"Who Am I? Reclaiming Your God-Given Identity" RESCUE RADIO with Marjorie Cole

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I have an emergency. What is your location?

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Rescue Radio.

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'Cause there's a war for your soul. Yes, Father God, thank you

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for encouraging us and protecting us in the midst of this

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spiritual battle. And I thank you, Lord, there is a perfect end.

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It is your ending. It is a good ending. So Father, give encouragement today to

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everyone who is caught up in the snares of fear or confusion,

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especially confusion about who they are. And the enemy loves

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to mess up our identity. So Father, give us eyes to see and ears

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to hear and a heart to receive the encouragement today.

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Of knowing what your word says, what you say about who we are.

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And I thank you, Jesus, that you considered us worthy enough

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to die on the cross for us. We were worth saving. Um, you know,

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not because we were able to do it ourselves, but because it

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had to be done to, to share with us eternity

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with you, Father. So I thank you for your kindness,

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your goodness. Yes. And for your mercy upon all of

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us. And for giving us revelation as to what and who we are.

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And I pray too, Father, for divine holy protection over this day for

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everyone, that the enemy's plans for our day will go astray.

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He will not get to go and do what he wants to do, that no

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weapon formed against us or against the people of your covenant,

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Lord God, which is made through the blood of Jesus Christ, no weapon formed against

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any of us will prosper. But you said all things work together for good.

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So everything that the devil's trying to do today or tomorrow, or has done yesterday

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or whatever to try to crush us, you are using those very exact things to

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make us and create us more, to be more like Jesus. So encourage

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every heart today, Father, and give us a chance to

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see and hear and know the truth in Jesus' name. Amen.

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Well, you know, one of the biggest, Jerry, one of the biggest problems with people

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is they don't know who they are. We really don't have a clear identity,

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definition or understanding of our identity. Confusion as to

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who we really are, are is really the order of the day. Right,

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because if Satan can confuse us about our worth, our value,

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our origin, and that's really what he's done is he's had us obscure

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the origin of where we came from because actually your origin

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defines your identity. Exactly. Another thing too,

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there's a case of mistaken identity. You know, sometimes you

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say police officers are looking for somebody and they They think

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they found the right person, but it's the wrong person. So sometimes we think we

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find the right person and it's the wrong person. Well, sometimes we don't even

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know who we are. Let's go back to Genesis for a minute. After God had

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created all of the animals and the stars and all of the

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environment to which he then decided to place

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a man, a woman created in his own image and likeness,

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put them in that garden situation. And so

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God said, you know, it's not like it was an afterthought, like, oh,

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oh, well, we could just, let's do some more stuff. No, it was

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like, oh, let us now, now the place is ready.

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The garden is ready. The creatures are there. The atmosphere,

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the stars, everything's hung. Let's now, let's make man

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in our image and place him in this wonderful garden. So what

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they did, He said to himself, let us,

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implying there's more than, not more than one God, but the Trinity. Father,

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Son, and Holy Spirit were together in this. Yep. They're always together.

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Yeah. In this endeavor. So he said, let us make man in our own image

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and according to our own likeness, our likeness,

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and let them have dominion over the fish, the birds,

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the cattle, and everything that creeps. So at that point then God was

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giving man not only a beginning, an identity,

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but also a job description assignment. Yeah.

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Assignment. Yeah. And so what happened then, but you know,

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kind of playing that forward just in just a minute

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in Ephesians, he says, you know, uh, this was not an afterthought because

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in Ephesians he says in chapter 1, he said, blessed be the God and Father

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of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly

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places, just as he chose us in him,

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before the foundation of the world, before he even created things,

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we were in his mind. We were going to be that, that final culminating

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creation. Yeah. And so it's not like, oh, well,

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God just, well, let's try something else. Not an afterthought.

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Yeah, exactly. But the thing is made in the image and likeness

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of God. And I believe what happened there, as we see right at that same

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time, Lucifer flunked his test.

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And he was kicked out of heaven. And so, um, why did

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he flunk? Because everybody gets a test. His test was, do you want to be—

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God said, do you want to be who I made you to be? And Lucifer

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said no, he wanted to be God. And so he was not able or qualified

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to continue his habitation in heaven. So when he was kicked out,

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I can only imagine what he had a fit. He threw a fit when

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he saw Adam and Eve being created in the image and likeness of God.

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Yeah, and backing up a little bit, you know,

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identity crisis, you know, that, that we are experiencing today.

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Kids experience it, adults experience it.

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Um, the Satan is really—

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he's into identity theft. Okay, so we have

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that these days, you know, some people, you know, use your credit card and

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claim to be you and they're not you, and they Usually

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it's to steal something from you, and that's basically what the enemy is. He's here

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to steal, kill, and destroy, and he's here to influence our minds and

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our hearts to describe us or

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to identify us as something other than who God

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made us to be. So the thievery started

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right at the very beginning, and stealing, like you just said, our identity

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You know, obscuring it, um, perverting it,

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uh, to do what? To separate us from our Father,

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separate us from the identity, the creation of who we were created to be.

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And so he uses all kinds of gimmicks and tricks to impersonate

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us to ourselves. And, you know, I just heard a teaching that,

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um, to discern the devil and his speaking to us,

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you know, he, he can come in the, in the second person. You are

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bad. You are never going to make it. You are depressed. But,

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You know, but the real trick

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he plays on us is when he comes to us in the first person,

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pretending to speak to us as if we're speaking to ourselves.

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I am depressed. He, in the first person. I am afraid.

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I want this drug. So Satan is immediately, when he saw that

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God had given us jurisdiction and authority over everything

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that creeps, including him, um, he, he had to

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do something to subvert the plan of God. And I believe what

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he did, first of all, I'm, imagining, in his fury,

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he, uh, what was the word? He probably advanced

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and assaulted God verbally and said,

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they'll never love you. Why are you making them? Because I have a— I love

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them. God says, I need— I want a family. Satan says, I will get them

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to hate you. And so what he did was

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he was trying his whole— his whole thing is to turn us

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against God, turn us against ourselves, cause us to be redefined according to

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the corruption that's all around us. Well, what he did in the garden, he influenced

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Eve and said, basically, you're being deprived. Right. You should

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be, there's more, there's more. You're missing something. That's the

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lie of the enemy. There's always something else. There's more that you

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can have. You can be like God. And well, we're created— Well,

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that was the test for her too then, wasn't it? Right, we're created in the

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likeness and image of God. So in a sense, we're like God,

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But Satan was saying, you can be like God,

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your own God, if you disobey

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God. If you eat of the tree of knowledge. Has God said, has God really

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said you shall not eat of this tree? Well, that tree represented what they didn't

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know and what they thought they, if they knew that, then they would be like

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God. Satan was saying, you know, God is keeping things

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from you. Exactly. And so then,

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so what happens, is Satan. He vowed his—

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he's dedicated his whole existence to separating

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us from the love of God, redefining us according to the corruptions that he set

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in our minds and hearts, and believing, causing us to believe.

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Actually, he said to God, he says, God, I will get them to hate you.

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I mean, I can imagine him saying this. I will get— I will corrupt their

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loyalties to you. I will get them to hate you. I will get them to

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believe Every bad thing about that's happening to them is because you,

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God, are mad at them and now you are punishing them. So every bad

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thing that happens is that Satan initiates. He is

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flipping it so that you think, where was God? Why wasn't God

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there? God is so powerful. If God is so good, then why didn't he do

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something? And these, these arguments roll on and on and on in the minds

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of those who do not understand the spiritual battle, which is basically a battle in

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your soul. For your destiny. And so Satan

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says, I will get them to hate you. I will get them to believe that

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you're the one who's doing all the bad things. I will get them to judge

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you. I will get them to believe you don't— that, that, that you, God,

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do not exist. I'll get them to believe they came from monkeys. And that origin

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of coming from a monkey or evolution or an

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accidental appearance where there's no God-thought-out

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plan, you're just an accident. You're a mistake.

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If Satan can get us to believe that, then we don't know our

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destiny because we don't know our origin. If I just happened by

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coincidence, there's no such thing as a coincidence. But if he gets people to believe

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they just evolved, then there is no linking

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up with their origin and our origin made by God

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deliberately, intentionally made by God himself, the God of the universe who

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created you, defined you, made you not only in his image,

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but with a specific personality and a specific call

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on your life, a specific identity, a specific destiny.

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If we don't know that, then we will be very vulnerable to being

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redefined by the devil and all the things,

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the bad things that happen to us. Because Satan's ultimate goal is

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to get you to believe that we are bad. We are because bad things happen

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to us, because we do bad things, because bad things are said

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over us. He's redefining us by what

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we do as opposed to who we are. And so therefore

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our identity is anchored in our origin. Exactly, exactly.

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But let's look at how though we identify ourselves.

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We ask the question, who am I? And a lot

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of times, I'm just gonna give you a list of some

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ways that we can take on our identity

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Uh, mistaken, mistaken identity, a case of mistaken

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identity. Um, we can take on our identity by

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our physical appearance, okay? What we look like. I'm fat,

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I'm skinny, I'm, I'm gorgeous, I'm not gorgeous, I'm an athlete,

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I'm a loser. By our name, you know, by our name, you know,

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our clothing, right? What we wear, our, our gifts and

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abilities. We can say, well, you know, I can I can, you know,

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athletically or musically talented. By what we do,

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again. We take on our identity by our race. You know,

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I'm Black, I'm white, I'm Norwegian, I'm Swede,

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whatever. Or, and some take on their identity,

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kids take on their identity by their gang, the gang that they're part

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of. Right. Or our nationality, our environment, you know,

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where we are. Or what we do. You know, a lot of people, you say,

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we say, who are you? Well, I'm a fireman. Well, I'm a teacher.

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Well, we define ourselves by what we are engaged

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in doing. And, but that's not who I am. That's what I do. But many

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times, like you're just saying, people do not separate out who I am from

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what I do. They merge them together. So being and behavior become mixed and

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married together. Yeah. And it's like, you know, my education, while I have a doctor's

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degree, my religion, you know, uh, we identify ourselves

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by our addiction. Yeah. I'm a, I'm a, yeah. I'm an

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addict. I'm an alcoholic. Um,

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or like you said about our occupation or by our wealth,

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you know, or our poverty. These are all circumstances.

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Another thing too is, is our medical. We identify ourselves by our medical condition.

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I'm a diabetic. Yeah. I'm, uh, you know, or,

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or by our sex. And, and, you know, and right now people,

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a lot of people have no idea who they are. I don't know if I'm

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male or female. I might go from male to female, female to male.

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God said in the beginning, male and female. There was 2 distinct,

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distinct identities, genders. Yes. Yeah. So, but another

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thing too, we could say, well, I'm, I'm married, I'm divorced.

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Uh, I didn't— we identify ourselves by our— by what's happened

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to us, family, our family. You know, I have a dysfunctional family.

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And so, or it can be a combination of any of these things

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that we just mentioned that take on our identity that really

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is a false sense. It obscures the true identity

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of who we are. Yeah, exactly. It's really defining more what happened to

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us than who we are. But if we don't know who we are, we won't

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know what to do with what's happening to us. We won't know how to deal

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with it. Yeah. And so we have— all of us have this story about ourselves

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in our minds as to who we are. Well, most of it,

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most of what we have in our story, it's, yeah, we've had experiences,

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we've come to conclusions about things and about life and about ourselves.

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But most of it really, when you get right down to it, is false.

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Right? The story is the story of your journey. And this journey

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is, is enmeshed in warfare and

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spiritual disruptions and the enemy's attempt to kill

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us on every level, mental, emotional, physical,

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financial, relational. And so, but, but again,

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we are— Satan wants to redefine us. Remember that word? He wants

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to redefine us, obscure our true identity in Christ so that

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we are always trying to figure things out, fix things,

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survive. And God didn't say, come down here. So I'm going to

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make it so hard for you so that we'll see if you can survive.

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This is not Hunger Games. This is God and the devil

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working against us.

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God is not, but Satan is working against us. So God is actually having to

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work within the context of what Satan is doing to actually

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deliver us, save us. God is using these things to work

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all things together for good, to make us And so we can be,

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um, you know, the ultimate one

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who decides who I am is you.

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Are you going to believe the lies that you are what you do or what

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people say about you or how you failed? Or, or are you going to say,

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no, no, no, I am worthy. I don't

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feel worthy because of all the bad things I've done or experienced,

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but I am worthy because God made us in his image and

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likeness. So here's the, here's the war. If you have, an enemy, you need

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to know his strategy. You need to know his objectives.

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You need to know what he looks like. You need to know your enemy.

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So in the beginning, Satan had one objective

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really. I mean, one forceful determination was

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to blow up the relationship, the bridge between

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us and God, our heavenly Father, to obscure, to make

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it difficult or impossible for us to return home. The bridge is blown up through

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sin and through the crushing of You know, this,

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the original sin, not the original sin. Satan did the original

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sin, but anyway, so he's gathered us all in this place of destruction.

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Satan has gathered us. And so God

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has seen what the devil is doing. The devil is trying to do 2

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things, 2 objectives to blow up the bridge. The bridge has 2 ends.

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So on the one end, he wants us to believe lies about God.

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And on this other side, he wants us to believe lies about ourselves.

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And using those 2 objectives, he can blow up,

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destroy your identity, your destiny,

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and obscure your origin and actually eternally destroy

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our destination. I mean, determine that everything is hanging

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on the truth, knowing the truth and to know who we are.

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So God said, let us make man in our image and likeness.

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So who is God? What is God? God is love.

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We would say God is love. So, well, what does God love? God loves love.

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God loves justice, truth, mercy, righteousness, peace,

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purity, holiness, goodness. And God hates 2 things.

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He hates sin and injustice. And guess what?

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So do we. When things aren't fair, we get mad. And when we, uh,

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you know, when we sin, we feel guilty. We feel bad. So God made us

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in his image and likeness, but God is also a being.

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He is the, you know, and he is a spiritual being.

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He made us human beings, not human doings.

17:43.994 --> 17:47.184
God is the great I Am. So he made us not as

17:47.537 --> 17:51.272
little mes that run around trying to, you know, like ping pong balls

17:51.304 --> 17:54.526
in a game. He made us as with our destiny,

17:55.055 --> 17:58.133
knowing I Am. I am the daughter of God.

17:58.261 --> 18:02.252
I am the son of God, whatever. And so we're, we have to anchor

18:02.348 --> 18:06.051
our war, our understanding, our life in the truth of

18:06.551 --> 18:10.593
who who we are made in the image of God. And so God has

18:11.107 --> 18:15.103
given us his identity, made in

18:15.603 --> 18:19.388
his image and likeness. And so therefore that is who

18:19.888 --> 18:23.191
we are. So when we're made to hate sin, to be holy,

18:23.624 --> 18:26.962
to love righteousness, to tell the truth, to love the truth, then when we sin

18:27.011 --> 18:30.493
against who we are, we feel bad. We feel guilty. And this is

18:30.525 --> 18:34.088
how the devil gets us to take— he takes down our confidence

18:34.216 --> 18:37.232
in the goodness of God and in our own righteousness,

18:37.825 --> 18:40.967
which comes through the righteous surrender to the righteousness of God,

18:41.512 --> 18:45.808
Satan defiles us and kind of discourages

18:45.840 --> 18:49.816
us to the place where we want to give up. Yeah, when we realize

18:49.912 --> 18:54.144
though that we came from God, right, that's our origin.

18:55.538 --> 18:58.760
Again, what we— to repeat what you said earlier,

18:58.841 --> 19:02.592
our origin determines our identity. In Jeremiah

19:02.736 --> 19:06.535
chapter 1, verses 4 and 5, and this is from the Amplified Bible,

19:06.615 --> 19:09.532
then the word of the Lord came to me, to Jeremiah, saying,

19:10.349 --> 19:14.612
before I formed you in the womb, I knew you and approved

19:15.112 --> 19:18.858
of you as my chosen instrument. And before you were

19:19.358 --> 19:23.457
born, I separated you and set you apart, consecrating you,

19:24.210 --> 19:27.318
and appointed you as a prophet to

19:27.350 --> 19:31.485
the nations. So there's 2 things. There's, there's identity

19:32.077 --> 19:35.669
and there's assignment. What is our purpose? Who we

19:36.169 --> 19:39.316
are and what's our purpose. And so that's another

19:39.816 --> 19:43.397
thing too. And in Psalm 139 says, you did form

19:43.897 --> 19:47.365
my inward parts, you did knit me together in my mother's womb.

19:47.413 --> 19:50.932
And he goes on to say, he, he, the knitting together,

19:51.028 --> 19:55.093
it's like we're a detailed embroidery

19:56.314 --> 19:59.704
of, of who he is. He, he, it's,

19:59.849 --> 20:04.358
it's when somebody does embroidery, beautiful needlework.

20:05.000 --> 20:08.336
It's, it's done with skill. It's done with intent.

20:08.705 --> 20:12.522
It's done deliberately with, with beauty. And so

20:12.698 --> 20:16.579
God, that's how he has formed us in

20:16.611 --> 20:19.691
his mother's womb. However we got here, you know,

20:19.915 --> 20:22.401
maybe you got here through a rape.

20:22.963 --> 20:26.363
Maybe you got here through loving parents. Maybe you got here

20:26.411 --> 20:30.083
through— maybe you didn't determine how you got

20:30.583 --> 20:34.049
here or the time. So maybe your arrival was untimely to the people around

20:34.549 --> 20:37.406
you and they were upset. But it's perfect timing according to God's time. So we

20:37.470 --> 20:41.485
have to go back to God's idea. God started

20:41.985 --> 20:45.371
this. God said, my frame was not hidden from you when I was made in

20:45.871 --> 20:49.145
secret, skillfully wrought, as you just said. Um, uh, you know,

20:49.772 --> 20:53.337
you, your eyes saw my substance being yet unformed.

20:53.385 --> 20:57.111
So God, he says, and in your book they are all written,

20:57.159 --> 21:00.291
the days fashioned for me when as yet there were none of

21:00.791 --> 21:04.011
them. And then he says, how precious also are your thoughts

21:04.511 --> 21:07.700
towards me, O God, how great is the sum of them. So he's going on

21:07.733 --> 21:11.418
to say, we don't even understand or comprehend

21:11.918 --> 21:15.606
how precious we are to God. And this is a problem because if you don't

21:15.622 --> 21:18.775
understand how precious you are to God, then you will disregard

21:19.275 --> 21:23.047
your own life. You will consider it a failure. You'll consider it worth throwing

21:23.144 --> 21:26.931
away. We will not consider what Jesus did to shed

21:26.947 --> 21:30.041
his blood His, his own blood to

21:30.250 --> 21:34.232
redeem us from the snare, from the claim of Satan.

21:34.489 --> 21:38.487
Jesus's death on the cross settled all the debt obligations

21:38.519 --> 21:42.084
that we had towards Satan because the soul that sins shall die.

21:42.678 --> 21:45.953
And our people, our parents sinned. Therefore we're in that category.

21:46.371 --> 21:49.887
Therefore we're slated to die. And God said, nope, you know, one man's sin,

21:49.919 --> 21:53.243
one man can die for them. So Jesus took on human form,

21:53.676 --> 21:56.950
and died for us. And we all kind of know this,

21:57.689 --> 22:01.557
but do we really live like this? Do we really live like we are so

22:02.057 --> 22:05.457
precious? Um, that, you know, that he says,

22:05.649 --> 22:09.164
um, how precious also are your thoughts towards me,

22:09.180 --> 22:12.374
O God. How great is the sum of them. If I should count

22:12.874 --> 22:16.274
them, they would be more than the sands of the sea. When I awake,

22:16.547 --> 22:19.901
I am with you. Do we realize how precious? I mean, I'm not saying

22:20.415 --> 22:23.191
we're going to be conceited and arrogant and, and, and,

22:24.266 --> 22:27.731
uh, you know, entitled. I'm saying that we

22:27.939 --> 22:31.644
are precious to God. We're precious to God. We're hated by

22:32.144 --> 22:35.029
Satan. And but we get to decide,

22:35.494 --> 22:38.702
am I going to believe what God says or am I going to believe what

22:39.202 --> 22:43.017
the enemy says? Well, it's mind-blowing when you think of in Psalm

22:43.517 --> 22:47.508
139 again, it says, your eyes saw my unformed substance in your— and

22:47.685 --> 22:51.375
in your book all the days of my life Yeah, I just wrote that.

22:51.536 --> 22:54.956
Before ever they took shape, as when

22:55.052 --> 22:57.605
as yet there were none of them. So God has a plan.

22:58.023 --> 23:01.507
There's a plan for you, for your life.

23:01.571 --> 23:04.751
The days of your life were determined before you were

23:04.767 --> 23:08.074
alive. Right, right, exactly. And you

23:08.574 --> 23:11.832
know what? God started it. We didn't get to pick ourselves out. No, no,

23:11.848 --> 23:14.176
I didn't say, well, I want to be born now, and I want to be

23:14.240 --> 23:17.500
born white or black, or want to be born blonde hair,

23:17.692 --> 23:21.126
blue eyes. '77,

23:21.158 --> 23:25.057
or we didn't get to pick. God has— he basically

23:25.410 --> 23:28.955
from heaven, basically God just

23:29.455 --> 23:32.565
decided, brought us here from heaven. He gave us an identity.

23:32.613 --> 23:36.078
And it wasn't historic or anything. He gave us an identity, but he

23:36.578 --> 23:39.543
dropped us in a war zone. And he knew that it would be a war

23:40.043 --> 23:43.458
zone. He already knew that from the foundation of the world. There's nothing he did

23:43.958 --> 23:47.196
not know. But he also knew that he would be able to bring

23:47.292 --> 23:50.644
us through this war zone. And that he would take the responsibility because

23:50.676 --> 23:54.267
God always says, I am faithful. I am faithful to

23:54.767 --> 23:57.554
complete the work I begun in you. So Satan wants you to think it's,

23:57.650 --> 24:00.216
you have to figure it out. You have to be good. You have to be

24:00.716 --> 24:02.813
faithful. Not that we don't want to be good because we're built by God to

24:02.941 --> 24:06.100
love goodness. And therefore, if I know who I am,

24:06.549 --> 24:10.364
I will also know that I love holiness. I love

24:10.461 --> 24:13.908
righteousness. It is who I am. And if I know who I am in

24:14.004 --> 24:17.499
God, I won't be considering doing unrighteous and unholy things.

24:17.852 --> 24:21.996
Because I will say, that's not me. That's not who I am. So therefore we

24:22.013 --> 24:25.000
must know who we are because if we don't, we'll end up doing things that

24:25.500 --> 24:29.401
are not us and then be accused and brought under guilt,

24:29.418 --> 24:32.775
shame, condemnation, and the devil's judgments, which make

24:32.855 --> 24:36.935
us then victims, targets of the enemy's

24:37.128 --> 24:40.726
wrath because he hates us. If he can get you to sin, then he can

24:40.742 --> 24:44.260
go to God and say, look, they're sinning. They're mine. I get to do

24:44.760 --> 24:48.496
with them what I want because They didn't listen to you. So then he feels

24:48.672 --> 24:52.681
justified in bringing his torment and his reciprocity against

24:53.181 --> 24:55.888
us, eye for an eye, tooth for tooth, to beat us up and to discourage

24:56.388 --> 25:00.217
us and eventually, hopefully pull us away from our God and Father and

25:00.717 --> 25:03.890
our destiny and our identity. So we need to reject those

25:04.403 --> 25:06.936
ideas about who we are. Opinions,

25:08.331 --> 25:11.282
it gets down to a matter of what's the truth? What does God say?

25:11.683 --> 25:14.760
What is, what are the lies? What are the opinions?

25:14.808 --> 25:17.436
What opinion do you have about yourself?

25:18.093 --> 25:21.699
And what opinion do other people that

25:22.199 --> 25:25.929
have expressed their opinions to you about who you are? How much

25:26.025 --> 25:29.614
of that has affected us in a really

25:29.807 --> 25:33.829
negative way? So it's a matter of clearing our

25:34.329 --> 25:37.402
minds, being able to get the lies about who we

25:37.418 --> 25:40.753
are, we are what we do, we are Who people say

25:40.785 --> 25:43.483
we are. We are people who say we are, we are. What we did and

25:43.499 --> 25:46.790
how we accomplished things. We are who the enemy Satan says that we

25:47.290 --> 25:50.805
are. And knowing who we really are in God. In 1 Peter

25:51.305 --> 25:55.766
2:9, it says, um, but you are a chosen

25:56.039 --> 25:59.812
generation, a royal priesthood, a holy

26:00.312 --> 26:02.253
nation, his own special people.

26:03.345 --> 26:06.959
Okay, that's our identity. Then the other assignment

26:07.826 --> 26:11.184
goes along with it, that you may proclaim the praises

26:11.297 --> 26:14.800
of him who called you out of darkness and into his

26:14.832 --> 26:18.367
marvelous light, who were once not a people but are

26:18.867 --> 26:22.753
now the people of God. So he's actually forming our individual

26:23.010 --> 26:27.043
lives into a people of God, a chosen generation.

26:27.686 --> 26:30.980
And, and so the thing is, we have to understand, first of all, there is

26:31.480 --> 26:34.634
a a war going on between God and Satan for the souls

26:34.666 --> 26:38.304
of men. And we are in the crosshairs of that war and we are

26:38.352 --> 26:41.717
the prize. And Satan wants to take us and crush us in the

26:42.217 --> 26:46.188
sight of God so that he can somehow have some revenge against,

26:46.524 --> 26:49.216
you know, what God had to do to judge him, you know, cause he chose

26:49.264 --> 26:52.934
not to be with God. And so this war is about vengeance

26:53.434 --> 26:55.802
and the revenge and the hatred of Satan. And he,

26:56.619 --> 26:59.311
if we, but we, have a free will.

26:59.984 --> 27:03.429
The Bible— there's 2 rules in this war. One is Romans 6:16, whom you

27:03.509 --> 27:06.650
yield yourself servant to obey, his slave you become. So Satan is trying to get

27:07.150 --> 27:10.640
us to yield to him, believe we're bad, stupid, no good, a loser,

27:11.121 --> 27:14.229
and then we are agreeing with him. So whose report

27:14.729 --> 27:16.873
are you going to believe? And then the second rule is we have a free

27:17.373 --> 27:20.254
will, so we can choose to follow God or we can choose to follow the

27:20.754 --> 27:23.299
devil. And some people say, well, I'm not going to choose either. I'm just going

27:23.799 --> 27:26.474
to be myself and do what I want to do. Well, you've already chosen then

27:26.827 --> 27:29.715
to not know the truth. You want to do it your way.

27:30.116 --> 27:33.133
And that is the, that is a lie and a deception because really there's only

27:33.165 --> 27:36.631
2 kingdoms, not 3. You don't have a kingdom. So you either end

27:37.131 --> 27:39.423
up with God and in his kingdom forever and ever, or you end up with

27:39.923 --> 27:42.568
the devil and in his kingdom forever and ever. And so don't be deceived.

27:42.696 --> 27:46.243
You know, um, you know, God has given us a free

27:46.743 --> 27:49.805
will, but he's also given us his word, his Holy Spirit to lead us into

27:49.917 --> 27:53.368
truth. Not that he's waiting to see how we're going to do, Because God

27:53.448 --> 27:56.820
already knows the treachery of the way. And he said, I will be

27:56.836 --> 28:00.449
with you. Jesus even said, I am the way. So he is the

28:00.949 --> 28:04.286
path you're walking on. He's walking with you, but he's also the path. And if

28:04.302 --> 28:07.433
we follow him, we'll walk in the truth. And if we walk in the truth,

28:07.578 --> 28:11.271
we'll walk in the freedom of knowing who we are. And it really gets

28:11.771 --> 28:15.429
down to the more we're considering this today, it gets down

28:15.526 --> 28:19.154
to knowing who we really are. And what

28:19.635 --> 28:22.957
we're here for, what our assignments are,

28:23.551 --> 28:27.467
what we are called to do, what we are called to be as

28:27.579 --> 28:31.158
the children of God, as the chosen generation,

28:32.153 --> 28:35.892
accepted, redeemed, blessed in heavenly

28:35.925 --> 28:39.664
places in Christ. That's who we are. We are the sons

28:39.696 --> 28:43.259
and daughters of the living God. You know, we're the children

28:43.387 --> 28:46.998
of God by faith of Jesus Christ. Human beings have been created

28:47.062 --> 28:50.687
originally by God. But we don't really become the

28:50.848 --> 28:53.301
actual children of God per se,

28:55.124 --> 28:58.258
only until we put our faith in Jesus Christ.

28:58.372 --> 29:00.938
And we have to recognize too that in the midst of this refining,

29:02.130 --> 29:04.390
this following Jesus, this loving God,

29:05.214 --> 29:10.204
God is making us, creating us in this crucible. He's creating us in

29:10.236 --> 29:13.692
the image of Jesus Christ. So he has a plan.

29:14.166 --> 29:16.921
Satan has a plan to destroy us. You get to decide.

29:17.434 --> 29:20.255
And you know, a lot of people, they'll go back and forth. I choose God.

29:20.303 --> 29:24.134
I choose the devil. I choose God. I choose fear. I choose God. I choose,

29:24.390 --> 29:27.436
you know, doing it my own way. And so

29:27.676 --> 29:31.379
ultimately you and I get to determine whether

29:31.879 --> 29:35.033
we're going to believe God and follow God or not. And when you follow God,

29:35.049 --> 29:38.479
you're walking in the truth. You will walk in a place of peace and also

29:38.495 --> 29:41.204
a place of authority and a place of protection.

29:41.636 --> 29:44.313
But as we go back and forth and back and forth, we dig a rut.

29:44.906 --> 29:47.872
And when we're indecisive about who we are, that rut,

29:47.952 --> 29:51.414
ultimately, if we get stuck in it, becomes our grave and we accomplish

29:51.914 --> 29:55.775
nothing for God. So again, this is a primary first principle

29:56.368 --> 29:59.798
of, of the whole, of your whole life is to number one,

30:00.231 --> 30:03.293
know who you are. And the only way you know who you are is to

30:03.793 --> 30:06.419
know where you came from. And then when you know where you came from,

30:06.467 --> 30:09.930
you also know that you didn't make yourself and God made you deliberately,

30:10.010 --> 30:14.938
purposefully, in his plan for your life to enjoy

30:15.227 --> 30:19.353
eternity with him as part of his family forever. And yet we somehow

30:19.466 --> 30:23.383
just miss all of that in the fanfare and the distractions

30:23.801 --> 30:26.627
of life, the crazy, insane, uh,

30:27.414 --> 30:31.412
just anything Satan can do to distract and disrupt

30:31.845 --> 30:35.538
and cut us off from the love of God. So we have to realize we're

30:35.602 --> 30:39.387
in a war. And the war is to destroy you, but God

30:39.887 --> 30:44.021
is using the same war to make you. 2 basic elements for

30:44.117 --> 30:47.500
victory in this war is knowing who you really are

30:48.302 --> 30:51.412
and knowing who God really is. And the third thing is to

30:51.912 --> 30:55.356
forgive, because a lot of times we've made conclusions. I'm bad, I'm stupid, I'm no

30:55.420 --> 30:59.477
good. You're bad, stupid, I hate you. And we need to recognize

30:59.573 --> 31:03.565
that the— whosoever sins you forgive, they're forgiven them. That means when

31:03.661 --> 31:07.300
crimes and offenses are committed against us, Even by our own selves,

31:07.316 --> 31:10.939
because sometimes we become, as the word says, our own worst enemy.

31:11.837 --> 31:15.524
Um, if that happens, we have to forgive ourselves. So if

31:16.024 --> 31:19.323
you've pushed yourself in a corner because you believed lots of lies, did a lot

31:19.823 --> 31:23.282
of things you didn't like and can't stand yourself anymore, then now is

31:23.394 --> 31:26.600
time to forgive yourself and go back to the word of God and say,

31:26.664 --> 31:30.768
God, you, you know who I am. Forgive me for believing all these lies about

31:31.268 --> 31:34.393
myself, about others, about you. And I repent.

31:35.405 --> 31:38.085
I ask you to judge me. I don't want to judge myself. Paul says,

31:38.214 --> 31:41.376
I don't even judge my own self, because he knows how tricky the enemy is.

31:41.441 --> 31:44.699
But let God judge you, and God will judge you with mercy

31:45.197 --> 31:48.953
as we repent. 1 Corinthians 15:9,

31:49.146 --> 31:52.886
Paul says, for I am the least of the apostles, who am not

31:53.063 --> 31:56.627
worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted

31:56.675 --> 32:00.430
the church of God. He was out killing and imprisoning Christians. But then he says

32:00.527 --> 32:04.437
in verse 10 of 1 Corinthians 15, but by the grace of

32:04.453 --> 32:07.834
God I am what I am, and his grace toward

32:08.334 --> 32:11.423
me was not in vain. But I labored more abundantly than they all,

32:12.145 --> 32:15.333
yet not I, but the grace of God which

32:15.606 --> 32:19.420
was with me. That's called redemption, because Paul recognized

32:19.436 --> 32:23.795
he was redeemed out of the pit of being horrible into

32:24.099 --> 32:27.528
the righteousness of God. And The grace of God brought

32:28.028 --> 32:31.630
him into his true identity and his true calling. So let's pray.

32:32.111 --> 32:35.540
Father God, we thank you for who you, you chose to make

32:36.040 --> 32:40.428
us. We had nothing to say about it. We are so privileged to

32:40.508 --> 32:43.585
recognize that our future is in you.

32:43.793 --> 32:47.254
Our beginning was in you. And even this middle section where we

32:47.754 --> 32:51.388
rock on this earth is of you, Lord God. So encourage

32:51.484 --> 32:55.330
the hearts of everyone. Let them pick up the truth now and know

32:55.346 --> 32:59.656
who they are. Even if they're sitting in a pool of despond and despair and

32:59.688 --> 33:03.053
depression and death and destruction, let them see,

33:03.342 --> 33:05.921
open their hearts to see who they are and get up,

33:06.466 --> 33:10.344
rejoice, thank God, and ask the Holy Spirit to lead you

33:10.889 --> 33:14.222
into the truth of who you are and the destiny to which God

33:14.254 --> 33:16.817
has purposed and created you. Yeah.

33:17.058 --> 33:20.134
Lord, we just thank you, Father, for each one that's hearing,

33:20.294 --> 33:24.076
Lord. We pray that you'd give us each a revelation,

33:25.054 --> 33:28.772
an accurate revelation as to who we are and who you

33:28.836 --> 33:32.025
are, and that we can live in— not in

33:32.525 --> 33:36.448
fear, not in intimidation, but in victory, but in confidence

33:36.592 --> 33:40.293
in you, in the victory that you gave your life on the

33:40.793 --> 33:44.188
cross to give us. Thank you, Lord. In Jesus'

33:44.300 --> 33:47.914
name we pray. Amen. Amen. Well, Marjorie, you've got

33:48.414 --> 33:49.688
a lot of books that are our tools.

33:51.710 --> 33:55.708
Doing Relationships God's Way, that has— that affects

33:56.208 --> 33:59.448
so much of our identity, doesn't it? Yeah, yeah, who we are.

33:59.918 --> 34:03.423
And that's a book, right? It is a book, it is a book, and it's

34:03.923 --> 34:07.353
got sections in there: our relationships with God, ourselves, others,

34:07.612 --> 34:11.591
hard, difficult people, sin, our relationship

34:12.091 --> 34:15.474
with sin. All these things that we don't think about so often. And it's a,

34:15.555 --> 34:19.084
it's an easy read. It's a fast read, but it's also deep. And you

34:19.584 --> 34:23.079
can get that at amazon.com or liferecovery.com.

34:23.656 --> 34:26.929
So I'd encourage you. And by the way, if you go to our website,

34:26.945 --> 34:30.266
liferecovery.com, there are many,

34:30.555 --> 34:34.212
many MP3s, downloads, audios on

34:34.405 --> 34:38.512
all kinds of things from healing and forgiveness

34:39.012 --> 34:42.811
to when life's not fair and why can't I concentrate? All kinds

34:42.907 --> 34:45.938
of things that are overlooked and we don't push them much,

34:46.596 --> 34:49.402
but they're all, they're, they're very good,

34:49.643 --> 34:52.818
helpful, uh, kind of keep us on that straight

34:52.930 --> 34:57.661
and narrow path. I mean, sometimes we just need a little, a little push,

34:57.757 --> 35:01.702
a little boost. There you go. To stay on the right path.

35:01.767 --> 35:05.006
And so again, the MP3s, liferecovery.com.

35:05.535 --> 35:08.630
We love you. God bless you. And we'll talk to you soon. I have an

35:08.839 --> 35:12.239
emergency. What is your location?

35:13.070 --> 35:16.279
3,

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2,

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1.

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Rescue Radio, 'cause there's a war for

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your soul.