Redefining Identity - Melanie Rogato (August 22nd, 2021)

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 uh 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 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 fumble 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 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 going to 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 going to 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 going to 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 now 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 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 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 trying my 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's 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 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 um 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're 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 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 oh guys i i we we need to be secure we need to be secure 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 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 uh 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 mel is having insecure male is like just a mess today but can i tell you when you say yes yes to saying god let's i'm going to 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 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 and 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 gonna abide in jesus i'm gonna abide in jesus and 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 asked 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 in 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 man

Channel: Catch The Fire Toronto

Views: 243

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: Catch The Fire, Toronto

Id: btRbtakWy8s

Length: 29min 41sec (1781 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 07 2021