Know Who You Are

Sermon Transcript

Amen. Amen. So I encourage you this morning to open up your bible to first corinthians, chapter one. First Corinthians, chapter one. We're going to be in verses four through nine today.

Okay. Last week we started this book. We began to take a look at what it looks like to live a godly life in a godless culture. And as Paul writes to the Corinthians, he starts by talking about his gifting as an apostle for starting ministries and mobilizing people for ministries. We talked about the importance that when God wants to establish a hub in a community to glorify himself and build the kingdom, he establishes a church to do that, and then he pours out his mercy and grace and peace into that community of people.

Now, just so you know, because we spent a lot of time last week talking about the church and what it is and what it isn't, just so you know, and you need to hear this, because I. I sometimes think about things after I preach. I'm like, I should have said that. So I'm saying it this week. Hear me on this.

The church has never, ever hurt you. Did you hear what I said? The church has never, ever hurt you. Now, you're here today, so you may not be feeling that, but there's a lot of people who don't go to church. Go like church.

Hurt me. I'm here to tell you the church never hurt you. Now, there were people in that church, perhaps, who weren't acting like Christ that may have hurt you. There was maybe a pastor somewhere along the line that wasn't living out his identity in Christ that may have hurt you. There may have been somebody in a small group that may have hurt you.

There may have been some people in a group that weren't living like Christ that hurt you. But no church has ever hurt you. The church is Jesus Christ's bride. It's his love. It's who he loves.

It's who he died for. It's who he's coming back for. You are a part of the body of Christ, and the church is God's vehicle for getting it done. Amen. So, as Paul's writing to this church in Corinth, it's really interesting, because he's writing to this group of people.

And what I want to talk to you about today is your identity in Christ. Did you hear what I said? Your identity in Christ. Now, here's why that's important. It's really important.

Cause you get this one right, your christian life will soar. It will be one of the most exhilarating things for you to be a Christian. You get this wrong, your christian life will be a strain. It will be a burden. It will become difficult.

It'll be frustrating. You will probably cycle around in patterns of sin and back to forgiveness and trying to live it, but never being able to do it. And you're like, I'm tired of this christian thing. Get this right. You won't live that way anymore, okay?

I'm talking about your identity. It's knowing who you are. Now, it's interesting. These first nine verses in first corinthians are very, very important. Let me tell you why.

Because there's 437 verses in the book of first corinthians. We're going to go through them all. Only the first nine are really encouraging verses, okay? That means 2% of the book is really, really encouraging. The rest of the book is going to be exhortation, correction, rebuke, teaching things that people aren't getting right and how to get it right.

And if you get these first nine verses right, that God has established his church and that you are saints and that your identity rests in him, then when you hear some of the correction and exhortation, you'll be encouraged, knowing I can live this out, this is what God wants me to do. If you miss these first nine verses, this entire book is going to feel like a big, heavy weight on your shoulders. So it's important that you listen to this. Now, if you've heard about identity, I got identity. I wish I hadn't come to church.

Move on to the next. Then you don't understand identity because it is the most thrilling message of the christian faith. If you get this thing right, okay? I could hear this message 100 times over and over and over and never, ever get tired of hearing this message, okay? So open your heart to receive what God says.

Cause there's three things that God wants you to know about your identity in Christ. So from first corinthians, chapter one, starting in verse four, let me just read this passage because it's a shorter section of scripture, and let me read it to you so you can hear it, and then we'll unpack it together. Paul writes to them and says, I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus, that in everything, you were enriched in him, in all speech and all knowledge, even as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you, so that you are not lacking in any gift, awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will also confirm you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful through whom you were called into fellowship with his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Now, in those short verses, God is going to unpack for us what our identity in Christ looks like and why it's so important for us.

And the first thing I want you to think about today when you consider your identity in Christ is this. When you consider your identity in Christ, live thankfully. Live thankfully. You are not the same. Live thankfully, you're not the same as you used to be.

Okay. In your christian life. Are you living thankfully? No. Notice what Paul says.

Now let me set this thing up. Paul is writing to a church, to a group of people who are sexually immoral, many of them who are selfish, many of them who are factious, many of them who can't seem to get marriage right, who can't seem to get their singleness right, who can't even get the order of worship services right, who can't figure out anything. And what is he doing? He says this to this group of people, I thank my God. How often does he thank him?

What's your Bible say? Okay, for the two of you that are actually reading a Bible, okay, that's great. What about for the rest of you? I thank my God. What?

Say it really loud. Always. I thank my God always. Always. When I consider you, I'm so thankful in my soul, not just some of the time, but always.

You know how powerful that statement is. Always think about every christian you know. When you consider every christian you know. Do you thank God always concerning that person? That's rhetorical.

I don't need to hear everybody shout, no, right? Do you thank God always? Paul does. Now, how is he able to do that? He says, why?

I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus. I'm not necessarily thanking my God because of your behavior. I'm not necessarily thanking my God because you're doing what he wants. I'm not necessarily thanking God because I'm pleased with everything I'm hearing, but I am thanking God always, every time I consider you. Because Jesus Christ extended his grace to you and because Jesus Christ made you alive, and because Jesus Christ loves you, I am so thankful that we're all in the same family of God.

How about that? When you think about, well, I got this identity thing licked, I know it. If you do, you'll be thankful for every single person that's confessed Jesus Christ as their personal lord and savior, every single one the christian that doesn't even like you, you're thankful for the grace of God in them. The Christian who has gossiped about you, you're thankful to God, even for the grace he's given to them. You're thankful because of what God has done.

And notice what he says about this grace. I mean, this grace is incredible. It says this. This grace which was given you in Christ Jesus, it means it's done. God's already given grace to everybody that's confessed Jesus Christ as their personal lord and savior.

It means when you confess Jesus Christ as your personal lord and savior, God gives you the full measure of his grace and who he is in your life. It's a done deal. Now, let me tell you what happens when you become a Christian. And perhaps you're here today and say, I don't even think I am a Christian. I don't even know what it means to be a Christian.

Let me explain to you what being a Christian is. Being a Christian is when you recognize that God is the God of the universe. And his son, Jesus Christ, came as fully God and fully man and died on the cross in your place for all your sin and rose from the dead. And you admit to yourself and you admit to God, yeah, I'm a sinner. I don't measure up to your glory.

But I believe that Jesus Christ is Lord, and he died on the cross for my sins. And he rose from the dead. And I'm gonna confess him with my mouth. I'm gonna tell him that he's my lord. He's my personal lord and savior.

When that happens, God pours his grace into the life of every individual that trusts in Christ. And so we'll say things like this. You take all your sin and you bring it to God, and you're forgiven. You take all your brokenness and you bring it to God, and he makes you whole. You know, you were once lost, and now you're.

What? Say it with me. Found. You were once dead, and now you're what? Say it with me.

I'm alive. I got his life. I was once physically and spiritually especially sick. And now I'm healed. I'm made whole in Christ.

And let me tell you what happens at the cross. There's something that happens at the cross that is so powerful that the devil doesn't want you to know about it. Okay, here's what happens at the cross. There's a divine exchange that takes place. It's all your deadness and all your sin and all your lostness for the fullness of all of Christ's life and all of Christ's love and all of his grace.

You're not the same anymore. If you have been crucified with Christ, it's no longer you who live but Christ who lives within you. You are a new creation. The old is gone. Behold, all things have been made new.

Do you get what I'm saying? Because there's many people who are genuinely believers who would say, I've trusted in Jesus for the forgiveness of my sins. I believe he's the lord of the universe who still see themselves as what they were before they were even saved. You're not the same now. God in his grace has chosen that when we trust in him for the forgiveness of our sins and we believe in him as our Lord, that all the change takes place from the inside out.

I mean, it would have been cool like if when you trusted Jesus Christ. I mean, God just gave you like this physically handsome body if you're a man, or just this beautiful body if you're a woman. And maybe I had long flowing hair and a big c on my chest and everybody looked like, hey, man, until you're a Christian, yeah, I've totally changed. I'm new. God doesn't change our outside, but fundamentally on the inside, everything changes.

You are not the same. You're not the same. I don't think you're listening to me. I'm trying to tell you something. You're not the same.

You're not the same person you were before you trusted Jesus Christ. You're not now. Satan knows this, and Satan knows that when you give your life to Jesus Christ, you're marked with him in a seal, with the seal of the Holy Spirit, guaranteeing your deposit into the kingdom of God, guaranteeing you're deposited into heaven. It's a done deal. Satan knows all this.

You know what he does? He lies to you. John 844 says he's the father of lies. So what does he do? He knows he's lost you for all eternity, but he's going to lie to you and tell you that you haven't.

You're not really God's, and he's going to lie to you and tell you that you're not really who God says that you are. You know what it's called? It's identity theft. You ever familiar with this one? It's one of the most growing crimes in our society.

It's identity theft. It's when somebody takes your personal information and makes an identity out of that and then uses your money. Money for themselves. I got a letter about two months ago from a company called Home Depot. You ever heard of that company, Home Depot?

Why would I ever shop at Home Depot? Home Depot is a do it yourself store. I mean, Home Depot, I mean, I bought light bulbs there because that's the one do it yourself job I found that I'm fairly good at. I don't shop at Home Depot. I open up this bill, it's several hundred dollars.

I'm like, I never shopped at Home Depot. But that was okay because it had my wife's name on it, that she had spent several hundred dollars at Home Depot. And I'm thinking, I wonder why? Because she knows I can't do anything if she brings it home. So as I looked a little closer, I'm like, not only was it she shopped at Home Depot and spent several hundred dollars, it was a store in Phoenix, Arizona.

So we just had a little talk. I was like, hey, did you go to Home Depot and spend several hundred dollars in Phoenix? Clearly she didn't. So I called up Home Depot and I said, hey, listen, I really appreciate your store. I love that you support college game day on football Saturdays.

I think you're great. But I don't shop at your store because I can't do anything myself. And I know that I didn't buy anything at your store and I know my wife didn't buy anything at your store. Help. So they gathered a little bit of information and they said, sir, we'll take that off your charge.

Don't even worry about it. And I said, well, what are you going to do? I mean, somebody robbed me. What are you going to do? We'll take care of it.

I'm like, well, let's take care of it together. She's like, we can't share that information, but just trust we'll take care of it. I said, okay, this week I got a letter from Home Depot saying, we found the perpetrators and you're cleared and we're taking care of it. And I was like, now that's just a money issue. That's not that big of a deal, right?

Spiritually, it happens every day to christians all around the world where Satan will lie to you and rob you of your identity and tell you lies in your ear and tell you things that you're not as though you were. And it's hard to live, thankfully, and it's hard to enjoy God if deep down in my soul I feel like I'm a total loser and I'll never get things right. When you trusted Jesus Christ, you have everything you need, right? It's a done deal. You belong to him.

And if you see yourself the way God sees you, and you'll call yourself the way God sees you, it will change who you are. Changes who you are. See, we've all been given access to our heavenly father. Now here's what the devil does. The devil will always lie to us and tell us.

No, you don't. You call yourself a Christian. I mean, you do. That's cool. You go to church.

I mean, nobody knows this because you stand there with your hands above your head. But we both know that you're sexually immoral. You're a fornicator, you're an adulterer. You're looking at porn on the Internet. I mean, you can raise your hands and say you're pure and sing whatever you want, but the devil says.

You and I both know you're none of those things. Yeah, you call yourself a Christian, but you and I both know you're anorexic and bulimic. You and I both know that after meals, you throw up all the time. We know that God doesn't like you. Mm hmm.

Hey, you call yourself a Christian. That's really cool. But you and I both know that you're addicted to drugs or alcohol, and it's just part of who you are, and it's never gonna let go. You've tried everything, and we both know that. So, I mean, you can pretend you're a Christian, but you and I both know you're not going anywhere in this life.

Hey, you can call yourself a Christian, but we all know that God didn't really gift you the way that he's gifted other people. And so you're kind of that low, second class Christian, and you'll never measure up. Keep trying. But nobody's ever going to invite you in to do anything for God because you're a loser. We both know that.

Do you ever hear that lie? I hear lies like that every single day. And so do you. Because Satan knows if he's lost you forever, the only thing he can do is lie to you. And the only way that you can lose your identity is if you listen to him.

And you don't need to fight him. The Bible doesn't say, fight him and yell at him. And no, you resist him. You resist him. You stand firm in the faith.

How do I resist him? I resist him by replacing the lie with what the truth is. So when Satan comes and says no, you're an anorexic no, I'm not. I have royal blood running through my veins. That's who I used to be, but now I'm a daughter of the most high God.

No, you don't get it. You're addicted to drugs and alcohol. I mean, we could talk about where you were last night. No, you don't understand. I have royal blood running through my veins.

That's who I used to be. But now I've been sanctified, set apart, and I'm holy. And God dearly loves who I am. That's who I am. When you begin to live your identity with who you actually are and call yourself the way God actually sees you, you will start growing into the fullness of your identity.

If you get this wrong, you're going to see how God calls you to be holy. And you're gonna look at your life and say, I never will be. And who are you gonna get mad with? You're gonna get mad at God. Cause you're gonna read the bible and God's gonna say, be perfect.

Therefore, as your heavenly father is perfect, be holy as I am holy. And you're not gonna do it. And devil's gonna lie, and you're not holy. You're anything but holy. And blame God because he's the one that holds that standard that you can never live up to.

And who do you get mad at? You get mad at the very God who is the one who saved you, who says you actually can live it out. That's what Satan does. But if I understand that when Christ came out of the tomb, Christ came out perfect, Christ came out whole. And when I trusted in him, I got the full whole Jesus through his holy spirit.

Living in me the way God sees me is perfect, adopted, holy, forgiven, set free. That's who I am. Now, I may not always live that out, but that's who I am. And if I see myself as a saint who's holy, who sometimes sins, then my confession looks more like this. God, you created me to be perfect in your sight.

You're living in me, and I didn't live out what you wanted me to do. And lord, I confess to you I was wrong, because I want to live out my sainthood. That's very different than living as a sinner saved by grace. I'm just a worm. I'm nobody.

I'm terrible. I'm horrible. I'm going to screw this up again and again, and the sin will never, ever leap. You see what I'm saying? That's called identity theft.

Satan doesn't want you to know that Christ lives in you. Satan wants you to think it's your job to make yourself holy. Satan wants you to think it's your job to get rid of your bad behaviors. Satan wants you to think you gotta struggle and strive to get there. He doesn't want you to understand that the way God sees you is already complete in him and that you already have everything that you need.

Amen.

All right, so for the 43 of you that heard me, I'm going to say it again because some of you come in here. I'm just telling you because I do counseling. You're not worthy of God. You're divorced. You're not worthy of God.

You had an abortion that nobody knows about. You're a murderer. You're not worthy of God. You never had a good parent, so how would you ever be able to parent? You could never be a good father.

You could never be a good mother. How do you think you could ever teach school when you're dumb? I mean, you hear those lies, that's Satan lying to you. God says, I loved you enough to die for you and get out of that grave for you. And I've given you everything you need and you're complete in me.

Quit listening to the lie of the enemy. Amen. Your love. Thank you. That's what God says to you.

That's the beauty of salvation. Because some people think salvation is just, Christ set me free. And, you know, between now and the time I die, which is probably a long time, it's just gonna be a struggle. I'll slug it out. But I know I'm going to heaven even though it's going to be a long time.

Now, if you understand your identity, it makes Christianity really, really exciting because God looks at you as complete and perfect and loved. I mean, the voice of God says stuff like this. Your beloved, your chosen before the foundation of the world, before you were informed in your mother's womb, I chose you and I set you apart and I called you and I redeemed you and you're mine. I love you with an unconditional love. I already knew all the things that you're struggling with that you think I can't forgive.

But I want you to know, 2000 years ago I already forgave him on the cross. I already died for that. Why are you carrying it around anymore? I love you unconditionally. Be filled with my spirit.

Let me live through you. I'm not asking you to do the work. I'm asking you to relinquish it so I can do the work through you. And when that's the case, man, there's freedom in that. I can live.

Thankfully for that now. I got saved when I was 18. When I was 18, I got saved. And the Holy Spirit came and resonant inside of me. I knew that.

I knew that. I knew I was saved. But it took about four or five years until I started walking out my identity. I didn't know how to do that. So I saw myself as Jeff, who had sinned all these sins, who is now Jeff, who was going to heaven, who was still sinning all the sins, probably even worse than he did, than before he got saved.

And then I started hearing truth like this, that, no, God sees me different. I'm a new creation. I'm not the Jeff I used to be. God sees me as something new that he wants me to walk in. And when you begin to live thankfully, and you begin to thank God that you have royal blood, and thank God that you're a daughter of the king.

And thank God that you're a son of the king. And thank God that he invites you into his inner sanctum so to and says, hey, come to me, let's hang out. I'm the king of the universe. I just want you to know I love you and you're totally complete in me. And I got purpose for your life.

And I think you're awfully special. And I got things that you can do that only you can do, but I'm gonna do them through you so you don't have to even do anything. Let me do the work through you. That's exciting stuff. That makes Christianity fun.

Cause now when Jesus says, be holy, therefore, as I am holy, I realize I am holy. Cause God says that I am and Christ is in me, which is who makes me holy. So Jesus, go to work on my holiness and let me live out who I actually am. It's awesome. It's awesome.

Live. Thankfully, you're not the same. You are not the same. If you've trusted in Jesus Christ and you believe the lie for a long time, I'm a little different. I know I'm going to heaven, but I still sin all the stupid same sins I did, sometimes even worse.

You're missing your identity. You're letting Satan rob who you truly are. You're forgiven, you're whole, you're found, you're alive, you're healed, you're his. Amen. And amen.

And amen. Now listen to this. If you can live thankfully, because you're not the same. Then how about this one? Live confidently.

Live confidently. You have everything you need. Live confident. What's it mean to live confidently? Can I tell you?

When I went to high school as a 9th grader, it was very different walking through those Hollywood halls as when I went to high school as a senior in high school. I mean, when I was walking through a 9th grade, I was wondering, like, is somebody gonna throw a punch at me? Is one of the older football players gonna do this? Is there really such thing as an elevator pass for $10? Do I need one of those things right when I'm walking through as a 12th grader, I'm walking through confidently.

This is my school. This is my hallway. This is where my locker is. This is where, you know, you take orders from me, right? I mean, I walk differently.

When you understand your identity that Satan has been crushed beneath the feet of the Lord, you no longer need to listen to his lies. Satan will still lie to you. Trust me, he lies to me all the time. But now you can just walk confidently. That's not who I am.

I'm a child of the most high God. I'm a son of the king. He loves me unconditionally. That's just who I am. And I'm receiving that.

And when I receive that and walk in that, God begins to do some amazing things. Notice what he says. Paul's writing this to this group of people that don't think that about themselves. He's writing to a group of people that says, that may be true of my neighbor sitting next to me, but that's not me. Notice what he says in verse five.

That in everything. Does it say that in your Bible, everything is all things? That in everything you were enriched in him. That means in everything you were made rich in him, it means you're a co heir with the Lord Jesus Christ. He shares all of his glorious riches with you, according to Romans.

I mean, you're his. You have it all. Everything. Notice what he says. You have everything.

You are enriched in every way, in all speech and knowledge. Now when God calls you to do something, can I just tell you this on the authority of God's word? You already have everything you need to accomplish it. Okay? So, Christian, I'd love to share my faith with my neighbor, but I wouldn't know what to say.

I don't know anything and I wouldn't know what to do when I got there. Mm hmm. That's why God put it in the Bible. How about you just go talk to your neighbor and when you get there, I'll give you the knowledge and the voice so you know what to say, and you know how to say it, because I've given you everything. See, that's called faith.

Faith is when you begin to believe that God will come through and give you everything that you need. When you need it. I mean, it's not just gonna come to you. I mean, it's all there. It's all.

He's all in you. The Holy Spirit's a person. He's the third person of the Trinity. So all of him resides in you, and he's given you all knowledge that you need for what you need to accomplish. He's given you all the gifts that you need to accomplish what you want to do, and he's given you all speech to do it.

He can do it. You might say, I can't do it, but my God can. And when you begin to live that way, you will step out in faith, knowing that in certain situations, God, if you don't give me knowledge in this situation or you don't give me the words in this situation, I'm gonna look like a bumbling idiot. I don't even know what to do. But you're calling me to do this, so I'm gonna go do that.

You're calling me to forgive this person. I know they don't even like me, so I'm gonna trust you for the words, and I'm gonna trust you for the how to. And then when you're ready, I'm gonna go do that. But if you sit around and you wait. Cause many christians do this their whole christian life, which is sad.

I'm not really an evangelist. I'm more of an introvert. You know, I'm not a people person. That's cool. Introverts still have friends.

You may have four or five deep ones, rather than being gregarious with 500, that's cool. But who's God calling you to share with, and who's God calling you to speak with? Maybe it's a son or daughter. Maybe it's a parent. Maybe it's a grandparent.

Maybe somebody that you know intimately. Oh, I could never talk to them. I wouldn't know what to say. Wouldn't know what to do. Hey, good news.

God does. He's in the situation. Anything God would call you to do, he's right there to do it through you. Isn't that good news? You don't have to figure it all out.

You just have to act in faith. That's what he says in everything. You were made rich in every way. Now I want to tell you something, because, you know, in our community here, when we came and moved to our community, I mean, part of the things you do when you look for a house is you kind of figure out, what kind of house can I afford? Did you know this may come as a shock to you?

There were certain neighborhoods we didn't look at when we went shopping for homes. I mean, I look at Zillow, I like them. But, you know, this nice $20 million home that I saw, I didn't think that I would have what I needed when it came time to close the deal. I mean, I might be able to take a realtor through that thing, but when they check my bank statements, they might say, hey, sir, you're not going to be able to put 20% down on that house. You don't have 20% down for that house, right?

I already knew that. Isn't it good to know that you've been made rich in every way? That God gave a deposit of the holy spirit so that anything he would call you to do, you have the gifts and the grace to close whatever that is. You can't walk in anywhere that God would take you where you don't have what it takes to know and to speak what God would have you know and speak in that given situation. That's good news, isn't it?

I mean, sometimes we get scared about our own Christianity because we hear the lie of the enemy. Like you could never do. You could never serve as a small group leader. You could never share your faith with your friend. You could never serve in this team.

You could never do that in the church. I mean, look at you. You're not even a good speaker. Look at you. You don't know anything.

I mean, you've only known the Bible for like a week. I mean, you don't even know what a Corinthian is. I mean, how could God use you? Here's how. Because when you trusted in Jesus Christ, he gave you everything that you need to accomplish, everything that he wants.

And that's really good news. So Paul says he's given you in all speech and all knowledge, even as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you. You know what he was saying? He's like, I've seen glimpses of Christ in each one of you. I've seen glimpses of Christ in each one of you.

Even though you may not be living it out in every area, you're like, I know Jesus dwells in you. I've seen it. I've seen your love for the Lord. I've seen who he is in your life. I see that confirmed in you.

Jesus is there. Let me just confirm it for you. If you confess Jesus Christ as your personal lord and savior, Christ is in you through his holy spirit. He's there. I'm confirming that for you.

According to the authority of God's word, he's in you. He's the one that wants to do the work through you. He's not asking you to set him aside and go do it yourself. He's saying, I'm already there. Paul's confirming that.

He's saying everything. I'm about ready to write you in this letter is something that God wants to do through you, not something you have to strive to accomplish. Because, oh, by the way, you can't accomplish anything apart from Christ. That's what the Bible tells us. I can do all things through Christ, who gives me strength, but apart from him, I can do nothing.

Not a done right.

Notice verse seven. I love this because this is a verse for those that say, I just don't have what it takes. I wasn't given that gift. I wish I had that gift. If I only had this other gift.

What does Paul say? So that you are not lacking in any gift, you have everything you need. Write this verse down. It's two Peter, one three. It says, two Peter, one three.

Says his divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness. You're not lacking any gifts. It doesn't mean that you individually have all the gifts. It means that we as a church have everything that we need to accomplish all that God has. It doesn't mean that I have all the gifts and I get to accomplish everything in the church.

It means we collectively have everything we need to accomplish all that God needs. Why? Because if God gave one of us all the gifts, we wouldn't need anybody else, right? God didn't give you all the gifts on purpose because you need other people to accomplish what God wants to accomplish through you. Right?

That's how he designed us. But you're not lacking in anything. So when God calls you to do something, he's going to show up to do it. And it requires a simple word, faith. Faith.

It's believing that God's going to show up. And the more steps of faith you take, the more you're going to hear the lie of the enemy say, it's going to fail, it's going to fail. It's going to fail. It's going to fail. It's going to fail.

Can I share a couple from my life? God put on my heart in 2009 to move to Denver, Colorado. Planted church. You've heard the whole story. And as I was praying over and over, God was just confirming in my heart this is what I need to do.

I'm being disobedient if I don't go do this. But there was that lie in my head that went something like this. Yeah, but Jeff, you're used to hanging around non Christians, not hanging out in church. And you'd be better preaching on the back end of like an AC DC or aerosmith concert to that group of people than you would Christians. And oh, by the way, you've never taught through an entire book of the Bible to a group of christian people.

And hey, have you listened to some of those other pastors out there that you hear on the radio? They're really good. You're not. You don't have what it takes. And I began to question myself and begin to say, wow, truth to that may hear doctor Tony Evans.

I'll be like, there's one him and I ain't him, right? I can't be these guys. I can't do what they're saying. Ted, insult to injury. Do you know that even well meaning christians can sometimes confirm the lie of the enemy?

So as I was excited to share with some of my closest friends that I'm moving to Denver to plant a church, you know what they would say? Hey, Jeff, don't see it, man. You know, I don't see you as a guy that's going to stand up in a church and pastor a group of people and feed him the word of God week after week and teach through the Bible. It's not even really your gifting. I mean, how would you know?

I had to go back to the Lord over and over again. Finally I got to a place where I was so convinced the Lord had called me that the Lord spoke to my heart and said, hey, if you just go, don't you think I'll give you what you need to accomplish what you need to do? Can you just be yourself, Jeff, and tell other people about me? I'm like, I can do that. So we came, and God's been using that ministry.

Do you know, about three years into our church, we decided to purchase this building that you're sitting in. It wasn't a long capital campaign. As a matter of fact, it was 13 days long, to be exact. I sent out an email on a Tuesday telling people, we're going to bid on this building. That was the first anybody ever heard about it.

Our 300 member congregation, I think our annual budget at the time was 700,000. And what I told them is, I'll be preaching on Sunday. The following Saturday, six days later, we need to collect $1.73 million to put a down payment on the building. Everybody cool with that? Because that's what God showed me.

That's what God showed our elders. I was great with it. I was so excited preaching about it. God was saying, we're going to do this thing. And I was awesome with it until that afternoon after I got done preaching, because Sunday afternoon, I'm driving home, and I'm thinking about numbers in my head for the first time.

Okay, if our annual budget is 700,000 and we have 300 people, here's what it would cost. If everybody gave this amount of money. And I looked at the number, I'm like, we're toasting. Not only are we not going to get the money, but we're going to lose huge. And a lot of people that give big are going to say, I want my money back, or they're going to leave our church.

There's going to be this huge rift in the church. My integrity is going to be on the line. People are going to tell me, Lord, that I didn't even hear you. And I got to go through all this garbage, and why did I even listen in the first place? I mean, those were the lies I was hearing.

And I remember all week, I was reading through the psalms, and I got on Thursday, I was reading through psalm 27, the Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? And I got to the end of it, and the last verse says in verse 14.

And I would have despaired had I not believed I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. You know what? God spoke to me through that passage that day? I was telling him, lord, we're going to try to gather about 250 people here on a Saturday night in this room to get $1.73 million. I don't think we have enough people.

I don't know where the checks are going to come from. You know, the Lord spoke to me through that scripture. You know, he said to me on that Thursday, I was sitting in my office crying. He said, jeff, I'm coming, and it's done. Be at peace.

And I sat in my office and started laughing. And that night, I don't count the money. I don't see the money. I don't touch the money. We had a couple of the elders counting, and I said, listen, you have to call me if we come up shy because I'll be up all night trying to strategize some sort of plan, and I have to change my sermon.

And I remember getting a text from one of our elders at about ten at night that said, go to bed. We raised $1.93 million in six days. Amen. That's why you're sitting here.

But let's make it a little more personal. Let's draw it a little closer to home, because this is where church misses identity. Okay? So I've shared a few things with you already of how to live confidently, so let's just bring it closer to home. So some of you that would say, hey, I'm a Christian, but I'm an anorexic.

I really am. I mean, Jeff, you don't understand. I've been in clinics my whole life. That's who I am. Here's what I'm telling you from the authority of God's word.

No, you're not. That's what you used to be. But you've been set free in Christ. You've been washed by the blood of the lamb. You have royal blood living in your life.

And that's not how God sees you. He sees you as a daughter of the most high God. You're his daughter that he loves unconditionally. And what you have is not anorexia. What you have is an identity problem in Christ for not seeing yourself the way God sees you.

Are you listening to me? Let me make more person. Some of you say, well, I'm a Christian, but I get drunk every night. Not really drunk. I mean, I usually only have, like, two or three drinks.

Like two beers and a fifth of scotch. That's about it, right? I mean, just three drinks. I'm a functional alcoholic. Nobody at work knows.

I'm telling you, you're not an alcoholic. That's not the name Jesus calls you by. You've been set free. You've been cleansed. You've been washed by the blood of the lamb.

You are a new creation. The old is gone. The new has come. You no need have addiction to that stuff anymore, because the power of Christ in you is greater than your sin. You're already set free.

Live out your identity. It's who you are. Are you listening to me? Because you can go to counseling for the rest of your life. And by the way, let me just say, nothing wrong with counseling.

Nothing wrong with biblical soul care. We offer it, but the counseling that we offer is helping you see your identity in Jesus. Not paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to somebody that's going to tell you, work on your problem. Because if you could work on your problem, then Jesus Christ died for nothing. His death on the cross meant nothing.

His resurrection from the dead meant nothing. We as Christians believe who we are because we are dead to sin. We're alive in Christ and you can live out everything that the Bible tells you that you are by his name. Amen. That's who you are.

That's who you are. I watch people struggle all the time. I struggled for a long time, too. I mean, we could use anyone you want. You could say, well, I'm a defeated Christian.

I'm an alone Christian, I'm an angry Christian. I mean, what word do you want to add? There's only one kind of Christian. It's a Christian. You're not a good Christian, you're not a bad Christian.

You're either a Christian that's living out your identity and living thankfully and living confidently, or you're a Christian who's not living out your identity. And so your life is filled with stress and strife and pain and guilt. Hey, let's try another one. Can we try another one? Hey, I'm a Christian, but I'm depressed.

You know how many times I've thought about taking my life? Even though I know Jesus, I know I'm speaking the truth. Let me tell you. No. That's what you used to be.

That's what you used to be. You've been washed. You've been set free. You don't need to worry about dying. Jesus Christ already died for you.

You've been made alive in him. You are a new creation. You are dearly loved. He loves you. And if you'll own what Jesus says about you as his adopted son or daughter, how you belong to him, it will change your life.

God loves you. Do you believe that? Satan tells you that? You're not quite there yet. You got a lot of work to do for God to really be pleased with you.

Can I tell you something? Through the death on the cross of Jesus Christ and his resurrection from the dead, he couldn't be any more pleased with you than he already is. Are you listening to what I'm saying? This is revelatory. This changed my life.

And for those of you that are sitting here today saying, well, the pastor is just being arrogant, I mean, listen to him. He's talking about royal blood in his veins. And son of the king and that his dad runs the universe. How prideful and arrogant is that? That's the most humble thing I could say.

I'm not saying I'm that. I'm saying that Christ gave his life to me and Christ in me makes me that. You know what arrogant is? Arrogant is saying, I don't believe that. I'm still a loser.

I'm still no good. I'm still a sinner. And Jesus, what you did on the cross, that didn't do anything for me. You didn't set me free, you didn't make me yours. I'm a loser and what you did wasn't any good.

That's arrogant. Humility is saying, hey, holy cow, you died for me. You rose for me. You love me unconditionally, and I don't need to listen to the lie of the enemy telling me all this false stuff about myself and others. Nope, you're set free.

You're set free. Cause I'm telling you, if Jesus was here in his full glory for all of you who have called upon his name, which one day he will, coming down, coming to a city near you, and he would look at you and say, I love you. I always have. Your behavior has never changed that. Yet christians continue to play tapes from their past over and over again and say, I'm no good.

I'm lousy, I'm no good, I'm lousy, I'm no good. I'm lousy. And Jesus would just very softly say to you, no, you're not. You're my daughter. No, you're not.

You're my son. I love you with an unconditional love. Walk confidently. I love you no matter what. I always will.

That's my promise to you. Isn't that good news? This morning you're not lacking any gift. And I'm telling you, if you have this divine exchange, this great exchange for your death, for Christ's life, and Christ is in you and you're living thankfully and you're living confidently, let me tell you what else you're going to live, this third one, you're going to live expectantly. You're going to live expectantly.

Expectantly. Is that the best is yet to come? The best is yet to come. See, when I'm living out my identity in Christ and I'm thankful for who I am and I'm walking confidently in Christ, I'm trusting for God to show up in my life for ways that the enemy says he doesn't show up in those kind of things. God doesn't heal today.

God doesn't set people free from drugs today. God doesn't heal people of anorexia today. God doesn't heal people of depression today. God doesn't heal people of loneliness today. I mean, look at your life.

You don't even have any friends, and you don't even have any parents. And look at your life. I mean, that's why you ended up in prison. And look at your life. That's the lie.

Here's the truth. When you live out who you are in Christ, you begin to live expectantly that, God, you really are in my life, and, God, you really are going to use me. And, God, I want to experience your presence with me. I'm eagerly expecting God to move, and not only in this life, but also in the life to come. Notice what he writes.

End of verse seven, he says, awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. You know what the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ is? I just want to tell you from the authority of God's word, the sky one day is going to open up, and Jesus Christ is going to come back all tatted up, king of kings and Lord of lords, with all of his saints behind him, to come back and take all of those who are eagerly awaiting for him. Are you looking forward to that?

I mean, if you're living out your identity, there's an expectation for that. And if you're not, there's this idea that I kind of want them to come. But you're like I was when I first became a Christian, there was gonna be, like, three big screens behind us, but, like, God sized. And all of y'all were gonna be out there eating popcorn, looking at a review of my life. And I was gonna be brought on the platform to stand here while you're eating popcorn, to look at you so I could see your faces when God rolled the screen.

Of all the hundreds and thousands of times I've blown it where you're eating popcorn, you're like, I can't even believe I went to that guy's church. Why did I send in her hand? I was embarrassed. Hmm. That's not what happens.

Eagerly awaiting means this. Notice what he says. What's a guy gonna do? Paul said he confirmed the testimony of the Lord, but what's Jesus going to do in verse eight, who will also confirm you to the end? How's he going to do it?

Blameless, blameless, faultless. In the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. You know what God's going to do for everybody who's confessed to him as Lord and savior, whether you're living out your identity or not, you know what he's going to do? I mean, just check this out. He's going to come and he's going to rescue you, and he's going to rally you, and then he's going to present you, faultless.

Perfect. Beautiful. Before the father, perfect. No screen behind you saying, yeah, I saved her from that because I'm awesome. No, perfect.

When God introduces you, Jesus Christ, to his father, he's going to say, this is Jeff, my boy. He's perfect. He trusted me. He's completely cleansed, daddy, aren't you proud of him? And he's gonna take you ladies, he's gonna put you in front of his dad, say, this is my little girl, and I love her, and she's perfect.

And she always has been, ever since she trusted in me for the forgiveness of her sins. I mean, if that's not good news, I don't know what is. I mean, I'm eagerly awaiting that day. You know what eagerly awaiting looks like? I'll tell you what it looks like.

I got engaged to my wife November 22 some years ago. Okay? Now I remember when I asked my wife to marry me. Like, if you know me well enough, I mean, not only was I trying to close the deal, like, let's get married. I was setting a timeline that day.

Like, hey, when do you want to do this? Because I was kind of ready that day, right? You know what she said to me? She said in November. She's like, well, I've always kind of saw myself as a June bride.

I always kind of saw myself getting married in June. So I started saying, okay, November, December, January, February, okay, let me tell you something. You're trying to live for the Lord. You're trying to live pure and holy before the Lord. Seven months is an eternity.

You know what I'm saying? I mean, I'm ready to close this. I'm ready to marry my wife. I'm looking forward to marrying my wife. So I told her, I said, okay, if we can get to church first weekend of June, or however you want to do this, fine.

If we miss that, we're going backwards. We're going into May. And she called back, she's like, I can't get June. I'm like, cool. Keep praying, Jeff.

She found May 14, and I was thinking, okay, that's what we're going for. But you know what? During that period of time from November 22 to May 14, do you know what I did when I woke up in the morning, I was thinking about her. I would text her. I would call her when I wasn't doing anything, I'd call her and say, hey, what are you doing?

I want to come over to your house. Hey, why don't you come over to my house? Let's hang out. Oh, you're hanging out with your parents. Why don't I come over and just hang out with your parents too, right?

All this stuff. There was not even a day, let alone two weeks that went by when I was engaged to my wife, where I thought to myself, yeah, that's right. This may, I am getting married. I forgot all about that. Not once.

I mean, I would call her on the phone if she didn't answer the phone. I would sing her songs. I would do stuff. I mean, I wanted her to think I was musical. I mean, I was impressing her yearning for the day, right?

When you live out your identity, that's how you're gonna yearn for Jesus too. Cause I can tell you as your pastor, I wanna see more people fed the word of God. I wanna see more people saved. Don't you? I wanna see us plant campuses in churches as long as God gives us breath.

But let me tell you something. If this afternoon the revelation of Jesus Christ happens, I'm willing to cancel all my plans to spend time with the Lord Jesus Christ forever and ever. Amen. That's how God wants us to live. And if you're not looking forward to meeting Jesus Christ face to face, it's probably you either haven't trusted Christ and you need to confess him today, because there is a real place called hell that if he comes back and you don't know him, you will spend eternity with.

But for many of you that know Jesus and you're not looking forward to him, it's cause you're not living out your identity. And you think this. He's disappointed in me. He's embarrassed by me. I shamed him.

I didn't. Mm mm mm mm mm. He already died. For all that, he loves you with, an unconditional love. And if you'll live out your identity from now until the time you meet him, your heart will overflow with joy.

Amen. And you say, well, how do I know that's going to happen? Because it says in verse nine in my Bible that God is faithful. It means God always does what he says he's going to do, through whom you were called into fellowship with his son, Jesus Christ our Lord. What's fellowship?

Partnership, relationship. Salvation is not just an act where God's going to take you to heaven someday and sit you on the sideline. I'm called into fellowship and relationship with his son. God's faithful. Not only can I have a relationship with him now, but one day that relationship is going to be consummated, where I'm going to be perfect and complete, living out what I already know that God is working in.

Amen. And when you live confidently and you live expectantly, God begins to do a bunch of things. I can sit up here and tell you how God's changed my language. I mean, there was a certain word I used to like to use. It began with the letter f, and I could use it as a participle, a gerund, an expletive, a noun.

I could use it any single way. And I remember one day I had a friend of mine who I totally respected, who I knew was a believer because I watched him walk with the Lord, and he said to me while we were getting dressed for practice one day he goes, hey, how do you call yourself a Christian and talk like that? Never even thought about it. Is that bad? I went home that night in my fraternity, got down on my knees and said, lord, I know you want me to have pure language.

I don't even know how to talk that way. I don't even want to talk that way. But I want to love to talk like you love and hate like you hate. So could you change it? Do you know that he did?

I mean, now I can see movies sometimes, and when that word's being used, it makes me cringe. I hate that word. I don't like that word. I mean, I can continue to tell you stuff God's done in my life. I can tell you stuff God's doing in my life.

And now when I'm not living something out that God wants, I don't beat myself up and be like, I'm a loser. I'm no good. I'll never get. I say, God, you say that I can. And all your promises are yes in Christ Jesus.

And I confess to you, I'm not living that out. But, lord, will you teach me to live that out? Cause I wanna do what you want me to do. Well, how do we get it? God's word shows us who we are, and prayer is the way we get it.

I mean, just because the Holy Spirit is all resident in you, you have to ask for it. The end of James four two says, you do not have because you do not. You don't ask. It's not enough to just know that your identity is in Christ. It's asking God.

God, I wanna live out my identity. I don't even know how to do that. Help me and for the rest of our life, that's what we're going to do. Now. I just want to tell you something.

How many of you saw the eclipse this week? Show of hands, right? I saw it, too. I know some people that drove miles and miles out of Denver to get someplace where it's going to be 100% coverage, right? So it go dark for a split second.

I just picked up these little guys, right? Anybody have anything like this? Well, I remember one day I was coming to work, and I'm like, man, I wonder how dark these things are. So I, like, put them on while I was driving. Not for very long, because when they went on my eyes, I realized I can't see a thing.

I mean, I can't see anything. So I took them off and I was thinking, man, these glasses are broken.

But then I got to work and we started talking, and two people brought, one of our gals brought her husband's, like, welding masks, and I had these. But I noticed something. I couldn't see anything until I looked toward the sun. But when I looked toward the sun, all of a sudden it's like, man, I could see everything clearly, and I could see the sun and I could see the moon coming across it. And it was like, wow, I see it all.

I had to look to the sun to see what I was looking for. Can I tell you something? You see where I'm going with this? Your identity does not come from looking around. It doesn't come from just putting your nose in a book and saying, I know the Bible.

It comes from looking to the author of the book and looking to the Son and saying, he's who I need and he's who I see. And if you've never confessed Jesus Christ as your lord and savior, look to the son right now and do it today. And if you have confessed Jesus as your lord and savior, and you've been believing the lie by looking in the mirror and listening to the lie of the enemy about all that you're not, I'm encouraging you today. Look to the Son. Look to the Son.

He'll let you live out the clear, full identity of everything he created you to be. Is that not good news? I love this book. I love this book. And I look forward to Jesus coming back.

I look forward to him being my all in all, because he already is. And guess what? He is for you, too. And if you're not experiencing that, I got good news for you. The cross of Jesus Christ was enough.

You believe that the cross was enough. God sent his son Jesus Christ, and the cross was enough. You have everything you need. You have it all right here. By calling upon his name.

Even if you have to do it 737 times until it quote unquote takes. And you're living it. Just keep calling. You are a child of the most high God. You're a daughter of the king.

You're a son of the creator of the universe. Live out your identity. Amen. Amen. Would you stand with me as we pray?

Lord Jesus? I just pray that the words of this message would go deep into our hearts. That we would never, ever be the same again. That we'd be men and women and boys and girls who would see each other as who we are in Christ. And we would call each other by that.

And, Lord, that you would use the words of your word to change us into your glorious image in Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.