Identity & Confidence In Christ

Identity & Confidence in Christ

Introduction:

•I have noticed that there seems to be a trend in the mindset of many Christians that I think is degenerating our effectiveness.

•This trend/tendency seems to be present in many Christians.

•I am talking the fact that there are so many Christians that have absolutely no confidence (or even knowledge—head or heart) of who in the world they are.

•Many of you in this room this morning have found Christ, but have not found out WHO YOU ARE IN HIM.

•You know all about him, and you believe it.

•You believe that he is who he says he is. Hey, you’re here preparing to give your life for it.

•But, you somehow seem to escape believing what he says you are.

•What are you talking about, Noah?

•I am talking about the fact that many of you in this room this morning think that you are losers, some think you are worthless, some think that you are unable to do this or accomplish that, some think that you are not good enough because someone told you that you were not, some think that you are not loveable…how could you be…if you were lovable, your Mom or Dad would not have left you or your parents would not have gotten a divorce.

•Whatever the reason may be, I know there are people in this room this morning that for whatever reason either do not know or do not believe WHO YOU ARE in Christ…What he thinks you are…who he thinks you are.

•Some of you guys try to act tough. Maybe you like to be the center of attention, flirt a lot, act smooth, whatever…you look and seem real chill, but really, you think that you are worthless and you do the things you do so that you can cover up the fact that you are worried about what everyone thinks of you.

•You act the way you do to compensate for your insecurities.

•Some of you ladies run around talking about the fact that you feel fat or you feel ugly, when really that is just a small portion of the problem…you really think that you are not worth too much and that is why you dress that way that you do…it makes you think that maybe you are worth something if people stop to look at you, so you will do whatever you need to do to get people to look.

•Whatever it is…we have a society full of people with very little confidence and a whole lot of insecurities!

•I want to tell you this morning, that there are so many areas of our lives that are affected by what we think about ourselves, our identity, and our confidence.

•I would suggest that the following things directly mirror our confidence/identity:

oBehavior

oAttitude

oInsecurities/securities

oAbility to do or accomplish this or that…

oSuccess level (future, career…)

oRelationships with others are seriously affected by our perception of ourselves.

oRelationship wit Christ

•Well, this morning I want to remind or inform you of a few things that God believes about YOU.

•Simply hearing what I am going to share with you is probably not going to make a difference in you.

•Mainly because you have probably heard it all before.

•My hope for us this morning is that you would work very intentionally at BELIEVING these truths (not just hearing them).

•You see I think that our belief about who we are in Christ needs to be a part of our core value system!

•We have to believe it way deep down.

•So, here we go…

Who Are You?

Our first point this morning is in the form of a question, WHO ARE YOU??

First of all, listen to these words of Colossians 1:16 in the message translation “For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible,…everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him.”

The first truth that I would offer toward answering the question “who are you” is:

1.You are created in the image of God – Gen. 1:26-27 & are a Child of God- I John 3: 1,3… Children created in His Image!!!

God himself said, I love Bob enough to create him in MY image.

We are his creation and made in his image.

I spoke with a guy 2 weeks ago that said to me “I have been saved 5 months I do not get this whole confidence in Christ—children of God thing. I really do not understand much of this Christianity thing…it seems so lofty”

I went on to try to explain to this guy that God is our father—our maker—and that we ALL have a connection to him as that.

So, we ALL have that connection to God and still many go through life searching and die having never found what they were looking for.