 What's up, radiant church? How you guys doing? Good to see you. Hey, can we give it up for our Sarah our update young lady? She is so amazing I didn't see that one ahead of time and so I love the like chipmunk of facts She put on there about we're killing it this weekend. No, that was funny funny to me. Anyway, hey Before we dive into the word. I just want to reiterate something that she said about Saturday nights Some of you might be wondering Even some of our portage people Attend on Saturday nights as well. And so what we are doing is just trying to as an executive team We came together. We're just trying to say what what is how can we maximize? Every single thing that we do at radiant church if you've been here a while You know that we're not afraid to kind of shuffle some things and change some things We usually just shake a magic eight ball try to see what to do next. Sorry, okay We don't do that We do we pray and we seek the Lord and so this this Saturday night change is really designed to see What it's gonna look like as Sarah said to just have a bit of a different worship component So we're gonna linger a little while in worship. We're gonna Purposely make some time at the end for ministry and prophetic ministry and altar ministry and the message will remain Basically the same and we are shifting the time to six o'clock. I hope that works for everyone We did get feedback that sometimes the five o'clock kind of falls right into kids dinner times and things like that So we backed it up an hour. So hopefully we'll see all of you and then some on Saturday nights But we really are excited starting in February about what Saturday nights are going to look like it's gonna be good So just clap. Okay. Yes. Okay. Good. It's gonna be awesome It'd be so good. So hey if you brought your Bibles turn to 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 And as you do pastor Lee is ministering at a radiant church in Kansas City David Perkins church. It's the first time I think that he's been there He tried to go last year and he got snowed out. So he's ministering there and if you weren't here last week We're starting a brand-new series. It's called Saints and Sinners and it's about identity And what pastor Lee said is the Lord really spoke to him 2018 is going to be a year of identity for radiant church and I don't know that there is a more Critical subject that we can be discussing in the body of Christ than who we are in Christ and who our Identity is and why that's so important. So I'm honored to share this week If you didn't listen to last week's message. It was insane. I was off last week. I watched it on The computer What do they call that thing computer live stream? Thank you. That's watch it on a track And as I watch I was like, oh, this is just so good And so and pastor Lee when he gave me the instructions was like just do something out of second Corinthians 5 and I was like, okay So turn to second Corinthians chapter 5 and we're gonna continue on this idea of identity But let's just pray real quick and ask the Lord to bless this time father. We love you We asked that your word Would enter our hearts and that it would bring light to us God that would bring truth to us You promise that your word would not Return to you void but God when it sent out it accomplishes what you want to see it do so I ask Holy Spirit minister to every Single person in this room in Jesus name and everyone said amen second Corinthians 5 17 You probably know this I used it a few weeks ago Even at our baptism message that says this Paul writing and I would encourage you read the whole chapter Second Corinthians 5 is amazing But for time's sake he gets to this point where he says therefore if anyone is in Christ He is a new creation Old things have passed away behold all things have become new the oldest passed away behold the newest comes So he has this idea of saying look something dramatic happens to us when we are in Christ when we step from our identity being in Adam and sin in the world into our Identity being in Christ and so we're gonna look at that today like what does that mean for us as? Christians to be in Christ and to have the old things passed away and to have everything in our life Become new because at the end of the day at our core who we believe we are is going to affect Everything that we do in our lives both in the natural and in the spiritual realm The Bible says this in Proverbs 23 as a man thinks in his heart so is he as you think So you are if who you believe you are is going to determine everything about the direction you go And so the question I want to ask us tonight is who do you think you are? And that's a question we hear sometimes when maybe somebody's like overstepped their authority or somebody's you know Being I don't know a Judgmental or something like that like who do you think you are but honestly I want you to ask Yourself who do you think you are in fact look at your neighbor right now and say who do you think you are? Say it meaner this time Who do you think you are so many things as pastor Lee said last week want to define us Want to mark us want to establish our identity in this world and is he laid out so beautifully social media And so many things are just a bombarding us with with images and with ideas of this is who you are This is what's important. This is what's going to fulfill you And the reality is all of those things are Nothing compared to what God says that we are they aren't supposed to have the weight That God's word has that God's presence has that God says that we are My son who's just turned five, but when he was four years old He was at school on the east side in Detroit, and I picked him up one day and we're in the car and he says daddy a Boy at school today said I called me stupid And you know you have that like you know that feeling I will whip that kid, you know, I had it But I kept it together And I said he called you stupid and he said yeah, and I said and what did you say and my son? And I didn't train him on this but in the backseat of the car. He says I told him. No, I'm not I'm Eric John Sander van I Know right and in my heart. I was like come on. That's what I'm talking about So many tries to say you're some that's stupid. I'm Eric John Sander van and he always uses a middle name I love it all the time. Yes, I'm Eric John Sander van. Listen When you know who you are you'll know what to do. You'll know how to live You'll know what God wants to do in your life. Our identity is the starting point for everything That God wants to do in our lives and the problem is Many Christians today don't recognize or don't realize or don't fully grasp who they are in Christ And and I say that in this way like sometimes I'll get a phone call and someone will say hey Pastor John, I have a friend and they're going through this issue and they have this thing going on Would you pray for them or I want you to pray for them? And I understand that sometimes that's an honor thing and and I'm not saying that's always bad But there's also times when I hear that I know that what this person is thinking is I really want you to pray because you're the pastor and I'm just a Student I'm just a stay-at-home mom. I'm just a bank teller whatever it is There's this idea that if you pray something really great is gonna happen And it's gonna be more powerful and they don't recognize listen in the kingdom of God There are no second-class Christians the Spirit of God is not stronger in me than it's in anyone else in this room If you are in Christ Then the Bible says the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead is alive inside of you and this exact moment If you are in Christ you have access the Bible says to come boldly Before the presence of God before the throne of grace to ask for help in your time of need if you are in Christ You have access to the name of Jesus Christ Which we saying about that every knee will bow at every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord So listen to me first things first when it comes to your identity Don't label yourself in any way shape or form a second-class Christian to anybody else the same spirit That was raised Jesus from the dead is alive inside of you today. Okay, so that's important, right? So listen here's the question. What does that mean? What does that look like for me? If I want to make changes in 2018 If I want to change the direction of my life, you know We talk about this season of prayer and fasting and I want God to do something powerful In fact, I got a couple texts from some people who said that exact thing Saying basically look I don't feel like I'm where I want to be and I know I got to grow so much more and I'm not the father I want to be and I don't read the Bible enough and all of these sort of External things they pointed to is if to say now I want to change those things I want to change those things but listen when we talk about our identity and I want you to write this down You have to remember your position is what will determine your performance Your position you are in Christ and because you are in Christ. Listen to me You are accepted and you are loved unconditionally by God no matter what's happening in your life When you are in Christ, but so many times as Christians we want to focus on instead of position our performance Well, I'm not doing enough. I don't read my Bible as much as other people do I know I I struggle with these issues and I can't imagine anyone else has these problems The enemy tries to isolate us and get us to simply look at what we're doing instead of really who we are and Our performance is not Our position it's not who we are and that's hard sometimes to grasp because in our Western world Everything revolves around performance In our society starts when you're really young I remember being a fourth grader and trying out for basketball at Seymour Christian school and I got caught Because I was nervous and I was choking instead of making my layups But Greg deep house my friend he made the team and we played all the time and I could beat Greg deep house You know what I mean? But in the moment I didn't perform And what happens if you perform well at the trial to make the team if you don't airbud makes the team and a dog is better At basketball than you are. Okay, so just live with that John. It's okay. No, but and then School, what do we tell children? What do we tell our kids and listen? I'm not saying it's a bad thing We tell them if you perform. Well, if you do good if you get good grades, then you can get a scholarship Then you can get financial whatever that looks like and then it doesn't change much for us as adults We grow up and we think if I outperform my peers if I do better If I beat the budget if I do the then I deserve then I should get then naturally the promotion or the raise Or whatever that looks like and so everything based in our culture is on performance But the very first thing if you really want change in your life is to recognize your position is in Christ and Everything that happens in your life is out of that is out of that reality. This is who I am I'm loved by God. I'm accepted by God. I don't have to prove anything I don't have to be something that I'm not because when you live your life out of Performance instead of position one of two things is gonna happen. You're either gonna have pride in your life Or you're gonna have shame in your life. That's that's the only two possibilities when you focus on your performance So if you're doing well, or if you think you're doing well, then you're gonna have pride Well, I'm pretty good Christian. I go to church. I serve. I Hardly ever come during the third song usually here in the first song, you know And we have sort of our checklist of things that we do and that's what the Pharisees did in Jesus's day They were all about the external look at what we do We keep the law. We wash our hands the right way We tithe on our men every single thing that you could do externally the Pharisees did in fact in Luke 18 There's the prayer of the Pharisee and the tax collector and tax collectors were hated by everybody and the Pharisee Actually, praise this way. He says God. I thank you that I'm not like other people I'm not an adulterer I'm not a thief then he probably looked over at the tax but there's like and I'm not like that tax collector Thank God. I'm not like him, right? I do this I do this and he starts rattling off his resume and all the things that he does and sometimes that's our our Experience with God is through our performance. That's honestly. I grew up in a church that was a lot like that We had certain things that as a family. We just didn't do on Sundays We didn't go out to eat on Sundays again, because we didn't want other people to have to work on Sundays That was our thinking so we didn't go out to eat. I couldn't ride my bike on Sundays We didn't stay over at anyone's house. A big one was we never mowed the lawn on Sundays we always got that done on Saturdays because Sundays was a day of rest. It was like a Sabbath Which again, I'm not saying is a bad thing But I'm not kidding you and I say there would be times where we would honestly look at my neighbor Who would be mowing the lawn on Sunday and he would mow the lawn without a shirt on right? And we would just stare at him through our kitchen window like I can't believe you're mowing the grass on Sunday You sweaty Philistine don't you even love Jesus? You know we would and so we had We had these things that we did that we thought made us better than other people But but that's not who we are but then the flip side of that and I think happens more often than pride is when you live by Performance is you have shame in your life too often. We have this idea that I can't go before God because I'm not good enough I have too many issues in my life. I struggle in These areas I've been divorced. I've made mistakes. I've all of these things and in our hearts We don't feel worthy to have God love us the way that he says he does And so we struggle with shame and shame is one of the greatest tools of the enemy and keeping people living below The standard that God has for their lives We never have the confidence we never have the boldness we never have the reality of who we are in Christ because we're constantly constantly being shamed and guilted by things that we've done or things that have happened to us And because we're not remembering it's not about my performance first. It's about my position I'm in Christ And so we don't want that obviously we don't want pride. We don't have shame. So what does that mean? Here's what I want to explain to you in the few months that we have is that you yes You're accepted and you're loved by God, but you don't have to be somebody. You're not in Order for God to love you and for God to bless you That's that's the crux of tonight. You don't have to pretend you don't have to put on a mask Let's be honest so many times we go before God and we're not Transparent like we maybe want to be or we sort of go through the motions or we're just not sure gosh Can I really bear my soul in this moment and not be judged and not feel guilt and really still be loved and accepted by God? When I have all these things going on and I'm here to tell you tonight that that in those moments That is where the freedom will come in your life That is where the identity will mark you for who you truly are if you brought your Bibles turn to Genesis first book of the Bible We're gonna look at a story of Jacob and Esau if you grew up in Sunday school, you know who they are their brothers Genesis chapter 25 Isaac and his wife Rebecca are barren they can't have kids And so Rebecca prays this prayer and she says to her husband give me children or I'll die How you know it's a lot of pressure, right? And so they pray and they go before the Lord and she she gets pregnant and of course They didn't have sonograms and things like that They didn't know it but there were twins in there and the twins named Jacob and Esau were literally fighting in the womb already How many of you have children that were probably fighting at one point in the womb? Okay, yes, my kids, but they're they're going at it and then they're born and the Bible tells us in Genesis chapter 25 It says in verse 27 It's a earn 24 it says when her days to give birth were completed Behold there were twins in her room the first came out red and his body was like a hairy cloak So they called him Esau Then afterward his brother came out with his hand actually holding Esau's heel and they called him Jacob Which means deceiver so I think Esau means hairy and Jacob means deceiver Isaac was six years old verse 27 When the boys grew up Esau was a skillful hunter a man of the field while Jacob was a quiet man dwelling intense verse 28 Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebecca loved Jacob So you have these two brothers Esau is the quintessential Barbarian hairy warrior right he hunts with his bare hands He's like Rambo and his dad loves him the Bible says the father loves Esau, but Jacob was different He dwelled intent he was mild mannered. He had a different personality and he lived his whole life thinking I can't gain The love of my father. I don't have his approval. I'm not like Esau I'm not like the one that God loves. I have too many issues I'm too different. I have too many things going on and so he lived out his life that way And if you know the story Esau who was the firstborn was out hunting He got super hungry and he said to his brother He said give me something to eat and Jacob was making stew and he said only to give me your birthright now The birthright was what the firstborn son had Obviously by birth, but it was a huge deal in Old Testament times. It required the double blessing You got the double inheritance. You got the promise of carrying the name of your family I mean it was a massive deal and in that moment Esau because he was hungry. He just said here You can have it. I'll give it to you. Just give me that stew and so he ate it And then in chapter 27 what we see is the time comes for Isaac the father to do the firstborn blessing over his sons and so He isn't aware that Esau sold his birthright, but he wants to do the blessing look it I'm gonna read verse 27. We're just gonna walk through or chapter 27. I'm gonna walk through this It says when Isaac that's the dad was old and his eyes were dim He called Esau his older son and he said when my son here I am he said behold I'm old and I don't know when I'm gonna die So take your weapons and quiver and bow and go to the field and hunt game for me and prepare delicious food Like I love and bring it to me so that I may eat it and my soul will bless you before I die So Jacob is telling his son Esau go hunt make me some food I'm gonna eat it and then I'm gonna bless you but Rebecca the mom Was listening when Isaac spoke to his son Esau So when he went to the fields Rebecca said to Jacob your father was speaking to your brother He saw and he said bring me food and prepare me delicious food and I'll eat it And I'll bless you before the Lord before I die So therefore my son as I command you you go to the flock and bring me two good young goats So that I may prepare them delicious food for your father such as he loves and you shall bring it to your father to eat And he will bless you before he dies. So basically she's saying you're gonna trick your dad into getting the blessing But Jacob said to his mother behold Esau's hairy and I'm smooth What if my father feels me and he thinks I'm mocking him and they bring a curse upon me instead of a blessing and Mom said your curse can be on me only do what I'm telling you to do So he went did it brought his mother who prepared the delicious food such as his father love verse 15 I want you to underline this in your Bible then Rebecca took the best garments of Esau her older son which were with her in the house and she put them on Jacob her younger son and the skins of the young goat she put on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck and She put the delicious food that she had prepared in the hand of her son Jacob. So here we are Jacob's going in Esau's out hunting Jacob get some goats right out of a pantry or whatever Put slows together makes those and literally this is a huge deal. This isn't like hey Let's play a chicken dad. It's April Fool's. No, this is a massive deal. And so he's like look I don't want to do this. I don't want to go into the father's presence like this. I'm I'm nervous I'm I'm smooth and Esau's hairy. So literally, you know your brother's hairy when they like shave a sheep And they put that on your hands and your neck and then she puts but the most important thing she does is she clothes Jacob in Esau's shirt and his clothes and verse 18. Here's the moment of truth chapter 27 So he went in to his father's room and he's gonna be nervous He's gonna be a little scared. How many of you know, sometimes when we go before God, we're a little nervous We're not sure what to expect. And so he said to his father my father I'm just kidding. It wasn't that scared my father and he said here. I am who are you and Jacob said to his father I'm Esau your firstborn. So he's lying. I've done as you told me sit up eat of my game and quick Bless me. Let's do this verse 20, but Isaac said to his son. How is it that you found it so quickly? Because the Lord your God has granted me success dude. You're digging a hole here, bro. This is bad Then Isaac said to Jacob He said to his son Please come near that I may feel you to know whether you are really my son Esau or not So Jacob went near to Isaac his father who felt him and listen to what he said the voice is Jacob's voice But the hands are the hands of Esau and he did not recognize him because his hands were hairy like his brother He saw his hands so he blessed him and then verse 24 he doubles down. He said are you really my son? I am then he said bring it to me Bring it near to me that may eat of my son's game and bless you So he brought it near to him and he ate it and he brought him wine and he drank it And then his father said to him come near kiss me my son verse 27 So Jacob came near and kissed him and Isaac smelled the smell of his garments and Blessed him and said see the smell of my son is the smell of the field that the Lord has blessed Listen, here's why I love this story not because Jacob was lying not because he had to pull some tricks Not because Rebecca was being shady as a mom none of those things, but it's this there's so many times as Christians we think That we have to somehow put be like someone else Or we have to somehow be something we're not to go into the presence of the father and feel his love and get his blessing Many times that happens to us as Christians. Let's be honest We think no I know I've struggled there and I've messed that up and I've done that and we don't have this this Confidence to go before God and just like Jacob who came before his father I believe God who wants to bless us Says to himself. I hear the voice of Jacob. I hear the voice of John who doesn't get it, right? Who screwed these things up who's who's who's always, you know missing the mark, but come here Let me smell you. Let me feel you. I Hear Jacob, but I smell and I feel the son that the father loves remember Jacob loved He saw and so when Isaac loved he saw so when Jacob put his clothes on remember his mom put his garments on him He dressed him up like his brother and it was in that moment that the father didn't say hey Hey, I don't want anything to do. He said no no come closer. Come closer. Let me kiss you and he began to say no The voice that I hear might not be who I think it is But you're dressed in the garments of the son that I love and listen in Christ every time you are in Christ You are dressed in the garments of God you are dressed in the robes of righteousness Romans 13 11 says this and put on The Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh and Galatians 3 27 says this as many has been baptized into Jesus Christ have put on the Lord Jesus Christ and so what I want to tell you as someone who's going before God who's someone who's getting your Identity into who you are in Christ is this is you don't have to dress up like somebody else You don't have to be your brother You don't have to be somebody you think has a direct line with God You're already dressed in the robes of righteousness of the son that God the father loves and every time you come to his Presence you don't have to shake. You don't have to worry. You don't have to be fearful I don't care what happened ten minutes ago or ten years ago every time the father says come here I want to love you and I want to bless you because you are the son that I love every single time believe that church Hey, man, believe that Believe that believe that You're dressed in the righteousness of God our righteousness apart from crisis like filthy rags our works our performance They mean nothing, but every time we come into his presence in the reality of who we are in Christ everything changes Everything changes and the father will bless you And the last part is this So you don't have to be someone else You don't have to dress up But I also love about this story is that it only God can truly change your identity Only God listen so Jacob Pulls this trick and then Esau shows up and he's got game And he's wants the father to eat and the father says who are you I'm Esau your firstborn So wait, well, I already blessed Esau and he was like no that was my brother And he was like sorry He really is going to be blessed This is this is a big deal. And then so Esau literally starts crying Don't you have a blessing for me? And if you read the blessing that he had for Esau. It's jank. It's not very good I'm sorry. He's like away from the fat of the field. Will you be I mean? It was terrible. I mean it was not even like runner-up Participation trophy status. It was like you get very little And so Esau was mad obviously and he was angry and he said to himself after the period of mourning for my father I'm gonna kill Jacob and So Jacob's mother caught word of that and he had to leave he had to flee in the middle of the night And what you see in the following chapters is that Jacob begins to live in fear of The decisions that he made and fear of Esau and fear of being found out and fear of of what he had done and his past Was following him Everywhere that he went And when I feel like God saying tonight is too many of us as Christians have allowed our past to try to identify Who we are our past to determine our identity in Christ The second part of 2nd Corinthians 5 it says therefore if you're in Christ, this is who you are You're a new creation and then the second part is this old things have passed away Behold all things have become new The key to your identity is recognizing that your past does not have the authority to dictate who you are in your future You need to hear that so many people are bound by their past guilt Shame and regret are three of the key components the enemy uses to keep every Christian bound And you know why because all of them are tied to your past That's what he wants to do. He wants you constantly looking over your shoulder constantly second guessing Constantly wallowing and maybe some of the mistakes that you've made in your life and as someone who's been in ministry a long time I see that all the time People will come in and they'll talk about things that happen to them or decisions that they made Ten twenty thirty years ago And what I want you to know tonight is that in Christ your past has no authority over your future none There's some beautiful verses in Romans chapter 8 where it says we're more than conquerors In Christ Jesus and he says what can separate us from the love of God can peril can storms can sickness in any of these things He says neither things present nor things to come can separate you from the love of God that's in Christ And then again in 1st Corinthians chapter 3 Paul begins to talk about what we have in Christ our inheritance He says this is what you have you have life you have Death a power over death. This is this is your inheritance in Christ And then he says you have the things that are present and you have the things that are to come All of these are yours and you are in Christ That's what Paul says in 1st Corinthians 3 and listen in both of those instances Notice he never says that you have a right to your past He says you have the things that are present and the things that are to come But you don't have Legal right to your past and I'm telling you that's because it's already been purchased By the blood of Jesus Christ your past does not belong to you your past Cannot identify you because your past doesn't even exist in the eyes of God It's the lie of the enemy to say no those decisions those things those opportunities that you missed That's who you really are and God says I don't even see that Every time that you go to your past apart from the blood of Jesus Christ you're going to something That's no longer true That's no longer who you are that God doesn't even recognize Your future and your present belong to you who you are who God is Creating you to become I know the things I have for you things to prosper you and and not to harm you to give you a Hope and a future but every time we reach into our past we open ourselves up to deception So listen your past Can no longer have a voice in your life It can no longer haunt you it can no longer cripple you it can no longer Identify who you are you have to let it go and listen in Genesis chapter 32 what happens with Jacob I love this part of the story. So he's running from his past. He's afraid. He goes and he marries Rachel and then he has to work seven more years to marry Liam and then he has this Revelation where he's about to meet his brother in chapter 32 And he's scared. He doesn't know what's gonna happen. He's sending gifts ahead of time He's he's he's trying to appease his brother as he's done his entire life And in verse 22 of chapter 32 listen when it says so the same night Jacob arose and he took his wives his servants his children and he crossed the ford of Jabba There's a river and he took everyone and he sent them across the stream with everything else that he had and verse 24 says And Jacob was left alone. I want you to underline that in your Bible Everything that was a distraction everything that that could try to identify who he was He he sent those ahead and it says that he was alone in this moment and a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day This man is really Jesus. It's a Christophany and and scholars believe it happens throughout the Old Testament that this really was God who was wrestling With him and when the man saw they did not prevail against Jacob He touched his hip socket and Jacob's hip was out of join as he wrestled with him and then he said let me go So I just want you to think about this Jacob's wrestling with his identity. He's wrestling with who he is He's wrestling with the things that have happened in his past. He's alone with God and it says Jacob said I will not let you go unless you bless me and then verse 27 and God said to him. What is your name? It's in this moment. He's alone with God He's wrestling with everything that's going on in his life and God asked him the question. Who do you think you are? What is your name? And he says Jacob? I'm a deceiver. I'm a supplanter. I've lived my whole life Undermining people to get ahead trying to make things happen myself And he said your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel For you have striven with God and with men and you have prevailed listen Every time that you will get transparent With God that you will get vulnerable with God that you will get alone with God You give him the opportunity to truly define Who you are in Christ to mark your identity? Jacob came with his issues with his shame with the things that he had done and when he was alone with God God said no, that's not who you are. You might have grown your whole life thinking. I'm a deceiver. I'm a supplanter I don't have what it takes but in one moment God said him. No, your name is Israel. You're an overcomer. You have prevailed You're a prince with God and What I want you everyone in this room to realize going into 2018 is this is you don't have to perform To gain the approval of God. Of course it matters what we do Of course as we surrender our lives to the Lordship of Jesus Christ We grow in obedience and the trajectory of our lives follows hard after Christ those things will happen But if you are in this place and you think that you can perform well enough to earn the love of God You are going to have roller coaster Christianity your whole life where you think one day I might be good enough the next day No, I messed I gotta stay away from God till I do better and I'm telling you every day you wake up and you confess I am in Christ. I am an overcomer. I am an ambassador. I am salt and light in this world I am a masterpiece God says you're the workmanship that he created Before the foundation of the world to do the good works that he has planned for you And when you begin to live your life out of that overflow Then the lies of the enemy the lies of your past the things that want to define you They don't have the power or the magnitude because instead you're focused on who you are in Jesus Christ That's my prayer for you in 2018 is that the reality of who you are in Christ becomes a reality in your heart and you don't have to strive and You don't have to clasp crawl and and and dig and and and do better instead you rest in The reality that Jesus Christ and his goodness and his power and his might are Driving you into your future. You guys stand with me. I just want to pray with you I just want you to close your eyes and Bible says in Psalm 116 David said this he said pour your heart out before the Lord for he can be trusted There's those moments where we really do have to just ask God to examine our hearts And we have to be real with God we don't we don't have to be something. We're not we just have to say God I know there's this in my life that that I've tried to battle on my own Or maybe there's this in my life that I've allowed to define me, but it's not truth. It's not who you are It's not what you said you cannot afford to have one thought About who you are that God doesn't have about who you are Not one you don't get your own opinion about who you are You're in Christ and God says when you are You're a masterpiece. You're an overcomer. You're an ambassador and you're unequivocally and unconditionally loved By God the Father And with your head bowed and your eyes closed I just want to ask you if you're here and you know And maybe there's some things in your past that you haven't been able to let go of maybe there's some things that the enemies tried to use To define you and to keep you From all that God has for you and you know today. I Need to let those things go Behold the old has gone all things have become new God wants to do a new thing In your heart in 2018 he wants to do a new thing in your family wants to do a new thing in your finances He wants to create an atmosphere for the power and presence of God to be the driving force of your life Everything stemming from the overflow of who you are in Christ But it takes a decision you have to get alone with God and you have to say that might have been my name But God give me a new name. Let me hear you say no this is who you are And if you're in this place with every head bowed and you say that's me We're gonna pray together and we're gonna ask God to do a new thing We're gonna ask God to start a new Creation in you because today you're in Christ and you say John just include me in that prayer I know I need to give my life to Jesus. I need to let go of the past and just raise your hand right now We're gonna pray together Raise your hand. Keep it up. Keep it raised. Don't wait today's the day Today is where the presence of God can do the miracle the faithful God is in this place awesome Keep your hand up. Awesome. You can put your hands on let's all pray this together. Say dear heavenly father say it out loud. I Come in Jesus name And I thank you for loving me Thank you for sending Jesus To die in my place Today I choose to believe That I am in Christ Nothing can separate me From the love of God Today I turn my back on my past It will not define me It has no authority And I declare I am a new creation in Christ In Jesus name