Our nation has been hit with a health pandemic,
but maybe the most undetected pandemic
is a loss of authentic identity.
If we're honest with ourselves, we often feel insecure.
And those who hide it best often feel it most.
But what if our insecurity is an invitation from God
to escape the danger of false beliefs about who we are?
What if the fear of insignificance
is wrongly causing us to plant our identity flag
on the top of our achievements, followers, tribe,
or affiliation instead of our maker?
In this episode of Keeper 100,
we continue this impactful discussion
plus a bonus conversation with Chris Durso.
Welcome to Keeper 100 podcast
with Sean and Christa Smith.
Join us in this space where we take on real issues
with real insight and real inspiration.
This podcast is for those not looking for temporary relief
to change circumstance,
but revelation to forever change lives.
All right, all right, what's going on everybody?
Welcome to the Keeper 100 podcast with Christa
and Sean Smith.
Yeah, welcome to the party y'all.
We are so turned up about this episode
and you're gonna be snatched by the Chris Durso interview.
So you need to stay tuned.
You know, Christa, there was an online article
entitled, What Were We Thinking?
Whackiest Fads Over the Past 30 Years.
Okay, I'm ready for it, bring it.
All right, number one on that list was hacky sack.
I remember that, I totally remember that.
I just remember seeing these guys on my campus
at a university kicking hacky sack for like hours
in between classes.
And I just thought, man, at that time,
my thought was what a waste of time.
You know, it's really funny the fact you brought it up.
It makes me go, does, do people not do that anymore?
Right?
All right, tell me, what else?
Another wacky fat was garbage pail kids.
Oh, I remember those.
My friends had like trading cards
and I wasn't allowed to have them
because they were like kind of like,
they were just kind of gross.
And I just remember like, me,
you know, my parents, there's no way.
Garbage pail kids were like,
the demon possessed cabbage patch kid.
It looked like Chucky, you know,
up that horrible. They did.
Another thing they listed was jelly shoes.
Oh, I wanted those.
I never had a pair.
I remember those plastic shoes.
I remember, I'm not exaggerating.
I remember one time in high school,
a girl's jelly shoes melted on her feet.
Stop it.
She must've got like the knockoff version
that they went and made out of good plastic.
If your shoes melt because of heat,
I'm going to go ahead and guarantee
that you don't have the best brand.
Right?
Oh my gosh, that's bad.
I mean, come on.
All right. How about this one,
MySpace.com
Oh my gosh.
Do you remember how they had like the favorites
and like people's feelings got hurt
because they weren't like included
in people's best friends list.
And they were, you were like,
hey, I put you in mine,
but you didn't put me in yours.
Are we not friends anymore?
I remember that.
I don't even think I ever closed my account.
I wonder if it's still there.
That is straight comedy.
All right, here's another one.
Okay.
They talked about Bond Dutch trucking hats.
I remember those.
When I lived down Australia,
those were like super popular.
Oh my, I remember Ashton Kutcher
Oh yeah, I see.
And Paris Hilton was both rocking them.
And so I don't know who Bond Dutch was,
but that brother collected some cash during that season.
So funny.
You know, speaking of that,
it kind of reminds me too, Christa,
that all of us grew up with friends
who were always into the latest fads.
So true.
In some instances,
they were trying to be something that they're not.
But some of us looking back in these instances,
there may have been some identity issues
with some of these people that always felt like
they had to be cool and be on the latest thing
so they could feel relevant.
And a couple of things that I've learned about identity.
Identity gives confidence to action
and identity reveals our deeper purpose.
You know, as we kind of just continue to dive
into the conversation about identity,
I think that what's so important is we really understand
when someone isn't walking in their full identity,
what you just mentioned, Sean,
there's really some clear signs
that begin to happen in our lives
when we're lacking identity.
One of the signs, especially as a follower of Christ,
is you really start dipping in the area
of radical affection and your resolve for Christ.
If you don't know who you are in Christ
when the storms of life come,
and we can say 2020 has kind of been an ongoing tsunami storm.
It has been one thing after another.
And the unfortunate part of storms,
there's, you actually said this in your sermon.
You said the enemy brings storms to shake you,
but the Lord uses storms to shape you.
And what I think is so profound about that
is if you allow the storms of life,
we've all been in storms this year
that are out of our control and out of our hands.
And it's in these storms,
we actually see what's in us on an identity level.
And if you don't know who you are,
I've seen so many people that once had a radical affection
and a resolve for Christ begin to wane in that
because there's been a despair,
there's been a disillusionment and a disappointment.
And when despair sets in,
often a radical zeal and affection
and resolve pursuit of God begins to wane as well.
The second sign that you lose on your identity
is you start altering your beliefs
to accommodate the world's culture and values.
And what happens in the midst of this
is you're trying to be politically correct
rather than biblically correct.
And when you do that,
you start moving it to a place
that you start being a reflection of your culture.
And that hurts you because we're called to be a contrast.
And I reminded me of a story
when I was growing up in West Oakland, California,
West Oakland as elementary school kid,
we went on one field trip on my entire years
in elementary school, my school was ghetto, y'all.
And I don't know the state of California
must not have had a lot of money.
So they sent us to the Oakland Zoo.
Now, in all fairness,
I've been to the Oakland Zoo for a while.
So right now it could be an awesome zoo,
but back in the day, I'm just gonna straight tell you,
it was hood, y'all.
We pulled up in a bus
and we took public transportation.
We didn't have a school bus, right?
Stop it.
Seriously, we took public transportation.
We went to Oakland Zoo.
Now you go to zoos, right?
Okay, you think of crabs, elephants,
zebras, monkeys, orangutans, right?
We went to Oakland Zoo.
But the first thing I remember is,
okay, y'all ready for this?
I'm not exaggerating, this is not comedic license.
They had a dog in a cage.
Stop it right now.
Seriously, they had a dog.
They said it was a dingo dog from Africa,
but I think it was on loan from Sacramento, man.
Oh my, no.
It was not even on loan from Sacramento.
You and I both know a dingo looks like a mutt.
I mean, it doesn't even look like a specific breed.
They could have taken that from the rescue
in like downtown Oakland.
Okay, that's hilarious.
A dog.
The zoo has a dog.
That is, that's, you can't even make this up.
That's so funny.
Okay, then we went to the next exhibit.
They had raccoons in a cage.
Stop it right now.
Seriously.
Are you actually serious right now?
I'm totally serious.
People listening.
They took, they basically, that raccoon
was trying to get its trash and they took him to the zoo.
That's what happened.
Went to the third exhibit.
They had deers behind cages.
Stop it.
They had deers.
I can't even believe this is a true story.
And the deers were all lethargic.
I mean, usually deers are like running.
And that's the other thing.
They like tranquilize them.
They have deers, right?
They have deers in Oakland Hills.
Like, what are you doing in a zoo?
Let me just say, the animals in your zoo
shouldn't be animals that you would see.
Okay, that's like honestly the worst field trip ever.
It was.
Like ever.
Can I tell you my highlight though?
Yeah.
This woman came out with like a greenish glove.
And when she came out with this greenish glove,
she had a lizard on her hands.
So I'm like, okay, we got a lizard at the zoo.
Wait, but this lizard was a chameleon.
And so as she brought it on the glove,
the lizard turned green on her glove.
And then she put it back on its natural habitat.
She had like a brown, like little branch.
And she put it on the branch.
We're losing it right now, y'all.
She put this lizard on a branch and it turned brown.
So then she was telling us, because you gotta remember,
we didn't have Animal Planet on a cable channel
back in the day, 24 hours, right?
So she told us that the chameleon is able to adapt itself
and turn towards the colors
of whatever it's placed upon.
And she said it was a defense mechanism.
So I was a little kid, I was a little kid.
I'm in the superheroes and I'm still in the superheroes.
Now shout out to the MCU Marvel Cinematic Universe.
But I started thinking, now be cool to be chameleon, man.
Like you can just chameleon, man.
You can just poop and then turn invisible
because you can just blend it to the wall.
So you could be listening on people's conversation.
That part's awesome.
Right, you can sneak into places
and kind of be there and people wouldn't know it.
But as I got older, I began to realize
that being a chameleon is not a superhero quality
because they're forced to reflect their environment.
They're forced to change their colors
to the hue and the pigmentation.
That's good.
And whatever it is you place them on.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And I began to realize that instead of having Christians
that are contrasted with the world,
we got chameleon Christians that are blending in
and a chameleon isn't a strength, it's a weakness.
Ooh, hilarious as a story as that is.
And genuinely one of the funniest zoo stories
I've heard in my entire life.
The point that you're pulling out about a chameleon
is super profound and so accurate
because a chameleon just literally absorbs their environment
and becomes just like it.
There's no contrast.
You and I are called to be salt and light.
So there could be nothing opposite of identity in Christ
when you just blend.
And I think there's such a pressure.
There's such a peer pressure right now.
Political correctness, saying this or that, right?
And the reality is we have to break that man-pleasing spirit
and have within us a resolve as long as we honor God.
That is what our identity is rooted in, grounded in.
And there's really no place for chameleon in that.
And that's what's difficult and yet is so vital
to us walking in our identity.
You know, we're talking about what it is
to lose your identity.
And really one of the last things I wanna bring to this table,
a part of this part of the conversation is,
you know, you commence a lifestyle of settling
and being in safe mode, hiding in the backgrounds
and not going on the battlegrounds.
And really here's the truth
that it kind of just continues what I just said.
And that is you're going limp in areas
where you need to go lethal.
And I believe you and I are called to walk
in an authority and an identity of who we are.
But that only comes when we have a clear understanding
of our divine identity, our spiritual DNA.
And that's what allows us to manifest God's dominion
on the earth.
You and I are called to walk in the earth.
We're called to be atmosphere shifters.
And that happens when we know who we are in Christ Jesus
and we stop playing it safe.
That is so true and so accurate.
I love what you're saying on that.
Keep it 100 tribe.
I'm excited.
We're going to right now introduce a new segment
that we call the Hondo P segment,
which let me explain Hondo P is short for 100%.
And it's in these segments that Christa and I,
we just wanna share some thoughts on some things.
Kind of some free flow conversation.
So the topic of discussion is this whole concept
that your perception is your reality,
but it's not always God's reality.
Ooh, man, have I walked that out?
I mean, I think so many of us growing up, you know,
and the part of it's just natural maturity.
And then I would say a lot of it is just coming
into the fullness of your identity in the Lord.
And we're all born into families of thinking systems
and the perceptions of who we are.
And so much of our identity and worth is modeled
within our community, our caregivers, our siblings,
our family unit.
And so I think for me, I really discovered
that I had a lot of thoughts that were negative
about myself, but because everyone around me
kind of thought like me, my friends thought like me,
my friends sounded like me.
And I realized in time, as a daughter of God,
I shouldn't sound like people that don't have
a covenant relationship with them.
And for that matter, I don't want them to sound like that.
You know, I want people, no matter where they're at
in their journey to have a revelation of their worth
and their value, but I found myself really hard
on myself in life where if I didn't measure up
in what I estimated measuring up, if I didn't,
if I wasn't successful in what I measured as success,
I was privately very, very hard on myself
and I was constantly in my estimation coming up short.
And the Lord really took me through a process
of really pursuing my heart as my father
and really showing me the approval
and the affirmation on the father,
not by what I did for him, but simply because I was his.
I'm such a natural doer and achiever.
Like I get Martha and the story of Mary and Martha,
I get Martha because I'm like, okay, what do we need to do?
What do we need to do?
I find fulfillment and achievement,
which isn't a bad thing, but it is when you find
your identity in what you do.
There's the clutch for that.
And for me, my perception of my reality was not always God's
because I was in this distortion of who I was
as based on what I did and nothing could be farther
from the truth.
Who you are is not based on what you do for God.
Who you are in God is based on the fact
that your his kidney loves you.
That's so on point.
You know, as you're talking about that,
I just began to realize it didn't really dawn on me
Christian until later on, then not every thought in my head
didn't come from my own logic.
In other words, that I didn't evaluate
everything going on and if the thought is in my head,
it's mine and it's my thought, then it must be true of me.
True.
That took me a while to figure out too.
And the devil, the Bible calls it the adversary of our souls.
You know, he's able to project thoughts.
And I just remember struggling so long
as it relates to identity.
I mean, that was probably my characteristic battle.
I just remember just struggling and just beginning
to make conclusions based on my past and not realizing,
hey, those thoughts are my reality,
but when I came to Christ, God's got a whole other reality.
He has a whole book full of positive thoughts
that he has about our life.
And it's so important that the closer you get to God,
you begin to recognize those are negative perceptions,
not accurate.
You know, you've said just a key thing.
So many of us in our walk with God,
our rear reamir is still really big
instead of our windshield.
Meaning how we look back, sure we learn from our past,
we grow from our past, we mature from our past,
but if you're sitting there always looking
and your greatest vantage point is behind you,
not ahead of you, it's often a distorted view
of who we are because it never gives you room
to mature or grow or transform for that matter
in your identity in God.
And the enemy, that's where I feel like the enemy
really kind of can go nuts on you.
100.
Is getting you so locked into seeing your past failures
and disappointments and pain and gets you locked
in this space where you don't ever evolve
from your perception of who you are today
and moving forward in what's possible.
When God intervenes and you encounter the healer
and the restore of Jesus,
because he can heal any trauma, he can heal any pain.
And when we actually encounter God as our healer,
as our restore, as our redeemer,
he can redeem all things.
And we actually allow the weak part of the places,
the places that used to be shame,
actually become these beautiful displays
of the redemption of God.
And we begin to testify, even the hard parts of our story,
it actually solidifies our identity
that I'm a new creation in Christ Jesus,
that every one of us is a brand new creation.
But that revelation of our new creation
that we are fully forgiven in Christ Jesus
can only happen when we actually allow the windshield
to become big.
You know, I just said just a moment ago, our new creation.
I think a lot of people are limited
in that revelation of new creation
because they have not fully forgiven themselves.
And I think that is something just, you know,
pastoring people for years and, you know,
just walking alongside people in discipleship situations
in schools and ministry where I was director.
So many people had asked for forgiveness,
so therefore God had forgiven them.
They had even asked for forgiveness
from people that wronged them
or had asked for forgiveness for who they wronged
and forgiven those that wronged them,
but they had never forgiven themselves.
Wow.
And when we don't forgive ourselves,
we're holding ourselves hostage to the wrong identity.
Isn't that true?
That's so good.
You know, it's funny because as you were saying about that
and you talk about the enemy planning thoughts,
I started thinking, you know, before the devil's the devil,
he was Lucifer and he was the angel in charge of worship.
Right.
But all of a sudden, instead of bringing glory to the Father,
he started getting ideas
that he wanted to bring glory to himself.
Right.
And I really want to get technical.
The first identity crisis was in heaven by Lucifer.
And then all of a sudden, when that happened,
God had the archangel Michael kick him out of heaven,
slap any eviction notice on his behind
and he fell down to earth.
And so I've convinced today that Satan is in your ear
because he no longer has gods.
And if God isn't giving them space, then neither should you.
And I know that they're so often that I can go awhile
and you've helped me with this, boo, a lot of times,
is that you stop and go, wait, I break that off.
I come against that.
You know, we got a joke.
I cancel that, I cancel that.
We do.
But it's in that you begin to be reminded, wait a second,
there's a war for my identity.
And therefore there's a war over my mind.
Yes, there is.
And I've got to recognize, you look at it differently
when you're in a battle like that.
And you know, a lot of times, modern terminology,
we talk about FOMO.
FOMO is the fear of missing out.
But I just want to throw in the mix, Jomo.
There's a joy of missing out.
That's awesome.
I don't want to miss out on certain things that God has,
but I got the joy of missing out on the thoughts of the enemy
that brings anxiety, that brings depression,
that brings suicide, they bring addictive,
codependent behavior.
There's a joy in missing out on that.
And I miss out on that when I allow God's thoughts
to become my reality.
Keep it going, Hunter Tribe.
I want you to really dial into this moment
because even as Sean and I were just talking,
I just felt like Holy Spirit was saying,
there's some people that are going to listen to this
and a couple of things in just even this segment
that we're talking about right now,
that not every thought that's in your head is of God.
And for you to really take inventory
of what you're allowing to be your internal dialogue
and what you're actually allowing to be the narrative,
there's things that are a loop in all of our minds,
but are they things that bring you closer to Jesus?
Are they things that are the fruit?
You know, the enemy has a job description
to kill, still and destroy.
So let's not get that twisted.
Let's understand that there is a real devil
that wants to take you out.
And that's not from a place of fear.
It's from a place of understanding
you have authority over the enemy
and then you do not in any way, shape or form,
have to accept any thought.
So, you know, the word talks about taking
every thought captive and taking a thought captive
is cleaning the blood of Jesus over it.
Taking a thought captive is putting it
under the feet of Jesus.
And so when I take thoughts captive,
I actually see a picture of Jesus' feet
and I see that thought going underneath his feet physically
and him standing on it and then they disappear
because his authority, his blood, who he is
can break every word curse.
And another thing that I feel like I just talked about,
but again, I feel like the Lord's highlighting
for a listener right now is really forgiving yourself.
You are not hostage to the sins you've been forgiven of
and the enemy wants to keep you hostage,
but I want to declare the freedom of the Lord over you
for you to walk in your full identity.
Wherever you're listening to this podcast right now,
I want you to take a moment and forgive yourself.
God has forgiven you.
It's time you forgive yourself.
You are not hostage to the past decisions,
the past sin and the past lifestyle you were living.
You are covered by the blood of the lamb,
which means you are a bloodbought
and you are a covenant child with God.
Therefore, it's time you access the fullness
of who he created you to be
and shame is no longer your friend.
So we break that off just like Sean and I do
in our own lives.
We break that off of you
because you're called to walk in freedom.
Bible, which is another way now of saying,
I think the Kardashians have made that saying popular,
meaning that's the real truth right there.
Bible, they keep your 100.
We have a special surprise for you.
Our next guest on this next segment is an influencer
from NYC.
He has literally led a movement on the East Coast
and he literally saw an awakening breakout amongst
his youth group called Misfits NYC.
He actually sent me some gear.
They even have gear y'all
when y'all get gear, you're serious.
And since that time, he and his wife, Jai,
have become the lead pastors of saints church NYC.
So welcome to the mic.
My good friend, Chris Dursow.
["Misfits NYC"]
Hey, keep your 100 tribe.
We have leader of saints church,
the author of the heist,
how grace robs us of our shame.
My friend, Chris Dursow, what's going on, bro?
Man, I am so well.
It's so good to hear you.
I'm so happy to be on this podcast with you.
Thank you so much for having me.
Oh, absolutely, man.
There was no one that I would rather have on this episode
of what we're talking about in terms of
uncontestable identity.
So Chris, just tell me, man, you're on the East Coast, man.
What's it like right now?
What you seeing right now?
Yeah, I mean, it's tough right now in New York.
I mean, just like it has been for the whole world,
you know, COVID hit us, COVID hit us tough.
We had at least over two dozen people pass
in this season due to the pandemic.
How to do the funeral for my best friend's mother.
And just a tough season, a tough season,
but like it is all around the world.
But like you, we're believing that our best days
are in front of us.
We know that God has great plans.
We believe that revival is about to break out
in churches all over the world.
And it's gonna be special.
And I'm so excited for it.
I can feel the stirring in my spirit,
even now as I say to you.
I absolutely agree with you, man.
I so feel, Lord's has been dealing with me at Isaiah 53.
I usually go there for the, he took up our infirmities,
bore sickness by Jesus stripes and made a Isaiah 53, four.
But I believe it's verse two.
It says like a tender shoot out of dry ground.
And my whole premise that Lord's been dealing with me
is that you deem dry ground the wrong nutrients
and the wrong circumstance for a tender blade of grass
to break through.
But it's because you judged it by the outside.
You saw how hard America is.
You saw how hard hearts are.
But God has a tender blade of grass,
which is the context that's Jesus, the great revival
that he often breaks through.
So the whole thought of that, when I show that thought is
revivals are most likely when they're least likely
because part ground is neither the proper nutrients
or the optimal circumstances.
So I 100% agree with you.
So Chris, man, you wrote this book
and I highly recommend you go out and get this book,
The Heist, How Grace Robges of Our Shame.
I read this thing seriously in a night
and the next day plane ride,
I was just so impacted by it.
It came from such a deep place, Chris.
That's why we're blessed to have you
because of your heart for God.
And we can probably talk about some other things,
but let's jump in in this one.
How did you become solidified,
confident in your identity in Christ?
That's a big question.
The irony of that question,
and you don't even realize this or know this,
but I am actually sitting in my parents' house right now,
recording this podcast coincidentally.
I am sitting in the same spot
that when I was seven years old,
Pastor Jim Symbola prophesied over me
and he said to me in front of my parents,
I had a learning disability.
I was doing bad in school.
I was a troublemaker and he told my parents
not to worry about me.
He said that God's hand was on me
and that the God was gonna use me to be a pastor.
And I mean, tears are coming to my eyes as I'm saying it
because I didn't even realize until you just asked me
that question and I'm realizing where I'm sitting right now
as I'm having this conversation with you.
Well, when I was seven years old,
I knew from that point forward
that I was gonna be a pastor.
I spent a good amount of my life running from it.
My testimony was I did not want to be a pastor.
I grew up in a pastor's home,
but I spent a good amount of my life running from it.
But the moment that my wife,
who was my girlfriend at the time,
she said, why do you keep running from the very thing
we all know that you're called to do?
And it just, it hit me in that moment.
It hit me when she said, and I said, why am I running?
Why am I trying to avoid what God has called me to do?
And the reason why I frame it that way
is because purpose is tied into identity.
Your identity, I am not what I do, right?
But I am who I am called to be by Christ.
And that's a very big difference.
I'm not just a pastor.
No, I'm a man of God,
but I'm a man of God with an assignment.
And I have an assignment to be a pastor.
I have an assignment to be a father.
I have an assignment to be a husband.
I have an assignment to be a friend.
These are my assignments.
And I would encourage every listener
that is listening right now to ask God
to show you what your assignment is.
Because here's the truth.
You do not get to be saved and not assigned.
You are saved and you are assigned.
And the goodness of grace is not only does he forgive you
of sins and save you and make you safe in him,
but then he purposes you so that you could go out
and tell others, but you don't get to just sit
in his good graces.
He said, no, now that you know,
and now that you've experienced me,
I need you to go out and tell others.
I could do it, but I'm commissioning you
because that's what brings me glorious God.
Man, that is so good.
You know, it's very interesting
because I read that in your book
and the way you're describing it
and the fact that you're sitting in the very spot.
Man, I had chills.
That's so prophetic.
Jim Symbol is Word.
And I think about Chris the power, the prophetic,
and there's so many different things,
but when a true prophetic word comes,
it is obviously a declaration of divine intent,
but it carries a grace in that immediate moment
to upgrade you from wherever you're at
into the reality of the word.
And so I so love that that word begin to brand you
towards that thing that God has for you.
And you're such a man of the word
in what ways maybe early on,
we're grabbing hold of the truths of God's word
as well as knowing your purpose.
How crucial was that into stepping in your identity
because you walk in a confidence, Chris,
those of us that know you see you preach, man,
you walk in a confidence
and it's a humility, it's a confidence,
it's not an arrogance,
but if people don't know who they are,
then they're either walking,
they're either strutting in pride
or they're languishing in this false humility, negativity
and not acknowledging who they are.
So how did you cross over in terms of
the word of God speaking to you?
Yeah, I think my personality, my personality,
I'm at Enneagram 8, Wing 9,
I don't know if you're into all that,
but it just means I'm a really strong personality
and I have no problem with confrontation
and I have no problem taking the bull by the horn.
However, I'm only able to do that
when I know what I'm dealing with.
So for me, if I know the word of God
and I believe the word of God,
then I'm gonna move forward with the word of God
and I'm not gonna pay attention to any other words.
That's how God designed me,
but from an early age,
because I grew up in a pastor's home
and I grew up around Christians and prayer meetings
and services and all night prayer meetings and all of that.
And experiencing and seeing it, but not understanding it,
I thought, well, I've had enough of the experience,
but what does the Bible say?
What does the word say?
And because I had a learning disability,
I had to read it for myself.
I could listen to preachers preach,
but as a kid, I didn't get it, I didn't make the connection.
So I would read the Bible for myself.
And then when I became a teenager,
I would have moments, I was on and off,
but I would have moments when I was on,
I was in that word and I was studying it
and I was chewing it and I wasn't hanging out
and I was just in the presence of God
and the same thing just followed all the way through.
And then when I learned about something called soap
and the Bible reading plan that came with soap,
I didn't even know there were Bible reading plans.
And the more I started to learn
about the word of God and theology,
it just solidified why I would step forward.
And I think the thing that so often happens
with believers and Christians,
especially those that are willing to step out,
they receive the calling and God will do that for you.
But just because you receive a calling or assignment
that does not mean you've arrived,
you have to fill up your tank
and you have to keep growing as you go.
The whole reason why we are disciples,
what's a disciple?
It's a student teacher,
which means that we learn and we teach
and we teach and we learn and we learn and we teach.
We can't ever break that pivot.
So we as believers, we always have to be in that position
that we're learning as we're going.
There's the perfectionist that will listen to this
and say, well, I'm not going until I know it all.
And God's saying, but that's not how I operate.
I've called you, drop your nets, follow me.
This is why somebody could go from being a fisherman
to a disciple just like that.
He said, because I go with you.
And that's how God gets his pleasure.
When I think about identity, I think about Paul.
Paul is my favorite in the Bible.
You know, after Jesus, Paul is my favorite.
And what I love about Paul is that Paul would start off
his letters by saying, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ.
He never pivoted any other way.
He'd let you know who he was.
This is who I am.
And I remember reading that going from the beginning.
If you were to read any of these letters,
you don't have to guess who Paul is.
You know that he's an apostle.
You know that he is saved by grace.
You know that his name is Paul
and that he's not who he used to be.
He's Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ.
He has no problem identifying his identity.
And somebody might hear that and go,
oh, I got to change my bio right now.
No, I'm not talking about going around
and switching up your LinkedIn profile
and putting all your title.
We don't need anybody else with any more titles.
But what I love about Paul is that he's confident
in knowing that he used to be Saul,
but man, now he's Paul and God has called him
to a Timothy or to this land or this region to preach.
And I think if we pay attention to those,
even those beginning verses,
we learn, man, there's so much there about identity.
Bro, that is so profound.
That's off the chart.
That whole idea that God uses your identity
is fuel towards where he's wanting to take you.
And then the whole understanding what he's saying,
I love this, Chris, I'm hearing you say too,
is oftentimes God gives us a designation
before it's our realization.
And the way that we realize is that we have to accept it.
So he calls us the righteousness of God
when we don't look very righteous.
He's saying to Gideon, you're a mighty man of valor
and you're beating wheat in the wine press
like practicing your golf swing in the closet.
He calls us something.
And so he gives us an identification.
So our behavior matches it rather than waiting for
our behavior to come to a certain level.
Then he gives us that title.
And Paul also identifies it's always by the will of God.
In other words, I didn't call me, God called me.
And if God called me and if he's God,
then if I can't grab confidence from that,
what are we even talking about?
I didn't call me.
At any time I've had a moment
where I've gotten nervous about something,
maybe it was about preaching,
maybe it was about leading,
maybe it was stepping into a new season.
And then I realized, wait a minute,
I didn't kick down any door to be here.
God called me and God's not gonna call me and leave me.
No, God's gonna call me and grace me.
And that's some encouragement.
If God calls you, he equips you.
He sustains you with the grace
and goes with you as your obedient.
Man, I love that so good.
Chris, another question I wanted to ask you.
What are some of the battles in this generation
that you see as it relates to identity?
The battle, so I was just talking to someone
about this yesterday and they were saying,
you know, this generation is all purpose driven.
And I thought to myself, it's true,
but that's what they were.
They're still purpose driven,
but it's a different type of purpose driven.
Like there was a time where everybody was buying
certain shoes or they were putting on certain outfits
because they wanted to fit the part
of looking purpose driven.
But when I think of this generation,
I think about the fact that what they really want
is authenticity.
They want honesty.
They want to keep it 100.
Real recognize real.
And if they get it that way,
just tell me what I'm supposed to do.
Tell me what I'm supposed to be.
Hey, just cut the fluff and let's get to it.
And then the moment we get through that,
I'll go do whatever.
That's what I'm supposed to do.
Yeah, I'll operate in purpose.
But because of all of the reality television
and because of all the social media and the filters,
this generation is done with fake.
Like think about the moment where we found out
that reality television was staged
and it wasn't what we thought it was.
So this generation is so beyond that.
And because of the pace and how culture moves,
it has just only got them there quicker.
And the reason why even the entertainment industry
is gonna find themselves in such a debacle
is because you're not gonna be able to produce authenticity
because authenticity is authenticity.
It has to happen organically.
The other day I was talking to my wife
and we had gotten some bad news earlier that week
and it was just a really tough moment for us.
And I felt like I had just a hard time thinking
and I wrote an intro for the sermon
and had a preach the next day.
And I said, you know, honey, let me just read this to you.
And as I read it to my wife,
my daughter's there, my 10 year old daughter, Chloe.
And I said, you know, does this come off too harsh
or too direct?
And I already know that I kind of like go for it
when I preach.
So if I'm asking about my own stuff,
I'm thinking this might be too harsh.
And my daughter, Chloe goes,
dad, it's not too harsh.
It's good because you're getting to the point.
And then she says, I just hate when I hear preachers preach
and they're just talking all this other stuff,
like get to the point already.
And then she said, dad,
the fact that you get to the point that quick
will give you more time
to tell us what the scripture actually means.
Me and my wife looked at each other and we looked at her
because I wasn't thinking like that at 10 years old.
But this is how 10 year olds are thinking now
because of social media and YouTube
and everything they've experienced.
They are craving for 100.
It's no surprise to me, Sean,
that your podcast is doing as well as it's doing.
It's this idea of let's be honest.
Let's throw out all this other jargon, all this other talk
and let's just be real.
And that is what a generation is craving.
That's what this world is craving.
You know, it's so true.
And I think we kind of came out of an era
where it was about the show.
It was about you put on kind of like, you know,
them little memes that will come out on people's profile pics.
They would crop it and do all kinds of stuff.
They would photoshop it and get this.
But now you saw even on the gram,
you just see this shift where you see a lot of people,
I'm gonna just show you no makeup.
I'm gonna show you how I really look.
I'm gonna show you how I do.
I'm gonna uncover stuff.
And I think it's so coincides with aspect
of when you're strong in your identity,
you can really be you.
You don't have to try to be something you're not.
It's codependent.
Like we think a codependency is somebody,
I'm gonna be in this relationship
and I'm gonna enable this person
because it really allows me to feel secure or whatever.
But I think the simple definition of codependency
is that I'm living my life in a way
that I have to have your validation
in order for me to feel good about yourself.
And I feel like the message of identity Christ
delivers a person from codependency
in its classic definition
or even codependent Christianity
that we need the world to validate us.
When we already have a father in heaven,
he says, this is my son,
this is my daughter in whom I'm well pleased.
And when you start at that point,
all of a sudden you just think of all the opinions
of all men of all time or equal absolutely zero
at the end of the day.
So only gonna be the thumbs up from the master.
And so if I can get up every day
and live my life like that,
I'm not gonna have this image or distorted identity.
I can walk in the revealed identity
because here's the thing I'm learning is blowing me away is
our identity really is Jesus.
So if we could see it in Jesus, we could see it in us.
So in other words, the clearer we see the father,
the clearer you understand ourselves.
We were never meant to develop identity
outside of knowing our maker.
When my Mac goes down, I don't take it to Samsung.
I take my Mac to Apple because they made it.
They're the manufacturer.
And so man, that's so profound.
And I do, I see a generation and I believe that we're more
in terms of emerging generation,
it's more about the tribe.
It's more about the people you're hanging with.
It's more about who you identify with.
But at the same time, we want that authenticity.
And so I just love the way you phrase it.
Here's the third final question for you, Chris.
How does knowing your identity
make you impactful for the kingdom?
When somebody walks in the room and they're confident,
whether everyone talks to them, they notice them.
When you are confident, people look to you
and want to learn what you have, who you are,
and how you got there.
Let me learn your rhythm.
What do you do in the morning?
What books are you reading?
You become a magnet to point people to the answer.
When we get everything that you just said,
I could not agree with you more.
My identity comes from Christ.
I am no one else but a child of God.
And if I attempt to live outside of the original version
that God created me to be, it is the equivalent
of trying to bring my MacBook Pro to Samsung
to fix it.
And where I do believe Great Revival is going to come
is because so many people are so done
and they've realized that there's a dead end
to all these other lifestyles, fame.
Think about how one season, fame was so far off
for so many people, but now it's so tangible and easy.
And I really believe the silver lining
in the exposure of that is people are realizing,
oh, I don't need to live for fame.
It's not gonna do it for me.
So if fame is not gonna do it for me,
and that's what I thought I needed my entire life,
now there has to be something.
And if there's something and you're walking
in your confidence and you are showing people Jesus,
and they will look to you and they will say,
show me what it is that you do when you are operating
in your identity as a believer, as a saint,
as a Christian, knowing that this is not my doing,
but God's will, that allows me to be obedient
to do whatever it is that God calls me to do,
no matter how crazy it sounds,
no matter how ridiculous it sounds,
no matter how over the top it sounds.
So if he says, go play in the church,
if he says, go pray for that person for healing,
if he says, open up your mouth
and gives them this word of knowledge,
call them right now in the middle of the night,
and then you're now spot on
because you're able to hit those things.
You start to realize, oh my goodness,
that voice that I'm listening to is the Holy Spirit.
That's the voice I should have been listening to
the whole time, not my insecurity, not celebrity,
not culture, that's who I need to be relying on.
And because I realized I could be confident
because it's not me, it's God.
And it gives me a voice that allows me to hear
where it is that I need to go.
Man, it's so powerful.
I was just thinking too, Chris,
right along with what you're saying,
I mean, you nailed it, bro.
But the Bible talks about,
I believe it's one of the major prophets,
says, let not the mighty man boast in his might,
let not the wise man boast in his wisdom,
let not the rich man boast in his accruediments,
but let the him who boasts, boasts in his head,
he understands and knows me, said the Lord.
And I was thinking about,
what if we're talking about identity leading to impact,
what if that day in Jerusalem, Peter and John
are being asked by the beggar, hey, can I have some money?
If their identity was in their IRA,
was in their investment in Google,
was in how much money they got,
how they were running, what they were wearing,
he would probably would have given them some money.
But the fact is, he said, silver gold, I have not,
I'm not defined by that.
He says, but such as I have, I give to you,
because I think when you know you have identity,
you know you've got the resources of heaven,
you're not limited to the resources of earth.
And particularly at a time like this,
like you were mentioned earlier,
you know, in a time of pandemic,
people of economies are affected.
But the thing is, is if our identity is not based on that,
because here's the thing,
I think God wants our identity to be a conviction in us,
because conviction in us must be greater
than the circumstances that surround us.
And that's what I hear you saying, man.
You know, as it relates to having an impact, man,
tell us something you're doing.
I know you got Saints Church, you're over in the East Coast,
and just let us know, Chris, how we could follow you.
Yeah, you know, in this season,
because we're all virtual and we're not able to open.
So you could follow me, Chris Dersoe,
on Instagram and Twitter, or Saints Church,
Saints Church, NYC on YouTube.
And we just wanna help encourage and bless the body.
That's the goal.
I mean, let's make disciples.
That's why I am so grateful for a podcast like this one,
because it goes out into all the world
and people get to listen to it from wherever they're at,
and then they get to grow where they are.
That's the beauty of this whole thing.
You don't have to go somewhere else.
You need to be planted where you are,
and be that man, be that woman that God has called you to be.
So let us encourage you as you're there.
That is so awesome, Chris.
Hey, we're so blessed to have you up, man,
and be on the show, man, give Jai and the kids a big hug,
man, Chris and I love you.
Can't wait till we're together in person again.
Can not wait.
Love you, thank you.
Oh my goodness.
Chris Dersoe is a man of wisdom.
I love, he is just a straight shooter.
He's vulnerable, he's honest, he tells it like it is,
but I hope that the Keep It 100 Tribe really grabbed a hold
of everything he just shared.
That was incredible.
That was mighty.
You know what?
I think we need to have him back.
I would love it.
I just love his voice.
I love his perspective.
We definitely have to have him on some future episodes.
Keep it 100 Tribe.
As always, we have our Keep It 100 takeaways.
And this episode, we're talking about keys
of confident identity.
First thing we wanna give you is you need to have a revelation
of your significance and being convinced of your design.
In the Bible, Jesus tells the parable
of the pearl of great price.
And to us, the pearl of great price is the kingdom
that we are to by all means give up everything we can
that we can receive the pearl of eternal life
and be children of the king
and walk in kingdom lifestyle.
But to God, you have to understand,
you're the pearl of great price
because God was willing to bankrupt all of glory
by sending his son, Jesus, to die for you.
I believe the devil looked up an utter shock
to recognize that God himself would take the sins
of all man of all mankind upon his life
just so he could redeem us and purchase us.
But you have to understand the value of anything
is really based on the price someone is willing to pay for it.
And God sent his son for you.
You always need to keep in mind of your significance.
You need to be convinced of your design.
See, self-esteem is how you see yourself,
but self-worth is how you value yourself.
And so I believe that the most important thing
is understanding that you are significant,
that you're not an accident in terms of how you were born.
That you're not a person that no one values.
It doesn't matter where you find yourself in life.
There's a God in heaven that looks down on you
and he sees value and he sees gold inside of you.
I think what happens is if you're not convinced
of your design, so often we make excuses for,
as we talked about earlier, false identities.
And you hear people saying, I can't help it.
You hear people saying, I was born this way.
Or I was raised this way.
Or this is what I became after this person
did this thing to me after that terrible accident.
But let me tell you, you may have been born that way,
but the good news is you can be born again this way.
And what I mean by this way, now you can walk in freedom.
Now you can walk in victory.
Now you can experience fulfillment, joy,
and a life with the most amazing person ever, Jesus.
So understand that a key to confident identity
is a revelation of your significance
and being convinced of your design.
I love that.
Come on, that is so good.
You know, the second key for a confident identity
is your devotion to God.
That might sound simple.
It might sound obvious, but friends, you and I know,
we have to have an ever-deepening,
intimate connection with Jesus.
You have to guard it at all costs.
Say that.
You wanna recognize when your relationship with God
becomes polluted or diluted,
you and I know there is a disconnect
and there is a opening for other things to come in
to pull you away from God.
There can never be anything more important
than your relationship with Jesus,
your ability to connect and engage
and really hear His voice.
It's never been more important
than I believe that it is in this hour.
And I believe you have to relentlessly weed out,
consistently go through this process
of whatever is blocking your connection.
You're being really intentional to keep your flow
and your heart clear and connected with God.
We can all agree, moving away from God
will not move you towards healing.
You want healing, you want breakthrough,
you have to lean into God, not away from God.
Right, that's so true.
Come on, last takeaway for having a keys
to confident identity is having an understanding
that your identity is what weaponizes your life.
I love this.
With this revelation, you are not passive,
you're not on the sidelines, but you're active.
You're in the battlefield.
Just like Apostle Paul,
you resist and you rebuke like Jesus.
Like Apostle Paul, you're an agent of change.
You're not drifting, you're detonating,
you're not conforming, you're transforming.
You're not a spiritual survivalist,
you're a supernatural revivalist.
And I love that, because this is about being the head
and not the tail.
It's about being victorious and not a victim.
It's about one that's walking in the confidence
knowing who you are.
I believe it's some listeners' day
that are gonna rise up and be like,
why the heck am I putting up with this or that?
When I'm called to be a weapon for the things of God.
100.
Keep it 100, tribe.
As we close out this episode,
we want you to not only take away the truth
in which we released,
and I believe can really change and transform your life,
but I want you to take some time with God today.
I wanna challenge you to inquire with the Lord
and say, Lord, are there things
that I'm listening to in my life?
Are there voices or narratives
that do not align up with your word and who you say I am?
You know, don't just rush through this moment,
but allow God to transform your mind
and ultimately transform your identity.
Friends, you have one life to live.
That's it, one life.
I believe you and I have the privilege
to live that life in full freedom
and full confidence who we are.
It's time that we stop living
in a sense of just tolerating who we are,
but living in the celebration of who we're called to be.
You and I are not an accident.
You are born with a plan and a purpose.
God designed you from the womb,
so don't let the enemy have one more day.
Don't give him any more airtime in your mind
and don't give him any more real estate
in your emotional capacity.
From this day forward, together as a Keep It 100 Tribe,
let's move forward in the fullness
of who God's called us to be.
Thanks so much, tuning in,
and for taking the time to download another episode
of Keep It 100.
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All right, Keep It 100 Tribe,
next episode is going to be about
one of the Smith's core values.
Sean and I are talking about the topic of gratitude
because we believe gratitude is so gangster.
This is the truth that will revolutionize your life.
And remember, relief may change your circumstance,
but a revelation will change you.
We hope you enjoyed today's episode of the Keep It 100
podcast with Sean and Christosmith.
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