Lord Jesus we your sons and your daughters we are literally sitting on the edge of our seat in anticipation of what you came to say to us tonight father we are so glad that each other is here but we didn't really come to see each other we came to see you so speak father we are listening in Jesus name Amen I will tell you that I was a little bit of a mischievous teenager I gave my Parents of the four of us I gave my parents a run for their money I was the one that
was always coming up with stuff to do as a teenager and one of the things I decided to do was my freshman year in high school I decided that I would change my name I came up with a little nickname and I decided to change my name now just to give you a little context for that choice I went along with my three siblings we all went to a little private school around the corner From my parents house the house they still live in to this day Brook Hollow Christian school was the name of the
school and we went there from kindergarten to eighth grade then our freshman year we transferred to the neighboring public school district so just to give you context here the largest my class ever was in this private school was about 20 kids at its largest by the time I got to our eighth grade year there were about 13 kids in My eighth grade class ninth grade year so I transferred to Duncanville High School it is one of the largest school districts in Texas actually it's more like a college campus really than a high school when I
transferred from 13 students at brick Hollow Christian school to the freshman you're at Duncanville high school there were 753 kids in my freshman class not the high school just the freshman class is 753 kids so it was a completely different Context for me and these were going to be people who most of whom did not know me I didn't know them so I thought this would be a fun opportunity to change my identity entirely I would change my name give myself a brand new name I had heard of a student that I'd met through other
acquaintances at another school her initials were DK and people called her DK I thought it was clever so I adopted this nickname my new name was DK now I remember telling My friend from youth group at church we had grown up in church together she was already in the Duncanville High School School District so I remember telling her about my plan she's the only one that knew about my little plan because I knew she was gonna be the connective tissue between me and most of the new friends I was gonna be making so I said
to her listen girl when you introduce me to people at this new school don't introduce me as Priscilla go ahead and Introduce me as DK she said girl what I said yes introduced me as as DK and so I remember showing up that very first day of school I remember walking into this brand-new huge new world this new campus and I remember her introducing me to people she would look at me inquisitively to make sure I was still still down with this this was still my plan before she began to introduce me one person after
the other as DK I introduced myself to my teachers and my New friends as DK and to make a long story short it caught on for the LAT for the four years that I was in school there was not one student there was not one teacher there was not one school administrator not one principal not one athletic coach that did not refer to me as DK most people didn't even really know that my name was Priscilla everybody called me DK in fact just anybody in that whole season of my life so people or court coaches
from other Schools where we would sort of compete with them in different capacities they all called me DK it was monogrammed on all my athletic uniforms it was monogrammed on my Letterman's jacket every single person in that season of my life called me decayed in fact still to this day if someone refers to me as DK on social media or someone yells across the mall hey DK or across the aisles at the grocery store if anybody refers to me as DK I Automatically know it's somebody that knew me in that season of my life because
everybody called me DK now this didn't bother my parents too much they didn't really say anything about it until one day I remember getting sick at school I had a fever so they had to call my mom to come pick me up I remember laying on that little cot behind the curtain that they pull in the nurse's station and I remember hearing my mom come up to the to the counter there at The nurse's station I remember hearing her say I'm here for Priscilla and I also remember the nurse saying who I remember hearing them
toggle back and forth for just a few moments before they decided that she was here for decay slash Priscilla so my mom took pick me up took me home she didn't say anything to me for the first evening cuz I didn't feel well nor the next day nor the next day she waited till I was 100% until she hemmed me up in the Corner with the mama I y'all know what I'm talking about when I say the mama I and she said now Priscilla I want to be clear about something me nor your father have
minded this whole little nickname business it hasn't bothered us at all we know it's just been a little high school experiment no big deal it's been all in fun but she said I want to be clear about something graduation is coming and when graduation comes they're gonna have a ceremony Somebody's gonna have a microphone in their hand they're going to say your name and your name is gonna be amplified in that room she said not only that but they're gonna hand you a piece of paper and she said when they hand you that piece of
paper there better not be a D or a cake anywhere in sight and she said here's the reason what she said the reason why is because it doesn't matter what everybody else calls you it doesn't even matter what you call yourself There's only one or two me and your father who have the rights and the privilege to give you your name only the one who gave you life has the authority to identify you I came tonight flew over from Dallas Texas earlier this afternoon because I want to tonight just speak a word of identity over
you I want so much to remind you who you are I want you to know that it doesn't matter what other people have called you that it doesn't even matter what you've called yourself There is only one who has the right and the authority to tell you who you are I want you to know that other people aren't qualified to name you and circumstances they may have made things difficult for you but they actually aren't powerful enough to define you I want you to know that your history may have marked you but it is not
authorised to label you I want you to know that what your mama called you and what your daddy did to You it may have hurt you and it may actually take real emotional work and years to kind of come up out of the the unhealth that it rooted into your life I understand that but I want you to know that it does not have the power to shape the totality of who it is that you've been called to be listen to me you are not defined by your past you are not defined by your behavior
you are not defined by your failures you are not defined by your struggles you are not Defined by your feelings you are not defined by your circumstances you are not defined by the here today gone tomorrow false ideologies and philosophies of our current culture you are who God says you are Point Blank period that doesn't change your father has given you a name did you know that he has said that you are a chosen race you're a royal priesthood you are a person that has been redeemed and chosen adopted and Qualified you are not a
mistake you are not an afterthought you are not a liability you have been created in the very image of God that means every aspect of your physicality it means the skin you're in it means the hair texture that is on your head it means the structure of your body every unique aspect of your physicality in my physicality has been made in the very image of God that means that any person or any system that seeks to diminish the Value of the uniqueness of Who I am is actually anti God because I'm it's an expression of
the creative genius of God but not only that it not only means that physically you're created in the image of God but did you know that even your personality is a unique expression of the creative genius of God you are made and fitted with the uniqueness of your personality and your temperament in the image of God you are not introverted by mistake you are not extroverted by Mistake you are who God created you to be even your weaknesses aren't a liability they are actually a unique fitting by God because your weaknesses just become a platform
for the strength of God to be displayed through your life and then when we surrender all of who we are physically and in our personality when we surrender all we are to God and place faith in His Son Jesus Christ and give him our body and our personality to be Used as tools as instruments for his glory well now the Holy Spirit of God takes up residence on the inside of us so then we are now becoming temples of the Holy Spirit of God God's actual presence lives on the inside of me that means that
with this presence in me well now I'm an overcomer is what I am I'm an overcomer this issue of identity y'all is so important because the enemy wants so much to twist and turn your Identity your image of who God has created you to be because you will either live up to or you will live down to whatever you believe to be true about who you are so this issue of identity is so critical that it is one of the theological threads that we see threaded all the way up throughout the pages of scripture from
the beginning of to the end there are some theological principles that relegate themselves to one sliver of the Bible maybe one book Or one Testament but not identity identity is all the way from the beginning in Genesis you read about it all the way to the end all the way to the maps at the end of the book you see this issue of identity from the very beginning we see God call an obscure man named Abram pluck him up out of an obscure town and the very first thing he does when he finds this man
is change his name he changes his name from Abram to Abraham And after he changes his name y'all he changes the GPS coordinates on his destiny because that's what happens when God changes your name he changes where you're headed he changes where you're going to end up he changes Abraham's name and he says Abraham I am now going to create out of you a brand new group of people they will be mine and I will be theirs I will set them apart they will now not be who they used to be they will bear my
name My provision and my promises and my blessing will be their staple they will be mine and I will be theirs if only they will choose to align themselves with their new identity if only they'll sink in a alignment with their new identity if only they'll behave in alignment with their new identity not how they feel not according to their circumstances not what other people are saying about them but if they will just act like who I'm calling them is who They really are they will see my blessings explode in their lives but the children
of Israel in the Old Testament are exactly like us if you read throughout the Old Testament you see that over and over again y'all they're seduced by the idols of the culture over and over again we see the children of Israel running in fear from foreign enemies over and over again we see that they keep on and forgetting who they are they don't live up to the standard of Who God calls them to be they keep on bending and bowing and settling and living below the standard that they were called for that they were freed
from 400 years of slavery to receive the blessings of God they don't get to enjoy him we literally find in these two verses that I'm gonna read to you in just a second we find the children of Israel actually on the land of milk and honey they are on the real estate of Canaan And can't enjoy the blessings they're in the place where God's blessings are supposed to abound but they can't enjoy them simply because they didn't get this identity issue straight and so y'all we live in a day and age where if you have
not noticed we're the enemy is running rampant with this issue of identity we can tell this because everything is being redefined the things that God has already given definitions to everybody's trying to Redefine but you are who God says you are you are who he has created you to be but everything for the children of Israel and everything for you can completely change when God meets with one person and reworks their view of their identity it's the hinge that changes the course of a life so in judges chapter 6 if you have your Bible and
you want to turn with me you can tour it'll be on the screens judges chapter 6 I just want to Read two verses cuz these two verses have been messin with me recently these two verses we find God showing up and meeting with one person do you know that I believe the reason why you're in this room tonight is because he intended to meet you're the one person in other words that he came to just meet with you that if he can shift your perspective of who you are if he can make you start lining
up your thinking your perspective and your behavior to match up with who He has called you to be it's gonna change the course of your whole life judges chapter six let me just tell you before I read these two verses the children of Israel have opened themselves up to enemy attack because of this identity issue because they're not living in alignment with the truth the enemy has kept coming for them over and over and over again the Midianites have ravaged them so severely for seven consecutive years that they can't even Enjoy their communities even anymore
in Canaan they are running in fear they have left their homes they now live in the caves that are on the sides of mountains because they're running in fear from the enemy over this issue of identity and in the midst of a culture a country that is suffering because of this misplaced identity judges chapter 6 verse 11 and 12 says this then the angel of the Lord came and he sat down under an oak tree that was in Oprah which Belonged to joash the abbé recite as his son Gideon somebody said Gideon Gideon was beating
out wheat in a winepress in order to save it from those all gone Midianites verse 12 says the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said let me tell you who you are the Lord is with you o valiant warrior these are the two verses that are the hinge in gideon story we know gideon you know him he's the guy that set the fleece out before the lord just to make sure that The lord knew what the lord was talking about you remember gideon because he's the one that went into battle with 300 soldiers
as the underdog and one of victory against 140,000 Midianite enemies he is the guy where we know the highlights of his story but oftentimes we jump over these two verses and this these two verses are the hinge that shift everything please don't let the very first line of these two verses roll off Of your shoulders as if they're no big deal the angel of the Lord came and sat down with Gideon underneath the shade of this oak tree the angel of the Lord came scholars say that this was the great presence of Israelite history in
the original Hebrew language this is translated from Malec Yahweh is the phrase the Malak Yahweh Yahweh you recognize in other words this ain't no regular angel in other words this is the presence of Almighty God stepping out of The heavens and interjecting himself onto the landscape of planet Earth this is God Himself determining that the situation is so dire that the situation is so deeply in need of his presence that this there is one individual that is important enough and significant enough to change the trajectory not only of their lives but the lives of everybody
who is around them that I'm gonna come out of the heavens and take care of this myself the angel of the Lord came to meet with one person who needed a shift in their identity I can't get over the fact that God keeps coming for me like that I can't get over the fact that the angel of the Lord loves me that much that he would keep coming for me and pursuing me and make sure he shows up to speak to me when I most need it I want you to know that you are never
lost in the crowd that no matter how big this gathering Becomes no matter how big the church ever gets you need to know that you are never lost to the sight of God that your friend might not notice and your spouse might not notice your employer might not know your coworker might not be aware of what's happening around you but you need to know the angel of the Lord has got his eyes on you he knows exactly what's happening in your life and in your circumstances so the angel of the Lord comes he steps out
of heaven never Should it roll off our shoulders casually that the God of the universe I'm talking about the God who held the Son up in its place all day long make sure that it did not move he is the one that made sure that the earth spun on its axis at just the right speed today that you and I could sustain life here and he's the one that made sure it rotated at just the right pace to make sure that at the right moment the sunlight was swapped for the light of The Moon on
us today he is the one that is gonna hang every single star in its place tonight he will not only know their number he will know them all by name he is the one that is controlling the throes of the universe I'm talking about the galaxies of the universe that the scientists have not even yet discovered our great God is controlling the throws of the universe and even while he's taking care of all of that he is stucked in this room tonight to come Up in here and see about you [Applause] never shouldn't roll off
of our shoulders casually he loves us that much that he keeps coming for us did you know that that's the story of the whole Bible did you know that in every single book of the Bible that's the story that he's trying to get across to you he's trying to show you how in Genesis he came for you and then in Exodus he came for you and Allah vidiq as he came for you In numbers in Deuteronomy Joshua and judges he keeps trying to figure out ways to come and to get you until the Old Testament
closes and for 400 years it's silent and it seems like there is no hope it seems like the enemy has won and he will not come until the new testament opens and matthew says that god himself put on skin basically he said i'ma come down here and take care of this myself he loved you that much that he keeps on moving heaven and earth To come after you so in the Old Testament we keep seeing the molecular show up it's called the theophany it is the it is a God appearance in the Old Testament it's
the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ stepping out of the heavens and into time and history so we see the molecular show up and most of the time when he shows up in the Old Testament he is coming to an individual that needs to be Reminded about their identity most of the time when the molecular finds it critical enough to show up it's because there's a person who forgets who they are it's important to him that you remember who you are enough that he would wrap a whole 30 minute message around the topic tonight so that when you
leave when I leave this place tonight we are not the same people that we came in here as so the molecular weight keeps showing up he shows up in The book of Genesis for a lady named Hagar who was discarded and she was misused and abused by the people who were supposed to cover her and protect her and loved her they discard her and she sits out in a dusty of wilderness feeling Forsaken and forgotten and unknown and right there in the middle of her loneliness and her isolation the molecular for Hagar and reminds her
who she is Oh Hagar if you're in the room tonight Because the people who you were supposed to be able to trust betrayed you the people who were supposed to love you that you were supposed to be able to count on the person that walked down the aisle and said I'd do to you that promised a lifetime to you and yet they have betrayed you and turned their backs on you you need to know that in this wilderness where you were sitting feeling alone and forgotten you need to know that the molecular will come and
he Will find you in that wilderness Hagar but he doesn't just show up for Hagar he shows up for men like Moses he shows up for Moses when he's out in the dry dusty desert tending sheep a job that is below his pay grade and below his educational level he was raised as the Prince of Egypt this is not the job he anticipated being having to deal with but for 40 long years he is in this dry dusty barren situation and by the way he's there as a result of the Consequences of his own actions
I wonder if there's anybody in the room sitting in some dry dusty barren circumstances but honestly when you look back on it you realize that you did it to yourself I wonder if there's ever been a time in your life where you've been sitting right smack dab in the middle of some consequences and honestly you can't blame nobody because when you look back on it you realize it was a decision you knew you shouldn't have made it was a Relationship you knew you shouldn't have allowed I don't know about y'all maybe this doesn't happen in
Miami but listen there are whole seasons of my life I look back on and I don't even recognize that person back there can I get one witness in the house today there are whole seasons of my life I look back on and I cannot believe the decisions are made I can't believe the relationships I allowed I can't believe the paths that I walk down I can't Believe the influences that I let into my sphere and into my space when I look back on it all I can be is grateful for the delivering power of Almighty
God so maybe you were sitting right smack dab in the middle of the consequences that are of your own doing I've got good news for you Moses bushes burn in deserts like that and when this bush burns I want to tell you this ain't no regular fire this is the molecular up to remind you who you are but Hagar he doesn't Just show up for you and Moses he doesn't just show up for you he also shows up for you if you're the Hebrew boys standing in the middle of fire I mean there's trials all
around you life is just hot right now once you get through one thing there's another thing and once you get through this thing there's another thing life just feels like a fiery furnace the Hebrew boys can testify to the fact that sometimes when you're in the fire he doesn't take you Out of it the molecular weight just meets you in it so that you will know what it feels like so that you'll have a testimony of what it's like to have the presence of God covering you so comprehensively and so completely that you can emerge
from a season of life that's just like a furnace and not even have the smell of smoke on you that's the protective care of the molecular this is what God does he protects and he keeps and he keeps on showing up Reminding us who we are even when we're in the consequences of our own sin even when we've been abused and misused by other people even were in the midst of trial and circumstances in our life he keeps on coming and he keeps on coming because you mean that much to him he cares that deeply
about you the future and the trajectory of your entire life hinges on whether or not we'll believe that we are who God says we are and we can do exactly what God Says that we can do oh I'm so grateful I remember watching The Today Show several years ago this is when Campbell Brown was the main reporter on The Today Show the boys were little I have three sons they were little and I remember sitting on the edge of the bed folding a load of laundry and I was watching The Today Show every day that
week Campbell Brown was doing a report on religions of the world every day was a different religion that day that I caught it they Were doing a story on the Buddhist faith and I remember I didn't know much about Buddhism so I thought I'm just gonna watch for a little while they had traveled halfway across the world she and her camera crew so that they could not only travel halfway across the world she described but then ride down a winding road for hours so that they could get to the side of a mountain where they
climbed up 268 stairs so that she and the camera crew could be beside One of the five Buddha statues that stands in and around the area so she did the story from there we could see the statue behind her as she described the Buddhist faith there are many layers of thought that I had while she was discussing Buddhism but one of the things that she said I can't forget she said that people that subscribe to that faith that the goal of at least one time in their life is to save up enough money to be
able to travel halfway across the World so that they can drive for hours down this winding road climb up 268 stairs so that they could get to this position on the side of the mountain so that at least one in there one time in their life they could pray to their God little G so I'm watching this and I'm thinking to myself if I had to save up all that money and fly halfway across the world and drive down that winding road for hours and climb up 268 stairs to pray I would never pray can
I get one Witness in the house today [Applause] ain't nobody got time for that but while they are climbing up to talk to their God little genie our God the one true God y'all he comes down to talk to us oh it's good news it's good news it's the message of the gospel [Applause] amen I can't get over the fact he keeps on coming down I can't get over the fact he keeps on condescending for me and he Loves me that much said he would keep on coming for me so we keeps on coming and
he keeps on coming and he doesn't just come for a moment judges chapter 6 verse 11 says the angel of the Lord came and sat down meaning he nestled himself underneath the shade of the same tree that Gideon was under the media nights right outside his window and the angel of the Lord didn't just come and give a little wink and a nod and go on about his day no he came and made himself at Home in the situation with Gideon this is what the New Testament writer John would say in John chapter 1 verse
14 he said the word would become flesh and he dwelt among I want you to hear the shock in John's voice the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we got to behold the glory of God the Father John y'all couldn't believe he got to my eyes on the holy one Eugene Peterson of the message Bible would put that same verse this way The word became flesh and moved into the neighborhood this is the beautiful thing about our God he keeps putting on flesh and moving into the neighborhood that means he is fully engaged
and aware of what's going on in your marriage he knows what's going on in the recesses of your heart I want you to know he knows the details of your financial dilemma I want you to know that he is fully engaged he doesn't just sit on high and look down low and give a wink and a nod Mm-hmm he's all up in the business of what's going on in your relationship I want you to know he is fully aware of what's going on between you and your mom are you and your dad he's fully aware
of what's happening in that pool of friends where you're having a little betrayal and strife he is fully aware of what's happening in your ministry on your job he knows what's up with your teenager or your Young adult daughter you need to know that your God sees you and he's fully immerged and and and he fully engages with the details of what's going on in your life I want you to know there's not one tear that you were crying that is getting lost in the carpet fibers of your bedroom floor every single one of those
tears is being captured in the palm of Almighty God he sees you and his eyes are on you there is not one night that You are spending awake wrestling over what you gonna do with that issue the hours you're spending awake and your spouse is asleep they don't even know how your heart is in turmoil and how you can't sleep at night because of that issue you were facing you need to know that your spouse might not know what God sees see see he comes and he sits down under the shade of that oak tree
he is immersed and engaged with Gideon and I want to make sure you're aware of the Fact that verse 11 says he came verse 12 says he appeared to Gideon verse 11 he's there but Gideon doesn't know it it's not until verse 12 that there is some sort of supernatural unveiling of the eyes of Gideon so that he becomes aware of the presence of God near we don't know if 20 minutes passed or whether it was 48 hours we don't know how long but there is a lapse in time here where Gideon is completely unaware
of the presence of God there but that does not Make God any less there just because he's not aware of it God is fully immersed underneath the shade in the shadow of that difficult situation in that circumstance and he is studying Gideon even though Gideon is unaware of his presence which means he sees the lines of worry and frustration on Gideon's forehead he's fully aware of the fear and the skittishness that Gideon would have had while he hides out from the Midianites he is fully aware of Everything that is happening as he watches Gideon go
over and over again about the threshing of the wheat the mundane tedious job that Gideon would have been engaged in he's fully aware of all those details even though Gideon is unaware of his presence that means that it is possible and it is so that God is near and hovering and presiding and aware of everything that is happening in your life even when you're unaware of him When you cannot trace his hand trust his heart he's there he's there and by the way can I just tell you that threshing wheat was usually an open-air activity
threshing floors were on the top of hillsides the reason why they were on the top of Hill size is because that's where the wind blew and the goal of threshing wheat of beating the wheat was to dish dislodge the nutrient less chaff from the wheat and when they were in in an open-air setting when the chap was Dislodged the wind would drive the chaff away you've read that poetic phrase all throughout the Old Testament the wind driving the chaff away that's why threshing would normally take place in an open-air setting on the top of a
hill but where we see Gideon here in verse 11 and 12 is not in an open-air setting he's in a wine press a wine press was the opposite of where a threshing floor would be it was usually in the deep concave depression at the base of a rock So he is in a place of hiding the reason why is because if the wind carried the chaff away the scent of it might reach the Midianites and if the Midianites became aware that there was another harvest they would come back to pillage the Israelites again so when
we meet Gideon in these two verses y'all he is hiding he is afraid he is trying to keep his harvest from being discovered when we see Gideon in this passage he's trying not to be found and in the place Where he's trying not to be found the angel of the Lord finds him let me tell you why this is good news this is good news for any of you who have family members or loved ones or children and they're trying not to be found they have dug their heels into the ground they were fuse to
respond to the gospel of Jesus Christ no no matter how much you share with them no matter how much you pray and ask the Lord it seems like they are On the run from God and that they will never be found I want you to know there is a Hound of heaven that will find them wherever they are there ain't no hiding from the Almighty God he will find you he sees you even when you have turned your back on him he still does not turn his back on you Isaiah 65 he says I allowed
myself to be found by people who weren't even looking for me hello I wonder if we had listened I think if I took this microphone and we Just started right here on this very front row and went all the way around this entire room we would be here well into 2020 giving testimony of the people who were found when they weren't even looking for a relationship with God so finally Gideon's eyes are open he becomes aware he becomes aware that God is near this is one of the consistent prayers of my life open up my
eyes it's what the Apostle Paul prayed and Ephesians chapter one I praying that the Eyes of your heart would be open so that you would know some stuff you can't know unless he opens up your eyes so that you would know what is the hope of his calling and choosing you so that you would know what are the riches of the glory of the inheritance of the saints that had been dispensed upon you sons and daughters so that you would come to a full awareness of the presence of God I don't know if there's ever
been a greater thrill in my life if you've Experienced you'll know what I'm talking about a greater thrill than when your eyes are open and you start detecting the fingerprints of God in your circumstances sometimes it's the gift of hindsight it's when you get to a certain stage and you look back and go oh God was all up in that right there guy was he was doing all that it's when you recognize that what somebody else is calling coincidence is actually the sovereign hand of God working stuff out In your favor it's a thrill right
when you look back and you see God's fingerprints and his footprints and you realize that it wasn't happenstance that you just happened to be there at the right time to meet the right person to be in position for that place it just so happened that it all was put together it wasn't the stars that aligned in your favor it was the maker of the Stars orchestrating the details of your life the sovereignty of God at work it's the Manifest presence of God I appreciate his omnipresence I'm grateful for his omnipresence omnipresence means that God is
everywhere at once omnipresence means that when I get on a plane and fly back to Dallas God ain't just going with me and he won't still be here with y'all that's omnipresence omnipresence means he's just as much in my house as he is at Joe house that's omnipresent and while I'm grateful for his omnipresence what I'm after Is his manifest presence I don't want to just know he's there in theory I want to see him at work Oh churchgoer aren't you just tired of hearing about what he did in the Old Testament aren't you tired
of hearing about how he raised Lazarus from the dead in the New Testament and caused the walls of Jericho to come tumbling down in the Old Testament aren't you grateful for the testimony but doesn't it whet your appetite to want to see it for Yourself I used when our church was smaller Mary and Martha have both been to our church they they can attest the fact that it's a large Church like your church is when it was smaller we used to have testimony service I don't know if any of you have ever gone to the
kind of church where they have old school testimony service I'm talking about where the mother of the church comes up to tell you what the Lord has done for her when I say the mother of the church Some of you don't know what I mean I mean back in the day when they would not dare dream of wearing skinny jeans into the house of God there would never be tennis shoes in the house of the Living God so the mother of the church would come in and she would come in with a suit I'm talk
about a whole suit where the skirt actually came with the jacket she bought them together it was a whole suit right and she didn't just have the jacket she didn't just have the skirt She had the shoes that match the skirt that matched the jacket probably in patent leather and then she wore pantyhose because she wouldn't dare not wear pantyhose into the house of God remember you could hear them when your mother walked down the hall and then she would not only have the clutch that would match the jacket that would match this the skirt
that would match the shoes but no church mother outfit was complete without the Oh yeah yeah y'all went to the same kind of church I went to but it was never ever ever just a regular hat ever there was always some sort of situation that was on the hat I mean it was something on the hat and I remember that she would come up to the front she would grab the microphone and first giving honor to God who is the head of my life she would go through all the details and then she would give
a testimony of what the Lord had done on her behalf And I remember sitting on the front row piano side and I remember watching the feather and y'all I would ask just honestly at 10 years old I remember thinking man if that thing would fly off we'll have a real good service today but I would listen to the testimonies of what God had done and I remember with my church celebrating what God had done and I remember how old I was but I remember there being a switch to where I listened to the testimony and
I still celebrated But really it whet my appetite it was now the testimonies were like divine antagonists stirring up my soul I wanted to hear the voice of God like that I wanted to experience God like that if he was still doing that kind of stuff I wanted to know what it was like to not just celebrate him in other people's lives but expect that he could move in my life as well and at a gathering like this one where you are for these few days this is the kind of setting where Every now and
then what he does is just use it to to stir up your soul to mess with you so that you're just not satisfied with being a Christian in name only just come into church just reading a verse a day to keep the devil away that's not your goal anymore now you want to hear from God you want to see God you want to experience God and let me tell you something once you start to experience god you are ruined for church as usual it ruins you because What you're after is what Gideon had an opportunity
for your eyes to be open and for you to see what you've been reading about your whole life so once Gideon's eyes are open God says two things he says let me tell you who I am and let me tell you who you are he says Gideon he says brother sister that's why I came tonight I came to tell you two things this is who I am and this is who you are I know the Midianites are right outside your window I know your marriage is in trouble I know the bank accounts low I know
the struggle on your job is hard I know the ministry is foundering I know you're struggling in your parenting I know you've got unrest in your heart and mine I know things are tough right now but even with those Midianites right outside your window I came to remind you that I am who I said I am and I can still do everything that I Said I can do he looks at Gideon in the midst of the turmoil while he's currently hiding out in fear and trembling and he says the Lord is with you just like
I said I always would be we know that Gideon didn't believe him because he spends the next verse disputing what it is that God said he says if the Lord is with us why has all this happened to us in other words I don't believe you but God says your beliefs don't shift the truth the way You feel doesn't change who I am your circumstances don't determine whether or not they do not govern who I am I am still seated on the throne I am still God I still made the confident and I will still
follow through so God comes and tells him the word he says this does not change even with your circumstances do this doesn't shift I am still on the throne okay let me tell you why this is important at all because we live in a day where everybody's being told you Have your truth you have your truth you have your truth and I have my truth here's a little truth there's a little truth everywhere you look there's a little truth truth we're being told that there is no standard anymore however you feel is true for you
but there is a standard that is unchanging it is the same yesterday today and forever more it does not change and it does not shift he is still the one true God he is still seated on the throne and whether or not It is politically correct to say it there is still only one way to have a relationship with God and that is through Jesus Christ [Applause] so he comes to Gideon he says I'm gonna remind you of this truth cuz just truth is gonna change everything get in I still am who I said I
am but he said I didn't just come Gideon to tell you who I am I came to tell you the truth about who you are remember Gideon is currently Operating in fear and insecurity and he speaks to a person who is currently behaving in a way that is out of alignment with the truth he comes to him in the midst of that lapse in behavior and integrity and he says to him even though I see you right now oppan operating in a way that is totally in congruent with my truth I have come to remind
you who you are that you are not your behavior you are not your feelings your circumstances do not Dictate and change the intrinsic value of who you are as a son or a daughter of the Most High God I have come to remind you that you still are who I said you are and you can still do everything I said you can do get in even right now while you're operating in fear and insecurity I came to tell you that you are a mighty valiant warrior and if Gideon I can get you to come up
out from underneath these shadows if I can get you to start acting and behaving and Thinking in a way that is congruent with the truth it's gonna change the course of your life Gideon you have no way of knowing that in the year 2019 they're gonna be a bunch of people gathered in Miami that will be reading Judges chapter 6 and chapter 7 Gideon you could never know there would be chapters of the Bible the very word of God that are gonna be written about you you have no way of knowing Gideon that if you
will come out from underneath these shadows And stop operating according to the way you feel stop operating in accordance with your circumstances stop letting the enemy dictate the way you behave you don't even know Gideon you're about to come out from the shadows of this tree and you're going to go straight to your house that's what judges six says you're gonna go to your house and you're gonna break the idols that are indicative of your entire family line for years y'all been worshipping Idol But you're gonna break the curse of idolatry over your home if
you believe what I've declared to be true about you do you understand that your whole family is dependent on you do you understand that your sons and your daughters your grandsons and your granddaughters our great-grandchildren that we may never actually lay eyes on do you realize that they are counting on you rising up and being who God has called you to be do you know that their whole generational Curses that can be broken if you get a handle on your identity but not just that Gideon you have no way of knowing that not only is
there a judges chapter six but Gideon there's gonna be a judges chapter seven because you're gonna roll up out of your house and you can go straight into battle against the Midianites and with 300 soldiers as the underdog against 140,000 Midianite enemies you are gonna win a battle for the entire nation a whole nation is Going to be changed because one man gets a handle on his identity do you know what would happen if the men and women of God that are in the House today get a handle on who they are do you realize
how the entire nation will be transformed when God's people just recognize who they are all the enemies don't doesn't want you to know who you are oh he's just trying to get you to believe that you are the way you feel that you are the way you behaved that You are your past that you are your circumstances that you are what other people have called you or you are what you have even labeled yourself as long as you won't rise up and be who God has called you to be you are not a threat to
the kingdom of darkness but once the sons and daughters start stepping into fully that I am who God said I am I can do what God says I can do I will behave in alignment with the truth of God then everything begins to Shift and everything begins to change the enemy is cow thing on you not getting this message tonight cuz he knows if we roll up out of here and do right our whole family line will be changed in Jesus name he knows that not only will our whole family line be changed but he
knows there's an entire nation that will be completely transformed once the people of God discover who they are and Gideon You don't even know that there's a new testament coming Gideon you have no way of knowing that in the new testament there will be a book called hebrews Gideon you can't even recognize the fact that there's going to be a great hall of faith in the book of Hebrews and that the writer is gonna need a way to close the chapter you cannot even imagine Gideon that when the writers sitting back trying to figure out
how do I close the Great Hall of faith that the writer Is going to conclude the chapter by saying I don't even have time to tell you everything about Gideon he's gonna say that this is a man who by faith conquered kingdoms and performed acts of righteousness and obtained promises and shut the mouths of lions and quenched the power of the fire and escaped the edge of the sword from witness he was made strong he became a mighty man of war and put foreign armies to flight simply because he got a hold Of who he
really was [Applause] so if you don't mind as the ban comes I thought there would be no better way to close tonight than by simply reminding you who you are a child of God you have peace with God the Holy Spirit lives on the inside of you you have access to God's wisdom you are reconciled to God you are not condemned by God you have been justified you have Christ's righteousness you are Christ and masseter you are completely forgiven and you are tenderly loved you are a sweet fragrance of Christ to God you are a
temple in which God dwells you are blameless and you are beyond reproach you are the salt of the earth you are the light of the world you are chosen by Christ to bear fruit you are a joint heir with Christ you share in his inheritance with him you are united to the Lord one spirit with him you are a member of the body of Christ You are a saint you are hidden with Christ and God you are chosen by God you are a child of light you are holy and you share in God's heavenly calling
you are sanctified you are one of God's living stones being built up in Christ as a spiritual house you are a member of a chosen race you are a royal priesthood you are a holy nation you are a people for God's own possessions created to sing the praises of God you are firmly rooted and built up in Christ you are Born of God and even when he cannot touch you you have the mind of Christ you can approach God with boldness freedom and confidence you have been rescued from Satan's domain and you have been transferred
into the kingdom of Christ you have been made complete in Christ you have not been given a spirit of fear but of power oh your needs they're met by God you are royalty in God's kingdom you have been bought with a price and you belong to God you have Been adopted as God's child you have direct access to God through the Holy Spirit you can be assured that all things work together for the good of them who lap him and other called according to His purposes you are free somebody needs to hear that today you're
free from any condemning charges that are against you nothing and I do mean nothing can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus you have been established anointed and Sealed by God you can be confident in this very thing that the good work God has started in you he will be faithful to bring it all the way to completion you are a personal witness of Christ you are a citizen of heaven you are God's co-worker you are seated with Christ in heavenly places you are God's workmanship and you can do all things through
Christ amen if you are in this room and you have not been living in alignment with the truth you Know you have been living in a way that is congruent with the way you feel or with what you've been told or the lies the enemy has been feeding you you are like Gideon operating in fear and insecurity instead of an alignment with who God has called you to be if you want to break free from that miss shapen identity today and leave this room with your identity in Christ intact so you can change the course
of your life if you know this word was from you don't Even think twice just run forward I cannot wait to pray with you that today will be the day of the rest of your life come on [Music] not against me I am who you say I am I am chosen bacon I am [Music] again me I am [Music] I am You are [Music] I am [Music] I am Lord I pray over my brothers and sisters right now in Jesus name I pray father against every scheme of the enemy to deceive every scheme of the
enemy to distract every scheme of the enemy to discourage I pray right now in the matchless name of Jesus Christ that you would stave off every scheme of the Enemy Lord I pray that these believers would be fitted with the mind of Christ I pray a helmet of salvation over their heads in Jesus name so that would broaden out the schemes of the enemy Lord if there's any scheme any battle any heads any curse of the enemy I pray that it would be destroyed right now in Jesus name and my his fraud that has been
shed on Calvary father I pray for supernatural courage by the Holy Spirit that beginning today She and he will be able to walk in alignment with your truth we say no more to the enemies that passes against us Lord no more to being played for the fool no more to being taken advantage of we are walking in freedom and wholeness and health starting right now in G the snake right now in Jesus name Lord I lift discouragement on their lives in Jesus name would you blanket them with courage in Jesus name a holy boldness in
Jesus name To walk in authority you are who God says you are you are chosen you are free walking freedom you are victorious walk in victory you are his my God's child he will empower you by his Spirit so father I pray right now in Jesus name that your spirit would rise up in your people father make it so that they cannot live in a way that is incongruent with the truth anymore I'm saying make them so uncomfortable make it so uneasy For us to not live in alignment with you that we just can't do
it no more Lord disrupt our sleep at night make it an easy for us to not honor you with our lives father for everyone that is walking with shackles on their lives in some area I pray right now in Jesus name you loosen those shackles on their lives father pray for freedom in Jesus name Lord I pray you would take the taste for the drug out of somebody's mouth take the taste for the alcohol out of Somebody's mouth take the desire for the immoral relationship out of somebody's mouth like me now in Jesus name change
their desire Lord heal a marriage right now in Jesus name as they unify underneath the umbrella of who you've called them to be do it today in Jesus name father a speak victory over your sons and daughters victory in Jesus name we give ourselves to you Lord we honor you in this more moment we thank you in advance for what you're Gonna do for how you're gonna free us and set us free and change our life and wipe the tears from our eyes he's got your back he has got your back he is on your
side look at me look at me this is what you do now this is what you do are you ready before you make that choice again you pause the Holy Spirit's gonna give you a holy pause before you make that decision again there's gonna be a holy pause where for just a second you can take a Breath and ask yourself is this decision in alignment with who God says I am or not if you find that you're about to do the thing you always do and you see that it's from a place of insecurity or
fear or lack something that does not line up with truth then that's the moment where you say Lord by your spirit restrain me from doing what I always do and help me to live differently and then whether you feel it or not you start acting like you are God who God says you are I'm not Gonna tweet that I'm not gonna Instagram that I'm not gonna say yes to that relationship I'm not gonna go on this date I'm not gonna do this person this way I'm not gonna respond this way I'm not gonna react this
way I'm not gonna go down the same way because I'm not who I used to be I am now who God has called me to be in Jesus name in Jesus [Applause]
