Priscilla Shirer -- Say My Name
Transcript
00:00 Some of you know that I grew up right here in the Dallas Fort Worth area still live just you know around the corner a
00:05 Little bit from here still attend attend the exact same church that my parents started when I was one
00:11 Year old and so Dallas is my home. I went to Duncanville High School graduated from there, you know in the
00:18 1900s way back in the day. I
00:21 Was of the four of us the mischievous child
00:25 I was the one that gave my parents a run for their money, you know, how it's always that one
00:30 That you're wondering whether or not they gonna turn out. Okay. I was that one for my parents
00:35 I was always getting into something always being a little mischievous and one of the most
00:39 Mischievous things I ever did was when I was going into high school at Duncanville
00:43 From kindergarten to eighth grade my siblings that I went to this little private school that was around the corner from our house in
00:49 DeSoto
00:50 but
00:52 For freshman year we transferred over to Duncanville and I thought this would be a wonderful opportunity
00:56 To just take on a little experiment
01:00 My class at the little private school
01:04 There are about 13 kids in my class when I transferred to Duncanville High School
01:08 I went from a class of 13 to a class of seven hundred and fifty three
01:12 That's not the high school population. That was just the freshman class was seven hundred and fifty three students
01:19 So was the complete culture shock to me and a great opportunity to experiment
01:23 I thought when I transferred to Duncanville
01:26 I would just give myself a new name that I would introduce myself as this new name
01:32 I just picked two initials put them together DK
01:35 I decided my new nickname was gonna be DK and the experiment was going to be that when I went to this new school
01:41 I would introduce myself by this new name just to see if it would catch on
01:45 I had one friend Nicole that had grown up in the Duncanville school school district
01:50 So she already knew all these people
01:51 She and I were in youth group together at Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship Church our church on the other side of town
01:57 And so I knew I'd probably be hanging out with Nicole. I let her in on my experiment
02:02 I said now Nicole when we go to school first day first week of school and you're introducing me around
02:06 Do not call me Priscilla just introduce me as DK. She said girl what I
02:12 Said it's just an experiment. I just want to see if it's gonna catch on and to make a long story short
02:18 Y'all for the next four years of my life
02:21 Everybody called me DK
02:24 Everybody in my that were my peer group there at Duncanville the teachers the counselors the principals
02:32 Everybody even people in different high schools as we connected with them at football games on the Friday nights and all that
02:38 Everybody just just thought my name was DK very few people if any at all
02:43 Even knew that my name was actually Priscilla
02:47 They called me DK
02:49 To this day if I run across somebody in the mall or the grocery store or somebody comments on social media and says hey
02:55 DK I know that it's somebody that I knew during that season of my life those four years
03:00 Because everybody called me DK. My parents really didn't give me a hard time about it. They were a little bit annoyed
03:07 You know when my athletic uniforms were monogrammed with DK on them except Priscilla
03:13 But they didn't say much about it, but it all came to a head on one day when I got sick at school
03:18 I had a temperature I was in the nurses station laying behind a little drape. They had drawn there
03:23 I remember laying on a little cot and they had to call my mom to come pick me up from school because of my fever
03:29 And I remember hearing my mom come into the nursing station and say to the nurse there
03:35 I am here to pick up Priscilla
03:38 the nurse said who
03:40 I'm here to pick up Priscilla
03:42 I heard them going back and forth just for a second when the nurse said well
03:46 We have a DK here and mom said that's her give me that girl and let me take her home
03:50 Went home mom kind of nursed me back to health and then when I felt better
03:55 I will never forget my mother looking at me squarely in my eyes and saying now Priscilla
04:01 I have not minded your father, and I have not minded this whole little experiment that you've taken on the last few years
04:07 But she said I do want to be clear about something it was my senior year at the time
04:12 She said I want to be clear about the fact that in a few months. There's going to be a ceremony a
04:16 Graduation and at that ceremony they're going to hand you a very important document
04:22 And she said let me be clear when they hand you that diploma there better not be a D or a K anywhere on
04:28 That piece of paper, and she said to me the reason why is because I I really don't care what other people call you
04:35 I don't care how many other people call you that and I don't even care Priscilla what you call yourself
04:42 There's only one or two me and your father who have the right and the authority to give you your name
04:50 You are not what other people call you you are not even what you've called yourself
04:57 Only the one who created you has the right and the I thought authority to identify you
05:03 So for a few minutes this morning. I just came to remind you what your name is I?
05:09 Came to remind you who you are
05:12 Listen to me brothers and sisters you are not defined by your past
05:17 You are not defined by your behaviors. You are not defined by your failures
05:23 You are not defined by your struggles. You are not defined by your feelings. You are not defined by your
05:30 Circumstances you are not defined by the here today gone tomorrow
05:34 False ideologies and watered-down philosophies of our current culture you are who God says you are
05:41 It don't matter what other folks have been calling you, and it doesn't even matter what you've chosen to call yourself
05:50 There's only one who has the authority to identify you and it's the one who gave life to you
05:57 Others aren't qualified to name you circumstances aren't powerful enough to define you your story may have hurt you
06:05 But it does not shape the totality of who you are
06:08 You are who God says you are and he says you're a chosen race. You're a royal priesthood
06:15 You're a person who has been redeemed and chosen adopted and qualified
06:20 You are not a mistake. You are not an afterthought. You are not a liability
06:25 You are a temple of the Holy Spirit of God and the value he has placed on you means you
06:32 Are enough?
06:35 God loves Dallas. Yes
06:37 God loves you
06:40 He made you in his image
06:44 Both physically and in your personality the strengths and the weaknesses all of it is an expression of the creative
06:52 Genius of Almighty God and when you surrender your whole self fully and completely to him
06:59 He loves and values you enough that he actually takes up residence in you
07:04 He makes you his dwelling place. So you become a temple of Almighty God and that means you're an overcomer
07:12 That's who you are. I don't know who has lied to you up until this point
07:19 But it is important that you and I get our identity
07:22 in him in full view and the reason why y'all is because whether or not you walk in victory is
07:29 Directly correlated to what you believe to be true about yourself
07:33 You will either live up to or you will live down to whatever you believe to be true about yourself
07:41 So I want to talk to you about your identity
07:44 Identity is critical
07:46 In fact, it's one of the major themes that you'll see all throughout the Old Testament and all throughout the New Testament
07:51 You see this theme of identity that keeps coming up over and over again
07:57 God showing up to get people's identity
08:00 Recalibrated so that they will begin to live according and in alignment with what he is said to be true about them
08:07 One of the most notable places that we see this in Scripture the most notable relationship where we can see him
08:13 recalibrating people's identity is with the children of Israel throughout the Old Testament because after
08:19 400 years of slavery in Egypt under Pharaoh
08:22 they had developed the mindset and perspective of living like slaves and so even after ten miraculous plagues and
08:30 Guiding them miraculously through the wilderness
08:33 In fact, those 40 years were about their identity in the wilderness because he had freed them from Egypt
08:39 But it would take 40 years of wilderness wonderland wanderings to make sure that Egypt was now out of them
08:46 They had been freed out of Egypt, but Egypt needed to be detached from them
08:51 Because what good is it to be legally free if you still living like a slave?
08:57 what good is it to be free when you're still thinking like and operating like and deciding like and reacting like and
09:04 Relating to other people like you are not free
09:07 Making decisions out of scarcity and lack and fear and intimidation and so Yahweh spends 40 years
09:14 Recalibrating their identity reminding them you are who I say you are you ain't this you're this
09:21 Start acting like this
09:25 So the children of Israel they come out of wilderness wanderings
09:29 They come into the promised land and the book of Judges is where you and I are gonna meet them today in Judges chapter 6
09:36 If you have your copy of the script, you know
09:38 If you still use an old-school paper Bible like I do
09:41 You can flip over to Judges chapter 6 or your iPhone your iPad any manner of I-ness will get you there
09:47 And let me tell you why you're turning there
09:49 The judges chapter 6 is all about the children of Israel being or the book of Judges is being already in Canaan
09:56 They are already come out of Egypt now. They've already been through the wilderness
10:00 They are now in the land flowing with milk and honey, but while they are there
10:05 Idolatry is introduced to the children of Israel
10:08 Idolatry is always a threat to your identity
10:11 It will always begin to make you question whether or not he is who he says he is and that you are who God says
10:19 You are the whole book of Judges. It's not about the children of Israel turning their backs completely on the one true God
10:25 It is about the people of God stationing their worship of idols
10:29 Alongside their worship of the one true God and listen to me
10:34 It's this duplicity of the people of God that caused such a decay throughout the society in the book of Judges
10:40 That by the time you get to the last line of the book of Judges if you were to read it
10:44 You'll see the last line says everybody was doing what was right in their own eyes
10:50 Y'all if that don't sound like America in the year 2023. I don't know what does
10:55 because when your identity is distorted truth is distorted and the entire culture decays and
11:03 So they open themselves up to enemy attack the book of Judges is them living in the land of promise
11:09 But still still experiencing and exposing themselves to enemy attack on all sides
11:15 They have been ravaged by the Midianites who have come to them seven consecutive years
11:19 pillaging their towns
11:21 burning down their homes
11:23 they've had to escape their cities for fear running in fear from enemies and live on the side of
11:28 Mountains and in caves so that they can hide
11:31 themselves from the
11:34 Approaching and marauding enemies and because their identity is not in view they expose themselves to enemy attack
11:40 But everything is about to change on one day when God comes to remind one person of who they really are
11:48 Judges chapter 6 verse 11 and 12
11:52 Then the angel of the Lord came and he sat down under this oak tree
11:58 That was in a town called Ophira which belonged to Joash the Abrazite
12:03 as his son
12:05 Gideon
12:07 Was beating out wheat in a wine press in order to save it from those Midianites
12:12 First 12 and the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him the Lord is with you. Oh
12:19 valiant warrior
12:22 These are our two verses this morning where we're just gonna spend a little time
12:26 Because the angel of the Lord shows up in the midst of national
12:30 Calamity and chaos that is written about all throughout the book of Judges
12:33 He shows up into the experience of one man named Gideon to remind him who he really is
12:40 to call out of him the behaviors the actions the choices that should have been instilled in him because his
12:47 Identity was in clear view. He says to him you are a valiant warrior
12:52 The angel of the Lord shows up for this one person purpose to remind one person who they really are
13:00 The whole nation is in decay, but he doesn't show up on a national level
13:05 He doesn't show up on a communal level. He shows up to one person
13:10 That's how critical this issue of identity was that the angel of the Lord showed up to one
13:16 Individual to remind him about his identity. Let me tell you why this Sunday morning is so important
13:23 Let me tell you why the reason why you fought through all that traffic this morning
13:26 But the Lord still made it to where you could get in this room and that you could sit in these seats
13:31 Let me tell you why teenager that you were frustrated this morning that your mama and then woke you up and made you come to church
13:37 Let me tell you the reason why it's not so that you could just sit in a building on the Sunday morning
13:43 It's because the angel of the Lord the hound of heaven came looking for you this morning to remind one
13:50 Person you brother or sister have your spiritual ears
13:54 Hope open to hear God say you are who I say you are
13:58 Now act like that not the way you feel not what has happened to you. Not your past behaviors
14:05 Don't align with that align your whole self with who I have declared you to be
14:10 the angel of the Lord
14:13 He comes to tell one person who he is
14:16 The angel of the Lord anytime you see this phrase you need to know what's happening
14:21 scholars call
14:23 This the great presence capital G capital P the great presence of Israelite history
14:30 Because whenever you see the phrase the angel of the Lord in the Old Testament, you need to know this ain't no regular angel
14:37 We're not talking about Gabriel and Michael in them. The angel of the Lord was the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ
14:43 That basically before Jesus put on flesh and came in the New Testament. He was already ready showing up in the Old Testament
14:50 It's called a theophany a God appearance when God himself would step out of heaven onto the landscape of earth
14:58 And he would intervene with the regular details of a regular ordinary life so that he could shift the trajectory
15:05 Not only of that life, but of everything and everybody attached to that life
15:10 So the angel of the Lord kept showing up over and over and over again
15:14 And if I had time this morning y'all we'd spend a whole hour just talking about the angel of the Lord
15:19 Because you need to know that the fact that the God of the universe would step onto the landscape of earth
15:25 That is never something that we should hear and let it roll off our shoulders as if it's no big deal
15:30 Because this is God we're talking about the one who right now while we're sitting in this room
15:36 It's controlling the throes of the entire universe the one who while we're sitting right here in this room
15:42 He's the one that made sure that the Sun rose this morning
15:46 And he's gonna hold it in place all day long till it swaps places with the moon later on tonight
15:51 This is God we're talking about the one who's gonna hang every single star in the sky
15:57 And he's gonna know every single one of their names tonight and every single one of their numbers. This is God
16:03 we're talking about the one who's controlling the throes of the galaxies and
16:07 Neighborhoods in the galaxies that scientists don't even yet know exist
16:12 He's the one controlling all of that and in the midst of all of that
16:17 He stopped by on this Sunday morning to come see about you
16:21 That's a big deal
16:25 That we serve a God that great who is also that good
16:32 that
16:34 He cares that much about you that
16:36 That he made sure on the calendar of your life
16:40 You were here and I got to be here on this Sunday morning
16:44 So that he could move heaven and earth to just whisper to your heart. I got you
16:50 The angel of the Lord kept showing up all throughout the Old Testament
16:54 Just like this for one person on a regular ordinary day just to say I got you
16:59 Just to remind them who they were
17:02 Genesis chapter 16. There's a lady named Hagar Hagar has a past. She's been misused and abused by people
17:10 She was supposed to be able to trust
17:12 Abraham and Sarah and then they discard her they discard her out into a wilderness with her newborn son the babies crying
17:19 She has no food for the baby. So her entire future is in jeopardy
17:23 She is crying a river of tears that has blurred her vision so that she can barely see
17:28 What's in front of her and in the midst of her?
17:31 Devastation and in the midst of her fear and her concern about her future after being misused and abused by people
17:37 She was supposed to be able to trust the angel of the Lord shows up in Genesis chapter 16 and says to Hagar
17:43 Let me tell you who you are
17:46 You are not what they did to you it happened, but that does not define you
17:54 You still are Hagar who I say you are
17:57 so maybe you're like Gideon that the Midianites the enemy the
18:01 Circumstances of your life have closed in on you and you find yourself sitting in a situation that that is
18:07 Because of the results of the circumstances that are around you or maybe you're like Hagar that really it's not your circumstances
18:14 That have done it to you
18:15 It's other folk that have done it to you that people you were supposed to be able to trust
18:20 The folks you were supposed to be able to rely on they betrayed you they've abandoned you and they've set you on a path the likes
18:27 Of which you can't even believe whether you're Gideon or whether you're Hagar this morning
18:31 The angel of the Lord has come looking for you. He can find you wherever you are or maybe you're not Gideon or Hagar
18:37 Maybe you're Moses
18:39 Because an exodus text chapter 3 he's sitting in a desert of his own making he did it to himself
18:46 For Moses it was not that the circumstances did it and it wasn't really that other folks did it
18:51 It's because he made a choice. He made a decision out of sin and anger
18:56 He made a choice that put him into this desert where now he is tending sheep for 40 young long years
19:02 Moses had been raised as the Prince of Egypt
19:05 So shepherding is a job that is so below his pay grade and beneath his educational level
19:11 but while he is in that desert of his own making
19:15 One day a bush starts burning and the bush is burning but it's not consumed
19:21 So he sees something supernatural in the bush and when he stops by to see about this bush
19:26 he realizes that the angel of the Lord is there and
19:29 The angel of the Lord has shown up in Moses's circumstances to remind him. You are not what has happened to you
19:36 You are not what you did. You are not your behaviors
19:41 You still are Moses
19:43 Exactly who I say you are and the reality is that some of us aren't Gideon
19:47 Circumstances didn't do it to us. Some of us aren't Hagar other folks didn't do it to us
19:52 The reality is if we had time for testimony service, most of us would recognize we did it to ourselves
19:58 Because we can look back and realize there's a decision we made that put us in this desert. There's a choice we made
20:05 There's a relationship we allowed there's a path we walk down
20:08 I don't know about y'all but there's a whole season of my life
20:11 I look back on and I don't even recognize that crazy person back there. Anybody can I get a witness?
20:16 Where you look back and you realize you can't believe you made those choices or walk with those people or allowed that path or
20:24 Chosen made those kinds of decisions and you recognize had it not been for the grace of God
20:30 had it not been for the goodness of God delivering us when we were not in our right minds and
20:37 Setting us on a brand new path reminding us that we are not what we did
20:42 We are who God says we are
20:45 So he showed up for Moses and he shows up for you
20:49 he shows up for Hagar and he shows up for you and he shows up for Gideon and
20:54 he says
20:56 Gideon you're a valiant warrior
20:58 Now the author of Judges chapter 6 verse 11 and 12
21:02 Wants you to know exactly what Gideon was doing when the angel of the Lord showed up. It says he's beating out wheat
21:08 But he's doing it in a winepress
21:11 Now the reason why that is critical is because you need to know
21:15 That where grapes were pressed to make wine and where wheat was threshed to prepare for harvest were two completely different
21:22 environments
21:23 Threshing wheat always took place on the top of a hillside in the open air
21:29 And the reason why they needed the open air on the top of a hillside where the draft would be heavy is
21:34 Because when you would beat out wheat it would dislodge this useless nutrient called chaff
21:40 They needed the wind to drive the chaff away
21:44 You'll see that figuratively all throughout the Old Testament the track chaff being driven away by the wind
21:50 Wine getting pressed happened in a completely different environment. They didn't want open air
21:56 They needed it to be shaded and damp to make sure it was the right
22:00 environment for the grapes to produce what they wanted it to produce so that what happened at the bottom of a hillside in a
22:07 Depression on the side of a rock in a shaded damp environment these two things happen in completely different dynamics
22:14 But what we find is them overlapping with Gideon Gideon is doing what should be done down up high
22:21 He's doing it down low
22:24 the reason why he is not threshing wheat on a hilltop where it would be more convenient and easy and
22:30 Helpful to get that chaff driven away
22:33 The reason why he's in the depression of a rock doing it is because if the wind drove the chaff away
22:39 Then that chaff the scent of it would be delivered right to the Midianites and the Midianites would know there was a harvest
22:47 So he's trying the end of verse 11 says to save it from the Midianites
22:53 He doesn't want them to know there's a harvest and so y'all he is in the deep depression of a rock doing this more
23:00 time-consuming tedious
23:02 Inconvenient job he's willing to do it in that environment because he's hiding
23:07 He's trying to make sure that he hides from these enemies his walking in fear and insecurity
23:13 And he's hiding in this deep depression of a rock. He's hiding. He's trying not to be found and
23:21 In this position where he's trying not to be found
23:24 The angel of the Lord comes and finds him
23:27 The reason why this is good news is because I need you to know that there are some people in your life
23:34 Your teenager your young adult child your spouse your parent and your heart has been broken for them because they've been trying
23:43 Not to be found
23:44 They've been running from the arm of God
23:47 You've been asking God to bring them into relationship with himself and they just running they just are rebelling their heart is hard
23:54 They're stiff-necked. They're refusing to come into relationship with him
23:58 I need you to know today that even for your loved ones that are trying not to be found
24:03 The angel of the Lord can still come and find them
24:06 And aren't we glad about it that the hound of heaven keeps coming to look for us
24:12 Because we've all had those seasons of our life where honestly we were trying not to be found
24:16 We were trying to avoid the voice of God avoid the conviction of God go in a different direction
24:21 Act like we didn't feel the poking and the prodding of God's spirit in some area of our life
24:27 And the reality is we have testimony that had it not been for the goodness of God the hound of heaven that would not let
24:34 Us go that kept looking for us. Aren't we grateful for his grace and mercy?
24:41 So he finds Gideon and he finds up even when we're trying not to be found and he steps into this scenario
24:47 Where Gideon is listen, he's currently
24:51 operating in fear and insecurity
24:54 The whole reason he's in the winepress is because he's currently operating and acting out of fear
25:01 insecurity and intimidation and
25:04 Even though he's behaving that way
25:09 God steps in and says
25:11 You are not your behavior
25:14 Somebody needs to hear that this morning what you did last night doesn't define you today
25:22 You are not what has happened to you
25:26 You are not the circumstances that are surrounding your life right now
25:31 They are not powerful enough to define you you still are who God says you are
25:38 God shows up to a man who is insecure and operating in fear and he says
25:42 You're a valiant warrior
25:45 He speaks to him according to the truth of his identity not the current circumstances of his reality
25:52 He says you are this
25:55 Now act like that. I
25:58 Do have three sons
26:01 21 19 and 15 years old. I
26:04 Drive my kids bananas. I think that's a mark of a good mother is
26:09 That they ought to be sick of you
26:12 Because you know you have rules
26:15 You have things you want them to incorporate into their life that they don't value
26:20 And you say things to them that they get tired of hearing mama say over and over and over again
26:27 Since they were very little I have said pretty much the same thing to my boys most every day
26:33 I
26:34 Make them stand in front of me when they were at home the older two were in Collegedale when they were at home
26:39 I'd make them stand right in front of me and I make them look me in my eyes and they would have the nerve to
26:43 Sometimes slump their shoulders over and sometimes they would look at me and if they were real bold and brazen
26:49 They might actually roll their eyes. Mm-hmm. Not today
26:52 And I would say to those boys
26:55 No, no
26:55 Look at me and listen to me and I would look them squarely in their eyes and I would say you are a man of integrity
27:03 Honesty and character you will love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul and with all your strength
27:09 You will put on the full armor of God so that you can stand firm against the schemes of the enemy
27:14 You are a leader. You are not a follower. You are the head. You are not the tail
27:19 You are above you are not
27:21 beneath and the praises of God will always be in your mouth and you will rise up and be a mighty warrior in the kingdom of
27:28 God or I will spank you
27:31 They
27:33 Kind of go oh man, I still text it to my boys a lot throughout the week. I will text it to them
27:40 I'll say say this out loud today, and I don't know whether they do or not, but I'm gonna text it to him
27:44 I'm gonna keep feeding it to them and I knew it was getting into them because every now and then when I will say it
27:50 To them I would tell them you finish it. What's the rest of this statement and they go
27:54 I'm a man of integrity character and honesty
27:57 I will love the Lord my God with all my heart and all my strength but even with the attitude what it tells me is that
28:02 You're hearing me and it's getting in you
28:06 The reason why I have made it my business to say this to my boys is not because their behavior
28:16 Always lines up with it. It's because I'm trying to get them to behave in a way that lines up with their identity
28:24 This is who I say you are God says you are now act like that
28:28 Think like that react like that make decisions like that
28:32 Can you think of?
28:35 How our lives would be transformed if we started acting not according to the way we feel
28:43 But according to what God says is true
28:46 Can you imagine what relationships we wouldn't even entertain?
28:52 If we believed what God said to be true about us
28:55 Can you imagine how your reaction to that co-worker would be completely different?
29:00 You would restrain yourself because you know, this is who I am
29:03 Can you imagine how?
29:06 More much more we would refuse to do things for the approval of other people that their applause or their like or their comment
29:13 Isn't actually
29:15 Important to us that's inconsequential to us because I don't need your approval
29:19 The scripture says I'm already approved that I'm already accepted that I'm already enough that I'm already valued
29:26 I don't need your applause. God has already applauded for me
29:30 It changes and transforms the entirety of our life where we stop
29:35 Operating just based on the way we feel in the moment and reacting based on that and instead we remind ourselves
29:42 This is who I am. So I'm going to rise to that standard and behave like that
29:48 It'll transform your life
29:50 Not only will it transform your life
29:52 but if you read throughout the rest of Judges chapter 6
29:55 Then you will see that immediately after Gideon hears from God that he is a valiant warrior
30:02 He immediately goes back home to his father's house
30:05 And he goes into this house that he's been afraid to interact with in previous chapters
30:10 He goes back to his father's home
30:13 He grabs all of the idols that were in their home and he breaks them one by one over his knee
30:19 changing the trajectory of
30:22 Idolatry through the course of his entire family
30:25 in fact the entire family and the entire generational line connected to it is
30:31 Completely transformed because one person gets a hold of their identity
30:35 Do you know that there are people attached to you who are waiting for you to get your identity in view?
30:42 Do you realize that your sons and your daughters your grandsons and your granddaughters?
30:47 Our great-grandchildren that we have not even laid eyes on that the trajectory of their lives is attached to us
30:55 Gideon getting our identity in view so that we can go home and say this is who we were
31:00 But this is not who we are anymore
31:03 That we're breaking
31:05 generational curses and shifting a trajectory of our entire family lines because we gonna start living up to the
31:11 standard of who God says we are and
31:13 Then after he transforms his whole family
31:17 Gideon goes into battle with this is what he's most notable for this is probably why you know Gideon because with an army of
31:24 300 a little meager army they go up against
31:28 140,000 Midianite soldiers and they bring home a victory and the entire trajectory of the nation is
31:36 completely turned around
31:39 Because this one guy has recalibrated his identity
31:43 Your family is not the only thing attached to you. There's a whole community attached to you y'all
31:50 There's a whole national crisis that we are living in right now that is attached to the people of God
31:56 Rising up and being who God has called us to be if we would just show up with our full
32:03 Identity in view who knows how the school district attached to you is gonna change how the work environment
32:09 Attached to you is gonna change how your neighborhood is gonna change your community group is gonna change the city the state the whole nation
32:17 transformed because God's people remembered who they were and
32:21 so
32:24 For just a few moments at the close of this message. I thought I'd just take a couple minutes to remind you
32:33 Brothers and sisters who you are
32:36 You are a child of God
32:42 You have peace with God the Holy Spirit lives in you you have access to God's wisdom
32:50 You are helped by God. You are reconciled to God. You are not condemned by God
32:57 You are justified by God you have Christ's righteousness. You are Christ ambassador
33:03 You are completely forgiven and you are completely free
33:06 There is therefore no condemnation for those of us who are in Christ Jesus
33:11 You are blameless and beyond reproach. You are the salt of the earth and you are the light of the world
33:17 You are Christ's friend. You are chosen by Christ to bear fruit
33:21 You are a joint heir with Christ sharing in his inheritance. You are united with the Lord
33:27 You are members of Christ's body. You are hidden in Christ with God. You are a child of light
33:33 You are holy and you share in God's heavenly calling. You are a member of a chosen race
33:38 You're a royal priesthood. You're a holy nation
33:42 You're a people for God's own possession created to sing the praises of God
33:46 You have been born of God and the evil one can't even touch you. You've been rescued by God
33:52 You've been made complete in Christ
33:54 You have not been given a spirit of fear but a power and of love and of a sound mind
34:00 You have been given access to great and precious
34:03 Privileges and promises by God your needs are met by God. You have been sought with a price
34:09 You've been adopted into the family of God. You have direct access to God through the Holy Spirit
34:15 You cannot be separated from the love of God. You are a citizen of heaven
34:20 You've been established anointed and sealed by God. You can be confident in this that the good work
34:26 He started in you. He will bring to completion. You are God's workmanship
34:31 You are seated with Christ in heavenly places and you can do all things
34:36 Through Christ who gives you strength in Jesus mighty name. Come on church say amen
34:44 Amen, amen. Amen
34:46 You are who God says you are
34:49 Act like that
34:53 Lord Jesus, would you help us to get our identity in view every lie of the enemy that has tried to convince us
35:01 Otherwise, I pray that you would quiet that voice and that your voice would be loud in our ears this week
35:07 And then give us the courage and the boldness to behave in a way to think in a way to choose and make
35:15 Decisions in a way that lines up with who you say we are in Jesus name
35:20 Amen
35:23 Would you stand to your feet all over this place today, can you show your appreciation to Priscilla Shire for that word
35:35 (applause)
35:37 Everyone I tell you
35:48 All of us need to be reminded
35:50 Of who we are
35:53 Whether you're just new to this thing called Christianity
35:57 Whether you haven't even surrendered your life to him or whether you've been walking with the Lord for years
36:02 Every single one of us need to be reminded
36:06 This is who I am
36:08 I'm not my mistakes. I'm not my circumstances. I am who God says that I am
36:14 I'm just gonna ask in this moment. This is such a necessary word
36:19 For us right now
36:22 But I'm asked every head be bowed and eyes be closed. There's some of you
36:26 Who you've been in the wine press
36:31 You didn't want to be found
36:33 But God orchestrated and ordained this moment for you to hear this message today
36:39 It's time to stop running
36:43 Because your father's found you
36:46 And he's not declaring over you all your mistakes and all the things that you've done he's declaring over you who you truly are
36:54 So in this moment with heads bowed and eyes closed all over this
37:00 Opera house. I want to give somebody even if it's just one
37:03 Person hear me one person would be worth it
37:07 God got a hold of Gideon and a nation was transformed. So even if it's just one today
37:14 The things that are connected to you it would be so worth it
37:19 But if you're here today and you say pastor Robert, I need to surrender my life to this Savior
37:24 His name is Jesus
37:27 I'm tired of doing life on my own. I'm tired of being defined by my behavior
37:32 This is the beauty of the gospel
37:35 The gospel is not do do do do do so you can become something
37:40 No, the gospel says it has been done and because of what Jesus did his finished work on the cross
37:46 You have a new identity
37:49 Now come into alignment with it. So it heads bowed and eyes closed today if you've never surrendered your life to Jesus
37:56 Or maybe there's a season you were walking with God
38:00 But your heart's gotten cold and you've drawn away and even now you hear your father
38:04 Saying come back home if that's you would you do me a favor?
38:08 Would you just lift up your hand just high enough and long enough to where I could see it today
38:12 I want to give you an opportunity to respond. Thank you. Thank you. I see those hands all over this place today
38:18 Thank you God anybody else. I'm looking up in the balcony sections. Thank you
38:23 Yeah, thank you for responding for when God speaks to you
38:27 Hallelujah, I want us to pray this prayer
38:30 We're gonna pray it as one big family after we pray this prayer
38:34 If you want personal prayer our prayer team is just gonna hang out here in the front and we'd be happy to pray with you
38:39 But I want you to make this declaration today
38:41 In fact, let's all do it. We'll say it as one big family, but especially those of you who responded
38:48 Would you say this from your heart say Jesus? I
38:52 Need you
38:54 Thank you so much
38:56 For being willing to find me
38:58 Even though I was hiding
39:01 Jesus I know I cannot do life without you. I need you
39:10 Forgive me of my sin
39:13 Make me brand-new
39:16 Jesus today I
39:19 confess with my mouth and
39:21 I believe in my heart
39:23 That you are the Son of God
39:25 You died for me and you're coming back for me
39:30 but until that day I
39:33 Will walk in my true
39:36 identity
39:39 In Jesus name. Amen
39:41 Amen amen if you met what you prayed, would you give Jesus praise today? Oh, come on. You could do a little bit better than that
39:50 I
39:51 See some people that are about to walk in their true identity
39:54 You might have to reintroduce yourself to some people because they knew you who you were. They don't know you who you're going to be