Who Am I

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Amen, church.

Thank you, Benji.

Thank you, Summer.

If you take your Bibles this morning and turn to Genesis chapter 1, we're gonna start right in the beginning.

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

Genesis chapter 1, as we look at identity.

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

I want you to think on that question: who am I?

Who are you, really?

When you think of you, when others think of you.

Most importantly, when God thinks of you, who are you?

Let me pray.

Father, we love you.

We're so thankful, God, to be gathered together today in your house.

Lord, we ask that your presence would be felt in this place.

God, nothing we have to do matters without your presence.

So, God, I pray that you would inundate this place with the Holy Spirit.

Lord, get us out of the way and for a few moments take our minds and set them on your word.

Lord, let it speak to us and reveal exactly what we need.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Look in Genesis 1, 26 is where we'll start.

The first point this morning I want you to see is this I am God created.

Can you say created?

I'm God created.

Genesis 1.26 says, Then God said, Let us make man in our image.

I would highlight that word, our, according to our likeness.

Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.

So God created man in his own image.

In the image of God he created him, male and female, he created them.

Then God blessed them, and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it, have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.

And God said, See, I have given you every herb that yields seed, which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed, to you it shall be for food, also to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth in which there is life.

I have given every green herb for food.

And then it was so.

Then God saw everything that he had made, and indeed it was very good.

So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

Just two more verses.

I want you to look at Genesis 2, verse 4.

Genesis 2:4

This is explaining what's going on.

Verse 4 says, This is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created in the day the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.

Now look at verse 7.

And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath, I would highlight that word, of life.

And man became a living being.

Letter A this morning is this I am created.

If I asked any of you, if I just met you for the first time, most people that shakes out like this.

Hi, how are you doing?

What's your name?

That's your name.

This is my name.

What do you do?

And a lot of people find a whole lot of their identity staked in that right there.

Who are you and what do you do?

If you get a group of men together, that's pretty soon what's going to ensue.

What do you do?

What's your position?

What is the thing that you do?

I want to show you that in Genesis 2, verse 7, it says in a very important word.

Genesis 2:7

And let me ask you this question before we get to that word.

Have you ever been asked by anybody that you met?

Have you ever been asked this question?

Who created you?

Probably not.

There in Genesis 2.7, it says, And the Lord God formed man and breathed.

That word breathe is important.

It is the Hebrew word nephesh, and it means literally God aspirated, and man came to being.

There are other things all through creation that God created during the creation week, but only one was given life by God's contact.

It says, God aspirated.

Your identity today is not just matter that's floating through space, it's matter that was kissed by the lips of God.

To be human is probably a lot more weighty than you woke up this morning thinking on.

God aspirated.

Have you ever created anything?

I created something once.

I created some end tables.

My wife wanted an end table, and she was out of town, so I thought this is a great opportunity to make some end tables.

I mean, look at that end table.

She was not impressed.

And that's because I did not make that end table.

That is not what I made.

I got$67.

I went down to the local lumber store.

Heather been talking about end tables, so I was like, I'm gonna make her some end tables while she's gone away in Texas, and I'm gonna score so many points when she gets back home.

And so I went to work.

I found me some do-it-yourself dimensions, and I got going, and I I noticed maybe halfway through the project, I must have messed up on some dimensions.

Because these end tables looked a whole lot like the like a coffee table in its width.

And it was getting bigger and bigger, and I was like, that's no problem.

We'll work it out.

And by the way, I don't even have to go by the dimensions anymore because I got one.

I'll just follow it for the next one, and I'll be good to go.

Well, anyway, I continued on and I ran out of the light wood that was supposed to cover the top.

So I was like, I got plenty of two by fours left.

No problem.

I'll just do two by fours.

So that was, it was all done.

I got it stained.

First time I ever stained anything.

I thought I did pretty good at staining, and I went to go move it, and I almost broke my back.

I was like, this is the heaviest table anyone's ever made in their life, full of two by fours.

Okay?

So I got them in the house, and Heather came home and we're ready for the big moment to see my creation, all the points, all the love that was ever gonna come.

And she looked at that, and I'm so thankful for all the grace that she has in her heart for me.

She looked at it, she said, Oh.

Made something.

And she loves me so much that she allowed those to sit in the house for over a month and a half.

Which was a big danger because I did forget a vital thing.

I never sanded any of that wood.

So when a kid walked by, you could get a splinter in your eye.

I mean, it was danger, but that was love.

This is me creating.

I want to tell you today, church, you are handcrafted by a perfect designer.

God designed you.

And by the way, because God is eternal, that means he never dies.

And that nefesh, that God aspiration, it never dies.

The God breath that made you a living being proceeds from this existence to the next.

That means every soul, hear me, church, lives forever in heaven or dies forever in hell.

When man was aspirated into being, it was a forever being.

Matthew 22, 32 says, Jesus said, God is not the God of the dead.

I want you to consider CPR for a second.

Maybe you've been a part of that.

Maybe you've administered CPR.

When someone's heart stops, a rescuer will lean down and breathe life into that person's lungs.

That breath is not the person's in need of it.

That breath isn't theirs.

It's borrowed life from someone else.

And if it works, that person may open their eyes because another gave them air, but that air was borrowed, and they are going to require more breath to live.

When God gave breath, it wasn't temporary.

God gave breath, aspirated life, and it was eternal.

God's breath is, hear me, your first identity.

He said, and God breathed, and you were created.

That's important that we understand that in Christianity because there's other religions, I want you to hear this.

The Hinduists and the Buddhists teach in reincarnation.

Preaching that your identity is not fixed, it's fluid.

It can change from one state to another.

This is why we today have a real problem with words like non-binary.

Because you were a fixed creation or transgender.

You were God breathed and formed with a fixed identity.

Biblical creation says you were created once with God, and there was no mess up, and there's never going to be a second you.

Let me give you the words of a doctor.

Doctor said this once, you are you.

It's truer than true.

There is no one more you than you.

Dr.

Seuss.

It's important what you believe about your existence.

How about the atheist?

The atheist says existence is brain chemistry, and when you die, all of it ceases.

Christianity says our existence that God breathed on us is tied to eternity.

Man was God breathed.

And that means life carries eternal weight because God's breath does not end.

Now think on this: God who could have breathed on anything at creation didn't.

He breathed on you.

He breathed on man.

So there's great enormity in regard to how you view your identity because God didn't create you as something that dissolves.

You're not something that's disposable.

There's only ever going to be on this universe one fingerprint of you.

So let's talk about that.

How did that continue?

Look back at Genesis 2, 7, letter B.

I am crafted.

I've been created and crafted.

Verse 7.

It says, and the Lord God formed, that's that word, man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being.

Literally, that word for formed humankind, man, the word man is Adama, like Adam.

He formed man from the ground, and it's a play on words.

Out of the ground, the word ground is humus.

So humans come from humus.

That's why you don't eat that stuff.

You know what I'm saying?

I don't eat no eat no hummus.

It looks like dirt.

You know what I'm saying?

Okay.

But it says, bara, Hebrew, out of nothing.

God breathed out of nothing, God created.

God didn't need$67 worth of materials in order to create something.

He created out of who he was, out of the strength of who he was.

And so God created us.

This word barrah out of nothing emphasizes divine craftsmanship, that forming.

Genesis 2 7, formed is the verb that's used in other places for a potter shaping clay.

I want you to turn your Bibles to Romans chapter 9.

Romans 9 · chapter mention

Like a potter shaping clay.

9 verse 19 through 21, we'll look at.

For who has resisted his will?

But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God?

With a thing formed, there's that word, say to him who formed it, Why have you made me like this?

Does not the potter have power over the clay from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?

Showing God's craftsmanship.

He, church, is the master potter.

And he is at work shaping this clay.

And we are God breathed.

And hear me, continually.

We're continually on the potter's wheel, being handcrafted by God.

This is why we should have a problem, church, with things like abortion, with things like euthanasia and racism and violence, because every life is God-crafted.

We are the Imago Dei, and that means the image of God.

We are God's stamp over all of creation.

When I was growing up, starter jackets was a big deal.

Y'all remember?

Okay.

I know you can probably get them at Walmart now.

That's a travesty.

Okay.

Back in the day when$100 was a lot of money, that's how much they cost.

And I asked for one for three years for Christmas.

I said, I just want a Raider starter jacket.

Y'all got a picture of that Raider starter jacket?

It's so sweet.

Can you imagine?

If you put that on me, how amazing I would have been.

And so I asked first Christmas for a Raider starter jacket.

Keep it up there, people need to see.

And the first Christmas, I got a pro line cowboys jacket.

It's like, cowboys?

This ain't even the right colors.

What are we doing?

But I wore it because that's what you did.

That's all we had.

Next Christmas, I said, please, I need a Raiders starter jacket.

I got a pro line Raiders jacket.

I was closer.

We got the right team.

Three years.

I said, please, I need a starter jacket.

I changed up the team on him because Michael Jordan was sore.

And I said, I need a bull starter jacket.

Mom, Dad, can you imagine?

The man, the guys will want to be like me, and all the girls will flock to me.

I just need this starter jacket.

How awesome would it be?

That logo meant something to everybody.

Church, every human being is handcrafted and stamped by the hand of God.

What does that mean to you?

His logo is written on you.

And when people see you, they're supposed to see the Imago Day.

That takes us to the second point this morning.

I am God like.

I'm God created.

I'm God like.

Back to verse 26 and 27 of chapter 1.

It says, then God said, Let us make man in our image according to our.

Here's this word likeness.

Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over all of the animals.

Then verse 27.

So God created man in his own image.

In the image of God, he created him, male and female, he created them.

The word for likeness is a word demut, it's a Hebrew word, and it shows humanity is not just modeled in God's physical form, which we are.

We are the closest thing physically that looks like God, but relational and moral qualities are modeled after God as well.

That's why things like James 3.9 are really important.

James 3.9 is a verse that says, We worship with the same tongue and curse the image of God, the likeness of God.

We'll bless God and curse man.

He says, Be very careful in how we talk to people.

They are God's image bearers.

Bible says in one place, when you say thou fool, you'd be careful of hell's fires.

You don't talk about God's image bearers in that way.

So be careful the way that you look at humanity and you just let your tongue slip.

People are God-like.

Therefore, letter A.

Letter A is I am a reflector.

Y'all remember disposable cameras?

This was an iffy game of picture roulette at its best.

Right?

And I remember going to like teen camps and stuff, and I had to have me three or four disposable cameras.

I'm gonna spend about 30 bucks, and uh, I'm gonna take picture shots, and I'm gonna tell you, out of 30 bucks, I wasted 29.

Okay?

I'd take these photos and then I'd take them to the lab and they're gonna print them out and I'd get them back.

I'm like, blur, there's a blur.

I don't know who this kid was, explain that, you know, and somebody might have grabbed your camera for fun and took some pictures, just of you know, like carpet, and you develop your pictures, and you had no idea what you're gonna get, and it really came out kind of like a waste.

But let's be honest about right now.

Right now, we live in the selfie generation, right?

People have selfie sticks, we have selfie lights, and if the light isn't right or the angle is wrong with your picture, guess what?

And they like disposable cameras, you just delete it and you try all over again.

Why does that happen?

Why?

Because the angle or the light.

Because reflection matters.

Twine out of 30 of my pictures, the reflection was bad, the angle was wrong, it was upside down.

But today we can do all this because reflection matters.

Our real job, church, is not to get our reflection right, but it's to reflect Jesus Christ.

The world doesn't need another filtered selfie, it needs the unfiltered image of the living Jesus Christ inside of us.

That's why Matthew 5 says what it says.

I want you to turn there.

Matthew 5.

You know this, you've heard it a bunch.

Look at what it says about the church.

It says, You are the light of the world.

A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do they light a lamp.

Verse 14, and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.

Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

We're a reflector of light.

I heard that on one of the Apollo missions, the astronauts stood on the moon and they found this.

There's nothing glowing up here.

This is a giant and dusty rock.

Have you ever driven up a hill and you came over that hill, and all of a sudden you seen a full moon in brightest glow.

You came up and it just lit up the dark sky, and you were looking at its vividness and brilliance, and you were sort of amazed at how much it lit up the sky.

I want you to think about something.

That moon that you saw is just a big dark dusty rock.

But when the moon aligns with the sun directly, it can shine a brilliance that nobody can deny.

Conversely, when Earth gets in the way of the moon, it goes dark.

That's called an eclipse.

We are reflectors of a light, church.

Are you hearing me?

And it says, let your light so shine that men will see your good works and what?

Glorify your Father which is in heaven.

They will see through you the glory and the brilliance of God.

You see, we're a vessel, we're a reflector of his light.

I'm God like, I'm a reflector of him.

Let her be.

I am relational.

You're made for relationship.

Genesis 1 2.

It says the earth was without form and void, and darkness was on the face of the deep, and the spirit of God was hovering over the face of the water.

So in verse 2 of all the Bible, we begin to see the relationship of God the Father with the Holy Spirit.

It says, and the Spirit hovered over the deep.

And John 1 1 says, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

And that's talking about the relationship of Jesus Christ being at creation.

And so he says they were both in relationship with God the Father.

Going back to that verse we read earlier, it said.

Let us, verse 26, Genesis 1, let us, who's the us, make man in our image.

Points to a foundational element of Christian belief.

God is triune.

We have one God, three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in perfect relation.

Look at Genesis 2.18.

God walked through creation, all was good.

And then Genesis 2.18 takes place.

It says, and the Lord God said, It is not good that man should be alone.

I'll make him a helper comparable to him.

So God immediately sees Adam there alone, and he creates for him relationship.

If we have all sprung from one man whom God made, then surely we are all relatives.

And for this reason, we have to really consider our hearts, the crime of our hearts, to not love man.

God created all man, and we're all relatives.

We are to be relational.

Have you ever gone for a stretch of time home alone?

Maybe you've had a family and you've been just to yourself.

There was uh one particular occasion that Heather took the kids and a lot of her families in the Texas Houston area.

You know, one stretch, I think it was the longest ever.

It was somewhere between 20 and 27 days.

She's looking at me funny.

20 days, 17 days.

I'm an auctioneer.

I don't know.

It felt like 28 days.

And as I was walking through that house and taking stretches of hours, I'd come to work, go home, not speaking to any humans.

And I come home and I look around, I'm like, this place that we've built is depressing.

And then I go have myself something to eat, which was a total mess compared to how my wife cooks, but I'd make myself something, I'd sit down and I'm like, that was pretty good, right, Rick?

Yeah.

You know how depressing it is to laugh at TV by yourself?

I'm like, what a loser.

So then the phone would ring, and I'm like, I don't want to seem over-eager, but half a one ring, and I'm like, hello.

And she speaks on the other hand, this angelic voice, a little tear comes to the corner of my eye.

And she's like, How are you doing?

I'm like, awesome.

Really good.

You know?

But we were created for relationship.

Genesis 2, 24.

We find the very first covenant relationship, the very first human covenant in the Bible.

And that's the union between man and woman.

Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

This was instituted by God in the foundations of creation, that man and woman should come together, not man and anything else, not woman and anything else.

Man and woman should come together, be husband and wife, and that is marriage.

Genesis 128 talks about God's design for family and community and society.

Rooted, all of that, family, community, society, church is rooted in relationships.

God created us to be relational.

Okay?

Our mission statement at CCW says it shares the greatest command.

We say, loving God, loving people.

The Bible, Jesus was asked, what are the greatest commands?

And he said, Love the Lord your God, relationship with all your heart, soul, and strength, and then love your neighbor, relationship as yourself.

The two greatest commands.

If Jesus could sum up everything, he said, Love God, relationship, love others.

Two greatest commands.

By the way, if you ever visit a church and you look at their mission statements, that ain't in there, I wouldn't go there.

Okay?

That is God's greatest command.

When the church was instituted, it was designed as a body of people in relationship.

So you should get to know.

Listen, I know this look if you're sitting over here on the right and you have been for 64 straight weeks, there's some good people over here on the left.

I promise.

They may look squirrely, but they're okay.

And there's people here in the middle, right?

We are built to be in relationship with one another.

That's God's institution and plan.

Jesus modeled it.

Jesus, look, Jesus went away and he spent time with the Father.

He would go away, he would slip away in prayer, in fasting, and he would go to the Father.

And he would come back and he would disciple his twelve.

And then he would come and minister, and he would meet the spiritual and physical needs of the crowds, of masses, Jesus modeled relationships.

So if you got stuff going through your head, like I'm just better by myself.

Are you?

I'd just rather just be all by now on occasion.

I get it.

I know there's people that love to read a good book.

Alright?

I get out books.

Every time we go away somewhere, I get out a book and I read three pages.

And then I gotta talk to people.

But I know there's some people they, I mean, give me 10,000 pages, Pastor.

I understand that we have different buildings, but I'm telling you this.

You were made for relationships.

You were made for it.

Because I'm God like, and that's what God was like from the beginning.

The third thing I want you to see.

I am God known.

Don't you turn your Bibles to Psalms?

Chapter 139.

I'm God known.

To trek down to verse number 13.

Just a few, we'll jump back around in this psalm.

But it says, For you formed my inward parts.

You covered me in my mother's womb.

I will praise you, verse 14, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Marvelous are your works, and that my soul knows right well.

My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in secret and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

Your eyes saw my substance being yet unformed.

And in your book they are all were written, the days fashioned for me when as yet there were none of them.

Letter A, I want you to hear this today.

If you didn't come in for anything else, I am God's plan.

You are God's plan.

The word saka that talks about the forming there is the word knit.

Woven together, the idea of a careful and intentional planning.

That was how you were made by God.

I can't think of knitting and help myself from thinking of Heather's brother.

His name is Adam.

I got a picture, Adam, and I'll explain.

Okay.

Why is it that I think of him when I think of knitting?

Because Adam lived with us for a little stretch of time.

And I came in one day.

Look at this man.

He he uh competes in uh these what's the competition it's called?

World's strongest man competition.

And uh I don't mess with Adam.

I used to, not anymore.

Okay, I'm smart.

But anyway, I come in to the back of the house and he lived with us for over a year, and um I walk in and I look over and I'm like, what are you doing?

And he has got a knitting needle and some big fat yarn, and he is knitting together something.

And I'm like, what is that?

Like, of any people on planet Earth that you would think would take up knitting, is that the guy?

And he's just going, knitting, and he's like, What, man?

I'm making something.

I'm like, making something for what?

I'm making something for my girlfriend.

I was like, oh no.

Making a scarf for his girlfriend.

I'm like, you lost, I mean, there's a lot of man car in that bucket of beef, but he lost it all for a moment.

He was just knitting and he made it.

It was free, it was actually a nice scarf.

That's it.

The Bible says, though, I want you to get the picture in verse 16.

Before your body was formed, the unformed body, that God had a knitted plan.

God had a plan for you.

That unformed body, uh, a similar word, is like an embryo.

So hear me today.

Upon conception, you were a person.

Every life upon conception is a person.

And even though some parents may not have planned to have a baby, you were always God's plan.

Not just a plan, that would be enough.

Not just a plan, but verse 14 and on says, hear me about the plan.

Fearfully, wonderfully, marvelously, and skillfully wrought was his plan.

And then verse 16 says, And the days were fashioned for me.

Pre-birth.

God had a plan for your life, and it was for you.

Jeremiah 29, 11, you know it says, I know the plans I have for you not to harm you, but of future and of hope.

Philippians 1, 6 says, He who has begun a good work in you is faithful to complete it into the day of Jesus Christ.

God has a plan for your life.

You're not some random experience floating through space that's coming, going to be elevator music, and done.

You're the only you.

You're the only one ever.

And God has an important plan for your life.

Now I want to ask you a question.

Are you living in God's plan?

Are you living his plan?

But there is no doubt you are his plan.

And it says you are made in a book.

Your days were formed and fashioned.

You were made in the playbook of the greatest mind that's ever been.

Think on that.

By the greatest strength that ever could be, with the greatest love that's ever been known.

He looked on all of creation that he spoke, he spoke to the rest, into existence, and after that he said it was good.

And then God breathed on man the breath of life, and at the end of that he said, Oh, and this is very good.

God, hear me, never, ever, no matter what the enemy whispers in your ear, no matter what lies society might tell you, no matter what the social media makes you feel, what some mistake in your past haunts your mind, no matter what it says to you, God never, ever, ever makes a mistake.

God did not intend for one woman to be a man.

Nor did God intend for one man to be a woman.

God didn't intend for you, if you have brown eyes, to have blue eyes.

He didn't intend for us people to be any taller.

He didn't intend these things differently in his plan.

You see, God does not botch or blunder.

He wanted to impact planet Earth with one you.

And hear me about his record.

His record is unmatched, it's unparalleled, it's unsurpassable.

He's flawless in power, he never fails.

He's spotless in his purity, his truth prevails.

He's matchless in his might, no rival can stand.

He's faultless in his faithfulness, he holds you in his hand.

He's limitless in his love, he breaks every chain.

He's seamlessly sovereign, and our God reigns.

Church.

And you're a part of his plan.

Can you imagine that?

That takes me to only one verse that can even fathom how to put out what I feel.

Turn to Psalms 8.

When I think that I'm a part of God's plan in that way, all I can ask is like this psalmist.

Psalms 8.

Look at verse 3 through 6 in Psalms 8.

He said, When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon, and the stars which you have ordained.

Look at verse 4 and hold on to it.

What is man that you are mindful of him?

What is man to God that you would think on him in such a way?

For you have made him, verse 5, a little lower than the angels, and you have crowned him with glory and honor, and you have made him to have dominion over the works of your hands.

You put all things under his feet.

Verse 9, he just says, Oh, Lord, our Lord, how excellent is your name in all of this earth.

So letter B is this.

I'm God purposed.

I'm his plan.

I am God purposed.

God gave humanity in the garden, and the psalmist is bringing it back to God gave humanity dominion and rule over all of creation.

Nothing else makes the decisions.

You don't have an animal making a decision for you.

You are the caretaker of all of God's creation, all of his works.

Ephesians 2.10 says, we are God's workmanship created for good works.

Don't come in here thinking there's not a matter for you, there's not a purpose for you or plan for you.

You are God's workmanship to bring about God's plan.

God is personally involved with your life, guiding, shaping, and renewing you daily.

And the psalmist says this when I look at the heavens, I want you to consider this.

God never says the mountains or the oceans or the sunsets or the galaxies or the rainbows or the stars or the trees were fearfully and wonderfully made.

But he says, You are.

And then he said, Everything is under your feet.

You are a steward of all of God's creation.

This masterpiece that he created, he made you to care for it.

So listen to me.

Don't abuse God's creation.

You care for it.

Number one, care for your fellow man, care for animals.

Care for society.

Care for your development.

Care for your people.

Care for your church.

You are a caretaker of creation.

Carrying out God's imprint, his logo, Imago Day, to the world around you.

We are stewards of our three T's.

God's given you time, He's given you talent, and He's given you treasure.

Are you stewarding those things, bringing glory back to the God of all creation?

I think the psalmist adequately is exasperated at the thought and question, who art man that thou, O God, will be mindful of me?

Well, who are you, church?

When you look in the mirror, who are you?

Go back to the front of Psalms one hundredty-nine.

When you look in the mirror, what do you see?

This is what the psalmist says to start this psalm.

Oh Lord, you have searched me and known me.

You know my sitting down and my rising up.

You understand my thought afar off.

You comprehend my path, my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways, for there is not a word on my tongue, but behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.

You have hedged me behind.

He's behind you, and he's before you, and you've laid your hand upon me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me.

It is so high that I cannot attain it.

Do you feel the weight of the psalmist saying, God, you're everywhere and in all things, and you really get me.

You know me when nobody else knows me.

You've seen everything I've done, every thought I've had.

You know my heart.

You know when I messed up and really I wished I hadn't messed up.

You know when I've tried.

You've known when I've been in trial.

You've known when I've struggled, you've known what I've wanted, even though I didn't get to the thing I wanted.

You know, God, that I want to be better or I haven't done good.

But God, you've seen everything.

And Psalm says, I can't, I can't even attain to this understanding of how you know me.

How he knows you.

Three different scriptures call as you, church, the apple of his eye.

And in the New Living Translation of Ephesians 2.10, it says, We are his masterpiece, which God prepared for this moment.

But when you look in the mirror, you what do you see?

Some of you here today, you see a lie.

Some here today you may hear a condemning whisper.

Some of you see the cover of a magazine that you wish you could be.

Some of you see somebody's greatest hits on social media, and you wish it was that.

Some of you see you from 20 years ago, and I gotta tell you, that is not fair.

Some of you see someone else's opinion, and that ain't you.

An old negative voice.

Maybe you see years of brokenness.

Some people look in the mirror and they see a trophy they wish they could get to.

Some people look in the mirror and they see a bank account number and say, once I get there, some see a place or a position, a popularity.

Can I tell you this morning?

That is not what God sees.

God sees a plan and a purpose.

And I want to tell you what God wants to see from you.

I don't know if you can see this or not, it says Jesus.

He wants to see Jesus in you.

And the world around you to see Jesus in you.

Who are you, church?

We're excited you joined us for today's message.

Our heart is to connect with others in our community, to grow with one another, and build a bigger kingdom.

If you accepted Jesus today, we want to hear about it.

Take a moment and text CCW Connect to 94,000.

Thank you again for joining us on the CCW podcast.

We hope you will make plans to join us in person on Sundays.