Who Are You? Series

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TODAY I WANT TO TALK ABOUT 3 things that make YOU WHO YOU ARE

(WRITE ON BOARD) SKILL - REPUTATION - IDENTITY

What are your SKILLS? What type of REPUTATION do you have?

What’s your IDENTITY? (How do people see you?)

A. Can you recall the first time: tearing apart your first car motor, baking your first loaf of bread with your mom, painting your first picture.

ILL: JR. HIGH loved to tear apart old radios

ILL: Working for McDonald’s for 2 years – greasy pit, smelling like a French fry all the time, MANAGER WAS A TYRANT

-BUT LITTLE DID I KNOW – it was SHARPENING MY SKILLS for my future

-I was taught how to SERVE, LISTEN, OBEY, “the customer is always right”.

SKILL

A. JOE had 2 Dreams – he had trouble working out his SKILL

1. Arrogant, cocky, prideful.

2. JOE put a lot of EMPHASIS on his dreams

3. JOE was trying TO FASHION HIS SKILLS around these DREAMS

4. GOD was trying to Groom and humble JOE to be a WILLING VESSEL

C. We work so hard at SHARPENING OUR OWN SKILLS our way

1. There's no room for God to direct us HIS WAY

ILL: LATER ON: His father told JOE to go see how his brothers are doing.

Genesis 37:18-19 (NIV)

But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him. “Here comes that dreamer!” they said to each other.

Now Joes REPUTATION is formed

He's known as the DREAMER

A. God never intended for JOE to have this KIND OF REPUTATION

WHAT HAPPENED?

B. JOE GOT IN THE WAY of what God was trying to do.

1. Like so many PEOPLE, they take SHORTCUTS in life.

2. They say, "Father It's My Will Be Done, Not Your Will"

C. POEPLE create their OWN SKILL LEVEL

1. That CREATES a FALSE REPUTATION.

2. And then THEY WRAP their IDENTITY AROUND IT

D. What did JOES IDENTITY become?

1. AFTER HIS Brothers Called Him A Dreamer, they SOLD him into SALARY.

E. EVERYTHING JOE WAS DOING was opposite of what GOD wanted

1. His IDENTITY BECAME A SLAVE

(WRITE ON BOARD) Because he put SELF from the BEGINNING

SKILL = SELF

REPUTATION = SELF

IDENTITY = SELF

GOD WANTS US TO FLIP THAT AROUND

(WRITE OR FLIP BOARD AROUND)

IDENTITY

REPUTATION

SKILL

IDENTITY

Genesis 40:8 (NIV)

"We both had dreams," they answered, "but there is no one to interpret them." Then Joseph said to them, "Do not interpretations belong to God?

A. NO LONGER was he being Cocky, but he was giving GOD the CREDIT.

1. After much PAIN and Suffering JOES IDENTITY was in GOD.

Ephesians 1:1 (NIV)

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus

B. Every faithful CHRIST-FOLLOWER has life only “in Christ Jesus”.

1. The terms “in Christ Jesus”, “in the Lord”, “in him”, 216 times in the NT

2. "In Christ" means that my IDENTITY is in JESUS CHRIST.

Acts 17:28 NIV

For in him we live and move and have our being.

IDENTITY - PRODUCES YOUR REPUTATION

ILL: CH. 41 The Kings dreams - JOSEPH Interpreted the Cupbearer dream

Genesis 41:12-14 (NIV)

Now a young Hebrew was there with us, a servant of the captain of the guard. We told him our dreams, and he interpreted them for us, giving each man the interpretation of his dream. And things turned out exactly as he interpreted them to us…So Pharaoh sent for Joseph

A. JOE'S TURNS IT AROUND – HIS IDENTITY now is IN GOD.

1. HIS REPUTATION PRECEDED HIM

2. What does that MEAN?

3. They ALREADY NEW WHO he was before they MEANT HIM.

ILL: Women at RITE AID recognized my voice

1. I want my reputation to be when people see me I want them to see Christ.

2. When they hear me talk, I want them to hear Christ.

ILL: After JOE interpreted the Kings dreams, God elevated him to the PALACE.

-God SKILLED and USED him in areas that he never knew had

B. WHEN your IDENTITY is in CHRIST, your REPUTATION is about CHRIST

1. THEN YOUR SKILL will be what CHRIST WANTS

C. When you BUILD YOUR SKILL in YOU

1. But in CHRIST – YOUR life is without BORDERS

"I can do ALL THINGS through Christ who strengthens me"

IDENTITY - CHRIST

REPUTATION - CHRIST

SKILL - CHRIST

YOUR IDENTITY is in Christ,

YOUR REPUTATION should be about Christ,

YOUR SKILLS should be anything that Christ wants you to do.

ILL: MY DAD’S BUSINESS – wanting to be a millionaire

CONCLUSION:

A. What most people do is take they’re

1. SKILL & REPUTATION – wrap they're IDENTITY around it.