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Refiner's Fire | Week 3 | Pat McCalla · Rewind

Rock Point Church

Pastor Pat McCalla · Jun 20, 2021 · 66 min watch · 3 min read

Refiner's Fire | Week 3 | Pat McCalla

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In this message

Big Idea
Key points
Application

Scripture in this message

Exodus 3:2
Exodus 3:4
Exodus 3:10
Exodus 3:11
Exodus 3:14
1 Peter 2:9

Big Idea Key points Application

Big Idea

Quoting the message: If you don't know whose you are, you don't know who you are, end quote..

Identity is one of the most pressing questions every human being faces, and Scripture answers it definitively: those who put their faith and trust in Jesus are chosen, royal priests, a holy nation, and God's very own possession. Drawing on the Hebrew word shem — meaning reputation, authority, and identity, not merely a title — Pastor Pat traces a thread from Abraham's starlit covenant through David's eternal kingdom, Daniel's vision of the Son of Man, and Paul's mystery in Ephesians to Peter's declaration in 1 Peter 2:9-10. The sermon argues that knowing whose you are — belonging to God through Jesus — is the only foundation solid enough to answer who you are.

Key points

1
1Moses' identity crisis ('Who am I?') is answered by God's own name ('I AM'), showing that God wants His people to know who they are.
2
2Peter declares four identity markers — chosen people, royal priests, holy nation, God's very own possession — to believers who are suffering persecution.
3
3The Hebrew word shem means far more than a title; it carries the full weight of a person's reputation, authority, and identity, transforming how we read every biblical reference to God's 'name.'
4
4When God changed names — Abram to Abraham, Simon to Peter — He was changing their reputation, authority, and identity, not merely their title.
5
5Jesus' self-designation 'Son of Man' connected Him directly to Daniel's vision of the one who receives eternal worship and an everlasting kingdom, linking every believer to that same royal story.
6
6Paul's 'mystery' in Ephesians is that Gentile believers share equally in every spiritual blessing — they are fully grafted into the covenant promises made to Abraham and David.
7
7Knowing your identity in Christ — child of the King, part of an eternal kingdom — has a profound impact on how you see yourself, how you see others, and how you see God.

Application

Pastor Pat's challenge is both immediate and deeply personal. This week, when someone asks your name, shake their hand, say your name — and then quietly remind yourself of the truth the whole sermon has been building toward: you are from the family of Abraham, from the family of David, from the family of Yeshua Jesus, and you are part of a kingdom that will never end. You are chosen. You have access to God. You are royalty — a son or daughter of the King. Let that truth reshape how you see yourself when you look in the mirror, how you treat the people around you, and how you draw near to God. If you have never put your faith and trust in Jesus, today is the moment to do that — and to let your shem, your identity, be made completely new.

Take it into your week

Made by Rewind AI from the sermon transcript. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI

Scripture in this message

From the transcript
“Exodus chapter three, look what he sees, verse two. There the angel of the Lord God appeared to him in a blazing fire from the middle of a bush”
Read the whole chapter →
From the transcript
“skip down to verse four. Watch what happens now. When the Lord saw Moses coming to take a closer look, God called to him from the middle of the bush, Moses”
From the transcript
“Skip down to verse 10. Now go for I am sending”
From the transcript
“look at verse 11 because this is really what I want us to see. Look what Moses says. Don't miss this. But Moses protested to God. What does he see next? Who? Who am I”
From the transcript
“skip down to verse 14 and look at how God replies or responds to Moses. He says, God replied to Moses, I am who I am. Say this to the people of Israel, I am has sent me”
From the transcript
“look what he says in verse nine and notice how much he talks about identity in these verses. But he says, first Peter two nine, but you are not like that”
From the transcript
“keep reading, look at verse 10. Some of you may be going, is he really talking about identity here? Once you had no identity as a people, now you are God's people”
From the transcript
“Micah four verse five, watch this. All the nations may walk in the name, Shem, of their gods, but we will walk in the name, Shem, of the Lord our God forever”
From the transcript
“excited. Proverbs eighteen ten. Alright. The name Shem of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous man runs into it and is safe, and is safe”
From the transcript
“Psalm 20 verse seven, okay, here's another one, okay. Some boast in chariots and some in horses, but we will boast in the? Shem, the reputation, the authority of our God”
From the transcript
“look in Genesis chapter 17 verse five when God does this with Abram and look at the depth that understanding the word Shem adds to this verse. God says to Abraham, no longer will you be called Abram your name, Shem, your reputation, your authority, your identity will be Abraham”
From the transcript
“in Genesis chapter 15 verse five, watch what happens, Then the Lord took Abram outside of his tent and said to him, look up into the sky and count the stars if you can, that's how many descendants you will have”
From the transcript
“In second Samuel chapter seven verse 12, he says to David, for when you die, David's old now, for when you die and are buried with your ancestors, I will raise up one of your descendants, talking about Solomon, his son”
From the transcript
“Keep reading, jump down to verse 16. Watch what God keeps saying to David. Your house and your kingdom will continue before me for how long? All All time and your throne will be secure for how long? Forever”
From the transcript
“Daniel chapter seven verse 13. Watch this. As my vision continued that night, I saw someone like a What”
Paraphrase of the transcript
in Ephesus chapter three verse three, all these verses are so good because they talk about mystery. Watch this, Ephesians three verse three. As I briefly wrote earlier, God himself revealed his, you got it, whisper it, mysterious plan to me.
From the transcript
“Skip down a few verses, verse six. Paul's gonna explain what this mystery is. Look at this, and this is God's plan. Some translations say, and this is God's mystery. What is it? That both Gentiles and Jews who believe the good news share equally in the riches inherited by God's children”
From the transcript
“Let me back up to chapter one verse three. God help us get this. Watch this. All praise to God the father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us, you and me, if you put your faith and trust in Jesus. He's blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms”

Made by Rewind AI from the sermon transcript. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI

7-day devotional

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Moses is standing at a burning bush, sandals off, face hidden — and his first response to God's call is not excitement. It's a question: 'Who am I?' That question has never stopped being asked. We ask it in quiet moments, in seasons of failure, in rooms full of people where we feel like we don't quite belong. Moses had reasons to feel small. He was a fugitive with a complicated past, and God was asking him to walk back into the most powerful empire on earth. 'Who am I to do this?' But notice how God answers. He doesn't say, 'Moses, here is a list of your strengths.' He says, 'I AM WHO I AM — and I will be with you.' The answer to 'who am I?' was never meant to be found inside Moses. It was found in whose presence Moses stood in. Pastor Pat pointed out that God wants His people to know who they are — and the knowing always starts with knowing who God is. That's not a small thing. It reorients the whole question. You don't have to excavate your own worth from your resume or your relationships. The God who spoke from the fire already knows your name and calls you forward.

For reflection

When you find yourself asking 'who am I?' in a hard moment, where do you most naturally look for the answer — and what would it look like to look toward God first?

Pray

Pray for a growing awareness of God's presence as the foundation of your identity.

The writer of Proverbs gives us a compact, powerful image: the name of the Lord is a strong tower, and the righteous run into it and are safe. In English that sounds like a title — like we're running toward a word. But Pastor Pat unpacked the Hebrew word shem, and it changes everything. Shem doesn't just mean a label or a title. It carries a person's full reputation, authority, and identity. When Scripture says God's name is a strong tower, it's saying that everything God is — His character, His power, His faithfulness, His authority — is the place of refuge. You aren't sheltering behind a word. You are sheltering behind a Person. That's a completely different kind of safety. It also reframes what it means when we pray 'in Jesus' name.' We're not invoking a password. We're appealing to everything Jesus is — His finished work, His standing before the Father, His authority over every broken thing. The Proverbs image is earthy and urgent: the righteous run. There's movement in it. Knowing who God is, knowing His shem, isn't just information to file away. It's a refuge you actually sprint toward when the pressure is on.

For reflection

Is there an area of your life right now where you need to 'run into the tower' — to lean into who God actually is rather than trying to handle things on your own?

Pray

Pray for the courage to run toward God's character and faithfulness in whatever you are facing this week.

Abram was 99 years old when God changed his name. Not a small edit — from Abram, meaning 'exalted father,' to Abraham, meaning 'father of many nations.' At 99, with no son yet in the picture, that name must have felt strange to carry. But Pastor Pat's point was that God wasn't just updating a title. Because shem carries reputation, authority, and identity, God was actually reshaping who Abraham was — before the evidence showed up. The new identity came before the fulfilled promise. That's a deeply important sequence. We tend to think we need to see the outcome before we believe the identity. We want to feel like a person of faith before we act like one, want to see the family before we believe we're a parent of nations. But God works the other way around. He speaks the identity first, and then life grows into it. This is the same thread running through the whole sermon — from Abram to Simon Peter, whose name Jesus changed before Peter had done much of anything to earn it. God is in the business of renaming people. Not to dress them up in something false, but to tell them the truest thing about them: that they belong to Him, and that belonging changes everything.

For reflection

Is there a true thing God says about you — in Scripture — that you have been waiting to 'earn' before you fully believe it?

Pray

Pray for the faith to receive the identity God has already spoken over you, even before you can see the whole picture.

Daniel's vision is strange and stunning. He sees one 'like a son of man' coming on the clouds — and this figure is brought before the Ancient of Days and given authority, glory, and an everlasting kingdom. Every nation, every people, every language will worship Him. His kingdom, the text says, will never be destroyed. Pastor Pat pointed out that when Jesus called Himself the Son of Man — over and over in the Gospels — He was not being modest. He was pointing directly at this passage. He was saying: I am the one Daniel saw. I am the one receiving that eternal kingdom. That changes the weight of every moment Jesus used that title. And here is where it becomes personal: if Jesus is the Son of Man, and if — as Peter writes and Paul confirms — you are united to Him by faith, then you are not a spectator to this eternal kingdom. You are part of it. The family of Abraham, the family of David, the family of Yeshua Jesus. That's the lineage Pastor Pat named in the closing challenge. An everlasting kingdom is not a small thing to belong to. Let that settle in today.

For reflection

How does knowing that Jesus' kingdom is eternal and unshakable change the way you think about what feels uncertain or unstable in your life right now?

Pray

Pray for a deeper sense of what it means to belong to a kingdom that cannot be destroyed.

Paul calls it a mystery — not in the sense of something spooky or unknowable, but in the biblical sense of something that was hidden and has now been fully revealed. The mystery is this: through Christ Jesus, Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and sharers in the promise. Fully in. Not second-tier, not tolerated guests at someone else's table — co-heirs. Every spiritual blessing. Pastor Pat traced this back to the covenant God made with Abraham under the stars in Genesis 15. God promised that Abraham's family would be beyond counting. Paul is saying: that family now includes you, if you are in Christ. The covenant wasn't a narrow ethnic story — it was always moving toward a whole-world family. This is enormously good news, and it should reshape how we see one another. If everyone who belongs to Jesus is a co-heir — regardless of background, history, or what they looked like when they first walked into a church — then the way we treat each other in community matters deeply. We are family. Not metaphorically. Covenant family, grafted into the same promise, sharing the same inheritance. That's worth pausing over.

For reflection

Is there someone in your community whose belonging you have mentally placed in a different category than your own? What would it mean to see them as a full co-heir?

Pray

Pray for a heart that genuinely sees and welcomes others as fellow heirs of the same promise.

Peter is writing to people under pressure — scattered, suffering, wondering if any of this is worth it. And into that context he pours four extraordinary identity statements: chosen people, royal priests, holy nation, God's very own possession. These weren't new ideas. They were drawn straight from the covenant language God used for Israel in Exodus — and Peter is saying, through Christ, this is who you are now. Not who you will be when you get your act together. Who you are. Chosen — not an accident, not an afterthought. Royal priests — you have access to God, and you carry that presence into the world around you. Holy nation — set apart, belonging somewhere, part of something larger than yourself. God's very own possession — treasured. Not used, not tolerated, not managed. Treasured. Pastor Pat's challenge was to let these truths reshape three things: how you see yourself in the mirror, how you treat the people around you, and how you draw near to God. All three matter. Identity that stays only in your head never actually changes anything. But identity that moves into how you live — how you speak to yourself, how you treat a stranger, how openly you come to God — that's transformation.

For reflection

Which of the four identity markers — chosen, royal priest, holy nation, God's own possession — do you find hardest to believe about yourself, and why?

Pray

Pray that these four truths would move from information into genuine belief — something that shapes how you live today.

You've spent a week walking the thread Pastor Pat traced — from a burning bush in the desert, through a starlit covenant with Abraham, through David's eternal dynasty, through Daniel's vision of an unshakable kingdom, through Paul's unveiled mystery, and landing here, in Peter's words to ordinary people in hard circumstances. This is where all of it arrives: you are chosen, royal, holy, possessed by God. Not because of your performance, but because of Jesus. Pastor Pat closed with a simple, earthy challenge. This week, when someone asks your name, shake their hand and say it. And then quietly remind yourself of the rest: you are from the family of Abraham, from the family of David, from the family of Yeshua Jesus, and you belong to a kingdom that will never end. Let your shem — your reputation, your authority, your identity — be shaped by that truth. Let it change the mirror. Let it change how you see the people in front of you. Let it draw you closer to the God who named you before you had anything to show for it. If you haven't yet put your faith in Jesus, that invitation is still open today. And if you have, live like it. That's the whole thing.

For reflection

Looking back over this week, which truth has landed most deeply — and what is one concrete way you want to live out of that truth in the days ahead?

Pray

Pray for the courage to carry your true identity — in Christ — into every ordinary moment of the coming week.

Made by Rewind AI from the sermon transcript. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI

Small-group discussion guide

For leading a group conversation about this message.

Open

Think about a moment when someone introduced you with genuine pride — maybe a parent, a mentor, or a close friend. This message is about the deepest introduction any of us could ever receive.

Discussion questions

1
In Exodus 3:11-14, Moses asks 'Who am I?' and God answers not by describing Moses but by revealing His own name. What do you think God is communicating by responding that way?
2
Pastor Pat explained that the Hebrew word shem carries a person's full reputation, authority, and identity — not just a title. How does understanding shem change the way we might read phrases like 'the name of the Lord' throughout Scripture?
3
In 1 Peter 2:9-10, Peter addresses people who are suffering persecution and reminds them they are chosen, royal priests, a holy nation, and God's very own possession. Why do you think Peter leads with identity rather than with instruction or comfort?
4
The message traced a single thread from Abraham's covenant through David's kingdom, Daniel's vision in Daniel 7:13-14, and Paul's declaration in Ephesians 3:6 that Gentile believers are fully grafted into those promises. What does it mean for how we see one another in community if every believer stands equally inside that story?
5
Pastor Pat challenged us that knowing we are chosen, royalty, and God's own possession should reshape how we see ourselves, how we treat the people around us, and how we draw near to God. Of those three — self, others, God — where do you think a community of people who truly believed this would look most different from the world around them?
6
Pastor Pat closed with a personal practice: when you introduce yourself this week, quietly remind yourself whose family you belong to and what kingdom you are part of. What would it take, in everyday life, for that kind of identity to move from something we know intellectually to something we actually live from?

Pray together

Thank God for the identity He gives through Jesus — chosen, royal, holy, and fully His — and ask for the grace to live from that truth this week

Made by Rewind AI from the sermon transcript. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI

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Refiner's Fire

Week 3 · 9 messages

Where these passages are preached

Exodus 3 1 Peter 2 Micah 4 Proverbs 18

Explore related topics

Belonging to God Chosen and Royal God's Covenant Identity in Christ The Son of Man

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