Elevation with Steven Furtick - Between Two Extremes (Larry Brey)

Episode Date: March 14, 2022

Will you listen to what they said or what He spoke? In “Between Two Extremes,” Elevation Church’s Associate Pastor, Larry Brey, reminds us that our true identity can only be found in Christ.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Lord, would you meet with us again? I'm glad you gathered together under the name of Jesus today, wherever you're at in one of our locations. Part of our e-fam, because God's got something for you today. I believe it, because He woke you up today. He put you in one of our locations or he put you on this dream.

It's because he's got something he wants to speak to you. I'm going to be in Matthew chapter 16. Pastor Stephen's been in this season. and he's preached about Peter quite a bit. And that's when he preached a couple weeks ago about Peter, never stop knocking. And the Lord said, you're Peter. You need to talk about yourself.

You need to talk about Peter. That's what the assignment is today. In Matthew 16, it says, when Jesus came to the region of Cessori of Philippi, he asked his disciples, who do people say the son of man is? Now it's good for us to know in the scriptures that have Jesus, is asking a question, it's not because he's lacking information. He is the answer. He knows what you're thinking before you even think it. He's not asking you to see what the answer is. He's asking basically wants to give you a revelation. I wonder what question Jesus is asking you today, because he wants to

reveal something to you. He's wondering, what do they say? Say they? They replied. Some say John the Baptist, others. Elijah and still others, Jeremiah, one of the prophets. But what about you? He asked, who do you say I am? Say you. And there's this tension that's set up in the text between what they and what you. And I think that's where humanity is found is between those two extremes. It's in that space. Jesus replied, actually Simon Peter answered. Of course he did. That's Simon. Always fills in that empty space with something. Simon Peter answered, you are the Messiah, the son of the living God. Verse 17, Jesus replied,

blessed are you Simon, son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. And the title for today's message is this.

It's between two extremes. Between, type it into the comments. And I want to force you to the extreme. You got a person on your right or your left if you're in one of our physical locations. Pick one of them, whichever is your favorite, and tell them good morning. For those of you online, eFAM, type into the comments. Whoever your favorite person is. Just let them know.

After you've done that, you could have a seat. I know I created a fight for later in the day. Some of you, you're caught between it and you're saying, I love both of you because you don't like being forced to the extreme. Hey, but one of the values of our ministry is gratitude is never silent. and it would be remiss for me to not take this moment to honor our pastors. Gratitude is never silent. Look at it this way. What if what you failed to celebrate today were not in your life tomorrow?

Gratitude is a currency. I wonder how well you're investing into the people around you with the spirit of gratitude. So I just wanted to take a moment to thank Pastor Stephen and Pastor Holly for the way they lead this ministry each and every week. It's amazing. and he's been my pastor for every 17 years, and he's pretty amazing on the stage, but as awesome as he is on the stage, he's even better off the stage.

He gathered a group of staff around me earlier this week, just to pray for me. He took time out of his schedule just to create that moment. So Pastor Stephen, we love you. And so this story we're in right now out of Matthew chapter 16, it's a pivot point in the journey of Jesus. He knows his assignment is to get to the cross,

but he has not actually divulged those details to his disciples yet. They've been following him for about a year and a half or so. They have not heard him talk about, I must die on the cross. He's about to reveal those things. So Jesus is taking his disciples to a place where he's going to start asking them some questions. Who do they say I am? And who do you say that I am? Because the process is about to change because all of that is going to be brought into question. And Jesus is preparing them for the next part of the journey. Jesus is asking you questions today because he's preparing you for the next part of the journey. So as we jump into this text, the two words that spoke to me about Jesus in this space is identity and assignment.

These are questions of identity. Who do they say? Now, he is not starving for attention. He's not trying to stroke his ego. He's not a politician trying to see how he's doing in the national polls. He's not asking these questions to float himself. He's asking these questions because, hey, disciples, who do they say? But more importantly, who do you say?

Identity. These are questions of identity. But assignment, Jesus knew his assignment was to go to the cross. Those are two key concepts. But I wrote this down. Confidence in identity leads to obedience in the assignment. Confidence in identity leads to obedience. in the assignment. You see, we'll often pray, Lord, give me confidence in the assignment.

No, no, no, there's an order to this thing called faith. Before we deal with the assignment, we've got to deal with the identity. So as he's going through these two questions, who do they say and who do you say, I want you to listen at multiple levels. I want to underscore what Pastor Stephen said last week, how we'll often trivialize the Bible saying it's just, you know, God's little instruction book for people. No, no, no, no, that's not it. I heard a old preacher man say it like this one. He goes, the Bible, it's basic instructions before leaving Earth. No, it's not basic instructions before leaving Earth. It's not his little instruction. No, no, no. The purpose of Scripture is to reveal Jesus. The primary purpose of the text is to reveal Jesus

into your life. That's why he gives it to us. There's an order to the text. So when we start looking at these questions, who do they and who do you? The first level I want you listening at is Jesus. Who do they say Jesus is? And who do you say Jesus is? Because there is some teenage boy in another part of the country who's watching this in his bedroom with the door closed and his earphones on and he's underneath his covers watching this. Because he knew if they found out he was watching church, he would get in trouble. But something has been stirred in his heart and he is trying to answer the questions. Who is Jesus to me? Who do I say that Jesus is? And he is, that's really happening.

And there's somebody in another part of the world that's watching on a screen. And they knew if they found out they would be killed for their faith. But they said, I love Jesus too much. And even if those are the circumstances, I must follow him. Who do they say?

And who do you say? And then the next level, because, O, A.W. Tozer says this. He says, what comes into your mind when you think about God is the most important thing about you. What comes into your mind when you think about God is the most important thing about you. So I want you listening at that level of who do they say he is and then who do you say?

But I also want you listening at the level of you. Who do they say that you are? And then Jesus, who do you say that I am? And I need you listening at both of those levels. And some of you are like, oh, I already got the answer, the gold star. I know who Jesus is. You know, he's the word, he's the flesh, he's all this. Yeah, you've been coming to church.

church for 20 years and you get the gold star and you get the sticker and you talk about Jesus for 90 minutes on Sunday but you live like hell Monday through Saturday because the answer is not with your language it's with your lifestyle the answer to these things are not ultimately described in what you say because in at the end of this in verse 20 Jesus and don't tell anybody he's the Messiah why would he make that outlandish claim because he says it's not about what you say words are cheap and I'm tired of you throwing out cheap grace. I want you counting the cost of really what it means to follow Jesus. Because as these disciples move forward from this moment, it will cost them everything.

But they will come to these places of who do they say and who do you say? And in this text, Peter is the central character. He's the guy that speaks up. Of course he does. That's Peter. He's also called Simon. For those of you that are new to church, he's got two names. Simon is the birth name he was given. It means shifty. It means fluid. It almost paints a picture of water.

Like, it's that, but now when he encounters Christ, he's given a new name. Peter, Petrus, rock. You want to talk about extremes? Water and a rock. One other theologian says the name Simon would be translated as flat-nosed. Picture a guy who's constantly running into a wall. Like, that's Peter. He is extreme. This dude is all over the place. When Jesus says, hey, disciples, I need to wash your feet. He's like, wash all of me, Lord. He's the guy who's banging on the door. He's the guy who's cutting ears off.

He is so extreme. And I relate to Peter because I am so extreme. My wife and I've been a part of the church since we started. We're one of the original eight families. And I remember about one and a half years into the ministry, we had two locations at that point. And we really wanted to be at another high school that was in the area.

But when we started the church, the principal there didn't like churches. But we're sitting in a staff meeting, and now we hear, oh, there's a new principal. I'm like, all right, I got my new assignment. I'm going to go get us into that school. So I drive over to the school and I drive up. There's only a couple cars there

because it's a vacation day. I'm like, dang it. But I walk up to the front door. I'm like, it's locked. I go to the next doors. Go to the next doors. They start walking on the side of the school and start pushing on windows.

I go to the back of the school and I see this long horizontal window above a dumpster. So I climb up on top of the dumpster and I push the window and it opens up. And I shimmy my way in through this long, narrow window above a dumpster. And I make my way up to the front office. And I walk in. And the woman goes, you're Larry, bro. I'm from elevation. I'm like, how did you know me?

You've been watching me on closed camera. I'm expecting like the cops to bust in any moment. And she goes, my husband. and I, we've been coming and my kids have been coming for about eight weeks now to your Providence location. She said, we ended up there because we told her kids about two months ago that we were going to get divorced her husband and I. And the kids just begged to say, no, mom, we can't do this. How about we go to church? There's a church meeting at the high school we go to at Providence High School. How about we go check them out? And through tears, she starts to tell me how both of their

daughters gave their life to Jesus and they were committed to making the marriage work and they were staying in it. My goodness, what I'm telling some of you is you are way too passive about the promises of God. There is a blessing God has for you. It's on the other side of that door, but you keep letting they tell you you can't have access to it. You keep walking up and say, well, it's not an open door. Kick the freaking door down. I'm telling you, there's a blessing on the other side. Break through a window, bust through that wall, get your blessing. Come on. We got to be extreme for the things of God. But extreme is like a rubber band. However hard I pull it this way, it's got a rebound just as big to the other side. Because how many of you are extreme? Be honest with me.

We have extreme highs and we have extreme lows, don't we? That's the crazy part about those of us that are extreme. Peter had those too. Because he's now just called, you are the rock. I'll build my church. The next couple verses, Jesus begins to say, hey, I'm going to go to the cross. This is my assignment.

And here's what happens in verse 22 of chapter 16 in Matthew. Peter took him aside and he began to rebuke him. Never, Lord, he said, this shall never happen to you. Jesus turned to Peter said, get behind. me, Satan. You're a stumbling block to me. How do you go from being the building block to being a stumbling block? Peter, because we're extreme in a matter of a couple of verses. Peter would be this guy who'd say, Jesus, I'll never, ever deny you. I'll never deny you. But when they start asking him, do you know Jesus? He starts denying him. And it says, before the rooster code,

he wept bitterly. How do you go from wielding a sword to protect Jesus to weeping bitterly because you just denied him? Because we are extreme. And we're between these two extremes and it hurts. And even me as I was preparing for this sermon, I was here yesterday over here going, oh Lord, this is awesome. This is exactly what they need. 30 seconds later, I'm laying in the middle of it going, Lord, I got nothing. Could we play a sermon from 2012 and Pastor Stephen? It's something. much better because I'm extreme. That's why I relate to Peter. And if you're extreme, maybe you could relate to this. But if I could really confess something, it's this. It's like, I give a lot of weight today. And I know most preachers will stand up and talk about, well, back in 1922,

nope, this is a real struggle as I stand before you today. I give a lot of weight today. If I could really be honest, confession time, I'm a people pleaser. Are there any, Any other people pleasers here? Oh, please don't leave me in this thing by myself. Come on, please. Like, I'm a people pleaser. My wife is the one who really helped me realize that we've been married for this year. It would be 22 years. My wife, Jan. And she's the one who really helped me realize this. And early on in our marriage, year one of marriage, year one anniversary. I'm making like this amazing dinner. So I'm trying to score up marital points for marital blessings. And, and, but we're at dinner. And for those of us that are extreme, it doesn't take very, you can get from zero to 100 in a fight like that.

Because you use, here's how you get to a fight really quickly. You use extreme language. You always. Oh, yeah? You never. Oh, yeah? You never. Oh, yeah.

You always. And Michael Buffers, like, let's get ready to rumble. Don't lie to me. Oh, you don't fight in your marriage. Oh, you have intense fellowship. No, we fought. And she helped me realize this idea of I'm a people pleaser because she said something that really pierced me. She said, why are you always angry? I'm like, I'm not. I'm not angry. Stop it. She was so completely right. But I didn't know it. See, I see parents, I want to talk to the dad

specifically in here. We got to be really careful because we become the thermostat for our home. is your frustration determining the temperature of the entire house? Here's the language of extreme parenting that's parenting out of frustration. Quit! Don't! Stop! Not a very big vocabulary. Because all I'm trying to do is to get you to change what you're doing because it's frustrating me. Stop doing that. Don't do that. Quit doing that. And what the kids start to do over time is they will change their behavior to make dad happy. because they don't know why dad is frustrated because we're walking home in our insecurity and we punish our kids and we take it out on them but in the absence of understanding what's causing it you always assume

it's you so that kid is in a place of saying if maybe if you were a better kid they wouldn't be so angry and you start to become the governor on the whole atmosphere and now rather than shaping their character parenting is simply changing their behavior. And when they change their behavior that's no longer frustrating me, we call them a good kid. But when you're acting in a way that your behavior is frustrating me, you are a bad kid. That was the home I grew up in. It's because there were safe emotions and safe feelings and safe values, but most of them were very unsafe. I would tell it to you this way. So do you know that you have over 200 unique and separate emotions and feelings? But if I were to ask you, how many do you have? You might be able to list maybe 10,

maybe overachievers, maybe 15. But do you know how many you actually live in? Two, maybe three. Angry, hungry, and numb. That was me. Because I grew up in a world that said, it's either all good or it's all bad. I was forced into the extremes. And I grew up in a home that I was simply trying to make dad happy by changing my behavior. It started as an eight-year-old, but it's very dysfunctional as a 48-year-old. I wonder how many of you have been reduced to this, living in the extremes, because what started as survival turns into the way you're living. And we talk about generational sin. That's generational conditioning.

Let me illustrate it like this. Dalen, my daughter, pull that stand up and show me that. This is my daughter, Daly. I'll come to you, honey. This is my daughter, Daly. Hey, she's amazing. She's an artist. She's incredible.

And she's holding the ultra pack of crayons. It has 200 colors inside. I always envied you kids when I came to school. I didn't get that pack. I got the pack with just a couple crayons. But what I realized is the way I was raised is there were safe emotions and safe values. So when my wife said to me,

why are you always angry? She was right. Because anger was not safe. Or anger was the only safe emotion. Disappointment, fear, doubt, rejection. Those were not safe. So I'm feeling all of these other emotions, but everything's expressed as

anger. Why are you always angry? I'm not, but it's coming out as anger. You see what happens when we're people pleased? And what I would want you to know is that God created all of these vibrant colors for you to express yourself. As a person, are you operating according to conditioning or creation? And as a dad, how dysfunctional of it is me to just say, nope, that hurts me as a dad to know that my frustration becomes her conditioning. And what I got to do is the dad is to say, no, that's, it's not all good or it's all bad. Those are the extremes we jump to, isn't it? No, it's all of this. God wants you to have a little green yellow. That's a pretty color. Some neon carrot. But when I come home, am I forcing her?

to live like this, or am I helping her realize this? Keep drawing. All of these colors, God has given you. I apologize for the times that I punish you for my own insecurity. God is so much bigger than these extremes. All of this. Use it. I love you. But when I live in a world that I make it all good or all bad, I know what side of the equation I generally end up on. So if Larry is either all good or he's all bad, I know I'm not all good. So by default, I must be all bad. You see what happens saying is a people pleaser? I give everybody else the ability to determine my worth. So I'm looking at, am I good based upon how you feel about me? Am I good based upon what they think about me? It didn't start when you're 29. It started when you were nine. And what happens in the

those moments, what we will either do is we'll swing the pendulum to try to please them and to try to to earn their approval. So I'm always in this place. I'm like, are you happy with me? Or we'll swing it to the other extreme saying, screw you. I will reject it and I will just do it to get noticed. Some of you have been rebelling your whole life and it's a dysfunctional form of people pleasing. All of it comes from this place of wanting to be seen and to be known. But at the core of it, I started to believe that I never liked Larry. I mean, that's, Larry's never good enough. So as I'm reading this text, I'm looking at it going,

God, could you just give me a new name? I mean, you gave one to Simon. So I started calling myself, I'm just going to be Peter then. Yeah, just call me Peter. And some of you had tried the new, the new city, you know, the new relationship. You've got your third new last name in the last decade. and you realize you just keep waking up to the old you.

And as I started to look at this, I'm like, Lord, just give me a new name. He said, nope, God said, keep looking in my word and I'll reveal it to you. I said, Lord, I've heard that scripture preach so many times. I just need a new name. He said, nope, keep looking in my word, and I'll reveal it to you. And then I read this. It says, blessed are you, Simon's son of Jonah. For this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my father

in heaven, and there it was. There it jumped off the page at me. Simon had been given a new name, but the biggest thing he was given was a new nature. The extreme that's illustrated in this verse is the flesh and the spirit. Because you and I, when we are born, we are born separated from God because of sin. That began with Adam and Eve in the garden, and it's echoed throughout humanity, and all of us are born of the flesh. And we are separated from God. We are separated from God. from God. And the ultimate goal of flesh is self-pleasure and self-worship. And we are living in a culture in a world that everybody's highest epitome of the world's religions is if it feels good, do it. Because personal pleasure is what people worship. And that's your hardwiring of humanity.

And that is what you have practiced every day outside of Jesus. But when you come into relationship with Jesus, you get a new nature. That's the ultimate extreme that's being lived out in these texts. and it's this tension that's created it because we were dead in our sins but we're made alive in Christ and when you come into relationship the person of God in the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within you and he says he'll lead you into all truth but here's the crazy thing about faith is you were saved in a moment but you're changed little by little because I'm studying the words of Matthew but can I be honest I got moments where I'm just reciting lyrics from Eminem I'm like, where'd that come from?

Because you don't get rid of the flesh. It's still there. You've been walking in those patterns for 42 years, and you're saved in a moment, but all of that stuff does not go away in a moment. But now we put you into churchy world that says, you've got to be all good for the glory of God. I'm like, oh, I suck.

And it creates this chasm of faith that you can never be honest about the real colors that you're dealing with, because we paint these shades of it's either good or it's bad. No, no, no. All of those colors are expressions of humanity, and all of those are available to you. And God says, none of those destroy what I'm doing in you. But you come to Christ, when you come to Christ, you're given a new nature. In Galatians 6-8, it says this, whoever soes to please their flesh from the flesh will reap destruction. Whoever soes to please

the spirit from the spirit will reap eternal life. So right there, it shows this that all of us are simultaneously people pleasers and God pleasers. And I wish I could be extreme. I'm either a God pleaser or a people pleaser. Pick the extreme. I'm like, I'm both. At the same time. That's the crazy part about faith. And they don't tell you this, that when you come to relationship with Jesus, we often paint this picture. You've got to have it all right, brother, no longer struggle with those things. And you're get rid of all those things. And I'm like, I'm feeling like a failure because all that old stuff is still coming with me. And it puts me in a place to constantly feel like I'm falling short.

But I got both of these natures that are competing with inside of me because there's a moment that Jesus becomes your savior. Some of you are going to have that moment today where Jesus is going to become your savior. And you are going to be redeemed. And you've got your seat in heaven because of the finished work of Jesus in your life. It's a beautiful moment. You were saved. There is a moment when you face Jesus, face to face, and you will be saved.

But there's this process between here and they're called, you're being saved. It means I'm being conformed into his image. You are saved in a moment. He's my savior. But the process of learning to listen to his voice is when he becomes my Lord. because the voice you listen to is the Lord of your life.

And the purpose of faith here in this moment is for you to realize I've got that flesh and I've got that spirit both competing for my attention. I've been a part of the church since we launched it over 16 years ago and this extreme side of me has built up a little bit of a reputation. And there's actually when we hire new staff, they get a dictionary in their handbook. and in the dictionary, there's a thing called, and we'll have it on the screen,

it says, you got LB'd. Okay. You got LBed. I'm LB, that's my nickname. And so it's a sarcastic term referring to Larry Brie, often when you come, came away from an interaction with LB profoundly impacted. Now, depending upon when you meet me, there'll be two different versions of being LBed. Because there is the side of me that is the bulldozer LB.

I'm going to freaking run you over. I am going to get the job done and I'm going to make it happen. And I apologize for those of you that have felt the bulldozer version of LB. But then there's this other version of LB, Pastor LB. It's a place where I'm operating according to the spirit. And I'm choosing to listen to his voice. And now you have a moment that you feel seen. But I also have this other space in me.

And I just kept asking God, God, would you just take Simon away from me? Would you just? Would you just take, if you can't give me a new name, would you take away the old nature? And here's what he said. You don't get rid of Simon, but through the power of the spirit, you don't have to play the game, Simon says. You know the game you play as a kid? Simon says, you know, clap your hands. Simon says, jump up and down. Simon says, go to the club, and you do, you wake up the next morning with the hangover and not recognizing the person next to you.

Like, yeah, like Simon says, go ahead and gossip. It's okay. You know. yeah, Simon says, call the girl at 11.30 at night because you're a little drunk and a little lonely, so why didn't you call her anyway? Simon, you don't have to play the game, Simon says. Faith doesn't kick Simon out. Faith gives you the ability to not let him drive. He is in the car. He is with you. But faith is walking through these extremes of saying, I've got two voices competing for my attention. The spirit and the flesh. Can you recognize the last 10 times? that you were listening to Simon? Because the reality is it's happening so insidiously you're not even aware of it. That voice that's cussing them out in traffic, that's Simon. Now, maybe growth is this.

The next 10 times you cuss somebody out in traffic, you become aware of one of them. And then the next 10 times after that, maybe you become aware of three of them. Maybe the next 10 times after that you actually don't do one of them. Growth in Christ is measured with a calendar, not a clock. And some of you are feeling like you forfeited your destiny because you haven't arrived yet. No, no, no, there is some process. There's some assembly required to this thing called faith. You don't get rid of Simon, but you don't have to play Simon says. And in church will often make like listening to God and listening to the spirit really spooky and weird.

I remember when I came to faith, people talk about just listen to the spirit. And I closed my eyes and like, okay, I'm listening. And it made me feel like I'm an inferior Christian. Because they would talk about hearing from God. I'm like, I've never heard an audible voice. Maybe you have, and God does that. God's so much bigger, he can do all that. But the primary way that God is going to speak through you is through his word.

The primary way that God will reveal is through every other book you read. This is the only book that reads you. This is alive, it is active, it reads you. It's a difference. And if you look at the story of Peter here when he's talking like, okay, God, you are the Messiah and you are the son of God. How did those things get revealed to him? The Holy Spirit did it.

But how did he get introduced into Peter's life? Go back to John, chapter 1, verses 41 and 42. The first thing Andrew did was find his brother Simon and tell him, we found the Messiah. That is the Christ. And he brought him to Jesus. And Jesus looked at him and said, you are Simon, son of John, you will be called Cephas, which is translated is Peter.

So when Peter is saying that Jesus, who do they say? Who do you say them? You are the Messiah. Peter had heard that before. It's not something that God just dropped into his spirit in the moment. It was something that he had heard in his ears and something that he had read because it was a part of an Old Testament prophecy. It was something that he had been reading. And the way when we say we want to hear from you, God, we will not hear from God when we're divorced from His word. So with you, coming to church today. It is great because you are hearing God's word and is going to reveal him in your life and you can study God's word through the week and he will reveal himself to you. But you're the Messiah. What's cool about that is as soon as Simon meets Jesus. Jesus, oh, you're Simon? You'll be

called Peter. He didn't wait until a year and a half later in the moment we just read in Matthew 60. It was at the very moment he met Jesus. He got his new name. Why? Because in that moment when he came into a relationship with Jesus, he got a new nature. When you come into a relationship with Jesus, you get a new nature. Peter hadn't done squat, yet God still called him. And Jesus saw him. He says, you are Peter. And some of you don't feel worthy enough to be noticed by God because you're measuring it based upon your behavior. And the reason you're measuring it based upon your behaviors, that's what you use as a litmus test with every other relationship. And if you had the right behavior, maybe they would give you their blessing. God say, no, no, no, my blessing is not dependent on.

upon your behavior. It's dependent upon the finished work of my Savior. It's dependent upon Jesus. And then in Matthew 1433, it's the story of Jesus had just walked on water. And now the disciples, they're all freaking out and they all get in the boat. 1433, it says, then those who were in the boat worshipped him saying, truly, you are the son of God. So when Jesus asks, who do you say that I am? You're the Messiah and you are the son of God. Both of those things are things. that Peter had heard before. They're things that had been communicated to him previously. You are the son of God.

Now, what's funny about that is when the devil comes to Jesus. And he says, if you are the son of God, turn these rocks into bread. If you are the son of God, jump off the ledge and the angels will hold you. See, the devil did not doubt that Jesus was the son of God. He was trying to get Jesus to doubt that he was the son of God.

And here's one way that you can start to distinguish between the voice of Simon and the voice of Peter, between the spirit and the flesh is if, if you are. See, Satan knew that Jesus was the son of God. But what he chose to do is to worship himself rather than worship Jesus. Satan represents the flesh. and its desire is to consume you, and it wants you to worship the flesh, and that voice is still pinging you, but you also have the voice of God,

the spirit of God, living inside of you. If, and I wonder what they are saying to you, if you're really a Christian, why do you talk like that? If you're really saved, why are you doing that? If you've really got this relationship with Jesus, if, and you've got to be a Christian, got, when you're in your moment, you get caught up in your behavior and you start to agree with them. Yeah, you're right. But I want you to know that you've got another voice speaking inside of

you because Jesus, in this story, the two words I gave you were identity and assignment. Jesus knew his identity. He was fully God and he was fully man. He's both of those at the same time. But as Jesus is walking through the earth, he's got a couple different moments where heaven opens and God speaks to affirm his son. He's affirming his identity. In Matthew 317, it says this, and a voice from heaven said, this is my son, whom I love, and with him, I am well pleased. I love that. Before Jesus had done anything in his public ministry, God is establishing the identity. This is my son. And what I want to tell you today is Christ's identity is your identity. Because when you have a relationship with him. He, now his identity becomes your identity because you are co-heirs with Christ.

So everything that God has spoken about his son is something that he's speaking about you. You are a son. You are a daughter. And with my daughter, I am well pleased. He's speaking that over you. So when the voice of Simon is saying, Simon says, wait now, my father says, I'm a son. My father says, and he's, he is, he is, he is. is affirming your identity. And there's the second time that Jesus has his identity affirmed in Matthew 17. In verses 1 through 5, it says, after six days, Jesus took with him, Peter, James, and John, the brother James, and he led them up a high mountain by themselves. There he was transformed or transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun and his clothes became as white as light. Just then there appeared before them. Moses and Elijah taught.

talking with Jesus. Peter said to Jesus, of course he does. Peter said to Jesus, look, Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I'll put up three shelters, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them. And a voice from the cloud said, this is my son, whom I love with him, I am well pleased. Listen to him. Peter is in mid-sentence of, how about I do this? And how about I do this? And the voice speaks from heaven like,

Sh, Sh, Simon, shut up. He doesn't even let him finish the sentence. You have the authority as a child of God to, Sh, Sh, Simon, shut up. And what God says is stop talking, Simon, and listen to him. the voice you listen to is the one that's leading you. And what God is saying is just listen.

Christ's identity is your identity. But our assignment is not the same as his assignment. Because Christ's assignment was to go to the cross. Here's our assignment in Luke 923. Jesus said this to them. Then he said to them all, whoever wants to be my disciple, must deny themselves,

pick up their cross daily, and follow me. And what he's saying, they must deny themselves. You must deny that Simon part of you. He says it's a daily dying to that. It's easy to trust Jesus in a moment, but will I trust him

every day in the daily denying of myself. And you'll come to these moments where you're like, I'm so conflicted God. Paul would say, that at which I want to do, I don't do, and that of which I don't want to do, I end up doing. And when we live in that space and we have moments where we just run after Simon, we just feel so much shame. But what I want you to hear is the voice of God,

even in your worst moment, saying, this is my son in whom I am well pleased. And your assignment is to follow him. That's the assignment. It's to listen to his voice and follow him. And what's amazing about this is Jesus would be faithful with his assignment. Because the reason he came onto the earth was one thing, and that was to go to the cross. And Jesus would go to the cross.

And when you look at the cross, it's an intersection. The cross, it's an intersection of heaven and earth. wrath and forgiveness life and death Jesus is between two extremes it's the most extreme environment you could ever imagine

because all of the penalty and for all of the sin that should have been laid on us was laid on him he is fully God and he's fully man what kept him on the cross in that extreme place in Hebrews it says

for the joy set before him. He endured the cross, scorning at shame, and he sat down the right hand of God. What is the joy in the cross? Two levels of joy, I think, that's described in the text. The first is the joy of his father, saying, this is my son in whom I'm well pleased. Because I think he also heard well done good and faithful servant. Because he's got that extreme of heaven,

but he also has the extreme of humanity. So what's the joy with the humanity? I believe that when it says, for the joy set before him, it was you. And it was me. And it was his disciples. And what kept him in that place was his father's glory and your salvation.

And he stood in that place between those places in all of that pain, in all of that, so that you could be reconciled with God. these extremes could only come together through one thing and it was through the blood that was shed by Jesus. And because of his finished work on the cross, he created a way for you to come into God's presence. He created a way for God's love to come to you.

Would you stand to your feet at all of our locations? As you've heard the Word of God today, the Spirit of God has showed you that he is real, that he loves you. And some of you have never had a moment that you've placed your faith in him. You've never begun a relationship with them. This is the time that God has appropriated for you to begin that relationship. And if you have never made that decision, it would be my privilege to lead us all in a prayer right now for someone to begin a relationship with Jesus. And when you begin a relationship, he gives you a new nature. And then he walks it out with you so that you can hear him

and walk out this thing called salvation. Bow your heads and close your eyes at all of our locations, joining us online right now for someone to begin a relationship with Jesus. Church family, I want you to pray with me out loud for the benefit of somebody who's making this decision and coming to Jesus in this moment. I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who died on the cross and rose from the grave to forgive me of my sin. I give you my life

I give you my sin I give you my shame forgive me and I'll spend my life following you with your head still bowed and your eyes still closed if you just began a relationship with Jesus or you're coming back to him

I am going to count to three and when I get there without hesitation I want you to boldly shoot your hand into the air one two three shoot your hand up all of our locations come on online if you just that decision. Let us know about it. Come on, church family. Let's celebrate that. This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed human.