Priscilla Shirer "I Am Who God Says I Am"

[Music] Priscilla Shire is a wife and mom first put a Bible in her hand and a message in her heart and you'll see why thousands flock to her conferences and dive into her Bible study series and books each year her Ministry going Beyond Ministries hosts awaken an Outreach event in her hometown designed to encourage and mobilize women locally she is the author of several books and has starred in various faith-based films Priscilla has been married to Jerry for 20 years between studying and writing she spends most of her time with her three growing boys let's open our hearts and get ready to receive a word from Priscilla [Applause] Shire good morning [Applause] family as always it is such a pleasure and a privilege to be here with you while you're standing I just want to take a moment to do what I can't even imagine not doing and that is honoring your pastor and his wife Trina jining come on y'all you could do better than that we love them so much and I'm going tell you something unfortunately it is becoming more and more rare to find church leaders that actually have integrity and the fact that the Lord has entrusted the growth of your souls to people like John and Trina Jenkins is something you ought to thank God for we're so grateful I love you grateful to be with you this morning and excited to see what it is God is going to say to us Lord Jesus I thank you for your word I thank you that it is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword I thank you that you brought us here today to hear a word straight from the mouth of the Living God so father we are so glad that each other is here but we didn't come to see each other we came to see you so Rend the heavens come down and speak to your people your sons and daughters are listening in jesus' name amen amen you may take your seats we are so grateful to be um with you today Jerry and I are always reminiscent when we come here a little nostalgic because the picture uh that was up on the screen a few minutes ago of our boys doesn't look anything like our boys anymore the first time we were here actually I was at a women's retreat that Miss Trina invited me to that would have been nearly 21 years ago my oldest was 6 months old he was in my arms at that Retreat he'll be 21 years old in three weeks so it's been such a long time that we've had the privilege to just be family with First Baptist Church of Glenn Arden my two oldest boys are in college now my youngest one Jude is here with me Jude just stand up let them see my big 15-year-old he'll be 15 on Saturday that's Jude he's with us here all day he said Mom now is three services and talking with him this morning about being here reminded me of something that I was exactly his age exactly when I decided to have a little experiment in my life now just so you know I was the kid of the four of us I have three siblings of the four of us I was the one that gave my parents a run for their money you know how there's always one it's just the one that's a little mischievous always getting into something that was me and I was always just coming up with stuff I decided my freshman year of high school that I wanted to change my name there was a convenient opportunity for me to do that because my siblings and I went to a small private school from kindergarten to 8th grade then we transferred to what is still one of the biggest high schools in Texas our freshman year Duncanville High School I went from 13 people in my class to 750 people in the freshman class alone at Duncanville High School I didn't know most of them they didn't know me so I thought it would be a fun opportunity to have the experiment of introducing myself as a brand new name just to see if it would catch on I just put two initials together DK I'm not sure why I chose that put them together I decided that would be my new nickname there was a young lady that had been friends of mine had been a friend of mine still is since we were 9 years old in youth group at church we grew up together she was already in that school district so I knew I'd be kind of hanging out with her there as soon as I got to Duncanville High School I told her about my plan I said listen when you introduce me to folks when we're hanging out do not call me Priscilla call me DK just want to see what happens to make a long story short for the next four years of my life every single person called me DK all the students at school all the teachers all the counselors principles most people didn't even know my actual real name was Priscilla to this day all these years later if I run across somebody in the mall or in the grocery store and they say hey DK I automatically know that I knew them when I was in high school because everybody called me DK my parents kind of went along with it they didn't say much about it they were a little bit annoyed when DK was monogrammed on my athletic uniforms but it all came to a head on one particular day when I got sick at school they had to call my mother to come pick me up I had a temperature and I was a little fatigued because of the fever so I don't remember much but I do remember laying on that cot with the curtain closed in the nurses St and I can hear my mother when she came around the corner and asked the nurse for Priscilla the nurse said who she said we don't have a Priscilla but we have a DK and my mom said yeah that's her send her home with me she nursed me and got me well for a couple of days and then that was my senior year so at the end of those couple of days I will never forget my mother looking at me very seriously eye to eye and saying now Priscilla in a couple of months they're getting ready to have a graduation ceremony and at that graduation ceremony they're going to hand you a very important piece of paper and when they hand you that piece of paper there better not be a d or a k anywhere on that diploma she said because you know what I don't I don't care that hundreds and hundreds of people have called you that other name I don't care what they call you and I don't even care what you call yourself there is only one who has the right the authority the privilege of giving you your name and it's the one who gave birth to you brothers and sisters for just a few moments this morning I just want to remind you what your name is I just want to remind you for a few moments if you'll allow me about who you really are because you are not defined by your behavior you are not defined by your failures you are not not defined by your struggles you are not defined by your feelings you are not defined by your circumstances you're not defined by the here today gone tomorrow false ideologies and watered down philosophies of the chaos in our current culture you are who God says you are it doesn't matter what others call you it doesn't even matter what you've looked in the mirror and called yourself there's only one who actually has the right the privilege the authority to give you your name and it is the one who created you circumstances aren't powerful enough to Define you your history may have marked you it may have hurt you it may have labeled you but it does not have the power to define the totality of who you are because you are who your creator says that you are and he says you're a chosen race he says you're a royal priesthood he says you are redeemed and chosen adopted and qualified you are not a mistake you are not an afterthought you are not a liability you have been made in the very image of almighty God that means every aspect of your unique physicality and every aspect of your personality the strengths and even the weaknesses they are an expression of the creative genius of an allmighty God and when we surrender all of ourselves to him he values you enough that he actually takes up residence on the inside of you as the person of the Holy Spirit making you a temple of almighty God that means you're an overcomer that's who God says you are Church would you say I am who God says that I am I am who God says I can do what God says that I can do I can do what God says I can this issue of identity is so critical all throughout scripture because your capacity my capacity to walk in Victory is directly correlated and tied to whether or not we have a correct view of our identity you will either behave in a way that lives up to or down to whatever you believe to be true about yourself this is why all throughout the Old Testament and all throughout the New Testament we just find God showing up again and again and again to get people's identity in view to remind them who they are now that they are in relationship with him it was most clearly seen in the Old Testament with the children of Israel they were his people he marked them set them apart consecrated them for its purposes and even though they were enslaved for 400 years he looked at them and said yes but slavery is not who you are that does not define the totality of of your existence and so they are freed after 400 years he got them out of Egypt but it would take 40 more years to get Egypt out of them because what good is having freedom in theory if you can't be free in reality see if they still had the mindset of slavery that meant that they would make decisions from a position of lack of deficiency of scarcity they would act as bound people even though they were legally free so they could come out of Egypt but Egypt had to come out of them he had to change their mind to help them to see clearly that they were brand new people because of their relationship with Yahweh and over and over and over again The Hound of Heaven comes looking for his people to remind them about their identity to remind them that they've been set aside and consecrated for his purposes and the people in the Old Testament God's people there are kind of like us that they keep forgetting who they are all throughout the Old Testament over and over again we see them being seduced by Idols or lulled to spiritual apathy by errant religious philosophies and institutions they just keep forgetting who they are we see God's people bow and they Bend and they break down and they settle and live below the standard for which they had been created the promises that y'all had freed them from 400 years of slavery to receive and enjoy they didn't get to grab hold of all of it simply because they didn't know who they were and they suffered the consequences for it they opened themselves up to enemy attack over and over and over again and this is never more clearly seen than in the Book of Judges if you have your Bible with you you know if you still use an old school paper Bible like I do turn to the Book of Judges or your iPhone any manner of eyess will also get you to judges and it'll be on the screens as well as you turn there I want to just tell you that in the Book of Judges it is one of the most sad indictments against the people of God that we see in the Old Testament because in the Book of Judges y'all they have already now come out of Egypt they have been through the Wilderness for 40 years and they're in Canaan in judges the land is flowing with milk and honey it is representative of the peace of God the presence of God the promises of God are all around them and yet in the Book of Judges we see the people of Israel being called away from their true identity and allegiance to the one true and living God they continue to be seduced by Idols in the Book of Judges the people of God don't turn their backs completely on Yahweh they just station their worship of idols alongside their wor their worship of Yahweh and it's the duplicity of the people of God that causes there to be such a decay in society that by the time you get to the last line of the Book of Judges it says and everybody was doing what was right in their own eyes if that don't sound like 2023 I don't know what does everybody just doing what is right in their own eyes and as a result of that they are open and and exposed to enemy attack all throughout the Book of Judges but everything is about to change for the entire nation when one man comes face to face with God and his identity is recalibrated Judges chapter 6 two simple verses verse 11 and 12 then the angel of the Lord came and he sat down under this oak tree that was in a town called ofra which belonged to joash the abrite as his son Gideon was beating out we wheat in a wine press he was doing that in order to save it from the midianites verse 12 and the angel of the Lord said appeared to him and said to him the Lord is with you oh Valiant Warrior Gideon you know that name he he's the one that with just a meager Army of 300 is going to be victorious against 140,000 midianite soldiers he's the one that puts the fleece out and says God if it's really you if this is what you're really saying then if you could deal with this this fleece and confirm it I would appreciate that Gideon we know him well he's one of the most famed names throughout the Old Testament but before that before the victories before the stuff that he's most notable for we find this man hiding in a wine press beating out wheat on a regular old ordinary day but there's crisis in the culture the previous verses tell you that the midianites the enemies have pillaged them for seven consecutive years completely devastating the entire nation y'all the people of Israel can't even enjoy the promises of God they can't enjoy the milk and honey because their towns have been burned down their home homes are in complete Decay and collapse they've had to run from their cities and live on the side of caves in the depression of rock so that they can hide from the enemies that they have exposed themselves to because of their idol worship and in the midst of this chaos in the midst of the crisis in the midst of this state of national Calamity don't miss the first line of verse 11 the angel of the Lord comes and makes himself at home oh I wish I had all day y'all cuz we could just spend time on that one line right there don't let the gravity and the weightiness and the beauty and the power of this line roll off your shoulders as if it's no big deal the angel of the Lord came into one person's chaos to remind him you are not your circumstances you are not your situation you are not your behavior you are not your feelings you still are exactly who I say that you are the angel of the Lord came y'all this is not any old regular Angel anytime throughout the Old Testament you see the phrase the angel of the Lord you need to know that in the original language it is the phrase the malec Yahweh this is what Scholars call the great presence of Israelite history this is basically God stepping out of Eternity onto the landscape of Earth so that he could invade the details of someone's life so clearly and so obviously that they would know for sure they had been in the presence of almighty God this is basically before Jesus puts on flesh and comes in the New Testament this is the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ coming in the Old Testament think pillar of cloud by day or Fire by night these are theop God appearances when God shows up in an unmistakable way and most of the time when the angel of the Lord showed up in the New Testament it was to remind somebody who they were when he stepped out of heaven when he made it his business to invade Earth it was because he was trying to get a son or a daughter to make sure that they recalibrated their perspective and remembered that they were not what was happening to them them they were still exactly who he said the angel of the Lord coming into history I can barely wrap my mind around it that the god of the universe would make time to come see about us like that the god of the universe who y'all doesn't need to have a relationship with us like honestly if he would have saved us and given us a ticket to Eternity that could have been enough for us to celebrate him for the rest of our lives that would have been enough for us but that wasn't enough for him he said no I don't want to just have a relationship with you when you get to heaven I want to have a little bit of a relationship with you before I ever see you there I want you to have Heaven while you're right here on planet Earth so the angel of the Lord came in the Old Testament Jesus Christ came in the New Testament and on this Sunday in the year 2023 the angel of the Lord has come to see about you you thought that you just stumbled into this this service this 10:00 a.m. service on this Sunday teenager you just thought that your mama made you get up and come to church today this ain't happen stance this ain't chance chance this is the Hound of Heaven coming to sit in your circumstances to remind you you are who I say that you [Applause] are he's trying to remind you you are not what has happened to you you are not what they did to you you are not your feelings you are not your circumstances you are not your past you are not your behavior those things may be part of your history but they are not the totality of who you are you are who God says you are and I'm so grateful to the angel of the Lord to our Savior Jesus Christ to our God who right now is orchestrating the throws of of the universe y'all he's taking care of neighborhoods in the universe that scientists don't even yet know exists in the universe like he's busy he got stuff to do he's the one that made sure that the sun rose this morning and that it's going to stay exactly where it's supposed to be all day long till it swaps places with the moon later on tonight he's the one that's going to make sure that every single star is hung in the sky he's going to know every single one of their numers numbers and every single one of their names he is the god that is making sure right now while we're sitting in this room that the Earth spins on its AIS at just the right speed to make sure we can maintain life on this planet and that great big magnificent powerful almighty God has taken time on this Sunday to come up in here and see about you Hallelujah praise the Lord please do not missed the detail of what the writer wants to make sure you know Gideon was doing when the angel of the Lord showed up says he was beating out wheat in a wine press he's beating out wheat he's threshing wheat but he ain't on a threshing floor he's in a wine press the environments where these two things occurred the pressing of grapes to make wine or the threshing of wheat to prepare it for Harvest those two things happened in completely opposite environments but he's doing them in the exact same setting why the last line of verse 11 to save it from the midianites okay threshing wheat normally took place on a Hilltop the reason why you went onto a Hilltop is because there's a breeze up there and as they would beat out the wheat to thresh it the whole goal of threshing was to dislodge from the wheat the useless chaff the chaff would fall away and because there was wind up there the breeze would carry the chaff away the reason why he is in a wine press is because that environment is completely opposite to an open AED Hilltop a wine press would be in the the depression of a rock it would be a damp shaded environment at the bottom of a hill there was no air moving through there it was a stable environment in which grapes could ripen for the purpose of making wine it's completely opposite environments and the reason why he wanted to be in a shaded um environment is because he was afraid that if the chaff was driven Away by the wind the midianites would catch scent of it and they would know there was a harvest to come pillage once again so the reason he's in a wine press y'all is because he's insecure intim intimidated and fearful because of his Circ circumstances I suspect that there are some of you that are in this room that honestly the whole reason why you're under that shadow in your life is because there's an enemy that's been pressing in on you causing so much havoc in your life that it has relegated you to a wine press where there's insecurity and there's fear and it's made you a shell of the person that you once were the angel of the Lord shows up to a man who is acting currently in fear and insecurity and he says let me tell you who you are you are not your current behavior you he says at the end of verse 12 are a valiant Warrior he tells him who he is despite the way he's behaving the angel of the Lord kept showing up all throughout the Old Testament to do it do you remember in Genesis there was a woman named Hagar she was cast out into a Wilderness by people she was supposed to be able to trust Abraham and Sarah they were supposed to be the people to cover her and take care of her instead they misused and abused her and discarded her and their Hagar sits in the middle of a Wilderness that she did not create other folks did it to her and as she sits in this Wilderness that is not of her own making it's because of other people's decisions and other people's bad choices and other people's misuse of her as she sits there crying a River of Tears the angel of the Lord shows up in that Wilderness and says let me remind you who you are so maybe you're like Gideon it's the circumstances around you that have caused this chaos well the angel of the Lord can find you there even if you're listen y'all Gideon was hiding Gideon was trying not to be found and in in the place where he's trying not to be found the angel of the Lord finds him where can you flee from God's presence where can you go that the angel of the Lord can't find you his arm is not so short that he cannot save his ear is not so dull that he that he cannot hear and his eyes are not so dim that he can't find you wherever it is that you are the Hound of Heaven came looking for you this Sunday morning so maybe your Gideon and the circumstances have done it to you maybe your Hagar and other folks choices have done it to you or maybe you're Moses and you did it to yourself because in Exodus chapter 3 it is the consequence of Moses's own choices that have landed him out of the Palace of Egypt and into the desert where he is tending sheep this is Moses he was raised as The Prince of Egypt he is now tending sheep a Shepherd which is a job that is below his pay grade and Below his educational level and he's doing it for many long years but on one day on The Backs side of the Wilderness he runs across a fiery Bush it's the angel of the Lord because the bush is on fire but it is not burned up and when he turns the side to look God speaks to him from the bush and says let me tell you who you are so whether you're Hagar and other folks did it to you whether you're Gideon and the circumstances did it to you or whether you're Moses and the truth be told you can look back and realize it's the decision you made that put you in this situation even if you where you are because of the consequences of your own choices there is no pit that is too deep even if you dug it for yourself that the arm of God cannot reach down and snatch you up out of it oh thank you for the mercy of God the grace of God the longsuffering suffering nature of God that he comes and finds us wherever we are and he finds this man who is trying not to be found and he says let me tell you who you are you are a valiant Warrior and he speaks to him while he is operating in opposition to who he is and he says you're not this you're that start acting like who I say you are not the way you feel but who I've declared you to be y'all we give our feelings too much power your feelings are not the engine they're the Caboose they'll catch up all feelings can do are feel they don't think they don't have intellect they're not that smart you've got to be operating based on a compass that has been given to you by an un changing almighty God because feelings are up one day and down the next you got to know who you are and then you act like that you make DEC can you think of how our lives would be different if we would choose relationships based on who God says we are and not the way we feel can you imagine how much Victory we'd have if we would remember that we can't decide or react or move or plan or make purposes for our life that are based in who other people have said we are but it's based on who God says we are so I don't decide out of fear I decide out of security I don't decide because I need the Applause of people I decide from the place of acceptance that God already says that I have I'm already approved I'm already competent I'm already complete I don't need your approval I already have the approval of all my Mighty God decide like that choose like [Applause] that so he tells Gideon this is who you are you're a valiant Warrior Gideon's whole life and everybody attached to him all of it's about to change because this one guy comes in contact with the angel of the Lord who recalibrates his identity can I tell y'all this has been a mission of M mine with my three boys I drive them bananas because since they were little pretty much every single day I start the day the exact same way I look at them squarely in their eyes and I say look at me you going to look at me and they kind of want to roll their eyes and slouch their shoulders uhuh stand up straight and look at your mother cuz I'm going to tell you who you are and I say to them you are a man of integrity character and honesty you will love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul and with all your strength you will put on the full armor of God so that you can stand firm against the scheme of the enemy you are the head you are not the tail you are above you are not beneath you are a leader you are not a follower and the Praises of God shall always be in your mouth that's who you are and you better act like that or I'm going to spank [Applause] you and I don't call them that I don't say that to them because that's the way they always behave I'm saying that to them so they'll know this is who you are now behave like that after this encounter under the oak tree y'all oh when you have time read through the rest of chapter six because after the encounter under the oak tree when when Gideon recalibrates his identity he comes out from underneath the shadow of the oak tree he goes this fearful timid insecure man immediately goes into his father's household and all the idols that have been indicative of the trajectory of their entire family he grabs those Idols one by one and he starts breaking them over his knee and he shifts the trajectory of his entire family line entire generational curses for his entire family completely shift because one man got his identity in view and then after he dealt with his family he goes into battle against the midianites with those 300 soldiers against 140,000 midianites and he brings home a victory for Israel that shifts the trajectory of the entire nation a whole family and a whole culture take an entire turn an entire pivot just because one person finds out who they are do you know how many people are are attached to you do you know that your son your daughter your grandsons your granddaughter your great grandchildren that you have not even laid eyes on yet do you know your co-workers and your boss and the other mothers on the PTA do you recognize there's an entire Community an entire neighborhood an entire office an entire structure attached to you waiting on you to get your identity squared away and when you do not only will there be freedom and victory for you but everybody attached to you and so I want to close by reminding you who you are the Bible says you are a child of God you are reconciled to God through Jesus Christ Christ you are not condemned by God no guilt no shame no fear you have been Justified you are Christ's righteousness you are Christ's Ambassador you are completely forgiven you are tenderly loved by God you are blameless and Beyond reproach you are the salt of the earth and you are the light of the world you are a branch on Christ's Vine you are Christ's friend you are joint Heir with Christ sharing in his inheritance you are are a member of Christ's body you are a saint you are hidden with Christ in God you are chosen by God you are homely you are blameless and you are Beyond reproach you are a chosen race you are a royal priesthood and you're a holy nation you are firmly rooted you are complete in Christ you have not been given the spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind your needs they are met by God you've been bought with a price you've you've been adopted by God you've been established and anointed and sealed by the holy spirit of God you're a citizen of Heaven you're a personal witness of Christ you are seated with Christ in the Heavenly places you are God's workmanship and you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you in jesus' name amen amen that's who you are that's that's who you [Applause] are okay so y'all this week make decisions like you know who you are don't decide from that place of insecurity and fear that or feelings that don't line up with what God says you know who you are act like that act like that stand to your feet if you're not already and if you would bow your heads with me I want to pray for all of us but particularly for those of you who have not had an encounter with God through Jesus Christ you have not heard him whisper to you who it is that you are you've not had your identity recalibrated and you know the victory you need is attached to you having a relationship with this one who will reframe the entire course of your life [Music] if you have never had an encounter with Jesus but you don't want to leave today without making sure that this identity situation is settled once and for all then we want to give you an opportunity to make the best decision the most important decision you will ever make in your life if you're in this room and you know you have never placed faith in Jesus Christ Christ but you want to make sure that you take care of that today while every head is Bow and eyes are closed would you raise your hand if that's a decision that you need to make and you want to make sure that you get that squared away today just wave at me if that's what you need to do today anybody yes ma yes ma'am I see you anybody else your whole life changes today when you place faith in Jesus yes brother anybody [Music] else yes I see you would y'all come forward anybody that needs to make that decision would you come down we have some folks that want to pray with you and for you anybody whether you raised your hand or not you need to get this issue of identity settled in your life come on this is why we're here anybody else even in the balcony just come down we'll wait for you you f to shift the trajectory of your life and your kids life and your kids kids life your whole generational lines shifted because of the decision you're making today come on teenagers young people older folks mature folks it doesn't matter married single come [Applause] come my sister will [Music] [Music] [Music] you you are who God says you are [Applause] I'm looking at all these folks up here and some of them are so young I see these three boys right here these teenage your whole life is changing because you're giving your life to Jesus Christ [Applause] today okay [Music] anybody okay the scriptures say that if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that Jesus Christ is Lord you shall be saved he's done all the heavy lifting he did all the hard work so that you could have this new identity all you have to do is receive the gift and then by the power of the he he himself takes up residence on the inside of you to empower you to live in a way that lines up with your new identity you don't have to be Shackled you don't have to live in shame and fear you can walk in Victory starting today in Jesus name so I'm going to pray a prayer and I just want you to repeat after me there's no magic in the words that I'm saying okay you have to believe in your heart what it is that you're about about to say in fact can we just all pray it together so that we can build an atmosphere of faith for those who are saying it for the first time okay let's pray together Lord Jesus Lord Jesus I am a sinner I am a s in need of a savior in need and I believe I believe that you are that savior you are that so today so today I place faith alone in Christ alone in CHR alone to remove my sins take up residence in me take in the person of the holy spirit in the of the right now in Jesus name in Jesus name come on Church Say [Applause] [Applause] Amen

Channel: Inside FBCG

Views: 420,444

Keywords: FBCG, Pastor, John K. Jenkins Sr., First Baptist Church of Glenarden, Lord, God, Jesus, Christ, Holy, Grace, Sermon, Word, Bible, Study, Baptist, Church, Gospel, Preaching, Ministries, Ministry, Praise, Spirit, Religion, Blessed, Blessing, Salvation, Revival, Fellowship, Choir, Black, Preacher, Preachers, Chorus, Spiritual Warfare, Bible Study, Sheryl Brady, T. D. Jakes, Pastor John K. Jenkins Sr, Encouragement, Priscilla Shirer

Id: CF0DsSm_5ko

Length: 41min 53sec (2513 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 13 2023