned doctorate. Let me see your hand. All right.

MDs, okay, quite a few doctors. How many of you ladies have been Miss Tennessee, Miss America, Miss Florida, Miss World, Miss Universe, or something like that? Beauty Queens, let me see your hand. Oh, all right, here's one, two, three. All right. How many of you were the president of your high school or college class?

Let me see your hand. Hey, quite a few college class presidents. Wonderful. How many of you were voted most likely to succeed? Well, that's amazing.

That's wonderful, and I'm glad you're here. Now, if you lifted your hand for any of these things or all of these things, I've got wonderful news for you. God can use you, too. But he'll have to work just a little harder to do it. Now, I'm not being facetious.

I'm being serious. Now, listen, God can use you, too. But he'll work just a little harder to do it. Now, let me tell you what God's plan is, and it is a tremendous plan. It is a wonderful, wonderful plan. Now, here's God's plan, and here's the crux of my entire message.

Are you listening? God takes ordinary people and does extraordinary things through ordinary people and gets glory to himself. You understand that? God takes ordinary people and God does extraordinary things through ordinary people, and thereby, God gets glory to himself. Now, the very first thing I want you to notice is what I'm going to call God's simple people. Now, let's look again in verse 27. God hath chosen the foolish things of this world who confound the wise. Now, look at that word, foolish. The word foolish is the word, it comes from the Greek word that we get our word moron from, and it literally means the non-intellectual, those people who were not the head of the class, those people who don't have an IQ of 130, those people who are not PhDs, five beta capitals. God chooses the non-intellectuals to confound the wise, the intellectual topwaters.

All right? And God hath chosen the weak things of the world. Look at that word weak. The word weak here literally means those who are physically weak and what we would call anemic, emaciated, run down without physical strength, even sickly, and to confound the things which are mighty. That is, God uses the non-intellectuals to confound the PhDs. God uses the weak to confound the all-Americans. All right, and the base things of the world.

The word base means ignoble of low degree without the proper pedigree, not a blue blood, people from the wrong side of the tracks. God has chosen the base things of the world and things which are despised. The word here despised means those things that are looked down upon, things that the world scorns and ridicules and actually laughs at, hath God chosen.

And then things which are not, things which are not. You say, pastor, it's not that they hate me. They don't even know I'm here. All right? You're included here.

I mean, if you didn't even come up to the level of being hated, you can still be used. You didn't make who's who. You didn't even make who's not. These are people. They never sing. They never preach a sermon.

They never get their name in the bulletin. They don't even get to lead in silent prayer in the nursery. And nobody knows about them. They're God's little nobodies, things that are not to bring to naught things that are, things that the world thinks are so important that the Bible says these things are just passing away. These are the people, the Bible says, that God has chosen.

These are God's simple people. Now, having said that, I want to say several things to put it in context. Number one, He does not say not any mighty, not any noble a call. You see that? He says not many.

He doesn't say not any. Thank God for the PhDs that love Jesus. Thank God for the movie stars that love Jesus. Thank God for the millionaires that love Jesus. Thank God for the All-Americans that love Jesus. Thank God for the beauty queens that love Jesus.

Thank God for them. And unto whomsoever much is given of the same shall much be required. The apostle Paul was one of these mighty. He was one of these noble. He was a Pharisee, a Hebrew of the Hebrews.

He was one of those learned men of his generation. And he was used of God. And God took that brilliance and used it. But before God could use it, He said, I count all these things but dung that I might win Christ.

Right? He laid them in the dust before the Lord Jesus Christ. And I'm not saying that God does not use people who are extraordinary people. Thank God He does.

All right? Second thing I want to say is that I am not putting a premium upon laziness or mediocrity or half-heartedness when I say that God uses ordinary people. Now, you'd misread me if you thought that if I'm talking about just being lazy and indifferent and expecting God to use you. For example, you may not have mountains of muscles. You may not have bulging biceps. You may not be a towering giant. You may not be the athletic type.

Your body may be sick and weakly. But I'll tell you this much, dear friend. No matter what kind of body you have, every ounce, every inch, every nerve, every fiber, every sinew, every corpuscle must be given to Jesus Christ. Somebody's well said, it doesn't take much of a man to be a Christian. It just takes all there is of him.

You see, anything less than all is not enough for the Lord Jesus Christ. The same thing intellectually. I mean, you may not be brilliant. You may not be witty and have a mind that some people have. They just seem to be so intelligent. You may be like that guy said, I've got a mind like a blotter.

It soaks up everything but then gets it backward. Maybe that's the way you are. You don't have that. Maybe you have an average IQ.

Maybe less than average. But, dear friend, that is no excuse for not studying, right? For the Scripture says we are to study to show ourselves approved unto God a workman that needs not to be ashamed. I heard of a preacher one time had a reputation as being a fox hunter. Wasn't much of a preacher, but he was a good fox hunter. One time a Quaker met him on the street and said, if I were a fox, I would hide me where thee could not find me. The preacher said, where is that? He said, in thy study. Amen?

Oh, we are to study to show ourselves approved unto God. Maybe you don't have the voice box. Maybe you don't have the lung capacity. Maybe you don't have just quite that ear to hear like other people hear. But you know that God has given you a voice and you want to sing for him. Then, dear friend, I don't care what kind of a singer you are. It ought to be your sacred and holy ambition to sing in the Spirit and make your voice make the sweetest sound it can make for Jesus Christ.

Isn't that right? No matter whether you're an ordinary singer or not, whether you're practicing or not, you still need to practice. You need to prepare.

You need to pray. And I'm not talking about laziness. I'm not talking about mediocrity when I tell you that God wants to take ordinary people and do extraordinary things through them. But I am telling you, dear friend, that there is a way in which God is going to get glory to himself by choosing people just like many of us who think of ourselves as being quite ordinary and sometimes thereby thinking that we're going to have to, you know, make guidelines into, quote, while the superstars do their stuff.

Not so, my dear friend. God has been looking for people just like the ordinary average person that comes to church on Sunday morning. Now, so we're thinking, first of all, about what I want to call God's simple people. Now, the Bible says God doesn't just make up his mind that he's going to have to use them. No, God chooses. I mean, God actually goes after these kind of folks.

God chooses. Now, the second thing I want you to notice is God's special power. Now, look, if you will, in verse 30, and you're going to find out, here's the way this thing works. Look in verse 30. But of him, that is, of God, are ye in Christ Jesus.

Now, that's where I am. I'm in Christ Jesus, who of God, that is, Jesus is of God, made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. You see, I am in Christ. Christ is in me.

And if I don't have wisdom, who does have wisdom? Jesus. And he is in me.

If I don't have righteousness, who has righteousness? Jesus. And he is in me.

If I don't have sanctification, who has sanctification? Jesus. And Jesus is in me. And so he is made unto me wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.

That is all I need. He supplies. I may be ordinary.

He is extraordinary. He is in me. And therefore, he does something through me. One of the greatest secrets I've ever learned is this, and I want you to learn it here. I learned it after I was already in the ministry.

Are you ready? It's quite simple, but it's very important. I learned that God didn't want me to do anything for him. He wanted to do something through me. And, folks, that's more than a turn of phrase. That is more than just some slippery way of saying something.

That is a fundamental, basic truth. So I want you to get down in your heart. You see, God wants to do something through you. People say, well, I just serve God in my poor little old weak way.

I feel like saying, well, quit it. He doesn't want you to serve him in your poor little old weak way. He wants you to serve him in his mighty, glorious dynamic way, for the Bible says, it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

You see, it is God that worketh in you. And what we need to do is to make ourselves available to God and say, dear God, I'm tired of being inhibited. I want to be inhabited. And I want you to inhabit my humanity. And I want you to live your life through me. And then I can say, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ that liveth in me.

And the life I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Now, I want us, as we're looking at God's special power, I want you to see how that works out. I want us to use some illustrations from the Word of God. For example, let's think of God choosing the foolish things.

Now, remember I said the word foolish means the non-intellectuals. I think for an illustration I want to use Billy Sunday. Billy Sunday was the evangelist of his day. He was the Billy Graham, the Dwight L. Moody of his day. Now, Billy Sunday was different from Billy Graham. Billy Graham is cultured, erudite, educated, intellectual, not Sunday.

Sunday was an ex-baseball player, a YMCA clerk, that God called into the ministry. He had laughable ideas. He used slang language. Many times he'd do acrobatics on the platform. He would do bizarre things, take a pulpit chair and smash it on the pulpit. Sometimes to illustrate repentance, he'd do a back flip and all of this.

He did strange, weird things. All right, he really did. Don't expect that out of me.

I can't do one. All right, now listen. You say, well, God couldn't use that. It is said that Billy Sunday won over a million men to Jesus Christ. Now, you say, well, that's an exaggeration.

Okay, let's say half a million. Any way you look at it, folks, any way you look at it, he was mightily used of the Lord. And I meet people all over who came to faith in Christ and who are good, solid citizens of the kingdom of heaven who were saved under the ministry of Billy Sunday. Now, many a time, as some man who has all of the accouterments of learning, he has, he's been to seminary, he's got all the polish, all the class, he has all of the background and so forth, hasn't been used like Billy Sunday. And they're perplexed about it. I mean, Dr.

Sounding Brass, Professor Tinkling's symbol. Why doesn't God use him? Why did God use Billy Sunday? Billy Sunday's biographer called him God's joke on the ministry.

And don't mimic those things about Billy Sunday. But I'm just trying to tell you this, that God did that to show that he could take what the world would call something foolish and yet here was a man who loved God and was really just being himself and God took that man, infused that man with his mighty power and he won hundreds of thousands of people to a saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And then the Bible says God had chosen the weak things of the world. Now, remember I told you this word weak means what?

It means physically weak. When we were down in Florida, we thought one time we'd have a thing called a week of champions. We rented a high school gymnasium, brought all the best athletes we knew from all over the United States to come and give their testimony, people from athletes in action, the fellowship of Christian athletes and others, all stars, all Americans, professional football players and so forth to come and give their testimony. It was a great week.

High school students came. These men shared the faith that they had in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, next Sunday, when I preached in my particular church down there and I gave the invitation, a college student came forward. He said, I want to profess faith in Christ. I said, wonderful.

When were you saved? He said, during the week of champions. I said, what night? He said, the night that Paul Anderson was there.

And I thought, boy, that's wonderful. You see, Paul Anderson, legs like barrels, arms like watermelons, he's just a great, big, strong man. He was the strongest man in the world. People ask him, said, well, you ever once a 97-pound weakling? He said, yes, when I was four years old. Just big and strong. And his testimony was basically this.

If the strongest man in the world needs Jesus, so do you. Well, I thought it was a good testimony. But when I asked that student, I said, what night? He said, the night Paul Anderson was there. I said, what was it that Paul Anderson said that really impressed you? He said, I don't even remember what Paul Anderson said. And then he said, it was what so-and-so said. And he mentioned another man's name. I couldn't remember. He said, what date was he? Where'd he come from? Then I remembered he wasn't an athlete at all.

He wasn't even on the program at all. We had a time of free testimony. And in that time of free testimony, a man in a wheelchair rolled himself forward, a paraplegic, in a wheelchair.

He couldn't get on the platform, so some men took the wheelchair and everything and lifted him up. He wheeled around and with a face shining like the noonday sun, told about his faith and his love for the Lord Jesus Christ. And he talked about the joy that he had in the Lord Jesus Christ. That college student said, when I saw that man, when I saw the joy that he had, when I saw the reality of Jesus Christ in that emaciated body, I said to myself, that is reality. I said to myself, if God can do that for that man, maybe he can do something for me. And he said, I gave my heart to Jesus Christ. In that auditorium that night was the strongest man in the world. And God used a paraplegic in a wheelchair to bring a college student to Jesus Christ.

God had chosen the weak things of this world to confound the mighty. And coming up tomorrow, we'll hear part two of this important message from God's word. But today you may have questions about who Jesus is or what he means to you, how to begin a relationship with God through Christ. Go to our Find God's Love page at lwf.org slash radio. You'll find resources there and materials that will answer questions you may have about your faith. Again, go to the website, lwf.org slash radio and click Find God's Love at the top. Well, thank you for studying in God's word with us today. Remember, if you'd like to start receiving daily devotions and links to the program, sign up for our daily heartbeat emails. Find out more at lwf.org slash radio. And join us tomorrow for the conclusion of inferiority, right here on Love Worth Finding.