Priscilla Shirer: Your Identity and Authority Comes From Christ

listen to me you are not defined by your past you are not defined by your behavior you are not defined by your failures you are not defined by your struggles you are not defined by your feelings you are not defined by your circumstances you are not defined by the here today gone tomorrow false ideologies and philosophies of our current culture you are who God says you are Point Blank period that doesn't change Lord Jesus we your sons and your daughters we are literally sitting on the edge of our seat in anticipation of what you came to say to us tonight father we are so glad that each other is here but we didn't really come to see each other we came to see you so speak father we are listening in Jesus name amen I will tell you that I was a little bit of a mischievous teenager I gave my parents of the four of us I gave my parents a run for their money I was the one that was always coming up with stuff to do as a teenager and one of the things I decided to do was my freshman year in high school I decided that I would change my name I came up with a little nickname and I decided to change my name now just to give you a little context for that choice I went along with my three siblings we all went to a little private school around the corner from my parents house the house they still live in to this day bralo Christian School was the name of the school and we went there from kindergarten to e8th grade then our freshman year we transferred to the neighboring Public School District so just to give you context here the largest my class ever was in this private school was about 20 kids at its largest by the time I got to our eighth grade year there were about 13 kids in my eighth grade class ninth grade year so I transfer to Duncanville High School it is one of the largest school districts in Texas actually it's more like a college campus really than a high school when I transferred from 13 students at Rallo Christian School to the freshman year at Duncanville High School there were 753 kids in my freshman class not the high school just the Freshman Class of 753 kids so it was a completely different context for me and these were going to be people who most of whom did not know me I didn't know them so I thought this would be a fun opportunity to change my identity entirely I would change my name give myself a brand new name I had heard of a student that I'd met through other acquaintances is at another school her initials were DK and people called her DK I thought it was clever so I adopted this nickname my new name was DK now I remember telling Nicole my friend from youth group at church we had grown up in church together she was already in the Duncanville High School school district so I remember telling her about my plan she's the only one that knew about my little plan because I knew she was going to be the connective tissue between me and most of the new friends I was going to be making so I said to her listen girl when you introduced me me to people at this new school don't introduce me as Priscilla go ahead and introduce me as DK she said girl what I said yes introduce me as as DK and so I remember showing up that very first day of school I remember walking into this brand new huge New World this new campus and I remember her introducing me to people she would look at me inquisitively to make sure I was still still down with this this was still my plan before she began to introduce me one person after the other as DK I introduced myself to my teachers and my new friends as DK and to make a long story short it caught on for the LA for the four years that I was in school there was not one student there was not one teacher there was not one school administrator not one principal not one athletic coach that did not refer to me as DK most people didn't even really know that my name was Priscilla everybody called me DK in fact just anybody in that whole season of my life so people or Co coaches from other schools where we would sort of compete with them in different capacities they all called me DK it was monogrammed on all my athletic uniforms it was monogrammed on my Letterman's jacket every single person in that season of my life called me DK in fact still to this day if someone refers to me as DK on social media or someone yells across the mall hey DK or across the aisles at the grocery store if anybody refers to me as DK I automatically know it's somebody that knew me in that season of My Life because everybody called me DK now this didn't bother my parents too much they didn't really say anything about it until one day I remember getting sick at school I had a fever so they had to call my mom to come pick me up I remember laying on that little cot behind the curtain that they pull in the nurses station and I remember hearing my mom come up to the to the counter there at the nursing station I remember hearing her say I'm here for Priscilla and I also remember the nurse saying who I remember hearing them toggle back and forth for just a few moments before they decided that she was here for DK SL Priscilla so my mom took picked me up took me home she didn't say anything to me for the first uh evening because I didn't feel well nor the next day nor the next day she waited till I was 100% until she hemmed me up in the corner with the mama eye y'all know what I'm talking about when I say the mama eye and she said now Priscilla I want to be clear about something me nor your father have minded this whole little nickname business it hasn't bothered at all we know it's just been a little high school experiment no big deal it's been all in fun but she said I want to be clear about something graduation is coming and when graduation comes they're going to have a ceremony somebody's going to have a microphone in their hand they're going to say your name and your name is going to be Amplified in that room she said not only that but they're going to hand you a piece of paper and she said when they hand you that piece of paper there better not be a d or a k anywhere in [Laughter] sight and she said here's the reason why she said the reason why is because it doesn't matter what everybody else calls you it doesn't even matter what you call yourself there's only one or two me and your father who have the right and the privilege to give you your name only the one who gave you life has the authority to identify you I came tonight flew over from Dallas Texas earlier this afternoon because I want to tonight just speak a word of identity over you I want so much to remind you who you are I want you to know that it doesn't matter what other people have called you that it doesn't even matter what you've called yourself there is only one who has the right and the authority to tell you who you are I want you to know that other people aren't qualified to name you and circumstances they may have made things difficult for you but they actually aren't powerful enough to Define you I want you to know that your history may have marked you but it is not authorized to label you I want you to know that what your mama called you or what your daddy did to you it may have hurt you and it may actually take real emotional work and years to kind of come up out of the the unhealth that it rooted into your life I understand that but I want you to know that it does not have the power to shape the totality of who it is that you've been called to be listen to me you are not defined by your past you are not defined by your behavior you are not defined by your failures you are not defined by your struggles you are not defined by your feelings you are not defined by your circumstances you are not defined by the here today gone tomorrow false ideologies and philosophies of our current culture you are who God says you are Point Blank period that doesn't change your your father has given you a name did you know that he has said that you are a chosen race you're a royal priesthood you are a person that has been redeemed and chosen adopted and qualified you are not a mistake you are not an afterthought you are not a liability you have been created in the very image of God that means every aspect of your physicality it means the skin you're in it means the hair texture that is on your head it means the structure of your body every unique aspect of your physicality and my physicality has been made in the very image of God that means that any person or any system that seeks to diminish the value of the uniqueness of who I am is actually anti- God because I'm an expression of the creative genius of God but not only that it not only means that physically you're created in the image of God but did you know that even your personality is a unique expression of the creative genius of God you are made and fitted with the uniqueness of your personality and your temperament in the image of God you are not introverted by mistake you are not extroverted by mistake you are who God created you to be even your weaknesses aren't a liability they are actually a unique fitting by God because your weaknesses just be become a platform for the strength of God to be displayed through your [Applause] life and then when we surrender all of who we are physically and in our personality when we surrender all we are to God and place faith in his son Jesus Christ and give him our body and our personality to be used as tools as instruments for his glory well now the holy spirit of God takes up residence on the inside of us so then we are now becoming temples of the holy spirit of God God's actual presence lives on the inside of me that means that with this presence in me well now I'm an overcomer is what I am I'm an overcomer this issue of identity y'all is so important because the enemy wants so much to twist and turn your identity your image of who God has created you to be because you will either live up to or you will live down to whatever you believe to be true about who you are so this issue of identity is so critical that it is one of the theological threads that we see threaded all the way out throughout the pages of scripture from the beginning of to the end there are some uh theological principles that relegate themselves to one sliver of the Bible maybe one book or one Testament but not identity identity is all the way from the beginning in Genesis you read about it all the way to the end all the way to the maps at the end of the book you see this issue of identity from the very beginning we see God call an obscure man named Abram pluck him up out of an obscure town and the very first thing he does when he finds this man is change his name he changes his name from Abram to Abraham and after he changes his name y'all he changes the GPS coordinates on his Destiny cuz that's what happens when God changes your name he changes where you're headed he changes where you're going to end up he changes Abram's name and he says Abraham I am now going to create out of you a brand new group of people they will be mine and I will be theirs I will set them apart they will now not be who they used to be they will bear my name my provision and my promises and my blessing will be their staple they will be mine and I will be theirs If Only They will choose to align themselves with their new identity if only they'll think in alignment with their new identity if only they'll behave in alignment with their new identity not how they feel not according to their circumstances not what other people are saying about them but if they will just act like who I'm calling them is who they really are they will see my blessings explode in their lives but the children of Israel in the Old Testament are exactly like us if you read throughout the Old Testament you see that over and over again y'all they're seduced by the idols of the culture over and over again we see the children of Israel running in fear from foreign enemies over and over again we see that they keep on forgetting who they are they don't live up to the standard of who God calls them to be they keep on bending and bowing and settling and living below the standard that they were called for that they were freed from 400 years of slavery to receive the blessings of God they don't get to enjoy them we literally find in these two verses that I'm going to read to you in just a second we find the children of Israel actually on the land of milk and honey they are on the real estate of Canaan can't enjoy the blessings they're in the place where God's blessings are supposed to abound but they can't en enjoy them simply because they didn't get this identity issue straight and so y'all we live in a day and age where if you have not noticed where the enemy is running rampant with this issue of identity we can tell this because everything is being redefined the things that God has already given definitions to everybody's trying to redefine but you are who God says you are you are who he has created you to be but everything for the children of Israel and everything for you can completely change when God meets with one person and reworks their view of their identity it's the hinge that changes the course of a life y'all let's pray Lord Jesus thank you so much for your word I thank you that it is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword Lord you have come to speak to us and so I ask father that you will I pray Lord that the words of my mouth and the meditation of my hearts will be acceptable I love what Miss Joyce prayed last night father she saido not let me say anything that is not exactly what you want your daughters to hear Speak Lord in Jesus name amen as was mentioned um I have the privilege of raising three sons Jackson is 16 and then Jerry Jr is 14 and then we have Jude I've told y'all before Jude is he's 10 years old now but he's our surprise boy we still don't know how Jude made it here and um we named him Jude on purpose cuz that's as close as I could get to Revelation cuz honey it is finished that is the end of the line Jackson Jerry Jr and Jude I took them earlier this year to the movies that's one of our things we like to do is go to a movie when one comes out that's really what we want to see and um it's kind of our thing and so we went to the movies we saw it in 3D so we sat down we um are all together at this Disney movie and and we we we started the film and after the film was already well underway I'm talking we're 15 20 minutes into the movie Jude the youngest looks over at me and Taps me on the shoulder and says Mom I don't like this movie and I said buddy why don't you like the movie and he said I cannot see it it is blurry why did they make a movie in 3D but the whole thing is blurry since the beginning of this thing I haven't been able to really clearly see anything and I looked down at him and I said buddy did you take the glasses did did you take the glasses out of the package you know they gave you those little glasses and he said these and I said yes buddy those put them on he put the glasses on that he had neglected to put on at the very beginning and he said this is awesome I can see I can see I love conferences like this one opportunities like this one because y'all what it really is about is fitting you with the spiritual eyewear that you need to see your life from the perspective of how God sees you and the story that he's crafting through your life and through mine the movie that I took them to go see was Incredibles 2 Incredibles 2 I'm not sure if you saw that one but it was man just as good as the first one and I loved the storyline so much in this one uh Mr Incredible and his wife elasa girl you know they're in the throws of taking care of evil and sort of coming out of of retirement in order to do that but it Incredibles too it's elasa girl that takes the Forefront she's the one that's sort of at the helm of fighting dangers and evil in the society and the children end up having to get much more involved this time man they are running across powers that they never knew they had they're being set in scenarios that are a little bit dangerous a little bit risky lots of adventure uh that they are called to sort of uh be a part of and you know alasa girl she's she's got a mama's heart and she's watching her three babies in the throws of all of this and at one point she turns to her husband Mr Incredible and she says they're just children and he says they're children but they're children with power and because they have power that makes them special and then he said whether or not they choose to use the power is up to them but either way they've got it it occurs to me in a room this size with women that are actually daughters that have plac faith in Jesus Christ we're children but y'all we ain't just children we're children with power that the holy spirit of God has given you power so that whatever place of danger or risk or Adventure that you may have been called into you need to know that you've got the power to sustain you into that place in which you have been called and and but but here's the deal whether or not you choose to use it now that's up to you what I don't want is to get to the end of my days only to look back and realize I had all that power but never took advantage of it it is at least in part to that end that I believe that there is a portion of scripture that man over the past year it has spoken so clearly to me and been a blessing in my life I want to share it with you it is in Luke's gospel if you have your Bible and you want to turn there with me you can if you know if you actually still use a Bible with paper Pages like I do or your iPhone your iPad pad any manner of iness we'll get you to Luke chapter 9 I think they're going to put it on the screens as well I want to read verse one and two then I'm going to jump over to verse 10 I'm going to read verse 10-1 17 Luke chapter 9 verse 1 and 2 says this it says and he called the 12 together that's Jesus he called the 12 together he gave them power and authority over all demons and to heal diseases and then he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and perform healing listen to that again this is the disciples going on their adventure and Jesus called he called somebody say he called he called he called the 12 together and then he gave somebody say he gave he gave he gave them power and and he gave them Authority then verse two says and then he sent somebody say he sent he s he sent them out verse 10 says and when the apostles returned they gave him an account of all that they had done and taking them with him he withdrew by himself to a city called Betha and the multitudes verse 11 says they were aware of this so they followed Jesus and welcoming them he began speaking to them about the kingdom of God and curing those who had need of healing verse 12 says and the day began to declin the 12 came and said to him Jesus please send this multitude away they need to go into the surrounding Villages and Countryside and find lodging and get something to eat for right here I don't know if you've noticed or Not Jesus but here we're in a desolate place but Jesus said to them in verse 13 He said uh-uh you give them something to eat they said come on Jesus we have no more than Five Loaves and two fish unless perhaps we go and we buy food for all of these people Luke wants to make sure you know that there were 5,000 men there I love the physician Luke because he wants to tell you the details he says 5,000 men because there were women and children there so Scholars say there were likely 15,000 there on that patch of Stony ground that day Jesus said have all of them recline in groups of about 50 verse 15 says so they did that had them all recline and Jesus Took The Five Loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven he blessed them and then he broke them and he kept giving them to the disciples to set before the multitude in verse 17 says they all ate and they were all satisfied and then they picked up the leftovers and when they did they discovered that there were 12 baskets full of leftovers and this very familiar story that many of us probably have heard or and are in some way familiar with is a story of a multitude of people who are being fed they are hungry they are empty they're in need of nourishment and they are more in need of an encounter with Jesus and Jesus gives them both but I want us to turn our attention away from the multitude and really focus in on these 12 disciples the disciples those who walk with Jesus and talk with Jesus those who are in relationship with Jesus those who follow him those who want to learn of Jesus the disciples the one who fly halfway across the country to come to the conference to learn more about Jesus the disciples I believe that this story this well-loved story and encounter miraculous encounter that Jesus had in the scriptures man I believe that it is it is uh starts not just when the crowd gets hungry I really do believe that it starts in verse 1 and two we find that the disciples the 12 have an up close personal Encounter With Jesus we find more out more about this particular encounter that they had in Mark chapter 6 you don't have to turn there but this exact same story is told in Mark chapter 6 what I love so much about the first three books of the New Testament is that they're called the synoptic gospels Matthew Mark and Luke synoptic meaning that there's Synergy in the stories that are told the tone in which they're told the way that they uh that the writers wrote those particular encounters and the more you read them the more layers of insight you can gain about what happened in that particular story in that particular encounter that Jesus had we find this same story found in Mark chapter 6 and when we read Mark chapter 6 it gives us some texture to the story it's kind of like if someone offered you some chocolate cake and they gave you an option you could either have a one layer chocolate cake or a seven layer chocolate cake well I don't know what y'all going to do but I'm going to choose the seven layer chocolate cake every single time because the more layers there are the more rich and delectable The Experience becomes Mark chapter 6 is our layer of chocolate cake what we find out is that this is the occasion where God Called Jesus called the disciples together and do you remember he sent them out in pairs he sent them out two by two to the neighboring towns and the neighboring communities they he sent them out with an with an assignment their assignment was that every everywhere they went every person that they encountered should walk away with a more clear um picture in their head of who Jesus really is that they were supposed to go out in power and authority to preach and to teach and to perform miracles for the purpose of authenticating that Jesus was who he said he was and that Jesus could do exactly what he had said that he could do the whole point of the disciples coming together and then being dispersed was so that the power and authority with which they would live their life would mean that every person they encountered every interaction that they had would leave the people who they had encountered knowing that Jesus must be the real deal what's the point of Us coming together if after we leave this place every person we encounter does not know that there must be a god somewhere and his name is Jesus Christ so they go out in pairs and I mean they handle their assignment with Integrity they are fully entrenched Mark chapter 6 tells us in the task that is at hand and after they finish the assignment they come back to Jesus and they give him an account for how they handled the assignment that they had been given how they handled the ministry that had been entrusted to them I want to make sure that everybody in the room knows that they are in Ministry if you have named The Name of Jesus Christ you are in Ministry don't let someone else or the enemy convince you that Min Ministry is relegated to standing on a platform behind a Podium with a little microphone attached to you Ministry is the place where you've been called to serve in the assignment that you have been given every one of us are representatives of the King of Kings and the Lord of lords you are in Ministry it's a mother of small children don't let anybody tell you that you're not in Ministry every single time you sit around that dinner table with the casserole that you prepare the new way that you figured out to make chicken for dinner tonight and you figured it out successfully one more night and you sit those kids around the table and you pray over them and you teach them a Bible verse before they go to bed don't let anybody tell you that that ain't Ministry at high school student when you're walking down the corridor of that high school that you attend and you're the one that stands for righteousness in the midst of the darkness don't let anybody tell you seventh grader eighth grader freshman sophomore that you are not in Ministry a university student like Mr Dave's niece that he just told us about University student when you you are the only one in the philosophy class where the professor is telling you things and teaching you things that are left of center of the truth of God's word and you're the only student in the class of 300 that raises their hands and takes them to term and lets them know that there actually is a truth a standard that is the word of God you are in [Applause] Ministry and corporate man or woman when you you sit around that boardroom table and you're the only one that when they're talking about their projections for the future but they lack a smidge of Integrity or character and you're the one that stands for righteousness and calls people back to the truth of God don't let anybody tell you that that ain't Ministry every single one of us has an assignment and just like the disciples the day is coming coming where we're going to have to give an account the day is coming sooner than we think but we're going to look our savior in his face and we're going to have to give an account for how we used our time and how we used our talents and how we uh used the gifts that he entrusted to us and how we took care of the assignments that each and every one of us have been called to he's not going to ask me about her assignment he's going to ask me about mine and he's not going to be interested in how many Instagram followers I had he will not be interested in how many people were my friends on Facebook are liked the tweet that I put up he's only going to ask me number one did I know his son Jesus Christ and then I'm going to have to give an account for the assignment that he called me to and when I look my savior in his face I want to tell you that I am looking for well done anybody interested and well done I want to hear well done which means that my main priority can't be to please you your main priority cannot be to please me our priority collectively cannot be to Garner the Applause of people our interest has to be in Garing the Applause of Heaven because the day is coming sooner than you think well we're going to have to look at our savior and give him an account um I was being a bit nostalgic as I was here last night listening to Bishop Louie bring the word to us but I was nostalgic because it was about two decades plus ago that I was in Atlanta and I was sitting in a conference that was about the size of just this one section right here on the floor for a group that at the time was called the impact movement and as a little arm of Campus Crusade for Christ that would gather together a group of young people in Atlanta high school and college age the last years of high school and the beginning of my college Years I would come to the impact movement in Atlanta and sit just like you are and someone that had walked the road a little bit longer than I had would stand on the platform and tell me that I was going to be an arrow that the Lord would shoot out that the impact that my life could have if I would just follow Jesus would be an impact the likes of which I could never imagine I came to Echo what it is that that Lou has said y' y'all don't even know what it is that the Lord has in store you can't even imagine I'm trying to tell you that whatever is in your mind right now about what what God might do with your life it is too small for what he's actually planning to do too small you cannot fathom what God has in mind for you the reason why I can say that with that much boldness is because while there are 30 plus thousand of us that are gathered together in these three Arenas and then those that are on the other side of the screen in their homes 30,000 sounds like a big number unless you consider the fact that with 7even plus billion people on the planet the fact that he'd let us be the ones that are recipients of what he's done over these last few weekends really it's just or last few days really it's just a drop in the bucket 30,000 sounds like a lot but in the grand scheme of all the people that could have been here y'all he chose us that means he intended for you to know you're an arrow that your expectation is that you're getting ready to go places the likes of which you could never imagine I've asked the Lord to put an exclamation point on our on our uh conference together in this last session to just seal what it is whatever it is he's been doing in your heart that he wants to continue to do and I'm going to ask him to do that in Jesus name would you bow your heads with me Lord I Thank you so much for this privilege I thank you that you speak and that we your daughters and sons have the privilege to hear I thank you Lord for the great gift that it is to know that you have allowed us to be arrows in your hands and we say right now collectively wherever you send us we will go whatever Mission you send us on Lord we're we're gain for it father we surrender to you and now Lord do what you always do open up the windows of heaven and come in here and speak to us father we're so glad each other is here here but we didn't come to see each other we came to see you and so father speak somebody say Speak Lord speak say Speak Lord Speak Lord we are your sons we are your daughters and we came to hear a word take this simple message would you divide it about 35,000 different ways so that every person under the sound of my voice will know that today they have been in the presence of God in Jesus name everybody agreed when they said amen amen amen oh I like y'all y'all talk back to me I go to that kind of a church where they talk back you know I go to the kind of church where if the preaching gets really good to us we might throw something at the pastor a shoe a baby anything might go flying up there y'all are my people y'all came to have church so I have three boys um it's a little bit scary to me that they are nearly will be very soon in the next few years we'll be about your age three sons the distinguishing characteristic about my boys is that they are giants they are huge boys my 15-year-old is 6'2 in tall he wears a size 14 men's shoe my 13-year-old is about 61 he wears a 13 men's shoe and uh they Tower over me I have a 9-year-old who's coming up in the ranks with his brothers they are tall boys somebody come help me feed these people and one of the distinguishing characteristics about or or what makes their size work for them rather is that they do love sports so whatever sport is sort of in season that's what we're playing at the time my second son for a lot of years he's into basketball now but for a lot of years baseball was his thing and I enjoyed that I enjoyed baseball season I liked going out there for Spring ball I liked Spring ball because you go sit in the cool of the evening while your kid is practicing I remember all those years of of little league when he was just coming up and we'd sit out there in the cool of the spring evening Under The Lights of the bleachers watching and practice and enjoying just uh that that whole atmosphere I like Spring ball so much the only problem with Spring ball is that it is going to become Summer Ball and I don't know what happens where you live wherever you're coming from but I can't tell you in Dallas Texas which is where I still live and where I was born and raised in Dallas Texas in the summertime it doesn't warm up slightly it gets hot I'm talking about slap your mama hot that kind of hot the kind of hot where you feel like the sun must be mad at you about something like you did something to the sun and the Sun is trying to get you back all summer long that's what it feels like and you're sitting out there at a game trying to enjoy your kids game and it really still is okay when there's just one game the problem is that at the end of every season there's a tournament so you got to be out there on a Thursday at 8:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. and noon and 2:00 p.m. and and then depending upon how your kids team did you're going to have to come back on Friday at 8:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. and then they give you a little lunch break but you got to come back for the 2 p.m game the 4 P.M game and then if your kids team had the nerve to do well you got to come back again on Saturday for the 8: a.m. game and 10:00 a.m. and and noon and 2 and man you're sitting out there under the blazing sun trying to be happy that your kid is doing well really you're wondering if it's ever okay to pray a lose so you can go home I will never confirm nor deny that I have ever done that but I will tell you that we were sitting out there at a tournament so several years ago sun was Blazing we were so excited for the lunch break just because that meant we would be able to go to a restaurant where there would be air condition and ice water that actually had ice in it we got refreshed we came back we drove our SUV up into the parking lot opened up the back of the SUV so that we could pull out all the gear that we needed to go to the next game in the tournament we were 3 days into the tournament hot sweaty they were doing well we were trying to be excited about it ready for the next game I was walking behind my son to get from where we had parked the car over toward the Dugout where the next game was going to be played and so I gathered up all the stuff you know the ice chest that you have and the um the umbrella that you might have to go over your head and you know the water bottles the the backpacks the The Baseballs the mitts all that stuff and I was following behind my son my second son Jerry Jr is a fairly gregarious personality he's outgoing he's excited for a challenge so I could see that in his step as I followed behind him I could see a skip in his step his chin was up his shoulders were back he was excited about the next game and I got to tell you he's pretty good in baseball he has a natural knack for it I remember at 10 years old was the first time he got a good hit and sent it sailing over the fence line at 10 years old and I think it's partly because of his size just a lot of power behind his swing great as a first baseman so we were really excited about his success in baseball and and I watched him as he kind of hopped and skipped over to the next game just excited about the next challenge in the tournament but because I was following behind him I had my eyes glued on him and I could see when something changed I could see that as we took the short walk from where we parked the car over to the Dugout I could see that his shoulders started to hun over and his head hung down I could see that that that skip that had been in his step had changed he was kind of walking like he was nervous he was ringing his hands a little bit I saw that he was looking around his eyes darting and looking a little bit sketchy I was trying to figure out what happened to my boy it was a short walk from where we parked the car over to the Dugout and all of a sudden his countenance had completely changed so I started looking around trying to figure out what was going on why did he look so insecure and fearful all of a sudden I realized that as we were going toward the Dugout we were walking past some kids from another team they were all laying on the grass underneath the shade of an oak tree getting ready for the next game as I passed them I could see this was the team we were about to play next kept walking and I kept getting a look at these boys and when I looked at them I realized what my son's problem was we had faced this team before we had faced them earlier in the season and when this team had played my son's team earlier in the season they had annihilated us it had been a complete embarrassment a complete upset this team right here y'all they were serious baseball players you know the kind of players that had the serious parents ain't nobody got time for all that these are the kind of parents you know when they gave birth to their son they put a m on one hand a baseball in the other they've been waiting for this their whole lives and these boys were good they've been playing since they were toddlers I mean really little this was one of those Elite teams they were amazing and so my boy saw this was the team he was about to play in the closer he got to The Dugout the more he passed them and realized that they were the players I watched his countenance change in response to that but we had to walk right by them to get to The Dugout as we walked past there were two players they were talking to each other one was whispering to the other I think he thought he was whispering but we could hear him he leaned over to the other one and he said there goes that big kid from the Red Sox team is he the one that hit the ball and it went over the fence yeah he was the one at first base the one that caught any of the outs that we got in the game that was him so that's Jerry shy when my boy heard his name cross the lips of the opposing team members that was shoulders that had been hanging down all of a sudden I watched them pop back again I watched his chin go up I watched him get a little swag back in his step as he headed over toward the Dugout in fact we had to bring him down a few notches before the game started it's amazing really how your countenance changes when you really overhear and understand what the enemy thinks about you when he sees you coming it doesn't mean that the challenge goes away it means that in the face of it you're different your stance is different because you recognize that when the enemy sees a daughter or a son of God coming his way he's shaking in his boots not because of you but because of the holy spirit of God that lives on the inside of you I came to tell somebody today that even if you don't believe what it is that the word of God declares to be true about you you need to know that the enemy does he knows that every single thing that God's word declares to be true about you every word that has been declared over you in these last few days of this conference even if you're not convinced about it the enemy is he knows that you have been forgiven he knows that there is therefore now no condemnation for those of us who are in Christ Jesus he knows that you have been given the victory he knows that you have been made competent by the spirit of God he knows that there is therefore now no condemnation for you or for me no shame no guilt he knows that you have not been given a spirit of fear but of power and love and of a sound mind and y'all he knows that in the end we win and I'm saying what ashamed it would be for the enemy to believe more about your potential than you do what a shamed it would be for us to go out of here with all of this inspiration that we have been given this investment of God's word that he has gathered us together over the course of these days to Worship in spirit and in truth and to hear his word declared true over our lives what a tragedy it would be for us to walk out of here and still live like we were before we came through these doors so what the enemy will do is scatter challenge in front of your life cuz listen you going back home to challeng y'all do know we going back home in a little while right and don't we wish we could wake up to this every single day don't we wish that we could have God's word spoken over our lives with this much Authority and power every single day and be in the presence of leaders who can lead us into the presence of God and worship every single day like this but the reality is we going back home the challenges of your University campus the challenges of your home your relationship ships your friendships on your job those challenges will be sprawled out in front of you when you get home and let me tell you something what the enemy hopes is that the sight of them will cause you to shrink back in so much fear and insecurity that you'll never step up to the plate of being who God has called you to be listen if you've placed faith in Jesus Christ I hope you know that the enemy understands he cannot destroy you he knows his chances are over of destroying you so he is going to spend the rest of his time and the rest of his energy just trying to discourage you trying to distract you so that you'll shrink back in fear and insecurity and not step up to the plate and be who God has called you to be

Channel: Going Beyond Ministries with Priscilla Shirer

Views: 66,550

Keywords: priscilla shirer, priscilla shirer 2024, priscilla shirer sermon, priscilla shirer sermons, priscilla shirer identity in christ, identity in christ, identity in christ priscilla shirer, how to find your identity in christ, how to find my identity in christ, finding your identity in christ, christian identity, my identity in christ, identity in god, p2s4b, gb2ps, 4p2sm, 1psg6, sp61g, priscilla shirer armor of god, priscilla shirer spiritual warfare, spiritual battle, jesus, bible, god

Id: 7iBUsMCCImE

Length: 44min 43sec (2683 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 30 2024