Discovering Our Real Needs | Timeless Truths – Dr. Charles Stanley

[Music] [Music] timeless truths a collection of classic sermons from dr charles stanley today's selection recorded in 1998 discovering our real needs [Music] do you have unmet needs in your life well you're not alone because everywhere you turn you're going to meet people who will say yes i do have unmet needs in my life in fact that's the story of all of humanity today but let me ask you a question can you identify what those unmet needs are or is it something you just feel down inside and you can't quite tell what it is and if you do have those unmet needs and all of us do how does that affect your relationship to other people how does it affect relationship to yourself how does it affect your relationship to almighty god how are you going about meeting those unmet needs in your life well what i want to talk about in this passage and in this particular message in this entire series is simply this and that is god can meet those unmet needs in your life he is the one who can meet them no matter what is going on the problem is oftentimes we don't even know what they are but we do have a god who can meet those unmet needs and i want you to turn if you will the philippians chapter 4 and verse 19 and you'll recall that the apostle paul is talking here about how god has blessed him the things that he's learned he's writing this from a prison and he says he's learned to be content in all circumstances he's learned that he can do all things through christ and he's learned also that god will supply all needs and so in this 19th verse as he comes down to the latter part of this last chapter here's what he says and my god shall supply all your need listen all your needs according to his riches in glory in christ jesus and that is a very simple promise it's an awesome promise if you now look at it and there's a way that you and i have to claim those promises from god so what i'd like to talk about in this message is this and that is discovering the real need god can listen god can meet all of our unmet needs but the issue is do i understand what they are how to discover those unmet needs so i want to begin this particular message by simply asking the question and talking about this facet of and that's this how do we identify what these unmet needs are if i don't identify them properly then i won't even know whether god's answered them or not if i don't know what those needs are i won't know how to go about asking god to meet those needs if you'll notice in this passage what he says he says my god shall supply all your needs according this riches in glory in christ jesus well the two issues here that we have to deal with number one we have to distinguish between needs and desires if there is a need the the key word in need is something that is essential something that is required in order for us to become the persons god wants us to be or to do the things god wants us to do or to fulfill his particular plan and purpose and will for our life so those things would fall in under the category of needs and then of course there's the whole idea of desires desire the key word is enjoyment something that god wants to provide for my life there's nothing wrong with having desires because he says that if you and i obey him he says there'll be no want god will provide not only the needs of our life but he'll also he'll also provide those desires that we have that fit into god's plan and purpose for our enjoyment and pleasure of life if it is a need certainly god has promised to meet those needs and certainly if it is a desire i have a legitimate right to ask god lord here's what i would like to have or here's some form of enjoyment here's some pleasure i'd like to participate in knowing that if it's not listen if it is unscriptural god's not going to answer that prayer if it is unscriptural and god were to give it that wouldn't be god being good god is good and because of his goodness he gives us not only what we need but he also gives us what we desire when what we desire is good for us he said there'll be no want to those who obey him who fear the lord and to fear him means to obey him and so if i if i am committed to being obedient to him i can ask him whatever i will and i know that if i'm walking in obedience to him what i'm going to ask will be his will and if it is not he will show me that it's not and he will show me what i do have the privilege of asking for so the first thing we have to do is distinguish between needs and those desires the second thing we have to deal with here is this and that is we have to distinguish between what are surface or external needs and what are internal needs that is what what's needs in my life are internal and what are external now most people spend most of their time trying to deal with external needs surface needs for example what we wear what we drive where we live saving our money so our kids can go to college automobiles all those things that we need all those very definite needs and there's nothing wrong with those in fact god certainly understands that he said in that sixth chapter of matthew the sermon on the mount he said don't be anxious for all these things food clothing and shelter he said don't be anxious don't strive for these because your father knows what you have need of and the apostle paul said here in this fourth chapter philippians that there was a time also when he had need and he was commending them he said for example he said i know how to get along with humble means i know how to get along with prosperity in every circumstance i've learned the secret of being filled and going hungry both of having abundance and suffering need so therefore god understands that we have needs and he desires to meet those needs now the issue is this am i only interested in god meeting my external needs surface needs themes material and physical things that we talked about or am i equally as interested and do i realize that it may be that my true genuine need is not something external it's not material it's not physical but something internal maybe it is a spiritual need some emotional need i do believe that most people spend probably 95 of their time trying to deal with external needs material needs physical needs never realizing that what is motivating the very desire for some physical and material need is a is a spiritual need an emotional need an internal need on the inside they never even thought about and even if they thought about it they'd probably be scared to death to even begin to consider it for example maybe what's going on inside of you is a as a sense of rejection and oftentimes people shut that down immediately the very idea of looking on the inside to discover what's really motivating us what's really driving us sometimes is a very frightening thing and so therefore they suppress it they deny it they get busy whatever it might be anything but deal with the true need on the inside that motivates them and drives them now what i want to do is i want to talk about the three essential universal needs that every single person has needs that god has placed into the life of every person and underlying those three awesome needs that god has given all of us is an underlying foundational need so what i'd like to do is to talk about these three needs remember what the apostle paul said he said my god shall supply all your needs according to this riches in glory in christ jesus now but if i don't know what they are i won't even know how to pray about them if i don't know what they are i won't even ask about them i'll be asking about things that on the surface that appear to be our needs so i want to give you three words the first word is belonging god is placed in every single person a desire and a sense of belongingness we all want to belong god implanted that in the life of every one of us and so you look for example in the very first book of the bible when god created man and he created all the animals and all the creation and so forth everything that god had done he said it's all good except one thing adam is alone he needs somebody with whom he can belong to them and they can belong to him someone who can speak his language someone with whom he can be intimate someone with whom he can feel oneness with and so what did god do god gave him a woman eve and so you look at the whole creation and from that point on we see that god has given to to adam a person with whom he can belong and then you go down through the down through the scriptures and down to the centers and what do you find you find not only did he give adam eve but he created the family and so we all belong to a family we want to have this feeling of belonging to a family well that wasn't enough for example we all have we belong to a nation and of course most of all we belong to the church that is the body of christ all of us who believe us we belong to the most awesome organization the most awesome entity there is that is the body of christ jesus christ is the lord of the church he's the head of the church every single believer belongs to the body of christ now it has nothing to do with denominations though you may choose to belong to a particular denomination there's nothing wrong with that but ultimately we belong to the body of christ and if you'll think again also the bible says that you and i belong to the family of god that is we are all sons and daughters of the living god so this whole idea of belonging is very important to god he's the one who's placed that desire in our heart that we belong so if i should say to you name me one need that god has placed in everybody's life universally it's there what is it belonging the second one the second need now watch this and that is worthiness that we that there that we have a sense of worth about us and by that i simply mean this we can say you know i'm good now that does not mean i'm good enough to be saving in myself it means i'm somebody worth knowing you're somebody worth knowing you're somebody you're being somebody worth knowing does not have anything to do with anything else except that you're a person you you are a worthy person and you see when a person does not feel a sense of worth they have all kinds of problems when somebody rejects you it is islam not only against your sense of belonging but also against your sense of self-worth because it says i must be a nobody i must be a nobody or they would invite me in i must not i must not be worth anything and many many people go through life never feeling that they are worth knowing that they are worth loving and oftentimes this is a reason i i know in my heart the reason that oftentimes people will never be able to love or be loved is because they don't feel worthy of it so what do they do if you don't feel worthy here's what you do you start building up walls and you build walls and build walls and build walls until finally listen not only can not anybody get in because you don't want them in if they got in they would find out how unworthy you are and uh therefore how inadequate you are and therefore they wouldn't like you so you build a wall around you you keep them out but when you build that wall to keep them out what are you also doing you're building a wall around yourself to imprison yourself to keep yourself in you are a worthy person you know how i know that here's what god says he says we are listen this we are his workmanship god doesn't make any junk we are his workmanship created in christ jesus under good works which he foreordained that you and i should walk in them we are persons of listen that word workmanship means persons of notable excellence you said well i've never felt that a way in my life has nothing to do how you feel it has to do with who god says you are what you have to decide is you're going to believe what god says about you are you going to believe what somebody says about you and remember this they change their opinion about you about every other day people change their opinions that's why when when when people say well you know i'm just real concerned about what people think well you can forget that you'll never have into peace and happiness in your life because your sense of self-worth has nothing to do with that now what is the first leg on this tripod of absolute essential needs in life what's the first one belonging what's the second one worthiness and the third one is competence that is i can god has given to every single one of us a sense of competence now i can't do everything that other people can do but he has given all of us he desires that you and i succeed in whatever we do in life and competence says you know i can do that god has given us a sense of comfort he wants us to feel listen adequate now you say well now wait a minute now didn't you preach a sermon on on the blessings of inadequacy absolutely correct but i want you to notice something the apostle paul said we are so inadequate but in christ jesus we're adequate what did paul say in philippians chapter 4 verse 13 he said i can do all things through christ who strengthens me his sense of adequacy was not within himself but was because of his relationship to christ and so what did god do in order to make us sense and feel adequate here's what he did you remember what he said to his disciples he said now don't leave town until the spirit of god has anointed you and filled you don't leave town without him and so they didn't they waited until the spirit of god anointed them filled them up and so from that moment on the holy spirit has come to dwell every single believer so you say well now isn't that sort of egotistical no listen to this carefully when you trust the lord jesus christ as your personal savior the bible says not only are your sins are forgiven and you're brought back into a right relationship with god but the scripture says the holy spirit one of the persons of the trinity comes into your life and he says he seals you unto the day of redemption he seals you as a child of god for that moment when god takes you home he's living on the inside of us now if you will examine what the bible teaches about the holy spirit here's what you'll discover i've said this before and i'm going to keep on saying this because it's so important every single work of the holy spirit with no exception is directed toward an area of our life where we have a need that we ourselves cannot fulfill that's why i sent him listen he sent the holy spirit in order that you and i may become the persons god wants us to be and to be able to do the things that god wants us to do god listen he desires that you and i feel competent when we say to someone you can't do that what we're saying is you're not confident i know god says you are but you're not now we all have to learn skills we all have to practice we all have to learn those things but to say to somebody you can't well how do you know they can't and it's interesting how many people keep breaking all kinds of athletic records someone 10 years ago would have said you can't do that and somebody may say to a 17 year old boy well you'll never be able to jump that high nobody's ever jumped that high just let him grow up let him practice let him work at it you see you listen god has made you competent he has made you capable he has made you adequate to do in christ jesus and through your relationship to him do well everything god will call you to do you are adequate you are competent now if you say you know i feel so unworthy i don't feel like i belong i feel rejected i feel unwanted i feel shut out i feel isolated i feel all these things then you see you can take all these passages of scripture one after the other one after the other and look at all these passages and read them and read them and read them but you know what until you discover that basic underlying need that's motivating you challenging and driving you you'll never have any peace you'll always be looking for acceptance and always be looking for some you see if you're living your life and you go to work in the morning and your antennas are out for some compliment because the way you look you know what suppose everybody's real business they don't pay attention to you is that going to is that going to give you a bad day all day or suppose you don't do the best job possible one day does that mean that you failed no it may have meant you had a bad day that day everybody has difficult days on days and off days or on weeks and off weeks whatever it might be what i want you to see is this our needs our unmet needs are so often those things that are deep down inside of us that have nothing to do with appearance performance or status there's nothing to what we wear or what people think about us it has to do with our relationship to god now look at this we have a need to belong so what did he do he sent his only begotten son and saved us and made us one of his children put his loving arms around us and he says that you're not going to belong to him forever and ever and ever what can separate us from the love of god he lists these things the ultimate conclusion is nothing so my sense of belonging is wrapped up in an intimate relationship with him no matter what somebody else thinks somebody says well my sense of self-worth your sense of self what's wrapped up in a relationship to him what do you see this is why he sent jesus christ to the cross listen the greatest expression in the whole world time and eternity of your worth is the cross the crucifixion of jesus that says you'll worth everything to god don't deprive him of yourself your sense of confidence he sent the holy spirit to enable you to do anything and everything that the will of god desires for you to do and plans for you and purposes for you to do so watch this if my emotional health is wrapped up in my sense of number one is what belonging number two is what worthiness number three is what confidence all of that rest on an eternal foundation what is that almighty god you see it all rest upon a relationship with him if you have an intimate relationship with him you know what what somebody thinks about you is going to last about that long whether you blow it at some particular area not that's not you know what i'll do about it tomorrow and whether you whether you have people's approval has nothing to do with your worth i want you to remember this your sense of self-worth your listen your sense of belonging and your sense of confidence listen to this carefully it's wrapped up in a personal relationship with jesus christ so therefore if i want to be a whole person if i want to be an emotionally and spiritually whole person what am i going to do i'm going to first of all trust the lord jesus christ as my savior that means that i'm going to accept what god says about him that he's the son of god who came into this world to die on a cross he took my sin dead and fully and paid it in full made me very very worthy when he did that and the moment i receive him as my personal savior i become a child of god then what happens my sense of worth and my sense of belonging and my sense of confidence is not listen is now related to a person who will never disappoint me who will listen who will never cast me out who will never think i'm unworthy and who will never make me incompetent why because he's a loving god who wants the best and has provided the best for us now let me ask you a question on the basis of all of this what is the deepest need you have in your life if you've never trusted jesus your deepest need is a personal relationship with him through christ that's the first need if you are a child of god and you've thought about the surface and external needs that you have but you've also begun to think this morning about those internal those those things down inside that have bothered you for a long time and maybe you never you just didn't even want to deal with them you didn't want to face them what is the mo listen what is the most troubling unmet need in your life right now are you willing to look are you willing to open it up and say god show me what is this need in my life why do i feel what i feel why do i feel so hurt why do i feel so shut out why do i feel such pain why am i so driven he'll show you you say well if i just confess that is it over no now listen very carefully you see feelings and attitudes that we've had for years and years and years and years and years just because you recognize it you open up and recognize it doesn't mean that you're healed the healing process begins when you say god i felt rejected all of my life but i realized today that you've accepted me you accepted me because of my relationship to christ king james version is best on this it says accept it in the beloved why are you not accepted before god because of our relationship to him that's why we're accepted i just want to challenge you to be willing to examine your heart your emotions your feelings to find out what's the real need and remember this our heavenly father is going to meet that need he's going to show you how to think right about who you are and how he wants to operate in your life you know what you're going to get free you're going to get liberated you're going to begin to be able to look anybody square in their face and know in your heart listen i am somebody important in the eyes of god i am confident to do whatever god wants me to do and most of all i belong to my heavenly father you know what friend you will get set free for the asking you will get set free and so that's what i want to pray for you right now father in jesus name i pray the holy spirit will take this simple message drive it home to the heart of every person who has heard it and who will hear it that you will grant courage to every single person to look inside examine allow you to show them what those needs are and then assure them you will meet those needs you will set them free they will become the persons you ordain them to be but we ask it in jesus name and for his sake [Music] amen

Channel: In Touch Ministries

Views: 131,746

Rating: 4.9198647 out of 5

Keywords: Charles F. Stanley, Charles Stanley, In Touch with Dr. Charles Stanley, In Touch Ministries, Preaching, Bible teaching, Dr. Stanley, Intouch ministries, intouch

Id: aieRRKVzR0A

Length: 24min 17sec (1457 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 05 2021