Our Identity

god bless you you may be seated and in a few moments i'll be reading from the text in the book of ephesians chapter 2 and verse 10 but before that i want to make some opening and introductory remarks leading up to that that verse if you would need a lesson sheet just lift your hand using a little different approach tonight most of the notes are going to be on the screen so i left for you to write whatever you choose to write in fact some of those things you may even be able to write it better than than it can be said so if you need a lesson sheet just lift your hand and ushers can make sure that you receive that lesson sheet

our identity it's important to know god's identity it's important to know our god-given identity and of course then we must also know our enemy's identity who that is when we know when we believe when we accept these identities we will live life fulfilled we are uncomfortable if we don't understand who we are or who god is and then we're vulnerable if we do not understand about our enemy's identity so we can successfully fulfill god's intentions and i will say that that is probably one of the targets of this message tonight to help us to be successful in fulfilling god's intentions and he has those and his purpose and he has that for every person everyone that is watching observing online each one of you present here in the house of god and for that matter any and everybody god has a purpose for our lives first of all god's identity and i won't spend a whole lot of time on this but not because it's not important but it's not the crux of this message tonight god's identity he is the sole sovereign of the universe there is one god and there is no god like him over 50 times in the scripture the bible calls god the holy one there is only one god i love those verses i call them the none like him scriptures i am god alone by myself no god beside me none else no one beside me none like me our god is the sole sovereign of the universe he's jehovah he is savior he is our father god's identity is great and i'm so thankful aren't you thankful you know him i'm thankful we know about him and know what his name is and know what his attributes are but even greater than that i'm glad we know him and not just know about him so a whole lesson could be spent on this great identity of god but then it's very important to look at our identity god felt it was important it's important to realize i want us just to pause tonight and just think some about how does god view me how does god see me how does god view us and to achieve our purpose we have to understand and accept how god views us and i know from what i've heard some folks talk about it what how god views us it's much different than the way that we sometimes think that he does we feel like almost we have a view that god has a view that he is against us but god is for us

now the text in ephesians chapter 2 if you have your bibles and verse 10 for we are his workmanship somebody translated that we are god's masterpiece this is how god views you and i we are a product made by him we didn't make ourselves we cannot save ourselves god made us and god saves us and it says that workmanship is we've been created in christ jesus he's talking about this new spiritual creation this new holy ghost relationship unto good works he's referencing a righteous lifestyle we've been created and then recreated or born again to live holy and righteous and to reflect him he created us so that we can be and can do the good things and i like the way this first says it that god hath before ordained that we should walk in before he you you and i were born he had some ordained works ideas ideals about every person's life every person every one of us personally you can take this lesson personally tonight he had some works and he has a will and a purpose planned and he had that the the bible says paul phrased it this way they were before ordained that we should walk in them when he saw you he saw purpose when he saw you he saw purpose it whether we see it and it is important and that's one of the reasons for this lesson but i just must tell us whether we see it or not god sees it he sees purpose in our life he sees us for a purpose and long before you were conceived by your parents you were conceived in the mind of god it is not fate it is not chance it is not luck it is not coincidence that you are breathing at this very moment we have been created by god before ordained by god we are more than just another number to him on this planet earth but he saw us and he saw purpose and we were conceived in the mind of god somebody may call a person an accident but that's not true as far as god's plan is concerned in scripture if you want to know how god sees us and who god says i am here's a little listing the scripture says in john 1 i am a child of god in second corinthians it says i am a new creation i am a friend of jesus i am created by god to do good we just read it i am free in christ you ever feel in bondage remember there's a power of god i am free in christ this is how god is seeing us he sees us as chosen and loved he sees us not being ruled by fear he sees us as forgiven according colossians he sees us as being his possession he sees us as being free from the desires of the flesh by the power of the holy ghost he sees us as a light in this world no matter how dark our life may be he sees you as a light and you are a light i'm going to tell you there is terrible darkness in this world you know it and you hear it but just a little bit you you just have just an ounce of the holy ghost if that's possible you are a light you are a spark you are a filament in this world to give light to those that are around us you are not darkness you are light you are secure in him and you are loved by god i would say root yourselves in those identities root yourself in how god thinks of you you know many times we disqualify ourselves what you think though is going to destroy you may be the very thing that makes you exactly what he has ordained maybe it's a rough background maybe it's a rough family situation out of your past and you may have disqualified yourself about that but god saw all of that before it ever occurred and he saw purpose in you

now there are challenges to our identity there are enemies that we have the devil the world and its culture and our flesh and by flesh here i mean our own and sometimes the flesh of others the devil the world the flesh now to have a right and a healthy perspective of our personal identity in god it's important that we are aware of the strategy of our enemies how and what will they use to come against us to question our identity in addressing the enemy's identity it's important to understand all three of those enemies are going to seek to challenge number one they're going to challenge god's identity and the world's doing that and we read it and we see it and they're also going to try to challenge your identity they're going to tell you you're worthless you're not light you're not free you're not a new creation nothing substantial happened to you that's the voice of the enemy that would try to challenge who god is and unfortunately this is reality it's not negative it's reality it's not going to get any better folks but we're going to stay rooted in this word of god believe what god says and not what the enemy says amen believe his word stay rooted in that one of the devil's identities who is one of our enemies is called the accuser of the people of god the scripture word is brethren but it's referring to believers such as you and i he is an accuser and so he is going to come accusing you about your identity and questioning what you are and what you stand for the enemy is a challenger of god of godliness and of godly people it's important that we are aware of this and when the enemy attacks us if we're aware of this if we're not ignorant of his devices it will not move us off the solid rock it will not shake us from standing firm for the lord if we in other words we expect it to come now nobody wants challenges and nobody wants a fight with the devil but we would also be foolish to say well i'm probably done with the old boy for the rest of my life i know i'm not done with my flesh and we know we're not done with culture and the world but here's in spite of accusation in spite of the challenge of any enemy satan included god has equipped us with his blood amen his spirit his word and all of those provide us with overcoming answers with victorious you can respond victoriously to the devil he is not going to outwit god and i want to go further he is not going to out with the child of god not as long as we have his word his spirit his blood we are going to have overcoming answers we are going to have powerful scriptural principles and victorious responses that is going to address any and every challenge that the enemy can and will bring one of the things that's important about these challenges or handling these challenges is this

know your enemy i made that one of the headings know your enemy here's what i mean by that so much of our enemy's strategy is based on intimidation has the enemy ever intimidated you his intimidation and his lies but we are not defenseless right scriptural response can fact check the lies and destroy the intimidation when he says you're not you go to the word and says yes i am according to the word of god you're not forgiven yes i am i had faith in god i repented i've taught taken a new pathway i belong to god i am forgiven not by my goodness but by his grace and because of his word and his blood look the devil is a liar jesus said it john 8 and he also said not only is he a liar he is the father of it in other words he fathers lies that's why there's plenty to go around that's why it's rampant in our culture he is a liar and jesus said he is the father of it that's what makes it so prevalent in our world and so tempting to our mindset now the enemy's strategy is silence any descent to his lives to his lies when he lies and you descent to that when you oppose that he doesn't like it one bit he is going to try to sap your faith when he says you're not forgiven and you go to the word of the lord and go back to your experience of forgiveness he is going to try to silence any descent that you or i or anybody else would make silencing of dissent we're seeing that in our age cancel culture that's silencing descent to the lies they want to cancel the true godly principles of marriage and gender and many other holiness many other things so i i just want us to understand and know one of his strategies will be to silence any descent this is where we need to step up and open up do not let the enemy silence your descent to his lies you may be outnumbered but if it's a word of god you and god make a majority another tactic of the enemy is he despises opposition he despises the fact this is why it's not going to be comfortable for you and i to take stands that we need to take he despises when you go against popular belief he despises when you go against the current makes you feel uncomfortable and that has tempted us and that has backed us up whenever we go against the current of what is accepted and what is believed but i want to encourage us and challenge us tonight to stand true and stand strong and speak where the scripture speaks and we don't have to cover our mouth we don't have to muffle our word we need to let our voice be heard as we trumpet the truth of god

also you will notice and this is not only the enemy and i'm not only talking about the devil here i'm talking about any of these enemies or anybody who is accomplished with the enemy they have no interest in entertaining spiritual ideas or spiritual ideals if there's any interest it's a limited interest very little spiritual talk very little spiritual word talk and the excuse that is used well i just don't want every word coming out of my mouth being a bible word and you know all of those things that can be given as excuses but it is a characteristic of the enemy to have very little if any interest in entertaining spiritual thoughts that's why everywhere and every time we can put the spirit of god and the word of god into our life now we're going to talk about other things we're going to talk about the weather we're going to talk about the news we're going to talk about sports we're going to talk about all of those things but i will say this the majority of our conversation should be seasoned with a biblical principle and spirituality and we are interested in entertaining spiritual ideals to the enemy also another one of his tactics to him or his mindset is this freedom is a great nemesis to the enemy because he is focused on gaining power and control so your freedom bothers him he's focused on gaining power and control here's maybe it's easier to describe it this way the enemy disguises his control agenda by convincing people that they're now to free to do whatever they're not going to abide by those bible things they're out of date they're not going to go by those holiness standards they're old-fashioned they're not they're going to believe those beliefs of scripture because the general denominate world does not accept those and there are several several people that that are you can baptize any way you want believe in however many gods that you want to that's disguised that now i'm free to just do what i want to do and sometimes it causes people to flaunt that behavior that displays how free that they are and they can do what now they want to do but that's a disguise because really the enemy is only controlling and holding them in a bondage the enemy's mission is to bind and control people think have you ever heard this now i can do my own thing still love jesus and i don't doubt they love jesus still can do whatever and do my own thing but here's the truth we cannot do our own thing we have to do his thing his word and it makes all the difference the enemy's mission bind and control here's god's mission to set us free and free indeed and god can and he wants to deliver and set individuals free

another way to accept and handle the challenge of the enemy is reject the enemy's premise reject the premise of the enemy his attacks the accusations even that our own flesh or that culture would bring against us and again tonight i'm not only talking about the devil as our enemy but any enemy to spirituality the attacks and accusations from those sources are based on unstated premises in other words let here's some of the attacks and accusations but there's something behind these for instance your doctrine and your beliefs are too narrow and too strict are those are not necessary any more or in regards to lifestyle and behavior and holiness god looks at the heart and not the outward appearance those are the accusations and those are the attacks here's the unstated premise of the enemy bible apostolic principles that oppose the accepted norm are wrong dangerous unacceptable and are a threat that's what's being said when someone says those things aren't important anymore that doctrine is too narrow and too strict whatever part of the doctrine it is salvation the holiness those are not necessary our god does not expect us to live and walk righteous and holy the unstated premise the principles of the bible and apostolic principles that are in opposition to the accepted norm are wrong dangerous unacceptable and threat now probably all of us have had these things thrown our direction that approach intends to put the apostolic believer on the defense on our heels but instead we need to turn that around and go on the offense with that we are a threat to any belief system that opposes changes or waters down in any way biblical interpretation we don't back up when they say you're dangerous or a threat now they may not mean it in this way but but here's what it is we are dangerous to any belief that opposes the word of god we are a threat to anything that waters down salvation plan apostolic doctrine the view of god who he is holiness in particular separation of sexes and gender and conduct and dress and appearance and lifestyle think about this jesus christ was a threat to the government of that day he was a threat to the religion of that day naboth was a threat to ahab and jezebel just because he claimed his inheritance that had been passed down to him and when i read his answer again this week something different struck me when he refused ahab he did not say it's because it belonged to my family or it's because of some family sentimentality that i'm holding onto this plot of ground what he said is the lord forbid it it's forbidden in the law of god and because of that that's why i will not sell this parcel of land now did it mean something to him yes did it mean something sentimental to him oh yes it did but higher than that he said i can't sell this because it's the word of god i want to honor my parents i want to honor my dad who's still alive i want to honor the lineage that i've been brought up in but that cannot be the sole reason i hold on to apostolic truth we've got to hold on to this because it's the word of god and the enemy will challenge it just like ahab and jezebel did and you know how that turned out for nabath that cost him his life they had a setup scheme but it was more than selfishness it was more than family sentimentality here's why i'm in this church because i want to be in god's church look it's it's important i just said it to honor parentage and to want to honor parents and obey parents but they'll come a shifting day and a sifting day where it's going to be either you believe it and not whether or not your mom and dad believed it not whether or not the church believed it not whether or not the minority or the majority believed it but because you believe it in your heart bible truth is still a threat and let me just add this there's a difference in being threatening and being a threat when when you teach like i've just taught some people get a little uncomfortable oh we're not we're not going to be a threat we're supposed to have grace and love oh yes yes yes yes there's a difference in being threatening and being a threat if the threatening comes from us it's wrong but if the threat is because of what and who we love and stand for that's all together a different story so we just need to embrace the truth that the truth itself and believers of the truth will be a threat to the flesh to the culture to the devil any belief system that is outside the word of god and i would just pause long enough to say this is why it is so important to know this word and then love this truth love it nabath loved those truths that's why he said go ahead and stone me i'm not giving i'm not selling to you abraham i'm not selling to you jezebel the lord says and paul wrote it in second thessalonians chapter 2 verses 10 through 12 god shall send strong delusion because they received not the love of the truth he did not say because they didn't receive the truth he said because they did not receive a love for the truth what will hold us is that we love this truth i love this church i love the people of god i love the united pentecostal church but we must love truth more than we love all of those things embrace the truth and in so doing the fact that this will position you in an in the enemy's mind as a threat wrong and a danger but you're not a danger because the truth that you believe is what will set free and what will bring peace to any and every life

the next approach that we use to handle the challenges is use our power use the power that god has given us the enemy appears invincible and all of that power is based on deception and manipulation we need to realize we have power the power we have is unassailable the power we have is all victorious the power we have is based not on this world it's based on invisible things that's what bothers the enemy it's based on invisible things like his spirit and truth and faith and love and joy and gratitude and sometimes just pure old common sense that's our power all of those qualities i just mentioned answer to a higher authority and the enemy does not have any counter to those things the enemy hear me everybody the enemy wants us to believe that we are weak that we are outnumbered and that we are the fringe don't let that even enter into your mind and when it knocks on your door cast it out by his spirit we are not weak we are not powerless we are not outnumbered we are not and i know we all read the polls of how the majority feels but but heaven's on our side and if you just want to take the angels and the number of the angels a third fell that means there's two thirds left and it without any angels there's the god of glory the almighty god that is greater we are not outnumbered we are not the fringe we are not weak and we must not accept that lie but here's what we accept what god says about us and what his word promises to us even when we do not see the immediate victory or the immediate proof hebrew says our faith is the proof that we need faith is the substance of things so far the evidence of things not seen the faith that you have accepting what god says about you let every voice speak whatever they want to speak about your weakness or your being outnumbered but we know by the word of god that greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world i will just say this we need to flex our spiritual muscles use our power because when you and i stand for what is right and for for the truth the enemy hates it that's why it's such a challenge to do he hates it when you take a stand for righteousness when you live what's right when you hold to ideals it doesn't matter whether it's on the job in business in dress in lifestyle in your personal disciplines when you take a stand for what is right and truth and when you take and clean out of your life anything that is ungodly and replace it with godliness the enemy hates it he hates it you watch the hebrew children you watch daniel you watch jesus you watch the apostles and then consider the end result the hebrew children were delivered and a king and a nation were impacted daniel the same jesus resurrected had victory then and is still given that same victory now and the apostles were delivered from death and even delivered when they went to death the enemy's response never has and never will change or defeat truth i'm preaching some stuff tonight we're going to face this week or next week or next month or here on out until the rapture of god's church or till we go to the grave but the enemy's response never has it never you hear me never change or defeat truth nor will it defeat the god of truth it will not change it will not defeat god's church the gates of hell shall not prevail against the church of the living god we don't have to be nervous about it the enemy is not going to win and that leads to the next point

have no fear here here's a little and you you may already know this but it's a little secret that some folks have not understood the enemy is terrified of those who are confident in god he wants you weak he wants you back on your heels he wants you questioning well i don't really know maybe maybe all this isn't necessary maybe maybe maybe i maybe it's just a force maybe i've just uh got all this made up in my mind maybe i believe this because it's what i've always known he is terrified when you are confident god he does not like the way i'm teaching tonight he doesn't no the flesh doesn't like it i'm talking about our flesh he doesn't like it culture doesn't like it he because he is terrified when the people of god are confident in the word of god and confident in their holy ghost experience we can and we should trust what the word of god says and here's what it says the power of god through that power we have power over the enemy and here's what else it says about power the enemy has a limited power a limited influence so he is terrified when we are confident in that and he wants us to despair think and feel that our situation is so helpless so that we're defeated the enemies most often use deception is this he wants us to preemptively surrender without any resistance you know okay and it's i know this is going against the grain i know folks don't enjoy this kind of preacher teaching i know that if i live a holy life i'm going to be out of sync with with others and maybe even some in the church don't understand that and don't accept that he wants us to preemptively surrender without any resistance or a fight we need to give him a fight shake ourselves and say this is where i'm going to stand this is what i believe this is what is going to win this is forever settled god has all power the enemy only has limited power and he wants us to surrender like i can't have victory or i won't see growth or i can't be used or i won't see miracles or i can't win souls or i won't see my loved one saved or hell he wants us to preemptively surrender don't surrender keep praying be relentless be relentless in your faith and in your confidence in the word of god and in the promises of the word of god now that confidence and that optimism is a choice god doesn't make it for us it's us we make the choice i'm going to be confident i can't make it for you you can't make it for me now you can encourage me and i can encourage you be confident but confidence in god and his work that's a personal choice and so just decide i encourage you church just decide keep your confidence in god and if you decide it there is nothing read my lips enemy there is nothing that can take that from the child of god there is nothing and then hold your confidence stay on the offense be relentless in your prayer and in your faithfulness the power of god is no match the word of god is no match anything the enemy throws your way hear me you've heard this before but god wants to give us a fresh and new baptism of it an understanding of it the powers of the world and the enemy the flesh the devil is no match for the power of the holy ghost i've encountered the spirit of the devil and probably you have to and i'm going to tell you our f our flesh reacts to that i'll admit i'm not saying i was i was out there just saying oh i don't care i'll just handle this thing i'll just handle this thing you know in your flesh you can't handle it but the power don't let that fear cause you to surrender greater is he that is in you there is no power there is no match for the power of the holy ghost the enemy any enemy lacks the spiritual fiber to withstand the overcoming spirit of god now the enemies do have strength but not a greater strength and just another piece of advice

don't underestimate the enemy but don't overestimate the enemy don't underestimate him paul said be be aware of all of his skills and all of his schemes and all of his devices but do not overestimate him and i just add to this don't underestimate god and don't underestimate yourself a holy ghost-filled child of god is no match for the devil in fact no match for the gates of hell i heard a preacher i think his brother gleason last week said i feel god so much i could charge the gates of hell with a water pistol well as long as it's water in jesus name i guess but the enemy you've felt it you've been intimidated whether it's intimidated to worship or intimidated to take a stand for truth or are intimidated to take a stand for truth and righteousness but don't underestimate or overestimate this enemy nor underestimate the power that we have in god and right now at the moment let's be real the enemy may seem to be in absolute control prince and power of the air but the ultimate control is held by the one who is sovereign that we started this lesson talk about it appears everywhere you go and it's just cascading this the last few days i just a governor tries to sign a bill so that our so that children can't be taught in the very young age about all of this mess of gender confusion all of that and there's an uprising there's an uprising and great huge well-known corporations come out and and at first they won't make a statement but then then when they get enough pressure they begin to make statements that disagree with that that bill that tries to protect our children i'm going to tell you god is greater but this is a serious hour folks that's why every time we come to church it's important every time there's a word from god it's important every time there's a move of his spirit it's important and then not only at the church every day is important your daily prayer time is important your bible reading time is important we're doing that more than to check a box people in this church are praying daily and they're reading the word of the lord and yeah they may check a box and they may check off they've got that accomplished but it's much more than that to them they believe in this god and they know that our weapons are mighty through god to the pulling down of strongholds and

i'll just i'll just kind of try to close out with this the enemy's kingdom and his control is coming down and the enemy knows it he knows it he's not going to let on like he knows it but he knows that he's already been sent down one time and so we're not going to let his voice bring us down with him believe in god remember who god is remember who he says you are remember and claim his word do not forsake your identity don't give up your identity i know there are people and it breaks my heart every time i hear it they give up their identity by their choice to sin or walk in something less than biblical truth i just want to put it out there to you don't be one of those don't be don't forsake your identity we've come this far there's no time to change and turn around now neither be one of those who chooses to give up their identity because the devil chooses it for you but lay claim and lay hold to who god says you are

stand with me if you would please but keep paying attention be filled and empowered by the holy ghost depend on the spirit of god be empowered this holy ghost this spirit of god still works it still fills people with the holy ghost they still speak with other tongues it happened here for our children happened for five of them this past sunday and when little [name redacted] went down in jesus name her sins were emitted the blood of jesus christ covered those and anybody that's baptized tonight or tomorrow or any time in the future their sins are going to be remitted be filled and empowered by the holy ghost let the holy ghost lead you and guide you i know there are practical decisions and common sense decisions we have to make and we've got to do our part but all of it is not our part we need the spirit of the holy ghost pray about decisions pray about financial decisions pray about home decisions pray about family decisions pray about job choices pray the will of god we want the will of god we want the will yes we all want good things but more than wanting good things we want the will of god and if it turns out not to be so good right here what we know about and trust our god if it's not good here down the road it's going to be all all right god's the ultimate one he's in control allow the word of god fill your life with the word of god hear me read this thing tonight if you haven't read it yet today read it tomorrow read it friday read it every day allow the word to identify and inform you of your identity and the more you're filled with the word of god the less the enemy's voice will have impact on your life

let's thank him together would you just yield yourself right now god i want your identity i want who you say that i am i want to believe you god versus believing this world this culture my flesh the enemy lord i want to believe you i want to believe and i do believe you i do believe oh that's wonderful why don't we do that again just because he's work can you thank the lord for his word tonight that god's helped us that god's reminded us to the lord as remind us who we are we thank you jesus and we know who we are tonight and we know our identity that we know that we're apostolic we're pentecostal that we're your church that we're your children that we're more than ever overcomers through you we thank you jesus for the reminder of who we are