Catch The Fire Toronto - Live (August 22nd, 2021)

my jesus [Music] [Music] um [Music] oh [Music] you make it easy so [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] do [Music] [Music] do [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] do [Music] do [Music] [Music] hey friends steve long here my wife sandra and i we are the senior leaders of catch the fire church in toronto and it's our privilege to welcome you to be part of our online church family we have thousands of people in southern ontario thousands of people around the world that this is how they do church and so we want to welcome you whether this is your first time or you're a repeat part of catch the fire by watching our meetings being a part of our meetings and friends i want to encourage you don't just watch participate we are purposely doing what we're doing so that you can experience god today the purpose of our church is to help people to encounter god's transforming presence so i want to encourage you during the worship time during the teaching time during the ministry time and there's going to be a couple different ministry times offered participate pretend that you're in the front row of our of our live church meeting and so when they say stand stand if they say put your hand up friends i want to encourage you participate in the meetings and you'll be able to experience god's presence today friends we have lots of things that we offer as a church and for those of you that are considering making catch the fire church your church there's three things that we encourage people to do that sort of get the fullness of our church family and number one is by attending and there's two things that you can be a part of you can be a part of every sunday we have a live meeting uh you can watch it on demand as well we have live prayer ministry we have life prophetic we have live healing that takes place every sunday we have live small groups that take place every week you can be a part of all of those communities all of those teams you can be a part of you can serve and that's number two you can serve on these teams you don't have to be in our building to be able to serve you can serve from your home like many of our small group leaders are doing and number three is giving everyone who's part of our church family is encouraged to equally sacrifice to equally give to be able to cover all the expenses of our church and we have some incredibly generous people and it's like as all of us do a little we do a lot together so friends expect to meet god today thank you so much for joining us and i want to bless you to encounter god's transforming presence good morning uh let's see hello hello hello this is the day the lord has made and we will be glad and rejoice in it how many of you agree with that i just say good morning family good morning good morning you who are here a good even morning to the ones that are outside waiting to get checked in and coming in and joining us and and especially um not not more more especially than than you are here but certainly especially those that are watching online and um it's going to be absolutely awesome to have an hour and a half together this morning in his presence you know it's it's so i've just haven't you discovered how wonderful it is to be able to to be together in person and and we can see each other from home too you know i just know that it's awesome and to be here because i i've watched on you know gone to church with you from the house from my from my room for so long and i realized at home that there's distractions all over the place how many of you notice the distractions come when you're when you're trying to join in the service from home you know like maybe getting a coffee or the dog has to go outside or the phone rings or or anything else you know so i'm i'm just asking you who are watching online that you would um really set your heart set your time aside let this let this time together be a priority for you let it be special for you and for those of you online we really really love it we appreciate it so much when you send your greetings on on the chat your praise reports and any positive comments that you would have it really makes us feel connected um i wonder if you'd mind standing please because there's one thing i absolutely must do before we um in fact even those of you comfortably at home could stand as well because there's something absolutely must must must do before we begin our wonderful time of worship and being together i hardly know how to pray thank goodness he gives us the ability to pray in the spirit we don't know how to pray as we ought to because we don't know all the answers we don't know what to pray and we are a people with a desperation in our hearts that's not negative as we are so united in our hearts and our spirits with our brothers and sisters in afghanistan and i just felt as i was coming that that i wanted us to pray together but i felt you know we can be so wordy at times and i just gonna ask you to look to the holy spirit and ask him to give you a specific need to pray for as their meeting in the one of the fastest growing underground churches in the world is afghanistan and i think the best way i can do it in praying for you my family who's over there is to just have a minute of silence a minute of honoring and i know that all of you here and you home you you've probably been praying like mad as you've read things and you've heard things and but i want to pray according to his will and i believe as we pray in the spirit and if you're not exercising your prayer language yet you just say oh jesus we need your help we don't know what to do as jehoshaphat said we don't know what to do but our eyes are on you and if you do pray in tongues let's just quietly exercise that ability now and ask him to break forth in the absolutely the most perfect area for them that they need this morning it may be a family maybe a mom by herself it may be a a man maybe a church group so father we submit this to you we thank you for your presence i thank you for your love we acknowledge that we do not understand but your word says eyes haven't seen in years haven't heard the things that you have prepared for those who love you and i thank you for your mercy your grace your presence your breakthrough amongst our family in that other nation [Music] just say lord right now i hold i hold them up to you jesus [Music] she says you weep over your children jesus i thought i'm high to be oh jesus [Music] thank you for your covering thank you for your shelter oh [Music] thank you for your wings under the shadow of your wings under the shelter of your wings people find refuge today thank you thank you lord [Music] thank you lord wow my goodness his wraparound presence is certainly here you know and we know that he's cracking things open in the spiritual atmosphere and here and in our lives as well in our homes individually and you know i you know that we've been asked by public health authorities that we're not to sing but i haven't seen any directive that we can't speak out loud that we can't shout that we can't clap we can't wave our arms and we can't move our feet so i'm saying as we in a few minutes go into the time of worship and praise and worship that you exercise those things that you can do without constraint in jesus name we're so blessed this morning to have welcomed worship leaders from our patch to fire church in stratford ontario michael stangard and caitlyn bean and then our own team with them so it's going to be amazing but but just before they begin um i'd like to express a few thoughts about this amazing gift that's been given to us called worship you see worship is more than just lip service you know especially those times when our our hearts seem to be distracted by many other things and i'm doing a um a devotional each day by nikki gumbel from holy holy trinity brompton in england i love it going through the bible in a year is absolutely fantastic and he has a tremendous devotional each time and and a couple of weeks ago he had written this and and it so grabbed me i thought i need to share it with you i need to share it with you this morning he said and i'm just quoting from my book okay worship is a submission of all our nature to god it's the quickening of conscience by his holiness the nourishment of mind with his truth the purifying of imagination by his beauty the opening this is what worship does the opening of his heart to his love the surrender of our will to his purpose and all this is gathered up together in adoration now listen listen worship saves us from being self-centered it makes us god-centered we were created to live in relationship with god worship should be our number one priority if you put god first in your life all kinds of blessings will will follow and let me just just add this and we need to recognize this in the days we're living in true worship has also been proven to be a major weapon in spiritual warfare our enemy satan and his legions are allergic to it if you ever had a severe allergic attack you know what's being released to that though those things because uh because of worship it makes them shudder and tremble and they will run from it and that's why they spend so much of their effort their effort trying to tempt us to become distracted we're in the midst of it even to try and keep us from worship in our everyday life and because god loves you he warns us of the dangers of disregarding this assignment for your life and that is to be a worshiper and i want every one of you to say out loud after me lord today i submit myself to you quicken my conscience with your holiness [Music] nourish my mind with your truth purify my imagination with your beauty open my heart to your love i surrender my all to your purpose i worship and adore you and so team michael and kalyn and the rest of the team may you all move fruitfully in the anointing that's resting in you and upon you right now in jesus name okay [Music] is [Music] [Music] let it rise [Music] watch the giants fly [Music] [Applause] we praise you we praise you [Music] let it rise [Music] when we praise you we've gotta break who's on our side forever [Music] this is what living looks like this is what freedom feels like this is what heaven sounds like we praise you because this is what living looks like this is what freedom feels like this is what heaven sounds like we praise you cause this is what freedom feels like this is what heaven sounds like we praise you cause this is [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] on our [Music] [Applause] creation we cry we praise you [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] we praise you we praise you lord we praise you we come with thoughts full of gratitude we praise you we [Music] let's just welcome him this morning would you come [Music] your guns [Music] come in your [Music] where'd you come [Music] so [Music] the power to save [Music] jesus [Music] [Music] [Music] we give you the heart you deserve it all we give you [Music] [Music] [Music] they're on a tree [Music] the father lay down [Music] from darkness to life you deserve it all you deserve it all you deserve it all we give you deserve it all you deserve it all we give you the hearts [Music] [Applause] [Music] through every lost victory my soul will rise to only bring you glory [Music] [Music] and through my [Music] [Music] [Music] you deserve it all you deserve it all [Music] grace you deserve it all [Music] with every round victory my soul will rise [Music] you deserve it all you deserve [Music] we turn our hearts again [Music] we say have all the honor all the glory [Music] it all belongs to you [Music] [Music] one more time [Music] you [Music] you deserve it is [Music] [Music] lay down all burdens [Music] you break through confusion you set me free [Music] and when you come [Music] [Music] you set me free [Music] you bring peace [Music] i want you living god you bring peace in my heart [Music] god [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] when you speak [Music] if you bring peace [Music] god you bring peace [Applause] god god [Music] when everything [Music] is my jesus my jesus my jesus you cover me with your wings you've wronged to victory my [Music] [Music] [Applause] my jesus my jesus my jesus [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] there is god like [Music] there is oh no want you to oh [Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Music] and all [Music] jesus jesus [Music] [Music] jesus jesus jesus [Music] my soul will sing no praises [Music] jesus [Music] oh jesus [Applause] my soul will pray so we'll praise you [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Music] my soul will praise [Music] see [Music] jesus [Music] jesus [Music] [Music] i just feel like today lord wants to enlarge our hearts to know the reverence of the lord the beauty the majesty [Music] all hail to you king jesus come on i'll hail to you king jesus all around the room all around where you are situated and watching online all hail king jesus oh i keep thinking oh lord you gave me this word in the car coming over this morning on christ the solid rock i stand come on on christ the solid rock i stand yeah you're coming i'm so thankful that they put this here you say i i never could quite figure out how you can hold a mic in an ipad that you want to scroll and use it both at the same time but it is the day of miracles isn't it oh my goodness oh my goodness on christ the solid rock i stand i think that's what i i'm asking myself these days um oh my goodness his presence is sick all over the room sick want thank him all hail you king jesus oh my goodness [Music] oh my goodness actually i'm glad i have the table here you may be seated if you like but if you feel at any time you need to jump up sometimes i have known people to be so exuberant in the lord's presence and their love for him that they even want to run around the room you're loud you're loud i'm so glad that they chose that song [Music] you know i i i i'm serious with us as a family this morning as well as those who don't know yet where they stand with someone called the lord jesus christ who is he the bible says in hebrews 12 2 that he is the author designer leader beginner the source of our christian faith and the one who brings it to completion he finishes what he starts and i love that i said he's never going to leave any one of us half done he finishes what he starts and i just want to consider for a minute as we look at jesus so before mel who's really our anointed speaker for this morning for sure before she comes i i i just want you to want us to consider that there's a a sequence of progressive steps in the life of a christian and the beginning three would be believe to believe to know and to follow so who who here today would would say i believe in him one two three i believe in him [Music] now allow me for just a minute to get a point across by just doing a little play on words okay when someone says i believe in him i wonder what that could possibly mean you see people say they believe in many things it's a mental agreement it's from something historical or cultural or traditional um and the example that i i think of is the example of the go train all of you watching and all of you know what what the go train is and what it does how it functions and you can believe it do you know what you can believe in the goat train absolutely you you can believe in the the fact known fact that it makes many trips during the day you you may even get a book that tells you all about the gold train and about the schedule of timing and how it works and the rules and regulations for the go train okay and and and you can even read about many trains every day and you can study the instruction manual oh my great mental agreement is there however what good is there knowing about that train if you personally never get on the train yourself you can know all about it you can stand at this at the station and then watch the train comes in and out and you're enthralled with trains absolutely but you never get on it never and so you never go anywhere i i want to put forth a thought that there's a difference between believing in the train and knowing personally through experience for yourselves what it's like to get on the train and be a trained writer i hope you're getting that the contrast that i'm putting across no less that let's apply that same principle to being a christian because it could possibly be more than simply having a mental ascent agreement about a person called jesus who you believe in i mean you believe it's right there in front of you who've been in front of you for probably all your life you've heard about him lost and you may have even read some of the instruction manual about that about him you believe in him but doesn't need to go further than that in acts chapter 16 there's this story is told about um two apostles paul and silas and they've been thrown into prison because they've been preaching the gospel and bringing healing and deliverance all over the place and and i think it's um we'll read the whole thing oh that was in verse 31 they're in the stinkiest deepest part of this prison and it must have been pretty odd pretty dreadful and and right in the middle of the night being there they experienced the most miraculous rescue and there's an earthquake that cracked open all the prisons doors knocked all the walls down and leaving the jailer terrorized oh i can just see him just trembling what shall i do to be saved it must have been the most frightening experience that they'd ever had what should i do to be saved he cried out and paul answered and i'm going to give you his answer and just even with that verse from three different translations but the new king james said that the king james says believe on the lord jesus christ believe on the lord jesus christ and you shall be saved you and your whole household listen to the message put your entire trust on or in jesus i'm saying on then you'll get this then you'll live as you were meant to live and everybody in your household an amplified is awesome believe on the lord jesus christ in other words give give yourself up to him um take yourself out of your own keeping and entrust yourself into his keeping and you will be saved think of some of the depth of what that word saved means because many use the word is thrown out all over the place you know where you saved etc etc and while i was sitting here just a few minutes ago i had a flashback in remembrance of the story my husband bill told wolfie and i went to ontario pioneer camps and we were teenagers and had our initial encounter with the lord jesus christ and and the opportunity that time to get on the train oh my goodness it was amazing and i remember that i remember his story he came home from camp but he was so excited because something so phenomenal had happened within him he didn't have all the words for him but he jumped off the off the train and his dad was waiting for him and he said dad dad dad the most amazing thing happened i got saved [Music] i was father being the good church man that he was and the families were his father looked down and he said save for what saved from what yeah he believed in jesus but he didn't have a clue what it meant in the greek language the word is sozo and i've heard steve long mention it just about every time he's preached in the last while i hear him bring it up and just some of the meanings are being forgiven by god and no longer separated from him becoming restored and brought into god's family here and now being set free having god's life within you for eternity being healed being delivered being made sound and whole and rescued wow [Music] wow oh my goodness and as the message version says putting your entire trust on jesus and you will live as you're meant to live don't you long for that my goodness and once you get on that train then you will get to know believe first and then you'll get to know god personally and intimately in ways you could never have imagined before knowing god himself who listened who god himself is to you for you with you words he's your salvation he's your rescuer redeemer shepard champion healer deliverer helper counselor transformer provider and by way of a miracle you will have his his very life imparted to you deep within you you will also have all his magnificent resources to be a follower [Music] knowing following that'll enable you to walk and live in your life right now free not only from all of the hindrances and the messes of your past but boldly through the challenges that are coming in the future hear that the challenges that are coming in the future have a place of standing on a rock which will never let you down we could call our train we could call our train the salvation sozo train or we could call it the kingdom train and listen once you're on it you receive a lifetime pass so perhaps there's some people here today even in in person or watching online you're saying oh my god i really gotta get on that train how do i do that how do i get my ticket how do i receive this sozo [Music] well just with an actual train i take the well i want to get across the border i take the train regularly from burlington to windsor with my luggage and everything and you know what i gotta make a choice because i gotta climb up about three very steep steps to even get on that train so as it was an actual train there's gonna be a step up to get on you have to want to and make a choice to take that step and i believe this morning i know this morning actually the spirit of god is drawing a number of you to do just this [Music] let me pray with you and then um i encourage you is this need to get on the train not to just know about it you may be watching online you may even have come with a friend to church this morning wondering why you're here it's a setup praise god wanted you to know that he loves you he's waiting to receive you with open arms on his train and place that solid rock beneath you that will absolutely hold you steady no matter what hell seems to be going on around you so let me just pray and then i'm just asking is there anybody in here i can see you i can see right back to the back today is there anyone here that says i realize i've known about the train but oh my goodness i have to get on it i'm just going to ask you to stand i'm just going to ask you to stand and for those of you that are watching um online put a little note in the chat or you could go to a website when somebody be right there to pray with you and show you and lead you onto getting on the train and it would be ctf toronto.com get prayer now even if you indicate on your chat i believe that somebody will get to you oh okay so father i thank you that your call today is as vibrant and alive and passionate as it was i guess in one way i could say even back at creation [Music] and then you gave us jesus [Music] delicious up lift us out lift us over lift us through [Music] through sometimes not out of a lot of things that are happening in the world but through it with such a confidence inside and lord i'm asking if there be any in here this morning or online that you would so quicken them to to run to you and know that you are our rock jesus rob are you here israel rob's over here rob mcintosh and and he is a team as well and we would be maybe some of you realize that you kind of [Music] not really been on the train just looking at it yeah so i'm just asking that you would find your way over to over to them to this corner says to my left your right and uh the reality of that train will be shown to you and they'll help you get on it in jesus name yeah oh michael do you have just one brief chorus that we can sing together before we invite mel to come thank you jesus thank you lord thank you lord [Music] this is serious stuff this is very serious stuff this is not just doing church [Music] this is our very life it's our very life and future let's just take here [Music] amen and the rest of you why don't you pray for the others either at home or here that they would hear the sound of the oh thank you lord that they will hear the sound of the whistle i don't hear that i think there's this piece of scripture that says god whistles i don't know where that is but i think it's there thank you jesus wow thank you lord okay wow well that invitation that opportunities open all the rest of the meeting all the rest of the time and even though it would appear that we transitioned to something else the holy spirit doesn't stop working amongst us and if you choose to decide even after mel speaks so god's put on her heart to share and you say i i gotta have prayer yeah come on up all right yeah all right is there something about um a is there is there a video is there a slide about the you know part of worship just because we stop the the the music type of worship part of worship is also bringing our thank you our gifts are honoring to the lord we call it the offering [Music] and there's a ways to give on the screen [Music] i think that there's also a container back but on the wall back there that you're you're able to leave something in and we thank you we thank you for the way that family has has sustained the family here and the building that the lord has provided so that we can meet all the needs thank you thank you lord thank you lord you will get your announcements probably i'm sure you get them on your church newsletter but just to remind you we're so excited that starting september 5th we're going back to two services again you'll still need to register because probably there will still be some suggestions on how we stay seated but nine in the morning and 11 15 in the morning and when we open up a game the prophetic ministry will begin again with everybody the the healing ministry will begin and children's church will be flourishing it's been flourishing all along but we'll be able to be together again yeah so i am really happy to move out of the way and turn the mic over to mel where are you mel you are if you've never been blessed by listening to mel regatto i've known her not really that closely but getting better since she's been a wee little girl because she's been in this house for eons now but she and her husband jonathan look after our wonderful children's young yes you do you use yeah they're wonderful too they grow from the little ones into youth right and and i'll tell you i am amazed when i listen to her share she is is this loaded her storehouse is loaded with a wealth of the word there's such an anointing of what she shares what she gives and i i absolutely believe that your spirit is going to be further ignited and your mind is going to receive some truths that you won't forget this morning so mel here you go you got your own mic all right well church family i really feel to stand up all of us and sing all hail king jesus and let's do that for another five minutes we have time and we just want to say jesus oh hail king jesus you are the lord of heaven and earth we are here for you we are here for you we worship you we glorify your name we lift you up and like mary audrey said we're not here to play church this is our lives this is our lives this is his life [Music] this is not playing church this is our lives and you know what this the last few weeks i'm just uh i know we already prayed this morning but the church in afghanistan the reality is there's been a persecuted church for over 2 000 years and that reality is so far from our our reality the majority of our realities here in this room and online but there is a persecuted church that is meeting ready to meet jesus any day now this is their lives they're laying down their lives to say oh hell king jesus and so when we say this this morning i just want all of us with you know we live such comfortable lives saying all hail king jesus doesn't require me dying physically but let's just this morning for five minutes say oh hill king jesus we are here we're standing with the global church standing with the persecuted church and we're standing with you to say all hail came jesus and for some people that means that they're not gonna live another day we don't know and so we just say this morning jesus that although we can walk out of this building this morning and have a great lunch and go to a great house and that were people today saying i could meet you face to face any any hour any day now that we will stand with the church all across this world and in the church in afghanistan and the persecuted church in many other nations and we say we stand with you to say oh hail king jesus and we pray for you and we pray for no fear and we pray that you know like the apostle in the bible that looked up and saw heaven that you will look up and see heaven this morning we worship you jesus go for it [Music] jesus [Music] jesus [Music] [Music] [Applause] if we lift you up we lift you up [Music] sing all [Music] jesus [Applause] jesus [Music] [Music] so cloudy [Music] we will [Applause] [Music] many crowds so proud all [Music] have all the glory have all the glory have all the honor have all the honor you deserve have all the glory have all the glory have all the honor have all the honor you deserve it all [Music] [Music] earth [Music] [Applause] oh [Music] [Music] so let [Music] every heart let us join with of [Music] we cry [Music] bow before the king of kings let every heart confess that he is lord let us join with all of heaven singing holy [Music] oh [Music] jesus you are holy may every tongue confess that you are lord jesus you are holy we worship you and we say o hail king jesus and we crown you this morning with many crowns we crown you this morning with many crowns king jesus you are worth it all you are worth it all and god i pray that this morning every single person in this room and watching online will be able to see you jesus that you would open the eyes of our hearts to know you to know you and to choose you we love you jesus amen if any time throughout this morning you're like i know i need to give my life to jesus just come running up to the front to this side of the room um if you're watching online say in the chat i need to give my life to jesus and um people will respond to you awesome well good morning everyone good morning for those of you don't know my name is mel my husband and i are the youth pastors here at catch the fire next week sunday we are taking 85 teenagers to camp and our kids ministry is taking a bunch of kids to kit camp so we are so excited so excited thanks for lending us your children for a week although i'm pretty sure you're saying oh no no thank you take them um but we're so excited for camp we didn't have camp last week so uh last year and so we missed it and we're excited to get back into it next sunday so next sunday when you come to church you're going to see school buses on the other parking lot in the som building with maybe 100 people running around like chickens with their heads cut off figuring out how do we get 100 people on buses but it's gonna be good all right uh don't have too much time this morning if it was up to me i probably would single hill king jesus for the whole morning um it just feels like one of those weeks you know where people around the world are saying it and it's going to cost people's lives so we stand with we stand with our brothers and sisters this month we're talking about identity it's an identity month and um you know i it's it's this balance and this tension where we're saying it's all about jesus yet we're gonna be talking about us and uh but it's it's who we are in christ it is what god is speaking to all of us individually about who we are and it is so important that we know who we are in christ jesus it is so important and so sometimes i find with these messages you know you only have about you know 10 15 minutes whatever um and you know i will probably get some feedback on you know it's all about him and it is all about him i'm i just i'm focusing on who we are in christ this morning amen all right well everyone repeat after me god i am who you say i am okay one more time god i am who you say i am okay look at the family member next to you and say hey you say their name you are who god says you are you're not who i say you are especially when we're fighting you are who god says you are that will make some good conversation on the car ride home one more time god i am who you say i am you define me you define my life my failures my weaknesses my mess sin does not define me you defy me okay if there's anything we can walk away with this morning that is it i've recently gotten some feedback on my speaking and basically it was mel get to the point in the first few minutes like okay uh i will i normally fum i just talk for 10 minutes that's what i do if you know me i talk and talk and talk so that is the that's if you're going to walk away with something you are who god says you are and when we say the word identity in church we say we have all these identity messages you know and i was preparing this methods and i'm like what does identity mean you know and my undergrad is in science but i did psychology and so psychology studies identity and identity formation and the development of identity and you go to a sociology class and it talks about your identity in the context of society you go to an anthropology class it's about like humanity and you know identity our identity in terms of the cultural definition is defined by your family your culture the country that you grew up in your ethnicity your socioeconomic status your skin color your race um your po your political affiliations all of these things and now we know sexual orientation all these things to the world are defining who we are but let me tell you something we have a spiritual identity in christ and that is the most important way we can define ourselves because let me tell you everything else fades away everything else fades away and when we're left standing before god we're left standing with our identity hidden in christ we are who god says we are so when you hear the word identity culturally there's a lot of definitions to it i am talking about the spiritual definition of it what it says in the bible who we are as individuals and that's how we're going to define ourselves so if we look in the bible okay have a few minutes okay we're gonna start off big okay there's many different things that define us you are walking talking living breathing you have a name and there's many ways we can define you we're gonna start off big so genesis 1 1 god created the heavens and the earth so guess what your identity you are created there is a creator and there is creation and you are not the creator i am not the creator we are created okay genesis 1 1 your identity is as a created being okay so let's take number two a step further we're not the same as a rock the rock is created we're not the same as a tree or an animal they're all created but now you have an identity as a human being god said let us make mankind in our image so now your identity is now you are created in the image of god you look like god you represent god you have a relationship with god and each other in a way that represents who god is his nature his core we are in the image of god all of humanity every single human being from the beginning of time to the end of time we are created in the image of god there is no human being lesser or more than another human being okay so we are created and we are created in the image of god amen all right okay take a step further you're creating the image of god every single human being is loved and blessed by their creator who is god every single person the believer and the unbeliever loved by god and for some reason i don't know why this scares people that the unbeliever is loved by god but we know that for god so loved the world that he gave his son we see in romans christ loved you he died for the sinner you he had to love you as a sinner before you were saved in him god loved loves every single human being as his children as his creation he loves us let's not be scared of that we can't go and love a broken and dying world if we believe that in some way we're more than them because we said yes to jesus god so loves them that he wants to call them into back into his family into relationship with them again all right we are created we are creating the image god we are loved by god okay step further christians you and me we said yes to jesus as our lord and savior biblically what does that mean um we have a shared identity now we are we have a shared identity this identity this morning church family is forever it's eternal we share it it will last forever that we are loved by god that we are created by god and now that we are saved by god we are in the family of god he has saved you he has redeemed you he has reconciled you back to the father he is healing you he has healed you amen all right so now this is our identity first peter chapter 2 it says you are a chosen people a royal priesthood a holy nation a people belonging to god you were once not a people you are now a people you are god special possession you are his special possession this is what god is saying to you this morning and so for all those people that say it's about jesus let's not talk about ourselves the bible is talking about you all of creation is groaning for we for us to understand our identity you walk down the street the sidewalk is groaning that you know who you are in christ it is important that we know who we are in jesus you are redeemed you are saved you are reconciled to god amen all right this is our identity okay i'm going to take it a step further now jonathan clark spoke an incredible message two weeks ago about the transformation journey about being a disciple of jesus so we have an identity as a christian where we are saved by god but when you say yes to becoming a disciple of jesus your whole life changes upside down okay this is where you say the words written in this page now tell me how to live my life i'm gonna listen to the words of jesus and the words of god to put myself on a journey that my life now becomes transformed and he spoke a great message two weeks ago i'm not going to speak it where it takes if i could put it into a mathematical equation part one is repentance your yes no matter how weak your yes is it's a yes every day we repent jesus i repent i need you the second part which is the bigger part of the equation the holy spirit comes in power and transforms your life all right and now your identity now begins to change and morph and transform to look like jesus the bible says that do not conform to the pattern of this world any longer but be transformed by the renewing of your mind the bible also says in romans chapter 5 that the veil now has been lifted you look you look at god and you are reflecting god and you you are transforming to be in the it to look like the image of god but mel you just said i'm creating the image of god yes we are created in the image of god but now we have to do our part to look like we are in the image of god how many of you know that you don't always look like jesus every minute of every day i know i don't with ever increasing glory we are now looking and reflecting the glory of god our identity so the first part we are created we are loved we are in the image of god and then we have our christian identities being reconciled and redeemed back to god these are all constant unchanging eternal parts of who you and i are now there's this other massive part of our identity where we need to put ourselves on a journey to begin to look like jesus and our identity starts to the world starts changing and morphing it works on your personality it you know it begins to change what you look like to the world around you yeah i think i just wanted to make it really clear because i said we say identity identity and there's the parts that this is who you are you can't change it the creator god said this is who you are but then there's the part of our identity where we need to say yes to looking like jesus does this make sense okay so we have an unchanging identity static the same this is who you are this is you created to be and then we have the part of our identity the parts of our identity that needs to look like jesus so identity crisis has anyone here been in an identity crisis put your hand up i'm putting my hand up those moments where you're like who am i jesus you're crying you're like what the heck what just happened i don't know who i am and so this is what i would say i okay i believe that every single person whether you admit it to yourself or to me or not we all have moments where we um you know identity crisis moments or what i would say insecure moments insecure makes more sense isn't it okay yeah you're talking about insecurity you know who am i in jesus who am i okay yeah we have insecure moments i would say that there are some of us a lot of us and i would say myself included where my whole life was insecure like my it's like a consistent continual insecurity i don't know who i am and maybe that some of you watching online are here in this room and i want to say it's okay to admit that to the to jesus who is here this morning with you because then it's like okay great let's work on this because i have had to do that and you know i stand here when i speak i normally speak messages where i'm like yeah i'm like complete breakthrough in this area okay so um like a few months ago i spoke on the goodness of god yeah 15 years ago i made a decision that i will believe that god is good cool i'm presenting you a message where i'm sharing my story complete breakthrough in this area i am excited about this message but also slightly terrified because i'm standing before you here this morning saying i don't have complete breakthrough but i have partial breakthrough but i've said yes to the journey and it looks like a mess some days a mess and i just love this the senior leadership and the leadership here at this church because we don't pretend like we we don't want to pretend we have it all together we don't have it all together and i'm telling you what the word of god says but i'm also telling you that my life is catching up to the word of god in this area okay does that make sense so my whole life is is just rooted in this insecurity where i i know in my mind what god is who god says i am but i don't live that way in so many different ways and if i and if i could just say three common you know if i could just categorize it three ways where we have rooted our identity in the things that we are not supposed to i would say number one it would be we are rooting who we are and what we do your job your career your how far are you doing like going in what you're doing what you're putting your hands to the results or the productivity the results of what you're doing we're rooting our identity in that can i just say pastors do that how big is your church guys i i was in a country i won't say the country i met another pastor and they said how big is your church because my church is this big what we all do this is is your identity rooted in what you do and the success of what you're doing it can't be because that will fade away and let me tell you i started youth pastoring five years ago my husband and i were like we're all in we built a team youth group's growing god's doing crazy things then covet hits half my team's gone 10 youth are showing up on zoom bored out of their mind and let me tell you i had to journal this out with the lord wow i thought i was an incredible leader and pastor i was rooting my identity in the success of my ministry and i had to say jesus anything and everything i do is for you it's to serve you if one youth shows up and says i'm only here because mom made me jesus i am here for you this doesn't define who i am yeah okay category number two when we define ourselves and what we have your address your house your car your stuff your things the number of followers you have on instagram your influence your reputation the the engagement uh you know the the latest thing i heard you might know this young people but the ratio to how many people you follow and to follow you like you can't you can't follow more people than follow you like okay okay this is nonsense my identity cannot be rooted in what i have okay and the last thing which i would say would be my biggest stumbling block is when we root our identity in the relationships we have with other people in the approval and acceptance of other people and other people's wanting to have friendship with me hang out with me be my friend you know tell me that i'm great if i root my identity in other people they will fail me and let me tell you i will fail people our identity who we are our security has to be rooted in jesus and jesus alone all those other things are great but all those other things fade away solomon in the bible had it all and he said it's all grass it dies it withers away all that's left is me standing before before the lord in christ where i can say this is who he is and he can say this is who you are everything else fades away amen all right so now what happens you root your identity your security and these things and then god's like you know what let's do a little bit of shake-up maybe not god maybe just circumstances let's do a little bit of shake up hey mel there are now you know let's put you mel in a position where you have to speak on a stage where you you know have you making decisions you're leading wow i based my security in the acceptance of approval of people and all it took in my first my very first time standing on the stage was one comment on youtube wow that was a poor exegesis of that verse threw me off for a week people a week oh man should i not be pastoring should i not be speaking i'm not a good enough theologian like i'm trying to take some courses here but maybe i'm just not called to this wait jesus you define me you define my identity and then you send me and we can see all throughout the bible he calls us and he sends us in the bible let's let us make mankind in our image so that he can work the ground and take care of it and and have dominion yeah god but when jesus gets baptized this is my son with whom i am well i love and i am well pleased with jesus hadn't done anything yet then what does he do he goes and starts his ministry one of my favorites is the prophet jeremiah god calls jeremiah i think he's one of my favorites because he's a teenager like 13 14 15 years old and when god calls him what does god say here god calls jeremiah before i formed you in the womb i knew you before you were born i set you apart i appointed you as a prophet to the nations god is saying aye four times me me me this is who you are this is who i've called you to be before you were born i was knitting you together in your mother's womb david had this revelation now go and i am with you our identity and who god says you are is very much connected to what we are supposed to do but let me tell you the order counts we are called to live out of a place we are called to work out of a place we are called to do out of a place and that place is security in jesus that we are sons and daughters of god we are loved and accepted by him now go and do but just so you know when you see failure when you see you know people coming up against you when you see your house taken away your job taken away when you see those friends that just walked away those family members that walked away i can go back to this place that i've i'm living in that i've lived in and in the middle of the book of jeremiah you know jeremiah's poor guy he's young he's prophesying to a nation um that had been taken away in exile people are hating him there are prophets coming around that saying oh so don't worry don't worry people of god this is going to be a year you know just a year or two you know god's just teaching you a lesson jeremiah says hey i'm i'm sorry this is going to be a few decades this is going to be a few decades turn to him and people do not like him people are accusing him of like anti-government and you know kind of being a traitor and and he's now scared for his life god's put him in a ministry where his life's now in danger and in the middle of the book of jeremiah he laments he said god i am done i give up i quit have any of you ever done that god i quit and then what does jeremiah say he says but the words that you have spoken to me are shot up in my bones there's a fire inside of me i know what you've said i know who i am i know that when you called me you said what did you say i formed you in the womb before i knew you and you were when you before you were born i already set you apart if i stop what i'm doing i there is like some serious unrest in my soul because i know i was born for this you've called me for this ah guys i i we we need to be secure we need to be secure in in god and do you know what i'm i can't present to you to you like a complete done check mark move on to another thing to uh chase god in no this is for the rest of our lives it takes it takes the holy spirit it takes awareness to god to ourselves in our internal environment we know that we are struggling with insecurity when we are comparing when we are competing when we can't be happy for someone else's success when we are living in a place of condemnation when shame that says you're not enough your identity there's something inherently wrong with your identity is is how you're living your life we need to come back to this over and over and over again and say god who am i who am i and let me tell you i wish i could uh take photos of my journal pages and splash it up for you i just want to be really honest there's there's days where it's like spirit-led mel is in the grace of the lord this morning and then there's days where it's like emotional male is having insecure male is like just a mess today but can i tell you when you say yes yes to thank god let's i'm gonna like fight this out with you who am i what are you saying about me and how does this affect all of my relationships around me how does it affect what i do what i have i'm going to wrestle this out i'm going to go back to this to my journal because i want to live and securely rooted in who i am there are parts of our identity that only god can tell you what i'm telling you this morning is what the bible says but every single person in this room there are things that god is saying i created you specifically this way for your your mission your calling your purpose your vocation your next assignment i've made you this way i made you get angry about these things i made you be passionate about these things i made you have an emotional response about these things i made these things give you life for a reason so now go and just go running back to that place every time you're like oh shoot who am i again but you know like god wants god wants to fill you with godly confidence we need to be confident people mary audrey told me this a month ago and i was like we need to be confident when we speak the word of god when we minister the word of god when we love our families when we when we relate with when we're in relationship with our spouses and our kids the people we lead are you a boss or a manager if if you are struggling with like consistent insecurity first of all just you can admit that to god this morning because let me tell you it's a great journey to be put yourself on but if you are living in consistent insecurity you are sabotaging your marriage your relationship with your kids your what you're doing in your job you eventually sabotage all these things because you're not living out of a place of rest in god the bible says there is rest that comes from our salvation there is rest your soul can have rest and peace in who you are and what he's asking you to do when someone challenges you when someone you know picks a fight with you you can you can communicate you can act you can behave out of a place of rest i know who i am and and also i just want to say that this message could sound like it's pride but if it is if it is confidence and security in jesus it looks like humility because if it looks like pride it is not really security in christ it's not true true confidence in jesus it looks like humility all right let's stand up we're going to pray a few minutes passed thanks for listening to me this morning thank you thank you [Applause] i hope that out of anything you heard this morning you can walk out of here saying okay god i am who you say i am i need to get that in my mind in my heart so that i begin to live out of a place of rest and i want to say it's okay it's okay to be like i'm starting this journey today i'm not that far along yet let's say yes this morning okay all right holy spirit thank you that you're here thank you that your presence is here thank you for an incredible morning gathering together as your people god i pray that for anyone here in this room that is either having an insecure moment or season or can stand here and admit to you my whole life is living out of a place of insecurity god come and fill my heart with your peace and your love we want to go running to you not running from you out of fear and shame but running towards you saying god i need to know i need you to tell me who i am let's learn this now because he's going to move some of you he's going to promote some of you he's going to move you to different places doing different things it's going to challenge it's going to make you take a step back and say who am i can i do this so let's learn now how to go to god and ask this question god may your voice be the loudest voice in our minds in our hearts and our ears this morning we want to live live securely rooted in your love god in jesus in christ jesus and god i ask that you begin to show us even now oh my goodness that conversation i had this week that was insecure mal that was insecure me speaking okay god come and reveal to us reveal our hearts to us search our hearts search our hearts and god i pray that we would walk out of here saying i'm going to abide in jesus i'm going to abide in jesus and you know for me this past year of covid it's it's a season where it's challenged where i've put all of my i you know i've rooted myself and things you know what i do what i have relationships it's been challenged and the journey that we need to put ourselves on is saying i'm gonna journal every day i'm gonna give time to god every day i'm gonna ask god about this every day i'm gonna get in the word every day it takes abiding in jesus unfortunately i wish i could pray a prayer and you magically walk out of here never struggling with this again but it's gonna take abiding in jesus holy spirit i ask for all of us here this morning that say okay jesus i need something i need something that's gonna fill this void come speak to us if that's you can put your hands on your heart jesus come come tell me who i am tell me who i am repeat after me i am who you say i am god help me to know that i am who you say i am and god help me to know that the people i live life with are who you say they are in jesus name amen all right well we do have a ministry team so if you want prayer you can come on up here on to the side and there it's a smaller team but we're ready to pray for you if you're watching online there is a link that will you can click on that link and you can get prayer now but everyone have an incredible week be blessed see you next week amen [Applause] friends thank you so much for being with us today for our online church we are so glad that you were with us my prayer was that you've had a good experience of meeting god i'm hoping maybe even cried a little bit i'm hoping that you felt the presence of god when the prayers were given for you so we want to bless you today and just to remind your friends one of the best things you can do for us and for you is to press that like button uh to press that share button and just post this on your social media so that your friends see what you're enjoying and we sort of get the word out and i want to encourage you again that if you feel that you want to be a part of what we're doing at catch the fire three things that you can do be attending regularly be serving all those opportunities you'll see on our website and being a part of our financial contributors so thank you so much god bless you have an amazing day [Music] um [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so so [Music] ah [Music] [Music] 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Channel: Catch The Fire Toronto

Views: 2,237

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: Worship, Praise, Canada, Music, Christian, Spontaneous, Live, Encounter, Presence, Transformation, Church, Production, Broadcast, Stage Design, Musician, Catch The Fire, Christmas, Message, word

Id: OzTaLYA6pnE

Length: 119min 44sec (7184 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 22 2021