Remember Who God Is And Who You Are

What do you preach when the room feels thin and your heart feels thinner? We chose candor and a compass: hope that doesn’t depend on optics, energy, or ease. Starting from a vulnerable confession about discouragement, we trace a path from shaky self-talk to a sturdy, holy reality by remembering who God is and who we are.

We sit with David in Psalm 103, not as a spotless hero but as a forgiven sinner who knows the weight of failure and the warmth of mercy. Line by line, we name God’s benefits—He forgives, heals, redeems, crowns with compassion, renews our strength, and removes our sins as far as east is from west. That catalog of grace is not a distraction; it is a framework. When metrics mock and comparison spirals, worship recalibrates the soul around the character of God.

From there we step into Lamentations 3, letting Jeremiah’s unfiltered grief teach us the turn: Yet this I call to mind, therefore I have hope. Mercy is new every morning. Faithfulness is not seasonal. We talk about the difference between hyped self-belief and the renewing of the mind that comes through Scripture, prayer, and a faithful community. We name the lies that crowd our heads, the pull of platforms and attendance numbers, and the quiet power of showing up, praying together, and letting God set the scale of what matters.

If you’ve felt defeated, distracted, or small, this conversation invites you to remember your identity as a son or daughter of the Most High and to ground your week in a kingdom that outlasts every empire. Join us, share it with someone who needs hope, and help us build a community that remembers well. Subscribe, leave a review, and tell us: what verse anchors your hope right now?

Chapters

• 0:00 A Vulnerable Start And Discouragement
• 4:03 Why Gathering As Church Brings Hope
• 6:48 David’s Failures And God’s Faithfulness
• 8:48 Psalm 103 Read And Reflected
• 13:03 Grace After Sin And Lasting Love
• 16:03 Self-Talk Versus Holy Reality
• 20:33 Who God Is Shapes Our Minds
• 24:33 Community, Scripture, And Renewal
• 28:03 Remembering Identity: The Lion King
• 32:03 Lamentations: From Grief To Hope
• 39:03 Why We Gather And Pray
• 43:33 The Church Outlasts Every Kingdom

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 1:05

You know, I uh I don't know. I'm gonna be a little vulnerable right now. I just wanna let you know personally that every time I I stand up here I'm encouraged and and I'm discouraged, you know, oftentimes in the same heartbeat. I'm encouraged because of those who are here, and I appreciate those of you who come out and and participate, but I'm also discouraged by the amount of people who I know are not here. Because I I think church is is is something that is vital to not only my life, but but really it's vital to all of our lives. And and I get it. And and and and I'm going a little off script, and that's I'm I'm okay with that. Like I get it, but but I understand that part of this whole focus the last couple weeks is has been the idea that we need hope, and the only hope we have is found in Jesus. And and a lot of times people walk around hopeless because for whatever reason they can't find themselves in the Word of God, or they can't find themselves attending a church on Sunday for whatever reason. And and and and we walk around defeated. And and so I'm discouraged because I believe with everything in me that the truth found in Scripture is something that I would give my life for. When you look at the Old Testament, you look at the New Testament, you see men and women who were willing to die to share the message of the gospel. And yet Sunday morning is optional. I think that's the problem in the church today. We we treat this pursuit of God like it's something that we don't have to have, and we try to live a life without Him, and then we wonder why everything feels like it's falling apart all the time. And I'm discouraged because I know that what we have in this place, and listen, I'm not I'm not talking about the building, don't misunderstand this. What we have when we come together as a community of believers is this revelation that hope exists for every single one of us, that we are walking out our faith and our life, and that the most important thing we can do is pursue God. And I'm discouraged because I feel like, again, so many people make that optional. And I think it's fitting that I'm discouraged. I think it's fitting that that going into today's message that I feel discouraged because the message of today is all about hope. So I don't think that's an accident that I feel the way that I do. Uh we talked about this this this last week, this idea of the nefesh, that that our our whole being feels everything. When you when you spiritually, when you feel sick, like your body physically feels it mentally, like we are our creation. We are a created thing that that is longing to be near our creator. And when we don't have that, we feel lost. And and we pursue so many other things, except the one thing that can truly satisfy. That's why I'm discouraged because I don't know where everyone is, but in my mind, what else is more important than this? What other pursuit in life means as much and can do for me as much as the pursuit of God? And the answer is nothing. Nothing will ever satisfy me the way God does. David was a man who understood this. King David did incredible things for the nation of Israel. Incredible things. He also did incredibly stupid things as a man. Slept with Bathsheba. Then that led to the death of her husband, and they lied about it, tried to hide it. David, David, this man who conquered Goliath at the at the end of his life, towards the end of his life, became just like the kings he opposed. And yet, in his pursuit of life, he comes he comes to the conclusion that the only thing that can truly bring him home, the only thing that can truly bring him peace is his pursuit of the one who created him. Listen, he's called a man after God's own heart, and that's not an accident. So this morning, we're going to be in Psalm 103. Because even when we feel discouraged, David, in this incredibly well-written, beautiful psalm, reminds us of exactly the God that he serves, and not only that he serves, but David is having this moment of self-talk. But but it's more than that. This is not just some internal pep talk. David is talking about a holy reality. Something that he's talking about God in the way that he understands exactly who God is and why that's important. And again, we pursue so many things outside of God, but the only thing that transforms us is the relationship with him. Paul talks about this in Romans 12, too. You know, don't be transformed or don't be conformed to the patterns of this world, be transformed. Pursue God. He says, be transformed by the renewing of your mind. The pursuit of God transforms us. Who we are, how we understand life, how we live, how we react should be grounded in who God is. The hope that you and I have has nothing to do with us. It has nothing to do with our circumstances. It has nothing to do with the pursuit of any anything. No wealth, no relationship, nothing can satisfy us. Only the pursuit of who God is. So David in Psalm 103, starting in verse 1, says, Praise the Lord my soul. All my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord my soul and forget not all his benefits. Who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desire with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagles. The Lord works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed. He made known his way to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel. The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever. He does not treat us as our sin deserves, or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far as he removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him, for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust. The life of mortals is like grass, they flourish like a flower of the field. Then the mind blows over it, and it's gone, and a place in its place remembers it no more. But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord's love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children's children, with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts. The Lord has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all. Praise the Lord, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word, praise the Lord, all his heavenly hosts, you his servants, who do his will, praise the Lord, all his works, everywhere in his dominion. Praise the Lord, my soul. Again, this pursuit that David has. A lot of scholars place this psalm written um after his failure, David's failure with Bathsheba. If you read the story of King David, he slept with a woman that wasn't his wife. Primarily because when he should have been at war with his kingdom, he wasn't. He was walking around on his roof and he caught a glance of her and he should he looked a whole lot longer than he should have. Men, don't look at women too long that they're not your wife or your girlfriend. There's a whole concept there that David teaches. But he he got distracted from what he was supposed to be doing. So he ends up sleeping with her, they have a child, the child dies. It's one of the punishments. He ends up killing her husband, a faithful man. So this is after David has failed to live up to his reputation as the one chosen by God. He is actually looks more like Saul than he does David at this moment. But but he comes to the conclusion as he writes this psalm. This is a man who understands grace, a man who understands faith, a man who has stood in the presence of God, who has blessed him greatly, and has realized that God has not punished him for everything that he deserves. He writes this as a man who is broken but also hopeful that the God that he serves will continue to be God. This is important. Because so much of this particular psalm, and if you don't have this psalm highlighted in your Bible, I would definitely encourage you to, so much of this psalm is talking about who God is. James H. Waltner says this. He says, a theme throughout the psalm is the relationship of the Lord to sinners. The Lord's abounding steadfast love, so much greater and longer lasting than his anger at sin, provides the foundation and hope and forgiveness for the sinner. The psalm is close to in theme, the psalms of sickness and healing. Worshippers may have used it as a prescribed form in the sanctuary. In this psalm, petitioners with a variety of problems and afflictions could find a place before God to express their gratitude for forgiveness and healing. The psalm warns against accepting life as a matter of course and invites acknowledgement of the incredible grace by which we live. Bless the Lord. Verses 1 and 2 says, Bless the Lord and do not forget all of his benefits. It's a song of hope. This is how it would have been sung. It would have been a reflection of who God is. And to the original audience, it reminded them that God's love outlasts his anger. That God's forgiveness and that healing are intertwined. Those things come hand in hand. Because life is not just a matter of things that happen, but everything is under his control. Psalm 103 is written from a man who has experienced great pain and loss because of his own sin, but also great grace and redemption because of the God that he serves. This is where hope steps in. Discouragement is not of God. I don't believe that. I think about my own life and my own thoughts, and I'm telling you, and I know I've said this before, if you could get inside my head, you would exit quickly out the left ear. Because part of the one thing that I struggle with the most is my thoughts. And you know, I was sitting back there, and even before the sermon, and again, this is just letting you know where my head is. My all I could think about is, oh, this place is empty. And I am 100% convinced Satan was doing that on purpose. Because he he he tries to he tries to focus us on things that don't matter instead of staying focused on what does. Because here's the thing, in the world of the church, when you think about churches, and and I have this conversation a lot, we always talk about attendance and people and oh, look how full our building is. And and I'm telling you, the comparison game, if you're a preacher, the comparison game on TikTok is incredible. Because you see all the good ones, right? With the big stages and the lights. And you hear people say, well, like, yeah, I like what you said, but but so-and-so said it better. I'm thinking it's the same Bible. Right? And and so we we get stock, we get stuck in our heads sometimes, right? This is this is this internal talk that's so important. They talk about with athletes, right? Uh I don't, I listen, I've never played basketball in my life other than in gym class, and they didn't let me play basketball a lot because I used to run into people, apparently can't foul people, whatever. But I was not a good basketball player. But one of the things that that yeah, I've been coaching basketball with my younger kids, and they always tell you, and visualize the shot. And I'm like, what does that mean? But but there's a there's this thing is is as athletes, when you step on the field, you kind of like you pump yourself up. I can do this. I remember the good things. I remember uh you know what I've learned, right? I I'm going through the motions. You see the same thing in the medical field. In the back of the ambulance, anytime I get in the back of the hamulus, I'm thinking, I can do this. It's intimidating, right? But but there's this internal self-talk that that we every day, everyone, maybe you're the exception, but I would venture to say almost everyone has this internal dialogue inside their head of the things that they're saying to themselves. And and Satan loves to manipulate that. Again, he he loves to get in there and try to convince me I'm not enough. I haven't done enough, it's not big enough, there's not enough people here. Why, why, why, why, why? And listen, I'm telling you, the easiest thing in the world for me to do is to succumb to that. But but here you have David, a man who has experienced great loss, great challenges, who's done incredible things for the kingdom of God. And in his self-talk, if you pay attention, he's not trying to build himself up. All of Psalm 103 is him reminding himself of who God is. Because that's what matters. That's the foundation that we stand on, that's the foundation the church was built on. That's the foundation that's unshakable. Because compared to everyone else, I am not enough. But my pursuit of God makes me more than enough. That's the reality of this song. We have to remember who God is. Because this is his church, it's his kingdom, it's his ministry. I'm just a part of it. God will do whatever he wants with whoever he wants. He doesn't call us all to large masses of people. He calls us to be faithful and obedient to where he's placed us. One of the most challenging things in ministry is is the pursuit of self. The pursuit of of wanting more, doing more, being more. But what sets us apart from the rest of the world is our pursuit of God. Again, it's not self-talk, it it's holy, it's holy reality. David is is reminding himself who God is. God is the creator of all things. This is what scripture teaches us. The creator and the sustainer, Genesis 1.1. The God is holy. Isaiah 6.3, that God is love, 1 John 4.8, that God is just and he's righteous. Deuteronomy 32, 4. God is merciful when he's forgiving. Exodus 34, 6. God is personal, he's relational. Jeremiah 31, 33. God is uh eternal and unchanging. Psalm 90, verse 2. God is sovereign. Psalm 103, verse 19. Uh David writes, the Lord is established in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all. God is revealed through the person of Jesus Christ, John 1.18. God is our hope and our salvation, John 3.16. The Bible continually reminds us who God is. And so when we talk about Paul in Romans 12, 2, when he says, be transformed by the renewing of your mind, listen, he's not talking about a new ideology. He's talking about men and women ingraining themselves in the scriptures to study them, to learn them, to come together with other believers, to surround ourselves with like-minded people. Because this is the only thing of value in life. Coming together as the church is a constant reminder that we are not alone in this. And again, it's not about a building. But it's about the people that come together. It's about surrounding ourselves and reminding ourselves who God is. That we constantly have this talk. I know from personal experience that Satan will go from my mind long before he goes after anything else. He's not gonna tempt me with things that I I don't have temptation. He he's not gonna come after me with with things that that he knows that I can turn away from quickly. But what he does is he goes to my mind and he starts trying to convince me that I'm not enough, that I'm not doing enough. That that that if I just did more. But but all throughout church, we see men and women who are not perfect do incredible things, and they did incredible things because they realized who God was. There's a clip you've ever seen The Lion King from Disney. Uh there's a clip uh set it up. If you haven't seen Lion King from Disney, I don't know what world you live in. But Simba in this next clip, Simba has lost sight of who he is. He's the the son of a king. He is the next king in line. Um but yeah, I'll let you watch this.

SPEAKER_02: 22:23

It's just my reflection.

SPEAKER_01: 22:36

You see, he lives in you.

SPEAKER_02: 23:00

You have forgotten me. No. How could I? You have forgotten who you are. So forgotten me.

SPEAKER_03: 23:18

How can I go back?

SPEAKER_00: 23:54

I don't know about you, but I uh in my head, God sounds like James Earl Jones. Um Listen, I I I love this clip. There's a moment in this clip that really stood out to me. And one of the things, so when Mufasa appears in the cloud, he says, You have forgotten me. And somebody's like, There's no way I could forget that I could forget you. And he says, You've forgotten me because you have forgotten who you are. And and so as I was studying this week, that and as I watched Lion King, um, as I was studying this week and and reflecting on that thought, the idea was a lot of times we don't live up to our potential because we forget who we belong to. Right? This is this is why when I tell you that I'm discouraged. I'm not discouraged that there aren't people here. I'm discouraged that people aren't taking the time to remind themselves and coming together with like-minded believers and reminding themselves who they are because because I think this message is important. Because so many people we we walk around feeling defeated. We walk around broken, we we walk around like the world has somehow won. Like that that that's the biggest the biggest conversation that I see or that I hear the most, is somehow the world's all gone junk, and God isn't gonna come out on top. That is the biggest lie that I've ever seen in my entire life, not only scripturally, but but we walk outside and we feel defeated, we feel overwhelmed, we feel like there's no point, because we forget who God is. If the success of God was dependent on humanity, Adam and Eve would have screwed it up at the start. Think about that. You and I, as many dumb things that we do in our life, when we when we talk about how God works in our life, you and I have never eaten forbidden fruit and brought sin and pains of childbirth onto all of humanity. At least I don't think I've done that. But but you and I, the the the will of God is not dependent upon who we are, it's all depending on who he is. That that's what David writes in Psalm 103. He reminds himself that God is steadfast, he's holy, he's perfect, he is loving, he's gracious, he's everything he needs him to be. Even amidst his failures. David writes as a man with eternal hope. Because he understands who God is. There's a lot of psychology that goes into self-talk. You know you can ruin your own day just by the things you tell yourself. It's true. You can ruin your attitude towards a movie, a food that you like, you you could ruin a relationship all because of a simple conversation you have in your own head. You you can convince yourself that God's not there, that God doesn't care, that the church hates you, that the people of the church are hypocrites, that everything in the world is falling apart. You we have so much internal dialogue, it's insane. And then we allow ourselves to be filled with everyone else's opinion. Facebook's a lie. No one's life is that good. It's not. But but we allow ourselves to be influenced by everything else except the one thing that matters. That's the pursuit of God. The pursuit of God brings us to a place it should, as believers, listen, I'm gonna, I might hurt someone's feelings right now and I'm okay with this. If you are following God, you have no reason to be miserable all the time. Knock it off. I'm dead serious. I see people who pursue God and they look like they're just depressed and angry all the time. I'm like, I I don't know what's going on, but why? I've walked in the churches and I've walked out feeling more discouraged than when I came in. If we are truly pursuing God, again, it doesn't mean that it's perfect, but you and I have the greatest hope the world has ever seen. We have the one person, the one thing outside of creation who is eternal, who's perfect, who's holy, who's righteous, and who loves us beyond measure. Life might feel hard. But the pursuit of God reminds us that there's always hope. How we how we talk about ourselves, how we talk about uh the ministries we're called to, even how we talk about God matters. We we have to allow scripture to inform us of who God is. I don't care how much people like me or don't like me, don't ever take what I say at face value. I'm a human, understand this. But the word of God, it's infallible, it's purposeful. It's meant to be read and understood and studied. If you don't like what I'm saying from the pulpit, that's okay. Read the word. I do my very best to try to capture that, to try to teach it. But but study the scriptures, understand who God is. Read the hard stories, read the story of Job, which doesn't make sense from our perspective. Read of the men and women throughout scripture who have changed the world simply by being faithful, by being obedient, and by showing up. Read the stories of how people have failed miserably and God still used them mightily. Read the stories of men like Daniel who survived a lion's death. Read the accounts of how God went before and he followed behind the Israelites. Read the account in the Old Testament of how God overthrew other nations, oftentimes with less men than necessary. Read the story of the gospel of how Jesus came, lived among us, taught, and then sacrificed himself on a cross so that you and I wouldn't have to suffer an eternity apart from God. Read the Bible, let it transform you, let it remind you of who God is, let it be the thing that lifts you up. Read the book of Lamentations. You know what? Lamentations. Lament. To be sorrowful. The entire book's only five chapters. Five chapters. Written by the prophet Jeremiah. Reflecting on his situation, reflecting on exile, reflecting on the fact that they've been taken out of their country. The first part of Lamentations is Jeremiah really reflecting on how bad things are. The first part of Lamentations 3, which is where we are, this is Jeremiah writing. Says, I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of the Lord's wrath. He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness rather than light. Indeed, he has turned his hand against me again and again all day long. He has made my skin and my flesh grow old and has broken my bones. He has besieged me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship. He has made me dwell in darkness like those long dead. He has walled me in so I cannot escape. He has weighed me down with chains. Even when I call out, cry for help, he shuts out my prayer. He has barred my way with blocks of stone, he has made my paths crooked, like a bear lying in wait, like a lion in hiding. He dragged me from the path and mangled me and left me without help. He drew his bow and he made me the target for his arrows. He pierced my heart with arrows from his quiver, and I became the laughing stock of all my people. They mocked me in song all day long. He has filled me with bitter herbs, and has given me gall to drink. He has broken my teeth with gravel, and he has trampled me in the dust. I have been deprived of peace. I have forgotten what prosperity is. So I say, My splendor is gone, and all that I had hoped from the Lord. I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall, I will remember them, and my soul downcasts within me. And listen, this this is where people would stop and say, This is a miserable man, and how dare God do what he did to him. But this is why context is important, because in verse 21, Jeremiah continues to write, Yet this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope. Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassion never fails. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, The Lord is my portion, therefore I will wait for him. The Lord is good to those who hope is in him, to the one who seeks him. It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young. Let him sit alone in silence, for the Lord has laid it on him. Let him bury his face in the dust, there may yet be hope. Let him offer his cheek to the one who would strike him, and let him be filled with disgrace, for no one is cast off by the Lord forever. Though he brings grief he will show compassion, so great as his unfailing love. For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to anyone, to crush underfoot all prisoners in the land, to deny people their rights before the most high, to deprive them of justice will not the Lord see such things? Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it? Is it not from the mouth of the most high that both calamities and good things come? Why should the living complain when punished for their sins? Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord. Let us lift up our hearts and our hands, God in heaven, and say, We have sinned and rebelled, and you have not forgiven. You have covered yourself with anger and pursued us. You have slain without pity. You have covered yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can get through. You have made us scum and refused among the nations. All our enemies have opened their mouths wide against us. We have suffered terror and pitfalls, ruin and destruction. Streams of tears flow from my eyes because my people were destroyed. My eyes will flow increasingly without relief, until the Lord looks down from heaven and sees. What I see brings grief to my soul because of all the women of my city, those for my enemies without cause hunted me like a burden. They tried to end my life in a pit and threw stones at me. The waters closed over my head, and I thought I was about to perish. I called on your name, Lord, from the depths of the pit. You heard my plea. Do not close your ears to my cry for help. Came near when I called you, and you said, Do not fear. You, Lord, took up my case. You redeemed my life. Lord, you have seen the wrong done to me, uphold my cause. You have seen the depths of their vengeance, all their plots against me. Lord, you have heard their insults, all their plots against me. What my enemies whisper and mutter against me all day long. Look at them. Sitting or standing, they mock me in their songs. Pay them back what they deserve, Lord, for that their hands have done. Put a veil over their hearts, and may your curse be on them. Pursue them in anger and destroy them from under the heavens of the Lord. Jeremiah sitting in exile. David, after his grievous sin and failure to live up to be the man of God, that he's called to be. The reaction in both situations is the same. To remind themselves of just how good God is. That's why. I think that's why getting together with other believers is so important. Because with all the chaos that's out there in this place, we find hope. You see people from different backgrounds, people who are on a different journey, people who are new to their faith, people who have been at it for a long time. We come together for the sole purpose of reminding ourselves of who God is. That's where our hope stems from. It's not. There's a reason why we gather together. It's not just to sing songs. That's important. It's not just to hear some guy sit in a pulpit and talk for 30 minutes. It's to remind ourselves that the same God that you and I serve is continuing to work in our lives. As God sustains us, we pick each other up. Listen, what we did yesterday during our prayer time, like it's not so we can say we got together and prayed it. It's so that we can pray for each other. We can pray that God is using us, that God is using this church, that we continue to strive to be and stand on the only hope that matters. That's why I think being part of a church is so important. It's not to punch a time clock and say, look at me, I was sitting in a pew. I've said this before. Sitting in a church makes you a Christian about as much as me standing in a garage makes me a car. It's not where I am that matters. But we are called to gather together. We are called to come together and to support each other and to be focused on the one true king, the hope of all things. Sunday morning prepares us for what comes on Monday. Sunday morning is a reminder that you and I serve something bigger than ourselves. It's a reminder that the light and the hope that we have is so important to us that it has to be important to everyone else. That's what the church is. We have something that for thousands of years has changed the world. It's toppled kingdoms. It's outlasted Rome. Can you imagine that? This little group of believers outlasted one of the greatest kingdoms that ever existed. Because God's kingdom's eternal. It'll outlast any country that exists, any power, because there is nothing that can stop it. So when I sit back there on Sunday mornings and I feel discouraged, and when Satan tries to tell me that it's not enough, I have to remind him of who he is. Because his defeat has already been spoken. He is a coward. He does everything he can to try to convince us that this world has somehow lost God, and the Bible reminds us that you can't lose God. God is eternal. He is in everything, he will overcome everything. Whatever you and I think he can't do, he's already done. He overcame death. The one thing that makes us feel human is our ability to die. Jesus died and he rose from the grave. He conquered the one thing that you and I could not do on our own. And if we put our faith in him, if we trust him, and we talk about this when we do our baptisms, that as we buried, as we are buried in his death, we come out and experience his resurrection. Mind the fish. My entire being longs for hope. And the only way I can find it is the one who gave it to me. Don't forget who God is. Don't forget who you are. You are a son and a daughter of the Most High. When Satan comes for you, when he makes your life hard, when things feel difficult, remind yourself of the God that you serve. That he stands above all of it. That like David in Psalm 103, we can remind ourselves to praise the Lord always. Because our hope is only found in Jesus.