Refiner's Fire | Week 3 | Pat McCalla

a couple of weeks ago, was hanging out with a group of guys in Texas, one of the guys, his name is Mark, really has kind of a cool story, he went to West Point, graduated, flew Apache helicopters during Desert Storm, trained Israeli pilots, went to MIT,

and he was telling me when he was getting ready to go to MIT, they assigned every student a study buddy. So they just gave him a number and he called someone he didn't even know and this is what he got. He got

Phones picked up, not a person, just an answering machine and this is all he hears. Who are you and what do you want?

But when Mark was telling me that story a couple of weeks ago, he said, you know what Pat, I thought later, those are two of the most important questions we'll ever wrestle with as human beings. Who are you and what do you want? And I'm like, oh, that's so good. In fact, I would suggest that first question,

who are you, is one of the most important questions that you will ever wrestle with. Because understanding who you are has a huge impact on how you treat or relate to yourself, how you treat or relate others, and most importantly, how you relate to God. Answering the question, who am I, is so important because

it's connected to how we see ourselves, how we see others, and most importantly, how we see God. So here's the big idea this weekend. If you don't know whose you are, you don't know who you are. If you don't know whose you are, you don't know

who you are. If you have your bibles, open to first Peter chapter two. First Peter's near the end of the bible, so just go to the very back, you get to revelation, start turning to your left, you'll get to first Peter. Now we're in the third week of this really exciting series. The reason I call it an exciting series is because we're looking at this book that this guy named

Peter wrote two thousand years ago. And the reason I say it's exciting is because whatever Peter wrote, we should pay attention to. You know why? Because Peter was one of those guys that spent three or four years of his life with Jesus.

The last three or four years of Jesus' life, Peter was there almost every hour of every day of every week of every month for three or four years. He saw Jesus walk on water. He saw Jesus raise dead people back to life. He saw Jesus

heal the blind. He heard Jesus teach with authority. He watched Jesus die. He watched Jesus come back from the dead. He watched Jesus ascend into heaven. And a couple of decades later, there's intense persecution happening in the Roman empire to the Jewish people and to the Christ followers, the Jesus followers.

So Peter sits down and he writes this letter to encourage these Jesus followers who are being persecuted. What we're gonna see in first Peter chapter two, is he deals with this thing called identity,

and oh we need to get this, and again, if you've heard me speak before, you know that almost every time somewhere in my introduction, I go, oh you really need to hear this, but I really mean it this time. I really do. I do because I'm telling you, identity

is one of the most important issues. I have a friend who's a counselor and he says to me, he goes, you know Pat, almost everybody that I'm counseling, they're dealing at the core of it with their identity issues. Understanding

who we are has a huge impact in how we view ourselves, how we view others and most importantly, how we view God. If you don't know whose you are, you don't know who you are.

So we're in first Peter chapter two,

but I want you to hold the spot there and actually turn to Exodus because we're gonna start in Exodus. So go back to the very beginning of the bible, you're gonna find Genesis, turn to the right, you're gonna get to Exodus chapter three. Let me just pause for a moment and pray for us because if God doesn't show up, if the spirit of God doesn't show up today,

we're gonna just hear some things and I'll walk out of here, nothing's gonna change. But oh, we need God to meet us in a special way. Spirit of God, I do. I pray that right now in a powerful powerful way, would you open our hearts? Would you open our minds?

Would you open our hearts to hear this? But most importantly, God, would this life changing message impact every single one of us? Everyone in this room and everyone watching online, God. All God's people said, amen.

So a little background to Exodus chapter three, you may remember the nation of Israel had been in slavery for over four hundred years.

The Jewish people were reproducing like rabbits to the point where Pharaoh was a little concerned because he's like, hey, they're gonna outnumber us if we're not careful, and that's not gonna work very well, if you want to enslave people and they outnumber you, that may not turn out so well. So Pharaoh orders the death of all the firstborn children. Now, again, I often say this, you have to put yourself in the sandals of the people that you read about in the Bible. You have to try to imagine what it was like for them because we read something like that, like oh yeah, they killed all the firstborn, you're like, they killed the firstborn.

You know what for me? That would mean that our firstborn son, Josiah, would have been killed. In fact, our firstborn son, Josiah, would not have existed because I was a firstborn and it would have had to kill me. Imagine what it was like, the desperation

and the grief and the pain. The Jewish people crying out for God to save them from this tyranny, the slavery.

Well, there's a little boy that was born. He was a firstborn. His name was Moses. His parents didn't want him to die and so they took him and they put him in a little it was written in Hebrew, original language. They put him in Hebrew, a little ark, in a little ark. That's literally the word that's used in the Bible. They put him in a little ark, that's another message for another time. They put him in a little ark and they pushed him down the Nile and he ended up in some reeds and and then someone from the family of pharaoh saw him and they got him and brought him in and they raised him in this Egyptian home. And then one day as a young man, Moses goes out and he sees one of his Jewish brothers and sisters, one of one of the people that's part of his clan, the Jews,

being beaten by a Egyptian soldier, gets mad, loses temper, kills the Egyptian soldier, so now he has to run out in the wilderness and he spends forty years as a Midianite Shepherd, so don't miss this. He was born Jewish,

he grew up in an Egyptian home and spent forty years as a Midianite Shepherd, talk about identity crisis.

So now he's out there in this wilderness and and and one day while he's tending the sheep, he looks over and this is where we pick up the story, 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.

Moses stared in amazement. Why is Moses staring at Moses staring in amazement? Though the bush was engulfed in flames, it didn't burn up, so it got his attention. He's walking around, he looks over, he's like, oh, there's a bush on fire. He looks at it, it's on fire but it doesn't burn up. He's like, what? So he walks, starts walking, get a closer look. Okay? Look, 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.

Moses. Okay. Now if a bush not burning up but being on fire didn't get your attention when it starts talking to you, that would get your attention wouldn't it? Moses. Moses. And then if you read the next verses, you would see where God says, Moses, I am the God of your forefathers Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and I see

what's happening to your people, and I hear their cries. And you can imagine Moses now going, yeah, Yeah. And I'm gonna set your people free and Moses like, yeah. Do that God. But then look at verse 10. Skip down to verse 10. Now go for I am sending What does it say? Oh.

Moses, I am the God of your forefathers. Yeah. I see the plight of your people. Yeah. I'm gonna set them free. Yeah. I'm sending you. Woah. Woah. Woah. Woah. Woah. In fact, 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? Remember the most important question you can wrestle with. Who am I?

If you don't know whose you are, you don't know who you are. Understanding who you are has a profound impact on how you view yourself, how you view others and ultimately how you view God. Moses saying, who am I to appear before Pharaoh? What does he say next? Again, who am I to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt?

Now again, imagine the identity crisis this dude is having. He was born Jewish. He grows up in an Egyptian household. And now he spent forty years as a Midianite shepherd. And God is saying, Moses, I'm gonna send you. And Moses is saying, who am I?

If you know anything about the story, Moses will go on and he'll start making excuses and he's like, well, I

stutter God, I don't speak very well, you can't send me and then he makes some more excuses and then finally one of the excuses he makes is he say, God, what if they ask me what your name is? I'm gonna look stupid. I don't even know what your name is. So 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.

That became one of the names of God. One of the many names or the scriptures of God, I am. But here, oh, there's so much we could do with this story, but here's what I want you to note. I wanna juxtapose verse 11 with verse 14. You'll see it on the screen. In verse 11, you see Moses with this identity crisis two times saying, who am I?

A few verses later, God says what? I am. Moses has an identity crisis. God has no identity crisis. And you see the story I think it in a rock point. Oh, hear me rock point. Those online. Oh, hear me on this. Hear me on this.

I think the story indicates that God so desperately wants you and me to not have an identity crisis. He wants us to know who we are. He doesn't want us like Moses saying, I don't even know who I am.

In fact, now flip back to first Peter chapter two, where we're jumping forward in time about fifteen hundred years. Jesus has died, he's risen from the dead, he's ascended into heaven. Peter is talking to this group of Jesus followers in the Roman world who are being persecuted and now Peter,

remember it's God's heart for us to know who we are, Peter is going to tell them who they are or if you've put your faith and trust in Jesus, Peter's talking to you. This is a message for you. So 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. The first eight verses he was describing a mindset of people. But he's saying, you're not like that. Watch this. For you are a chosen people. Identity.

You are royal priest. Identity. You are a holy nation. Identity. You are God's very own possession. Identity.

Peter is trying to get them to understand, I know you're being persecuted but I wanna remind you who you are. If you put your faith and trust in Jesus, everything he just said applies to you. You're chosen. You know what it feels like to not be chosen? Sure you do.

Everybody in here, everybody online at some point in your life, you are not chosen. Maybe it was when you're in elementary school and two captains were picked out on the playground and they started picking. I'll take him. I'll take her. I'll take him. I'll take her. Pretty soon you're sitting over there going.

No one's picking you. It's terrible feeling. And if it didn't happen to you when you're in elementary or junior high or high school, at some point you kept handing your resumes in and you kept being overlooked. You chose someone else. You know what it feels like not to be chosen. But Peter is saying,

you've been chosen not by a boss, not by some organization, not by some kid on the playground, but the king of all kings and lord of all lords. The creator sustainer of this universe. Your savior said, I choose you.

You are chosen. That's what it says in first Peter nine. In fact, it says next then, your royal priest. I wish I had time to unpack what all that means, but but simply put, a priest in the older testament, remember they were the only ones that were allowed to go into the tabernacle or the temple. It means that the priests were the only ones that had access to God.

They were the only ones that could have access to God in the in the tabernacle or in the temple, but when Jesus died, that's why we don't have priests going in in the tabernacle, the temple, and

making sacrifices anymore because Jesus it said died once for all. It's done. So now Peter is saying, if you put your faith and trust in Jesus, you're a priest. You have access to God. You're royalty, not just a priest, but you're a royal priest. Why are you royalty? Because you're a son or daughter of the king. What?

He goes on, he says, you're a holy nation, that's your identity, you're set apart, you're God's very own possession. Now keep reading in verse nine, look what he says next. As a result, or because you know your identity now, because you know who you are, if you don't know whose you are, you don't know who you are, now that you know who you are, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.

Two thousand years ago, Peter saying, I know you're suffering, I know you're being persecuted but I wanna remind you who you are. Because once you understand who you are, oh then you're gonna shine. In fact, 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. Yes, he's talking about identity. Once you didn't know who you were. Once you had no identity, now you know who you are. Once you received no mercy, now you have received God's mercy.

If you don't know whose you are, you don't know who you are. Understanding who you are has profound implications on how you see yourself, how you see others and how you see God.

To get us to fully understand this, I have to do a little bit of language study. I know a lot of you are driving to church today going, no, I hope we do some language study in church today

and we're going to. And we're gonna do a little cultural study as well because here's the mistake we sometimes make when we read the bible, we think the bible is written with a cultural lens like we have as Westerners and it wasn't. So how many of you have traveled internationally? Raise your hand. Okay,

look around, a lot of people have traveled internationally. If you traveled internationally, you know when you go to other countries, they sometimes see the world through a different lens than we do, right? And even identity issues are looked at differently in lot of the world. See, when we talk about a name in the Western culture, it's simply a title for us. So here's what usually happens. What's your name? My name is Patrick. And then it's usually followed in a western culture by the next phrase, what do you

do? Because in our culture, our identity is wrapped up in more what we do than who we are. But there are a lot of cultures still in this world and the culture the bible was written in where your identity was wrapped up in more who you are or what your clan, what part of what clan you're with than what you do.

So the name was much more than just a title. And in fact, here's the language study. The older testament was written in Hebrew and in Hebrew, there's only 18,000 words. In English, we have about a 100,000 words. So if you have a language with 18,000 words compared to a 100,000

every word has to have multiple meanings or deeper meanings. So this is gonna change how you read the Bible. I'm so excited about this because from now on, every time you read the Bible and you come across the word name, the English word name, you should circle that word and in the margin

write down an explanation because it actually comes from, you'll see it on the screen, it actually comes from the Hebrew word shem and it doesn't just mean title like it does in our culture. Name in Hebrew, Shem, means a person's reputation or authority or identity.

In our culture, what is your name? Patrick, what do you do? In

the culture, the Bible was written when they would say what is your name? What is your Shem? They weren't just asking for my title because my name was tied, my Shem was connected to my reputation, my authority, my identity. Now here's what I'm saying, it's gonna change how you read the Bible. Okay, if this doesn't get you excited, you're halfway in the grave. Watch this, okay? And for the rest of this message, if you're gonna try to follow along in your bible, good luck because I'm gonna go all over the place. But I take the challenge if you can, k? 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. Now, put in there what name means, Shem means in Hebrew. All the other may walk in the reputation, the authority, the identity of their God, but we will walk in the reputation and the authority and the identity of our God. Doesn't

that change the depth of meaning of that verse? It's not just we're gonna walk in the in the title of our God. No. We're talking about his reputation, his authority. Okay. Look at the next verse because you don't seem very 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. Okay, now again, if you had a hard copy bible, should circle the word name and over in the margin put down, it's Shem, reputation, authority, identity. So listen to how that changes the verse. The reputation

of the Lord is the strong tower. The authority of the Lord is the strong tower. The identity of our God is the strong tower. The righteous run into it and are safe.

Okay, we got a few people that are excited, there's still some that aren't, so I'm gonna keep going, I can keep going all day if you don't get excited about this. 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. Some boast in power of their armies, but we're gonna boast in the reputation, the authority, the identity of our God.

Alright. You thought I was gonna stop just because you cheered. I got another one. I got another one. K. So you know in the bible, if if you've ever read the bible before, you'll you'll see several times where God changes someone's name.

He changed Abram to Abraham and Sarah, he changed her name and Jacob, he changed his name and Peter, the the one we're looking at. First Peter two nine or first Peter two, the the

the book we're looking at, changed his name from Simon to Peter. Now again, in our western mindset, we're like, well that would be a pain. You gotta go down to the DMV then and you're changing the title, so you know, when Jesus goes Simon, you're no longer Simon, you're Peter. So Peter has to go to the DMV in Nazareth to get his license to ride a donkey and he's standing there forever going, oh this is such a pain Jesus, why'd you change my title? That's not what Jesus was doing.

He was changing Hashem. He was changing his reputation, his authority, his identity. So so 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 for I've made you a father of many nations. He's saying Abraham, who you were is no longer who you are. I'm changing your reputation. I'm changing your authority. I'm changing your identity. And by the way my friends, this is why we gotta get this.

This is what God wants you and I to get. Is our identity. Our reputation. Our authority. Our identity. Our shame. Our name. Is connected to God.

In a powerful way. If you don't know whose you are. You don't know who you are. Understanding who we are has profound impact on how we see ourselves, how we see others, and ultimately how we see God. So so we're done with our language study.

We're done with our cultural study. Now we're gonna cover 5,000 years of history.

We really are gonna cover 5,000 years of history, but we're gonna do it really, really quickly. So I want you to go back four thousand five hundred years into the desert wilderness area, and there's a little tent out there, and it's dark out, and there's no moon,

and you can see the Milky Way galaxy and there's millions and millions of stars. And 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.

So God takes Abram out and he goes outside of the tent, imagine you were there and Abram's looking up there, He sees millions of stars and God says, Abraham, look at all those stars. That's how many descendants I'm gonna give you. Now if you've put your faith and trust in Jesus, you're connected to that story.

Hold on to that story. I'm gonna come back to it. But you, if you put your faith and trust in Jesus, the olds online, if you put your faith and trust in Jesus, you are connected to that story. Fast forward fifteen hundred years, God is now talking to a guy named David, King David. 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, and your your own offspring and I will make his kingdom strong.

Some of you were going, alright, how does that apply to me? Talking about David and Solomon. 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.

See here's what God is telling David, he's saying, David, I'm going to send the Messiah through your lineage someday. Your great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great,

Forever. You've put your faith and trust in Jesus, hold on to this story because you're connected to that story. I'm gonna come back to it in a moment. Fast forward four hundred years and a guy named Daniel, he's in Babylon in captivity and God for some reason allows Daniel to see these crazy visions.

And Daniel sees this vision but in order for you to get the vision, I gotta jump forward again six hundred years because six hundred years after Daniel has this vision, there's a guy that's born and grows up in this little village named Nazareth named Yeshua, Jesus.

And Jesus will be called many different names when he's here on earth, he'll call himself many different names but there's one that he used more than any other name. If you were to read Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, the four books in the Bible that talk about Jesus time here on earth, he will use the title 81 times,

Son of Man. And I used to errantly teach

that that was Jesus tying himself to humanity and it showed the humility of Jesus. And Jesus certainly is the most humble person that ever walked this planet, but that's not what Jesus was doing. So we gotta back up now six hundred years to see this vision that Daniel saw in order to see what I mean by that. So Daniel

sees the heavens open, and he's allowed to look in the throne room of God, and look what he sees in Daniel I lost my place. Daniel, where we at? Daniel chapter seven verse 13. Watch this. As my vision continued that night, I saw someone like a What?

What title did Jesus use six hundred years later more than any other title?

Six hundred years before Jesus arrives,

Daniel sees the heavens open, he sees the throne room of God, and he says he sees someone like a son of man. Keep reading, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the ancient one or the ancient of days, that's Jehovah Yahweh God. He approached God and was led into his presence. Now, you need to understand something. For hundreds of years, the Jewish rabbis, the Jewish teachers, the Jewish scholars struggled with who is the son of man?

In this vision that Daniel has, who's the son of man? And here's what confused him. Read the next verse. Here's what confused the scholars, the Jewish scholars.

He, meaning the son of man was given authority, honor, and sovereignty over how many nations? All the nations of the world. So the people of how many races? Every race and nation and language would obey him or worship him. His rule is eternal, it will never end, his kingdom will never be destroyed.

Here's what confused the Jewish scholars. Every morning and every night, they would quote the Shema. Israel, Lord our God, the Lord is one. There is only one God. There's only one God that should be worshipped. And yet in this vision that Daniel has, there's this one that's like the son of man

who is being worshipped. There is only one God

and only one God should be worshipped and yet Daniel is seeing this one that looks like the son of man who is being worshipped and has a kingdom that is gonna last forever. Who is the son of man? And the scholars for hundreds of years. Who is he? Who is he? Who is he? Six hundred years later, a man named Yeshua. Jesus

says, I am the son of man. Speaking to a predominantly Jewish culture and they would connect it. Would know there's a oh, you're claiming to be the one who's in the throne room that all the nations are bowing down to.

If you've put your faith and trust in Jesus, hang on to that story because you're connected to it. Your identity is connected to it. Fast forward a few decades after Jesus dies, rises from the dead, ascends into heaven. Paul is writing these Jesus followers in a town called Ephesus. And in Ephesus

chapter three verse three, all these verses are so good because they talk about mystery. I don't know about you but I love mysteries. You have to say it with a whisper, right? When you say mystery, I love mysteries. Watch this, Ephesians three verse three. As I briefly wrote earlier, God himself revealed his,

you got it, whisper it, mysterious plan to me. Now if you like mysteries like I do, that should leave you going, what's the mystery? Tell us Paul, what's the mystery? Like Paul is saying, God revealed to me this mystery.

What is it Paul? 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. Both Gentiles and Jews are part of the same body and both Gentiles and Jews enjoy the promise of blessings because they belong to Christ Jesus. Wow. Once again, looking at most of the audience in here and you're kinda going, okay.

But let me maybe back up a little bit and try to help you understand the gravity of this, okay? Of what what Paul is trying to get across this mystery. 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. Every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm. Every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms. If you've put your faith and trust in Jesus, whether you're a Gentile or a Jew, the promises that were given now let me pull this together and watch this. 4,500

ago, when God took Abram outside of the tent, said, Abram, look at all the stars. I'm gonna give you that many descendants. If you've put your faith and trust in Jesus, whether you're a gentile or a Jew, you're one of those stars.

Last service afterwards, the guy came out, he actually named a star. He's like, I know what star I am. And he named a star and and he really did. He's an astronomer and he's got a star named just bigger than the sun. He's like, that's who I am.

You're one of those stars. Fast forward fifteen hundred years when God was speaking to to David and he says, David, I am gonna make you a kingdom through your lineage. The Messiah's gonna come and you're gonna have a kingdom that's gonna last forever.

If you put your faith and trust in Jesus, you're part of that kingdom. That's part of your identity. Fast forward four hundred years, Daniel sees the heavens open up and there's the throne room of God and Yahweh, the ancient of days. And there's one like the son of man who all the tribes and nations

and races are worshiping. If you put your faith and trust in Jesus, you're part of that kingdom. Six hundred years later, this Yeshua shows up and he says, I am the son of man. If you put your faith and trust in Jesus, you're connected to Yeshua Jesus and his kingdom.

About thirty years later, Paul is writing to the Ephesians and he's saying, let me tell you about this history. Those promises, if you're a Gentile, and I'm assuming most of us in here, most watching online are probably Gentiles. If you're not a Jew, you're a Gentile.

And that's why you and I, if if you're a Gentile, you should be going, wait, what? I'm included in that now too? Because of what Jesus did, I get every, every, not some, every spiritual blessing? What? And then Peter and these Jesus followers being persecuted sits down. He says, let me remind you who you are. You're chosen.

You have access to God now. Your royalty. Your daughters and sons of the king. If you don't know whose you are, you don't know who you are. Understanding who we are has profound impact on how we see ourselves. How we see others and ultimately how we see God.

May maybe I pull it together this way. Maybe this will help you. Couple of years ago, I was up in the middle of the night. I was writing a message. It's where I seem to write most of my messages. I was up in the middle of night writing a message, was reading a book where a woman was was trying to get us to understand what I'm trying to get us to understand, that that our Western culture has a different understanding of family names.

So she said, maybe this will help. You'll see it on the screen. She said, write this down on a piece of paper, write down I am blank first name of the clan of blank last name.

So maybe that will help you understand how the the world that the Bible was written into or a lot of the world today, they don't see it through our western eyes. So so you you for me, it was I am Patrick from the clan of McCullough.

I would recommend not saying this in fries today because you get you'll people look at, I am Patrick from the clan of McCullough. You probably get kicked out. Think you're a weirdo or something. But the woman was writing this because she's trying to get us to understand how most of the world views name.

But a few years ago, when I was doing this exercise in the middle of the night, deep within my soul I felt this gross feeling. I didn't like that. I am Patrick from the clan of McCullough. Let me tell you why I didn't like it.

See when I dig around into my ancestor, I find out that the McCullough, you'll see my coat of arms, it actually comes from the McCullough clan. It's a Scottish clan. When they came through Ellis Island, they dropped the c h and we were just became McCulloughs. So when I first learned that, I'm like, oh,

Yeah. I'm like William Wallace. Whoo. And they found out I only have a little bit of Scottish. But then, then they dug around and found out I have some Cherokee in me. I'm like, Cherokee? I'm like a Cherokee warrior, a Cherokee chief. Yeah. And I found out I only have a little bit of Cherokee in me. And

then one of my relatives got on ancestry.com and dug around and found out that a long, long, long, long, long time ago, we have English royalty in our lineage and I'm like, ah, English royalty.

And I found out I only have a little bit of English in me and I found out I a little bit of Scandinavian in me, a little bit of German in me and by the end of it that night, I was sitting there with an identity crisis going, I don't even know who I am, I'm like a mutt.

But this is the part that made me feel gross, discouraged. And I won't go in all the details but to be honest, I'm not proud of my family name. So when I looked at that piece of paper and said, I am Patrick of the clan of McCullough. I looked at that and I went, Seriously? That's it? And then

I remembered what we looked at today. And that night a few years ago, I sat there in the middle of the night and I closed my eyes and I had tears starting to run down my face and I thought of the truth that we saw today that I am Patrick of the family of Abraham, of the family of David, of the family of Yeshua Jesus,

that I am part of a kingdom that will never end, that I am a child of the king, that I am a son, I am a prince. That's who I am. I'm not just Patrick from the clan of McCulloch. And if you've put your faith and trust in Jesus, that's your story too. Your identity,

oh, oh your identity. If you don't know whose you are, don't know who you are. Your identity is tied so closely to how you see yourselves, how you see others and how you see God.

Let me wrap up with this story. So years ago when I was working with the issue of anti human trafficking, we were being interviewed one time. There was a couple of us being interviewed

and there was a woman who was telling her story. She was on camera. I was standing off to the side and there was there's something she's saying some things that just made me wonder about her story. So she got off camera and and and kinda stepped off to the side and I went up to her and I said, hey, I'd like to know more about your story. And

she goes, well, I'm a follower Jesus and I was like, knew it. I could tell. That's what I you said something in the interview and I knew I knew it. I'm a follower of Jesus too. So I said, tell me your story. How did how did you become a follower of Jesus? Because see her story was that she had been a stripper,

an exotic dancer, and a prostitute. I said, what how did Jesus get a hold of you? And so she said years ago, when I was an exotic dancer, one night there was a woman that came into the club and she came up to me and she started talking to me about Jesus. She handed me a CD.

If you're really young and you're here and you wanna know what that is, ask your parents on the way home.

She handed me a CD. She got in the car and she just threw the CD in the passenger seat. Couple weeks later, she said she was back. She's dancing naked in front of a bunch of strangers, and they're throwing dollar bills up on The States and she looks down and she said internally

she looks down and she goes, Is this all I'm worth? Is this all I'm worth? And that night she got in her car and for some reason she took the CD and put it in and she began to hear this woman who had met her a few weeks ago

teaching her about her identity in Christ and telling her you are created in the image of God. You are a daughter of the king. He died for your sins. He's always loved you and he never would stop loving you. You are the top not the bottom. You are the head not the tail. That's who you are and she said that night

her identity changed from someone who was up there going, really all I'm worth is a few dollars thrown up on the stage to someone who understood her worth, who understood her identity. If you don't know whose you are, don't know who you are.

Listen, if you're in here or you're watching online, you may have noticed that I kept using this phrase through this message. If you've put your faith and trust in Jesus. And if you're in here or watching online and you've never put your faith and trust in Jesus,

my friend today is the day, now is the moment. Why wouldn't you? Because this God your creator wants so much for you to have all these promises that we've been talking about. And so so right now, you can you can change your identity. You can change your sham, your name,

your reputation, your authority. You can be this is who I was, but this is now who I am. How do you do that? Simply by putting your faith and trust in Jesus. So right now, in your heart, in your mind, in your soul, if that's you, if you're in here or watching online right now, would you just agree with me in this prayer and you can say, God, I want these promises.

I don't want to do life anymore without you. I want to accept your forgiveness of all of my sins. And from this moment forward,

I want to know that I'm your daughter, I'm your son, that I'm going be part of a kingdom that's going to last forever. That when I take my last breath on this earth, I'm going to step into an eternity with you. Right now I'm choosing that God. Right now I'm choosing you as my Lord and Savior.

Rock Point, can you

just celebrate? Can you cheer?

Can you

you imagine that there were some just moments ago like the woman that story that I just told who didn't know that she was even worth a few dollars. There were some a few moments ago that just became citizens of the kingdom of heaven. It's worth celebrating and if you did that, yes.

And if you did that and you're online, just ask go to rockpoint.io

and just there's a I said yes to Jesus tab. Just fill that out. We want to celebrate with you. We want to connect with you. Wanna talk about next steps. If you're in here, there's a card right back on the way out. You can grab this card, fill out the contact information. I wanna connect with you. And in fact, next week we have baptisms.

And you may be going, I don't know what that is. That's a great next step to take. And if you just fill out and say, I wanna be baptized next week. Someone will reach out to you. And I'll explain it to you this week. You can be baptized next week.

But here's my challenge for all of us watching online, all of us in this room. Here's what I want you to do this week because it's gonna happen. Somewhere this week someone's gonna say, what's your name?

And when they do that, I want you to reach out to your hand and don't say everything I said today because that'll freak them out, but just reach out your hand and say, I'm Patrick, but use your name. I'm Patrick. And then internally, internally, smile

and say to yourself internally, I'm Patrick from the family of Abraham, from the family of David, from the family of Yeshua Jesus, and I'm part of a kingdom that will last forever. I'm a son or daughter of the king. I'm a prince or a princess. That's who I am. If you don't know whose you are, you don't know who you are.

Here here's a great way to close this message out today. When you came in, you got the elements for communion. If you didn't, we have some ushers here. Raise your hand. They can give them to you. Oh, what a great way for us to end this message,

taking communion together. And if you were one of them that just gave your life to Jesus for the first time, you're gonna take communion knowing the full depth and meaning of it. But if you have one of these cups, if you've never seen one before, you just click that little tab down. There'll be a little piece of cellophane. Just peel that back, and there's a little wafer there. There's a little piece of flatbread there. You can take that out. And here's why this is perfect to close out this message.

2,000 ago, the last night of Jesus' life, the night before he was gonna die, he was celebrating Passover. They've been doing it for fifteen hundred years as the Jews. They've been doing the same thing every every year except for this year.

On this night, the last night of Jesus' life, he took some of the bread and he did something that would have shocked the disciples and he said, hey, this is my body. For now on, every time you take this, I want you to remember the sacrifice I gave.

My friends, the only reason that we can clap and cheer about our new identity and Jesus, the that we're part of the kingdom that's gonna last forever, the only reason we can do that is because Jesus gave his life for us. And so as you take this, would you remember the sacrifice of Jesus?

Then a little later in the meal,

Jesus took some of the wine, some of the juice, and he held it up. And again, he said something that would have shocked them. Hadn't been done in fifteen hundred years. He held up some of the wine, some of the juice, and he said, this is my blood. And I can promise you they would have been confused that night.

The disciples would have been like, what's he talking about? But the next day when they stood at the foot of the cross and they saw the blood dripping off of his body. Jesus said, every time you take this, I want you to remember my blood that was shed for you so that you could have a new identity, a new sham, a new name.

So as we take this, would we remember the sacrifice of Jesus?

Oh, God. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for loving us so much. Thank you for reminding us of who we are. Thank you for reminding us that we have inherent worth because we are created in your image, that we are your sons and daughters, that you paid the price for us,

that we that that we are complete in you, that we are part of a kingdom that will last forever. We are royalty that you chose us. God, may this week may we live like your sons and daughters. May we talk like your sons and daughters. May we think like your sons and daughters. We love you, Jesus. And all God's people said,

amen.

Thank you for joining us online today. If you need prayer, connect with us on rockpointe.io under the Need to Talk tab. Be sure to follow us on social media to stay up to date with what's happening here at Rock Point.