WEBVTT 00:00:02.720 --> 00:00:03.759 Welcome everyone. 00:00:03.919 --> 00:00:10.560 Thanks for joining us on our online stream from Kelowna, KCC, and our Lake Country campus. 00:00:10.800 --> 00:00:13.039 We're just so grateful to have you all together. 00:00:13.279 --> 00:00:25.039 I'm just going to give you a few little announcements here, and while I'm doing that, I just invite you to go ahead and share the stream with those who you may find would be interested in just joining with us. 00:00:25.199 --> 00:00:30.399 We love to engage as many people at the same time to connect with us here at KCC. 00:00:30.480 --> 00:00:31.760 So go ahead and do that. 00:00:32.240 --> 00:00:44.000 While you're doing that, I just want to say thank you on behalf of our team and our volunteers and all those who call KCC home for your continued giving. 00:00:44.159 --> 00:00:53.280 It's just so great to know that we've got the church behind us and that we're continuing to move forward into the mission that God has called us to. 00:00:53.359 --> 00:01:02.880 For those of you joining us at Church in Service bi-weekly at our 9 15 and our 10:30 services, it's so great to see people there. 00:01:03.039 --> 00:01:04.959 It's so great to see everybody come. 00:01:05.040 --> 00:01:12.159 And I know it fills up fast, but go ahead and reserve a seat for the next week if you'd like to come. 00:01:12.319 --> 00:01:13.920 We'd love to have you. 00:01:14.319 --> 00:01:20.959 We also have committed missionaries on the field, and they're sending us messages frequently about how they're doing. 00:01:21.200 --> 00:01:30.159 We just want to remind you of them and the work that they're doing and the support that we're giving them to be able to accomplish those tasks. 00:01:30.480 --> 00:01:34.959 Keep them in your prayers, keep them on your heart, keep them in front of you, okay? 00:01:35.120 --> 00:01:40.799 All the people that we have in Kenya and Israel and in Mexico, all around the world right now. 00:01:40.959 --> 00:01:45.200 We've got people working on behalf of the kingdom, on the gospel service. 00:01:45.439 --> 00:01:48.959 They're serving the gospel message to the people in their areas. 00:01:49.120 --> 00:01:51.200 So let's keep them in prayer. 00:01:51.599 --> 00:01:56.799 Now, this series is called Created in the Image of God. 00:01:57.040 --> 00:02:02.159 Created in the Image of God, and I've been so excited and waiting to share this series with you. 00:02:02.319 --> 00:02:09.919 And it may be a very basic message, but this message is a fundamental message to our identity. 00:02:10.159 --> 00:02:17.840 And if anything has been put under pressure in the last while, in these last seasons, it's been our identity. 00:02:18.080 --> 00:02:19.199 Where do we belong? 00:02:19.360 --> 00:02:20.800 How do we fit? 00:02:21.360 --> 00:02:23.199 Who do we identify with? 00:02:23.360 --> 00:02:25.039 How do we identify? 00:02:25.280 --> 00:02:30.240 And it's a fundamental task of life is actually figuring out who you are. 00:02:30.479 --> 00:02:37.759 And if I can help move you one step closer to that understanding, that's my job. 00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:50.400 So what is your identity and discovering who God made you to be and why on earth and what on earth you are here to accomplish, and why are you here, and what are you here to do? 00:02:50.639 --> 00:02:57.039 So how you see yourself actually affects everything in your life. 00:02:57.360 --> 00:03:00.560 How you see yourself affects your relationships. 00:03:00.800 --> 00:03:04.319 It affects your stress levels, your happiness. 00:03:04.479 --> 00:03:11.280 It affects, it determines the lifestyle that you have around you and the community that you draw close around you. 00:03:11.439 --> 00:03:16.639 It also affects your connection to God, how you see yourself. 00:03:17.120 --> 00:03:19.840 So, how do you see you? 00:03:20.080 --> 00:03:23.520 How do you see yourself is such an important question. 00:03:23.680 --> 00:03:34.879 And it's a question that most people like to avoid because it becomes so internal, and they they're more interested in how other people see them than how they see themselves. 00:03:35.120 --> 00:03:39.919 Because if you see yourself a certain way that needs changing, you can't lie to yourself. 00:03:40.080 --> 00:03:45.840 You have to identify that error in your perspective and move beyond it. 00:03:46.080 --> 00:03:51.120 So your search for your identity actually begins in the very beginning. 00:03:51.919 --> 00:03:55.599 My youngest was going to grade three class. 00:03:55.680 --> 00:03:59.919 As you know, many of the classes have started, and he was going to school. 00:04:00.080 --> 00:04:13.759 And that morning he woke up and he was sitting at the breakfast table and he was having cereal and he said, I'm nervous going to class, I'm nervous going to my classroom because it was a place away from family. 00:04:13.840 --> 00:04:24.399 It's a place where he has to identify as himself, who he's going to be, the friends he's going to have, how people will accept him, will they value him? 00:04:24.560 --> 00:04:25.360 Will they love him? 00:04:26.319 --> 00:04:27.600 Will he fit? 00:04:27.839 --> 00:04:38.800 And it's a huge question, and I know all of us have experienced a similar situation like that, where we've gone to a class or your first day of school and you've been intimidated as well. 00:04:38.959 --> 00:04:50.560 Perhaps it's your first job, perhaps it's uh meeting some uh some family members or your uh or perhaps your fiance's family. 00:04:50.800 --> 00:04:52.160 You know what I'm talking about. 00:04:52.319 --> 00:04:54.160 You feel that intimidation. 00:04:54.560 --> 00:05:05.199 This week I'd like to address from the beginning who God says we are, because we truly believe I am who God says I am. 00:05:05.600 --> 00:05:08.000 I am who God says I am. 00:05:08.399 --> 00:05:18.639 A number of years ago, there was uh an article written in the newspaper about a fellow who was actually found naked, unconscious. 00:05:18.800 --> 00:05:22.399 He had been beaten behind this uh restaurant. 00:05:22.879 --> 00:05:34.399 And when he was uh he came to and he regained consciousness, the doctors tried to ask him, like, who are you and where do you come from? 00:05:34.560 --> 00:05:39.279 And all these basic questions, but they weren't able to find any ideal on his body. 00:05:39.439 --> 00:05:47.759 And when they they pursued those questions, they realized that he was suffering with amnesia and he didn't even know who he was. 00:05:48.240 --> 00:05:59.920 And they had investigators online looking to figure out who he was, they had people and they had they put public reports out for people to identify him. 00:06:00.160 --> 00:06:01.600 He even went on Dr. 00:06:01.839 --> 00:06:24.959 Phil and was accompanied by a nurse who's committed to like figuring out this guy's story because an identity is so important for him to be living without a name, without a story, without uh uh a gifting that he discovered about himself, all these things uh attribute to who you are. 00:06:25.519 --> 00:06:31.120 And so he had felt like his identity had been robbed, stolen. 00:06:31.279 --> 00:06:38.079 And I know that uh in today's culture, stealing an identity is such a critical issue. 00:06:38.399 --> 00:06:50.959 I read the other day that it's literally a$5 billion a year issue as people have stolen others' identity and actually claimed taxes, tax returns in their name. 00:06:51.120 --> 00:07:03.120 And the government in the US over the last five years has had to put out$25 billion to repay money to people who've been defrauded. 00:07:03.600 --> 00:07:05.360 But Satan is there. 00:07:05.759 --> 00:07:10.800 We have an enemy, Satan, who wants to defraud more than our money. 00:07:11.040 --> 00:07:15.120 He wants to defraud us, and it's a sinister attack. 00:07:15.279 --> 00:07:21.519 He wants to affraud us of our identity, which is more valuable than money. 00:07:21.759 --> 00:07:27.759 He wants to steal our identity in Christ, who Christ created us to be. 00:07:28.079 --> 00:07:44.720 He wants to hide your true identity, he wants to diminish you as to who you were created to be, he wants to confuse you, he wants you to not know the power that exists in you because you are in Christ. 00:07:45.600 --> 00:07:52.240 Because you are in God, you are so much more than even you realize. 00:07:52.399 --> 00:07:56.480 And the enemy, our enemy, does not want you to discover that. 00:07:56.720 --> 00:08:09.839 So, one of the reasons why we get so stressed out and we get so tired is that there's this unseen battle that's happening that's waging on uh in our life over our identity. 00:08:10.800 --> 00:08:15.920 And every single moment of the day, this battle is waging on. 00:08:16.160 --> 00:08:18.879 We don't see it, but the tension is there. 00:08:19.120 --> 00:08:22.800 The world is trying to strip away who you've been called to be. 00:08:23.040 --> 00:08:28.079 God's trying to reinforce who you were created to be. 00:08:28.160 --> 00:08:39.759 And there's this battle because if you ever found and discovered and realized fully who you were created to be, it would be an incredible thing. 00:08:40.159 --> 00:08:42.720 Satan is not as powerful as God. 00:08:43.200 --> 00:08:46.799 He cannot steal or create anything. 00:08:46.960 --> 00:09:06.720 He can't create another identity on your behalf, he can't take it away forever, but he can distort and he can manipulate and he can pervert and he can dish down that identity that God places a seed in your life. 00:09:07.039 --> 00:09:12.639 He does this with all other types of things, with money, with sex, with relationships, with beauty. 00:09:12.879 --> 00:09:16.639 He does it with power, and he'll do it with your identity. 00:09:16.799 --> 00:09:25.200 He'll corrupt it, he'll deceive, he'll do, use any of his tactics to actually tear it apart. 00:09:25.519 --> 00:09:29.759 And Satan uses certain tools to actually corrupt this identity. 00:09:29.919 --> 00:09:35.919 And perhaps if you know of them, you'll be more aware as to how to resist them. 00:09:36.159 --> 00:09:37.759 The first attack is this. 00:09:38.000 --> 00:09:41.600 He'll use hurt and pain and trauma. 00:09:42.080 --> 00:09:46.000 Hurt and pain and trauma are something that we'll all encounter. 00:09:46.159 --> 00:09:59.840 But if you allow that hurt, pain, and trauma to turn into uh grief or anger or bitterness or uh shame, it will actually corrupt who you were created to be. 00:10:00.320 --> 00:10:16.080 And if you allow the things that have happened to you or even by you to reinforce your identity, then that identity will be corrupted and you'll lose that true identity that you've actually found in Christ. 00:10:16.240 --> 00:10:21.200 So he'll use hurt and pain, but he'll also use other people's opinions. 00:10:21.679 --> 00:10:28.399 And I hate to tell you this, but it's the truth, that people will lie to you. 00:10:28.960 --> 00:10:48.639 People will say things to you that aren't true, and it's their opinions that if you believe them, and they could be your peers, could be your parents, can even be friends in your life that speak to you and you believe them, it can shift your identity. 00:10:48.799 --> 00:10:55.840 They're just not true, and your identity will then be distorted as to who God has called you to be. 00:10:56.080 --> 00:11:17.039 He'll also use culture, he'll use the media, you'll watch movies and read books and go online, and all these things that are pressing on you in our culture are there to convince you to be something or become something that you were never created to be. 00:11:17.279 --> 00:11:25.440 So often I've seen young people scrolling through Instagram, and it's the same images, page by page by page. 00:11:25.679 --> 00:11:44.480 And those images, even though they may be harmless, are reinforcing an identity based on the culture, based on what they're seeing, based on media and movies and music and video, all those things make an impact. 00:11:44.799 --> 00:11:52.559 He'll also use the presence or the um the thoughts that become present in your mind. 00:11:53.200 --> 00:12:11.600 Your own mind will begin to tell you thoughts and give you uh thoughts, and they'll say things like, you're not good enough, or you're useless, or you're worthless, or you're a failure, and you just cannot believe even the thoughts that are going on in your own mind. 00:12:12.000 --> 00:12:24.159 He'll use lies that um you tell yourself and that you're not gifted, that you're not good enough, that you're worthless, and he'll even use your own feelings. 00:12:24.480 --> 00:12:37.679 And if I can teach you one thing today and just coach you one step closer here, it's that we need to leave feelings to the side and lead with faith and lead with the truth. 00:12:38.080 --> 00:12:40.960 Not everything you feel is true. 00:12:41.840 --> 00:12:47.519 And you may say, well, I feel this way, that therefore it must be true. 00:12:47.840 --> 00:12:57.679 No, our feelings have to be recognized as either our friend or our foe, and the feelings have to be weighed against the word of God. 00:12:57.919 --> 00:13:01.360 Your feelings are terrible predictors of truth. 00:13:01.600 --> 00:13:06.240 They're often totally off base and they can be manipulated and changed. 00:13:06.480 --> 00:13:18.720 So if Satan can get you to believe thoughts about yourself, and you can realize this war that's happening inside your own soul, then he can distort your true identity. 00:13:18.960 --> 00:13:21.279 So we can't let him do that, okay? 00:13:21.519 --> 00:13:33.200 We can't let him get a grip on your life, your children's life, your spouse's life, your friends' lives, your in-laws' lives, people around you, in the church. 00:13:33.519 --> 00:13:38.960 We need to live based on the identity that is found in Christ. 00:13:39.919 --> 00:13:47.120 Our true identity, who God says we are, is who we believe ourselves to be. 00:13:47.519 --> 00:14:06.559 So, my goal for you in living a well-lived, uh, abundant life that we find as our we read the scripture, we find the hope in the scripture that encourages us is by basing our identity on Christ. 00:14:06.799 --> 00:14:11.519 So knowing who we are and knowing what God thinks about you and your identity. 00:14:11.600 --> 00:14:31.440 It's an absolutely essential perspective that we have to have in order to live a life well-lived, or else we're not going to find happiness, we won't find fulfillment, we'll drift, we'll go on a mission drift, and just find ourselves being led by whatever wind blows us, wherever the wind blows us. 00:14:31.679 --> 00:14:34.559 So, how do we know who we are? 00:14:34.799 --> 00:14:38.639 How do I know who I really am? 00:14:39.679 --> 00:14:45.039 If you ask that question, how do we know who you really are? 00:14:46.000 --> 00:14:57.279 Uh it starts, it starts with realizing who uh the centricity of God in our life, the centricity of Jesus to our life. 00:14:57.519 --> 00:15:00.799 Pascal said it this way, and I'm gonna read you a quote here. 00:15:01.039 --> 00:15:08.480 It says, not only do we know God through Jesus Christ, we know ourselves through Jesus Christ. 00:15:08.720 --> 00:15:12.559 We know life and death through Jesus Christ. 00:15:12.799 --> 00:15:22.639 Apart from Jesus, we can't know the meaning of life, we can't know death, we don't know the meaning of God, we don't know ourselves. 00:15:22.960 --> 00:15:25.840 Everything revolves around Jesus. 00:15:26.240 --> 00:15:30.399 And so that's why it may seem like a simple answer. 00:15:30.799 --> 00:15:34.159 Say, how do I find my true life? 00:15:34.399 --> 00:15:38.000 My true life, you have to find it in Christ. 00:15:38.320 --> 00:15:42.879 Two words, in Christ is where we find our true life. 00:15:43.120 --> 00:15:46.559 So who does God say I am? 00:15:47.039 --> 00:15:48.960 Who does He say I am? 00:15:49.519 --> 00:15:59.279 In the Bible, there are 35 places where your identity is secured in Christ and what it says about your identity in Christ. 00:15:59.360 --> 00:16:14.799 And we're gonna take one passage of scripture in 1 Peter chapter 2, verses 9 and 10, and we're gonna look at five areas where uh five aspects and what God said, who God says we are. 00:16:14.879 --> 00:16:27.840 And just these five aspects, if you lean in and you embrace them and you secure them in your heart, and you begin to trust in them, it will change your life. 00:16:28.080 --> 00:16:31.919 So let me read to you 1 Peter 2, 9 and 10. 00:16:32.000 --> 00:16:46.480 And today I'm gonna take you through the first two out of the five, and then we're gonna have Thanksgiving next week, talk about a grateful heart and the spirit of gratitude, and then the week following we're gonna share with you the next three. 00:16:46.720 --> 00:16:50.000 So let me read to you 1 Peter 2, 9 and 10. 00:16:50.240 --> 00:17:09.599 It says, You are a chosen people, yes, you are, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light. 00:17:10.079 --> 00:17:15.359 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God. 00:17:15.920 --> 00:17:21.920 Once you had not received mercy, but now you've received mercy. 00:17:22.480 --> 00:17:25.279 Let me tell you the first thing I read from this. 00:17:25.519 --> 00:17:29.680 It says that in Christ I am accepted. 00:17:29.920 --> 00:17:37.519 If you're taking notes, you put that down, you write it on your mirror, you put it on a plaque beside your bed. 00:17:37.759 --> 00:17:46.960 This needs to be a part of our our our identity that I am completely accepted. 00:17:47.279 --> 00:17:56.720 This is so important to know this, because the deepest wounds in life often come from a place of rejection. 00:17:57.599 --> 00:18:02.400 And rejection hurts so much, and we've all experienced this. 00:18:02.640 --> 00:18:24.880 Rejection hurts so much that we spend much of our life uh trying to earn acceptance, trying to earn the acceptance that we uh from people, and we want to earn it from our parents, we want to earn it from our peers, we want to earn it from our boss, we want to earn it from our friends, we want to earn it from those we respect. 00:18:25.039 --> 00:18:33.039 We even want to earn it from those who uh who we envy, those who we want to accept us. 00:18:33.519 --> 00:18:37.359 And this drive to be accepted drives our choices. 00:18:37.599 --> 00:18:48.799 It drives what you wear, it drives what you drive, it drives what you buy, it drives the house you live in and the pre and the way you present yourself. 00:18:49.119 --> 00:18:54.880 So much of this is driven by the desire to be accepted. 00:18:55.200 --> 00:18:58.720 We do all kinds of things to earn this acceptance. 00:18:59.039 --> 00:19:05.839 And there's this pain, because there's a pain that we experience from not being accepted. 00:19:06.000 --> 00:19:24.240 And I don't know if you've ever experienced the pain when people were choosing in elementary school, you know, I choose you and I choose you, and I choose you, and you're the last one left on that on that team, and no one's chosen you, and that pain is real. 00:19:24.480 --> 00:19:25.920 That pain is there. 00:19:26.240 --> 00:19:38.000 And it makes such a difference as well when you actually experience self-worth, like when you are accepted, when you receive an award or a trophy or some kind of acknowledgement. 00:19:38.400 --> 00:19:39.519 It feels good. 00:19:39.599 --> 00:19:44.799 You throw your shoulders back, you lift your head up, you walk a little taller. 00:19:45.119 --> 00:19:56.160 The fact that Natalie chose me over all the other guys who are chasing her, you know, she chose me, makes me feel really good. 00:19:56.640 --> 00:19:58.559 It gives me value. 00:19:59.200 --> 00:20:09.920 Well, you have been totally accepted, and you can say, I am, because of Christ, I am totally accepted. 00:20:10.319 --> 00:20:17.359 First Peter chapter 2, verse 9 says this you've been chosen by God Himself. 00:20:18.000 --> 00:20:22.079 You're a chosen people, you're a chosen person. 00:20:22.559 --> 00:20:34.240 If God shows you and likes you and you like you, then it really doesn't uh it really shouldn't matter who is out there saying anything different about you. 00:20:34.400 --> 00:20:40.880 Uh it's their problem because if God likes you and you like you, it's something real. 00:20:41.920 --> 00:20:52.079 When I'm completely accepted and I feel that security, so why am I completely accepted? 00:20:52.640 --> 00:20:55.200 Why do I get this acceptance? 00:20:55.440 --> 00:20:57.519 Why do I get to receive it? 00:20:57.839 --> 00:21:15.279 And I'd like to say the first part here is that because God chose me before anything else, in Ephesians chapter 1, verse 4, it says that even before the world began, God loved you and chose you. 00:21:16.240 --> 00:21:22.079 Even you were found holy, you were found without fault in his eyes. 00:21:22.319 --> 00:21:34.799 Like before the world began, before there was a whale in the ocean, before there were stars in the sky or a sun in the sky, God loved you and chose you. 00:21:35.119 --> 00:21:36.240 You are chosen. 00:21:36.400 --> 00:21:41.599 Before the universe was created, God had you on his heart and in his mind. 00:21:42.160 --> 00:21:52.559 This shows incredible value for you and acceptance and has made you acceptable for who you are. 00:21:52.880 --> 00:21:57.680 Jesus made me acceptable as well through the death of his son Jesus. 00:21:57.920 --> 00:21:59.519 His death on the cross, Titus. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:02.720 Chapter 3, verse 7, says this. 00:22:02.880 --> 00:22:06.480 It says, Jesus treated us much better than we deserve. 00:22:07.119 --> 00:22:13.200 He made us acceptable to God and gave us the hope of eternal life. 00:22:13.359 --> 00:22:18.880 There was nothing I could do to find that acceptance, but Jesus did it for me. 00:22:19.119 --> 00:22:21.599 Jesus treated me better than I deserved. 00:22:21.759 --> 00:22:23.759 I didn't deserve to be accepted. 00:22:24.319 --> 00:22:26.960 But Jesus treated me so well. 00:22:27.279 --> 00:22:29.359 He made me accepted. 00:22:29.599 --> 00:22:33.839 He allowed me to experience this acceptance before God. 00:22:34.000 --> 00:22:44.799 It's through his blood that I can approach the Father boldly and come in with arms wide open and can be welcomed into the presence of our Father God. 00:22:45.279 --> 00:22:47.839 That's incredible acceptance. 00:22:48.079 --> 00:22:50.799 It's not based on my performance. 00:22:51.119 --> 00:22:54.319 It's not based on my skin color. 00:22:54.559 --> 00:23:02.720 It's not based on my abilities, natural abilities, or my looks, or my education, or how popular I am. 00:23:02.880 --> 00:23:07.039 It's based simply on what Jesus did for me. 00:23:07.920 --> 00:23:10.799 I couldn't earn my way to acceptance. 00:23:11.279 --> 00:23:14.880 Jesus made me acceptable before God, the Father. 00:23:15.039 --> 00:23:16.799 It's because of what Jesus did. 00:23:16.880 --> 00:23:22.400 And now, because of Jesus, I can experience that spirit of acceptance. 00:23:22.640 --> 00:23:31.680 The first thing we need to realize about our identity is that I am completely acceptable to Him. 00:23:31.920 --> 00:23:34.480 I am accepted by God. 00:23:34.799 --> 00:23:38.480 Now, some people don't appreciate this. 00:23:38.559 --> 00:23:44.400 And I used to have a sticker on my truck, and it was like one of the few stickers I've actually put on a vehicle. 00:23:44.640 --> 00:23:46.079 But I said, smile. 00:23:46.960 --> 00:23:49.279 God loves you, God accepts you. 00:23:49.519 --> 00:23:53.839 And people need to realize that there's a lot in life that's there to put us down. 00:23:53.920 --> 00:23:58.079 And sometimes all you need to do is turn your head up, and you may need to do this today. 00:23:58.319 --> 00:24:04.319 Turn your head up and say, I am accepted, completely accepted by God. 00:24:04.880 --> 00:24:05.519 Amen. 00:24:06.319 --> 00:24:11.519 Number two, I am extremely valuable. 00:24:12.240 --> 00:24:16.720 Your life is a word that we don't usually use, priceless. 00:24:17.039 --> 00:24:18.480 It's priceless. 00:24:18.880 --> 00:24:24.000 There are categories like I've been looking for a car for the winter here, a new vehicle. 00:24:24.160 --> 00:24:29.519 And there are different types of quality of cars when you're looking for a vehicle. 00:24:29.680 --> 00:24:36.480 There's like a fair value, a good value, there's uh excellent value. 00:24:36.720 --> 00:24:48.559 And when you look at this this scripture here, in 1 Peter 2 9, it says, you are holy and you belong to God. 00:24:49.759 --> 00:24:52.400 You are priceless because you belong to Him. 00:24:52.559 --> 00:24:57.920 Now, what makes something valuable is the fact that is who it belongs to. 00:24:58.240 --> 00:25:03.200 And when you think about who it belongs to, that's what really creates value for it. 00:25:03.759 --> 00:25:15.839 When you're at an auction and you're you're bidding on something, oftentimes they'll say, Well, this item here was valued at this price because of who it belonged to. 00:25:16.400 --> 00:25:19.119 I have a lot of pairs of sneakers at home. 00:25:19.279 --> 00:25:27.119 I got my preacher sneakers at home, but they're not as valuable as the sneakers that Michael Jordan's worn. 00:25:27.279 --> 00:25:34.799 You know, I might have my Jordans, but Michael has his Jordans that he wore and that he owned. 00:25:35.039 --> 00:25:39.039 And those are a thousand times more valuable than my shoes. 00:25:39.200 --> 00:25:46.240 You might have a guitar in your closet, and that guitar in your closet is, you know, worth a hundred bucks. 00:25:46.400 --> 00:26:02.000 But if you have the guitar that Johnny Cash used, or the guitar that, you know, um Eric Clapton has used or Jimi Hendrix has used, then that guitar is worth thousands of times more than your guitar. 00:26:02.720 --> 00:26:13.759 Because the person who owned it, whether that person was famous or a celebrity or a historic figure, the value is based on the person who owned it. 00:26:13.920 --> 00:26:19.519 Now, 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 9 says, you belong to God. 00:26:20.400 --> 00:26:25.599 You belong to him, and because you belong to him, you have value. 00:26:26.000 --> 00:26:28.640 You are extremely valuable. 00:26:29.440 --> 00:26:36.319 The owner adds value to oftentimes commonplace things. 00:26:36.799 --> 00:26:38.880 So who do we belong to? 00:26:39.119 --> 00:26:39.839 Matters. 00:26:40.160 --> 00:26:46.559 Deuteronomy chapter 7, verse 6 says that you are his treasured possession. 00:26:46.799 --> 00:26:49.839 Again, in Isaiah, it says you are precious. 00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:54.720 And the word there is implying like gold and silver, titanium. 00:26:54.880 --> 00:26:57.359 It's like valuable metal. 00:26:58.000 --> 00:27:03.759 It's something that's precious, hard to find, valuable when found. 00:27:03.920 --> 00:27:07.200 That's the type of value you hold to him. 00:27:07.359 --> 00:27:13.680 And because he values you, your value is extremely valuable. 00:27:13.839 --> 00:27:19.359 I don't even know if there's a word beyond extreme value, like infinitely valuable. 00:27:19.519 --> 00:27:21.920 That's the value that you have. 00:27:22.000 --> 00:27:25.039 That's why the only word I could think of was priceless. 00:27:25.359 --> 00:27:26.960 You are priceless. 00:27:27.359 --> 00:27:30.079 So why do you be why are you valuable? 00:27:30.319 --> 00:27:32.079 Because God owns you. 00:27:32.559 --> 00:27:34.079 And God is your father. 00:27:34.240 --> 00:27:45.920 Luke 12, uh verse 24 says that God is the father of the birds, and he gives them food, and he gives them a place to stay and he gives them all things that they need. 00:27:46.160 --> 00:27:54.960 He says, if God will take care of the birds, God feeds them, and you are far more valuable to him than any birds. 00:27:55.599 --> 00:27:57.359 Imagine your value. 00:27:57.680 --> 00:27:58.960 You're more than a bird. 00:28:01.359 --> 00:28:08.240 You're God's son, you're God's daughter, and you're valuable because of the price that was paid for you. 00:28:08.480 --> 00:28:11.279 Because Jesus gave his life for you. 00:28:11.680 --> 00:28:18.480 1 Corinthians 7 23 says, you've been bought and you've been paid for by Christ. 00:28:18.960 --> 00:28:20.559 So you belong to him. 00:28:20.960 --> 00:28:25.759 You're belonging to him is because Jesus paid for you. 00:28:26.079 --> 00:28:27.039 He bought you. 00:28:31.119 --> 00:28:40.640 And I can tell you right now that how much your house is worth is based on how much someone's willing to pay for it. 00:28:40.880 --> 00:28:46.079 A friend of mine came across a lot of artwork, and you say, How much do you think this is worth? 00:28:46.240 --> 00:28:53.759 Well, I can tell you, that art is really based upon the value of it, is based upon how much someone's willing to pay for that art. 00:28:54.720 --> 00:29:12.160 And when you look at what you've been, how much you've been paid for, what was used to pay for you, you can start to identify with the value on your life and the value on every human life. 00:29:13.119 --> 00:29:14.559 How much is it worth? 00:29:14.720 --> 00:29:17.119 How much is your life worth? 00:29:17.599 --> 00:29:34.160 I remember reading about an oil chic whose daughter had been kidnapped by some criminals, and he sent out a message to the globe, said, Listen, I will pay any price for the safe return of my daughter. 00:29:34.480 --> 00:29:37.920 Any price to cover my daughter's safe return. 00:29:38.160 --> 00:29:40.480 How much are you willing to pay for it? 00:29:40.640 --> 00:29:44.160 He said, It's the king's daughter, it's the oil sheik's daughter. 00:29:44.319 --> 00:29:46.000 Well, you're the king's daughter. 00:29:46.160 --> 00:29:51.440 You're the king's son, and the greatest ransom was paid for your life. 00:29:51.680 --> 00:29:59.519 We have a God who sent his only begotten son to die for you and for me. 00:29:59.839 --> 00:30:06.400 Not to condemn the world, to damn the world, but that through him the world might find salvation. 00:30:06.720 --> 00:30:10.000 He came to life so that you could find life. 00:30:10.240 --> 00:30:13.839 He gave his own life so that you wouldn't have to give your own life. 00:30:15.200 --> 00:30:18.559 He bought and he paid for your life. 00:30:18.720 --> 00:30:21.920 It's such an incredible experience and exchange. 00:30:22.000 --> 00:30:35.839 And anytime I question my value, I can just go back to the cross and I can identify at that time someone loved me so much that he was willing to lay his life down for me. 00:30:36.079 --> 00:30:38.720 He was willing to give everything for me. 00:30:38.960 --> 00:30:51.200 So the people in your life, if you have them in your life and they're saying, you're not valuable, you're not valuable, you can just turn and tell them it's a lie because you have extreme value. 00:30:51.359 --> 00:30:54.880 Your life is priceless before God. 00:30:55.200 --> 00:30:59.759 You're going to be his, you've been bought and paid for, his eternally. 00:31:00.559 --> 00:31:03.440 So today, I want to just recap. 00:31:03.839 --> 00:31:06.480 Number one, you've got an enemy. 00:31:06.960 --> 00:31:09.119 You've got an enemy of your identity. 00:31:09.279 --> 00:31:15.599 And he's there to rob and corrupt and destroy and pervert who God created you to be. 00:31:15.680 --> 00:31:17.519 So we have to stand up against him. 00:31:17.680 --> 00:31:23.599 And we stand up against them by realizing who God created us to be. 00:31:23.680 --> 00:31:28.160 And so today I say, I am totally accepted. 00:31:28.400 --> 00:31:31.359 I am totally accepted into the family of God. 00:31:31.519 --> 00:31:33.519 I'm a part of his family. 00:31:34.960 --> 00:31:39.119 He's taken me in, and I am extremely valuable. 00:31:39.359 --> 00:31:58.480 I am priceless because of the price that was paid for my life, because he's my father, and because I'm loved by him and was created by him in his image to demonstrate who he would could be and who he could be through us. 00:31:58.880 --> 00:32:03.200 So in Christ, we have value and we're accepted. 00:32:03.519 --> 00:32:04.160 Amen. 00:32:04.720 --> 00:32:18.880 If you're listening today and you may have never had an opportunity to have a relationship with Jesus before, and you may be hearing this and you might be thinking, I haven't felt that acceptance, and I haven't felt that value. 00:32:19.119 --> 00:32:22.240 Well, today I'd like to introduce you to Jesus Christ. 00:32:22.799 --> 00:32:27.359 And it's an invitation that I give to you today. 00:32:27.599 --> 00:32:31.359 And the Bible says, today is the day for you. 00:32:31.519 --> 00:32:32.319 Today's the day. 00:32:32.400 --> 00:32:33.839 So we don't wait until tomorrow. 00:32:33.920 --> 00:32:35.440 I'm going to offer it today. 00:32:35.680 --> 00:32:40.559 And I give you the opportunity to come close to God. 00:32:40.960 --> 00:32:44.160 And the way we come close to God is through Jesus Christ. 00:32:44.960 --> 00:32:54.000 And we accept Him into our heart and we acknowledge that we've done things wrong and we've missed the market points. 00:32:54.240 --> 00:32:59.279 And we just surrender our lives to him and he deposits acceptance. 00:33:01.680 --> 00:33:03.759 He deposits it in our heart. 00:33:04.000 --> 00:33:09.200 So if that's you today, I'm just going to invite you to bow your head and I'm just going to pray for you today. 00:33:09.279 --> 00:33:15.119 And you can repeat this prayer after me and uh accept Jesus into your own life. 00:33:15.680 --> 00:33:17.359 Don't you do that with me today? 00:33:18.160 --> 00:33:23.200 Father, today I welcome you into my heart. 00:33:24.480 --> 00:33:27.759 I acknowledge that I've missed the mark. 00:33:28.960 --> 00:33:34.720 And today I accept that you as my Lord and my Savior. 00:33:35.680 --> 00:33:41.119 Would you forgive me of my sin and give me that new beginning? 00:33:42.960 --> 00:33:45.359 Place in me that acceptance. 00:33:45.920 --> 00:33:50.480 Place in me that value that comes from being found in you. 00:33:51.200 --> 00:33:52.640 In Jesus' name. 00:33:53.279 --> 00:33:53.920 Amen. 00:33:54.559 --> 00:33:55.039 Amen. 00:33:55.119 --> 00:34:00.000 If you prayed that prayer with me, go ahead and make a note on Facebook. 00:34:00.240 --> 00:34:05.680 Go ahead and get to our KCC.net page and uh write on the connection card. 00:34:05.839 --> 00:34:16.239 I made a decision today to be a Christian, to make Jesus my Lord, to follow him, and to walk closer to him and to develop that relationship with him. 00:34:16.719 --> 00:34:17.199 Amen. 00:34:17.360 --> 00:34:18.239 God bless you.