The Silent Destroyer

Transcript

Week 2 of the series D.I.R.T.Y., from the 11:30 service. Transcribed from the service recording and lightly edited for readability.

Welcome: Week Two of D.I.R.T.Y.

Y'all doing alright this morning? Alright. This is week two of the series we're calling D.I.R.T.Y., and the reason we're calling it that is because we want to confront the sins that pollute our character and cloud our witness.

This 11:30 service, I think, is going to be my opportunity to give you a little deeper insight into me: my mind, how I work. I like this more intimate setting, and you might get some things you won't get at nine o'clock. I'm just going to let you know that right now.

Why We're Talking About Sin

The reason we're doing this series is because a lot of times in church we really don't talk about sin, and not just sin, but how it impacts us. Our goal should be to get closer in relationship with God. But to get closer to God, we've got to deal with the stuff in the middle, and what's in the middle is that dirt. When the windshield on your car is dirty, you can't see clearly. So we've got to get rid of this dirt so we can see clearly.

Insecurity: The Silent Destroyer

So this week we're talking about insecurity, the silent destroyer. The reason it's the silent destroyer is because we don't really think of it as sin.

I'm a Douglas

I'm a Douglas, and if y'all have hung out with any Douglases, we're pretty confident individuals. It's been instilled in us since birth. My dad used to tell me, "Boy, you're a Douglas." When he said that, it meant stand up straight and carry yourself with some pride.

So as a person with a lot of confidence, I still face insecurities. And one of the reasons is that God has tasked me with something unbelievable. When God tasks you with changing the world, it can be daunting. Everything we're going to talk about today, I've had some experience with, because God has challenged me with what I would consider an impossible task, and insecurities can get in the way of that.

Galatians 1:10: Pleasing People or God?

I'm going to read from Galatians in a translation I like. If you've got the Bible app, look for the Plain English translation. It breaks it down in plain English, and I said, "Boy, there's no excuse for us not to get this." Chapter 1, verse 10:

Obviously, I'm not trying to please people. No, I am trying to please God. If I were still trying to please people, I would not be Christ's servant.

We say we're Christ chasers; that's what we're seeking to be. So if we're trying to please people, that's a contradiction. But insecurity ends up being a people-pleasing kind of situation.

Insecurity Warps Your Identity

The first thing we're talking about is that insecurity warps your identity.

Gideon Hiding in the Winepress

There's a story in the Bible about a man named Gideon. God called him out to be the leader of His people, and Gideon said, "But I'm from the lowest tribe. I'm the least." And Gideon hid himself in a winepress. "I ain't going to stand out. You can't make me do it. I'm hiding."

Why? Because we take these things on. Insecurity causes us to see ourselves through our circumstances, not our Creator.

Change the Music, Change the World

Back in the early 2000s, I had a Christian radio station, and our slogan was "Change the music, change the world." Y'all have heard me preach Romans 12:2 over and over. It's one of my favorite scriptures, because it talks about being transformed by the renewing of your mind. We've got to change the way we think to change the way we act. That's how you change the world.

Waking the Sleeping Giant

I know God has called me to wake the sleeping giant, which is the church. And how am I going to wake the sleeping giant? By increasing the consciousness of its people. Talking about being D.I.R.T.Y. is part of increasing the consciousness of our people. But we've got to understand that our identity should be wrapped up in Christ, not our situation.

I'm sitting in a room with fewer than ten people: "God, I'm going to change the world?" But He says, "Proclaim My message. Do what I told you to do. I'll handle the rest." Just like Gideon: "God, I'm going to be the leader of these people? I don't come from the right stock." God says, "Just do what I tell you to do." Our mind is focused on our situation, not our Creator.

God Called You for Your Potential

God called you for your potential, even though you feel unqualified. Because God calls you, you are qualified. He doesn't care how many degrees you have. He doesn't care what school you went to. He doesn't care whether you can read. If He called you to do it, we've got to do it. He isn't looking at a checklist: "Oh no, they ain't got that." He says, "This is the one."

God is the Creator of the universe. When He created you, He already had it in mind. He already knew what situation you'd be in when He called you. So you just have to live into it. When we don't see ourselves the way God sees us, we're stuck.

Your Identity Is Based on His Word, Not Your Feelings

Your identity in Christ is based on His word, not your feelings. I don't always feel holy, but God's word says I am holy. When I look at my bank account, I don't always feel wealthy, but it says my Father owns the cattle on a thousand hills. My Father says you're going to be a lender, not a borrower. It might not look like what you think it's going to look like, but He'll get you there as long as you're obedient and follow what He tells you to do.

Get Out of the Winepress

It's time to get out of the winepress. We're hiding because we're trying to protect our feelings. But God says, "Forget your feelings. Just do what I told you to do."

Insecurity Breeds Comparison and People-Pleasing

Alright, here we go. Here's the second part: insecurity breeds comparison and people-pleasing.

I didn't know how this fit into my life, and God began to give me revelation. "God, why am I insecure? I don't compare myself to other people." But then I remembered that when God gave me the command to go change the world, to impact His people and this country, I said, "I don't know if I can be the next Martin Luther King. I don't know if I can be a Malcolm X. I don't know if I can be one of those great leaders."

He Called Me to Be Me

That was me comparing myself to other people. He didn't call me to be them. He called me to be me. My mission and my activities might look different from theirs, but He says, "Just go and do what I tell you to do. Go and awaken the consciousness of My people so that we can rise." America has been saying it's a Christian nation, but it hasn't lived as one for a long time. He said it's time for us to do something differently.

Your insecurities will have you competing when God called you to serve.

Saul Chasing David

Come here, Saul. You're the king, but you're messing with this shepherd boy. He's there to play the harp and make you feel better, but you feel some kind of way because you know the anointing has left you and gone to him. So you keep fighting him. And a lot of times we fight other people instead of just doing what God called us to do, when the word says God will fight our battles. "Vengeance is Mine," says the Lord.

When David started fighting and had his own soldiers, they sang, "Saul has killed his thousands, and David his tens of thousands." But Saul was still the king. He was still the king, wasting time chasing after David when he should have been doing what God wanted him to do.

Time and time again in scripture, when people got obedient to the word, God changed His mind. There were people God said He would destroy, but they changed their hearts and their actions, and He said, "Alright, I'll let you live." What would have happened if Saul hadn't been fighting David and had started living according to the commands God gave him? He might have had a little more time in that position. But he lost focus, because inside he was insecure. He started focusing on himself instead of on God.

Less Than or Better Than

When you compare, you feel either less than or better than, and both are unhealthy. "I'm just a little bit better than him." A lot of us fool ourselves that way, even in our sin life. "He's sleeping with so-and-so. I'm just looking at dirty magazines. I'm good."

Sin is sin. Sin is separation from God. Whenever we're doing anything that separates us from God, it doesn't matter how close or how far you are. All we should want is to continually reconnect with the Father and get rid of anything that's hindering our blessings.

People-Pleasing Leads to Burnout

People-pleasing leads to burnout and disobedience to your purpose. When we start pleasing people and trying to make people feel better about themselves, we're no longer doing what God called us to do. We're off purpose.

Go back to that word: disobedient. I can still hear my mama: "Boy, why are you so disobedient?" But it's true. We're disobedient to the purpose because we're no longer focused on the task at hand. And then we wonder why we're not blessed. We wonder why God isn't answering our prayers, why God isn't coming through. God is saying, "Your focus is off, and it's off because you're looking at yourself and not Me."

Forget what people are saying. You're going to have your naysayers. You're going to have people who don't believe it's possible. But you don't have to care what they believe. All you have to do is believe what God said He was going to do.

Insecurity Blocks Your Witness

Alright: insecurity blocks your witness. Insecurity convinces you that God's call must match your confidence. God tells you to go speak to someone: "But I don't know what to say." He didn't tell you what to say. He told you to call them.

You might not say anything. You might just say hello, and they go off telling you everything that's going on, getting something off their chest. "Alright, amen, talk to you later." Has that ever happened to you? You call somebody with something to tell them, and they talk the whole time, and you never get to say it. Part of that is because God just needed you to talk to that person so they would know somebody was listening and cared about them. They were probably praying to God for some sign.

Planting Little Seeds

How many times do we miss those little opportunities and then wonder why we aren't getting any blessings? Because we're not doing the little work. We're not doing the small things. We're not planting little seeds here and there. God can't give you a bountiful crop if you never plant any seeds.

If I had a field, I might not be able to pick everything myself, but I'm sure I could push a seed in the ground, and push another seed in the ground, and another. You keep pushing seeds in the ground, something's going to come up.

But our insecurities can keep us from that. And when they do, it's hard to say, "I have faith in the Most High God," when we can't even do the simple task. Fear of what others think causes you to shrink back from being bold about your faith.

God Wants Obedience, Not Perfection

God doesn't need our perfection. He wants our obedience.

Dirty Is Just Disobedience

That's why this week and last week go hand in hand. Deception is also disobedience. Insecurity is also disobedience, because you're focused on you and not on what God called you to do. I don't know if y'all are picking up what I'm putting down, but at the end of the day, sin, D.I.R.T.Y., is just straight disobedience. It's just not doing what God told you to do.

It's simple. I keep telling you, this whole thing is simple. It's about building a relationship with the Creator of the universe. We get the opportunity to enjoy life with the Creator of the universe. All we have to do is realize whose we are, stop focusing on what we think things should be, and focus on God.

"Our Deepest Fear"

Let me read this little poem by Marianne Williamson before I go to my seat:

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.

Come on now, resonate with that. That's insecurity at its highest, because there's something in us that we know is powerful. God put it in us.

And it goes on: playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightening about shrinking so other people won't feel insecure around you. We're meant to shine, and it's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. When we let our light shine, we give others permission to do the same, and as we're freed from our fears, our presence frees others.

That, in essence, is the Christian life. As little kids, we're told, "Let your light shine. Don't hide it under a bushel." But what makes us hide it under a bushel is our insecurities.

Trust God With 100% of You

We have to simply do one thing: trust God. Trust God with a hundred percent of us. And if we can't trust God with a hundred percent of us, go back to week one and just be honest about the lie: "God, I can't trust You a hundred percent right now. You took me through some things I didn't want to go through, and I don't trust You right now. You took my father away, God, and I thought You were going to let him see me do this thing." But God says, "I put you where I put you, and you are going to do what I told you to do, and you are going to change the world."

We're going to let this light shine. And we'll know it's shining by the change in the people around us, because people who are a small flame right now will begin to shine bright. It might be your kid who doesn't want to come to church who ends up lined up, ready to go. It might be your kid who doesn't want to go to school right now who starts shining and is ready to go, and then the schoolhouse catches on fire because they caught fire from you.

God Is Doing Something Here

I'm going to do my best to let y'all see what God is showing me. There are some things that are going to happen. What did I say a couple of weeks ago? The property next door, and the property next to that: God is going to give it to us. It's going to be given to us. And somehow His Way is going to have property all the way to West Montgomery.

God is doing something, and I'm learning that I cannot be insecure about what He's showing me. I just have to step into it. I don't know how it's going to happen. I don't have the money. I don't have the resources. I don't know anybody I can call to make it happen. We don't have members ready to write a check. But God has people lined up, ready to give us everything He has for us. We just have to be willing to surrender our minds and our actions to God and do everything He's calling us to do.

And we're going to have a good old time. We're going to look around for our seat: "Somebody's in my seat." Oh well, we'll make some more room. Because the place is going to fill up. People are going to catch on. It's contagious. We're not going to be insecure anymore. We're not going to be silent. We're waking the sleeping giant. God has given us gifts, talents, and abilities, and we're about to light this world on fire.

Alright, let me go to my seat. Reggie, I had to be here today, man. I was going to let Reggie do both services, but God said, "You've got to do this one too. You've got to be here." So I'm here, and I'm just glad I was obedient to His word, His will, and His way. Amen.

Weekly Challenge

Reflect: Where is insecurity showing up in my life? Is it my image, my calling, or my relationships?

Act: Choose one area this week and walk boldly in the truth of God's word. Speak life over yourself. Remember our series in August, Speak Life? It's all coming together. I'm telling you, in 2026 some things are going to happen.

Pray: "Lord, silence the lies I've believed about myself. Help me stand in who You say I am."

Closing Prayer

Most gracious and heavenly Father, we come before You saying thank You. Father God, I pray that You silence the lies in all of our lives, and that we begin to step boldly into the word You've given us. Father God, I pray that we step so boldly that people think we're crazy. But when it comes to fruition, You will do as You did in Egypt when You freed the slaves, when You said, "Now they will know that I am the Lord." Let our crazy actions let others know that You are the true and living God. Father God, I love You and praise You for all that You're doing and all that You're going to do. It's in the precious and powerful name of Jesus Christ, Your Son and our Savior, that I ask it all. Amen.