Live Free with Josh Howerton - Unwavering Confidence in God's Love | Ep. 95 | Friday June 16, 2023

Episode Date: June 16, 2023

As Pastor Mike continues to teach on identity, it is our prayer that you will begin to grasp your true identity in Christ. We challenge you to pause and meditate on the Scriptures that Pastor Mike provides. Let the truth of God's Word sink in. We can be confident in our true identity in Christ. We are loved with a radical, unfailing love. For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.comit. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. Hey, welcome to the Daily Drive, summer edition. Actually, it's just like all the rest editions. It's just summer.

And I'm super excited to hang with you the summer Monday through Friday where we're talking about identity theft. How we have an enemy who wants to hack into our soul and steal our true identity is a much-love child of God because that's who you are. That's your true identity. You are not defined by what you feel.

You're not defined by what people say about you or what you do and how well you do it or what you've done in your past. defined by the unfailing love of God. Now, we've talked a bunch about this guy named Paul on our podcast. He was chosen by Jesus to spread the good news of God's unfailing love to the world. He planted a whole bunch of churches. He writes a lot of the New Testament of the Bible.

And he prays one of the most fervent prayers in the whole Bible for this gathering of new Jesus followers in the city called Ephesus. And it's a prayer that you really ought to memorize. It comes from the book of Ephesians, Chapter 3, and I want you to see what he writes there. He says this in verse 16 through 19. I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources, he will give you mighty inner strength through His Holy Spirit.

And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in Him. May your roots go down deep into the soil of God's marvelous love. And I pray that you would have the power to grasp, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, how high, how deep. deep his love really is. May you experience the love of Christ. Though it's so great, you'll never fully understand it. Then, then you'll be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God. Man, what a rich prayer. I did a little word study on the word he uses there for a grasp or understand. It comes from the ancient Greek word for rust or decay. It literally means to eat all the way

through. You see what Paul is saying here? My prayer is that you would not just know know some stuff about the love of God, but that you would experience it in the core of your being, that you would let the high, wide, deep, long love of God eat all the way through you, that you would really grasp what it means to be loved with a 100% unfailing love, that you would be absolutely captured by that. Our youngest son, Drew, is a really, really smart guy. I mean the guy's got a

photographic memory just makes you sick. Before he would take a test in school, he just get his notes out, look at it for a few minutes, go in and completely ace the test. He's like a 4.0 kind of guy. But ask Drew if he has a grasp of chemistry. Ask him if he really grasps

algebra. Ask him if he has a firm grasp on ancient world civilization 201. Now he got A's in all those classes, but he didn't grasp it because he didn't really want to grasp it. He just wanted to ace the test. And I know all kinds of people, who look at the Bible like that,

they just want to kind of know what's going to be on the test and scan through it. And many of those people have been going to church for years. Man, I was one of them. We just paint on a smile, show up for church, and kind of do the religious thing, you know, sing a few songs, give a few bucks, listen to a few sermons,

but never ever really grasp the love of God for us and never really get to know him. And as a result, you never really get to know yourself. And your identity gets all screwed up, and you go through life looking for acceptance, security and significance that is already yours, and then we begin to set unfair expectations on imperfect people, and we begin to wreck relationships that don't give us those things.

And I think that's why Paul prayed this prayer. He said, listen, it's not found in other people. I pray that you'll be able to grasp how high, how wide, how deep, how long the love of God is for you. Let the unfailing love of God capture your heart. Let it eat all the way through you. For when you do, you will discover your true identity. You will walk in the confidence that you are a priceless, much-loved treasured child of the Most High God,

one that is love with this radical, unfailing love, that is who you are. I've kept this list for years. Our friends at Freedom in Christ's Ministry compiled the list. Some of you've seen it. But let me just give it to you real quick, and I invite you to grab a copy of God's Word and read some of these scriptures for yourself. let the truth of what God says about you. Let the truth of what God says about you. Eat all the way through you. Because I'm in Christ and Christ is in me, I'm completely accepted. This is what God says.

I am God's child. I am Christ's friend. I have been justified. I'm united with the Lord and I'm one in spirit with him. I've been bought with a price. I belong to God. I'm a member of Christ's body. I've been adopted as God's child. I have direct access to God through the Holy Spirit. I've been redeemed and forgiven of all my sins, and I am complete in Christ. Because I'm in Christ and Christ is in me, I'm totally secure. God says this, I am free forever from condemnation. I'm assured that God works all things together for good. I cannot be separated from the love of God.

I've been established, anointed, and sealed by God. I'm confident that God will finish the good work he started in me. I'm a citizen of heaven. I'm hidden with Christ. I've not been given a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-discipline. I can find mercy and grace to help me in my time and need. I am born of God, and the evil one cannot touch me. Because I'm in Christ, and Christ is in me, I'm also deeply significant.

God says this. I am the salt of the earth. And the light of the world. I'm a branch of the true vine Jesus, a channel of his life. I've been chosen to bear fruit. I'm a personal spirit-empowered witness of Christ. I'm a temple of God. I'm a minister of reconciliation for God.

I'm God's co-worker. I'm seated with Christ in the heavenly realms. I am God's workmanship, created for good works. I may approach God with freedom and confidence, and I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Accept it, secure, significant. That's what he says. And isn't that what you've been looking for?

I know I was, and I found it. With all due respect to Jerry McGuire, Jesus Christ completes me. He is the God of unfailing love who wants to complete you too and give you back your true identity. See you next time. Thanks for tuning in today. For more biblical teaching and worship, join us for our church online live weekend services on Saturdays at 6 p.m.

and Sundays at 9.30 and 11 a.m. Central Standard Time. Also, if this podcast was helpful to you, would you be sure to rate, review, and share this podcast to help get the word out? For more information about all digital ministries of Lake Point, visit lakepoint.compt.combe.combe.combe.