Identity Theft
Discovering my true identity
How many of you have ever heard of Identity theft?
(Show Videos)
• Did you know you too could be a victim?
• There IS a thief who is wants to claim your identity and I am sure many of you have guessed by now who that is.
In this world there are 2 voices
• The Lie
o These are the ideas that the Enemy wants you to believe about who you are
o There are many lies
• The Truth
o This is what God says about who you are
o There is only ONE truth
• When it comes to your identity there are a few big lies that the devil wants to be sure you believe
Let me tell you why this is important
• You are at a critical point in your life. This time, this time right now, is when you are really starting to make your own identity. Until now you have been pretty much who your parents say you are. You parents pick your cloths, your hair style, they say when and where you go, and so on. But now you are all starting to make more and more of those decisions on your own. As you do, I want you to be equipped to make good decisions. In order to do that you need to know how to tell the truth about identity from the lies. So tonight we are going to look at 3 areas where it is easy to be mislead. Those areas are freedom, uniqueness, and value.
Freedom
• The lie
o Freedom means do whatever I want whenever I want it
o I have to be independent to be free
o In regard to being a Christian:
• The world will tell you that in order to follow Christ you have to give up your freedom.
• The lie is that Christ wants to control you
o You can’t tell me what is right or wrong
• It is all relative. What is wrong for you is not necessarily wrong for me
• The truth
o The definition of freedom is exemption from external control, interference, regulation, etc
o The Bible tells us (I want to point out that although the Bible does say this it is also evident by taking a look at the world we are in) that there are two kingdoms at work
• “We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil.”
• The truth is that when we follow the world THAT is when we give up our freedom.
• The enemy wants us to think that the ‘whatever I want/whenever I want’ mentality is what freedom looks like. But the REALITY is that when we step out from the authority of Christ we step into the “control of the evil one”
o This false freedom is a trap
• Matthew 16:26 What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?
o The truth is that true freedom can ONLY be found in Christ!
• God does not want to CONTROL you. That is why you have been given a free will.
• Galatians 5:1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.
• Freedom isn’t found in our independence, but rather our DEPENDENCE on God
• Dependence means to put trust in with confidence!
• GLORIOUS FREEDOM!!!
• Romans 8 1Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.
Uniqueness
• The Lie
o I can be unique by rebelling against who my parents or God says I should be
o In order to be a Christian I have to fit into a specific mold of what Christians look like
• The Truth
o Psalm 139
1 O LORD, you have searched me
and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
you know it completely, O LORD.
5 You hem me in—behind and before;
you have laid your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, [a] you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,"
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
16 your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to [b] me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand.
When I awake,
I am still with you.
19 If only you would slay the wicked, O God!
Away from me, you bloodthirsty men!
20 They speak of you with evil intent;
your adversaries misuse your name.
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD,
and abhor those who rise up against you?
22 I have nothing but hatred for them;
I count them my enemies.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
• Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mold. The world exerts all sorts of pressures to force us to adopt its ways of thinking. But believer are not Jell-O. We don’t have to conform. We can be transformed from within by God.
• The world wants to control your mind, but God wants to transform your mind. This word transform is the same as transfigure in Matthew 17:2. It has come into our English language as the word “metamorphosis.” It describes a change from within. The world wants to change your mind, so it exerts pressure from without. But the Holy Spirit changes your mind by releasing power from within. If the world controls your thinking, you are a conformer; if God controls your thinking, you are a transformer.
Value
• The Lie
o You gotta earn it
• The Truth
o It is found in Me
What often happens as we start to establish our identity is that we look in the wrong places to see what that means.
• We tend to look to the world to create our identity
o Romans 12:2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
• The thing is that Satan is clever and knows that most of us would not openly associate with him. So, he disguises himself in the ways of the world.
o So when we try to establish our freedom, uniqueness, and value by following the pattern of the world we end up with is the OPPOSITE of what we really want
o 2 Peter 2:17These men are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them. 18For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of sinful human nature, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error. 19They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him.
God wants you to be FREE, UNIQUE and VALUEABLE
The Truth about the Lie
• John 10:10-Steal, Kill, & Destroy
• John 10:10-Have life, and life to the full
Tactics
• Temptation of Jesus
• Satan will promise you the World, but He won’t mention that it will cost you your life
How do I find my true identity?
• The WORD
• The LORD
What is your identity?
• Ask yourself this: what and who you associated with?
• Does it line up with what God says?
o Video
• It doesn’t matter where you are right now. Tonight you may have realized that you were defining yourself by listening to the lies.
o You can still decide tonight to find your true identity in Christ. Don’t let the lies of the World dictate who you are
John 15:19
If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.
