Rick Warren - Why You'll Never Know Your True Purpose Without God

I have never met a person who doesn't struggle with

an identity.

Crisis in some area.

You may not even be aware of the crises you

have in your life, but the issues of who am

I and what am I supposed to do with by

life are two of the most important issues you have

to settle. The greatest leader in the entire Old Testament

was Moses. I mean Moses in essence created the nation

of Israel. There was the family of the Jews, but

the nation of Israel all came about because of Moses.

Moses was the greatest leader in the Old Testament. He

freed the Jews from four hundred years of slavery. God

shows him to give the Ten Commandments to man, and

he wrote the first five books of the Bible Genesis, Exos, Viticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy.

It would be hard to name somebody more important than

the Old Testament than Moses. But it all started Moses

learned his true identity. Because this is a guy who

grew up with a confused or actually false, fake identity.

You know the story.

The Jews had been slaves in Egypt for four hundred years,

and one day Farroh decided we're getting too many Jews

in this country. So he commanded that the firstborn boys,

all the young boys, be murdered, be put to death.

Moses' mother created a plan, said, I'm not going to

kill my son, and so she put him in a

wove a little basket and put him in the Nile River,

right where Farroh's daughter went out to bathe. So you

can actually say Moses began as a basket case. So

there's hope for you, all right, there's hope for you.

Moses started off as a basket case. And as you

know the story, she put the the baby in the

Nile River and posted his sister to watch over the.

Basket.

And sure enough, Moses was picked up by Pharaoh's daughter

and she took the baby home. He's a Jewish baby,

she's Egyptian. Here's a confused identity. She takes the baby

back to the palace and tells everybody it's her baby.

Moses grows up thinking he's the son of Pharaoh's daughter,

thinking he's an Egyptian royalty. Moses grows up thinking he's

the grandson of Pharaoh. He's not even Egyptian. He's got

a confused identity. And when he gets old enough, he

learns the truth about himself. And this story of lost

and confused identity and how he discovered his real identity

and how it changed his own life and changed history

is the story I want us to look at this weekend.

Now.

The story is summarized actually in the New Testament in

Hebrews chapter eleven, So pull out your notes. And in

Hebrews eleven, verse twenty three, we have the story.

By faith.

Moses' parents hid him for three months after he was

born because they saw he was no ordinary child, and

they were not afraid of the king's edict. By faith, Moses,

when he had grown up, refused to be known as

the son of Pharaoh's daughter. After he found out his

true identity, he refused to be known as the son

of Pharaoh's daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with

the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures

of sin for a short time. He regarded disgrace for

the sake of Christ as of greater value than the

treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward,

and by faith, he left Egypt not fearing the king's anger,

and he persevered because he saw him who is invisible?

Now in this passage that we've just read, there's so

much material we can actually spend the entire series just

on this passage. But I want this weekend for you

to just see four things that knowing who you are,

Knowing who God made you to be, Knowing your true identity,

not the identity your parents gave you, not the identity

that society has given you, Not the identity that an

ex husband or wife, or boyfriend or girlfriend has given you,

Not the identity that teachers gave you in school.

Knowing your true identity does.

Four things in your life, And that's why we're going

to do this series. I want you to see this

Number one, Knowing my identity demonstrates spiritual maturity. Knowing my

identity demonstrates my spiritual maturity. Now, Moses, like all the

rest of us, growing up, asked the same questions we do,

and when we grow up, we ask questions like who

am I? Where did I come from? Where am I going?

What am I supposed to do with my life? What

is my purpose? Does my life matter? Does my life

have meaning?

What am I? And who am I?

You know if I held up an object up here

and you had never seen it, and I said, what's the

purpose of the object, You wouldn't know, because the only

way you would know if I held up something you'd

never seen for is you'd either have to talk to

the owner who created it, the inventor some new invention,

or read the owner's manual, and then you know, oh,

that's the purpose of that device. The same thing is

true with you. You're not going to know who you

are until you talk to the creator who made you.

You're not going to know what you're supposed to do

with your life until you read the owner's manual. And

so we start with God Hebrews eleven twenty four.

Look at that verse again. By faith, Moses.

When he had grown up, refused to be known as

the son of Pharaoh's daughter, a circle of the phrase

when he had grown up. The road to spiritual maturity

is also the road to personal identity. In other words,

the closer you get to God, the deeper you're going

to understand you. Let me say that again, the more

you understand God, the more you're going to understand you.

The reason why we have so many people going through

life in an identity crisis, not knowing who they are

or what are supposed to do with their life?

Is they don't know God?

Now, when Moses grew up, it says he refused circle.

That word refused. That word in Greek is ore.

Now it means to reflect on and then disown means

no turning back. What we got here is a use,

a clear example of an identity crisis. Moses is born

a Hebrew slave, That's one thing, but he is raised

as Egyptian royalty. Which one is he? What's his true identity?

And at some point he has to decide what am I?

Am I a poor Jewish slave or am I a

rich Egyptian royalty. Now he's got true choices very important.

I can pretend to be Pharaoh's grandson, and if I

pretend keep on pretending to be Pharaoh's grandson, I'm not

really his grandson. But if I keep on pretending to

be Pharaoh's grandson, I will have fame, I will have fortune,

I will.

Have luxurious lifestyle, and I will have a great, great career.

On the other hand, if I admit what I really

am and who I really am son of Jewish slaves,

then I'm going to be disgraced. I'm going to be humiliated.

I'm going to be thrown out and I'm going to

do slave for the rest of my life. Now, which

one would you choose? Would you fake it the rest

of your life? Which one would you choose?

Moses is a.

Man of integrity, and he refuses to live a lie.

So he makes a decision that only changes his destiny,

it changes history. If Moses hadn't made that decision, friend,

you wouldn't be sitting there right now. You wouldn't be

watching online or in any of our campuses. Because if

Moses hadn't made this decision, there would be no nation

of Israel, there would be no Messiah, there would be

no Jesus, there.

Would be no Christian Church.

None of this would be going on right now if

Moses hadn't decided his true identity.

So he makes a decision.

It changes his life, and no amount of peer pressure

is going to persuade him otherwise. Let me say this,

so much of the stress comes in your life when

you don't know who you are. When you don't know

who you are, you let us other people push you

into molds and into expectations that you weren't meant to fulfill,

and you mold yourself to them. Now, when I understand

who my identity is in and what I am, then

that is the mark of spiritual maturity. Notice it says

when Moses had grown up, it's the mark of maturity.

Then the most mature person, spiritually mature person who ever

lived was Jesus, And that is what it says about

Jesus John eight fourteen. Jesus said, I know where I

came from and where I'm going. That's what you call

a clear idea. There was no doubt in Jesus' mind

who he was. He knew exactly who he was. And maturity, listen,

is having an accurate view of you. That's maturity. Have

an accurate view of you. You know who you are

and you know who you're not. You know what your

strengths are and you know your weaknesses. You know what

you're called to do, you know what you're not called

to do. You know the purpose of your life and

you know what's not the purpose.

Of your life.

You know your past like Moses did, but you don't

run from it.

I want you to write this down on your outline.

I am a product of my past, but not a

prisoner of it.

You might write that one down.

I'm a product of my past, but I'm not a

prisoner of it. I don't know what's your past involves.

You may not even know all your past. But you

are a product of your past. But it's not your

destiny because your past is past, and you can make

choices and you're not a prisoner of your past. Now,

what I'm talking about is so important because if you

don't understand who you are, you're not gonna have confidence.

You said, why do I need confidence?

Because if you don't have confidence, you can't be what

God made you to be, and you won't serve other people.

Let me show you. Verse John thirteen three to five.

Says this Jesus knew that he had come from God.

That means he knows his identity.

He also knew that the Father had given him complete power,

so he's very confident in who he is and what

he can do. Notice as a result of his knowing

his identity, it says he got up, wrapped a towel

around his waist and began washing the disciples feet, which

is a mark of ultimate service.

I mean slaves did this in those days.

Now, the Bible says Jesus was able to be a

servant to others because he knew who he was. Insecure

people cannot serve others. Insecure people cannot minister to others.

Only when you know who you are. He said, I

know who I am, and I knew where he came from.

I'm from God, and I know what power of God.

And with that confidence he could get on his knees

and do humble work.

Most people can act like servants.

Because they're too afraid that people will think they're less

than they are. They're worried about the feelings and others.

Knowing your identity gives you confidence. Now, success in life

comes from being who God made you to be. You're

never going to succeed trying to be somebody you're not.

You can only be who God made you to be.

And success comes from accepting who God made you to be,

and then mastering who God made you to be and

multiplying who God made you to be.

This is spiritual maturity.

And so really the series we're going to go into

is really a spiritual maturity series, because maturity means I

don't need others' approval.

To do what's right.

I can do it regardless of what you think. And

the fact is a lot of times at work you're

afraid to do the right thing because of what other

people think. You're afraid to say the right thing because

of what other people think, at school, or in your neighborhood,

ornywhere else. But when you're mature, you don't try to

be somebody you're not. Number two. The second reason we're

doing this series is because knowing my true identity not

only demonstrates spiritual maturity, it defines my responsibilities. Knowing who

God made to me me my true identity defines my responsibilities.

In other words, it clarifies what God expects me to do,

and it also clarifies what God doesn't expect.

Me to do.

I'm going to shock you, but God does not expect

me to be an opera singer. Why how do I

know that? Because I'm not wired to sing like an

opera So I know that God shaped me to do

what I'm doing and didn't shape me to do a

lot of other things. What I'm saying is this, God

created you to do some things, but he did not

create you to do everything. Some of you are under

stress because you're trying to do everything. If you were

always under stress over your to do list. Then you're

doing things God never intended you for do because God

would give, never give you more to do than He

gives you the time to do it. You have just

enough time to do the will of God. So God

created you to do some things, but not do everything.

And that's a stress reliever when you realize that, I'm

glad that God isn't going to hold me responsible for

talents I don't have, and God isn't going to hold

you responsible either. But you are responsible to be who

God made you to be. And that goes back to identity.

Knowing what true identity defines my responsibility. Now, let's think

about this. God's goal for Moses was that he become

the national deliverer of the Jews. God planned it a

thousand years before Moses was born. That's what he wanted

Moses to do with his life, and so God orchestrated

everything so Moses could be that become what God wanted

to become. He orchestrated who Moses' parents would be so

he would have just the right DNA to be the

leader God wanted him to be. But then he orchestrated

that Moses' parents would not raise him. That was part

of the plan too, that he would be born by

one set of parents and he would be raised by

another set, so he would get exactly in the position.

That God wanted him to be. Hm.

Maybe you weren't raised by your parents. Maybe you were

raised by a relative or a step parent, not your

birth mother or your birth father, or you were raised

by somebody in societ. Maybe you were orphaned as a child.

Do you realize that even then, that God had your

best interest at heart?

Do you realize.

That that God, you said, well, why didn't why don't

Why didn't even know my parents? Why did God choose

my parents to be my parents? Because they had the

exact DNA needed to make you, and God was more

interested in you than he was in the their parenting skills.

And so even if you never knew your parents, Moses

didn't know his parents for many, many, many many years,

And that was part of the plan, because God said,

I'm going to use all these circumstances to make you

use Now, when Moses learns his real identity, he immediately

knows his assignment.

He goes whit.

Minute, I'm really a hebrew An Israeli, I'm a Jewish slave.

But I was raised in Pharaoh's court, and so I

know all about algebra. I know geometry, and I know leadership,

and I know geography, and I know architecture, and I

know all these things I wouldn't know if I were

a slave. Moses knew his assignment. He could not ignore

the cries of the people in pain. He accepts his mention,

He accepts his responsibility. Knowing my identity clarifies defines my responsibility.

Now here's what it says, verse twenty five.

As a result, Moses chose to be mistreated along with

the people of God, that's the slaves, rather than to

enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time.

Now here's an interesting thing.

In verse twenty four, God chose Moses as a baby,

but in verse twenty five, Moses had.

To choose God when he grew up.

See God chose you before you were even born, but

now you got to choose him as an adult. In

Verse twenty four we have Moses refusing. He refused to

be called called Fhroh's grandson, refusing, And in verse twenty

five we have Moses choosing. He replaces a negative with

a positive, following God in your life is going to

mean saying no to some things and saying yes to

some other things, a negative and a positive in your life.

And in verse twenty four, it says when he had

grown up, when Moses was a little baby, it was

okay for him to live off his parents' faith, but

eventually he had to make his own decision. So we

find a couple more marks of maturity in this passage.

I want you to write these down. Here are two

more marks of spiritual maturity. Number one is I stop

blaming others for my life's direction.

That's a mark of maturity. Have you got there yet?

I stop blaming others for my life's direction. That's a

mark of maturity. Now, in today's culture, that's pretty hard

to do because in today's culture, in today's society, we

are taught nothing is ever your fault. You are a

product of your environment. It's always somebody else's fault. It's

the government's fault, it's the school's fault, it's your parents fault,

it's society's fault. And we have a society and a

generation that is allergic to personal responsibility, particularly in the

areas of money and sex. We are allergic to personal responsibility.

Even bring it up, and people get upset with you

if you talk about being responsible and spending I mean

in the government or responsible in sex. I stop blaming

other people for my life's direction. Now, let me just

say this. Other people can hurt you, and they will.

Other people can hurt you.

Other people can harm you, other people can scar you.

But nobody can ruin your life without your permission. It's choice.

Nobody can ruin your life except you. And maturity is

when I stop blaming other people for my life's direction.

Second market maturity we see here in Moses is this,

I stop living off others spiritual commitment. I stopped living

off of others spiritual commitment. As a baby, Moses didn't

have any faith, but his parents did, so they hit him,

and then they had faith to put him in a

little basket, believing that even God was in control there.

And they had faith to believe that when their son

was being raised by Pharaoh's daughter that it was all.

Part of the plan. It was all their parents' faith there.

But when he grows up, Moses had to accept responsibility

for his own life. I can stop living off other's commitments.

You know, sometimes hear people say, well my parents were Christians.

Well that didn't make any difference. You got to make

that person. My girlfriend loves the Lord. My boyfriend loves

the Lord. How about you? I stopped living off other's commitment,

Who were you blaming for the pain and the direction

of your life? And who are you using incas excuse

to live off their faith? While my wife's a strong believer,

well how about you, When are you going to stop

living off of her faith? It's time to accept responsibility

for your own spiritual condition. Romans fourteen twelve says this,

each of us will give an account of himself to God.

And when I'm standing for God one day, I'm not

going to say, but you know, Kay was pretty good

at prayer, and God's going to say, well how about you?

How about you? All right?

Number three in the back of your outline. Third reason

we're doing this series on creating a positive ID is

that knowing my true identity decides my priorities. It decides

my priorities. It helps me know what to focus on

and what to ignore.

Knowing my true.

Identity helps me know what's important in life and it's

not important in life. Knowing that true identity helps me

do what's valuable in life and what's not valuable, what matters,

and what doesn't matter.

Now, Moses born Hebrew slave, raised.

Egyptian royalty, confused identity, and at some point he goes

who's the real me? And what he decides on that

is going to affect the rest of his life. And

he's got plenty of excuses to ignore those in pain

all around him. He can look out there and see

all these slaves starving, being mistreated, being abused, dying in

the pits as they're building the pyramids and all these things.

And he could have made up all kinds of excuses.

He could say, well, you know, really, it's none of

my business. Do you ever say that when you see

people in pain?

It's none of my business. He could have said, besides,

I have palace priorities, things to do. Here's Pharaoh's grandson.

He could have said, I'll work from the inside, I'll

work in the system. No, once Moses knows his identity,

it completely changes his priorities.

Things that he thought were important, they are not important anymore.

Things that he thought weren't important, all of a sudden,

they're of utmost important.

We'll find that.

In verse twenty six, Moses regarded disgrace for the sake

of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt,

because he was looking ahead to his reward now.

Circle the word regarded.

That word there in Greek means to evaluate. It means

to consider. It means to weigh in the balance. What's

Moses doing. He's making a value judgment. He said, what's

more important in the way I use my life? Have

fun in the palace or help the slaves in pain?

He says, I regard the disgraces crisis of greater value.

Circle the word value. Let's just get real personal. If

I were to ask you, what are the five most

important values in your life?

Could you name them? And could you name them in

order of importance? If I asked you to name what's

the five most important values in your life? What's number one?

What's number two? Number three, number four, number five? What

are the priorities in your life? Could you name them?

Have identified them? You know what, if you don't know

what matters to you, If you don't know what's important

to you, other people will decide it for you. Other

people will decide for you what's important Do you want that?

No?

So, And by the way, if you haven't set your priorities,

what are the five most important values in my life?

What are the five most important things I want to

do with my life? What are the five things that

matter most to me in life? If you haven't set those,

you certainly can't live by them, if you haven't even

identified them. So that's your homework this week. I want

you to go home. I want you to sit down.

I want you to make a list of what's the

five most important things in my life in order because

if you don't know that, other people are going to

pressure you and push you and conform you and mold

you into what they think is important. Now here's what

Moses rejected. He rejected the world's priorities, and he set

his own priorities. So let's look at what the world's

priorities are. In verse twenty four, twenty five, and twenty six,

we have three priorities that Moses rejected, and now thousands

and thousands and thousands.

Of years later, you know what they are. They're still

the same.

There are three things that are most important in this

world to most people. Every advertisement is built on one

of these three values here. They are number one, popularity.

Ularity. I want to be popular.

It could be called status, it could be called prestige,

it could be called power. But the idea is, I

want to be famous. I want to be admired. I

want to be valued. I want to be worshiped. I

want to be loved and esteemed. And I want to

be popular. I want to be liked. Now, Moses already

had that one down.

He already had that one.

He's a celebrity, he's Pharaoh's grandson. He gets into all

the clubs. He doesn't even have to show any idea.

Oh that's Moses. Let him in. He's a VIP, Pharaoh's grandson.

He's a celebrity.

He's got status, he's got fame, he's got power. He's

going to walk away from it. The second thing that

the world values is pleasure. Popularity and then pleasure. Verse

twenty five talks about he rejected the pleasure of sin.

Now Moses lives in the Palace in Egypt, which is

the pleasure capital of the ancient world. Anything he would

want would be given to the grandson of Pharaoh. I mean,

if he wants his grapes. Fieled they're going to feel

his grapes if he wants champagne and caviar with every meal.

The son of Pharaoh's a grandson is going to get

all he wants. Okay, there is a harem in the palace.

He can have all the sex he wants. Is he

has got every known pleasure to man at his fingertips

as the grandson of Pharaoh.

But he walks away from it.

In verse twenty six, the third thing the world values

is possessions. We value popularity, pleasure, and possessions. And the

Bible calls it the treasure of Egypt, because at that

time all the wealth of the ancient world was stored

up in Pharaoh's palace. Pharaoh was the most powerful and

the wealthiest man in the world at that time. There

was no other place where he could find more wealth

than where he was. What am I saying by the

world standard, Moses has it made. He's got sex, he

got salary, he's got status, he's got possession, position, and pleasure,

and power, and possessions he's got. Moses walked away from

what every American spends their life trying to get more possessions,

more pleasure, more popularity. He walked away from what we

walked away Why because he knew they don't last. And

because his identity determined his priorities. His identity showed his maturity.

His identity showed his responsibility, what he's responsible for, what

he's not responsible for. And his identity shows his priority,

what matters and what doesn't. And he walks away from it. Because,

as I said, to say yes to God, you often

have to say no to some other things. So what

did Moses consider? We're his priorities? You might write these

down because here's what these verses say. It says three

things Moses as ided. Number one, fulfilling.

God's purpose is better than popularity. That was obvious.

He said, you know what, here's what God wants me

to do with my life. I may not be as

popular as if I stay as the eventual pharaoh of Egypt.

But he said, you know what, Fulfilling God's purpose is

far more important to me. It's better than popularity because

fame doesn't last. Yeah, fulfilling God's purpose better than popularity.

Number Two, he said, you know what I learned this

Loving God's people is better than pleasure. He said, I'm

going to walk away from the pleasures of the palace

to hang out with a group of slaves for the

next forty years. I'm going to love God's people, and

that's better than pleasure. And number three, having God's peace

is better than possessions. He said, you know what, I've

got all this stuff here, But if I stay here

in the palace, I'm not going to be happy. I'm

not going to be at peace because I know I

wasn't made for this. I was made for something else.

I was made for something better. I was made for

God's purpose. And God's peace is better than possessions. And

peace comes from doing God's purpose, and you can't buy that.

Think about this if you go back and read this passage.

Moses rejects the world's measure, the world's treasure, and the

world's pleasure. He rejects the world's measure of success. I'm

at the pinnacle, I'm fair grandson. He rejects the world's treasure.

All the wealth is in the palace. He rejects the

world's pleasure anything I want, and he walks away from

the world's measure, treasure and pleasure.

In order to follow God.

Now, what in the world would motivate Moses to do

that to change his priorities long term thinking. Verse twenty

six says this he looked ahead to his reward. He

looked ahead to his reward. Would you write this down

on your outline? Vision determines values. Vision determines values. My

vision determines my values. What I'm looking at, what I'm

focusing on, is going to cause me to decide what's

important in my life. And Moses was a man vision.

He looked ahead to his reward.

He wasn't looking.

At what he was going to experience in because it

wasn't very promising. I'm going to go walk through the

desert for forty years. But it was a man of vision.

He looked ahead to his reward. By the way, so

did Paul. Paul was a man of vision. Look at

this verse on your outlines Philippians three eight. Paul says,

you know, yes, everything else is worthless when compared with

the priceless gain of knowing Christ Jesus.

Yeah, you know, it just doesn't matter. It's worthless.

I have my priorities, right, all right, So let's review.

When I know who I am and I figure out

what God made me to be, then it shows my

maturity it defines my responsibility and I don't have I'm

not responsible for everything.

I'm only responsible for what God wants me to do.

And it.

Decides my priorities.

And I know what's important, And no it's not number four.

It determines my destiny. Knowing who you are is important

because your true identity determines your destiny.

And if you live a fake ID.

You're gonna end in a fake destiny, a false destiny,

not the one God planned for you having and knowing

my true identity determines my destiny.

What do I mean by this?

Once Moses realized who he was, his life takes on

a whole new direction.

Why is that?

Because change always starts in your mind.

You know what.

We want to change our circumstances. God wants to change us.

That's a problem we have in life because we had

a different agenda than God. We want to change our circumstances.

God wants to change you. Now, you can change your circumstances,

but you're gonna keep on having the same problems because

you take you with you. You could move to a

whole new location, get a whole new marriage, but you

take you to the new location and into the new marriage,

and you're the problem. So what do you need to do?

I need to change me. And so when I change

my identity, I change my destiny. Change always starts in

your mind, with your identity Hebrews eleven twenty seven.

Here's the next verse. It was by faith.

That Moses left the land of Egypt. He wasn't afraid

of the king, and he kept right on going because

he kept his eyes on the one who is invisible.

He's talking about God.

Now, notice this is very important verse because it says

that learning my true identity does two things to me, okay,

two things. It does it first, it gives me the

courage to leave my past behind. Circle the phrase left Egypt,

he left Egypt. Why did Moses have the courage to

leave Egypt?

Because he knew who he was now.

And when you know your true identity, it gives you

the courage to leave your past behind. By the way,

what does Egypt represent? Every time in the Bible? It

represents slavery and bondage? Question what's your Egypt? What's what's

your Egypt? What's got you enslaved? What's got you in fear?

What's got you in bondage? What's got you all stressed

out and all uptight and in a nott and worried sick?

What's your Egypt? Have you had the courage to leave it? Yet?

Have you had the courage to walk out of it? Yet?

To leave your past behind?

Remember I'm a product of my past, but I'm not

a prisoner of it. You know, once you become a Christian,

Satan loves to remind you of your past. He loves

to remind you. Go, remember when you did that, Remember

what you were.

Listen.

Whenever Satan reminds you of your past, you remind him

of his future. Because your future is good hidden it

in so good, so you remind him of his future.

Now.

God has areas of leadership that he wants you to serve,

and your area of leadership will often be your area

of loss. In other words, where you felt the loss,

where you felt the lack, where you felt the failure,

where you felt the need. God's going to use that

to help others. Remember, God never wastes the hurt. So

he says, when I know my identity, gives me the

courage to leave the past behind. He had the courage

to leave Egypt. He wasn't afraid of the king, and

number two, it gives you the courage to keep going.

Notice the next that verse, it says he kept right

on going because he kept his eyes and the one

who's invisible. See, when you know who you are, Critics

can't hurt you when you know who you are. Problems

can't stop you when you know who you are. Sickness

may delay you, but it's not going to destroy you.

When you know who you are, you just keep on going.

So many people start for their dream or their goal

in life, and they never make it because they give

up because they've forgotten who they are. Notice it says

there he was not afraid of the king. You realize

how important that. It doesn't sound like a big deal

to you, but in those days in Egypt, Pharaoh was

the supreme lord and ruler and god of everybody, and

Pharaoh could command you to do anything, and you had

to do it or your head was cut off.

I'm not afraid of you. Why he knows who he is.

You See, the reason you're afraid of disapproved, the reason

you're afraid of rejection, the reason you're afraid of other people,

the reason you're afraid to witness.

Is you don't know who you are.

And what we're going to do in this series is

look at who you are in Christ, and that's going

to raise your confidence and it's going to lower your stress.

He was not afraid of the king. Moses looks at

that guy, goes, I'm not afraid of you letting my

people go. I report to a higher authority. You may

be a god in Egypt, but there's a god over

the whole world, and that's the one and only God.

And he kept on going. If there's any one word

that describes the life of Moses, it's this endurance. Moses

endured so much. Forty years of waiting in the desert

and Midian, forty years of leading a bunch of spiritual

babies across a wilderness, forty years of putting up with criticism.

He waited eighty years to see the fulfillment of God's

vision in his life. Could you wait eighty years? The

secret of success is persistence. But the secret of persistence

is vision. Notice it says there you might circle it.

He kept his eyes on the one who is invisible.

He kept his eyes on the one who is invisible.

That's the key to success in your life. You can

do the impossible when you see the invisible.

Now, let me warn you two of the easiest mistakes to.

Make in life, and we all make them, and they're

right here in this passage. Two of the easiest mistakes

we make are forgetting your identity, who you are, and

losing your focus the vision God gave you.

When you forget who you are, it's.

Very easy to get sidetracked, and you forget what you're

called to do. Your focus and your vision, you're going

to give up. So let me close with these two

verses Hebrews twelve to two. The Bible says, keep your

eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished the race.

We're in study how he did it because he never

lost sight. Notice never lost sight. Underline that, keep your vision,

keep your identity. He never lost sight of where he

was headed. That exhilarating finish with God. He could put

up with anything along the way, cross, shame, whatever. Next

couple weeks, Olympic runners are going to be running all

kinds of races. I can guarantee you this. None of

them are going to be watching each other, because if

you do, you lose the race. They keep focus on

the goal keep your eyes on Jesus, who began and

finished the race. He never lost sight of where he

was headed, so you keep your eyes on him Colossians

three one and two. Set your sights, that's vision. Set

your sights on the realities of heaven where Christ sits,

and let Heaven feel your thoughts. Don't only think about

things down here on earth, like bills and budgets and

baseball games.

I threw that part in.

Now as we begin this new series on figuring out

who you are in Christ and what God made you

to be creating a positive ide I want to ask

you to make a decision, and I want.

To ask you to make this decision.

Decide that you're not going to miss a single one

of these messages. It could make the difference in the

rest of your life. Your destiny is determined by your identity,

and if you don't know your identity, you will miss

your destiny. If Moses hadn't figured out who he really was,

he'd be some mummy in some tomb, in some you

know pyramid, you'd never heard him. He'd be in king

Tut in the rut. But because he figured out who

he was and he realized, you know, what God even

had a plan in this I was born by these folks,

but I was raised by these folks, and.

That's the plan.

That's the plan of God for my life, that I

would be born here and raised here so I could

do this and that's my true identity. And if you

will decide that you're not going to miss any week

in this series, I guarantee you it will deepen your confidence,

and it will strengthen your ability to handle stress and

avoid pressure and bring somebody with you each week, because

you know what everybody around you is struggling with this issue,

the issue of personal identity. I have never met a

person who doesn't struggle with an identity crisis in some

area now. One you may not even be aware of

the crises you have in your life, but the issues

of who am I and what am I supposed to

do with my life are two of the most important

issues you have to settle. That's powerheads. Would you pray

this prayer in your heart? Father, I want to grow

to spiritual maturity. I don't want to remain a baby

in spiritual diapers. I want to know who I am

and what I'm called to do, and I don't want

to let other people push me into their molds. But

because I'm often insecure, I let that happen. Because as

I often feel insecure, I feel unable to be like

Jesus and wash the feet of others, to serve my wife,

or to serve my husband in a christ like way,

or to serve my neighborhood, or to serve those who

need it most.

And father.

The truth is, I often feel overwhelmed by all the

things that I think I'm supposed to be doing. It

just reveals that I don't know my identity and I'm

trying to do more than you made me to do.

I want to learn my responsibilities and set the priorities

that are important, to know what matters and know what

doesn't matter, and do not worry about the rest. I

want to focus on what you made me to be

and do, and I want to fulfill the destiny by

which you created me.

I want to keep my eyes on you, Jesus.

If you've never invited Christ in your life, said Jesus, Christ,

come into my life right now. I want to begin

a relationship with you.

I want to get to.

Know you in this series and follow you and fulfill

my destiny.

And year and am I pray amen