Here are notes of the messages that I am sharing with a large group of men this weekend. These are also things that God is teaching me and will be helpful to anyone as we seek to find our identity.
Identity is so important because who think we are affects how we live.
Who am I? … Rest – purpose. Psalm 139, Colossians 1. I am God’s Creation
Who I am…Refresh – perspective 2 Corinthians 5:17, Psalm 23, 1 Peter 2:9,10. I am a new creation in Christ
I Am is pursuing me… Re-energize – pursuit. Philippians 3:1-17. Ephesians 4:17-5:2. The great I am is pursuing me
Identity- who you think you are determines everything about how you live. As men we are constantly and consistently trying to be someone else…we seek to find our identity in things that we think will bring fulfillment and allow us to live life to the fullest. We find ourselves continually striving to become – and frankly it’s exhausting and leaves us empty and tempted to give up. Over the next day and a half I hope to help you discover who you really are In Christ and show you how to find rest in the rat race, how to be refreshed by focusing on God’s truth, and how to be re-energized to press on.
Who am I? Who does God’s Word say that I am? Rest – purpose
I am God’s creation“I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” Psalms 139:14 NIV
God’s purpose for us from the beginning was to be an image bearer –
“So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” Genesis 1:27 NIV
I was made by Jesus and for Him. “For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.” Colossians 1:16 NIV
God wants us to find rest in the fact that we belong to Him. He wants us to find our identity not so much in what we do but in whose we are.
God knows me completely and I cannot go anywhere without Him – I don’t have to be anyone else to be loved by Him. I can rest in the knowledge that He knows the real me and still is with me …I don’t have to be anyone but who He has created me to be. Psalm 139:1-1
But what about__________________? Even if no one else approves of me our accepts me God loves me more than I can imagine and accepts me because he made me and is remaking me through Jesus. God made me, me for His glory.
I am accepted by God “to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.” Ephesians 1:6 KJV
I am blessedEphesians 1:3-6
I am worth everything to God. Vs 7-14.
Message #2. Who I Am…Refresh – perspective
We learned that as God’s creation we were created to glorify Jesus but it’s hard to do that unless this first statement is true of us…
I am a new creation in Christ. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” 2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV. You are not your past!
We usually Define our identity by something we physically see in our lives ….But instead we can be refreshed by learning our spiritual reality – I am a new creation of God and he not only has a purpose for me but also a plan for my life and a path for me to follow. As a new creation God the Father has adopted me into His family.
I am a son of the most high God “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:26 NKJV
“Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” John 1:12-13 NIV
As we realize our new position as a son of God everything changes about how we live. We think differently and we live differently because we are different. We have been translated from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. Whoever we understand ourselves to be determines how we live.
What’s different about who I am? Romans 8 find several things that are now different because You are God’s son.
I Am not condemned
I am a child of God – adopted into his family
I am forgiven
I am led by God’s Spirit
I am free
I am equipped
I am unstoppable – nothing is impossible with God
I am guaranteed hope
I am more than a conqueror
I am a son of the most high God – one who is deeply loved by God and forgiven. I am a son in whom God my Father is pleased, not because of me but because of Jesus. I am a spiritual man being built up by God’s Spirit in me. (1 Peter 1:1-14)
“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 1 Peter 2:9-10 NIV
I am taken care of by God
Psalm 23
God, the Great I Am is pursuing me …Example – prodigal son
Session / message #3
Re-energize – pursuit Philippians 3:1-17. Ephesians 4:17-5:2 ; 2 Peter 1:3-11
I am pursuing the God who is pursuing me
The thing we pursue will either fuel us or leave us empty- it will either energize us or leave us exhausted. When I pursue Jesus, the Great I Am, who is pursuing me- I am beginning to live the abundant life that He promises. The more that I know Him and pursue life with Him the more that I become like Him.
I am pursuing a deeper experience of Jesus by putting everything else behind my pursuit of Him. My identity is found in knowing Him –
All else pales in comparison Philippians 3:1-10
I am all in in knowing Jesus “I gave up all that inferior stuff so I could know Christ personally, experience his resurrection power, be a partner in his suffering, and go all the way with him to death itself. If there was any way to get in on the resurrection from the dead, I wanted to do it.” Philippians 3:10-11 MSG
Jesus is and has been pursuing me…Continue to pursue Jesus just as he has pursued you…Keep pressing in and pressing on …Let go of the past – who you have been – past pursuits, failures, and successes and latch on to life in Jesus who is latching on to you. “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:12-14 NIV
As you go all in in pursuit of who Jesus you begin to have a fuller understanding of the life that is available in Him And life becomes all about Him – you will and can become an example for others to follow. You are a citizen of heaven!!! 15-21
God doesn’t want to take your life away but wants give you your best life- life with Him…He is the great I Am and He wants you to be re-energized in your pursuit of life in Him… what is He saying to you? Psalm 23, 2 Peter 1 –
You are my masterpiece …“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:8-10 NIV
I Am at work – “I Am” still writing your story – Philippians 1:6, 2:12 – Psalms 37:23,24
I am available
I am pursuing you
I am here with you and I want you to be with me
I am able
I am enough
If you truly want to experience life – Find your identity in Jesus … I am God’s creation, He came after me even though I was going the opposite direction and pursuing other things. He gave me faith to believe in Jesus and made me a new creation- I am His masterpiece and my life now is about and for His glory. The more I know Him the more I become like Him …in Him I find my true self and live life to the fullest.
Encouragement for Life 