1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,760 without being sick. Anybody? You might not sick? All right, those are the people you 2 00:00:03,760 --> 00:00:06,440 want to go in fact, all right? Make sure they can fill your pain, all right? It's 3 00:00:06,440 --> 00:00:11,320 good. Just kidding, kidding. All right, we're close to spring. It's close, for 4 00:00:11,320 --> 00:00:14,640 sure. There you go, got it, even. They just pegs with me, all right? But we're 5 00:00:14,640 --> 00:00:18,960 getting there. But we're glad you're here tonight. I know it's been, winter's just 6 00:00:18,960 --> 00:00:21,680 crazy. People have been sick, but you're here and you're faithful and we're 7 00:00:21,680 --> 00:00:27,560 thankful for that. You know, I'm learning more and more how much I need church to 8 00:00:27,560 --> 00:00:31,120 start my week. Like, I don't know how I would do it without church. I need it 9 00:00:31,120 --> 00:00:36,040 because my weeks, as yours are, are just roller coasters and it's just with 10 00:00:36,040 --> 00:00:39,920 different tasks that are happening and different situations and then events 11 00:00:39,920 --> 00:00:43,640 that are scheduled and then things that I plan for and things that I haven't 12 00:00:43,640 --> 00:00:46,960 planned for, which is even worse, they just appear out of nowhere. And with the 13 00:00:46,960 --> 00:00:52,640 crazy week, what I found so often is that my emotions are just so up and down all 14 00:00:52,640 --> 00:00:58,000 the time. Mixed emojis, you might say, which is our new series. And we live in 15 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:03,640 a culture that is so much about do what you feel, just follow your emotions. And 16 00:01:03,640 --> 00:01:09,360 I personally think that's really dumb advice because my emotions should not be 17 00:01:09,360 --> 00:01:12,400 what I follow, because Miles should not be led by his emotions, because a Miles 18 00:01:12,400 --> 00:01:16,680 emotions each day are different, each hour, each minute my emotions are just 19 00:01:16,680 --> 00:01:20,320 shifting based on my circumstances. Those cannot be the thing I follow 20 00:01:20,320 --> 00:01:25,400 throughout my life. That's not good. It's not biblical more so. And there's a 21 00:01:25,400 --> 00:01:31,640 quote that says, master your emotions or your emotions will master you. And it's 22 00:01:31,640 --> 00:01:36,280 so easy to just let our emotions run away with us. We say, well that's just how I 23 00:01:36,280 --> 00:01:41,400 feel. We kind of use that as an excuse. And what we need to realize is that our 24 00:01:41,400 --> 00:01:45,640 emotions, our feelings, are not what's supposed to master us. Our master, we have 25 00:01:45,640 --> 00:01:50,160 one master, it's Christ, it's the Lord, not our emotions. And that's why we want 26 00:01:50,160 --> 00:01:54,640 to talk about this series of mixed emotions, mixed emojis, and go through 27 00:01:54,640 --> 00:01:58,320 different emotions and see how they can aid us in our walk with Christ. And what's 28 00:01:58,320 --> 00:02:03,240 very interesting about this series is that we'll actually be taking a negative 29 00:02:03,240 --> 00:02:07,600 emotion and be able to look at that negative emotion, see how to respond 30 00:02:07,600 --> 00:02:13,240 positively to it. And just for so you know, each of us that go through the 31 00:02:13,240 --> 00:02:16,080 circle, will have a few different emotions that we're working through. And 32 00:02:16,080 --> 00:02:19,560 we're using a book kind of as our foundation, more so we're using scripture 33 00:02:19,560 --> 00:02:22,960 as our foundation, but as a supplement, we're using a book called Mastering Your 34 00:02:22,960 --> 00:02:26,680 Motions by Adrian Rodgers. So we're kind of falling through that and going through 35 00:02:26,680 --> 00:02:30,960 different passages. But what we want to do is look at emotions through a biblical 36 00:02:30,960 --> 00:02:36,040 lens and see how to shift in and practice a positive response to our 37 00:02:36,040 --> 00:02:41,880 emotions. So before we start, let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we're thankful for 38 00:02:41,880 --> 00:02:46,080 Your Word. We're thankful that we get to come here and we just get to enjoy hearing 39 00:02:46,080 --> 00:02:50,040 Your Word. Lord, Your Word is applicable, it's alive, it's sharp, the need to 40 00:02:50,040 --> 00:02:54,440 etch sword, Lord, and it changes us. So it helps us to see what You have for us 41 00:02:54,440 --> 00:02:57,320 and go and apply it and live for Your glory. We thank You, we praise You in Your 42 00:02:57,320 --> 00:03:01,800 name and men. All right, so I got a little game. I like games, all right? I'm 43 00:03:01,800 --> 00:03:05,200 gonna ask you this question, okay? It's called Who Are They? We'll name it that. 44 00:03:05,200 --> 00:03:09,280 I'm gonna show you a picture of a historical figure. All you gotta do is 45 00:03:09,280 --> 00:03:13,640 just yell out who the historical figure is, all right? Some are easy, some are hard. 46 00:03:13,640 --> 00:03:17,440 See what you got, all right? Who's the first one? 47 00:03:17,440 --> 00:03:20,280 Hear me out. Oh, that was good. I heard of it. Was that you, Michael? Good job, Michael. 48 00:03:20,280 --> 00:03:23,080 All right, hearing the eighth, we got it. Okay, that was the easiest one, in my 49 00:03:23,080 --> 00:03:28,480 opinion. Next one. Wow, all of you. Look at that, it's right there. That was the 50 00:03:28,480 --> 00:03:33,080 easy one. See, I told you it was the easiest one. All right, next one. All right, see, 51 00:03:33,080 --> 00:03:38,080 it's hard now, all right? I don't know who that old guy is. All right, he's an 52 00:03:38,080 --> 00:03:43,520 author. He wrote a book. No, no, that's on the right track though, kind of. 53 00:03:43,520 --> 00:03:47,760 Huh? Who said it? I heard it. Charles Dickens? Charles Dickens. Good job. All 54 00:03:47,760 --> 00:03:52,840 right, next one for me. Kingtie. Man, Michael, you're really good at this, Michael. 55 00:03:52,840 --> 00:03:56,680 He's ready. All right, Kingtie, you got it. Next. 56 00:03:57,080 --> 00:04:03,440 Nauseas or good try though. I heard Aaron. Good job, Aaron. All right, teens are 57 00:04:03,440 --> 00:04:07,840 killing it, guys. All right, Aristotle. It's Aristotle. All right, last one. I'm 58 00:04:07,840 --> 00:04:12,920 relying on you guys, okay? All right, but what's his real name? What's his last 59 00:04:12,920 --> 00:04:16,880 name? Oh, oh, oh, did I get you? 60 00:04:16,880 --> 00:04:21,640 Johnson. Good job. Man, Michael, you got four of them. All right, that is Mr. Beast, by the way, 61 00:04:21,640 --> 00:04:24,440 if you're like, what are they talking about? He's a famous YouTuber. It's great. 62 00:04:24,440 --> 00:04:29,840 They love you. Like, oh, yeah, that's it. All right, okay, okay. All right, anyway, so 63 00:04:29,840 --> 00:04:33,640 I got this question for you. All right, here's what I want you to do, okay? This is 64 00:04:33,640 --> 00:04:36,240 so cringy, but we're all going to do it together. All right, pull out your phones, 65 00:04:36,240 --> 00:04:41,080 okay? Put it right in front of your face, okay? All right, come on. I know you're 66 00:04:41,080 --> 00:04:43,560 like, who's pulling out their phones in church? It's the only time we'll be asked 67 00:04:43,560 --> 00:04:48,720 you that. All right, who do you see? You, yeah, I see you, all right? Here's the next one, Logan. 68 00:04:48,720 --> 00:04:53,120 All right, you see you. And here's the thing, you're like, that was weird, Miles. 69 00:04:53,120 --> 00:04:57,960 All right, exactly. My point is, like, have you ever asked yourself this 70 00:04:57,960 --> 00:05:03,520 question of who am I? Like, who am I actually? And if we're honest with 71 00:05:03,520 --> 00:05:07,480 ourselves, I've done that, like, I'll wake up, I'll look at the mirror. I don't know if you 72 00:05:07,480 --> 00:05:11,280 ever been like a FaceTime call and actually like switch, are you like open your camera up? 73 00:05:11,280 --> 00:05:14,680 And it like shows your face like, oh, that's what I look like. I'm so sorry, 74 00:05:14,680 --> 00:05:20,240 everybody. Like, I don't know if you ever asked this question of who you are. And the 75 00:05:20,240 --> 00:05:25,240 overwhelming majority of people in America, in the world, human beings that 76 00:05:25,240 --> 00:05:30,240 have ever been on this planet, don't like who they are or what they see. And they 77 00:05:30,240 --> 00:05:35,860 don't like the physical of what I look like. And even what I do, they don't like 78 00:05:35,860 --> 00:05:39,320 the mental of, I don't like even how I think, the emotional, I don't like how I 79 00:05:39,320 --> 00:05:45,160 feel, I don't like even socially of how I interact with others. I don't even like 80 00:05:45,160 --> 00:05:49,040 sometimes how I act as a Christian. And we've all experienced at some point this 81 00:05:49,040 --> 00:05:56,760 idea of feeling insecure. This idea of insecure, the word means an uncertainty, a 82 00:05:56,760 --> 00:06:04,600 lack of confidence and trust. We are insecure about who we are. And now maybe, 83 00:06:04,600 --> 00:06:09,080 maybe you're the person like, I'm not, I'm amazing. All right. I'm not insecure. But 84 00:06:09,080 --> 00:06:13,920 then when you're in the dark by yourself and you're just alone, like, I used to 85 00:06:13,920 --> 00:06:17,480 think for the longest time, I was the only one in the world that struggled with 86 00:06:17,480 --> 00:06:21,200 insecurity. So what I did was, I acted like I didn't struggle with insecurity. So I 87 00:06:21,200 --> 00:06:25,080 wasn't the weird person, because I didn't want to feel more insecure. But what I 88 00:06:25,080 --> 00:06:27,960 started learning just my ministry, not just working with teenagers, I see this 89 00:06:27,960 --> 00:06:33,440 with anybody, with myself, is that we feel insecure and we feel like we don't 90 00:06:33,440 --> 00:06:37,600 measure up. And the only thing I'm confident in is that I'm not perfect and 91 00:06:37,600 --> 00:06:41,960 at some point I'll fail and then I'll mess up. But what we try to do naturally is 92 00:06:41,960 --> 00:06:46,240 we try to find some sort of security. We don't like feeling insecure, so we try to 93 00:06:46,240 --> 00:06:50,840 find security. And then I become so worried about how I look in other 94 00:06:50,840 --> 00:06:55,840 people's eyes and I try to find security through them. I want to look, I want them 95 00:06:55,840 --> 00:07:01,480 to approve me and I want to be accepted. I want to find security in them. And I see 96 00:07:01,480 --> 00:07:05,520 this so much in our culture. I mean, social media, man, like, that's just like 97 00:07:05,520 --> 00:07:08,680 you trying to give your best self. Because like, well, that person, that person's 98 00:07:08,680 --> 00:07:11,160 family is really amazing. That person's picture is really great. They're really 99 00:07:11,160 --> 00:07:14,920 beautiful. I want to look like them. I try to make everything perfect. And that's 100 00:07:14,920 --> 00:07:18,000 why you take multiple pictures before you post something, because you want to 101 00:07:18,000 --> 00:07:23,120 choose the best one that makes you look the best. And even, I've seen this in 102 00:07:23,120 --> 00:07:27,920 conversations of, even at work, even in, this is just my personal example, because 103 00:07:27,920 --> 00:07:31,000 I'm being honest with you, is like, even at work conversations, I try to make 104 00:07:31,000 --> 00:07:34,320 myself seem a little bit better. I try to, try to fit in. I try to say the right 105 00:07:34,320 --> 00:07:37,920 thing. So no one doesn't think I'm weird. I want to be accepted. I want people to 106 00:07:37,920 --> 00:07:43,320 respect me. I want to be insecure. I mean, even tonight, I was trying to sermon 107 00:07:43,320 --> 00:07:47,080 about insecurity and I was like, kind of insecure about it. I don't, I don't want 108 00:07:47,080 --> 00:07:52,240 to do that. Am I, am I capable of doing it? I get in my head and I get worried. I 109 00:07:52,240 --> 00:07:58,560 get even despondent sometimes. And what I realize, what I'm learning is that even 110 00:07:58,560 --> 00:08:03,360 if I get approval, like, and not rejection, I still don't feel that security. I 111 00:08:03,360 --> 00:08:08,600 see, even if everyone loves me, I still, there's like, oh, but Miles, I feel like I 112 00:08:08,600 --> 00:08:13,120 still don't measure up. I still don't find security. And the reason for this is 113 00:08:13,120 --> 00:08:21,000 that true security is found only in Christ. Every believer can find security in 114 00:08:21,000 --> 00:08:24,160 Christ. That's hopeful. But I'm remembering three statements of identity. 115 00:08:24,160 --> 00:08:29,360 And we'll see the Singulations chapter four and we'll start in verse four. And 116 00:08:29,360 --> 00:08:35,120 what we see is that security comes from knowing our identity. And if I'm a born 117 00:08:35,120 --> 00:08:39,080 again believer, I'm gonna give you the whole sermon right here basically. If I'm 118 00:08:39,080 --> 00:08:45,440 a born again believer, my identity is in Christ alone. I'm gonna give a new life 119 00:08:45,440 --> 00:08:49,760 in Christ. And these three statements you're gonna see is that, that it's not 120 00:08:49,760 --> 00:08:53,400 just me declaring who I am. Because if I just focus on who I am, I'm always gonna 121 00:08:53,400 --> 00:08:58,020 be left empty. There's always gonna be something missing. So I need to say, who 122 00:08:58,020 --> 00:09:05,720 am I in Christ? This is who I am in Christ. This is who God says I am in Him. 123 00:09:05,720 --> 00:09:09,240 And we'll look at that. Our first statement, well before we actually get to our 124 00:09:09,240 --> 00:09:11,640 first statement, I want to make sure we know the context. Because we're jumping 125 00:09:11,640 --> 00:09:15,920 right into the middle of a letter, Galatians, and Paul is writing to the 126 00:09:15,920 --> 00:09:20,160 Church of Galatia. And this is kind of earlier in his ministry. And right now 127 00:09:20,160 --> 00:09:24,440 he's pretty upset. Like if you read the book of Galatians, especially one 128 00:09:24,440 --> 00:09:29,000 sitting, you're like, Paul's mad. Paul is not happy. He's kind of upset. And he's 129 00:09:29,000 --> 00:09:33,000 upset because he says, Galatia, I just was with you guys preaching the gospel to 130 00:09:33,000 --> 00:09:36,720 you, and you believed it. And now you're trying to go to this false gospel. I was 131 00:09:36,720 --> 00:09:40,440 just there. Stop going to the false gospel. Because they were saying, well Jesus 132 00:09:40,440 --> 00:09:44,400 is great and all, but if we really want to be saved, we got to keep doing works. 133 00:09:44,400 --> 00:09:48,720 We have to follow the Mosaic Law. And Paul's whole letter is a rebuttal 134 00:09:48,720 --> 00:09:52,560 saying, no, no, it's not by your works. It's through grace alone, by faith alone, 135 00:09:52,560 --> 00:09:56,960 and Christ alone. And we see this in chapter 4. He continually 136 00:09:56,960 --> 00:10:02,760 emphasizes this. And he reminds the readers the purpose of the law. And 137 00:10:02,760 --> 00:10:07,720 what he says is, before Christ, the law, the Mosaic Law, these rules you had to 138 00:10:07,720 --> 00:10:12,600 follow, it acted as a sort of guardian, the passage says. It was to keep you in 139 00:10:12,600 --> 00:10:15,960 line. It was kind of your schoolmaster, like your teacher. It was to keep you in 140 00:10:15,960 --> 00:10:20,520 line. He's basically saying, Israel, you were given the law to discipline you, to 141 00:10:20,520 --> 00:10:26,600 keep you in the line, in the right space, to do the right thing. It wasn't to make 142 00:10:26,600 --> 00:10:31,240 you perfect because you kept failing. And what he also says is that before Christ, 143 00:10:31,240 --> 00:10:34,880 you were enslaved. Number one, you were enslaved to the lusts of the world. You 144 00:10:34,880 --> 00:10:39,960 were enslaved to your sin. But you were also enslaved to just works, to try to 145 00:10:39,960 --> 00:10:45,440 earn it. But you kept failing. And Paul says, before Christ, you were in bondage. 146 00:10:45,440 --> 00:10:49,640 You were in slavery. And he's giving them a warning in chapter 4, these first few 147 00:10:49,640 --> 00:10:54,280 verses. He's saying, don't go back there. Stop going to this fault teaching that 148 00:10:54,280 --> 00:10:58,280 spiritually immature. Stop relying on your works and rely on Christ's good work, 149 00:10:58,280 --> 00:11:03,480 His perfect work. And that's what he says in verse 4. We'll pick up there. Paul says, 150 00:11:03,480 --> 00:11:08,880 but when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, 151 00:11:08,880 --> 00:11:14,480 made under the law. I love the idea of the fullness of time has come. That's 152 00:11:14,480 --> 00:11:18,720 saying at the perfect time in history. Let's take this sermon. I can't go 153 00:11:18,720 --> 00:11:22,240 through it all. I encourage you to look at just the perfect scenario, perfect 154 00:11:22,240 --> 00:11:26,360 circumstances that happen. Christ came at the perfect time when God planned it. 155 00:11:26,360 --> 00:11:30,800 He was perfect. He sent forth His Son, who was born of a woman. He was a real 156 00:11:30,800 --> 00:11:35,880 birth. It was a virgin birth, miracle, but a real birth nonetheless. And He was 157 00:11:35,880 --> 00:11:40,520 born under the law. He was born and He followed this same law. What's amazing 158 00:11:40,520 --> 00:11:44,640 about Christ is He fulfilled the law. And my whole point in building this up is we 159 00:11:44,640 --> 00:11:49,800 have to know the context that Paul's foundation here is Christ. He's saying, 160 00:11:49,800 --> 00:11:54,200 Christ enters the picture and it changes everything about who you are, Galatia. 161 00:11:54,200 --> 00:11:58,040 And that's the same for us. At the fullness of time, Christ came and it 162 00:11:58,040 --> 00:12:04,240 changes everything about who we are. And we see our first identity statement here. 163 00:12:04,240 --> 00:12:13,000 Because of Christ, I am redeemed. See this in the first part of verse 5. It says, 164 00:12:13,000 --> 00:12:16,840 but when the fullness of time was come, verse 4, God sent forth His Son, made of a 165 00:12:16,840 --> 00:12:22,960 woman, made under law, to redeem them that were under the law. He's saying, I was in 166 00:12:22,960 --> 00:12:29,400 bondage to the law. I was truly trapped in my inadequacies, my failures, my sin, 167 00:12:29,400 --> 00:12:34,800 but all the good part, that Christ came and died on the cross and redeemed me. The 168 00:12:34,800 --> 00:12:38,280 idea of redeemed, we got to find that word. It's beautiful. It means to buy back, 169 00:12:38,280 --> 00:12:42,840 to purchase. It's the idea of going to the auction block and buying a slave back. 170 00:12:42,840 --> 00:12:47,720 Saying, I'm taking the slave. I'm putting a price to get them back. The price was 171 00:12:47,720 --> 00:12:52,600 Christ. He died for us. And that gives us freedom. We've been purchased. It's this 172 00:12:52,600 --> 00:13:00,080 beautiful thing. It's when I believe I'm set free. I'm no longer a slave to sin. 173 00:13:00,080 --> 00:13:07,960 So, okay. Good. What does that have to do with insecurity? Well, what insecurity does 174 00:13:07,960 --> 00:13:14,560 is it ignores redemption. And in our culture, we are all so much trying to 175 00:13:14,560 --> 00:13:19,760 just be enough. And the problem is we either feel one of two ways. We're trying 176 00:13:19,760 --> 00:13:24,200 to be enough. I either feel like I'm being too much or I'm not enough. I'm trying 177 00:13:24,200 --> 00:13:27,920 to be enough, but I'm either doing too much or I'm doing too little. And that's 178 00:13:27,920 --> 00:13:32,600 the idea of too much. It's just that we don't like who we are. I don't know if you 179 00:13:32,600 --> 00:13:35,800 ever been told this. I've been told this because I work with teenagers. They're like, 180 00:13:35,800 --> 00:13:39,320 Miles, you're being a little extra. You're doing a little too much, Miles. That was 181 00:13:39,320 --> 00:13:42,440 like all four of you right there. Okay. That was me and her saying you. All right. 182 00:13:42,440 --> 00:13:45,360 But I've heard that. It's fine. It's good. All right. And they're probably right 183 00:13:45,360 --> 00:13:48,040 because I'm doing something weird, right? But this idea of you're doing too much. 184 00:13:48,040 --> 00:13:53,440 You're being extra. It's that I don't like someone saying to you, I don't like who 185 00:13:53,440 --> 00:13:57,920 you are. You're a little too awkward. You're a little too quiet. You're a little 186 00:13:57,920 --> 00:14:02,240 too loud. You're a little too heavy. You're a little too skinny. You're a little too 187 00:14:02,240 --> 00:14:07,000 old. You're a little too young. It's the idea of you're doing too much. I remember 188 00:14:07,000 --> 00:14:12,040 in high school art, middle school, I was like in sixth grade and it's so small, 189 00:14:12,040 --> 00:14:16,120 but it stuck with me because that's how insecure I was then. What I remember as 190 00:14:16,120 --> 00:14:22,880 a third through sixth grade, I didn't care about fashion at all. Not even a 191 00:14:22,880 --> 00:14:25,760 little bit. Not even right now. Probably someone would be like, I don't know if he 192 00:14:25,760 --> 00:14:28,440 cares about it right now. You were thinking that. I know you were. 193 00:14:28,440 --> 00:14:32,080 But my point is I didn't care about fashion. So I wanted to be comfortable. 194 00:14:32,080 --> 00:14:35,880 So I remember I used to wear these bright, because orange is my favorite color. 195 00:14:35,880 --> 00:14:41,000 So I'd wear these bright neon orange shorts. And it wasn't so like to please 196 00:14:41,000 --> 00:14:44,880 people to look at it. It was like orange and I like shorts. So I want to wear shorts. 197 00:14:44,880 --> 00:14:48,960 But I would wear them to like school. And eventually what ended up happening is 198 00:14:48,960 --> 00:14:52,960 that people were like, Miles, you're the weird kid that wears shorts now. And like 199 00:14:52,960 --> 00:14:56,000 I never realized someone over here, Sue laughed way too much at that. She's like, 200 00:14:56,000 --> 00:15:01,440 Miles is the weird kid who wears shorts. But I remember at school, I was wearing, 201 00:15:01,440 --> 00:15:05,280 it was so vivid to me. I was sitting on the soccer field at a game and this kid 202 00:15:05,280 --> 00:15:09,520 comes up to me. He's like, you know, jeans are a thing. You can wear jeans, Miles. 203 00:15:09,520 --> 00:15:12,800 You're wearing shorts a little bit too much. And like you're like, all right, 204 00:15:12,800 --> 00:15:16,680 Miles, man up. All right. You're like, come on. But I remember that stuck with me. 205 00:15:16,680 --> 00:15:21,240 And I was like, I don't ever want to wear shorts again. Like I'm doing too much. 206 00:15:21,240 --> 00:15:24,440 And I remember what I did is I went home and I told my mom, it's like, can I, 207 00:15:24,440 --> 00:15:28,480 can I just, can I buy a pair of jeans? Like I don't want to be the weird kid 208 00:15:28,480 --> 00:15:34,000 sticking out. I feel like I'm being too much. And I remember it stuck with me. 209 00:15:34,000 --> 00:15:38,680 Because I felt like the outcast, like I was too much. Now I've also felt like this, 210 00:15:38,680 --> 00:15:42,160 right? Like this is depressing. No, I want you to relate to this. Because first, 211 00:15:42,160 --> 00:15:45,880 we got to accept that we feel this way often. Right? I also feel that I'm never 212 00:15:45,880 --> 00:15:50,760 enough, that I try to live up to this standard and I never am able to quite 213 00:15:50,760 --> 00:15:56,440 perfectly reach it. I'm not smart enough. I'm not athletic enough. I'm not trendy 214 00:15:56,440 --> 00:15:59,920 enough. I'm not professional enough. I'm not old enough. I'm not manly enough. I'm 215 00:15:59,920 --> 00:16:03,960 not cute enough. Right? It's that others either tell you that or you tell 216 00:16:03,960 --> 00:16:09,440 yourself that. And I remember another scenario in my life is I was interning at 217 00:16:09,440 --> 00:16:12,960 a church and I was about, I was probably freshman in college and was interning for 218 00:16:12,960 --> 00:16:18,120 a summer internship. I remember these pastors, there's about six pastors there 219 00:16:18,120 --> 00:16:20,920 and they had this podcast and they invited me in because I was the intern. 220 00:16:20,920 --> 00:16:23,680 And I remember I went into this podcast and he's laughing because you know 221 00:16:23,680 --> 00:16:28,160 exactly, like I went into this podcast and they started talking and I was like, 222 00:16:28,160 --> 00:16:32,640 I'm really dumb. Like I have no idea what they're saying. And like it's being 223 00:16:32,640 --> 00:16:36,280 recorded. So in the worst part is they be, Miles what do you think about this? What 224 00:16:36,280 --> 00:16:41,440 do you think about the hypostatic union? It's like, I have no idea. But it's 225 00:16:41,440 --> 00:16:44,320 like recording. So I'm trying to be smart. I'm like, well, Philippians, 226 00:16:44,320 --> 00:16:48,640 Philippians one is really, really, really applicable in this area. They're like, 227 00:16:48,640 --> 00:16:52,760 well, explain that, Miles. I'm like, I have nothing else to say. That's all I got. 228 00:16:52,760 --> 00:16:56,000 I thought that was good. It wasn't even right. And I remember I just felt this 229 00:16:56,000 --> 00:17:02,080 inadequacy of I don't measure up and we feel this way. Now some of us are really 230 00:17:02,080 --> 00:17:06,360 good at faking. Like we can act cool. We can act like we have it all together. But 231 00:17:06,360 --> 00:17:09,440 oftentimes what I've realized is the time the people who act the coolest are 232 00:17:09,440 --> 00:17:14,120 actually the most insecure and they're trying to overcompensate for it. Now 233 00:17:14,120 --> 00:17:17,400 here's what's amazing. Here's what's not depressing at all. Here's what's joyful. 234 00:17:17,400 --> 00:17:21,680 It's the amazing thing about the gospel is it recognizes you're not 235 00:17:21,680 --> 00:17:26,560 enough. You weren't supposed to be enough. We get so focused on doing and not doing. 236 00:17:26,560 --> 00:17:30,720 We need to be focused on being. We need to be focused on being and more 237 00:17:30,720 --> 00:17:35,360 specifically being in Christ. Realizing that we are redeemed, that we've been 238 00:17:35,360 --> 00:17:39,560 bought by His blood. Christianity is not behavior modification where we just 239 00:17:39,560 --> 00:17:43,320 try to switch our behavior over a little bit. Notice the change from the heart. 240 00:17:43,320 --> 00:17:46,840 When we change our heart, when Jesus comes inside more specifically and 241 00:17:46,840 --> 00:17:51,760 changes our heart, it starts to change our actions. What we realize is that we 242 00:17:51,760 --> 00:17:57,600 move from the result of this is we were insufficient, but now we see sufficient. 243 00:17:57,600 --> 00:18:02,760 It's not enough. It's not me as sufficient. What it is, is instead of me 244 00:18:02,760 --> 00:18:06,840 trying to rely on myself to be enough, to hit that line of enough, I start 245 00:18:06,840 --> 00:18:12,400 drawing from the well that never runs dry, the living water, and that changes my 246 00:18:12,400 --> 00:18:17,440 being. It changes who I am and then it changes what I do. It changes my actions. 247 00:18:17,440 --> 00:18:21,120 It doesn't mean I'm sinless. It doesn't mean I'm perfect. What it means is I'm 248 00:18:21,120 --> 00:18:26,240 just not focused on... It's not about me. It's not about me being enough. It's on 249 00:18:26,240 --> 00:18:32,840 realizing that Jesus is more than enough and my identity relies perfectly on 250 00:18:32,840 --> 00:18:37,640 His redentive work. We're just getting started. That's the first one. That 251 00:18:37,640 --> 00:18:41,960 redeemed is your condition and Paul continues. He says, now let's talk about 252 00:18:41,960 --> 00:18:50,200 your position. Because of Christ, I am adopted. See this in the second half of 253 00:18:50,200 --> 00:18:57,440 verse 5. It says that we might receive the adoption of sons. Because of my 254 00:18:57,440 --> 00:19:03,760 redemption through Jesus, I became adopted. Personally, I think that's such 255 00:19:03,760 --> 00:19:08,640 an underrated doctrine sometimes because it changes everything about me and 256 00:19:08,640 --> 00:19:12,840 everything about my life. Like, think of... I'm thinking if I was put into 257 00:19:12,840 --> 00:19:16,120 someone's family, it would change everything. If I got put into the Beelow's 258 00:19:16,120 --> 00:19:19,920 family, it would change. Wouldn't you love that? Todd says no. All right, but he's 259 00:19:19,920 --> 00:19:23,200 like, no, I don't want you. All right, but if I went into the Beelow's family, it 260 00:19:23,200 --> 00:19:27,800 changed everything about my life. Like, it changed everything about who I am, what 261 00:19:27,800 --> 00:19:33,040 I do, where I go. Like, it changes everything about me. And that's what's 262 00:19:33,040 --> 00:19:38,000 amazing about adoption is that there's this new identity and that word adoption 263 00:19:38,000 --> 00:19:44,000 truly means, literally means to place as an adult son. And oftentimes when we 264 00:19:44,000 --> 00:19:48,600 think about the idea of adoption, we hear this often used 265 00:19:48,600 --> 00:19:52,600 illustration as if there was this nice family and they find this orphan kid and 266 00:19:52,600 --> 00:19:55,920 this homeless child and they go and adopt him into their family. I think 267 00:19:55,920 --> 00:19:59,480 that's part of it. But what's interesting about adoption is it has this idea of 268 00:19:59,480 --> 00:20:03,440 sons. And this idea of sons is not referring to gender as much as it is 269 00:20:03,440 --> 00:20:08,680 position. The position you now hold because you are part of God's family. 270 00:20:08,680 --> 00:20:12,840 Because it's interesting, he uses adopted as sons, not as children, because that's 271 00:20:12,840 --> 00:20:16,080 two different things he's communicating here. We are his children, don't get me 272 00:20:16,080 --> 00:20:22,200 wrong, but we also need to see that we are his sons. What that son word means is 273 00:20:22,200 --> 00:20:27,200 that we are part of his family. First, where we stand in his family. 274 00:20:27,200 --> 00:20:32,240 That because we are adopted, we have certain privileges. We are fully in the 275 00:20:32,240 --> 00:20:37,840 family of God, not just randomly placed there. No God put us into his family and 276 00:20:37,840 --> 00:20:42,880 we're treated with the same privileges as a son. We get to be like our father. 277 00:20:42,880 --> 00:20:47,280 Our son gets to be like their father. We get to be like our father. That this 278 00:20:47,280 --> 00:20:52,200 relationship doesn't ever change. We get a full relationship with him. We are 279 00:20:52,200 --> 00:20:58,280 officially part of the family of God. Now this adoption, because we hear this, 280 00:20:58,280 --> 00:21:03,160 we think of this doctrine and it's great, but how does this apply? This adoption 281 00:21:03,160 --> 00:21:07,540 has an amazing implication for us as believers. We see this in verse 6. Paul 282 00:21:07,540 --> 00:21:11,040 continues says, because we are sons, he says, get ready now. You're adopted as 283 00:21:11,040 --> 00:21:15,800 sons. Here's what's exciting about this. Because you're sons, God has sent forth 284 00:21:15,800 --> 00:21:22,600 the spirit of his son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Because of Christ, 285 00:21:22,600 --> 00:21:27,200 the Holy Spirit in dwells me. And because of that, what happens is this change in 286 00:21:27,200 --> 00:21:33,520 relationship when I become saved. That God is my dad. That Abba, Father, my 287 00:21:33,520 --> 00:21:39,520 daddy, this close, intimate, loving relationship. I want to make sure we 288 00:21:39,520 --> 00:21:44,560 fully understand this. Maybe this will help. I remember in probably 8th through 289 00:21:44,560 --> 00:21:49,320 12th grade, I had these family friends. They were really family. There was a 290 00:21:49,320 --> 00:21:53,840 kid I had new at school, but I became really close with the kid. We would 291 00:21:53,840 --> 00:21:57,120 hang out all the time. So I became really close with the family. Before you 292 00:21:57,120 --> 00:22:01,720 know it, I seemed like their adopted son. I was always there every 293 00:22:01,720 --> 00:22:05,840 weekend. They would drive me to church. We got so close. I didn't have to 294 00:22:05,840 --> 00:22:08,680 ask permission to use the fridge anymore. I just go in and eat whatever food I 295 00:22:08,680 --> 00:22:11,560 wanted. I have to knock on the door anymore. I just walked in. It was that 296 00:22:11,560 --> 00:22:15,080 kind of thing. I got really close to them. They weren't surprised when 297 00:22:15,080 --> 00:22:17,440 Miles was just randomly walking through the house eating their food. They're 298 00:22:17,440 --> 00:22:21,600 like, oh, there's Miles. He's there. It was this beautiful relationship. It 299 00:22:21,600 --> 00:22:24,400 really was. It got me through a lot in high school because I knew I could 300 00:22:24,400 --> 00:22:29,840 always go there. But there were limits to this relationship. I was close 301 00:22:29,840 --> 00:22:33,520 with these family friends. It was like I was a part of their family, but I 302 00:22:33,520 --> 00:22:37,120 wasn't fully there. I wasn't spending Christmas or holidays with them. I wasn't 303 00:22:37,120 --> 00:22:41,360 there every day. They weren't the people I went to physically when I was 304 00:22:41,360 --> 00:22:45,560 feeling sick. They weren't the people I went to financially when I had college 305 00:22:45,560 --> 00:22:48,040 coming up. I didn't go to my friend's dance. I said, hey, I've been hanging out at 306 00:22:48,040 --> 00:22:52,720 your house. Can you just give me a few thousand for college? He would 307 00:22:52,720 --> 00:22:56,560 run me out of his house. Financially, this is not the people I went to when 308 00:22:56,560 --> 00:23:00,440 I got a car. Mentally, I didn't even necessarily go to them for life advice. 309 00:23:00,440 --> 00:23:04,400 Emotionally, they weren't the people I went to when I was struggling. You know 310 00:23:04,400 --> 00:23:08,480 the people I did that to? The person I did that to was my mom. There was this 311 00:23:08,480 --> 00:23:15,320 family I had that I was close friends with and I was close to, but I would only 312 00:23:15,320 --> 00:23:20,040 do certain things because this was my mom. It was different. I sure I 313 00:23:20,040 --> 00:23:24,080 love spending time with those people, but that's my mom. I knew I 314 00:23:24,080 --> 00:23:28,400 could go to her at 3 a.m. and be like, mom, I'm sick. Can you give me some 315 00:23:28,400 --> 00:23:31,960 cough drops? She'd be like, Miles, you're 25, all right? You can get it yourself. 316 00:23:31,960 --> 00:23:38,440 But she would because that's my mom. I remember I went to her. I was like, 317 00:23:38,440 --> 00:23:42,160 mom, I really like a car. She's awesome. She's like, all right, you 318 00:23:42,160 --> 00:23:44,920 don't do something for you. I'm just gonna give you a hand, you got a car, right? 319 00:23:44,920 --> 00:23:48,920 I remember we worked through that. It was a blessing. She's the person I go to 320 00:23:48,920 --> 00:23:54,480 for advice when I'm struggling. It's my mom. What was amazing is there was a 321 00:23:54,480 --> 00:23:59,600 difference between those two. I am fully her son. I didn't just act like it. I 322 00:23:59,600 --> 00:24:03,200 was fully a part of her family. Sometimes when I think we think about 323 00:24:03,200 --> 00:24:09,440 adoption is that we think of it as this side. I hang out around God. I can 324 00:24:09,440 --> 00:24:13,040 go into the house. I can hang out with him every once in a while, but I got to 325 00:24:13,040 --> 00:24:17,320 be careful because when times get hard, what if he doesn't love me? 326 00:24:17,320 --> 00:24:19,760 What if I'm not good enough? I don't know if I can go to him with everything. I 327 00:24:19,760 --> 00:24:23,480 don't know if I can trust him. I don't know if I can still rely on him even 328 00:24:23,480 --> 00:24:26,400 through the hard times. What if he gets tired of me and kicks me out and he has 329 00:24:26,400 --> 00:24:29,960 too much of me or I'm not able to measure up? I can't go to him for everything. 330 00:24:29,960 --> 00:24:33,560 I'm so glad I'm part of his family, but that's not where I spend my 331 00:24:33,560 --> 00:24:37,720 holidays. That's just that family, and I'm kind of a part of it. What we need to 332 00:24:37,720 --> 00:24:42,040 realize as Christians is that we become, when we're said, fully into the family of 333 00:24:42,040 --> 00:24:46,760 God. That means that he is your dad, and a truly loving dad is with you through 334 00:24:46,760 --> 00:24:49,880 sickness. He's with you in the hurt. He's with you in the pain. He's with you in 335 00:24:49,880 --> 00:24:52,760 the failure. He's with you in the successes. He's with you in the really easy. 336 00:24:52,760 --> 00:24:56,360 He's with you in the really hard. He's with you. Why? Because he loves his 337 00:24:56,360 --> 00:25:00,440 child. He loves his kid. He loves when you call out, 338 00:25:00,440 --> 00:25:04,800 Dad, I need you right now. I really need some help. I can't fake it anymore. I 339 00:25:04,800 --> 00:25:08,520 faked it with everyone else, but Dad, I can't fake it with you. He loves that. 340 00:25:08,520 --> 00:25:12,760 He says, that's my child crying out to me, and I love my child, and I care for my 341 00:25:12,760 --> 00:25:18,680 child. What is interesting is that the same idea is that you treat your child 342 00:25:18,680 --> 00:25:23,160 differently than you do anyone else. That's what God's saying. It's that 343 00:25:23,160 --> 00:25:26,760 you're my child. I'm treating you differently. We'll use this illustration 344 00:25:26,760 --> 00:25:29,720 of, I'll use you Don. You don't have to move. Don't worry. If I look at Don, 345 00:25:29,720 --> 00:25:36,480 and we'll use this. If I call Don at 3 a.m., and I say, hey Don, I'm just 346 00:25:36,480 --> 00:25:39,440 really sick. Can you just run over to my house and just give me some 347 00:25:39,440 --> 00:25:43,120 cough medicine? Knowing Don out of the goodness of her heart, she 348 00:25:43,120 --> 00:25:46,320 probably would do this because Don's awesome. If Miles is saying, she's like, 349 00:25:46,320 --> 00:25:50,840 Miles, go get it yourself, dude. It's 3 a.m. I'm going to sleep. Maybe when 350 00:25:50,840 --> 00:25:53,320 you see me, I'll work in the morning. We'll talk, but I'll bring you something. 351 00:25:53,320 --> 00:25:58,480 Miles, but 100% Aaron's like this. When he goes off to college, he's like, 352 00:25:58,480 --> 00:26:03,000 Mom, listen, I just need some cough. She's like, I'm there. You don't have to finish? 353 00:26:03,000 --> 00:26:05,720 I'm driving over. I'm at Bowling Green. I'm there. I'm here for you. Here's some 354 00:26:05,720 --> 00:26:08,520 cough medicine. I'm just taking a little soup, and then I have a picture of Marlena, 355 00:26:08,520 --> 00:26:12,840 too, so it's great. You'll do good. I'm here to encourage you. Why? 356 00:26:12,840 --> 00:26:17,360 Because we're totally different. I love Aaron. He's awesome, but Don's 357 00:26:17,360 --> 00:26:20,920 going to treat us differently, as she should, because I'm not Don's kid. Don's 358 00:26:20,920 --> 00:26:23,960 going to treat me differently, but she's going to also treat Aaron differently. 359 00:26:23,960 --> 00:26:27,160 She's like, that's my kid. I'm there for him anytime, and that's what we got to 360 00:26:27,160 --> 00:26:31,720 understand. When we're adopted, we have a dad who's with us all the time, who loves 361 00:26:31,720 --> 00:26:37,000 us, who's a good heavenly father. The God of the universe. Oh, I think about this. 362 00:26:37,000 --> 00:26:40,760 Like the God of the universe, angels are before him, singing praises, and he has 363 00:26:40,760 --> 00:26:47,120 all the glory and all the honor as he should, yet he cares about me. He values 364 00:26:47,120 --> 00:26:52,800 me. He didn't just say he values me. He proved it by dying on the cross. Not 365 00:26:52,800 --> 00:26:55,680 only did he die on the cross for us, he says, you believe and you have a place in 366 00:26:55,680 --> 00:26:59,720 my dinner table. Now, I'm just going to save you and then cast you off, say, no, 367 00:26:59,720 --> 00:27:04,600 come live with me. Come be with me and dwell with me. We are a part of his 368 00:27:04,600 --> 00:27:08,320 family, which means he's our father, which means he loves and cares for us. And 369 00:27:08,320 --> 00:27:14,080 what this result should be is we change from insecure to secure. We become 370 00:27:14,080 --> 00:27:20,960 secure in the father's love for us. There's this change here. We see this in 371 00:27:20,960 --> 00:27:27,600 Romans 8, 38 through 39. It says, for I am persuaded that neither death nor life 372 00:27:27,600 --> 00:27:32,680 nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come 373 00:27:32,680 --> 00:27:38,080 nor height nor death nor any other creature shall be able to separate us 374 00:27:38,080 --> 00:27:46,000 from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. I love that last part. 375 00:27:46,000 --> 00:27:50,160 Nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus 376 00:27:50,160 --> 00:27:59,160 our Lord. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing will cause him to love you less. You know, so 377 00:27:59,160 --> 00:28:03,840 I've heard this and I've thought this. It's like, what, Miles? I don't feel loved. 378 00:28:03,840 --> 00:28:08,600 It's like, really doesn't matter what you feel. You're loved. You might say, well, 379 00:28:08,600 --> 00:28:11,760 Miles, I don't feel like he loves me. It doesn't matter how you feel. This is a 380 00:28:11,760 --> 00:28:17,360 matter of feeling. This is a matter of fact. Your God loves you and you can't do 381 00:28:17,360 --> 00:28:22,720 anything to change it. Sorry. He loves you and that's so comforting because I don't 382 00:28:22,720 --> 00:28:29,080 always feel lovable. Yet he loves me and the result is instead of being insecure, 383 00:28:29,080 --> 00:28:33,800 I find my security in him and his love for me. And because of Christ, I find 384 00:28:33,800 --> 00:28:38,320 sufficiency. I find love. But then I got to see, what is my purpose though? Why am 385 00:28:38,320 --> 00:28:42,320 I still here on this earth? I'm glad he loves me, but what is my purpose? And we 386 00:28:42,320 --> 00:28:47,560 see this in our next point. Because of Christ, I am an heir. Last verse for 387 00:28:47,560 --> 00:28:54,880 tonight. Verse seven. Wherefore thou art no more servant but a son. And if a son 388 00:28:54,880 --> 00:29:01,280 then an heir of God through Christ. A change has occurred. I'm not a slave, so 389 00:29:01,280 --> 00:29:06,120 I don't act like it. I'm an heir. What does heir mean? It is one who has the fancy 390 00:29:06,120 --> 00:29:10,320 definition. It's one who has acquired the portion allotted to him. It's this 391 00:29:10,320 --> 00:29:14,960 idea of inheritance. I have this great collection in my office of 392 00:29:14,960 --> 00:29:20,560 rubber chickens. Really weird. And then when I die, my heir, who wants to be my 393 00:29:20,560 --> 00:29:24,200 heir for rubber chickens? Madison, you're my heir for rubber chickens. 394 00:29:24,200 --> 00:29:28,640 You're welcome. Great honor. When I die, then Madison now gets to be the heir of 395 00:29:28,640 --> 00:29:32,560 that great fortune. You're welcome. She gets those rubber chickens. Silly 396 00:29:32,560 --> 00:29:37,720 illustration, but you get the point. And specifically in this context of 397 00:29:37,720 --> 00:29:42,080 Galatians, it's within a family. This idea of heir that he's talking about. 398 00:29:42,080 --> 00:29:47,520 That there's this son that gets something from his father. And the status here is 399 00:29:47,520 --> 00:29:51,480 amazing. Because what that means is, if I'm an heir, then I'm accepted. And I'm 400 00:29:51,480 --> 00:29:54,840 part of his family. That means I have certain rights. That means I have a 401 00:29:54,840 --> 00:30:00,960 future inheritance. We see this in 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 4. Peter says to 402 00:30:00,960 --> 00:30:05,520 an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, that fated thnot away, reserved 403 00:30:05,520 --> 00:30:11,680 in heaven for you. And man, when I start to think about who I am, how much I don't 404 00:30:11,680 --> 00:30:16,400 deserve this, how much grace and mercy God has, man, what a privilege. And what 405 00:30:16,400 --> 00:30:20,760 that changes in my mind. When I truly meditate on the status that I am an heir, 406 00:30:20,760 --> 00:30:24,080 it changes me from feeling insignificant to I know that I become 407 00:30:24,080 --> 00:30:27,700 significant. And it's not the idea of I'm better than all of you. I'm the best. 408 00:30:27,700 --> 00:30:32,920 Know it's that I have value and significance because of Christ. Man, 409 00:30:32,920 --> 00:30:36,040 we're all looking for purpose. We're all looking for belonging. We're all looking 410 00:30:36,040 --> 00:30:41,200 for acceptance. Whether you're like five, whether then you're 95. You're looking 411 00:30:41,200 --> 00:30:46,360 for that. You still want it. And we so desperately are seeking affirmation from 412 00:30:46,360 --> 00:30:52,760 others and even from self. And we see this in society. In college, I was a 413 00:30:52,760 --> 00:30:56,400 biblical counseling major. We talked a lot about counseling, a lot about 414 00:30:56,400 --> 00:31:00,320 psychology, a lot about the wrong ways to do psychology, to be honest. There's 415 00:31:00,320 --> 00:31:03,760 just one wrong way. Go and throw it up there for me, Logan. Alright, there's this 416 00:31:03,760 --> 00:31:09,000 idea of self affirmations. I really, I really don't like it. You might disagree 417 00:31:09,000 --> 00:31:12,760 with me and that's okay, but I really don't like it because this idea, where it 418 00:31:12,760 --> 00:31:16,760 comes from, is this idea of humanism. And it's just focused on me and that I am the 419 00:31:16,760 --> 00:31:20,240 best. And all I need to do to feel better about my life is realize that I am the 420 00:31:20,240 --> 00:31:24,280 best. So to make myself feel better is that I get a mirror every morning and I 421 00:31:24,280 --> 00:31:30,520 look up and I got to go through my self affirmation and say, I am brave. I am 422 00:31:30,520 --> 00:31:37,040 strong. I am smart. I am kind. I am helpful. I am grateful. I am resilient. I am 423 00:31:37,040 --> 00:31:41,360 important. I am loved and I am enough. And I'm not making fun of it, but I kind of 424 00:31:41,360 --> 00:31:47,320 am, alright? Because why I don't like it is because it's so about you. And the 425 00:31:47,320 --> 00:31:52,440 problem is, is that I'm not enough. And I can say it to myself 50,000 times. 426 00:31:52,440 --> 00:31:56,400 Doesn't change anything. Doesn't help me throughout my day. Gives me this false 427 00:31:56,400 --> 00:31:59,960 illusion of security, but then something bad happens and everything falls out from 428 00:31:59,960 --> 00:32:04,440 under me. And I realize I'm not enough. I'm not resilient. I fail. I can't keep 429 00:32:04,440 --> 00:32:09,360 going. I'm not brave to be honest with you. I'm not always kind. If I'm kind, it's 430 00:32:09,360 --> 00:32:16,600 by Christ. And that's the point. It's all by who I am in Christ. What I need to do 431 00:32:16,600 --> 00:32:20,640 is instead of just going through I am, I am, I am, what I need to do is switch and 432 00:32:20,640 --> 00:32:25,480 say, God is, God is, God is. Here's who my God is. And because of him, because of 433 00:32:25,480 --> 00:32:30,880 what he's done, here's who I am. And it realized that I am a child of the king 434 00:32:30,880 --> 00:32:35,160 and a brother to my savior. And I'm significant and I matter not because of 435 00:32:35,160 --> 00:32:41,720 me, but because of him. It's got to be him. And I don't mean to make fun of this 436 00:32:41,720 --> 00:32:45,280 in the sense of if you've done this. More so, I mean, that's not going to solve 437 00:32:45,280 --> 00:32:48,720 your problems. That's not going to make you feel better. That's not going to give 438 00:32:48,720 --> 00:32:53,280 you hope because it's relying on you to do it. And I hate it because there's this 439 00:32:53,280 --> 00:32:56,920 this idea going around where people are literally telling teenagers to do this. 440 00:32:56,920 --> 00:33:00,000 And if you just say this and believe it hard enough, you'll be it. I'm like, no, 441 00:33:00,000 --> 00:33:03,200 you won't. You're literally leading them astray that they can do it by themselves. 442 00:33:03,200 --> 00:33:06,800 And then they get into even more mess, into even more sadness, even more 443 00:33:06,800 --> 00:33:10,440 depression. I'm like, stop telling them to do it. Tell them to look up and look at 444 00:33:10,440 --> 00:33:14,680 Jesus. That he's the hope. He's the one that makes this secure. He's the one that 445 00:33:14,680 --> 00:33:18,480 gives us strength and purpose. He's the one that gives us significance. It's all 446 00:33:18,480 --> 00:33:24,240 about Jesus. And it makes me feel so much better when I'm not about me. I'm about 447 00:33:24,240 --> 00:33:32,920 him. I actually feel better. I feel hopeful because it's no longer about me. I was 448 00:33:32,920 --> 00:33:36,720 watching before I preach a sermon. I try to watch different pastors give a 449 00:33:36,720 --> 00:33:40,480 sermon on insecure or different topics, whatever I'm preaching on. And there was 450 00:33:40,480 --> 00:33:44,360 a pastor that gave one about insecurity, a few different ones. And not to dis on 451 00:33:44,360 --> 00:33:47,480 him. He was biblical. He was exegeting the text. He was good. He just said 452 00:33:47,480 --> 00:33:51,360 something in passing that bothered me. He said, hey, you know, guys, there's just 453 00:33:51,360 --> 00:33:55,320 there's no all-in-one cure for insecurity. And he just kept going. I was like, I 454 00:33:55,320 --> 00:33:59,680 don't think that's true. You just got to learn to live with insecurity. It's just 455 00:33:59,680 --> 00:34:05,080 with me forever. Sorry. It's like, no, Jesus is secure for my insecurity. I 456 00:34:05,080 --> 00:34:10,280 realized that my worth is tied to who he is. And there's this beautiful chain of 457 00:34:10,280 --> 00:34:13,480 acceptance. I think I have it up there for me, Logan. I will talk through this real 458 00:34:13,480 --> 00:34:16,920 quick and then we'll be done and wrap up. Well, there's this beautiful chain of 459 00:34:16,920 --> 00:34:21,200 acceptance that happens when I'm in Christ. There's first, there's grace that I 460 00:34:21,200 --> 00:34:26,560 realized that God accepted me through his death and resurrection of Jesus. It's 461 00:34:26,560 --> 00:34:31,480 grace. It's not something I deserve. Then second is faith. Because of this grace, 462 00:34:31,480 --> 00:34:37,600 grace, I have faith. I have acceptance that God accepted me. So first, God 463 00:34:37,600 --> 00:34:41,920 accepted me. Now I have faith that he has done it. Not that I've done any work. It's 464 00:34:41,920 --> 00:34:45,520 that he's done the work and I have faith in him. I have faith that he's accepted me. 465 00:34:45,520 --> 00:34:50,800 And then because of the faith I have in him, now I can have peace. Now I'm able to 466 00:34:50,800 --> 00:34:55,080 accept myself. There are so many Christians who are just so feeling guilty 467 00:34:55,080 --> 00:34:58,800 all the time, that feeling sorrow all the time, that feel worried all the time, that 468 00:34:58,800 --> 00:35:02,560 just aren't resting. And there's this idea of I need to be able to accept myself 469 00:35:02,560 --> 00:35:07,320 and not the sense of who I am without Christ, but accept who I am in Christ. 470 00:35:07,320 --> 00:35:12,000 That I can go through life and feel peace. And because I have that peace, and it's 471 00:35:12,000 --> 00:35:16,520 not prideful, it's realizing that my value is fixed on Christ, I can then love. I 472 00:35:16,520 --> 00:35:20,400 can go and accept others. Instead of trying to reject them, I can actually 473 00:35:20,400 --> 00:35:23,880 show love to them. Now love isn't permission, it's just let them do wrong. 474 00:35:23,880 --> 00:35:28,440 It's loving to them to say, I'm here for you and I accept you and I'm not pushing 475 00:35:28,440 --> 00:35:33,400 your way. I'm resembling my Savior in how he loves me. And then there's fellowship 476 00:35:33,400 --> 00:35:37,480 because now that person accepts me. And there's this whole idea of acceptance 477 00:35:37,480 --> 00:35:42,960 that's happening. I get grace from Jesus, from God, the gift of Jesus. I faith in 478 00:35:42,960 --> 00:35:47,360 that gift. Then I can have peace because then that helps me to love you more, then 479 00:35:47,360 --> 00:35:51,160 that helps us to have fellowship. And it's a beautiful thing. It's the gospel. 480 00:35:51,160 --> 00:35:57,560 It's that he accepted me. And that changes my entire life, my entire being, my entire 481 00:35:57,560 --> 00:36:03,760 identity. Insecurity is not a must for life. We just need Christ. There's a quote 482 00:36:03,760 --> 00:36:09,360 that says, and I love it, security is not in a place, but in a person. It's in Jesus. 483 00:36:09,360 --> 00:36:14,160 And there's this hard shift that we have to do because insecurity can be so tied 484 00:36:14,160 --> 00:36:19,400 to our daily life. If we get so insecure about failing, I don't want to be a 485 00:36:19,400 --> 00:36:23,000 failure. And then what we do is that I really don't want to be a failure, so I'm 486 00:36:23,000 --> 00:36:27,440 just not gonna try. Not gonna try at work, I'm not gonna try to take initiative, 487 00:36:27,440 --> 00:36:30,960 I'm not gonna try my relationships, not gonna try in life because I just don't 488 00:36:30,960 --> 00:36:36,160 want to fail. Some are so insecure about the future, man, what's gonna happen? 489 00:36:36,160 --> 00:36:39,840 I'm just worried all the time about it. I'm insecure that everything's gonna fall 490 00:36:39,840 --> 00:36:46,120 apart. And then what we do, what I do is that, and I shouldn't do this, is I try to 491 00:36:46,120 --> 00:36:50,000 fight insecurity, so what I do is I go to wealth and I just see if I can just get 492 00:36:50,000 --> 00:36:54,040 enough. But as we learn last, literally last Wednesday, right, first time that he 493 00:36:54,040 --> 00:36:57,960 talks about this, is that don't put your faith in uncertain riches, it'll always 494 00:36:57,960 --> 00:37:01,800 fall. Well then sometimes I try to put my faith in a leader and if I just follow 495 00:37:01,800 --> 00:37:06,160 them and do what they want, and a man leader, not Jesus, but just if I 496 00:37:06,160 --> 00:37:09,720 follow their leadership, then maybe I can make it. But I realize they're not 497 00:37:09,720 --> 00:37:14,320 enough. Sometimes I go to the world and say, if I just live how I want, live for 498 00:37:14,320 --> 00:37:20,720 pleasure, always leaves me empty. And I realize that my solution is so self- 499 00:37:20,720 --> 00:37:27,200 obsessed. But what I gotta realize is my identity doesn't revolve around me. It 500 00:37:27,200 --> 00:37:32,760 needs to revolve around Christ. That changes everything. Your identity, your 501 00:37:32,760 --> 00:37:39,080 believer tonight, rests safely and securely in Christ. So my first question 502 00:37:39,080 --> 00:37:42,720 for you tonight is, have you believed in them? I mean, actually we say that all 503 00:37:42,720 --> 00:37:47,520 the time, and as we should, amen, the gospel should preach every day, proclaimed 504 00:37:47,520 --> 00:37:52,120 every day. But have you had a moment where you've admitted that you are a 505 00:37:52,120 --> 00:37:55,640 sinner, that you need to save your, and the only one who's gonna save you is Jesus 506 00:37:55,640 --> 00:38:01,920 who died on the cross to save you from your sins? Don't let that be a, oh yeah, 507 00:38:01,920 --> 00:38:05,280 all right, we're going in the gospel. All right, this is the time where we start. 508 00:38:05,280 --> 00:38:08,640 All right, we got Seer Bolso, he's wrapping up. Well, think about the gospel for 509 00:38:08,640 --> 00:38:14,440 just 10 seconds, and just how amazing it is, because it changes everything. And if 510 00:38:14,440 --> 00:38:19,920 you haven't believed, no wonder you feel insecure. Man, I'd feel insecure, because 511 00:38:19,920 --> 00:38:23,800 my only security is him, and I'm trying to do it, but only he can do it. Will you 512 00:38:23,800 --> 00:38:28,640 place your faith in Jesus here tonight? Now, I know that there's many believers 513 00:38:28,640 --> 00:38:36,480 who feel miserable, or who just feel worthless, and that breaks my heart. You 514 00:38:36,480 --> 00:38:40,880 feel like your failures in school, failures in work, failures in your 515 00:38:40,880 --> 00:38:45,320 families, failures with your friends, everything you do, who you are, you're 516 00:38:45,320 --> 00:38:51,400 just like, I don't measure up. Miles, I can't do it. I don't measure up, and I'm 517 00:38:51,400 --> 00:38:57,400 gonna say to you, you're so right, you don't. You aren't supposed to, you can't. 518 00:38:57,400 --> 00:39:03,160 So I'm trying to do what only Christ can do. Run to him, just run to him and say, 519 00:39:03,160 --> 00:39:06,920 Lord, I need you, my identity is in you. I've been trying to do it for so long, and 520 00:39:06,920 --> 00:39:11,240 man, I feel so worthless, and I feel like I can't, and I feel like I fail, but go 521 00:39:11,240 --> 00:39:14,680 to the one who's never failed, go to the one who gives you worth, run to Christ, 522 00:39:14,680 --> 00:39:18,120 and see that he is sufficient. He gives you security, he gives you 523 00:39:18,120 --> 00:39:23,640 significance. It's so much better to be in Christ, and to realize your identity is 524 00:39:23,640 --> 00:39:29,120 in Christ alone. So here's some practical things that I want you to think 525 00:39:29,120 --> 00:39:33,680 through, because we have to understand our last verse here tonight is, you are a 526 00:39:33,680 --> 00:39:38,240 new creation in Christ when you believe in him. Saint Corinthians 5.17 says, 527 00:39:38,240 --> 00:39:44,440 therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed 528 00:39:44,440 --> 00:39:51,040 away, behold, all things are become new. I gotta redefine how I see myself, because 529 00:39:51,040 --> 00:39:55,920 here's how God sees you when he looks at you. You see all the old, he says, that's 530 00:39:55,920 --> 00:40:00,520 my new creation, how he sees you. So here's what I encourage you to do, three 531 00:40:00,520 --> 00:40:03,920 things. I encourage you to write them down. I'll say them a few times. I don't 532 00:40:03,920 --> 00:40:07,480 have them on slide, but I want you to think through them. First, meditate on 533 00:40:07,480 --> 00:40:14,880 truth. You gotta have scripture in your daily life. Devotional, 100%. Also, just 534 00:40:14,880 --> 00:40:18,560 have scripture with you at different times. And points, like, I need to put 535 00:40:18,560 --> 00:40:21,280 scripture next to my mirror, because that's sometimes when I feel the worst. 536 00:40:21,280 --> 00:40:24,880 I'm staring, I'm like, all right, dude, we gotta go do the day, and I gotta get 537 00:40:24,880 --> 00:40:27,560 strength, and I don't know how I'm gonna do it, but then I can look over to a 538 00:40:27,560 --> 00:40:33,360 verse, and I see my hope is not in me, my hope is in him. Glacians 4 is a perfect 539 00:40:33,360 --> 00:40:36,880 one to think through. Romans 8 talks all about your identity in Christ. 540 00:40:36,880 --> 00:40:41,160 Sanctions 517, the verse we just read. Ephesians 2-10 talks about us being 541 00:40:41,160 --> 00:40:46,600 workmanship, masterpieces of Christ. Meditate on truth and meditate on Christ. 542 00:40:46,600 --> 00:40:54,080 Second, I encourage you to write down just who God is, his attributes. And 543 00:40:54,080 --> 00:40:58,960 especially if you're feeling insecure, what I encourage you to do is, this is 544 00:40:58,960 --> 00:41:02,320 what I do. I'm feeling insecure, and I just kind of wallow myself in my 545 00:41:02,320 --> 00:41:06,680 insecurities, like, I'm just insecure, and I'm the worst. It's like, okay, if I want to 546 00:41:06,680 --> 00:41:10,520 actually fix it, here's what I do. I think about God. I think about his 547 00:41:10,520 --> 00:41:14,320 attributes. And then I do, all right, because of God, here's who I am in Christ. 548 00:41:14,320 --> 00:41:18,760 I'm redeemed, I'm adopted, I'm an heir. Actually, think through that. You can't 549 00:41:18,760 --> 00:41:23,720 help but leave encouraged. And then third, so first, meditate on truth. Second, 550 00:41:23,720 --> 00:41:31,960 write down who God is, focus on his attributes. And then third, pray. Pray and 551 00:41:31,960 --> 00:41:37,200 say, Lord, you are my Savior, you are my Father, you are my King, and because of 552 00:41:37,200 --> 00:41:42,520 you, I am redeemed, I am adopted, I am an heir. And the result of that is that you 553 00:41:42,520 --> 00:41:47,560 become my sufficiency, you make me secured, you give me significance. I mean, that 554 00:41:47,560 --> 00:41:54,000 changes your day, man. That changes how you think. It works, because that's what 555 00:41:54,000 --> 00:41:58,680 God tells us to do. So often I complain and get upset and insecure, and it's like, 556 00:41:58,680 --> 00:42:03,560 have you prayed? And then I pray and I say, wow, things are better. They're better 557 00:42:03,560 --> 00:42:09,040 when you're with the Savior. I don't know where you are. Here's what I do know, 558 00:42:09,040 --> 00:42:14,040 though, is that you don't have to be insecure. You can be secure. The words of 559 00:42:14,040 --> 00:42:20,600 an old hymn bring me comfort before we close. Rock of ages, cleft for me, let me 560 00:42:20,600 --> 00:42:26,520 hide myself in thee. Let the water and the blood from thy wound decide which 561 00:42:26,520 --> 00:42:34,560 flow. Be of sin, the double career, save from wrath and make me pure. Remember who 562 00:42:34,560 --> 00:42:49,320 you are in Christ. Let's pray.