Speaker 1: So when somebody rejected you, if you were rejected as
Speaker 1: a young child, they cursed you, and they cursed you
Speaker 1: with things that said, you don't matter, You're a failure,
Speaker 1: you don't measure up. Why can't you be like your
Speaker 1: brother or sister? How do you reverse a curse? I'll
Speaker 1: tell you how. Start believing what God says about you.
Speaker 1: You know, this week I read about the fact that
Speaker 1: identity theft cost people billions of lost dollars and pesos
Speaker 1: and euros and euons and other currencies. Identity theft is
Speaker 1: a global problem. In fact, here in America there's a
Speaker 1: new scam that identity thieves are using. These criminals use
Speaker 1: stolen identities to file fake tax returns and then they
Speaker 1: steal people's tax refunds. Last year, over one point five
Speaker 1: million fake tax returns were filed here in America, and
Speaker 1: as a result, each year, the government pays out over
Speaker 1: five billion dollars in refunds to people who it doesn't
Speaker 1: belong to to fake accounts. That means, over the past
Speaker 1: five years, the US government has given away twenty five
Speaker 1: billion dollars of your money if you live in America
Speaker 1: to identity thieves. But you know, what. There's an even
Speaker 1: more sinister and evil thief of your identity and his
Speaker 1: name is Satan, and he wants to steal far more
Speaker 1: than just your money. He wants to steal your true
Speaker 1: identity of what God created you to be. He wants
Speaker 1: to hide your true identity. He wants to diminish your
Speaker 1: true identity. He wants to confuse your identity. He doesn't
Speaker 1: want you to know who you really are, who God
Speaker 1: made you to be. He doesn't want you to know
Speaker 1: the power that you have as a child of God,
Speaker 1: as a son or daughter in God's family. You know,
Speaker 1: one of the reasons you get so tired and get
Speaker 1: so stressed out is because there's an unspiritual, unseen spiritual
Speaker 1: battle or war going on in your life over your
Speaker 1: identity every single moment. Now, as your pastor, I need
Speaker 1: you to understand this. Satan is not as powerful as God.
Speaker 1: For one thing, Satan cannot create anything. He can't create.
Speaker 1: Satan can only distort. Satan can pervert, or Satan can destroy,
Speaker 1: but he can't create. But he can convert, distort, destroy
Speaker 1: the beautiful things that God creates. And of course we
Speaker 1: see that happening everywhere. He does it with money. He
Speaker 1: does it with sex, he does it with physical beauty,
Speaker 1: he does it with power. He does it with your identity.
Speaker 1: And Satan uses a number of different tools to confuse
Speaker 1: you about your true identity. What does he use well?
Speaker 1: Number one, he uses hurt and pain and trauma. If
Speaker 1: Satan can get you angry or bitter or ashamed about
Speaker 1: something that's happened to you, or through you, or by you,
Speaker 1: then he's going to distort your true identity. He uses
Speaker 1: hurt and pain. Number two, he uses other people's opinions.
Speaker 1: And I hate to tell you this, but people lie
Speaker 1: to you all the time, and some of the things
Speaker 1: that have been said to you about you by peers,
Speaker 1: by parents, by partners, by enemies, by friends, they just
Speaker 1: aren't true. But he can distort your true identity by
Speaker 1: what other people say about you. He uses the culture,
Speaker 1: He uses the media, and you get these messages all
Speaker 1: the time through the media and through movies and music
Speaker 1: and novels that you should be like that instead of
Speaker 1: being who God really truly made you to be. And then,
Speaker 1: of course number four, Satan actually uses thoughts that he
Speaker 1: suggests in your mind. And when he puts a thought
Speaker 1: in your mind. He says, you're no good, you're worthless,
Speaker 1: you'll never amount to anything, You're a failure. Are all
Speaker 1: the things that he says, And most of all, he
Speaker 1: uses the things you tell yourself. He uses the lies
Speaker 1: you tell yourself over and over about you. He uses
Speaker 1: your feelings, and you say, well, I feel this way,
Speaker 1: so to be true. Your feelings are a terrible predictor
Speaker 1: of truth. They're often totally off base. Just because you
Speaker 1: feel something doesn't make it true. Doctors could give you
Speaker 1: a medicine or stimulate your brain and make you feel
Speaker 1: things that are totally untrue about you. But when he
Speaker 1: gets Satan gets you to believe those things, then he
Speaker 1: can distort your true identity. Now, in my first message
Speaker 1: that we started in this new series, called the Foundation
Speaker 1: of a Well Lived Life, we talked about God's timing
Speaker 1: in your life. But as your pastor and as your
Speaker 1: spiritual coach, my goal for you is that you live
Speaker 1: a life well lived. And so today I want to
Speaker 1: focus on another very important component or element of a
Speaker 1: foundation for a well lived life. I want us to
Speaker 1: look at learning your true identity in Christ, what God
Speaker 1: says about you, what's true about you? Knowing who you
Speaker 1: really are, who God you to be, and knowing what
Speaker 1: God thinks and says about your identity is absolutely essential
Speaker 1: to living a life well lived. Your happiness is directly
Speaker 1: connected to your identity and how you see yourself. And
Speaker 1: if you don't know who you really are, then you
Speaker 1: can't be fully happy, you can't be truly successful, you
Speaker 1: can't relate effectively to other people, you can't be genuinely fulfilled.
Speaker 1: So how do I know who I really am? Well?
Speaker 1: You know? The famous seventeenth century French physicist and philosopher
Speaker 1: Blaize Pascal wrote this, not only do we not only
Speaker 1: know God through Jesus Christ, but we only know ourselves
Speaker 1: through Jesus Christ. We only know life and death through
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. Apart from Jesus, we cannot know the meaning
Speaker 1: of our life or our death, or the meaning of God,
Speaker 1: or even the meaning of ourselves. Now in the Bible,
Speaker 1: in the New Testament, it lists over thirty five different
Speaker 1: aspects of your true identity in Christ. Did you know
Speaker 1: that if you'll just read through the New Testament, you'll
Speaker 1: find thirty five truths about your true identity in Christ? Today,
Speaker 1: I wanted to just focus on five five aspects of
Speaker 1: your true identity. And if you understand these, you believe these,
Speaker 1: and you act on these, you build your life on
Speaker 1: these foundations as a solid rock of truth. These five
Speaker 1: aspects will change your life now. The five aspects of
Speaker 1: your true identity that I want you to see in
Speaker 1: this time together are found in the Bible Book of
Speaker 1: First Peter in chapter two of First Peter. And there
Speaker 1: Saint Peter gives us five descriptions of our true identity.
Speaker 1: That's all we're going to look at today. Let me
Speaker 1: read you this passage First Peter, chapter two, Versus nine
Speaker 1: and ten. He says, there, he says you, you, you
Speaker 1: are a chosen people. You are a royal priesthood. You
Speaker 1: are a holy nation. You are a people belonging to God.
Speaker 1: Each of these statements are packed with meaning. He says,
Speaker 1: you are these things that you may declare the praises
Speaker 1: of Him who called you out of darkness and into
Speaker 1: his wonderful light. And Peter says, once you were not
Speaker 1: a people. You didn't have an identity, but now you
Speaker 1: are the people of God. Once you hadn't received mercy,
Speaker 1: but now you have received mercy. Now today, let's unpack
Speaker 1: the meaning of each of these five phrases because each
Speaker 1: one of them is loaded. It's packed with significance for
Speaker 1: your life. This is God's true view of you, God's
Speaker 1: true view of you in Christ. So first write this
Speaker 1: down in Christ. Number one, I am completely accepted. That's
Speaker 1: the first thing you need to know about your identity
Speaker 1: in Christ. I am completely accepted. Now that's important because
Speaker 1: the deepest wounds in life often come from rejection. And
Speaker 1: because rejection hurts so much, and we all have rejection
Speaker 1: in our life, we spend so much of our lives
Speaker 1: trying to earn acceptance. We want to earn it from
Speaker 1: our parents, we want to earn it from our peers,
Speaker 1: our friends. We want to earn acceptance from those we respect.
Speaker 1: We want to earn it acceptance from those we envy.
Speaker 1: And this drive to be accepted influences everything in your life.
Speaker 1: The kind of clothes you wear, the car you drive,
Speaker 1: the house you buy, the career you choose, and we
Speaker 1: buy and we do all kinds of crazy things to
Speaker 1: earn acceptance. Now, the pain of not being chosen on
Speaker 1: a team. You've probably experienced that, where they're choosing upsides
Speaker 1: and you're not one of the first ones to be chosen.
Speaker 1: You keep going, Oh God, please don't let me be
Speaker 1: the last to be chosen. And you hate it if
Speaker 1: you've ever been the last person chosen when they're picking teams.
Speaker 1: Being chosen does a lot for your self worth. And
Speaker 1: if you're chosen for an award, if you're chosen for
Speaker 1: an honor, if you're chosen for a promotion. You know
Speaker 1: what gives me self esteem is a Kay Lewis who's
Speaker 1: now Kay Warren chose me over all those other guys.
Speaker 1: I knocked them all off. I beat him. Kay chose me.
Speaker 1: That gives me value. Now here's the good news one
Speaker 1: Peter two nine. You have been chosen by God himself.
Speaker 1: Whoa If God chooses you, If God likes you, and
Speaker 1: you like you, somebody else I don't like you. That's
Speaker 1: their problem. Now why am I completely acceptable? Because God
Speaker 1: chose me before everything, the Bible says in Ephesians one four.
Speaker 1: And He chose us in him, in Christ. He chose
Speaker 1: us in Christ before the creation of the world. Did
Speaker 1: you know that before God created the universe, he had
Speaker 1: already chosen you to be holy and blameless in his
Speaker 1: sight by his love. Before God chose to make the
Speaker 1: sun before God chose to make the oceans. Before God
Speaker 1: chose to make the earth and the world and the
Speaker 1: birds and everything else, he chose you. That shows how valuable,
Speaker 1: how acceptable you are. God shows you you're acceptable. Number two,
Speaker 1: Jesus made me acceptable by his death on the cross.
Speaker 1: Hydas Chapter three, verse seven says, this Jesus treated us
Speaker 1: much better than we deserve. He made us acceptable to God.
Speaker 1: Circle that he made us acceptable to God, and he
Speaker 1: gave us the hope of eternal life. Now this acceptance
Speaker 1: God accepts you. It's not based on your performance. It's
Speaker 1: not based on what you do. It's based on what
Speaker 1: Jesus did, not based on who you are. It's based
Speaker 1: on who Jesus is, his character. God loves you, and
Speaker 1: he says you are acceptable because my son died for you.
Speaker 1: I made you, and my son died for you. So
Speaker 1: the first thing we need to know about your identity
Speaker 1: is that I am completely acceptable. The second thing you
Speaker 1: need to know about your identity what God says about you.
Speaker 1: The true view of you, is this, I'm not only
Speaker 1: completely acceptable, I am extremely valuable. You are extremely valuable.
Speaker 1: In fact, the Bible says that your life is priceless.
Speaker 1: Most of you know that. I'm a book collector. I
Speaker 1: have a library of over forty thousand books, and most
Speaker 1: of them I bought used. And when you go into
Speaker 1: a used bookstore or you go online to use books,
Speaker 1: they rate every book as they're either poor or good,
Speaker 1: or acceptable or fine or like new. There are categories.
Speaker 1: God says, you're not just acceptable, you're valuable, You're fine,
Speaker 1: You're priceless. And Peter's second description in second first Peter two,
Speaker 1: verse nine, he says you are a holy nation. Circle
Speaker 1: that word holy. I got to explain that. And you
Speaker 1: are a people belonging to God circle the word belonging.
Speaker 1: What makes something valuable? God says your priceless. You're invaluable.
Speaker 1: What makes you so valuable? Well, values dependent upon several things. First,
Speaker 1: value depends on who owns something. You know, when you
Speaker 1: go to an auction, things that are owned by famous people,
Speaker 1: or by celebrities or historical people, they cost more because
Speaker 1: they were owned by somebody else. It might just be
Speaker 1: an ordinary, you know, pitcher, or jar or shoe, but
Speaker 1: if it was owned by somebody famous, it raises its value.
Speaker 1: Would a car owned by a famous celebrity Lady Gaga
Speaker 1: be worth more than your car? Yeah? Would basketball shoes
Speaker 1: warned by Lebron James be more valuable than your shoes? Yes?
Speaker 1: Would a piece of furniture used by a prime minister
Speaker 1: or a president be more valuable than maybe your furniture? Probably?
Speaker 1: How about a guitar used by a rock star compared
Speaker 1: to the guitars that I have? Yes? You see, the
Speaker 1: owner often adds values to common things. So who do
Speaker 1: you belong to? Well? The Bible tells us Deuteronomy seven six,
Speaker 1: you are a people holy to the Lord, your God,
Speaker 1: his treasured possession. Did you know that you are God's
Speaker 1: treasured possession? Isaiah forty three, verse four. God says you
Speaker 1: are precious to me, like a precious metal, at gold,
Speaker 1: like platinum. You're precious to me. So why am I
Speaker 1: extremely valuable? Well? First, God owns me. But in the
Speaker 1: first more than that, because God is my father. God
Speaker 1: is your father. And the Bible says in Luke twelve
Speaker 1: twenty four, look at the birds. God feeds them, and
Speaker 1: you're far more valuable to him than any birds. Why
Speaker 1: because you are his child. God is your father. And
Speaker 1: another reason why you're invaluable is because Jesus gave his
Speaker 1: life for me. Jesus gave his life for me. In
Speaker 1: First Printh, in seven, verse twenty three, the Bible says,
Speaker 1: you have been bought and paid for by Christ, so
Speaker 1: you belong to him. So Christ died for you, and
Speaker 1: God created you, and he's your father. You're in You
Speaker 1: belong to him. That adds value to your life. You know,
Speaker 1: value not only depends on who owns something, but value
Speaker 1: depends on what somebody is willing to pay for it.
Speaker 1: So if I were to ask you a question, how
Speaker 1: much is your house worth? Well, I can tell you
Speaker 1: without even looking at your house, I can tell you
Speaker 1: what your house is worth. It's worth whatever somebody is
Speaker 1: willing to pay for it, no more and no less.
Speaker 1: You might think it's worth a lot more, but it's
Speaker 1: only worth whatever somebody is willing to pay for it.
Speaker 1: How much was a piece of art worth, It's worth
Speaker 1: what somebody's willing to pay for it. How much is
Speaker 1: a rare baseball card worth what somebody he's willing to
Speaker 1: pay for it. A few years back, I remember there
Speaker 1: was a story in the in the news about the
Speaker 1: daughter of a very wealthy oil shake in the Middle East.
Speaker 1: On her, and that daughter was kidnapped, and the sheikh
Speaker 1: put out a word all over the Middle East. Pay
Speaker 1: any price for her return, Pay any price for her return.
Speaker 1: She's the king's daughter. Well, you're the king's daughter, you're
Speaker 1: the king's son. You're God's child. And the greatest ransom
Speaker 1: ever paid was paid for you by Jesus Christ. We
Speaker 1: have a God who suffers. God came to earth and
Speaker 1: suffered for you. God exchanged his own son for your salvation,
Speaker 1: for your freedom. Christ gave his life that you might
Speaker 1: have eternal life. And if you want to know how
Speaker 1: value you are, you look at the cross. The cross
Speaker 1: proves your value with Jesus with his arms out stretched,
Speaker 1: dying on that cross, is saying, I love you, I
Speaker 1: love you, I love you. You're this valuable, You're this valuable
Speaker 1: to me. So the people who told you in your
Speaker 1: life you're worthless, they're dead wrong. That's an evil statement.
Speaker 1: They're dead wrong. You are not worthless, you are priceless.
Speaker 1: You're not just completely acceptable to God in Christ. You
Speaker 1: are infinitely valuable to God in Christ. He accepts me,
Speaker 1: and he says, I'm acceptable, I'm valuable. The third thing
Speaker 1: God says about you is you're lovable. Write this down
Speaker 1: number three. I'm not just these other things. I'm eternally loved.
Speaker 1: That's the third thing God says about you. God's true
Speaker 1: view of you. You are completely acceptable, and you are
Speaker 1: infinitely valuable, and you are eternally loved. First Peter chapter two,
Speaker 1: verse ten says this, once you're not a people. In
Speaker 1: other words, you don't have any idea identity. You're kind
Speaker 1: of nothing. But now you're the people of God. Now
Speaker 1: that has profound implications. When you accept Christ in your life,
Speaker 1: you become part of his family. That family, by the way,
Speaker 1: is called the church. The church is the family of
Speaker 1: God on earth. It's going to go to heaven. The
Speaker 1: Church is the only thing that's going to last forever.
Speaker 1: God's family. And you know what God is, Father is
Speaker 1: not ashamed of his family. Look up on the screen.
Speaker 1: What this verse says. Hebrews chapter two, verse eleven says
Speaker 1: this the New Living translation, Jesus and the ones he
Speaker 1: makes holy have the same Father. And that's why Jesus
Speaker 1: is not ashamed to call us his brothers and sisters
Speaker 1: life and not an amazing thing that Jesus Christ would say,
Speaker 1: you're my sister, you're my brother. He's not ashamed to
Speaker 1: say you're my sister, you're my brother because we're in
Speaker 1: the family of God. That shows infinite value. It shows
Speaker 1: infinite love. Am I A thirty one Verse three? God
Speaker 1: says this, I have loved you, my people. That's with
Speaker 1: an everlasting love. Nobody else loves you like that. God says,
Speaker 1: I have loved you, my people, with an ever lasting
Speaker 1: It's always lasting. It's not ending, it lasts forever. It
Speaker 1: is ever lasting love, with unfailing love. You've had people
Speaker 1: love you in ways it failed. I have failed my
Speaker 1: wife and I love her dearly. I have failed my
Speaker 1: kids and I love them dearly. I love you, and
Speaker 1: I have failed you members of Saddleback Church. But the
Speaker 1: Bible says God has an unfailing love, and he says
Speaker 1: I have drawn you to myself. Now you need to
Speaker 1: understand for your identity two characteristics of God's love. Number One,
Speaker 1: it's unconditional. It's not I love you if you know
Speaker 1: a lot of times you see people on TV or
Speaker 1: girlfriends and boyfriends that you know I love you if
Speaker 1: and that's conditional love. I love you if you love me,
Speaker 1: I love you. If you please me. I love you
Speaker 1: if you turn me on. I love you if you
Speaker 1: do the things I want you to do. That's not
Speaker 1: real love. I love you if it's conditional love. And
Speaker 1: then there are people who say I love you because
Speaker 1: and they write these nice Hallmark card letters. I love
Speaker 1: you because you're good looking. Well, that's conditional, because what
Speaker 1: happens when they lose their good looks? I love you
Speaker 1: because you're talented. What happens when you find someone more
Speaker 1: talented and you stop loving them? I love you because
Speaker 1: you love me. Well, what if they get sick or
Speaker 1: they stop loving you? Will you still love them? When
Speaker 1: you say I love you because you were given conditional love,
Speaker 1: God's love for you is not I love you if
Speaker 1: God's love is not, I love you because God's love
Speaker 1: for you is. I love you period. I love you
Speaker 1: in spite of the fact that you don't always love me,
Speaker 1: that you're not always consistent, that you don't always do
Speaker 1: the right thing. God's love is unconditional. And number two,
Speaker 1: God's love is consistent. That means it's not fickle, it's
Speaker 1: not unpredictable. Some people growing up grew up with inconsistent parents.
Speaker 1: Inconsistent parents create insecure kids. I had a guy tell
Speaker 1: me one to I didn't know if my dad was
Speaker 1: going to slug me or hug me. I never knew
Speaker 1: he was unpredictable. You're never going to have to ask God, well,
Speaker 1: God loved me today when you get up in the morning.
Speaker 1: You don't never have to is God going to love
Speaker 1: me today? You see, we always get into trouble when
Speaker 1: we doubt God's love. It is unconditional, and it is consistent,
Speaker 1: and it is everlasting, it is eternal. Why why are
Speaker 1: you eternally loved? Because God is love? So one hundred
Speaker 1: verse five. God's love is eternal and his faithfulness last forever.
Speaker 1: So let's just review God's true view of you. Says,
Speaker 1: You're completely acceptable, you are infinitely value. You are totally lovable, eternally,
Speaker 1: everlastingly lovable. And now he says, number four, you're forgivable.
Speaker 1: Write this down. I'm totally forgiven. This is what God
Speaker 1: says about you. I'm totally forgiven. First Peter, Chapter two,
Speaker 1: verse ten. He says, you know, one time you didn't
Speaker 1: know God's mercy, but now you have received his mercy.
Speaker 1: He says, you know, before you know you were living
Speaker 1: in guilt. You were living in shame, but he says
Speaker 1: you've received God's mercy in Christ. Do you know that
Speaker 1: before God even made you, before God even created you,
Speaker 1: before God designed you, before you took your first breath,
Speaker 1: he already knew the worst things you'd ever do, and
Speaker 1: he still loves you, and he's not surprised. It's not
Speaker 1: like a oh man, I didn't see that one coming.
Speaker 1: I didn't know that was going to happen in your life.
Speaker 1: He already knows everything wrong that you would do. The
Speaker 1: good news is that in Christ, my sins are wiped out.
Speaker 1: It's like taking a giant eraser and erasing all my
Speaker 1: sins that are written on a whiteboard. That's grace. You know,
Speaker 1: some people, even Christians who have accepted the love of
Speaker 1: Christ and have committed their lives to Christ, they still
Speaker 1: don't get grace, and so anytime something bad happens in
Speaker 1: their life, they think God's getting even with me, God's
Speaker 1: getting even with Does God really treat his children that way?
Speaker 1: Does God get even with his children? The answer is no,
Speaker 1: absolutely not. That's not grace. Romans eight one says there
Speaker 1: is now no condemnation, zero zip not of nothing. There
Speaker 1: is no condemnation for those who are in Christ. Jesus.
Speaker 1: Write this down in your outline. God doesn't carry grudges, right,
Speaker 1: God says, I don't hold them against you. Right when
Speaker 1: you sin, and when you've given your life to Christ
Speaker 1: and you're in Christ, God doesn't rehearse it. He releases it.
Speaker 1: So you need to understand that you are totally forgiven.
Speaker 1: And you're totally forgiven for two reasons. First, because it
Speaker 1: is God's nature to forgive. God is a forgiving God.
Speaker 1: You ever feel like you know, I wonder if God
Speaker 1: gets tired of me coming back to him and asking
Speaker 1: for forgiveness. Well, Isaiah forty three, twenty five. God says this,
Speaker 1: I am the God who forgives your sins, and I
Speaker 1: do this because of who I am. I will not
Speaker 1: hold your sins against you. Wow. God forgives me not
Speaker 1: because I deserve it, not because I've earned it, but
Speaker 1: because He's a forgiving God. It is his nature to forgive.
Speaker 1: He wants to forgive. And the other reason you're completely
Speaker 1: forgiven is because Jesus has already paid for all your sins,
Speaker 1: so you don't have to pay for them. And if
Speaker 1: he us Chapter one, verse seven. It says this, for
Speaker 1: by the blood of Christ we are set free. That
Speaker 1: is our sins or forgiven. How great that is the
Speaker 1: grace of God. All right, God's true view of you,
Speaker 1: this is your real identity. I'm completely acceptable, I am
Speaker 1: infinitely valuable. I am eternally lovable. I am completely forgivable,
Speaker 1: freely forgiven. Number five this is a big one. I
Speaker 1: am fully capable. Did you know that? That's what God
Speaker 1: says about you. You're not incompetent, You're not a cipher,
Speaker 1: You're not a nobody. God says you are fully capable.
Speaker 1: I am fully capable of becoming exactly what God made
Speaker 1: me to be. First Peter, Chapter two, verse nine. He says,
Speaker 1: you are royal priests. That's packed with a lot of insight,
Speaker 1: chosen to tell about the wonderful acts of God, who
Speaker 1: has called you out of darkness into his wonderful life.
Speaker 1: What he says, you're a priest. Did you have you
Speaker 1: ever thought about this? You don't realize this. You're a priest.
Speaker 1: Every believer in Christ is a priest. He says, you
Speaker 1: are a chosen priest. What does a priest do? A
Speaker 1: priest represents God to man and represents man to God.
Speaker 1: Can you name a greater position than a royal priest
Speaker 1: representing God to leadership? So what are you supposed to
Speaker 1: do as a priest? If God says you are a priest,
Speaker 1: it means you don't have to go to a priest
Speaker 1: to confess your sins because you are a priest. You
Speaker 1: go to directly to Jesus, the High Priest. What are
Speaker 1: you supposed to do as a priest? Acts twenty six,
Speaker 1: verse eighteen. Look at this verse on the screen. You
Speaker 1: are to open their eyes and to turn them from
Speaker 1: he's talking about unbel You are to open their eyes
Speaker 1: and turn them from darkness to the light and from
Speaker 1: the power of Satan to God. That's what you do
Speaker 1: as a priest, so that through their faith in me,
Speaker 1: they will have their sins forgiven and they will receive
Speaker 1: their place, their place among God's chosen people. You know
Speaker 1: the whole reason we started the Peace Planet Saddleback Church
Speaker 1: and set out over twenty six thousand people so far
Speaker 1: basically to be priests around the world, to promote reconciliation
Speaker 1: and plant churches, to equip ethical leaders where there's corruption,
Speaker 1: to assist the poor where there's poverty, to care for
Speaker 1: the sick where there's disease and illness, and to educate
Speaker 1: the next generation where there's illiteracy and lack of education
Speaker 1: and ignorance. You say, when we develop the Peace Plan,
Speaker 1: it wasn't for the pastors of the church you do.
Speaker 1: It's for every member to do it. And I know
Speaker 1: a lot of people thought, well, I couldn't do that. Well,
Speaker 1: you couldn't on your own power. But with God in
Speaker 1: your life, Christ your life, Holy Spirit through you you're a priest.
Speaker 1: Did you know that? Not on your own power? But
Speaker 1: I can do all things through Christ's strengthens me. Second Corinthians,
Speaker 1: chapter three, Versus five and six says this the capacity
Speaker 1: we have comes from God. It is he who made
Speaker 1: us capable of serving the New Covenant. You are completely capable.
Speaker 1: Now let me tell you why this one's important, because
Speaker 1: most people live their lives with this gnawing sense of insecurity.
Speaker 1: I'm just not measuring up. I'm not enough, I'm not capable,
Speaker 1: I'm not secure. I'm insecure. And why is that? Well,
Speaker 1: one reason you're playing old tapes in your memory and
Speaker 1: you're still acting on things that people said to you
Speaker 1: years ago. They weren't true then, and they aren't you now?
Speaker 1: And you're playing these tapes over and over in your mind,
Speaker 1: and you need to replace those old tapes of what
Speaker 1: other people say with the truth that God says about you.
Speaker 1: Because Jesus said the truth set you free, and the
Speaker 1: Bible says you are capable. Why are you capable to
Speaker 1: handle anything in life? Why am I capable to handle anything?
Speaker 1: Like write this down? Because Christ lives in me, and
Speaker 1: that's why I'm capable. Capable. Capability is not simply my
Speaker 1: own human power. But in Philippians four thirteen, it says
Speaker 1: I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.
Speaker 1: I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength.
Speaker 1: You have God's spirit inside you and your priest. Now
Speaker 1: you know, studies have shown that the younger you were
Speaker 1: when you were first rejected, the greater the impact it
Speaker 1: has on your life. And in a sense, when somebody
Speaker 1: rejected you, if you were rejected as a young child,
Speaker 1: they cursed you. They cursed you and you with things
Speaker 1: that said, you don't matter, you're a failure, you don't
Speaker 1: measure up. Why can't you be like your brother or sister.
Speaker 1: You can't do anything right, And they cursed you. How
Speaker 1: do you reverse a curse? I'll tell you how. Start
Speaker 1: believing what God says about you. Start affirming the truth
Speaker 1: of God's word. Take these verses, take this outline, cut
Speaker 1: it all up. Make affirmation cards with these statements. Put
Speaker 1: the statement on there. I am completely acceptable, and put
Speaker 1: the verses on it. I am infinitely valuable, and put
Speaker 1: the verses on it. I am everlastingly lovable. And put
Speaker 1: the verses on it, and read them. Read them in
Speaker 1: the morning when you first get up, Read them when
Speaker 1: you go put them by your bedside at night, read
Speaker 1: them before you go to sleep, so that the first
Speaker 1: thing on your mind in the morning, the last thing
Speaker 1: at night, is the identity coming from Christ. You know,
Speaker 1: studies have shown that you're how you feel about yourself.
Speaker 1: Your self identity is largely determined by what you think
Speaker 1: the people that matter most to you think about you.
Speaker 1: Let me say that again. Your self identity is largely
Speaker 1: determined by what you think the people whose opinion matters
Speaker 1: most of you think about you. Now, since that's true,
Speaker 1: I highly recommend that you make Jesus Christ the most
Speaker 1: important person in your life, that you care more about
Speaker 1: what he says about you than anybody else you see
Speaker 1: in Christ, you are acceptable. In Christ, you are valuable
Speaker 1: in Christ, you are lovable. In Christ, you are forgivable,
Speaker 1: and in Christ you are capable. That's what God says
Speaker 1: about you. This is your true identity. Are not what
Speaker 1: your parents or others have tried to make you. You
Speaker 1: are not what others who criticize you or say about
Speaker 1: you what you are. You're not that, You're not what
Speaker 1: you tell yourself in self condemnation. And you're not what
Speaker 1: Satan accuses you of. So really, as your friend and
Speaker 1: pastor somebody who loves you, I want to ask you
Speaker 1: this question, who are you going to believe? Are you
Speaker 1: going to believe what your God, your creator, your Master,
Speaker 1: your savior says about you? Are you going to believe
Speaker 1: what Satan says about you, what peers, parents, yourself? No,
Speaker 1: start believing God's true view of you. Now, there's a
Speaker 1: whole lot more I can unpack about this. We don't
Speaker 1: have time to get into it. But but there is
Speaker 1: one other thing I do need to mention. How should
Speaker 1: my identity affect how I act? Well, here's key. God
Speaker 1: expects me to treat everybody else the same way He
Speaker 1: treats me. If you would get that, it will improve
Speaker 1: your relationships so much. God expects me to treat everybody
Speaker 1: else the same way that He treats me. The Bible
Speaker 1: says we are to accept one another. The Bible says
Speaker 1: we are to show respect to everybody, even people you
Speaker 1: totally disagree with. The Bible says we are to show
Speaker 1: kindness to everyone. The Bible says we're to show mercy
Speaker 1: and forgiveness to everyone. The Bible says we are to
Speaker 1: encourage the gifts that God put in everyone and help
Speaker 1: draw them out of other people. At the end of
Speaker 1: your outline, I've listed some verses that deal with everything
Speaker 1: I just said, and your homework is to look up
Speaker 1: those verses that I put there on your outline. You know,
Speaker 1: years ago I read a story about an immigrant named
Speaker 1: Alan Lee who moved here to California years ago from
Speaker 1: Vietnam as a refugee after the Vietnam War, and he
Speaker 1: had to flee as a refugee, and I remember reading
Speaker 1: that he wrote, even though I was now free, I
Speaker 1: wasn't in prison. I was free. I was in America,
Speaker 1: he said. But I'm in a new country, and I
Speaker 1: struggled to find my identity. He said, I didn't want
Speaker 1: to be known as a bote person. I didn't want
Speaker 1: to be known as a refugee. I didn't even want
Speaker 1: to be known as a quote immigrant. But he said,
Speaker 1: I didn't know what my identity was. Then in nineteen
Speaker 1: eighty three he gave his life to Jesus Christ at
Speaker 1: a Billy Graham crusade, and he discovered his true identity
Speaker 1: in Christ. And recently he wrote this, listen to this today.
Speaker 1: I'm no longer confused about who I am. I'm God's child,
Speaker 1: and my citizenship is in heaven. And I'm grateful to
Speaker 1: have found my true identity, my identity in Christ. That
Speaker 1: gives stability, that gives security, that gives satisfaction, that gives significance.
Speaker 1: Wouldn't you like to have that too? Let's bow our heads?
Speaker 1: Did you bow your heads with me right now? And
Speaker 1: I'm going to lead you in an identity prayer, And
Speaker 1: I want you to pray this prayer. Just first, say
Speaker 1: what I say in your mind to God. Say thank
Speaker 1: you Father, Say thank you Father that you can heal
Speaker 1: broken hearts and bitter memories and damaged self esteem. Thank
Speaker 1: you God that you can do that. Thank you that
Speaker 1: patterns can be erased and reversed. Thank you God that
Speaker 1: you can turn nobody's into somebody's. Jesus, help us all
Speaker 1: to see ourselves through your eyes of love. I want
Speaker 1: you to pray this, Dear God, Help me to see
Speaker 1: myself the way you see me. Thank you for loving
Speaker 1: me and for sending Jesus to die for me so
Speaker 1: I could be forgiven. Jesus, from today forward, I want
Speaker 1: to listen to what you say, now what others say,
Speaker 1: and I want to fulfill my true identity, not what
Speaker 1: my feelings tell me. Help me to realize my feelings
Speaker 1: often lie. I want to learn to trust you and
Speaker 1: your word completely with every area of my life, and
Speaker 1: help me to care more about what you think than
Speaker 1: what other people think. May the truth Your truth set
Speaker 1: me free. Now, with our heads still bowed, I want
Speaker 1: you to repeat these truths with me allowed in all
Speaker 1: of our twenty campuses, including those of you online. I
Speaker 1: want you to say this aloud, with your head bowed.
Speaker 1: Say this because of Jesus. Just say that, because of Jesus,
Speaker 1: I am completely accepted, I am extremely valuable, I am
Speaker 1: eternally loved, I am completely forgiven, and I am fully
Speaker 1: capable amen