 with that said let's open our bibles to Luke chapter 19 verse 10 and it says the following for the son of men has come to seek and to save that which was lost two main questions that everyone usually asks is who am I and what am I here on earth for who am I and what am I here on earth for when we say who am I we don't necessarily ask what is my name and what is my source security number when we say who am I we don't necessarily ask what is my highest education and where do I work and what I live who am I on inside who am I supposed to be who am I capable of being and the second question that is also as important is what am I supposed to do with my life and we ask that meaning deeper than just am I supposed to be a politician a police officer or an army sergeant sergeant am I supposed to be just a missionary a musician or a teacher we ask something deeper than just a career we're asking what am I supposed to do with my life what's what's gonna be my legacy and what kind of mark am I to live on this earth and this verse that we read Jesus Christ in one statement he reveals two very important answers to extremely critical questions he says the son of man has come to seek and save that which was lost the most beautiful part about Jesus outside of him being God outside of being him being fully man and outside of him giving his life for us is that Jesus on this earth knew who he was and what he was supposed to do he knew who he was and he knew why he was here he knew that at the age of 12 when most of the kids know about reality TV shows or Disney characters most of the kids while they know about friends and they know certain games Jesus at the age of 12 already knew who am I and what am I here for his parents didn't like that answer actually but he already knew the two questions that you have to answer first is who am I and what am I here for and this verse gives us a clue where Jesus says I am a son I am a son and I came to save I am a son and I came to rescue I am a son and I came to help and to raise people up the first most important answer that we must have is who we are and the scripture reveals to us who we are we actually looking at Jesus can see who we are our reflection is in Jesus because we are in him and we belong to him that's why most of the people like Apostle Paul when he met Jesus he said Jesus who are you and then the second question he asked what do you want me to do the reason why Paul asked who are you is because when you know who you who Jesus is you will eventually know who you are because we're made out of same material he is the branch is an extension of the vine and we he is the first born and then we just after Jesus as the children of God so when we know who Jesus is how much God loves Jesus we will also have clues on who we are and how much God loves us can somebody say amen I am a son your position before God is the one of sonship your position before God is a son Jesus was a son when he was born that was his position but his condition was that he was an infant he was a baby in sweatling clothes couldn't speak couldn't move on his own couldn't take care of himself but he was a son his conditions begin to improve he eventually learned to walk and he began to speak and he began to develop as his condition developed his position before God still remain the same he was a son and then eventually at the age of 12 he was able to leave his parents run away into the temple be his being his conditions improved but his position was still the same he was a son until he was 30 years of age and he got baptized and we see that he went to the wilderness but his position was still the same he was a son his position was the one of being a son I want to tell us something this evening is that your position before God is more important than your condition in life your position is what you get when you get born again as a Christian that position is this is you become a child of God this position is invisible this position is how God sees you when the baby is born in the family in that very instant at the day at the second of the baby's birth this baby receives a status in the family if it's a female it becomes a daughter if it's a male it becomes a son this son or this daughter gets a position in the heart of a daddy and mommy that she never worked for this position is invisible if you walk into the house you won't see nowhere written she is our daughter but if you stand in the house long enough you will see parents running around like there is no tomorrow to take care of this little infant who has a highest position in the house that she or he never worked for it came as a gift and there's nothing baby can do to earn this and there's nothing baby can do to remove this if a baby gets a fever it doesn't stop her from being a daughter if a baby wears diapers it doesn't change the fact that the baby occupies a unique place in the center of the father's heart being the center of his world why just because she was born did not wash the dishes did not vacuum the floors didn't wash the car did not cut the grass just because I was born I already have a position in the heart of God that I cannot deserve or earn because somebody say amen Jesus was a son it's important to understand our position before God because that position is how God looks at you when he sees you when you look at your baby you don't see a kindergarten you see a daughter when you look at your son you don't see a teenager you see a son you look at them not through their condition you look at them through their position at that never changes when they graduate when they get their own car when they get married and have kids of their own you still look at them through that position which they had when they couldn't speak couldn't talk and couldn't take care of themselves that is their position the Bible says our position in the eyes of God is we are righteous in his eyes we are justified justified means just as we've never committed sin we may still wear diapers we may still not be able to pronounce mommy and poppy we might still not be able to walk fluently and speak fluently but at the day of your salvation you occupy a place in the heart of God it's called sonship it's called you're a child you're his and it's very important to understand as believers as Christians that God is not intimidated by our conditions God is not thrown off by our weaknesses our struggles and even our diapers he still loves us God knows if this child does not have a position in my heart this child has no chance of ever getting out of diapers if this child does not have a place in my heart if this child does not receive a constant consistent never changing love that I have for this child this child's circumstances could not be changing improving evolving and getting better for our life to change our position has to remain constant for our life to change our view of God must be dependent on God's view for us which doesn't change even when we make a mistake even when we struggle even if there are symptoms in your body even if the relationship you are in is going through the hardest times it has ever went through even if in financially you are below zero and you are struggling your conditions are just so complicated and many times we like to throw away the whole idea that God loves us remove the whole idea that he is our father and God has promises for us and we say well see look at I am in my diapers and there is no God there is no love and there is no promises of God diapers are temporary your position in the heart of God is not if there will be no position in the heart of God there will be no diapers there would be no problems of which we complain if there will be no God who loves us so passionately we can never exalt the problems in our life above the God who put us into the life which has the problems it's he who loved us because why he made us and created us in this world it's he who said his son to die on the cross for us so that we will be born in his family thus born in his heart God doesn't lose affection for you just because your life is tough and just because you can't feel him and just because it seems like you don't understand him that doesn't necessarily mean he is completely absent God's silence is not God's absence can somebody say amen and when a teacher is silent in a classroom it does not mean that the teacher has disappeared it just simply means you're going through a test and if you bow your head and stop screaming and yelling but remember everything the teacher told you before the test you pass the test and the teacher will speak again your position is a child you always have to be conscious of that when you're going through difficult times you always have to start with that when you want to change something in your life our position is what matters it's how God sees us it's how God views us and this position is the one of sonship Jesus said I am a son who are you many times the answer comes by by I'm a successful person because I make money I am a happy person because my husband loves me I am a beautiful person because I get over a hundred likes on my Instagram pictures who are you is it dependent on your weight scales is it dependent on your degree or your certificate to your diploma is it dependent dependent on the digits on your paycheck who are you is it dependent on how good you look and how your biceps and triceps and all other apps stick out when you work out four times a week or five times a week three hours a day who are you it's a very very important question the problem with most people is they don't know who they are just today I heard of a person who said I was trying to invite my co-worker to church and my co-worker you know relationship that they were in broke out the person that they've been married to decided to live a homosexual lifestyle and and this woman says I don't know who I am you know my sarcastic response was check your drive license you will see your name did you forget your name but people don't mean that I don't know who I am now because my success my identity was placed in marriage and it collapsed and hold my who I am collapsed with it I placed all of my chips into this basket all of my eggs into this basket and this basket had a bottom and all of my eggs cracked and they fell and I don't know who I am it is dangerous to put who you are in the hands of a boyfriend in the hands of a boss in the hands even of your kids in the hands of your parents in the hands of your college or in the hands of your mirror place who you are in the hands that fashioned you in the hands that gave itself to be pierced for your redemption and he will never ever disappoint you and when you gain 10 extra pounds you will still be confident and then you'll lose them and when you lose a job you will cry a tear but you will get over it and you'll get a better job and when something collapses and you can fix a relationship listen you will shake it off and move on why because on a solid rock my foundation stands not on a sinking sand not on the opinions of people not on the mirror that I see not on the salary from my boss not on the opinions of people but on a God who never changes he's yesterday today and forever the same place who you are in his hands and he never changes and you will stand to the storms of life can somebody say amen who are you maybe you went through a divorce maybe a boyfriend left you with kids maybe you got black male pushed and kicked out of a job maybe you're just literally all demons are coming back maybe you financially struggling and the rug is being pulled out of under your feet and the questions that you should have answered at the age of 12 now you're 32 and you're asking these questions who am I until you answer that question adequately not find another fix not find another thing to help you put a band-aid on the wound that cannot heal but find someone who will never disappoint you when life friends or you are not stable you know when this was challenging question for myself because I've struggled with who I am I've struggled with asking the question and answered the question of who I am I knew my name I know where I was from I knew my weaknesses and I knew my strengths a lot of weaknesses almost no strengths I knew my friends and I knew my foes but who I am was a very big question that I seem not to have an answer for I always thought who I am was revealed in the person I saw in the morning when I looked in the mirror and the person that I saw in the mirror I didn't like the person I saw in the mirror I couldn't appreciate and I couldn't accept and so I thought if I could change the person in the mirror then I will change how I feel I thought maybe if there would be people around me who will tell me the fact that I am better than what I think of myself then it will change everything but I realized it is such a dangerous life to put your happiness in the hands of people who most of them don't even know what they want for themselves 80% of people don't even think about you and 20% don't even like you imagine putting your happiness imagine putting your heart in the hands of someone and I know you may say but he's my husband he says he loves me he's not God he is not God put your happiness and your identity in the hands of someone who doesn't just say he loves you who died to prove it come on amen and sometimes I would meet guys who are very confident they're like walk around you you could see them in the gym they're doing more I think we need to have more mirrors in the gym tell tell Martin tell the gold gym stuff more mirrors you know you think girls are insecure when they spend much much time in the mirrors you should go to the gyms and you will see the most and sometimes the biggest those guys are the more insecure they are because when they have guys send five snapchat pictures of their face it's insecurity at his highest and I remember we'd meet with guys and who acts so confident and I asked one particular gentleman and I said what would happen if I would give you my physical appearance and I would take yours would you be as confident as you are now as if we would trade places and he freaked out and I was like don't don't worry buddy you're not gonna intimidate me by your reaction he's a man well they'll be hard and I was like you say whatever you want to say I was like no it's not gonna be hard you'll be depressed suicidal and you'll be walking around doubting whether God loves you he's a well I'm not saying you're by looking or anything and I was like that's exactly what I was doing in the years prior to this but I'm like today you can put any skin on this skeleton and the person inside is already knows who they are the color of skin the weight on the scales the wealth and everything else plays very little effect to the inside revelation I am a son loved by a father loved by Christ who died on the cross for me and dwelt by the spirit of living God who fashioned and created the universe I have a home that's built by the greatest architect Leo my my uncle great architect and great builder but there is a home that's being built from me by the builder of all builders God himself every 6,000 promises in the Bible are mine he calls me his own he says if you mess with me you're messing with an apple of his eye so at the end of the day I am not what I see in the mirror I am what I see in his word I am his I am his son I am loved I am cared handsome and fearfully and wonderfully made more than a conqueror if hell comes against me the spirit raises a banner against the devil because he is on my side that is who I am and that is who you are that is who you are cuz somebody say man Jesus says I am a son now with this lofty position with this very privileged place status you would think Jesus would come on the earth like a spoiled excuse me Brad on a big chariot having thousands of people running around him having massages every single day having his nails trimmed and polished and every single thing being being so delicate in every single thing living in the palace hanging out with the big guys you will think having this such a high position you would have such a lofty place in this world lofty assignment in this world to reconcile the Roman and the Greek and the other empires together together all the emperors together and say hey guys the son is in town let's gather together drink some coffee and think about how to change this world but Jesus said the son his assignment is to save that which is lost sometimes salvation of people we have this such a low view of salvation of people we think of occupying political office or being a winner in the boxing match or having people walk around everywhere riding on their hands suck my blood or making to the Hall of Fame or to have your star in the Hollywood or to have a movie and finally you have your moment of fame sometimes we think oh that is such a such an incredible position but here is the person who has the highest position comes and it seems like he picked the lowest job ever possible it seems like he chose a career for himself that's similar to a career of a janitor to a career that's not worth anything it has no value in itself because our value system is completely twisted completely twisted Jesus chooses a life where he is the Savior to people he doesn't choose a life that has comfort you would think being a son you know if your daddy has a lot of money and your daddy most likely will make your life a little bit more comfortable you will be comfortable you will have your own car you will have your own privileges you probably will have your own people who will clean the room for you cook for you if you're loaded with cash I mean you're just gonna have a lot of comfort and you would think Jesus would come and live with just a lot of comfort but Jesus comes and we see he doesn't have a lot of comfort on earth but he has a big cause we have to change our perspective today that when you know who you are it doesn't necessarily make your life fluffy and comfortable it makes your life on point focused and has a cause people say well the Holy Spirit came to give us comfort he only came to give comfort to those who were dying for the cause of Christ not to us Western people Holy Spirit comes to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable he doesn't comfort people who simply make a mess of their life of selfishness and puts a bandit no he comes to comfort those who live for a cause bigger than themselves he brings them comfort but to the rest of us he brings deliverance from demons and selfishness amen when Jesus came into the wilderness and we see that Satan comes to him and says Jesus I know that you came on this earth to do this task of saving people but Jesus you're the son you're a big shot a big guy you deserve glory you deserve fame you deserve to be known you deserve for your popularity ranks to be at all-time high you deserve to be the person of the year every year that you live here if you just bow if you push the cause for which you came and accept the fact you deserve better you will have it and Jesus said no no no no no I'm a son but the highest task in my father's agenda is not fame and glory it's people and because it's the highest on his heart it will be the highest on mine and fame and glory it's not gonna be my most important wealth and riches nicer and being coolest and nicest that is not gonna be my main thing I am not gonna be running around and kiss everybody's butt to see that everybody likes me that Roman Emperor likes me and this governor likes me and Herod invites me the pilot takes a picture with me that is not my agenda I know I am their boss but when I am here I am here to serve my father's purpose not to please their face and the father saw that in Philippians he said because he took my priority above everything else I will exalt his name above every name and every knee will bow at the face of Jesus Christ it's as though father is saying when you put my priorities and put the rest of the things on the side God says I'll move hell and high water but I will make sure that things you sacrifice will come to your life not because you pushed yourself by your own shoes but because God elevated you and when God elevates you know devil in hell can stop you can somebody say a man I want to challenge each one of you to make winning people for Jesus your highest priority I want you to sharpen the purpose of your life you are a son you are not a slave you're not weak warm of the dust you're not what you see in the mirror you're special to God and your cause on this earth is not to just walk around easily offended everybody needs to like me I need to live a comfortable no no no you're bigger and better than this you have to have a cause that's sufficient to the position that you have a cause that includes everyone a cause that includes living a life of sacrifice why because your position is capable of handling it other people are weak warm of the dust they just they cannot live like that they need to chase fame and money because their cause is weak you are bigger better and greater your cause has to be sufficient and consistent with your position because somebody say man a lifeguard on duty that's the message title saving people for the person who goes to a pool is an option if somebody is drowning most of the time you will not pay attention because you don't know whether they're having fun or they're drowning if you are a swimmer in a public pool your response to everyone who's a help help is none of my business I don't know deal and I don't want you to sue me after this when you are in the public pool you are there to have fun but when a lifeguard is in a public pool he is there to look at every single person intently he can't be checking his Instagram he can't be checking latest tweets and the funniest cat videos on Facebook he has to be checking quickly and looking who is drowning a hundred people in the pool and everybody's having fun but his eyes are going to unfro the pool looking who is drowning lifeguard on duty saving people is not an option for him saving people is his job and if he won't save people he commits a crime many times as Christians we develop this worldly mindset that to save people invite people pray for people make it our mission go to school of leaders home groups well that's an option if I develop this radical personality if I become socially really rich person then I will go do something about that well for Jesus he did it because well Jesus had nothing else to do but I'm a busy man really if the God who made this earth didn't think saving people was least important you little and I who's a little and walking on this earth should at least elevate his priority to the value he placed it on them you are a lifeguard to your family to your generation to your neighborhood and to your city I know you don't have everything perfect in your life but you have a position that God calls you by you are his child and saving people bringing people to God is not an option it is your assignment it is my task it is why I am here it is why you are here can somebody say amen lifeguard pays attention and the lifeguard rescues the moment somebody is perishing a lifeguard doesn't take pictures of it a lifeguard doesn't say I don't know how to swim the water is too cold I don't know them all of that goes to the side he jumps in and he rescues as many people as he possibly can in New Orleans at 1985 the team of a hundred certified lifeguards and 200 people gathered together in one of the largest pools in New Orleans to celebrate that 1985 was the year that no one drowned in the city huge celebration they were celebrating having a good time while there was a pool for people who were lifeguards were watching over the pool the party was coming to an end that they were emptying the pool as they did so they saw a man Jerome Moody 31 years of age was on the bottom of the pool he drowned while day a hundred four certified lifeguards were celebrating their victories how many people drowned on our eyes while we tend to our own emotional hurtful feelings while we attend to our own selfish lives lives and different things I want us to be a generation that live like Jesus lived let it be said about you and me for the son you and me has come to seek and save that which is lost that's why we want to see thousands of people saved in tri-cities that's why we want to see thousands of home groups in tri-cities that's why we want to see miracles and healings and deliverances that's why young people who are 10 and 12 supposed to at the young age get a vision infected with the vision so they go to schools to start home groups not to go to school to lose their virginity or get high on drugs that's why at the young age like Jesus they have to know clearly and precisely if you hit him with the hammer on the head they'll tell you I am here to win souls and make disciples and only then that generation will grow up to be something bigger and greater when our pastor started the church 15 years ago and he took us as teenagers people around the two wonderful churches we have and other people looked at our pastor and they said listen you're taking these boys and you're sending them on a suicide mission they won't make it the culture is too rough you gotta take them and protect them from the world you're sending them you don't know who they are and the challenges they will face my pastor knew the best way to protect a person from the world is to empower them and send them into it to change it did we have temptations yes did we have problems yes but most of the people my age who were protected by their parents by their church stay away try to maintain your salvation have lost not only their purity not only their freedom not only their license many of them I saw them in jail when I would go to preach and I said it's interesting you focused on trying to stay away my pastor sent me to the world and here you are in prison not because you were preaching in the mall but because you jacked a TV in the mall and I am here in this prison not because I was smoking or drinking under DUI but I am here in this prison not because I'm holy moly God Almighty but because my pastor at the young age infected me with the vision and said the only way you'll beat that devil is if you run head on with the Holy Ghost and beat him and overcome him and then you'll be protected parents the best way to protect your kids from bad is send them to our Sunday school send them to every service it's not to glue them to a TV in Disney World movie as long as there's no violence no no no is to empower them at a very very young age filled them with the purpose and with the vision and you will see the Bible says train up a child when he's young and he will not derail when he is old because that vision will become a reality in his life all of our leaders I want to encourage us commit your life to the mission of seeing people give the lives to Jesus giving salvation is not something our church is in this right now season it's not a season it's a season until every person in our city is saved until every drug addict is not taking drugs and parents don't have to sleep with one eye open to look at them this season will last until every cancer patient has no more cancer this season has to last until every person who has a disease and demonic attack is free of it this is not something we are on right now this is our assignment this is our purpose this is our focus and this is our direction because somebody say man about two years ago when our church has refreshed its focus to see people saved I remember that I had an internal work in my heart during prayer what I had to pledge myself that till I die seeing people saved and doing everything possible for that will be only reason why I live the rentals the cars my name being known in other churches and another place people watching our podcast all of that is not worth protecting and fighting for all of that is to be used for one purpose and one purpose alone I wrote it on my phone in my notifications that I live for this and there is no turning back we might do home groups differently we might do miracle miracle catches differently we might invite people differently we might use different techniques and our methods will change but church our mission and our direction cannot change it remains permanent until every single person Jesus blood and died for reaches and knows Jesus Christ can somebody say a man right now I just want to take a few minutes and I want us to watch a video clip and this video clip was recorded and made it's a little movie by one of the greatest evangelists of our time most of you have heard of him or know of him Rehard Bonke he's a German evangelist who moved to Africa to start trying to bring people to God and for many years he only had six to eight people and things were so difficult and so struggling that he had only one thing left there in that Africa is he had a cow and poor cow even that cow died and afterwards he was so discouraged in his work and he wanted to already leave but God kept putting on his heart the continent of Africa and during one of those times when he was praying and praying for Africa he went to sleep and during a sleep God showed him in the vision a whole continent of Africa in the vision he saw the whole continent being filled with blood and he woke up in a pool of sweat shaken by the vision and God spoke this deep in his spirit and said these words Africa shall be saved the next night the vision repeated again it repeated three times and after that he just vision inside of him exploded not just to start a little tiny church but to just go and start having crusades and believe people will be saved up to that point there was no miracles in his ministry up to that point there was no big gatherings he wasn't known he wasn't nobody he was just a man who was a missionary move to see people saved and God gave him very big vision he organized his first crusade and his first crusades he gathered five churches he asked him let's bring all the people into the stadium and that we will have a big crusade he says on the first evening there was some a hundred people that showed up and the reason why he knew it was a hundred because he counted them ten times while he was preaching he was so discouraged because the stadium filled with some few thousand people and he preached and he preached and he preached and he preached and while the sermon was going on somebody started to scream in a native language of that town while they were preaching and he was disappointed he said God you know shut him down and he heard he felt that God was speaking back to him he says I couldn't wait until you finish preaching so I just went ahead and healed somebody because your preaching was so boring turns out that a blind person totally blind got into the service and while the sermon was going on their eyes were open so here is a man from Germany that didn't see miracles but said I'm gonna focus on seeing people saved God gives him a vision he runs with the vision and God starts backing it up with miracles the next night as you would expect hundreds people showed up more miracles happened more people showed up and then the third night he prayed for the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit the baptizing people with this power his crusades grew to that which is some of his crusades he will see 1.5 million people in one meeting well country after country I met people in America who were in Africa who got healed and saved in his crusades and people who radically changed but all of that started with one man who said I'm a little man I don't know much but I know a big God who loves the whole continent so much I know it's a black continent and I am white but it doesn't matter God's power is greater than that and today he's an older man everyone knows of him he's seen people raised from the dead he's seen people who were in prison who are now presidents he ministered to people all kinds of people and his life is a legacy if he will start telling his story he will keep you on the edge for weeks why a son came to seek and save that which was lost amen