Rick Warren - Don't Let Anyone Steal Your Identity—Part One

Hey, everybody, welcome to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. This is

the Bible teaching ministry of Rick Warren, and we are

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a series called Talking about Stuff That Matters. In this series,

Rick looks into the scriptures and unpacks what it means

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and face discouragement with courage and faith. It's honest and hopeful.

So stay tuned. You won't want to miss a second.

All right, Well, I'm ready to get started.

So here is.

Part one of a message called Don't let Anyone Steal

Your Identity.

One of the great tasks of life is figuring out

who you are. What's your identity, discovering who God made

you to be. That's one of the fundamental tasks of life.

Why on earth and what on earth am I here for?

How you see yourself affects everything else in your life.

How you see yourself your identity, affects your relationships, It

affects your happiness, It affects your stress level, It determines

your success level in life. It just affects everything. Your

connection to God is profoundly influenced by how you see

you what is your identity? And now this search for

your identity starts early on in life. It starts way

back in school and you're trying to figure out who

am I and what am I? And what am I

supposed to be? And how am I supposed to act?

And it starts in school, but it can continue on

the rest of your life. So this week we're going

to start a new series, but I want to begin

with don't let anyone steal your identity. And the reason

why is because identity gets to and all the time,

Satan is constantly working in a spiritual battle to keep

you from knowing your true identity. He's working overtime, and

he uses all kinds of tools to keep you from

knowing who you are. He uses first the opinions of

other people, what your parents say about you, what your

peers say about you, what your partner says about you,

what professionals say about you. And he's always trying to

use other people's opinions to shape and conform you to

what other people think you ought to be, rather than

what God says you ought to be. He uses hurt

and pain, hurt and pain never leave you where they

find you. You start in one area, but you end

up over here, and it can profoundly affect your identity.

He uses the media, and today he uses social media

because you get on social media and you see everybody

living there so called perfect life. Anything, how come I

don't look like him or her? Why don't I have that?

And why don't I do that? In this competitive always

comparing yourself feels like you're being left out. Satan's using

that to keep you messed up in your identity. He

suggests thoughts in your mind. It's called temptations, and he says,

stuff do you? But the number one way Satan keeps

you from discovered your true identity in Christ is the

lies you tell yourself. You lie to yourself all the time,

and you tell yourself stuff's good and stuff's bad. And

oftentimes you're not really a good judge of you because

you can't see yourself from an objective position. You're intensely

involved in you, obviously, and so you tell yourself stuff

all the time. If you go around telling yourself, you know,

I'm uncoordinated, I'm dumb, or I'm ugly, all right, whatever

you tell yourself. You're talking to yourself. You're talking to

yourself right now. You have a constant stream going on

in your mind. You're going is what Rick saying interesting

to me? Because if it is, I'm going to listen.

If it's not, I'm going to tune out and think

about something. How hungry I am or whatever? You know

who I am? Kind of hungry right now? So how

do I know who I am? How do I know

who God made me to be? Well, there's a great

philosopher named Pascal. Let's see if I can find that

quote here somewhere he said something really great. I know

he did. Well, maybe i'll tell you later. Here's what

he said. The only way you're ever going to know

yourself is by knowing God through Jesus Christ. He said,

we only know God through Jesus Christ. We only know

ourselves through Jesus Christ. We only know the meaning of

our life through Jesus Christ. We only know the meaning

of our death through Jesus Christ. It is in Christ

we know ourselves. Now, that's not particularly a new idea.

It's been in the Bible for thousands of years. Look

up here on the screen. The Bible says this in

the Colossians, Chapter one, verse sixteen. Everything, absolutely everything got

started in Christ and finds its purpose in Him. The

only way you're ever going to know who you are

and what your purpose is in life is in Christ,

because He created you. You didn't create you, so you

can't tell you what your purpose is now. That little

phrase there in Christ is one of the most important

phrases in the Bible. In the New Testament, it is

used eighty nine times in Christ, in Christ, in Christ,

in Christ, and the phrase in Him is used seventy

nine times. You know, we call ourselves Christians. Today the

word Christians only use like twice in the entire Bible.

It's not used very much at all. Instead of believers

being called believers or disciples or followers or Jesus or Christians,

in the Bible, the most common term for being a

follower of Christ is I'm in Christ in Christ. What

does that mean? Well, of those eighty nine times it

says that you are in Christ, thirty five times, it

tells you what your identity is because you're in Christ. Now,

we don't have time to go through thirty five different

identity factors of your life. But today, Kay and I

are going to take you through four. You're getting k today.

You get a double header. Okay, you get a double header.

What can I say? And so we're going to take

you through just four of the thirty five marks of

your identity. You picked a good week to come to church, Okay,

so write these down. They're very important. This phrase in

Christ used eighty nine times, and as I said, in

Him used seventy nine times. Now let me show you

another verse in Ephesians chapter one, it says this, It

is in Christ there's that phrase. And whenever we see

this phrase today, I want you to circle it on

your outline. It is in Christ that we find out

who we are. That's identity and what we're living for,

that's purpose. If you want to know your identity in life,

and you want to know your purpose in life, the

only way you ever gonna know it is by talking

to the creator who made you. God is in Christ,

and Christ is in God. God made you. You can't

tell yourself who your purpose is because you didn't make you.

So if you look for your identity and other people,

you're not going to find it. It is in Christ

we find out who we are, and it is in

Christ we find out what in the world we were

made for, what's our purpose in life? So we're gonna

look at four those. So let's just deal with four.

Who are you in Christ? You need to learn these

in your own life, and then you need, as I said,

pass them on to the next generation. Number one, here's

the first characteristic. Now I want you to think of

these four things as like a table with four legs.

That your identity is built on four different pillars. And

if you get these in your life, you're going to

have a stable life. Okay. Pillar number one in Christ,

the Bible says this, I am chosen, loved, and accepted.

In Christ. I am chosen by God, loved by God,

and accepted by God. Now, those are three things we

all want in life. We all want to be chosen,

we all want to be loved, and we all want

to be accepted. Well, you already are by God himself. Now, first,

these are the three foundations of the first pillar of

true self worth to feel good about yourself, a true

self identity. First, you're chosen. Here's what the Bible says

Iphesian chapter one, verse four and five. In Christ, there's

that verse or that phrase, God chose us before the

world was made, so that we would be as holy people.

Because of his love of God had already decided to

make us his own children through Jesus Christ. That was

what he wanted and that's what pleased him. The Bible

says God created the entire universe because he wanted a family.

God wanted children to love. The whole reason the universe

exists is God wanted children to love. Now, let me

ask this question. According to this verse, when did God

choose you? Look at it real close. When did God

choose you? Where? And when? Yeah, yeah, before the world

was made. You might underline that if you grasp this,

you'll never again have a problem with low self esteem.

The Bible says that before God chose to create the sun,

he had already chosen you. He knew he was going

to make you millions of years before he made you.

Before God chose to create the universe, he had already

chosen you. In fact, that that's why he decided to

make the universe. He wanted a place where you could live.

Before God created the world, before God chose any tree,

he chose you. Before God chose the oceans, He chose you.

Before God chose every rock that exists. He shows you.

Last week, we were up in Canada and I actually

got to walk out on a glacier. It was really cool.

Before God created that glacier, he chose me, He chose you.

That ought to make you feel a little bit better

about yourself, that you were chosen before anything else was created.

God says, I want this person to exist, so I'm

going to create the environment that that person will exist.

That requires enormous amount of planning. You're not only chosen

first before the moon and the stars. God shows you.

That shows you how important you are. God shows you

You're not only chosen first, You're chosen by God. Now,

this is the antidote to every child's worst fear, and

the worst fear of every child is to be chosen

last on a team. You know, when they say, okay,

we're going out to the recess and we're gonna play

soccer or play softball, and you guys are the two captains,

you go, oh, please don't let me be chosen last.

The shame, the dishonor. And as the crowd gets small

and well, they still haven't chosen me. They still haven't

chosen me, and nobody wants to be the last. You're

not the last chosen, You're the first. That's how much

God says you matter to him. You were chosen before

God chose any bird, before he chose any animal, before

he chose to make anything. He said, I'm gonna make

all these other things because I'm gonna make you. That

is a foundation of your identity. Now, not only that,

there's more because you're not only chosen, you're loved. That's

why he says. God did it because of his love.

You are loved. Look at this verse on the screen

Ephesians one, verse four. You have been chosen. That's first.

Peter two nine. You've been chosen by God long before

he laid down the earth's foundations. See who says it again,

Before the earth was even created, God had us in mind,

and he settled on us as the focus of his love.

Do you realize that God has focused on you? You're

not focused on God. You're rarely focused on God. God

has focused on you all the time. Can God focus

on everybody the same time? Yeah? Why he's God. There

is never a moment of your life when God is

not focused on you. You're not focused on him, but

He's focused on you. He sees every high low, every

good bad, every hill, every valley, every tear, every joy.

There's never a moment in your life when God has

not focused on you, wife, because He made you to

love you. You're loved. Will God's ever stop focusing on me?

Will he ever stop loving me? No? Look at this

next verse Romans, Chapter eight, Verse thirty eight and thirty nine.

I am certain confidence. I'm certain that nothing can separate

us from God's love. Not life nor death, nor angels

nor demons, demons can't separate you from God's love. Not

the present nor the future, not the powers above or below.

Nothing in all creation shall ever separate us from God's

love for us. In Christ circle that in Christ, Jesus

Our Lord. Why can't I be separated from God's love? Well?

For two reasons. It's unconditional and it's eternal. It's unconditional.

In other words, God doesn't say I love you if

that's conditional. God doesn't say I love you because that's conditional.

God says I love you period. I love you in

spite of the fact that you don't always love me,

because God is love. God's love for you is based

on who he is not what you do. It's not

based on your performance. It's based on his character. You

can't make God stop loving you. You can try, but

you will fail because God is well. It's unconditional. But

not only that is consistent. You never have to wonder

about God's love. You and I don't wake up in the

morning and go, I wonder if God's going to love

me today after what I did last night. God says,

my love for you is not fickle, it's not unpredictable.

He doesn't hug you one day and slug you the

next day. We never need to ask will God love me?

He will. In fact, we always get into trouble when

we doubt God's love. Anytime you doubt God's loved and anything,

I know more than God. I'm gonna do what I

want to do right and what I want to do.

How's that working out for you? Your life just sailing

along with no problems, no depression, no discouragement. We always

get into problems when we doubt God's love and when

we doubt God's wisdom. But there's more in this first pillar.

I'm not just chosen by God. You're not just chosen

by God. You're not just loved by God. There's more.

You're accepted. Most people don't realize this. You're accepted by God.

We spend our entire lives trying to be accepted. You

wear the clothes you wear because you want to be accepted.

You drive the car you drive because you want to

be accepted. You choose your friends, the food you eat,

the things you say on the internet. Everything you do

is out of this massive need to say accept me,

accept me, accept I want to be accepted. Well, friend,

you're already accepted by God, who created you. First Corinthians

chapter one says this verse thirty, God alone made it

possible for you to be in Christ. There's that phrase again,

in Christ. And he says, you didn't do this to yourself.

I did it for you. God alone made it possible

for you to be in Christ. Jesus, he is the

one who made us acceptable to God. Now how does

Jesus make us acceptable to God? And what does that mean? Well,

here's the problem. God's perfect and you're not and I'm not.

How does a perfect God let an imperfect person into

a perfect place called heaven. Well, something's got to happen.

So God says, I'll take care of the problem myself.

He comes to earth as a man in the form

of Jesus Christ. God comes to earth, dies for your sin.

This is called grace. This is called redemption. This is

called being rescued by God. There a whole bunch of

theological terms that's called justification. Just as if I'd never

send justified, just as if I'd never send. God says,

I'm going to make you clean and perfect in my eyes,

no matter what you've already done. God says, I came

and I sent my son to die for you so

that you are acceptable to me. So if God accepts you,

why do you need the approval of other people? One

of the most liberating things in life will be when

you finally learn someday, I don't need other people's approval

to be happy. You don't. You only need the approval

of one person, God. And if God likes you and

you like you, if you don't like me, if I

like me and God likes me, what's your problem. I

don't need your approval. I don't know if you know

this or not. Some people don't like me and they

criticize me, and they say, oh, you know, I spend

one none, no seconds of my life thinking about those people.

What I don't need their approval will be happy. I'm

happy while they're students. You I don't like Rick Warren, Fine,

God does. I'm chosen. I'm loved and I'm accepted. You're chosen,

You're loved and you're accepted.

What a great message from Pastor Rick today. There's something

I always take away from his message. Here's Rick to

tell you how you can help support this ministry.

Jesus told his disciples that they should live their lives

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