He knows your real identity

Have any of you ever said something kind of mean to someone, and years later they brought it up, and you had no memory of it? Or maybe someone said something to you, years and years ago, and you still remember it like it was yesterday. The things people say to us have a tendency to stick with us and shape us. If someone tells us something about ourselves for long enough, we start to believe it, even if it’s not true.

Telling bryson french i was going to give him a swirly

Words have a way of impacting the way we see ourselves. And unfortunately …

WE CAN’T “UNHEAR” THINGS THAT PEOPLE HAVE SAID ABOUT US, BUT WE CAN REPLACE THEM WITH WHAT GOD SAYS ABOUT US.

Well tonight, we’re going replace what people have said about us with what GOD says about us. My prayer is that you will never forget these words of the Lord, and that these words will shape you. Because at the end of the day, you are not who people say you are. You are not even who you say you are. You are who HE says you are, because He is the one who made you.

Over the past few lessons, we’ve been looking at . We’re going to continue in that today.

Psalm 139:13–15 ESV

For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

As we see in this text, before we were even born, God already knew us.

He knew who we would become, and what our identity would be.

And not only does He say He knew, but He says we are wonderfully made.

We are not an accident. We were designed by God with a purpose.

We have value in God because we’re fearfully and wonderfully made.

In the last lesson, we talked about how our identity and the things that make us feel valuable can be summed up in four categories.

In the last lesson, we talked about how our identity and the things that make us feel valuable can be summed up in four categories.

Our False Identity: Our Worldly (our PAWS)

· Position

· Appearance

· Wealth

· Skills

We learned that these are the things that our culture uses to determine our value.

But in reality, this is a false value system and a false identity,

because it is temporary, shallow, and can all be taken away by one car accident.

We learned that instead, our real value comes from being a child of God.

So tonight, we’re going to take this a step further. We going to read some words from the Bible that tell us exactly who we are in Christ.

Tonight, we’re no longer looking at our false, worldly identity, we’re going to look at our real spiritual identity.

Just like our worldly identity, our spiritual identity can be summed up in the same four categories, but in a spiritual sense.

Let’s look at our spiritual identity.

1. Spiritual Position - The standing you have, the authority you possess in God.

What is our position before God?

We are his children. We are royalty.

1 John 3:1 ESV

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

- See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!

Could you imagine if you were the son of the president of the United States? How much confidence would you walk around with?

You wouldn’t settle for being bullied. But we’re the sons of the President of the universe, and we let the Devil bully us all the time.

So forget whatever earthly position you have or do not have. In the realm that really matters, you are royalty.

Stand up and be who you are in Christ: a royal child of the King!

2. Spiritual Appearance - What you look like to God and how he feels about you.

What is our appearance before God?

How does God see you? If you’ve given your life to Him, He sees you as righteous. God has taken every sin away because of the sacrifice of Jesus, and He sees you with the same righteousness that He sees Jesus.

We are righteous.

2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

- He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

This is great news. Maybe people on Earth don’t see you as some holy person. Maybe you have a bad reputation. But this verse says that God looks at you and sees you as righteous! Forget your earthly appearance; the one person who really counts sees you as righteous and holy.

Maybe you still feel down on your physical appearance. Here is what God says about that:

We are wonderfully made.

Psalm 139:12–14 ESV

even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you. For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.

- For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

He says that you are wonderfully made.

He sees you as beautiful, handsome, and perfect.

You don’t need to try and impress people with your looks, or feel like that is where you get your value.

God made you the way He wants you. You are wonderfully made!

We are His masterpiece.

– We are God’s masterpiece, created in Christ to do good works.

God didn’t mess us up when He was creating us. He says we’re His masterpiece!

3. Spiritual Wealth - The riches and value you possess in God.

What is our wealth before God?

We are heirs to the Kingdom.

James 2:5 ESV

Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?

- Listen, my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?

We have a massive inheritance coming our way.

The Bible promises that Heaven will be so much greater than anything we could ever imagine.

The riches and beauty of what we will inherit will make the richest person and nicest house on Earth look pitiful!

We will look back at the millionaires of Earth and say, “I can’t believe we used to live with so little. I can’t believe we thought that was rich.”

Heaven is going to be greater than we could ever imagine.

And God is preparing it for us right now. It’s going to be awesome.

But we’re not just promised an inheritance in heaven. God says spiritual blessings are available right now!

We have every spiritual blessing.

Ephesians 1:3 ESV

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,

- Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

What is a spiritual blessing? Spiritual blessings are the things that money can’t buy.

Comfort

Peace

Hope

Goodness

It is comfort when you need comfort. It is a miracle when you need a miracle. It is the authority and power and boldness in the Spirit that cannot be bought with mere money. And it’s all right there for us, waiting to be claimed!

Joy

Freedom

So be encouraged. Maybe you come from a poor background, or maybe you just have this feeling that you’ll never have money and never have value. I don’t know what your future holds financially. I know David says in the Psalms that he has “never seen the righteous begging for bread,” which means, if you’re living for God, He’s going to provide for you.

But even if great riches aren’t ever going to be a part of your life, that is not where your value comes from. That is an earthly and worldly perspective. Some of the greatest followers of Christ throughout history have died without a penny to their name. But for all of eternity, they are rich beyond imagination. The Bible says that whatever you give up in this life will be greatly rewarded in the next. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather invest in eternity, than this temporary life on earth.

Your value does not come from your bank account, but by being rich in God.

Lastly, let’s look at our skills.

4. Spiritual Skills - The skills, talents, and strength that God provides to us.

What are our skills before God?

We have gifts from God.

1 Corinthians 7:7 ESV

I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has his own gift from God, one of one kind and one of another.

- Each one has his own gift from God, one in this way and another in that way.

This means that all of us have gifts from God, and these gifts are not something that we can claim in our own power.

So maybe you’re not great at math. Maybe you’re not a great athlete. Maybe you can’t sing. Take comfort in knowing that this is not where your value comes from. Instead, God gives us all spiritual gifts. We will learn more about these in the lessons to come.

We lack nothing.

2 Peter 1:3 ESV

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,

- His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

If you’ve ever felt, “If I could just be good at this, then I would …” It’s like we see these skills and these gifts that other people have, and we get envious. This verse is saying, “Just stop that. I’ve given you everything you need for a godly life.” This doesn’t mean we stop contending for the gifts of the Spirit, or stop trying to grow spiritually, but it means we need to stop feeling like we got ripped off, because in reality, God has given us what we need to be godly. Anything else is just an added blessing.

We have Christ’s help.

- I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.

This verse is saying that even if we fall short in so many earthly categories of what makes people feel valuable, at the end of the day, God’s strength picks up where our weakness leaves off, and nothing is impossible with God.

Each one of us has been uniquely blessed and gifted with God-given talents and abilities. We have also been given spiritual gifts that far exceed anything we could do on our own. We will learn more about these in an upcoming lesson. But the bottom line is, God gives us gifts, and when we come to the limit of our own strength, that is when he promises to step in and give us his strength!

WE HAVE VALUE IN CHRIST, NOT BECAUSE OF WHAT WE’VE DONE, BUT WHAT HE HAS DONE FOR US!

[Author Note: Here are some things you may want to pray over the students:

1. Pray for the people who are finding their value in the wrong places.

- Pray that they would find their value in Christ instead of earthly things.

2. Pray for the people who are struggling with feeling valuable at all.

As the students have their heads down, and are in a time of prayer, here are some words from the Lord that you can read over the people who are having a hard time feeling valuable:]

When it comes to understanding and owning your identity in Christ, the biggest roadblocks are your own feelings. Maybe somebody said something to you, and you can’t get it out of your head. Unfortunately, you can’t “unhear” words, but you can replace them. Right now, you need to hear what God says and let that replace what other people have said.

- Maybe you feel ugly:

He says, “I call you beautiful, you’re my son, my daughter.”

- Maybe you feel poor:

He says, “I am blessing you with every spiritual blessing in heaven.”

You are rich beyond belief in the kingdom of God.

- Maybe you feel perverted, or like you’re messed up:

He says, “You are forgiven; anyone who is in Christ is a new creation.”

The old you has gone, the new you has come.

- Maybe you feel like no one wants you:

He says, “Before the foundations of the earth, I chose you.”

- Maybe you feel worthless:

He says, Before Foundations of the wolrd i chose you

I found such value in you that I died for you.”

Even if you were the only one on this earth, he would have died for you.

- Maybe you feel like nobody cares about you:

He says, “Cast all your cares on me, because I care for you.”

You are not who people say you are. You are not who you feel you are.

You are WHO HE SAYS YOU ARE.

Learn to believe it.