 All right, this morning Ephesians chapter two, before we read, I wanna just introduce this brand new series that we're launching the year with that we're entitling saints and sinners. And I want you to know that I have been waiting to teach this series for the last couple of months. One of the things that I've done for the last 20 years as the pastor of radiant churches, every year in the fall, I try and spend some time really listening closely to what God would have me to plan in the next year, as far as teaching and series and what does he wanna say to us as the church? And really tuning in, oftentimes I'll have people that will come up to me in the front or meet me out in the lobby and they'll say to me, you know, pastor, you should really teach a message on this or you know, I'd love to hear you teach on this, it'd be a great, I'd love to have a series on this or that and my answer to them is always, well, that's a great idea, you should talk to my boss about that. Because my number one responsibility is, as a pastor, is to teach what God, who is the over shepherd of this church, is saying to the church. He speaks to me, he emphasizes topics or themes to me and then that's what I teach. There are a lot of things I would love to teach that I have not yet felt led to teach on. Things that I'm chomping at the bit to get to, but I try and really zoom in on what God is saying to us and I will tell you that over the course of the last several months, the theme that I have felt, God put his hands all over is the issue of identity. In fact, so much so that I really felt the Holy Spirit speak to me that 2018 is the year of identity. It's the year of identity and I think that there's something even broader than just us as the church, radiant church in Kalamazoo, Michigan. I think it is a global crisis and issue, but it's also a global word that God is speaking to his people because it's so important. Right now, if you look across the spectrum of the planet, what you'll find is that our world is in a full blown identity crisis. It's in a full blown identity crisis. It's over things of national identity. It's over things, globalism, tribalism, even in our American culture, identity is a major issue. The sense of where do I fit in? Where do I belong? Who am I? Who do I wanna be? Who do people expect me to be? I just see it on, it's always been an issue. The issue of identity has always been an issue, but it's like an issue that's on steroids right now. And I think one of the things that has taken the issue of identity and identity crisis to a whole nother level is the introduction over the last decade or so of social media. Now, I'm not an anti-social media guy. I like social media. I'm like everybody else. I find myself scrolling through it, looking at it all the time, whether it's Instagram, Twitter, Facebook. Sometimes it makes me angry. Sometimes it makes me happy. Sometimes I don't even know what I'm looking at. I'm just doing it. Has anybody else ever been there before you? Find yourself like after an hour, scrolling through and it's like, what did I just see? And what sociologists and psychologists right now are figuring out though is that with the introduction of technology and social media where we're connected to everything and our global neighborhood has become shrunk down to where we're connected to people all over the globe, is that it's actually rewiring the human brain. The way that we think is being impacted by technology. And it's not just changing the physiology of the human brain. It's actually changing the emotional makeup of people because of what we're seeing on steroids. It used to be, when we talk about looking at a screen, it used to be television. And when I grew up, television had three channels on it. And you watched whatever was on one of those three channels. There was no pay-per-view. There was no DVD. Back in the day they had, I think, VHS tapes when they first came out. It was like a big deal. And so we had VCRs and three channels and a VCR. And then when cable came out, that changed everything. It was like 30 channels. Whoa. Now we've got YouTube, we've got Hulu, you've got online, on-demand, 400 channels on cable, satellite and all kinds of other stuff on top of Instagram, on top of Facebook, on top of Twitter and everything else. So here's what happens. We live our lives constantly viewing other people's highlight reels. What do I mean by that? Well, if you've ever watched sports shows or you watch the news at the end of it, they show you, they don't show you the whole game, they show you the best parts of the game. Well, that's what social media is. Social media is our highlight reels. We look at everybody's, oh, today, I'm just eating a kale salad with tuna and these really wild paw paw fruits that I found in some organic shop there. And we think that's how people eat. That ain't how they eat. That's how they portray themselves eating. When they're not on Instagram, they're eating pot pies. We all know it. You're on Instagram and you see somebody taking a selfie of themselves at the right angle with the right light, doing their little duck lips or whatever, their fake eyelashes and they've got their hair just right and that's just Joel. And that's like his best look today. What you don't see is when they wake up in the morning, they have to assemble themselves like a Mr. Potato Head to look that good. It's like put this and that and just get the right lighting and airbrush and 24 different filters. We're seeing people's highlight reels but what it's creating is a culture of exaggerated comparison where it causes us to look at our own lives and go, who am I? Who's following me? How do I compare? Do I fit in? How many likes did I get? Did somebody give me some negative feedback? We have immediate feedback on who we are and what we're doing and what it's creating in our culture, social media is becoming like riverbanks where instead of the current carving out the standards, the pressure of culture and popular opinion is determining how we live our lives. Why? Because one of the greatest needs, you might remember this from high school, Maslow's hierarchy of needs is the need to belong and to fit in. And so in a world where everybody's looking, we're taking consensus polls, we're getting voted on every single day and elected to whatever identity we think we're supposed to have in order to fit in and it doesn't automatically guarantee you're going to be the genuine you that you're supposed to be. It doesn't guarantee that you're going to be happy and full of joy and peace. It doesn't guarantee that you're going to fulfill the purpose that you were put here on this planet because if you live your life constantly viewing other people's highlight reels, you are going to be disturbed, depressed and discouraged about your own reality. Identity is not temporal. Identity has to be deeper than what's on the outside. It has to come from a source that doesn't change a source that is higher than I, a source that can speak in from before my past and after my future. It has to come from someone who knows more than just what I look like on the outside. It has to come from someone who is intricately aware and informed about every molecule of my being and the purpose for that being. And there's only one being in the universe that can do those things. And that is the one who created us. He's the only one. God is the only one who has the right to tell us who we are. He's the only one that at the end of our life we stand before and get voted on. He's gonna look at us and he's gonna either say, well done, good and faithful servant or he's gonna say, well, I mean at the end of our lives I don't know how heaven's gonna work but I think on one screen we're gonna see this is the life that you lived and then maybe on another screen God's gonna say here's the one I wanted you to. And it's not an issue of salvation by good works it's just the fact that God does have good works prepared for us to live in them. And that's why the issue of identity is so vital and it is so important because right now let's just admit it church. There are all kinds of voices, all kinds of surrounding circumstances even our own experiences, our fears, our insecurities that are shaping how we see ourselves. Shaping who we think we are. Shaping who we think we're supposed to be. But there's only one voice that we really need and it's the voice of the Lord. And so saints and sinners for the next several weeks we're gonna be diving into the identity issue. We're gonna be talking about how does God view identity? And what I wanna do is I wanna start this year off right. I want you to look with me to Ephesians chapter two and we're gonna read an entire chapter of the Bible together. Isn't that amazing? A whole chapter. Some of you are like I need to get back on reading the Bible through. Well, today you're gonna be able to check the box. I read a whole chapter of the Bible and I did it with a thousand of my closest friends. Here we go, you ready? Ephesians chapter two, I'm gonna read it, you follow along. It says, And you, he made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lust of the flesh, fulfilling the desires of our flesh and of the mind and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others, but God who is rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, he made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved and he raised us up together and made us to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus that in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness towards us in Christ Jesus for by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourself, it is the gift of God, not of works lest anyone should boast for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Verse 11, therefore remember that you once Gentiles in the flesh who are called uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision made by flesh by the hands that at that time you were without Christ being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise having no hope and without God in this world but now in Christ Jesus you once who were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ for he himself is our peace who has made both one and broken down the middle wall of separation having abolished in his flesh the enmity or hostility that is the law of commandments contained in the ordinances so as to create in himself a new man from the two thus making peace and that he might reconcile them both to God and one body through the cross thereby putting to death the enmity and hostility and he came and he preached peace to those who are far off to those who were near and brought those who were far off near for through him we both have access by one spirit to the father. Verse number 19, now listen to this it says now therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone in whom the whole building being fitted together grows into a holy temple in the Lord in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the spirit. What an amazing chapter. Chapter two just like really if you look at it chapter one, chapter two and chapter three in the book of Ephesians are all about identity. You see here's what I know is the enemy works best in environments of confusion but God always does his best work in environments of clarity, wisdom, light, truth. When truth is spoken there's clarity and there can be order. First Corinthians chapter 14 says that God is not the author of confusion. It says in James chapter three about confusion it says where there's envy, where there's self seeking that exists confusion and every evil thing will be there. See identity when we're trying to find our identity out of selfish ambitions or out of just our feelings or our emotions when we're trying to define who we are by our drive and our ambitions it says it creates an environment of confusion and confusion is like throwing chum in the water for sharks. When there's confusion in your life the enemy can smell confusion just like you can smell fear and he comes running to environments of confusion because when there's confusion he can begin to twist distort things and bring about his ultimate goal which is to destroy, to kill and to steal but in an environment where there's clarity where there's truth things can be put in order and the enemy is expelled from environments of clarity and wisdom because he can't stand truth. He's repelled by truth and truth brings life, confusion brings death. Why is that important? Because we need to realize today in our culture the voice that is the loudest on the issue of identity is the enemy's voice and he's doing everything in his power to confuse people in their identities. It doesn't matter whether it's racial divides, national divides, sexual orientation all of these issues right now are identity issues. I've never ever seen the level of confusion in a generation like I've seen in the generation that we're living in and let me tell you that that's not by accident and it's not by evolution. It's the result of a demonic strategy to steal an entire generation from their inheritance from their purpose because someone can't live out of purpose that's not connected to an identity. Whatever you think your identity is will determine the way you live your life. If you just think you're an animal that you are driven by your basic instincts you'll live your life in a certain way. If you think that when you were created it was a mistake you'll live your life in a certain way. It creates fear, it creates insecurity and instability, it's confusion. But here's the good news is God from the outside is not looking at us irritated, frustrated, mad and full of anger God's answer to our identity issues is he sent Jesus. God's answer to our identity issues is he didn't shout to us from the other side of a curtain where he's in eternity in the spiritual realm and we're living in our everyday life and say get it right guys. No, what God did was he said in order for you to understand your identity you have to understand my identity. And so what God did was you wrapped himself in human flesh and he says I'm God and I'm man I'm just like you and I'm sending my son so that you can see who I am the image of the invisible God because listen your ultimate purpose and calling as a human being is to be an image bearer of God. You were created to bear and reflect the image of God. Well how can you reflect what you don't see? So when we see Jesus we see God God came and expressed the image of God so that you and I can walk into that same identity. You see the reality is the enemy tries to confuse everything but from heaven's perspective identity is really binary it's just one or the other. God doesn't look and see oh black and white. He doesn't ignore black and white he's created diversity and it's beautiful but that's not how he divides identity in our world. He doesn't see young and old he doesn't see American and whatever he doesn't see Republican and Democrat he doesn't see gay and straight he doesn't see any of these things that we try to use to define who we are what God sees is lost and found he sees saved and dead living and dead or what we're gonna define as saints and sinners that's how God that's the binary identity issue that from heaven's perspective he looks at because one a sinner has one nature and a saint has one nature I know that in some spiritual communities and some traditions saint is reserved for like a handful of people who perform miracles and lived you know just like a mother Teresa type of a life and we call those a saint but can I tell you that's not what the scripture teaches the scripture over and over and over refers to the saints it's talking about to the saints who are at Colossae the saints and Ephesians 118 it says the inheritance that we have in the saints it says right here in verse number 19 that we are no longer foreigners and strangers but we are fellow citizens with the saints he calls us saints so those who are in Christ Jesus those who have heard the gospel those who have believed in Jesus Christ something happens on the inside of you that shifts and changes your identity where you go from being a sinner to becoming a saint and a saint means one who has been changed, saved and redeemed and changed in our internal nature and a sinner is one that we just read about in Ephesians chapter two that this is how we used to be we used to be driven walked according to the course of this world we used to be under the influence of dark spiritual influence we were the sons of disobedience we by nature were children of wrath which means who deserved wrath God's judgment we deserve that it wasn't just our behavior it was our nature identity comes down to the core nature of who we are it's not just our behavior it's interesting to me that when you see people who do really bad things and by the really bad I mean worse than we did is you'll always hear people say well they're really a good person they have a good heart well can I just burst your bubble for a second no they don't because out of the abundance of the heart our words flow our actions flow so whatever our actions are it reveals what our heart is we do really bad things because we have really bad hearts and in a world, listen I know we're Americans and we live in the self-help aisle I know that we live in America and it's like chicken soup for the soul you're a champion and everything's good and you're just dog on it you're a good person no you're rotten in your humanity to the core of who you are you are a sinner broken dead you're a zombie like the walking dead you're living but you're not really living you're you hear a noise you're not alive none of us are spiritually we're zombies we hear a noise we're driven by appetites that's where God finds us but praise God that when God sees us like that he doesn't leave us like that he sent Jesus to change us you see the reality is your identity is not defined by your temptations your identity is not defined by your failures you are defined by what you do with the gospel that's who you are sinners by nature how many know when you have a little baby they come out really cute all of you came out really cute by the way but if you've been a mom or dad or an older brother or sister little babies come out and they're just precious and everybody's just like oh look out they're so sweet oh they're so innocent they're just they are they're beautiful but by one two years old when they begin to learn to talk how many know what their first words typically are I know mama daddy all that but then it goes no it's like who taught you that word no little the brother tries to take some you know play with a toy no or how about this one mine all of a sudden your cute little baby turns into gollum it's like depresses he's trying to steal the promise depresses just the hobbits meee it's like where did you come from all of a sudden there meee what happened to my cute little two year old have you ever noticed you don't have to train a child to say no you don't have to train a child to share I mean when's the last time you saw a parent goes no you're sharing too much you're too nice you say yes to everybody I need to teach you to open up say no pull it closer hold it where does it come from it comes from the nature that we're born in the Bible says we're born into Adam as sinners I know that nobody wants to be told you're a sinner but listen you can't be cured of a disease that you've never been diagnosed with and if we're just trying to become better versions of ourselves clean up our external we're never going to change our identity at the core and that's what Jesus came to do not just make us better versions of ourselves not just decorate us in a better way not to just make us more photogenic for our social media platforms he came to resurrect us from our spiritual death forgive our sins which we could never reconcile ourselves and translate us out of darkness and death and blindness and bring us into the kingdom of light he came listen Jesus came to take slaves and make them kings and queens he came to make orphans children of God he came to make blind men those who are prophetic he came to take those who are dead and in the tombs and resurrect them from the dirt that's what the gospel of Jesus Christ is all about and yet we allow so many of the things of our past to define us and even in the body of Christ we have some just terrible ideas about our identity okay so this is what a sinner is a sinner here's what sinners do a sinner ready sins it just comes natural but a saint somebody who it's not just a sinner who's rehabbed but it's a new creation 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 17 says if any man or woman is in Christ Jesus they are a new creation all things have passed away and behold all things have been made new a new a brand new creation in Christ Jesus and here's where we get bad theology a lot of times we know what sinners do we can nail that down pretty good at our lowest most humble moments when we know we need God that's when we say I'm a sinner but then what happens is we come into the church and here's what this series is really going to be about we come into the body of Christ and we still see ourselves as sinners just forgiven sinners some terrible bumper stickers out there I'm just an old sinner saved by grace that's really cute but it's bad because Jesus didn't come to make sinners better Jesus came to make dead people alive Jesus didn't come to give you a divine magic marker eraser that every time you sin it's like oh the blood of Jesus I just raised my sin okay but it's still me and I'm just I'm gonna sin I'm an old sinner oh every time I mess up God's grace is sufficient I'm so grateful for God's grace I'm so grateful for forgiveness of sins I'm so grateful that when we confess our sins and we plead the blood of Jesus he faithful and just to forgive us our sins but can I just tell you you're not just an old sinner saved by grace if you're saved by grace then something more at a nature level spiritual level has happened on the inside of you you've changed you've been born again of the spirit of God you've confessed your sin you are a sinner and you've confessed that what Jesus did on the cross is stronger than anything you've done in your life and you let his grace come and totally change you from the inside out and now spiritually you might have the same look live in the same house drive the same car have the same friends but you've got a new name and a new identity and you've got a new nature on the inside of you and we gotta get a hold of this new nature because as long as we see ourselves as something less than a saint I'm not talking about you're never gonna make a mistake again I'm not talking about you're not even gonna sin again I'm talking about the core of who you are has changed and it will grow and develop and become more like Christ that's the goal that's the goal that God has is that your salvation point is the starting point and throughout all the days of your life he's going to begin to change and shift you to be more like Jesus there was this story that was run in the UK about a homeless man who knew that he was a millionaire he was found dead before it could be told to him this is from 2010 it says a long lost relative of the reclusive and eccentric New York hewgett clark who stood to inherit 19 million of her 300 million dollar fortune has finally been found unfortunately dead from hypothermia in rural Wyoming Timothy Henry Gray's body was discovered by children sledding under a Union Pacific railroad overpass in Evanston Wyoming in the southwest part of the state temperatures had hit 10 degrees below zero gray who was 60 was the half great nephew of Clark who died in May 2011 age 104 and tragically was unaware that he was potentially entitled to 6.25 percent of her copper mining fortune which if you break it down is equivalent to about 20 million dollars and so they had and you read the rest of the article they had enlisted private investigators and attorneys for several years to track down her last living relative they knew who he was so they just couldn't find him because he was living homeless and when they finally found him actually kids found him because they found a frozen corpse of a 60 year old homeless man I wanted to think about why was he homeless and why was he dead well because he probably didn't think that he had money to buy a house or a car or warm clothes or food on paper he's worth 20 million dollars but it's only the money you know you have that you can spend so technically he's a millionaire functionally he was a pauper it says my people perish for their lack of knowledge in other words what you don't know can hurt you and there are a lot of us who don't know that beyond just our sins being forgiven you have a new identity in a new name in Jesus Christ in Christ Jesus when you read Ephesians chapter 1 what you quickly realize is it's all about Christ it's all about what he has done it's from the very beginning it says that you and I in Christ in the Lord Jesus Christ have been accepted in the beloved he chose us in him that we're made holy in him that he's expressed his love in him that we have redemption through his blood in him that we've received the riches of his grace that we are seated with Christ in heavenly places that we've been given a new name I mean in him in Christ Jesus everything has changed about our identity everything has changed you may think your name is Bob Smith and you live in Kalamazoo, Michigan and you're a middle class and you've got a job and you're dreaming about retirement and you've got this home and you've got your family and you've got your struggles and you may think that that's your identity but let me just tell you there's a higher identity for you Bob Smith you may have that name here on the earth but he has another name for you you actually have a throne in heaven in which you are seated you have authority over demons you have authority over hell you have authority over sin you have the spirit of the living God that called the planets into existence dwelling on the inside of you you have royal blood flowing through your veins your name is written in a book by the hand of God you have your name written on the palms of Jesus' hand he knows you when you pray he hears you the inheritance that belongs to you the Bible calls you an ambassador of Christ you are literally a missionary from heaven that was sent to this earth and although you might not know your purpose before you ever took your first breath God knew your name and had a plan and had a purpose for you that he sent you to earth to fulfill that did just shock us your name might be Stacy Smith and you think well I'm just mom raising up kids no you are an ambassador from the kingdom of God you have the signet ring of your father on your finger all authority that Jesus had belongs to you you will live forever you will never die God's word is your inheritance everything that he writes in here belongs to you there is no demon in hell that can stand in front of you because of who you belong to when the devil sees you he sees Jesus we can't live homeless I don't want any of us Christians to be found at the end of our lives spiritually as if we are living under an overpass let me just let me illustrate it to you this way I am running along these guys are gracious lovely worship team see here is what typically happens the enemy convinces us that we are defined by the dirt of our life that's who you are that's the devil's dirty little secret this is who you are see if you understand what dirt is dirt is decayed organic matter decomposed at one time dirt was something that was alive it was plants animals it was matter it was wood it was trees it was flowers it was fruit it was an animal it was a person but through death and decay it breaks down what we are left with is dirt this is how the enemy thinks he's got dirt on us what he says to you is you want to know who you are and he holds up the hand a handful of the dirt of your life and he says this is who you are the things that were alive in your life your marriage that you went into all of a sudden one day it began to break down and you were served with divorce papers and now you live with the stigma of being divorced all the days of your life it's something that was alive that broke down and is now decomposed it's the dirt of your life and the enemy will hold it up and say this is who you are this is how you are defined some young person some young seven year old boy goes into his dad's bedroom and finds hidden under his bed a magazine filled with pictures and images that no seven year old boy is designed or equipped to handle and he sees it and stirs feelings things on the inside of him that for the rest of his life he's going to struggle with and it becomes lust and lust becomes a habit and it becomes guilt and full of shame on the inside of him and it constantly draws him back it promises him pleasure but all it leaves him with is nothing but decay and dirt and the devil then piles on the guilt and shame on us and says this is your identity it's your failings some little girl sexually abused at the hands of somebody older and for the rest of her life she feels as if her innocence has been lost and I'll never be able to get it back I'm abused and that becomes an identity a man begins to drink a little bit too much and pretty soon becomes dependent on and he goes to the bar and hangs out with his friends and he gets in the car a little bit too drunk he gets pulled over by a police officer because what belonged in high school to just a can of beer with his friends has grown into an addiction that now has cost him his driver's license and then costs him his marriage and then cost him his job and now has cost him his dignity and the devil promises you life but all you're left with is dirt and then you hear his voice say this is who you are and on and on it goes the drugs, the lust the sex the impulses the things that are nothing more than the dirt of this earth what it says in Ephesians 2 is the pattern of this world this world is dust, it's dirt and the Bible says that even our physical body is dust to dust dirt to dirt we shall return but can I tell you dirt is not your identity this is not who you are see because one day at the very beginning of time God the Father walked in the garden of his newly created earth and he looked at the mountains that he said are good and he watched the birds fly across the sky and he said it is good he looked down into the water and he see the schools of fish and he said it's good the grass in the fields and he said it's good and then God knelt down into his new earth and he took up a handful of dirt and it says and out of that dirt he formed man and it says and when God breathed the breath of life into the dirt it became a living being let me tell you what God has an amazing ability to do to reach into the dirt of our lives things that have defined us branded us we've allowed to become our identity if we will allow it, God by his grace here's what grace does grace reaches into the dirt of our lives and he shapes a masterpiece in the image of his son Jesus and then by the power of his Holy Spirit he breathes life his life into our souls we become a new living being a new creation Ephesians 2 verse 10 says we are his workmanship Jeremiah 18 says I went down to the Potter's house and the Potter was sitting at the wheel he had clay on the wheel and he was making something new he was taking the broken pieces and he was making something new only God is able to reach and say the dirt is not your identity the dirt is just the building block materials by which I'm going to form my masterpiece and I'm going to cap it all off just like you did in the very beginning and I'm going to breathe my life into you I'm not going to just leave you to try and figure it out on your own if you'll let me my grace will shape you and my spirit will fill you with my new life and you can go from being a sinner that's defined by your dirt to becoming a saint that is defined by the artist you see God is in the habit of taking the filth of our life and making something beautiful out of it Jesus has this encounter with Simon Peter in Matthew 16 and he says to Peter says Peter who do people say that I am well some say you're John the Baptist some say that you're Isaiah the prophet some others say that you're Jeremiah one of the other prophets and Jesus then responded to him and said this who do you say that I am who do you say that I am well you're the son of the living God listen to what Jesus his response was he says blessed are you Simon Bar Jonah for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my father who is in heaven and he says this and I say to you you are Peter and on this rock I will build my church what happened Simon heard God tell him who he was after he had a revelation of who Jesus was our identity is found when we come face to face and acknowledge his identity you are more than a good man you are the son of God you are more than just a God who is in the farthest corners of the universe you are the son of the living God savior of the world Jesus you are not just a figment of my imagination you are a perfect man fully God who died on the cross and you bore my sins penalty you were raised from the dead alive and you reign in rule you are king of the universe and I am not the king of the universe I got all the pieces but I don't know how to put it together when you acknowledge who Jesus is he steps in and he puts the hands of grace to the dirt of your life and he says now let me shape you and tell you who you are and only God has the ability or the right to tell you to shape you into who you are always meant to be because only he knows what his plans have always been for you and it doesn't matter what you've done where you've been he's able to take any sinner and turn them into a saint because his grace is sufficient would you stand up with me all over this room there's an inheritance that belongs to every child of God the key to you walking in your destiny is letting him define your identity show you your inheritance next several weeks we're going to be digging in what does it mean to be a saint what does it mean to be a follower a new creation a Christian I know what our culture says it means but I don't care what culture says I care what God says and I think many of us in this room are going to discover that the person you thought you were pales in comparison to who you really are who he's made you to be in Christ Jesus would you bow your heads with me all across this room please this is a sacred moment you see the same father who stepped into the garden in Genesis chapter 2 is the same father who stepped into this service this morning and he came with one intention as a father to leave this room with more children than he came with you may be here today and you say you know Pastor Lee as you were describing a sinner that's who I am you were talking about the dirt I've got so much dirt can I tell you I am not here in any way Jesus did not come and I'm not here to condemn in any way I'm here to announce good news doesn't matter how much dirt you got in your life doesn't matter how many times you've sinned how broken you are doesn't matter how far you've gone today Jesus will save you he will forgive you he will rescue you and he won't just brush you off and tell you to do better next time today if you'll put your faith in your trust in who he is and what he did on the cross today you can be born again you can be changed from the inside out you can become a child of God lay down your sins lay down your striving lay down yourself and let him resurrect you from the dirt all over this room I'm asking you to respond to what the Holy Spirit is prompting you in your heart today you know whether you're right with God or you're not today many of us in this room need to get our lives right with God and the Bible says if we here's how we receive the grace of God we don't do anything we just open our hearts up and say I believe if anyone will call upon the name of the Lord they shall be saved all over this room I know right now the Holy Spirit is already doing his work you know in your heart of hearts you're not right with God you know you're a sinner today you know you need the forgiveness of God the real life-transforming forgiveness of God in your life today I'm going to ask you to respond in faith to it I'm going to ask you to take a step and say I want a new identity I want to be found a saint in Jesus I want to be forgiven I want to know I'm right with God pastorally pray for me and we're going to pray together in a moment I want you to respond right now just raise your hand say that's me I need to get my life right with God in Jesus thank you all over the room come on just raise it this is not something to be ashamed of this is exciting this is good this is a birthday hands all over the room yes yes yes yes yes yes all the way in the back row see your hands this is awesome you can put your hands down thank you so much everybody here's what we're going to do we're going to pray this together this is a confession this is us talking to God and we're going to do it together say this with me say heavenly father come in Jesus name and I believe Jesus is the son of God the savior of the world I believe he died on the cross to pay for my sins penalty so that I could be free I believe he rose again from the dead and is alive forever I confess I've sinned I've lived for myself I'm a sinner today make me a saint come into my heart be my lord be my savior wash me clean give me a brand new heart from this day forward I'm a new creation I'm not who I used to be I'm a child of God I have a future I have a family and I have a father I will never be the same again in Jesus name amen if you just prayed that prayer welcome to the family of God we are so proud so excited for you so good so good we're so proud of you so awesome man it never gets old seeing people go from death into life amen church I mean it's just man it's just so good listen here's here's how we want to dismiss this morning I'm going to invite our prayer our ministry our care team members pastors if they would come make their way down to the front those of you who just raised your hand and you just prayed that prayer everything has changed but let me tell you you're going to need help walking it out we all need help and we want to invite you to do take your next step and here's what your next step is you need to tell somebody and so when everybody is leaving this morning those of you many of you you're not alone I promise you raised your hands prayed that prayer and meant it truly meant that I'm going to ask you when everybody is dismissing for those of you who prayed that prayer and really meant it walk down to the front to one of these prayer partners here and even if you have to wait for a minute and just tell them I just prayed that prayer we want to pray with you we want to give you something a bible if you don't have one we want to give you a book that's going to encourage you we just want to look you in the eye and tell you welcome to the family of God and everybody else we'll see you this Wednesday night for seek at the Portage Campus at 6.30 have a blessed afternoon come down forward if you just received Christ