Romans 8: Our Champion (6- Victory Through Identity)

Well, good morning again, and I apologize in advance if my voice starts to go out.

That song that we just ended with, holy Forever, is one of my all-time favorite worship songs, and so I was over there belting it.

That is like rookie mistake for speakers, but just bear with me, it's going to be a great day in the house of the Lord.

Well, again, my name is Chris Durham.

I have the opportunity and privilege to serve as your administrative pastor, and so if you have no idea what that means, great, we're figuring out as we go.

But you can all seriousness, you can find me after.

I would love to talk with you, but if you've been with us over the past, you know four weeks or so you've noticed that Pastor Brandon has not been on stage.

He has a little more hair up here than I do, but a little less right here, so we're good.

But he has been on sabbatical for about the past four weeks, and so it's a time that he can pull back, reflect, recharge, but, most importantly, seek out God's vision for real-life church, and so it's a privilege and honor that he's able to be able to do that and that he has people and you guys have people that we can trust to bring God's word Amen, awesome.

So we've had three amazing weeks Eric Leach, brandon Gillum, and then last week we had some missionaries named the Harrimans from Mexico that we support, that they came and brought an amazing message of just the simple gospel and if you've missed any of those, please go ahead and go back and take a look at those, and we have them on YouTube, spotify, apple podcast.

I'll show you all those things here in just a second, but that's just a little plug.

Get back into the word of God, because today we're going to close out our sermon series on the champion, our walk through Romans, chapter eight.

So hint, hint, if you haven't already figured out, we're going to be in Romans, chapter eight this morning.

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So Romans, chapter 8, as you heard me say, we have our sermons and our services all over social media, all over the internet.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

But there's three primary ways that you can do that.

Tim is just not working for me.

Tim's the TV, by the way, not my imaginary friend.

There we go All right.

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Because here's the thing we are in this building for roughly an hour a week and I hope and I pray that you are in the Word daily, you're spending time with God daily.

But discipleship is not simply coming for one week.

Discipleship is a daily walk with Christ in our lives, and so when we're discipling, we are actually walking with Christ, we're following after Christ and we're seeking after Him and he meets us where we're at All right.

So it's not just this right here, and this is an opportunity that you can actually get plugged back into the Word of God just to kind of rejuvenate a little bit, to allow the Holy Spirit some space.

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So today, romans, chapter 8, let's get after it.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

We're gonna be man.

Tim is killing me there.

We go All right.

So God's word says what shall we say about such wonderful things as these?

If God is for us, who can ever be against us?

Since he did not even spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, won't he also give us everything else?

Who dares accuse us from whom God has chosen for his own?

No one, for God himself has given us right, standing with himself.

Who, then, will condemn us?

No one, for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God's right hand pleading for us.

Can anything ever separate us from Christ's love?

Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted or hungry or destitute or in danger or threatened with death?

As the scriptures say, for your sake, we are killed every day, we are being slaughtered like sheep.

No, despite all things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us, and I am convinced that nothing can separate us from God's love.

Neither death nor life, nor angels nor demons, neither our fears of today or our worries about tomorrow, not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love.

No power in the sky above or in the earth below.

Indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

Absolutely.

Let's pray God's word, thank you.

We thank you so much, god.

We thank you for your word.

We thank you for loving us to not leave us where you left us.

Lord, we thank you for an objective truth, truth that surpasses all understanding, and that you bring clarity to that truth.

Holy Spirit, as you're already in this place, we trust that you're already moving and working and speaking.

Lord, give us clarity, give us understanding to what it is that you would have us here today.

Lord, use me as a vessel, take me out of it.

May there be no pride, may there be no objective of my own, but rather yours, god.

Lord, we trust you in this.

We give you all things and all glory and honor in this place, in the powerful name of Jesus Christ.

Amen, amen, all right, so let's get into it.

If you've been with us, we've been talking about the champion, and so what I want to do with this very end of chapter eight is I want to actually talk about our victory, but there's a specific way our victory can be found you ready?

It's victory through identity, victory through identity.

Here, in today's world, today's culture, we hear a lot about identity, right?

All right, a few of you heard that we hear a lot about identity and culture today.

Right, hey, there we go.

So why not talk about inside the church?

Right, because identity matters?

There's actually some people that have some quotes.

These are some of my favorite.

There's dozens and dozens, but but Brene Brown, who's actually a Christian author, I agree with a lot of what she says.

I actually don't completely agree with this statement, but let's dig.

Let's dig into it.

Our identities are always changing and growing.

They're not meant to be pinned down.

Jay-z, the famous theologian, once said identity is a prison you can never escape.

But the way to redeem your past is not to run from it, but to try to understand it and use it as a foundation to grow.

Carl Jung, who's an author.

He says I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become.

Eric Erickson says in the social jungle of human existence, there's no feeling of being alive without a sense of identity.

All through culture, we understand the importance of identity, right?

We actually.

If you sign up for social media for the first time, or you sign up for email, you go to the phone store to get a new phone plan, whatever it may be.

They're going to ask you about your identity.

How do you identify as?

Can I see, your physical identity, all these things, they matter, right?

Tony Robbins says it this way identity is an incredible invisible force that controls your life.

It's invisible, like gravity is invisible, but it controls your whole life.

We see from Ralph Ellison, again another author.

He says when I discover who I am, I'll be free.

I would agree with that.

Elastigirl, another famous theologian from the Incredibles.

She says your identity is your most valuable possession, protect it.

To give some context, really quick, this is one of my favorite scenes in all of the movie of the Incredibles and I'm full of pop culture references this morning.

Sorry, not really.

So she's talking to a guy named Dash, which is her son, and then her daughter, invisigirl, and so they are just now experiencing their powers for the first time of being able to actually use them, and so she is telling them hey, to save our family, your identity is so important.

So she says your identity is the most valuable possession, protect it.

So we hear so much about identity.

But here's the thing about identity.

We hear how do I?

How do you identify Like?

How do what do you identify as?

When you hear that, what is the first thing you respond with?

I want you to write that down, because there's a place of self-reflection, because sometimes we forget what identity actually is.

Identity can be summed up into three words who I am, who I am or who you are.

That's what our identity is.

Our identity is who I am At the soul core, who are you?

That's where I don't agree with Brene Brown's definition of identity.

It's always changing.

No, your identity doesn't change.

Your identity is solid and foundational, and that victory is only found through identity and that identity is found in Christ.

All right, so let's unpack this.

How in the world do you get from Romans, chapter 8, verse 31 through 39, and where in the world do you get this idea of identity?

Romans 8:31–39

Well, let's unpack it a little bit.

The first thing that we see with the victory through identity is that our identity, it's a gift.

We see the gift of identity.

Let's go back to God's word.

It's a gift.

We see the gift of identity.

Let's go back to God's word.

God's word, starting in verse 31, says.

What shall we say about such wonderful things as these?

If God is for us, who can ever be against us?

We've heard that before, right.

If God is for us, who can ever be against us?

We sing about it often If our God is for us, then who could ever stop us?

That's great power that we have in the name of Jesus Christ.

If God is for us, who can stop us?

Since he did not even spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, won't he also give us everything else?

Now I've heard this verse, especially the give us everything else.

I've heard this taken way out of context.

We hear it in prosperity gospels.

Sometimes you know, if God's for us, who can ever stop us?

And guess what?

He's going to give you everything you need.

No, he's going to give you what you need, not everything you want.

Very, very important for us to understand.

And then, even backing up a step further he didn't just spare his son, right?

Sparing means I'm going to give up and give up a little begrudgingly, and I'm going to have to give up something.

No, no, god willingly gives up his son for us.

Let's keep reading.

Who dares accuse us from whom God has chosen us for his own.

No one, for God himself has given us right standing with himself.

Who, then, will condemn us?

No one, for Christ.

Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the right place of honor, at God's right hand, pleading for us.

Here's what's happening right in this moment Jesus is sitting next to God and he is putting himself in place for us.

Right?

God is both inside of time and outside of time.

He exists outside of time.

It's hard to really understand that concept.

Whenever you figure it out, come talk to me.

You're a famous theologian, okay, but he's living outside of time.

Jesus is at the right hand, pleading for us.

Other versions ESV says interceding for us.

He is the intercession for us.

Because here's the thing when we give our lives to Christ, we are immediately justified before God, justified before God.

Justification means the moment you give your life to Christ.

We are immediately justified before God.

Justified before God.

Justification means the moment you give your life to Christ, you say Jesus, I repent of my sin, meaning I turn away from my sin.

I'm going to live the way you tell me to, because you are now my master, my Lord.

The moment we do that.

We are justified before God because of Jesus's payment for us.

Back in Old Testament times.

There's this thing called sin.

If you've never heard that, maybe your first time.

That's okay.

Sin is anything that is in existence outside of God or outside of time and against God's will and desire.

Okay, that's sin in a nutshell.

And when we live in sin before God, there has to be a payment of death.

In the Old Testament times they would murder or kill a bull or lamb or something along those lines, and the blood offering was good enough for God, right?

Well, here's this amazing thing.

This is why we just sang about the lamb.

Jesus is our lamb on this side of heaven.

We live in New Testament times, meaning after Jesus came, he came into this world fully perfect.

He's both fully God, fully human, and because he laid down his life for us, that payment was good enough for the sin for those who accept Jesus's payment.

So if you do not accept his payment of sin, you will have to pay before God at some point in time, so that sin requires death.

And so what's happening?

Jesus now, at the right hand, he is interceding for us, meaning he is taking on our blemishes and he's making them clean before God.

Here's the thing Our identity is now found in Christ and in Christ alone.

Nothing before, nothing after, no other titles.

Our identity is found only in Christ, and when we understand that, that's when we can have victory.

Can't have victory without the identity.

I heard a pastor say it this way one time identity precedes activity.

Identity precedes activity, meaning it comes before the active.

So if you want to say I'm not going to live in sin anymore, but I'm not going to identify as a Christian, as Jesus Christ is my identity, you cannot sustain the activity.

You're not strong enough.

Our identity must be found in Christ, and we can see that because he's sitting before God.

He's putting his identity in place of our own.

His identity is perfect, it's pure, it's a gift.

The only thing it costs you is your life, right?

Sometimes we forget what it actually means to be a Christian.

Sometimes in culture we're really good at this about in the United States of America that you can just say a prayer and poof, everything's hunky-dory.

It's not how it works.

Somebody laughed at hunky-dory.

Come on now that fiddle fart.

Hunky-dory, bupkis.

Y'all don't say these things, right?

But rather than just praying, a prayer and that's it, guys.

There's so much more freedom when we take the identity of Christ and we start living as Christ.

Because, guess what?

Your identity cannot be changed, christ?

Because guess what?

Your identity cannot be changed.

Once it's found in Christ, your identity cannot be changed, it doesn't change.

You may grow as a Christ follower, but your identity, you are justified before God.

You are made clean.

Now it doesn't mean you don't go through a process called sanctification, the process of becoming more and more like Christ.

That's a process and I don't know if you're like me, it's a slow, grueling process.

But before God I'm clean.

That's the gift we receive, is the gift of identity.

So what does God's word actually say about our identity?

First thing he says is that we are accepted.

Right, we are accepted.

John 1.12 says but to all who believe him and accept him, he gave the right to become children of God.

You are a child of God.

That's your identity.

Romans 5, 1 says therefore, since we have been made right in God's sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ, our Lord, has done for us.

Our identity becomes Christ when we actually accept him and we are made right because of our faith.

Nothing that we do, but all because of our faith.

A works-based faith doesn't work, meaning, if you think you can work your way to heaven but not have Christ, I'm sorry you're going to fail.

Because, no matter what you do, it's not enough to pay for that sin, but rather, when we give our identities to Christ and our identity is found in Christ, we understand that we are accepted.

When we do that, that payment is enough and that changes our whole life.

Remember, your identity is who you are.

It's why we do what we do.

That's our identity, so that this way, when the enemy comes at you, no matter what he tells you, no matter what lie, you know you're accepted.

Students, what does John 10.10 say?

Thank you, harper.

John 10.10 says for the thief comes to steal, kill and destroy, but I, jesus Christ, have come to give you life and give you life abundantly.

The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy.

He is a liar, he doesn't care about you, he doesn't care about me, he wants to do nothing but pull you away from God.

That's the thief.

But Jesus comes to give us life so when the enemy lies to us, we can tell him no, I'm accepted, I'm good, I'm a child of God.

Next thing we see is that we get secure, our identity is found and we are secure.

It is God who enables us, along with you, to stand firm in Christ.

He has commissioned us and he has identified us as his own by placing the Holy Spirit in our hearts as the first installment.

That guarantees everything he has promised.

Philippians 1.6 says and I am certain that God, who began the good work in you, will continue to work until it's finally finished, on the day when Christ Jesus returns.

Guys, jesus does not leave us.

We are secure.

Okay, if you give your life to Christ, you are secure in him.

Your salvation is secure, your strength is secure because guess what?

The Holy Spirit is with us always and it's going to happen until Jesus returns, and then we're going to enter into heaven and we're just worshiping him all the time.

He's with us.

He never leaves us.

We're secure.

We are found significant in God's eyes, for we are God's masterpiece.

He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

If you're sitting inside this room, god knew you before you were in your mother's womb.

His scriptures tell us that it's not me.

And then here's the flip side, because we are who we are, right.

We're God's creation.

We are human beings.

We are the only creation on earth that he says I will make them in my image.

It's called the Imago Dei.

Every single person in this room is part of the Imago Dei, meaning made in the image of God.

That begins at conception and all the way through to death.

We are made in the image of God.

That's who we are.

It's an amazing thing that we get to be a part of this.

1 Corinthians 3.16 says Don't you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you?

That Spirit there is talking about the Holy Spirit.

So back in Old Testament times, we hear often of the temple right, we hear of the temple all the time.

Well, the temple was a place that God would dwell.

Paul's telling us, inspired by the Holy Spirit, that we are the temple of God.

The Holy Spirit now dwells in each of us.

That's what we've received.

That's the gift we receive.

You're significant not just because you're a part of the Imago Dei, but if you accept Jesus Christ as your savior, you now have the Holy Spirit.

He lives in you.

Do we get that?

Some of us All.

Right, let's keep going and you'll get there.

The gift of identity this is the gift.

It's a free gift that we must receive.

Now here's the thing about identity, and this wrecked me.

When we place our identity in anything else besides Christ, what bigger slap in the face to God and what he has done for us than that right there?

When we place our identity in our own desires, in our own abilities, in our own sexuality and whatever you want to put it in over here, what bigger slap in the face as Christians, than to God?

That wrecked me.

I've never really thought about it that way Because, guys, I'm a father, we have five children, I'm a husband, I'm a pastor All these things that I'm super proud of.

I love what I do, I love getting to father children, I love to be a husband one of my favorite titles, all these things.

But if my identity, who I am, is not found in Christ, that is dishonorable and that is disrespectful to the king of the universe, the creator of all that laid down his life, not just gave his life up, that went to hell and went to fight for us, won the battle of death, raised himself to life.

That's a big slap in the face.

Our identity must be found in Christ.

Let's keep going.

Second thing we see is that we can bear all things when our identity is found in Christ.

We can bear all things when our identity is found in Christ.

I have a longstanding friendship with a guy and he was telling me, you know, I really thought when I got saved that life would just become easy.

I was like man.

Whoever told you that was lying out of their rear.

When you accept Christ as your Savior, things get hard.

You know why?

Because the enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy.

And so when the enemy sees that God has another follower, has another child that accepted him, the enemy is going to do everything he can to pull you away.

But when our identity is found in Christ, we can bear those things.

Let's unpack.

Verse 35 says Can anything even separate us from God's love?

Does it mean he no longer loves us when we have trouble or calamity or are persecuted or hungry or destitute or in danger or threatened with death?

As the scriptures say, for your sake, we are killed every day.

We are being slaughtered like sheep.

Verse 37 says no, despite all things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loves us.

Victory is ours from Christ, who loves us.

Let me give some perspective.

This letter is written by a guy named Paul.

He's an apostle and he is an awesome, awesome man.

He wasn't always.

He was a murderer before that.

You can do with that what you want.

But what happens when he accepts Christ?

He has this amazing encounter on the way to a place called Damascus and it changes his life forever.

He fully understands the idea of repentance and so when he actually changes his life, he gives his life to Christ.

God changes him and then he gets to work for the gospel, starts telling everybody about God, about Jesus, and what happens is he gets him in prison multiple times.

I think he spends more time in prison than he does outside of prison, and prison's not how we think about it today.

You know, today we got cots, we have TV, we have a library, people get their meals a day, there's heating, there's AC.

No, paul gets thrown in, basically a dungeon nonstop.

When I say a dungeon, it's more like a pit.

Like his best friend's, probably a mouse named Jacques, okay, like a pit.

Like his best friend's, probably a mouse named Jacques.

Okay, like that's what he's got.

That's a Cinderella reference.

If you didn't get that Like, that's what Paul's dealing with, it's hard, it's nasty, it's grimy.

And what does he say Oftentimes?

To live is Christ, to die is gain Meaning.

Okay, great, I'm going to live as Christ, even in the prison.

So all your jailers, they are about to be converted to Christianity.

Hey, and here's the thing If you kill me, then I still win, because then I get to be with Christ.

What would that look like if our identity, our true identity, was found in Christ?

That's what it would look like, but I think so often we forget that that's not the case.

We get fearful.

No, we can bear all that trouble, all that calamity, all of the fears fears of today, anxieties of tomorrow.

We can bear those things because of Christ, if our identity is found in Christ.

Now, this doesn't mean that things aren't hard.

This doesn't even mean there may be something molecular going on and that there's some sort of disorder that you're dealing with.

That doesn't mean that there's help for those things, that there's help for those things.

But can I tell you that victory can be won through Christ.

It can be done when our identity is found in Christ.

So then, how do we bear these things.

Okay.

When the enemy lies to us, we tell them hey, we're created in God's image, I'm good.

Hey, guess what?

I'm a child of God.

Guess what?

I'm forgiven and redeemed.

It's not just you're forgiven, you're made clean through redemption, you're holy and a royal priesthood.

This is who we are, not.

Whatever lie the enemy tells us, you're an heir with Christ, you're part of the body of Christ.

These are just six things.

There's dozens, all through the word of God.

You know what I love about this one Part of the body of Christ.

You know who the body of Christ is.

You and I Around here.

We do baptisms roughly once a month, once every other month, something along those lines, and there is a part of baptism that I absolutely love.

There's a portion where typically somebody will say hey, I want you to look out over this church body.

We are your family and you are a part of this body.

That means you're not in this alone.

The moment we try to get in isolation and seclusion is the moment that we will have a hard time winning that battle.

But when we fight together, we bear arms together, we put our shields together.

Enemy has no chance, all because of Christ.

That's who we are.

Not any of those lies, not anything that the enemy can say or do to pull us away, because God's word's pretty clear he cannot do that.

He can't, he's not strong enough Because we have the power of the holy spirit.

I grew up southern baptist, where my southern baptist people anybody yeah, a few of us sometimes we forget that the holy spirit exists.

Right, I'm now part of, like, the assemblies of the baptist costals, right?

Pastor derrick, our student pastor.

He tells me yeah, you're charismatic with a seat belt, yeah, the seat belt's the word of god.

But sometimes we forget that the Holy Spirit exists.

We have a lot of head knowledge, which is awesome.

That's the way I'm wired, the academia side of the Bible.

I am wired that way.

I love it.

But the Holy Spirit calls us into action.

He gives us the power that we can do that.

It's nothing that we do, it's all what he does.

All he asks is for faithfulness.

So what are some symptoms of finding your identity in the wrong thing?

Right, if there are symptoms of a correct identity, then there's symptoms of a false identity.

Now, this is not an all-encompassing list, but here's some things to think about.

Are you easily offended?

That could be a symptom that your identity is being found in something else.

Maybe you have a hard time forgiving.

I use the word inability to forgive not hard to forgive, but inability.

You can't forgive somebody, can I tell you Christ forgave you.

Therefore you should forgive others.

That doesn't mean forgive and forget.

I grew up in that generation.

You forgive and you forget.

No, there's healthy boundaries, it's okay.

But you can forgive.

You can release that and allow the Holy Spirit to move in that, trying to be someone God did not create you to be.

It's another symptom In today's culture.

We live in an amazing time and we live in an amazing country.

Guys, I love my country.

United States of America, I would argue, is the best operation we can have as far as a social experiment.

As a country, I think we are amazing, but with freedoms also comes some different things that we have to deal with.

So this is not new to us.

Romans dealt with a lot of similar things that we deal with.

If you haven't read the Fall of the Roman Empire, I highly encourage you to read it.

But there's something called the LGBTQIA plus movement, and here's the thing If you are a part of that community, first of all, can I tell you I love you and I'm so glad you're here.

There's no better place for you to be, because you're around a part of that community.

First of all, can I tell you I love you and I'm so glad you're here.

There's no better place for you to be, because you're around a bunch of broken people.

But we're all searching for freedom and God allows freedom when our identity is found in the correct thing and when we try to be something that God did not create or design us to be, that would fall in lines of a sin, the same as lustfulness, the same as gluttonous, the same as greed.

All of those fall in that same category.

But here's the thing we can, through the power of the Holy Spirit, we can repent of that and we can walk in our identity as Christ and there's so much freedom.

So I mean this in the most gracious way.

I love you and I want to see you walk in freedom.

There's help that can be brought through that.

There's things that you can do to walk with people through that questioning and all the misunderstanding.

If you feel like you're not in the right body, please reach out, because we cannot live based off of our emotions and feelings.

None of us.

Our emotions generally lie to us, but it's when we can detach from that and say, okay, I am going to identify as Christ, which means I'm going to live as Christ tells me to live.

There's freedom means I'm going to live as Christ tells me to live.

There's freedom, there's healing, there's forgiveness and there's community.

You're part of the body.

This doesn't just apply to that community.

I was guilty of this for a long time, trying to be someone that God did not create me to be.

Maybe that looks like in your work.

That's one way I always found quote unquote fulfillment was how well I was doing at work.

You realize, when your identity is found in what you're doing in your occupation, you're going to fail because you're human.

Right, I failed, and so what would happen is I'd get torn up.

It wasn't until I was able to say, okay, my identity is not found in my occupation, but rather my identity is found in Christ.

So I'm accepted, known, secure, significant.

I am all those things because of who Christ is.

Therefore, I'm going to work a specific way and work my tail off because God's word tells me to, but my identity is not found in my successes or failures at work.

My successes and failures are all defined by Christ, because guess what?

All God requires for success is a step in faithfulness.

He doesn't fail.

So guess what?

Victory through identity.

Or maybe you have a spirit of fear.

This is one I'm guilty of.

I'm naturally a fearful person, naturally A fear of failure, in particular Confession.

It's good for the soul, bad for the reputation.

Right, I have a spirit of fear, can I tell you, when our identity is found in Christ, we are no longer fearful, because guess what God's word tells us in 2 Timothy 1.7, for God did not give us a spirit of fear, but rather a spirit of power, of courage.

That's what we get to walk in.

We don't have to be fearful of what's to come.

We're not.

We don't have to be fearful of what's to come.

You know how you also fight.

Fear is one small victory at a time.

So around our house we have a phrase that we use, maybe over too much, and it's you know.

You know, in the Durham family we do hard things.

You know why we do hard things.

So we can build up a capacity to not be fearful of the hard thing, because we already did the hard thing.

The the Navy SEALs.

They have a slogan the only easy day was yesterday.

Can I tell you that's up a capacity to not be fearful of the hard thing, because we already did the hard thing.

The Navy SEALs.

They have a slogan the only easy day was yesterday.

Can I tell you that's our slogan as Christians?

The only easy day was yesterday because, guess what?

We are in a fight.

We are in a battle.

You know the people that lose the battle.

It's the ones that don't know you're in a battle.

Matt Chandler he's a pastor at the Village Church in Flower Mound Texas, I think, is where it's at he tells a story of in the Bible there's a story where there's some religious leaders and they go into a house that has a demon-possessed woman.

And what happens is they go in not as Christ followers, not even followers of Paul, but they say you know something along the lines of hey, in the name of the God of Paul, I command you to come out.

And what happens is the demon wrecks them Like they come out and they're naked.

I don't know if you've ever been in a fight, but if you come out naked on the other side, you've lost that fight.

That's a legitimate thing.

You know why they lost that fight?

Because they didn't even realize what kind of battle they were getting into.

If you don't even realize you're in a battle, you've lost.

So maybe today is the first day you realize oh, I'm in a fight.

You're always in a fight.

We wake up in a fight.

The moment we start getting in a fight matters.

Do you have a false identity?

Are you finding your identity in the wrong thing?

We can bear all things when our identity is found in Christ All things, good, bad, ugly and everything in between.

The third thing we see is that we fight from victory when we lean into our identity in Christ.

Verse 38 says and I am convinced that nothing can even separate us from God's love neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears of today nor our worries about tomorrow, not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love.

No power in the sky above or in the earth below.

Indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in us as Christ Jesus, our Lord.

Nothing can separate your identity from Christ.

Therefore, when we get in the fight and our identity is correct, is found in Christ, that's when we can truly win.

Because guess what?

Christ already won, it tells us at the very beginning of this passage.

For Christ died for us and was raised to life for us.

He's already won that victory.

So why do we worry and fear about it?

Who here has physically show me your hand?

Who here has a fear of spreading the word of God to tell your story about how Jesus saved you?

Who here has a fear of that?

All right, the rest of you, guys, you can end up polishing your halo.

Talk to me after and we can kind of straighten all that out.

There's humility there, right, I'm just kidding.

But it's hard.

It's hard to take a step of faith and just tell somebody about Christ.

You know, I love apologetics, discerning, defining, defending truth.

I love that side of things.

And so you put me in a debate form.

I'm a decent cook.

But then you put me face to face.

It's a lot harder.

It's a lot harder.

But here's the thing when I realize that the victory is not based on me, the victory is based on Christ, I can at least take that step of faith.

Success in our Christian life is simply talking about taking that step of faith.

It's not conversion.

Right, if our whole idea of success and failure is based off, if somebody gives their life to Christ or doesn't, that puts way too much pressure and weight on you.

You can't do it.

But when you say, okay, I'm going to take this step of faith and allow Christ to have that victory, no matter what the outcome is over there, I'm going to take this step of faith and allow Christ to have that victory.

No matter what the outcome is over there, I'm going to take the step of faith that God called me to take this year.

Around here we talk about we grow together.

Right, we grow together.

We do that by making disciples.

That's why we exist.

We exist to make disciples by knowing God, growing in freedom and sharing Christ with everyone.

It's hard to share Christ with someone when we don't act like it.

We don't do it.

We don't find our identity in Christ.

We just have to take that step of faith.

I have a pastor friend.

He's been a pastor for many, many years.

Multiply my life by a number.

I'm not going to give you the number because you don't need to know how old he is, he's been a pastor for a long time.

Okay, he says he's a retired pastor.

He pastors, that's just what he does.

He loves people, loves God, loves people.

And he was telling me you know, chris, I've never actually had the opportunity, especially in a church setting that I can recall, to be able to walk with somebody through the steps of salvation.

So most people that I come in contact with he was pastor of a small country church.

Most of them had either been Christians for a long time or he was a seed planter, meaning he would consistently, faithfully tell them about Jesus Christ in the way that the Bible calls him to.

And then sometimes he was the water, meaning that seed's already been planted but they didn't give their life to Christ in that moment.

But he's watering, he's continuing, he's encouraging, he's seeing growth.

And then there's people that are just natural harvesters.

We have some people in this room that I know that they just get to see people come to Christ, which is awesome.

I'm jealous of you.

Okay, I love you.

Confession good for the soul, bad for the reputation.

Maybe you're a harvester, but here's the thing.

The measure of success is simply was I faithful as a seed planter?

Was I faithful as a waterer?

Was I faithful as a harvester?

Because here's the thing we may sit down with somebody and, across the table, we have no idea what God is doing in their lives.

All God has asked us to do is be faithful.

He tells us in Matthew, chapter 28,.

Matthew 28 · chapter mention

Go forth and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

That's what we're called to do, and so maybe we get to be the harvester.

That's amazing.

But maybe you get to be the planter, because everybody has to start somewhere.

I think the average number I'm an analytics guy the average number of times somebody needs to hear the gospel before they actually make a decision, I think it's 10.

Now Welcome to America.

We have the attention span of a goldfish.

Sometimes it's one.

Holy Spirit works in miraculous ways, but in what way is God calling you to be faithful?

We fight from victory when we lean into our identity in Christ.

It means, no matter what we are wrestling with, no matter what struggles we have, hard temptations we have, no matter what type of enemy is trying to get to us, whether the world, the flesh or the devil, we fight from victory, but that implies that you're in the fight.

Are you in the fight today?

Maybe your first step is just to learn more about God.

Maybe you need to spend time in prayer with God.

That's a great first step.

If you have no idea to pray, let me tell you.

A great opportunity is on Tuesday nights at 6 pm.

We have prayer, a time of prayer here in the church.

We have some rock star prayers, the humble ones there in the back.

We have some rock star prayers.

And here's the thing If you have no idea how to pray, can I tell you please come to that and just ask somebody.

Hey, can I sit next to you during prayer and just listen?

Like what great way?

But here's the flip side of prayer Pray what you got.

Simply say Lord, I don't even God, I don't even know what to say to you, but I'm here.

Guess what?

The Holy Spirit works in incredible ways.

Maybe your next step is to actually get in the word of God.

We live in the United States of America, which means we also have a standard of reading.

We have hard copy Bibles at our hands between your cell phone and then also actual hard copies, and there's multiple translations.

If you want to go old school William Shakespeare, you got King James If you want to go.

What we just talked about today it's NLT, and there's several good ones in between.

We have options, we have opportunity.

Get in the word of God.

If you don't know where to start, please, you can ask out front how to get in touch with SOAP.

What we actually do here is the SOAP Bible reading plan, and then there's the Bible breakdown, where Pastor Brandon actually unpacks a chapter of the Bible a day.

Now, that's not the end-all be-all.

You still have to do your work right but we're trying to take any barrier that there could be for us to not understand the word of God out of the way so that we can step into it.

Maybe you don't even know where to start.

Can I tell you this is a good spot.

This is a thing called Right Now Media.

This is something that we offer for free from RLC.

You can scan this QR code.

There are Bible studies, there are kids shows, there's music, there's all kinds of stuff on right now media that you have access to for free.

All you have to do is scan the QR code, stop at the Welcome Center and they can get you hooked up.

We're trying to take all those barriers out.

Anybody recognize this right here?

Yeah, I see some chuckles.

You're my people.

This is from the movie called the Matrix.

Right, there's this thing that's happening in the Matrix.

It's one of my all-time favorite movies.

It's a great CGI, good storyline, all those things, but there's actually an underlying theme that's happening inside the Matrix.

There's a guy named Morpheus and he lives outside of what's called the Matrix and he's sitting down with the main character that's played by Keanu Reeves, named Neo, and he tells Neo hey, you have an option here.

I have two pills that you can take.

The first pill is a pill that if you take it and you swallow it, hey, you're not going to remember anything that we've talked about.

You're going to go back into the matrix.

You're going to wake up and it's just going to be like another day.

You're not going to know anything different.

Or you can take the other pill and you're going to come out of the matrix and you're going to get in the fight for all those people that are inside the matrix to destroy evil.

Now there's a line that I absolutely love.

It's one of my all-time favorite lines in all of movies, and I love movies.

Morpheus looks at Neo and he said here's the thing.

I can always show you the door.

You have to go through it.

All right.

So let me say this I can always show you the door to freedom.

I can always show you the door to where proper identity can be found, but you have to go through it.

You have to.

I can only show you the door to freedom, I can only show you the door to where proper identity can be found, but you have to go through it.

You have to make the decision.

There's nothing I can say or do.

There's nothing Pastor Brandon can say or do.

Put your mom, your dad, your grandparents.

There's no thing, nobody that can make that decision for you.

You have to make the decision.

Here's the door.

Are you gonna go through it?

Are you gonna walk in true freedom?

Are you gonna walk in true identity?

That is only found in Christ, because everything else can waver.

Your feelings, your emotions, all those things can waver, they can move from place to place, but you know what doesn't?

That is God, jesus Christ.

It's the only way we can live and have true life A little longer in the movie.

So Neo ends up taking the pill that he actually steps out of the Matrix and at the very end of the first movie we see this scene.

Right here.

What's happening is is Neo's being shot at by some agents.

The agents are the bad guys.

And what happens?

When they start shooting bullets at him for the very first time, he says stop All the bullets, freeze.

He can't be hit.

Can I tell you, when our identity is found in Christ, when the enemy tries to shoot whatever he wants to at us, you have the ability to say no, and it has to listen.

Through the word of God, you can say no.

Now here's the thing you're not strong enough.

You're absolutely not strong enough.

I'm not strong enough.

No human being is.

You're absolutely not strong enough.

I'm not strong enough.

No, human being is.

But the Holy Spirit is.

Holy Spirit is a supernatural thing and if you missed that message from Brandon Gillum a couple of weeks ago, he did a great job unpacking the Holy Spirit a little bit.

That's the power that's inside of us.

Are we willing to step into it and say, lord, I give you my identity, the identity that I know, that cannot be separated from me, that cannot be changed?

It's this free gift that you've given me.

I know that I'm known, accepted, secure, significant.

I know that I'm a child of God.

I know that I am found only in you, that there's nothing that the enemy can do.

I'm part of the royal priesthood, so I'm going to get out and I'm going to spread your word.

That's who I am.

None of that other stuff.

Is that other stuff?

Things that you don't have to wrestle with?

You're going to have to deal with all that stuff.

If you murdered somebody, you're going to have to pay for it on this side of heaven.

But your identity can be found in Christ and you can be made new.

That's what it means when Jesus is talking to a guy named Nicodemus.

Nicodemus asked hey, what can I do to inherit eternal life?

There's actually a phrasing there of inherit.

Well, you can't inherit the word of God.

I can't inherit eternal life and there's nothing you can do except accept him as your savior.

And Jesus goes on and he says okay, well, you can be born again.

And Nicodemus is like mind blown this is a religious leader, mind blown in this moment.

Well, I can't go back into my mother's womb.

That's kind of weird.

Well, yeah, it is kind of weird.

Jesus lays the path forward.

He goes on in a common verse that we know, john 3, 16,.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.

He's talking to Nicodemus, but here's the best part of that.

I love verse 17.

He says he did not come into the world to simply point an accusing finger or to condemn the world, but rather to give life.

That's what Christ did for us.

All we have to do is accept that identity.

So I don't know what everybody's wrestling with today.

A room this big.

I'm sure there's somebody that's never met Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

Can I tell you today's a great day to do that.

If you would like to know how to do that, if there's on the inside of your worship guide in the connect card, you can flip around to where it says prayer and on the back of that is an example of how to walk through those steps.

But maybe you want to walk with somebody through that, Can I tell you we'd be honored.

We would love to do that.

I'll be up here at the front, our prayer team will be in the back and we would love to walk with you and answer any questions that you may have.

But maybe today you've given your life to Christ, but you never truly put your identity in Christ.

Maybe today's that day that you need to do that.

Can I tell you?

I'm so excited for you because there's freedom.

You need to do that.

Can I tell you I'm so excited for you because there's freedom, there's joy and there is a life found in that, and then you can turn around and you can crush evil and you can push back darkness, like that's what we get to be a part of.

And so maybe today's the day that you need to, as an example, come forward and lay it down before the Lord.

Maybe you need to pray in your seat.

I'm going to challenge you a little bit on that one, though.

Take that physical step, because that takes some courage.

To say I'm broken, that's okay.

You're full of broken people.

We all have a private battle nobody else knows about.

You can come right here.

You can pray before the Lord.

You can go back to the prayer table.

Our prayer team will be back there, and we would love to pray with you and intercede with you there.

It's nothing we can say or do, but.