"This is Who We Are, Part 1: A Chosen People" with Pastor Chad Stuart - Oct. 3, 2026

Thank you, Spencer O'Ban.

Thank you, Miss Fraelick.

Appreciate that.

Blessed by that.

And uh it was good for me.

I was staying over there and I was getting a little drowsy, so I was glad to have that because I've been in the Philippines and uh I got home uh Thursday night and from the hotel door I was the hotel door where I was staying in a place called Kaigaan de Oro to my front door due to flight changes and delays, 46 hours.

Yeah, thank you.

I appreciate that sorrow on my behalf.

First night I slept great, but last night, about two something in the morning, I woke up and rate a roll because I've been there for over two weeks there in the Philippines.

And I will tell you that uh it's wonderful.

I appreciate the general conference uh inviting me to do things like that and getting to serve our church all over the world, and it's wonderful to see how the world operates while uh on those various excursions.

But one of the greatest affirmations of going on trips like that is the affirmation that God has me in the right place for where I'm at in my ministry right now.

Because man, I missed you guys.

Uh I missed my family about seven minutes after leaving the house.

I was missing my family.

You know, about seven days in, I was pretty homesick.

I even wrote to Christina, hey, pray for me.

I'm getting my homesick mode.

And uh she told me, be friendly, you know, don't don't be don't mope.

So, and then about another couple days, I started missing you all too.

So it was it was nice.

So um took you a little bit longer to be missed.

No, I'm just kidding.

I love you all.

I'm glad to be here with you, and we just pray that God will lead us and guide us.

And if I fall asleep, just make sure you guys catch me, okay?

Uh if I fall asleep during that, during this message.

We're starting a new sermon series today.

This is who we are.

And today we want to be reminded of really as a Christian, if we're if we're truly Christians, who is it that gets to define our identity and who we are?

And we're gonna talk about that today.

There are many names that we uh God identifies himself as, some that we're very familiar with that we use often, things like the lion or the good shepherd.

These are familiar titles referring to Jesus, but there are also uh identities that God has that are that are more foreign to us.

In the book of Deuteronomy, God identifies himself as an eagle that stirs up the nest and hovers over his young.

In the book of uh Isaiah, chapter 33, and verse 21, uh, the Lord referred, identifies himself as a wide river.

Isaiah 33 · chapter mention

And in Psalm 84, the Lord identifies himself as our son and shield.

All through the Bible, there's all different ways that God is identifying himself.

But God also gives um identity and and gives labels to his people, describes his people in particular ways.

And we're gonna be looking at some of that and talking about that a little bit today.

If you want to open your Bibles to the book of 1 Peter, chapter 2, verses 9 and 10, we see a few of these identities that God declares over his people, or that God desires to declare not only over his people, but these are identities that God desires to declare over all people.

1 Peter 2:9

And in 1 Peter chapter 2, verses 9 and 10, a few of these are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's possession, people who have received mercy.

1 Peter 2:9

If you have read the Bible or you're familiar with biblical language, these are probably terms that you've heard before, and you probably know in some fashion what they're about.

But we probably read these and move through them, not understanding the significance of why they were given, why they were written by Peter in the first place.

Peter wrote these things as Dr.

Karen Jobes wrote, which I like what she said, so that Christians would realize the distinctive honor that is theirs as believers in Jesus Christ.

Peter's readers are to understand themselves in these terms, regardless of how society labels them.

You're a royal priesthood, you're a holy nation.

You are people that are God's possessions, you're people that did not receive mercy, but now you are people of mercy.

You're people that have received mercy.

We need to understand these are our identities, regardless of how society wants to identify us, or maybe even how we want to identify ourselves.

Think about this language even for us.

These were, think about some of the audience that was receiving Peter's message.

Some of them were actually possessed by other people.

They were slaves, they were servants to other people.

But but God comes along and he identifies them as having a better master, not being the possession of another human, but being a possession of God Himself.

First century Christians were a vulnerable, powerless minority with no legal rights or political power.

But but Peter tells them that God wants them to identify as chosen people, as royal people, as holy people.

I don't know if any of those titles resonate with your heart.

Maybe if you you think about your life, maybe some of them resonate more deeply when you pause and think about it.

One of the most painful things that we deal with in society, and I would guess that almost every person in society deals with it in some way at some point or another.

And that is the feeling of rejection.

Maybe it's a it's a momentary uh point of rejection.

Just in an instant, you feel kind of shunned or or rejected by somebody.

Maybe it's a feeling that you are experiencing right now, that you still have, that you are going through right now.

But God says to us, you are not rejected, you are chosen.

It doesn't matter what society says, it doesn't matter what those around you say.

God says, I want you to feel chosen as my chosen people.

Another thing that some of us feel at times is the feeling of inferiority.

We measure ourselves against one another and we feel inferior.

We feel common, we feel like we're not able to measure up maybe to others.

We feel insecure in situations because of this feeling of inferiority.

But but God comes along and he says to us, No, you're royal people.

You are royalty.

When's the last time you looked in the mirror and said to yourself, I am royalty?

I mean, it's and you're not you're not doing it like I did.

When I was in junior high, I remember I was struggling with some insecurities, and I used to look at myself in the mirror and tell myself good things about myself.

I read it some books somewhere, and I would do the self-positive talk to try to talk to myself.

But but God's not saying that we need to be like uh Stuart Smalley from the old Saturday Night Live.

You know, where he said, I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and people like me.

You know, the whole point to that sketch, that comedic sketch was that these weren't these things weren't actually true.

He wasn't really that good, he wasn't really that smart, and people didn't really like him.

But he would look in the mirror and tell himself this.

But but God says, You don't need to pretend that this is what you are, this is who I have called you to be.

You can look in the mirror and say, by God's grace, I am chosen.

By God's grace, I am royalty.

It's the identity that God has given to us, or that God, I would should say, actually wants to give to each and every one of us.

But here's the thing: these identities are not automatically everyone's.

These identities actually are based on your choice.

They are your choice to choose whether you would allow God to give you your identity or whether you would allow society or even yourself to give you your identity.

Now, choosing our own identity is a big deal in our society.

In fact, it's an obsession in our society.

This obsession was gradual over time, but in the last 15 to 20 years, we've seen this obsession with defining ourselves and labeling ourselves and giving ourselves our own identity grow over time.

It began back, the social scientist kind of traces back to a Genevan philosopher by the name of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who in the 18th century kind of gave language.

There was the weakening of external things to define you.

No longer were you a farmer because your job or or the church could define you or society or these things could define you.

But but he began to say, you need to look inside yourself and figure out your own identity based on yourself.

Turn inward and look to yourself.

And what Jean-Jacques Rousseau saw was something very beautiful.

He said, Inside you is good, and inside you is beautiful, and you need to get back to that and identify yourself in that mode.

The the romantics, the romantic poets of the next century kind of took on this language of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and they used this language and made it beautiful.

People like Shelley and Wordsworth and Blake and Coleridge, poets that we read when we were in English class.

I hope they still read those in English class still to this day.

But their power of their words, they place great emphasis upon the inner space and our inner feelings as defining the real us.

Look inside yourself and you'll see the real you.

There was another person that actually was a big fan of Rousseau, but he took this idea of defining oneself in a whole different direction.

Whereas the romantics looked at inward self and saw this beauty, there was a guy by the name of Sigmund Freud who came along and looked inward and saw this darkness and this angst.

And he defined everything by this sexual tension that is within people.

He began to say that sex wasn't something you did, but it's something you are.

And then you had the whole revolution of the 60s and 70s, the political revolution and the and the sexual revolution that that kind of began to give even more freedom to say, I have the right to identify, to define myself.

Of course, then there was an unhealthy pendulum swing against this.

And some people don't realize, but it's the exact same thing.

We saw in the 1980s and the late 1970s and the 1980s, you saw individuals like Jerry Falwell and the moral majority rise up, and you saw Ralph Reed and the Christian coalition rise up, and these people, these people said, no, we're going to identify with politics and with God.

But based on what our politics feel inside of us.

Just this slowly going process of everyone getting to define their own right and their own wrong and their own truths and their own identity.

And then, of course, we've now moved into the technological age.

And in the last 15 years, this has just exploded with everyone defines themselves as they want, as there's this extreme progressive individualism in all areas of our society.

We could dig into this more and more, and there's some books actually, if you want to see, do further reading on these that are good books for this The Desecration of Man and Strange New World.

But what I want us to realize, and what I want us to think about, is that our identity actually is a choice, but not as society says it is a choice.

It's not a choice based on what we look inside of ourselves and see.

It's based not on what how we define ourselves, but the choice is about whether or not we allow God to define our identity, or whether we allow someone else or even ourselves to define our identity.

This choice has serious consequences.

This is not something this that I say.

Secular scientists, set social scientists say this as well.

They say choosing your own identity guides your life choices and shapes your future actions.

What we might not realize about these identities in 1 Peter is that they are based on a choice.

They are not automatic to all.

Many people will say, Oh, I believe in God, so I'm I'm chosen by God.

I believe in God, so I'm part of the royal priesthood.

I believe in God, so I'm the possession of God.

But but it's not simply just about us acknowledging the name of God.

There is a choice that takes place.

That choice we see in the first line, the first words of verse 9.

This word day, we translate it but it's actually but you as Peter as we translate what Peter says.

It is actually serves as a marker of contrast.

It serves as a matter marker of contrast.

As Dr.

Peter David states, Peter is using the emphatic, but you to make the transition and the contrast clear.

In other words, what what he's saying that Peter is doing is he's saying, these are all these people, they're the royal priesthood, they're chosen by God, they're the possession of God, they're those who have received mercy.

And he's saying, but there's others that are not this way.

They're they're contrasted.

There are those who have chosen not to have this identity.

And here is what the identity is based on.

Here's what at the end of the day, when all is said and done, when the Lord comes and all is settled out, we've heard terms in the Bible.

There's the sheep and the goats, there's the wheat and the tares, there's all these terms.

When all is settled out, our identity is going to be based on one thing.

And that is on the stone, Jesus Christ.

And whether we built on that stone or whether we stumbled on that stone.

In 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 4, the Bible says, as you come to him, that's speaking of Jesus, as you come to him, a living stone rejected by men.

1 Peter 2 · chapter mention

Again, here we see this choice.

Some come to the stone, and some reject the stone.

As you come to him, a living stone, rejected by men, but in the sight of God, chosen and precious, you yourselves, like living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

For those who choose Jesus to build upon the stone Jesus Christ, they receive those identities that are mentioned in 1 Peter chapter 2.

1 Peter 2 · chapter mention

The chosen, the royal, the priesthood, the holy, the possession of God, those who have received mercy.

The question is this, and and the choice is this.

Are we building our lives on the identity that God has for us in Jesus?

Or are we building our lives on the identities that we decide to choose for ourselves?

When we come to Jesus, when we truly come to Jesus, the Bible says then our lives are built on Him, the cornerstone, or in another place, Jesus put it, on the rock.

How do we know?

How do we know if we are building our identity on Jesus' design for us or on our own design or on the world's design?

This is an important question we should ask ourselves and we should examine our own hearts to see, Jesus, is my life being built on you as a cornerstone, or am I actually stumbling over you and your principles and your teachings?

Are we built upon the rock?

Jesus explained it, a way to know which one it is.

Very simply, in a parable he told in Matthew chapter 7.

Matthew 7 · chapter mention

And you can turn there if you'd like in Matthew chapter 7.

Matthew 7 · chapter mention

Uh it's the song we sing.

Do you want to sing it with me?

The wise man built his the wise man built his house upon the rock.

The wise man built his house upon, and the rains came tumbling down.

We don't need to go anywhere.

You sound wonderful though.

Good job.

Good a cappella.

A song is a is a wonderful little song, but it leaves out one of the key phrases of Matthew chapter 7 and verse 24.

Matthew 7 · chapter mention

Look at what Matthew chapter 7 and verse 24 actually says in 25.

Matthew 7 · chapter mention

Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.

And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall because it had been founded on the rock.

And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.

And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat against the house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.

When we really choose Jesus as Lord, then Lord doesn't just become a title that we use, but it actually becomes the reality of our lives and our relationship to Jesus.

The Jesus is actually Lord, which means He is the authority, He has the final say.

His words are the foundation of my life, his thoughts and desires are what I choose over my own thoughts and desires.

Jesus says, building our house on this rock, the one who hears these words of mine and does these things, is submitting our will to him.

Everyone who hears these words of mine, Jesus says, and does them, is wise.

And here's the contrast again.

The identity of those who come to Jesus and see his words and say, I'm going to order my life around these words, the identity is that they're wise.

But those who come to the words of Jesus and say, you know what, I'm not going to I'm not going to build my life around this identity are defined as foolish.

Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them is wise.

Why is this?

Well, let's go back to 1 Peter.

1 Peter chapter 2, verses 6 and 7.

1 Peter 2:6

Behold, I am laying in Zion, a stone, a cornerstone, chosen and precious.

And whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.

So the honor is for you who believe.

But for those who do not believe, the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.

And a stone, and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.

They stumble because they disobey the word as they were destined to do.

There again, listed are the consequences of this choice of how we are going to identify with Jesus Christ.

There's words used like honor or shame.

There's words like obedience or disobedience.

In fact, the final line of verse 8 Peter is not telling us some were chosen to be disobedient.

This wasn't a predestination that some are chosen just to be lost or to be disobedient.

He's saying that all who choose to disobey are destined to stumble.

The outcome, folks, of us not building our life on Jesus Christ and His words and His teaching, are we're destined to stumble.

We're destined to trip on the stone Jesus and His teachings.

Let me illustrate it this way.

If I'm ironing my clothes and I leave a hot iron on, and my kid is in the room and I say to him, Don't go touch the iron.

And he goes to touch the iron.

He's destined to what?

To get burned.

That's what this is saying.

For all who choose to disobey, they're destined to stumble.

It's not a what if, it's not a predestination thing.

It's just the the, I don't know the term, but the the outcome, the natural outcome of this decision.

When we choose to not allow Jesus to define us, to identify us, to give us our identity, but we say, I'm going to look internally so that I can identify myself, or I'm going to let the world say who I am or who I'm not.

The destiny of that is a person who finds Jesus as a stumbling block, a person that finds Jesus as an offense.

But Jesus says, those who choose to build their house upon me and allow me to be Lord of their life.

Those who choose that, the Bible says that they are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness and into his marvelous light.

I love this next section here, this next verse.

Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people.

Once you have not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Will you answer me, even in your own heart?

Just answer me right now.

Which sounds better to you?

Which is the identity that you want?

Do you want the identity of shame and disobedience and struggling and stumbling?

Or does it sound better to be chosen, to be the possession of God, to be considered as royalty, to be considered holy, not because you and of yourself are holy, but because you have trusted fully in the Holy One Jesus Christ.

Which of those sounds better?

It's all based on a choice.

And that choice is Jesus.

Before I finish my my uh after I finished my sermon, I came across in our, we're doing our one voice praying for God to open our hearts to see people that and to have a heart for witnessing to people, reading the desire of ages together, to to grow daily and to see Jesus daily and be reminded of Jesus daily, and then of course, looking for opportunities to share Jesus with others.

But I was reading in our desire of ages reading this last week.

Uh I was finishing up just on Friday after I'd already finished my sermon a couple days before, and I read this statement that I want to read to you, but I didn't get it in the slides in time.

In their attitude toward Christ, all would show on which side they stood.

And thus everyone passes judgment on themselves.

Folks, the judgment in the end is not whether you did A, B, C, and D right and A, B, C, and D wrong.

The judgment in the end is our choice based on what we did with Jesus.

Did we allow Jesus to identify us, to define our lives, to define our path, to define our identity?

Or did we say, Jesus, I know better than you, and I'm going to choose my own way?

I'm going to choose my own identity.

Will you, will I, will we surrender our desired identity?

Will we allow Jesus to give us the identity of his chosen people?

Shame, struggle, stumbling, disobedience is the identity, is the end result of all identities based on searching inward or on what the world defines for us.

But royal possession, people of God who have received mercy, chosen, that's the end result of saying, Jesus, I will let you be Lord of my life and to give me my identity in you and you alone.

Which do we want?

Lord Jesus, I pray that you will help us to be surrendered to the identity that you have for us.

As we begin this sermon series, this is who we are.

Lord, we have a choice.

You don't force it upon any of us.

That who we truly are is best discovered, is best experienced, is most fulfilling in the choice to build on the rock Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.

Lord, I pray that as we go through this series and as we open up your word week after week, Lord, that we will discover that who we are and who we want to be, and we'll make the choice, Jesus, to be all that you define us to be.

People that have received mercy, though we are deserving of none.

People that are holy, not by our works, but through the grace and the goodness of Jesus.

People who are royalty, not because we in of ourselves are royal, but because we are attached to the one who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

People who are the possession of God.

And people who are chosen.

Even though the world and other things may reject us or tell us we're not enough.

We are chosen.

Jesus, may we embrace that identity and allow you to define what that means in our lives.

In your name I pray.

Amen.