WEBVTT 00:00:01.040 --> 00:00:03.749 Oh, how many of you guys have seen the movie Avatar before? 00:00:03.749 --> 00:00:04.711 Okay, a lot of you. 00:00:04.711 --> 00:00:07.709 Others of you are like what are those weird blue things in there? 00:00:07.709 --> 00:00:18.387 Okay, those are avatars, and the movie Avatar has the main character go through something that maybe you've gone through or maybe you will one day. 00:00:18.387 --> 00:00:21.791 They go through an identity crisis. 00:00:21.791 --> 00:00:30.987 He has to decide who is he going to be, and the biblical truth that we're going to talk about today is the truth of identity. 00:00:30.987 --> 00:00:32.892 In fact, let's all say identity together. 00:00:32.892 --> 00:00:34.942 Ready, let's try it. 00:00:35.402 --> 00:00:53.542 This takes us to Daniel, chapter 1, and leads us to a question that I want to ask you today, and this question actually has massive implications in your life and a significant power in your life, maybe more than you even realize. 00:00:53.542 --> 00:01:00.247 The question is who are you, you? 00:01:00.247 --> 00:01:07.614 Who are you? 00:01:07.614 --> 00:01:11.397 Now, a lot of us, we have that question. 00:01:11.397 --> 00:01:20.310 The first thing we jump to is like a, maybe a role that we have, maybe a relationship, maybe I'm a parent, I'm a grandparent, I'm a spouse, I'm something else. 00:01:20.310 --> 00:01:31.034 Or maybe you jump to your career, like I am, and then you say where you work at, and the reason this is such an important question is because, at some level, this is a question about identity. 00:01:31.034 --> 00:01:33.745 This is a question about how we see ourselves. 00:01:34.367 --> 00:01:38.962 Now, we hear the word identity thrown around a whole lot in our society right now, don't we? 00:01:38.962 --> 00:01:41.629 It's like who's our identity all the time. 00:01:41.629 --> 00:01:45.760 It actually might be helpful for us to define the term that we're talking about. 00:01:45.760 --> 00:01:47.864 What is identity? 00:01:47.864 --> 00:01:52.054 Identity is our sense of self or our personal worth. 00:01:52.054 --> 00:01:57.825 It's the story you tell yourself about yourself. 00:01:57.825 --> 00:02:04.933 Now, all of us, either consciously or subconsciously, find our identity in something. 00:02:04.933 --> 00:02:32.645 All of us have a sense of self, a sense of personal worth, a story we tell ourselves about ourselves, whether we realize it or not, and the reason why this has such massive implications I'll give you one example is maybe you realize, or maybe you don't realize, or maybe somebody in the world realizes or not realizes, that maybe they see themselves, their identity, as one of being unlovable or broken or not worthy of love, or being an addict Like this is just who I am. 00:02:33.627 --> 00:02:37.723 And if that's the story you tell yourself about yourself, that man, I'm not worthy of love. 00:02:37.723 --> 00:02:38.846 This is who I am. 00:02:38.846 --> 00:02:41.622 It's going to lead you to do some things that you probably shouldn't do. 00:02:41.622 --> 00:02:47.272 It's going to lead you to maybe allow some people to mistreat you in ways they shouldn't mistreat you? 00:02:47.272 --> 00:02:49.337 And the answer is not. 00:02:49.337 --> 00:02:51.401 Don't let those people not treat you that way. 00:02:51.421 --> 00:03:13.926 The answer is identity, because of how you see yourself and the place that you find your identity and I find my identity really determines how we see the world, how we experience the world, how we process things, and you get the answer to your identity the who am, I question, really by looking to three places, and this is like a universal truth. 00:03:13.926 --> 00:03:23.412 This is how all of us form our identity, whether you're a Jesus follower or not a Jesus follower, or if you're 17 years old or if you have more experience in your life. 00:03:23.412 --> 00:03:32.731 17 years old, or if you have more experience in your life, is you find your identity from a combination of the place or places you find your acceptance, your security and your significance. 00:03:32.731 --> 00:03:35.455 So, for example, acceptance. 00:03:35.455 --> 00:03:44.948 So here's the question okay, who or what do you look to for acceptance? 00:03:44.948 --> 00:04:00.689 So, for example, if you find your identity from the acceptance of a certain person or from a group of people, what's going to happen is you're going to live your life needing and craving their acceptance and maybe not even realizing it, you might live your life being a people pleaser because you need them to think a certain way about you so you can have a certain sense of self. 00:04:02.939 --> 00:04:12.930 Sometimes we look to a combination of our acceptance from people and sometimes it's security, like the place where we look to that kind of holds us together. 00:04:12.930 --> 00:04:20.334 So for some of us, we find our identity in our finances, because we find security in a full bank account. 00:04:20.334 --> 00:04:24.569 We find security in having this many zeros, right. 00:04:24.569 --> 00:04:32.012 Sometimes it's acceptance, sometimes it's security, a combination of these, and sometimes it's where we find our significance. 00:04:32.012 --> 00:04:38.952 This is a human thing, so it's what or who gives you validation or a sense of value, right? 00:04:38.952 --> 00:04:41.848 So, for example, I've heard Olympic athletes talk about you guys excited about the Olympics coming up Coming soon yep. 00:04:41.848 --> 00:04:45.079 I've heard Olympic athletes talk about how you guys excited about the Olympics coming up Coming soon Yep. 00:04:45.759 --> 00:04:57.105 I've heard Olympic athletes talk about how their entire sense of self-worth was based on how they do in the Olympics, because that's where they find significance, and when some of them haven't done as well, they've literally gone into a deep depression. 00:04:57.105 --> 00:04:57.767 Why? 00:04:57.767 --> 00:05:05.192 Because their identity, their sense of self, was based on what they could accomplish and their significance in winning or not winning. 00:05:05.192 --> 00:05:07.463 And how many times? 00:05:07.463 --> 00:05:09.790 Let's not pick on Olympic athletes or anything but like? 00:05:09.790 --> 00:05:20.125 How many times have all of us me, you how many times have we looked to things that we think will bring us something that they actually can't bring us? 00:05:20.125 --> 00:05:20.305 Like? 00:05:20.386 --> 00:05:33.887 We have this human condition where we tend to build our identity, we tend to build our self-worth on things that either let us down or leave us disillusioned or discouraged or even burnt out, like things that are far lesser than God. 00:05:33.887 --> 00:05:45.130 And this is what you'll discover in your life is, if you build your life, you build your identity on fragile things, you will become a fragile person. 00:05:45.130 --> 00:06:04.608 If you build your identity on something that can change, if you build your self-worth on your net worth, if you build your self-worth on what you look like in the mirror, if you build your self-worth on something that can change something fragile, you'll become a fragile person. 00:06:04.608 --> 00:06:06.293 And we've experienced this before. 00:06:06.293 --> 00:06:21.764 We thought that once I buy this or own this, or get in this relationship or graduate from this college or get accepted by this college or drive this car, then I'm going to feel a certain way about myself, then I'm going to feel significant, then I'm going to be okay, because I want to feel okay, like I want to feel good about myself. 00:06:21.764 --> 00:06:34.252 So we get to that level we buy that thing, we own that thing, we graduate from that college, we do these things, we get in the relationship that we thought would make us feel significant and we get there and we're like this is it. 00:06:34.252 --> 00:06:42.165 We've experienced this and maybe we haven't put this in words, but what this is is. 00:06:42.165 --> 00:06:43.028 This is identity. 00:06:43.028 --> 00:06:47.735 This is us building identity on fragile things. 00:06:47.735 --> 00:06:53.350 Now, this isn't the first time that somebody has done this before. 00:06:53.350 --> 00:07:09.142 We aren't the first people that do this, that have done this, and our culture that we live in in America is discipling us and teaching us to find identity in things that are far lesser than God, and ultimately, this has damaging effects on us. 00:07:09.142 --> 00:07:16.382 America, we have this culture where it's telling us to build our identity on all these other things. 00:07:16.382 --> 00:07:29.750 But the first time well, maybe not the first, but one of the early times where in human history, where they try to get people to build their identity on something other than God, is in the book of Daniel. 00:07:31.560 --> 00:07:41.175 In the book of Daniel, the Babylonian people did a social engineering project on some teenage dudes. 00:07:41.175 --> 00:07:46.970 A social engineering project on some teenage dudes. 00:07:46.970 --> 00:07:48.033 A social engineering project on some teenage dudes. 00:07:48.033 --> 00:08:03.163 What they did was they took these teenage dudes that had a God-centered identity and they kidnapped them and they trafficked them and they sent them away from their home, away from their godly influences, to a godless place called Babylon. 00:08:03.163 --> 00:08:06.668 Everybody say the word Babylon ready to a godless place called Babylon. 00:08:06.668 --> 00:08:07.930 Everybody say the word Babylon ready. 00:08:07.930 --> 00:08:10.435 Take them to Babylon, a godless place. 00:08:10.435 --> 00:08:11.976 And everything was cray in Babylon. 00:08:11.976 --> 00:08:14.202 It was crazy. 00:08:14.223 --> 00:08:19.793 In Babylon, the Babylonian people had a goal. 00:08:19.793 --> 00:08:25.125 The leaders had a goal, and it was to systematically and intentionally disciple these guys that had a goal. 00:08:25.125 --> 00:08:36.450 And it was to systematically and intentionally disciple these guys that had a God-centered identity into being Babylonian, into thinking like the world thinks, into living like the world lives, into doing what the world does. 00:08:36.450 --> 00:08:41.686 And I don't want to get too far ahead of myself, because I can get a little excited about things. 00:08:41.686 --> 00:08:43.451 You guys know I get a little excited sometimes. 00:08:43.451 --> 00:08:45.947 So I don't want to get too far ahead of myself. 00:08:45.947 --> 00:08:47.907 But they did this two strategic ways. 00:08:47.907 --> 00:08:54.769 They put these fellas, these teenage dudes, in a godless environment and they tried to change their identity. 00:08:54.769 --> 00:09:00.171 That was the goal of the social engineering project. 00:09:00.171 --> 00:09:03.187 So I want you guys to check out this project. 00:09:03.187 --> 00:09:06.388 Spoiler alert, it didn't work. 00:09:06.940 --> 00:09:21.408 Verse number one of Daniel, chapter number one it says this it says in the third year of the reign of King Jehoiakim of Judah, king Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon Hold on, can we just stop and just thank the Lord that our moms didn't name us Nebuchadnezzar? 00:09:21.408 --> 00:09:23.347 Can we just have a moment? 00:09:23.347 --> 00:09:24.091 There Got a little distracted. 00:09:24.091 --> 00:09:24.936 Name us Nebuchadnezzar, just have a moment. 00:09:24.936 --> 00:09:25.639 There Got a little distracted. 00:09:25.639 --> 00:09:30.491 King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came to Jerusalem and laid siege to it. 00:09:30.491 --> 00:09:34.451 So they laid siege around the city, so nothing could get in and nothing could get out. 00:09:34.451 --> 00:09:36.067 No food could get in, no food could get out. 00:09:36.067 --> 00:09:44.269 And the Lord handed King Jehoiakim of Judah over to him, to Nebuchadnezzar, along with some of the vessels from the house of God. 00:09:44.269 --> 00:09:59.168 So what Nebuchadnezzar did is he went to the temple where the true God was worshipped. 00:09:59.168 --> 00:10:07.803 They took the different vessels, the cups and things, took them out of that temple, took them to Babylon and put them in the temple of where these false gods were worshiped. 00:10:08.745 --> 00:10:32.823 The king verse 3, ordered Aspenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the Israelites from the royal family and from the nobility, young men without any physical defect, good-looking, suitable for instruction in all wisdom, knowledgeable, perceptive. 00:10:32.823 --> 00:10:36.049 And these fellas got it going on. 00:10:36.049 --> 00:10:43.346 Capable of serving in the king's palace, he was to teach them the Chaldean language and literature. 00:10:43.346 --> 00:10:49.807 Man, these guys are smart, they're intelligent, they're gifted, they're good looking, they walk in the room. 00:10:49.807 --> 00:10:51.711 All the single ladies are like whoo. 00:10:51.711 --> 00:10:57.169 I mean, they got the brains and the brawn, they got it going on. 00:10:57.169 --> 00:11:07.128 Reminds me of the teenage dudes in the FCC youth group, Fellas, where you at guys, teenagers, come on, okay, teenage girls, you think the teennever mind. 00:11:07.128 --> 00:11:21.283 So they take these guys and they kidnap them, these good-looking guys, and they kidnap them and they put them in Babylon. 00:11:21.283 --> 00:11:21.644 And the goal? 00:11:21.644 --> 00:11:26.874 The goal is to change their values and their habits and their way of living by immersing them into this culture. 00:11:26.874 --> 00:11:28.827 It was a social engineering project. 00:11:29.799 --> 00:11:35.712 Verse 5, the king assigned them daily provisions from the royal food and from the wine that he drank. 00:11:35.712 --> 00:11:38.908 They were to be trained for how many years? 00:11:38.908 --> 00:11:44.086 They were to be trained for three years and at the end of that time they were to attend to the king. 00:11:44.086 --> 00:11:54.405 Among them, from the Judahites, were Daniel, hananiah, mishael and Nazariah and you can be thankful you don't have to stand up in a room full of people and try to pronounce those names right. 00:11:54.405 --> 00:12:01.383 And verse 7, and the chief eunuch gave their names. 00:12:12.480 --> 00:12:15.791 Now you might think that's not a big deal, that question for you. 00:12:15.791 --> 00:12:17.505 How many of you guys you ever have a nickname growing up? 00:12:17.505 --> 00:12:18.109 Nickname? 00:12:18.109 --> 00:12:23.611 Somebody want to shout out their nickname, a nickname they had growing up Stringbean, dusty. 00:12:23.611 --> 00:12:25.121 Somebody else? 00:12:25.121 --> 00:12:27.346 What? 00:12:27.346 --> 00:12:29.432 Chewy, chewy, that's right. 00:12:29.432 --> 00:12:32.087 Some of y'all are too embarrassed to shout out your nickname. 00:12:32.087 --> 00:12:32.950 You're like I didn't say it. 00:12:32.950 --> 00:12:38.341 You might see this and you're like, oh, it's not a big deal, like it's just a nickname, like just change up the names, give them a little nickname. 00:12:38.341 --> 00:12:38.822 No big deal. 00:12:38.822 --> 00:12:42.386 Actually, this was a major deal. 00:12:42.386 --> 00:12:45.490 This was a major deal Two reasons why? 00:12:45.490 --> 00:12:58.360 Reason one names in scripture super significant, especially in this time period. 00:12:58.360 --> 00:12:58.721 Very significant. 00:12:58.822 --> 00:13:04.094 Reason number two these new names positioned these guys from an identity with God, the true God, to an identity with these false gods. 00:13:04.094 --> 00:13:06.423 So check this out. 00:13:06.423 --> 00:13:08.389 I want you to look at what the names of these guys mean. 00:13:08.389 --> 00:13:10.201 Okay, the name of Daniel. 00:13:10.201 --> 00:13:12.004 It means God is my judge. 00:13:12.004 --> 00:13:14.188 Belteshazzar. 00:13:14.188 --> 00:13:18.400 Baal, one of the gods of the Babylonians. 00:13:18.400 --> 00:13:22.527 Baal provides Hananiah. 00:13:22.527 --> 00:13:24.169 God, the true God, has been gracious. 00:13:24.169 --> 00:13:28.216 Shadrach, inspired by a coup, another false God. 00:13:28.216 --> 00:13:30.741 Mishael, who is like God. 00:13:30.741 --> 00:13:33.307 Meshach, who is like Ach. 00:13:33.307 --> 00:13:39.642 Azariah, god has helped Abednego, the servant of Nego. 00:13:39.642 --> 00:13:50.873 This is not just a random name change, like ah, you're in a new place, we're just going to kind of give you some new nicknames. 00:13:50.873 --> 00:13:54.796 No, they're changing them at the very core of who they are. 00:13:54.796 --> 00:14:03.653 By trying to change their identity, they're positioning their lives from relationship with the true God to relationship with all of these other false gods. 00:14:06.405 --> 00:14:07.892 Social engineering project. 00:14:07.892 --> 00:14:19.092 And the way they began this project was by number one, by taking them out of a God-centered environment and putting them in a godless environment. 00:14:19.092 --> 00:14:24.437 These guys were taken out of everything they were used to and sent to Babylon. 00:14:24.437 --> 00:14:27.312 Now, have you ever been to a new place? 00:14:27.312 --> 00:14:31.331 And you were kind of like what is this place all about? 00:14:31.331 --> 00:14:33.876 Like, what do I do here? 00:14:33.876 --> 00:14:35.105 Like how do I act here? 00:14:35.105 --> 00:14:39.255 Maybe you're here at FCC for the first time and you're kind of like what do I do? 00:14:39.255 --> 00:14:41.870 Like how do I like feel this place out? 00:14:41.870 --> 00:14:42.552 What's it all about? 00:14:42.552 --> 00:14:53.250 Which I want to pause and say for a second I think this year we're just over halfway through the year We've already had like almost 120 guest families come and visit FCC this year, which is like mind-blowing, right. 00:14:53.451 --> 00:14:55.567 Y'all are inviting your friends and family and they are coming. 00:14:55.567 --> 00:14:56.990 Yeah, let's clap for that, curtis, that's right. 00:14:56.990 --> 00:14:58.345 Thanks for getting that start, that's right. 00:14:58.345 --> 00:15:04.172 So maybe you, like, came here for the first time and you're like what is happening, right? 00:15:04.172 --> 00:15:05.894 Why is there popcorn in the lobby? 00:15:05.894 --> 00:15:10.259 Why are they doing grape juice in a cup Like this isn't enough, I need some more. 00:15:10.259 --> 00:15:12.308 I'm still thirsty, right, whatever. 00:15:12.308 --> 00:15:14.538 So you're trying to figure things out, right? 00:15:14.538 --> 00:15:15.520 What happens here? 00:15:15.541 --> 00:15:18.918 I was recently experienced this because I went to see my parents. 00:15:18.918 --> 00:15:27.774 They live in Southern California and they wanted to go to the gym, and the gym where they go to is a country club. 00:15:27.774 --> 00:15:33.201 Any of you guys ever been to a country club? 00:15:33.201 --> 00:15:40.254 Okay, now, it's not necessarily my vibe, it's kind of fancy. 00:15:40.254 --> 00:15:40.515 There. 00:15:40.515 --> 00:16:00.830 They got this golf course, got a banquet hall, they got a restaurant, they got all these amenities and all these different things, and people drive from their 6,000 square foot homes on their personal golf carts into the country club. 00:16:00.830 --> 00:16:04.398 You know, and just like man, this place is different. 00:16:04.398 --> 00:16:07.794 You know, I'm not really used to all this and it's a little bougie for me. 00:16:07.794 --> 00:16:10.764 So we're going to go to work out. 00:16:11.969 --> 00:16:27.525 So now, what I'm used to in the gym where I work out, it's basically a big warehouse that's really hot, with no air conditioning, heavy weights being thrown around, people talking all the time, music blaring this is the environment that I'm used to. 00:16:27.525 --> 00:16:30.971 And then I go in to the country club gym. 00:16:30.971 --> 00:16:35.019 Everybody's got a personal towel. 00:16:35.019 --> 00:16:45.235 They got a nice little front desk area where you walk in and somebody could say hi, mr Sunstreet, there's mirrors all over the place. 00:16:45.235 --> 00:16:46.839 The gym where I'm at we don't have any mirrors anywhere. 00:16:46.839 --> 00:16:52.937 I mean, we're not vain at my gym and I'm like this is weird. 00:16:53.037 --> 00:16:54.566 Like the first day I was like what's happening. 00:16:54.566 --> 00:16:59.618 By day two I was like this ain't too bad Personal towels. 00:16:59.618 --> 00:17:03.130 Like hey, that's not too bad, you know, it's all right. 00:17:03.130 --> 00:17:06.557 Day three, I'm like hey, I think I could get used to this. 00:17:06.557 --> 00:17:14.118 You know, grab my personal towel flexing in the mirror, getting in the sauna. 00:17:14.118 --> 00:17:17.488 You know there's a restaurant there. 00:17:17.508 --> 00:17:21.268 I'm like mom, what if we just like cut our workout in half today Because we don't want to overdo it? 00:17:21.268 --> 00:17:22.289 I mean, it's a lot. 00:17:22.289 --> 00:17:24.934 Plus, is that a hangnail I have? 00:17:24.934 --> 00:17:25.336 I don't want to. 00:17:25.336 --> 00:17:27.219 You know, I don't want to aggravate that. 00:17:27.219 --> 00:17:28.673 That could turn into an injury or something. 00:17:28.673 --> 00:17:31.488 Let's see, tell my mom. 00:17:31.488 --> 00:17:33.575 I'm like man, this place is nice. 00:17:33.575 --> 00:17:35.690 Like I like this place. 00:17:35.690 --> 00:17:37.788 I'm like who needs that? 00:17:37.788 --> 00:17:41.105 Like warehouse, crossfit gym stuff, like a bunch of meatheads. 00:17:41.105 --> 00:17:41.747 You know what I'm saying. 00:17:42.186 --> 00:18:24.815 And I say that because what I didn't even realize was happening is, while I was there, in that really comfortable environment with my personal towel and all the amenities of the country club, is my environment was starting to influence me, even though I didn't even realize it, didn't even realize it, and this isn't a shocker to anybody, but we live in a world that does not have God-centered values and we may not realize, but the world is constantly trying to influence us and shape our thinking, and one of the primary places it does that is through our identity. 00:18:24.815 --> 00:18:38.667 Primary places it does that is through our identity by shaping how we see ourselves, by shaping what identity is, by trying to redefine certain words. 00:18:38.667 --> 00:18:47.109 Our world that we're in says your identity is found in your feelings, your sexuality, your politics and what you have and what you can achieve and what your accomplishments are. 00:18:47.109 --> 00:18:49.479 Like you're this old, well, show me what you have and what you can achieve and what your accomplishments are. 00:18:49.479 --> 00:18:50.944 Like you're this old, well, show me what you've done. 00:18:50.944 --> 00:18:54.386 That's what your self-worth is based on In our world. 00:18:54.386 --> 00:18:55.229 Like self-worth. 00:18:55.229 --> 00:18:57.476 Identity is based on how productive we can be. 00:18:57.476 --> 00:19:00.493 I don't know about you guys, but this can be something that I've fallen into. 00:19:00.493 --> 00:19:05.877 I can look at seasons of my life where I thought my self-worth was based on how many things could I get accomplished? 00:19:05.877 --> 00:19:12.307 I got 19 things accomplished. 00:19:12.307 --> 00:19:13.010 On this day, I am the man let's go. 00:19:13.010 --> 00:19:13.755 I got hardly anything accomplished. 00:19:13.755 --> 00:19:14.498 Like I'm going to go cry in my bed. 00:19:14.498 --> 00:19:18.989 You know what I'm saying, because my self-worth was based on what I could accomplish. 00:19:21.252 --> 00:19:27.101 We live in a world where it's very popular to make your trauma or your issue your identity. 00:19:27.101 --> 00:19:37.606 So you maybe have experienced or are experiencing something terrible or hard, and now this issue has become who you are. 00:19:37.606 --> 00:19:51.011 This has become the story you tell yourself about yourself, and this is so dangerous because as long as you have a single story perspective about your life, then you are not going to let God transform your story. 00:19:51.011 --> 00:20:23.058 Like if you make your issue or your trauma your identity, the trajectory of your life will be one that's paralyzed by fear and negativity and powerlessness, because this is how you view yourself, this is how you see yourself, and I want to free somebody this morning in the best possible way in the name of Jesus that maybe you are experiencing a hardship, or maybe you have experienced a hardship or trauma and that was terrible, but because of who Jesus says that you are. 00:20:23.058 --> 00:20:33.297 Your trauma and your hardships are not who you are, like your challenges and your difficulty that you went through, like yeah, that was hard but that's not who you are. 00:20:33.297 --> 00:20:37.557 And what needs to happen is we have to change how we see ourselves. 00:20:37.557 --> 00:20:42.369 We have to change how the story we tell ourselves about ourselves. 00:20:42.569 --> 00:20:48.226 Right, and I'll say this too because of the character of God ourselves. 00:20:48.226 --> 00:20:50.355 Right, and I'll say this too because of the character of God he's a redeeming God. 00:20:50.355 --> 00:20:55.329 So what God can do is God can take the hardship and God could take the trauma and he can actually redeem that and make something good come from it. 00:20:55.329 --> 00:21:05.428 So, like right now so right now you may be in a season of like hardship or you may have gone through something, or maybe you have a single story perspective about your life. 00:21:05.428 --> 00:21:07.493 This is who you are, everything is through this lens and you may have gone through something. 00:21:07.493 --> 00:21:12.409 Or maybe you have a single story perspective about your life this is who you are, everything is through this lens and you may think there's no way anything good can come from that. 00:21:12.409 --> 00:21:16.767 There's no way anything can be redeemed from that because of fill in the blank. 00:21:17.167 --> 00:21:21.917 Can I say this my God can make something beautiful come from something broken. 00:21:21.917 --> 00:21:25.451 Can I say this my God can bring resurrection from death. 00:21:25.451 --> 00:21:26.493 Can I say this? 00:21:26.493 --> 00:21:30.890 My God can take that tragedy and bring a testimony from it. 00:21:30.890 --> 00:21:36.568 Can I say this my God can take that hardship and allow you to give somebody hope through it. 00:21:36.568 --> 00:21:40.678 Can I say this we have a God that's in the redeeming business. 00:21:40.678 --> 00:21:46.010 Will somebody say amen, come on, hey, I'm preaching 50% better than y'all are responding this morning. 00:21:46.030 --> 00:21:49.954 Okay, I'm just saying, guys, I get fired up about this. 00:21:49.954 --> 00:21:58.269 Okay, and this is why, because we can live our lives with a single story perspective and God says that it's not who you are. 00:21:58.269 --> 00:22:03.535 Guys, I know it hurts, I know it's overwhelming. 00:22:03.535 --> 00:22:10.608 I've been there, I've walked that path, I've had the sleepless nights and the tears, stained pillows and this is what I know. 00:22:10.608 --> 00:22:16.411 I know that God can redeem things and I can tell you why God can redeem things and I can tell you why. 00:22:16.411 --> 00:22:21.949 Those things don't have to define you, because there's power number two in a name. 00:22:21.949 --> 00:22:26.953 There's power in a name. 00:22:26.953 --> 00:22:35.987 The name is Jesus and he says that you are a child of God if you come to him in faith. 00:22:37.611 --> 00:22:39.273 Now here's what's really interesting. 00:22:39.273 --> 00:22:51.372 You read the book of Daniel, you go through this book and, though they tried to change their name to Shadrach, meshach and Abednego which, by the way, that rhymes pretty good it rhymes better than the original names right? 00:22:51.372 --> 00:22:58.258 Though they tried to change their names, daniel does not refer to them as Shadrach, meshach and Abednego. 00:22:58.258 --> 00:23:03.255 He refers to them as Hanani, meshach and Azariah. 00:23:03.255 --> 00:23:12.848 And Daniel and the boys had something that's so important they had identity resistance. 00:23:12.848 --> 00:23:19.329 They had identity resistance. 00:23:19.329 --> 00:23:23.747 They had the world. 00:23:23.906 --> 00:23:25.951 And these people are trying to label me. 00:23:25.951 --> 00:23:27.846 They're trying to say this is who I am. 00:23:27.846 --> 00:23:28.583 Nope, I'm resisting that. 00:23:28.583 --> 00:23:29.308 Now, I brought something to label me. 00:23:29.308 --> 00:23:30.457 They're trying to say this is who I am. 00:23:30.457 --> 00:23:30.940 Nope, I'm resisting that. 00:23:30.940 --> 00:23:38.911 Now I brought something to church today, another prop, because we've been having a lot of fun with the props the last several weeks, haven't we? 00:23:38.911 --> 00:23:40.846 Or at least I have one of the two. 00:23:40.846 --> 00:23:43.528 So I brought something just for fun. 00:23:43.528 --> 00:23:52.030 I brought some chicken and homestyle noodle soup. 00:23:52.030 --> 00:23:53.964 I brought some soup. 00:23:53.964 --> 00:23:57.670 How many soup lovers are there in the room today? 00:23:57.670 --> 00:24:02.748 Yes, doesn't soup just hit Like it just hits the spot. 00:24:02.748 --> 00:24:11.290 I mean not when it's like 138 degrees outside, but you get to like December or something. 00:24:11.290 --> 00:24:12.513 I'm like give me some soup. 00:24:12.513 --> 00:24:15.849 This is chicken noodle soup, right here. 00:24:15.849 --> 00:24:16.952 This is good stuff. 00:24:16.952 --> 00:24:18.116 This is my go-to. 00:24:18.116 --> 00:24:19.381 It's actually my favorite. 00:24:19.381 --> 00:24:23.065 Progresso got some protein. 00:24:23.065 --> 00:24:25.909 Let's go Now. 00:24:25.909 --> 00:24:31.655 Let's say that somebody in the room didn't like chicken noodle soup. 00:24:31.655 --> 00:24:34.267 First of all, they need prayer. 00:24:34.267 --> 00:24:39.787 They're like I don't like this. 00:24:42.260 --> 00:24:46.392 I'm going to change the label so this is not going to be chicken noodle soup anymore. 00:24:46.392 --> 00:24:58.125 In fact, what I'm going to do is I'm going to take a Sharp, going to like take a Sharpie and I'm going to color out the word chicken so you can't see it anymore, because there won't be any more chicken in here, because I'm going to color this out. 00:24:58.125 --> 00:24:59.625 There's no chicken in here anymore. 00:24:59.625 --> 00:25:02.145 Would that work? 00:25:02.145 --> 00:25:03.009 No, it's not. 00:25:03.009 --> 00:25:16.955 I'm going to color out noodles, I'm getting those out, and then I'm going to get a sticky note and I'm going to put a sticky note on there and I'm going to write tomato soup and this is going to be tomato soup. 00:25:16.955 --> 00:25:20.527 That's what this is going to be. 00:25:20.527 --> 00:25:21.749 I'm going to label it. 00:25:21.749 --> 00:25:23.673 This is what this is tomato soup. 00:25:23.673 --> 00:25:26.708 Guys, this ain't no tomato soup. 00:25:26.708 --> 00:25:30.661 We ain't settling for no tomato soup in this place, bro, it's chicken noodle soup In fact, bro, it's chicken noodle soup In fact. 00:25:30.901 --> 00:25:32.787 Somebody tell me chicken noodle soup. 00:25:32.787 --> 00:25:33.869 Somebody tell me what is in here. 00:25:33.869 --> 00:25:36.247 What's in this can right here? 00:25:36.247 --> 00:25:41.547 Chicken noodles, carrots, celery, that's right. 00:25:41.547 --> 00:25:45.814 Chicken broth Way too much salt. 00:25:45.814 --> 00:25:46.815 We're not going to talk about that. 00:25:46.815 --> 00:25:50.665 That's what's in here. 00:25:52.299 --> 00:25:58.422 Friend, you can label this whatever in the world you want to label it, as you can say. 00:25:58.422 --> 00:25:59.243 You can say yep. 00:25:59.243 --> 00:26:00.866 You can say chicken fingers. 00:26:00.866 --> 00:26:05.864 You could say Hawaiian pizza and bless God, that's something good. 00:26:05.864 --> 00:26:07.710 You can say whatever you want to say. 00:26:07.710 --> 00:26:10.185 That ain't changing what this is. 00:26:12.340 --> 00:26:13.423 Some of y'all know where I'm going. 00:26:13.423 --> 00:26:22.344 We live in a world and we have things and sometimes it's ourself where we put labels on us. 00:26:22.344 --> 00:26:26.368 We put labels about this is who I am. 00:26:26.368 --> 00:26:31.036 We put labels about this is the type of person that I am. 00:26:31.036 --> 00:26:43.045 But can I say that who you are, no matter what your label says, no matter what people put on, you is child of God. 00:26:43.045 --> 00:26:45.167 That is who you are. 00:26:45.167 --> 00:26:47.990 Yeah, yeah, y'all getting it now. 00:26:47.990 --> 00:26:51.194 It's child of God. 00:26:51.194 --> 00:26:54.159 That is who you are. 00:26:54.159 --> 00:26:55.740 You are not a mistake. 00:26:55.740 --> 00:26:57.644 You are not an accident. 00:26:57.644 --> 00:26:59.327 You are not forgotten about. 00:26:59.327 --> 00:27:05.983 You are a child of God and you know what that means In your life. 00:27:06.806 --> 00:27:25.941 This means that you are loved, that you are fully accepted by God, that you are gifted, that you are adopted, that you are chosen, that you are forgiven, that you are wanted, that you are significant and those things are 100% a result of God's grace and not your efforts 100%. 00:27:25.941 --> 00:27:28.365 Now, there's something really hard about this. 00:27:28.365 --> 00:27:31.310 We don't always feel that way, do we? 00:27:31.310 --> 00:27:33.493 We don't. 00:27:33.493 --> 00:27:37.786 We don't feel that way all the time. 00:27:37.786 --> 00:27:39.525 We experience things. 00:27:39.525 --> 00:27:47.045 Things pop up and we're like, ooh, I don't feel very forgiven right now, I don't feel very significant right now, I don't feel loved right now. 00:27:48.180 --> 00:28:00.686 And it's interesting in recent days, as science has developed and we've learned about the brain, is that the brain can actually have physical changes based on experiences we have in our life. 00:28:00.686 --> 00:28:12.561 So, for example, if, growing up, you were in an environment that was driven by fear, that literally will imprint your brain scientifically. 00:28:12.561 --> 00:28:34.455 If you grew up in an environment that, for whatever reason, maybe you were given the message that to be accepted in this family or be accepted in this place, you have to measure up, it literally shapes your brain or to be loved, you have to do this over here, or you had this experience over here that maybe wasn't the best. 00:28:34.455 --> 00:28:35.339 This is what happens scientifically. 00:28:35.339 --> 00:28:37.123 It shapes your brain. 00:28:37.123 --> 00:28:47.423 It fundamentally reorganizes how your brain thinks and how you operate and how you see yourself. 00:28:47.423 --> 00:28:56.391 So when we talk about things like you're unconditionally loved, you're forgiven, when we start clapping, we get excited about some of these things. 00:28:56.391 --> 00:28:57.682 It's like, yes, this is great. 00:28:57.982 --> 00:29:01.271 But then we go into the real world and we're like, oh, I don't feel this way. 00:29:01.271 --> 00:29:08.967 And we go to the real world and it's like something happens and we're like our default is like man, I just don't measure up. 00:29:08.967 --> 00:29:19.419 Our default is like I, just for so many of us. 00:29:19.419 --> 00:29:25.507 And we live our lives thinking like I can never get freedom from this. 00:29:25.507 --> 00:29:27.012 We live our life thinking I can never experience healing from this. 00:29:27.012 --> 00:29:30.426 We live our life thinking I can never live in the freedom and the realities of the gospel. 00:29:30.426 --> 00:29:39.490 We read some of this stuff and you guys hear me up here get excited every now and again it's about every week these days and you're like how could I even live this way? 00:29:39.490 --> 00:29:47.233 Because in the real world out there we don't feel it, because there's been things that have imprinted and shaped our brains. 00:29:47.233 --> 00:29:52.592 So what do we do in those moments when we're not feeling it? 00:29:52.592 --> 00:30:00.205 What do we do in those moments when it's like we go back to, maybe, an experience, and this is how I feel. 00:30:00.205 --> 00:30:01.645 What do we do then? 00:30:01.645 --> 00:30:12.115 What do we do when our feelings clash with our identity in Christ and who we actually are? 00:30:12.115 --> 00:30:23.486 The next three minutes are going to be the most important three minutes of this message, so I want you to lean in. 00:30:25.140 --> 00:30:31.453 Milton Vincent says we need to extract the benefits of the gospel. 00:30:31.453 --> 00:30:34.505 What in the world does this mean? 00:30:34.505 --> 00:30:35.628 Let me give you a quote. 00:30:35.628 --> 00:30:40.730 God did not give us his gospel just so we could embrace it and be converted. 00:30:40.730 --> 00:30:44.048 What that means is so we could understand that Jesus came. 00:30:44.048 --> 00:30:52.307 He died on the cross for our sins and he was buried and he resurrected the third day, and by turning from our sin and putting our faith in him, we are saved. 00:30:52.307 --> 00:30:55.682 He didn't just give us the gospel so we could embrace that message. 00:30:55.682 --> 00:31:06.827 Actually, he offers it to us every single day as a gift that keeps on giving us everything we need for life and godliness. 00:31:06.827 --> 00:31:17.328 The wise believer becomes oh I love this word proficient in extracting the available benefits from the gospel. 00:31:17.328 --> 00:31:23.142 Each day, we extract these benefits by being absorbed in the gospel. 00:31:23.142 --> 00:31:27.125 Speaking it to ourselves Okay, this is a lot there. 00:31:27.125 --> 00:31:28.165 To ourselves Okay, this is a lot there. 00:31:28.165 --> 00:31:34.730 So the gospel gives declarations about who you are. 00:31:34.730 --> 00:31:40.315 This is who you are, but practically, how does this work? 00:31:40.315 --> 00:31:42.717 Milton says what we do. 00:31:42.717 --> 00:31:43.377 Man, what a name. 00:31:43.377 --> 00:31:54.747 Milton says what we do is we learn to extract the benefits of the gospel every single day, in every situation, by being absorbed in its message. 00:31:54.747 --> 00:31:57.760 So now, this is where I want you to chime in and I want you to talk to me. 00:31:58.662 --> 00:32:06.101 Can you give me an example of something that can make somebody feel less than Maybe an example? 00:32:06.101 --> 00:32:09.163 They go through this, they experience this, this happened to them. 00:32:09.163 --> 00:32:19.455 It could be something small, something big, where somebody does something and it makes them or experience something and it makes them feel less than, or unloved, or something like that. 00:32:19.455 --> 00:32:22.484 So somebody talk to me. 00:32:22.484 --> 00:32:24.249 What was that? 00:32:24.249 --> 00:32:25.872 Facebook can? 00:32:25.872 --> 00:32:28.686 Yeah for sure, they're going to be like comparison, like they're better than me. 00:32:28.686 --> 00:32:30.381 Yep, 100 percent, yeah. 00:32:30.381 --> 00:32:32.519 Divor, 100%, yeah. 00:32:32.519 --> 00:32:34.244 Divorce, absolutely. 00:32:34.244 --> 00:32:35.508 Homelessness, absolutely. 00:32:35.508 --> 00:32:40.535 Feel less than Prison, yeah. 00:32:40.535 --> 00:32:44.646 Rejection, Rochelle, clickiness Absolutely. 00:32:44.646 --> 00:32:47.874 These are all like super real things. 00:32:47.874 --> 00:32:50.339 Somebody else give me something else. 00:32:50.339 --> 00:32:51.843 Suicide, yeah. 00:32:51.843 --> 00:32:55.404 Neglect, absolutely. 00:32:55.404 --> 00:32:55.766 Addiction. 00:32:55.766 --> 00:33:04.420 We could go on and on and on and on. 00:33:04.420 --> 00:33:10.809 Everything that every one of you said is so real, every single thing, and they make you feel a certain way. 00:33:10.809 --> 00:33:33.372 So when you feel this way, when you experience this, what we have to do is we have to extract the benefits of the gospel and speak that in this situation Brother Ron he said rejection I feel rejected deeply we extract the benefit that in the gospel, god says he will never reject us. 00:33:39.040 --> 00:33:43.612 Somebody was touching on saying I feel alone, I feel by myself. 00:33:43.612 --> 00:33:48.208 In the gospel, jesus says I will never leave you nor forsake you. 00:33:48.208 --> 00:33:50.173 I'm extracting that benefit to my life right now. 00:33:50.173 --> 00:33:53.125 Talked about social media. 00:33:53.125 --> 00:33:54.190 Right, the comparison. 00:33:54.190 --> 00:33:58.111 Like they have this, like you know I don't have this, they have that. 00:33:58.111 --> 00:34:00.709 They got themselves together, whatever. 00:34:00.709 --> 00:34:05.892 Hey, the gospel says that I am significant because I'm a child of God. 00:34:05.892 --> 00:34:18.389 This is who I am and this is what needs to happen for us to grow in this area and grow in our faith and mature is to learn to extract the benefits of the gospel to our everyday situation in our life. 00:34:18.389 --> 00:34:34.347 Like this is how, when Jesus says I've come to give you life and have it more abundantly, this is how we walk in that abundant life Like this is how we walk in that freedom by saying I am not all these other things, I'm not even how I feel, I'm not what people say about me. 00:34:34.347 --> 00:34:36.496 I'm extracting the benefit of the gospel and I am living in this reality every single day. 00:34:36.496 --> 00:34:36.918 I am a child of God. 00:34:36.918 --> 00:34:37.601 I am a son of God. 00:34:37.601 --> 00:34:38.362 I am a daughter of God. 00:34:38.362 --> 00:34:39.103 This is who I am. 00:34:39.103 --> 00:34:40.605 This is who I am. 00:34:45.451 --> 00:34:53.184 I want to end with an old quote that you may have heard, but it's so powerful because everything that we're talking about it starts in our mind. 00:34:53.184 --> 00:34:58.101 The old quote goes like this Watch your thoughts, they become your words. 00:34:58.101 --> 00:35:01.690 Watch your words they become your actions. 00:35:01.690 --> 00:35:06.023 Watch your actions they become your habits. 00:35:06.023 --> 00:35:08.648 Watch your habits they become your character. 00:35:08.648 --> 00:35:08.889 They become. 00:35:08.889 --> 00:35:10.452 Watch your habits, they become your character. 00:35:10.452 --> 00:35:13.987 Watch your character, it becomes your destiny. 00:35:15.471 --> 00:35:16.072 Can we just say that? 00:35:16.072 --> 00:35:17.244 Let's just go through that one more time? 00:35:17.244 --> 00:35:18.168 That was a lot to swallow. 00:35:18.168 --> 00:35:20.248 I was drinking through a fire hydrant there, okay? 00:35:20.248 --> 00:35:23.429