|
Isaiah 61:1-3 New King James Version The Good News of Salvation 61 “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, Because the Lord has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to [a]heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound; 2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn, 3 To [b]console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.” Who am I?
Good morning. Talk about the sermon. Common question for people. Sometimes a struggle that leads to dangerous territory. Working as a social worker for many years now I have met with people who don’t know who they are. How do we identify ourselves on a daily basis? What is our role in life? Where do we belong? Truly who are we supposed to be? Ask church: who are you? Mother, father, teacher, musician… Ask church: Where do we get our identity from? Parents, work, status in life Just like we get identity from our earthly family…. being the family of God, He gives us our identity. I went to a retreat recently and met a lady who loved God but did not know the purpose of her life. Many ways we identify in Christ. Here is what we will cover today: 1. New Beginnings 2. Strength 3. Victorious New Beginnings 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. I am so thankful for this. I have made many mistakes in life, many wrong decisions but knowing Christ has made me new and the old is not held over my head is so liberating. There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. This is powerful! Christ in us because we asked him to come into our hearts. Strength Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Jonah disobeys God’s command to preach repentance to the city of Nineveh. Instead, he sails in the opposite direction, only to be swallowed by a giant fish. In the belly of the whale, Jonah repents and is spit out onto the shore, ready to fulfill God’s command. While it may seem like a tale of divine punishment, it’s actually about second chances and the power of repentance. It’s about facing our responsibilities instead of running from them. So when you find yourself in what seems like the belly of a whale, remember Jonah. Confront your challenges head-on instead of avoiding them. You might find that they’re not as intimidating as they seem, and more importantly, that you’re stronger than you think. We walk through many challenges in life. But how do handle them? What is the most common course of action for us? Some of you may run and hide. Some accept the challenge and run towards it. What is your identity? 2 Timothy 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind By not walking in fear we walk in strength, we walk in confidence of who God is in our lives. It’s about His strength in us and not what we can do. I have been through tough situations but recently, this past year has been one of the hardest ever. I had to decide from the very beginning what my identity in the situation was and to rely on God’s strength. Have you ever had people ask how you survived something and all you could think is….only because of God did I survive it? I bet we all have stories that relate to this. Victorious John 8:36 Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. You can’t walk in victory if you are not walking in freedom. Walking Free by Micha Tyler The verdict was guilty Case closed the end No chance for me to ever leave This prison of my sin Now I know it might sound crazy But one day a key unlocked that cell I heard a small voice say "Your debts been paid by somebody else" I'm walking free No more darkness Guilt has lost its grip on me When mercy called my name Those chains fell at my feet And now I'm walking free Another way to be victorious is to testify. There is life is the tongue so speaking out of what Christ has done in your life brings more victory. That is who we are…our identity is victorious in Christ no matter what the circumstance is…no matter what has happened to us..we serve a God who conquered the grave. Revelation 12:11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony Spread the good news of who God is and what He has done..dying for our sins and saving us! Talk to others about your testimony giving God all the glory all the honor and all the praise. We can’t walk around looking like the world….looking defeated all the time because things are not going our way or hard. The word says we must be separate from the world and Jesus says you will know His disciples by their fruit. Living in victory we should be showing the fruit the spirit. Love, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. All of this to say today that we do have identity in Christ. Spend time in His word to become more familiar with who He says we are. Don’t let the world bring you down with the heaviness of what is happening around you. I went to a concert last week in Casper, the revival tour and saw Matt Mahr, CAIN, Ben Fuller, and Zach Williams. This song from Ben Fuller also describes who we are in Christ. Who I am. I am love set free..I am child of the most high God We are royalty. We should act like it and not be beat down by the world. Different by Micha Tyler. Isaiah 61:1-3 “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, Because the LORD has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn, To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.”
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
|