The Church of Eleven22 - Saturated 2023 - Thursday: Pastor Bryan Loritts

Episode Date: September 8, 2023

Saturated is our annual five-day event in which we anticipate the movement of God to bring revival in our lives individually and as a church body. - The Church of Eleven22™ is a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. Eleven22 is led by Pastor Joby Martin and based in Jacksonville, Florida, with multiple campuses throughout Jacksonville and the surrounding areas. To support The Church of Eleven22 and help us continue to reach people around the world, visit https://www.coe22.com/donate

Yeah, you know that video was fake. It was many years ago before I had these. So what an absolute joy and privilege to be here with you. Let's just start out a little PG-13. I was just thinking about the first time, in fact, the only time outside of this one, that I was invited to come and speak at Saturators several years ago. And I had never been to this church before and was excited to come. So true story, I get my car and I'm driving down the street.

and totally my fault. On my way here, I kind of drifted over into the other lane, almost hit the gentleman next to me. He pulls up alongside of me, speaks to me in sign language. True story, races out in front of me, and we go through a few lights,

and he turns right, and I turn right, and a little bit more, he turns left, and I turn left, and I'm like, oh, no. Pulls into the parking lot. here. And I parked next to him. I'm like, what's up, bro? And I come on in. I wish I could have

seen his face when he saw me the speaker. The duty had just flipped off. That's really a true story. But I say that to say, listen, I understand in a room this size that I'm speaking to people from all walks of life. Some of you are church OGs. You grew up in the church. You go back to flannel board days. And others of you, this is your first time ever in church. And I say welcome to everybody. Welcome to everybody. Even to those of you who flipped off preachers in your life. If you have your Bibles, I want you to meet me in 1 Corinthians chapter 4.

As I was thinking about our time together this evening, I want to point you to a passage of scripture. I'll be very careful how I say this. We believe that all scripture, 2 Timothy chapter 3 is inspired by God, that is breathed out by God. But if you would not call yourself a follower of Jesus Christ, or if you are a brand new follower of Jesus Christ, you're investigating what Christianity is, and maybe you're coming through the pragmatic door, you're wondering, what is it about the gospel of Jesus Christ and Christianity that speaks to the deepest part of who I am?

I would say 1 Corinthians chapter 4 verses 1 through 5 is a key text that everybody should just steep in. Let me also say this parenthetically. I'm grateful to my friend Pastor Jobi, and I've been around incredibly gifted people all my life, and Pastor Jobi indeed is that. But you're around him, and you also know that he's not just gifted, he's anointed, that is the hand of God is on him. And I give honor to you tonight. Paul writes these words in 1 Corinthians chapter 4. This is how one should regard us as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.

Moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found faithful. Hear these words. But to me it is a very small thing that I should. should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, Paul says, I don't even judge myself. For I'm not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. Hear these words.

It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore, do not pronounce judgment before the time. But wait until the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. And then each person's, one translation says, praise. Another translation says commendation will come to him from God. I want to talk tonight from the subject,

the freedom of identity. The freedom of identity. When you know who you are, when you know whose you are, the gospel in the cross of Jesus Christ is the most freeing thing around. So, Father, I'm grateful for this church. I'm grateful for the wind of the spirit that is so evident among these people, both in this room and online and the other campuses, Lord God. God, a special thing is happening in this section of your vineyard. I'm grateful for the leaders that you've gifted to this church.

I'm grateful, Lord, God, for opportunities to come and gather together and refuel and refresh. God, we declare in this place tonight and other venues that no one is here by accident. We believe that when, even when Adam and Eve were running around the garden looking for fig leaves to hide under, that you had ordained this day and each person here, that they would be here. You have ordered the steps of their life, that they would hear the timeless message of the cross of Jesus Christ and how that sets us free from people pleasing.

That sets us free from the tyranny of others and gives us a true identity, a metanarrative, a bigger story to live for. And so, Father, would you, as the old African-American preachers would say, would you stand in my body, think with my mind, speak with my tongue, those things you'd have us know, say, and do? Would you save souls tonight? Would you bring people who maybe have deconstructed or are out in the far country? Would you bring them back home? It's in Jesus' name we pray.

Amen. Amen. One of the most violating things that could ever happen to a person, and I'm sure in a room this size or in other venues who are watching, some people have experienced this. I have friends of mine who experience it. They talk about one of the most violating acts of betrayal a person can ever experience is to be the victim of identity thieves. We all understand what an identity theft is. It's a pretty brazen. individual who gets access to very personal, pertinent information of yours. They get your Social Security number, and then they assume your identity. And when that happens, sky's the limit. They open up lines of credit in your name.

Some have been known to open up credit cards in your name. Others have been known to purchase cards. I even remember reading a story about some identity thieves who had actually bought a home in another person's name. Again, they're brazen individuals. Talk about feeling violated and betrayed. It's because of that some years ago. It's never happened to my wife and I, but some years ago we wanted to get ahead of the curve. And so we decided to be proactive, and we got into relationship with a company called LifeLock. LifeLock has built a brand off of securing people's identity. Now, if you're thinking about,

into a relationship with LifeLock, let me warn you to send a commercial for them, because LifeLock will get on your everlasting last nerve. Because every time they sense something is wrong, they're going to ping you. Every time they sense suspicious activity, they're going to hit you up with a very verbose email that really can be whittled down to three words. Is this you? is this you? They're asking essentially the question of identity.

The question of identity is the background elevator music of our souls. I don't care where you are on the spiritual continuum. Part of what it means to be made in the Amago Day, the image of God. is we're constantly wrestling with that question. No, we might not ask, is this you? But there's another three-word question we ask. Who am I? Who am I?

There's a guy in church history I think we should all know. Again, no matter where you might be on the spiritual continuum, I'm a guy by the name of Dietrich Bonhofer. I was in England some years ago. I was over there. If you try to gain weight in England, that's not going to really work. I got some friends of mine who say the food's so bad that when we get to hell, the chefs will be British. No offense if you're from England.

But anyways, I'm over there, and right there outside of Westminster Abbey is actually a monument to Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He lived in the early to mid part of the 20th century. He was a guy who stood up against him. Hitler in the Nazi regime, really advocated on behalf of the Jews, and because of that, that landed him in a concentration camp and would ultimately get him executed. He was a Jesus lover, died in his late 30s. Here he is a few weeks from execution, and I can see Bonhofer now. He's kind of seated on his bed in his cell, and he's wrestling with this question of, who am I?

He picks up a pen, he takes out some paper, and he writes this poem, will you look at it on the screen with me. He writes, who am I, this or the other? Am I one person today and tomorrow another? Am I both at once a hypocrite before others and before myself a contemptibly woebegone weakling? Or is something within me still like a beaten army fleeing in disorder from victory already achieved? Listen to these words. Who am I? They mock me, these lonely questions of mine. Don't miss it. I love how he ends. Whoever I am, thou knowest. Oh, God, I am thine. Story is told not long after this, Dietrich Bonhofer is walking to the gallows.

They're about to hang him, and with complete joy, he says, they think for me this is the end when it's only the beginning, and he could say that because he knew his identity. Who am I? Everybody asked that question. A few weeks ago, Pastor Jobi, I don't know how this happened. I got invited to speak to a gathering of national hockey league players in Park City's Utah. I'm laughing because, you know, I don't know how much you know about hockey, but for whatever reason,

it's never gained traction in the chocolate community. I don't know why that is. Could be a bunch of white guys chased around a black puck. I don't know why that is. So they invite me out to Park City, Utah, another place that ain't popular with the brothers. So I go out there. And I'm standing before all these NHL athletes, and I'm just going, look, you don't have to worry about me fan girl and you. I don't know who you are.

I have no clue who you are. I said, but here's what I do know. Each of you in this room can say, Mama, I made it. You're the creme della crim. Here's what I'm guessing about you, I told them. I'm guessing from the time you were a little something. You were made aware that you are uniquely gifted as an end. athlete and you kind of stood out from others there on the ice and man you you you performed well and

you got a bunch of attaboys and you began to connect at a young age kind of i'm proud of you's with performance so kind of baked into who you are is this performance ethic but here's this thing you perform you perform you perform you perform and it's never enough so you perform to make that special traveling AAU team and you get picked up on that AAU team, but the performance ain't over, baby, because you want to get recruited to that college. You perform and perform and perform, you get recruited to the right college, but it ain't over because you want to get drafted into the National Hockey League, and you perform and you perform, and lo and behold, you get drafted, sign that contract, but it ain't over because

you know anything about professional sports. It ain't the first contract. It's the second contract. And you perform, and you perform, and you perform, and you perform, and you perform. And here's the problem. At some point, the gig will be up. I don't pray this for you, the injury will happen. Father time will win yet again.

The lights will dim, the crowds will dissipate, and you'll be left with the question, who am I? I was telling Pastor Jobby back in his office, he was asking how I'm doing. I says, man, I'm an emotional wreck right now. 22-year-old son's in the Army doing his thing. I got a 20-year-old in college, he's doing his thing. And just yesterday, we waved goodbye to my 18-year-old son who's going to Zimbabwe, Thailand, Central Asia, on Agapir, serving the poor. And then the next year he's going to go to a college.

And so we're empty nesting. Here's the problem. My wife, you know, she used to work for ABC News and all that good stuff. And we get married. And then she gets pregnant. And she's like, I want to be home full time. So for the last 22 years, that's what she's been doing. doing? And she said to me the other day, I just got fired from my job. And she's wrestling

with the question, who am I? Some of you in this room, you're in a season of unemployment. You went to work one day, and you thought, man, this is just going to be a wonderful day. Career is kind of going in a right direction. And all of a sudden, there's that pink slip. And now you're in this season of unemployment. And the foundations of your life are rocked. And you're wrestling with the question, who am I? Others of you, it's the exact opposite problem. Your career's going wonderful, jobs going great, wonderful home. Kids are in the right school. Everything is going wonderful.

And yet you still have this gnawing thing in the depths of your soul in which you're wondering. Something is missing. And maybe you're wealthy and you have all the cars and the money and everything. And you've got this thing in you that's just like, man, if this stuff went away, I wonder how many people in my life go away. Who am I? Some of you are on an infertility journey. Who am I? I can think of no other passage in the Bible that gets to the core of identity than our passage.

If we get this right, we get life right. If you miss out on this core issue of identity, if you don't check this box, it'll be like singing the alphabet song and leaving out the letter A. It just doesn't work. Who am I? In order to get our arms around this, we have to roll back a couple of children. chapters and figure out why does Paul write the Corinthians in the first place. First Corinthians chapter one, right around verses 10 or 11, Paul says, hey, I want you to know, I'm not really writing you for good reasons.

I've actually gotten a report from one of the members of your church, a woman by the name Chloe, that all is not well. In fact, Chloe even tells me that there are divisions within the church. Now, if I'm Chloe, by the way, I'm a little ticked off because Paul, I told you that in confidence and you're going to put my name out there for everybody to hear, really. Are you kidding me right now? So Paul said, I'm writing to a divided church. And so there's some people in the church, they love Paul.

He's the founder of the church. He's the founder. Paul's my guy. So there's a group there, a click there. It's like, man, I'm of Paul. Then you've got another group's like, no, it ain't Paul. It's his successor of Paulus. He's a silver-throat orator.

This guy can preach the birds out the trees. He's our pastor Jobi. I love that. That's that guy. Somebody else is like, no, it ain't Paul, it ain't Pastor Apollus, I'm of Peter, the guy who got it kicked off on the day of Pentecost, and then there's a whole other group. Like, it ain't none of them, we're of Christ, the super spiritual crowd. The result is a divided church, watch it now. I wish I had more time to deal with this.

The divisions of the Corinthians teach us this is that when we don't rest our identity in Christ, but when we locate our identity and the lesser of identity, of this life, division will always happen. So when my identity's in my bank account, when my identity's in my ethnicity, when my identity is in kind of my political party, there's going to be division. And we've seen a lot of that in the body of Christ, haven't we? You've heard this before. We're not the people of the donkey or the elephant. We're the people of the lamb.

Jesus ain't coming back on Air Force One. That when the national anthem is played, Jesus does not stand and remove his hat. place his hand over his heart. He does not pledge allegiance to America. America is called to pledge allegiance to him. So what does Paul do? What does Paul do? How does he get this divided church together? He takes one thing, one thing, the gospel, one thing, the good news of Jesus Christ, and applies it to everything. It's sort of like I grew up in Atlanta, and if you saw my mama's medicine cabinet growing up, there wasn't a whole lot of stuff in her medicine cabinet. Outside of some Band-Ais, the only piece of medicine she had in there, and I pray to God,

you have never experienced this in your life, the only piece of medicine mama had was the dreaded cod liver oil. Now, if you've never had cod liver oil in your life, consider yourself blessed and highly favored. Cod liver oil will not be in heaven. Mama took one thing, cod liver oil, and applied it to everything. Weather's changing, you might get a cold. Let me get the cod liver oil.

Coughing a little bit, cod liver oil. Broken ankle, cod liver oil. She took one thing and applied it to everything. How does Paul deal with division in the Church of Jesus Christ? He takes one thing, the simple message that you and I were sinners. We had racked up a debt with God we could never repay. God saw us headed down a one-way street. with an eternity destined in hell, knew that we were helpless.

Jesus said, I will pay their debt. He died in our place and for our sins. He became our substitutionary, atoning work. And when we take the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ and rest our identity in him, now unity happens within the body of Christ. So now Paul comes in our text with this framework in mind. And I want you to see it. There's a tension in our text.

Remember, there's a group of people who love Paul. They're saying, we love Paul. And what's not to like about Paul? He's a New York Times best-selling author of 13 books. He's written about half the New Testament. He's a capital L leader. He's planted all these churches. And so there's a group of people who love Paul.

and maybe Paul you should leverage that. Maybe Paul you should put your identity in the amount of followers you have on Instagram. Maybe Paul you should get the blue check mark and put your identity and your successes and your status. Paul won't have any of that. Most of the Church of Corinth on the other extreme, they don't like Paul.

In fact, the Corinthians would actually say about Paul, we hate your preaching. So maybe, maybe Paul, instead of putting your identity in your successes, you should put your identity in your perceived weakness and failure. By the way, there's a lot of that going on today in our world. There's a lot of people putting their identity in perpetual victimhood. Let me just pause here and say this. I'm a big fan of therapy.

I go to therapy. My wife and I go to therapy. I encourage therapy, but be very careful. from taking a diagnosis from a therapist and wearing it as a badge of identity. You are not your depression. You are not your anxiety. You are more than conquerors through Christ. Your identity is in Jesus.

So what Paul will you do? Will you put your identity in your successes? Will you put your identity in the size of your church? Will you put your identity in your gifts? Will you put your identity in victimhood and the fact that people don't like you and your oppression? Paul says, no, none of that. He says, if you want to know where my identity, here it is. I am a servant of Christ and a steward of the mysteries of God.

I love it. This is as complicated as this little Sunday school lesson gets. Paul is writing in an original language called Greek. The Greek word for servant, hear it now. It's a compound word that simply means an under-roar. An under-rower. It was used of the big Roman ships that would sail the Mediterranean Sea. And back then, in the first century world, we know this.

They weren't powered by gas or coal or steam. They were powered by a group of men below deck who, in unison, under the authority and command of the captain would row together. They were the under-rowers. He also says, not only am I? a servant and under-roar, he says, I am a steward. Greek word, oikonomos, oi-canamas, oi-canimos. It's from that word oikonemos that we get the English word economics. Hear it now, don't lose me.

That word steward means, hear it, not one who owns the house, but one who manages the house. The closest kind of Old Testament picture of this is Joseph with Potiphar. Potipher owns the house. Joseph manages the house at your neighborhood. These two words, under-rower, servant, steward, watch it now. Both are pictures of individuals who are under the command of another. And their identity is so inextricably tied to the captain, to the own. owner of the house that to see me is to see them and to see them is to see me.

Paul says, that's who I am. I'm a servant. I'm a stewardess. Like I told those hockey players, you're not a hockey player who happens to be a Christian. You're a Christian who happens to be a hockey player. You're not a stay-at-home mom who happens to be a Christian. You're not a woman who's a CEO in the marketplace who happens to be a Christian. a Christian who happens to be a CEO, a Christian who happens to be a stay-at-home mom,

that identity governs everything in my life. Now watch it. I've got one point tonight. I know good preachers preaching threes. I'm going to give you one point. Okay, Brian, thanks for the lesson, but practically speaking, what does that do for me? There's a little word that keeps popping up in our text. It's the word judge, judge, judge, judge, judge.

This word judge, watch it now, doesn't speak of the verdict or the outcome. It speaks of the process. That word judge means to be analyzed or scrutinized. Paul says this. I'm a servant of Christ. I'm a steward of the mystery of God. And because my identity rests in that and not in what you think of me, I am free from your opinion of me. When you know who you are, you are freed from the opinions of others.

Paul says, y'all are debating about whether or not you like me or not, and you're commenting on my preaching. At the end of the day, it's foolishness. Servant of Christ, steward of the mysteries of God. We all know what it's like to constantly be analyzed and scrutinized by other people. and we know what they do to us because we do it to them, and making judgments they are about what we drive, and if we have kids, how they behave,

and what school they go to, and what side of the town we live on, we live in a fishbow. But when you rest your identity, not in your credit score or your socioeconomic account, I am freed from what you think about me. But Paul's not done. Paul says, not only am I free of your opinion of me, I'm free of my opinion of me.

Do you see what he's saying here? He's saying, but to me it's a very small thing that I should be judged by you. Then he goes on to say, I don't even judge myself. We all have an inner lawyer that we need to fire. Voices of condemnation, some of them are demonic voices. Voices of shame, voices of guilt. That's why you have to become your favorite podcast preacher. Mind yourself, my identity is in Christ.

So Paul says, watch it now. I'm free from your opinion. I'm free from my opinion, but there's one person's opinion I'm not free from. God's opinion. Therefore, do not pronounce judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes, who both bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Paul is saying, there is coming a day when I shall behold him face to face. There is coming a day, the writer of Hebrew says, it is appointed unto man,

wants to die, and then the judgment. I don't care how many kale salads you. eat in your life, you will die. And we shall behold him face to face. And we shall give an account. I love golf. Boy, I love golf. There's got to be some fairways in heaven, man.

Love me some golf. A couple years ago, there's a couple from our church that blessed me with two tickets to a practice round at Augusta National. If you don't know anything about golf, man. Augusta National. Like, I believe when the Holy Spirit comes back, man, he's going to look at a few things and go like, yeah, yeah, we're taking that back with us. Augusta National has got to come.

Leave the pimento cheese, but take Augusta National with you. Anyways. So I don't know how much you know about the P.J. Tour, but Terminus on the P.J. Tour, four rounds, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. And each of those rounds, each round, they move the little kind of flag that protrudes from the green. They call it the pin. They move that each round with Sunday's pin placement being the toughest. So here I am, it's a practice round.

Two days before the tournament starts Tuesday. And of course, I'm following my boy. He don't know that's my boy, but Tiger. I'm following Tiger. And what I see that day disturbs me. Because not one time does this Joker hit it close to the hole. Not once. Not once.

And not only does he not hit it close to the hole, he seems perfectly content. Like, I want you to throw a club. I want you to get upset. You know what I'm saying? I want you to channel a little bit of that spirit of that guy who flipped me off my first time club. I want you to have some of that. Well, finally, towards the end of the round, we're on a part three.

I'll never forget. Penn is front left, and he hits his ball about 50 feet to the back right of the green. And this Joker has the nerve, the unmitigated gall. to slap high five with his caddy, and his catty says, good shot. Now, I don't know how much you know about kind of what decorum should be if you're in the gallery at an event, but typically, even though you're outside, they want you to use your inside voice. I had momentarily lost my mind. He puts his ball 50 feet away, pins front left, back right, and his catty says, good shot.

And before I even think, I'm like, good shot. That was not a good shot. To which an older gentleman in the gallery says to me, young man, we've been following Tiger all day. Have you noticed not once he's hit it towards the hole? I says yes. He says it's Tuesday. Tiger is not playing with Tuesdays pin placements in mind.

He's playing with Sundays pin placements in mind. Here he is on a Tuesday. not laboring for Tuesday. But what's guiding him in the present is championship Sunday. That's what Paul is saying to you and I. Why are you stressing yourself out trying to impress people who will only die people? You will never have to ultimately answer to. Labor and work.

For that championship Sunday, that great getting up Sunday, let that future navigate your present. So there's a freedom. Paul says, when you understand this freedom, it sets us free from performance. Notice what he says. But to me, it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you. My identity is rested in the cross of Jesus Christ. It's a very small thing. That Greek word for small, it's the superlative of micros, micros,

we get the word microscopic. Teeny, tiny, tiny. Here's what he's saying. When I compare what you think of me to what God thinks of me, no comparison. That's the freedom with coming and resting in gospel identity. Paul planted a group of churches. There are churches in a region called Galatia, and he came in preaching the good news of Jesus Christ.

The good news of Jesus Christ is yet again that I had racked up a debt with God that I could not pay, that Jesus Christ became my payment. He died in my place and for my sins, that I'm saved by grace through faith. All these people came to faith in Jesus Christ. Paul then leaves, and in his place comes a group of Jewish leaders who then whispered to these new Gentile converts. You can't really trust Paul. You have to abandon that message. You need to be circumcised.

And then they attack Paul's identity by saying he, He's not a true apostle. He was not handpicked by God, by Jesus. Paul gets the word and notice what Paul says. In Galatians 110, he says this, for am I now seeking the approval of man or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man,

I would not be a servant of Christ. It's the freedom of identity. I'm not going overboard. I know who I am in Christ. This is a message our culture even says to us in their own way. Many years ago, Madonna at the height of her fame, she gave a interview to Vogue magazine. Yes, that Madonna. She's not a follower of Jesus Christ to my knowledge, but look at what she says with me.

She says, my drive in life comes from a fear of being mediocre. That is always pushing me. I push past one spell of it and discover myself as a special human being, but then I feel I am still mediocre. and uninteresting unless I do something else. Hear it now, because Madonna says, even though I have become somebody, I still have to prove that I am somebody. My struggle has never ended, and I guess it never will.

Listen, for those of you who are here tonight, you don't know Jesus Christ's Lord and Savior. You know Madonna's telling the truth. You will never get to a point in your life where you go, got enough money. You'll never get to a point in your life. where you go, got enough purses. I'm meddling now.

Some years ago, my pastor, my pastor, in Englewood, California, their church had gotten so big, they didn't have anywhere to go, so they bought the Great Western Forum where the Lakers used to play. They bought it. They were in it, and then some years later they had to sell it. Right before they sold it, Prince asked if he could do a concert there to the community, not to the church, to the community.

Prince comes, gives the concert, and then he invites my pastor. pastor over to his house just to two of them for dinner. Prince, yes, his purpleness. I said to my pastor, what did y'all talk about? He said, man, all Prince wanted to talk about was the Lord. I says, really? He said, yeah, man, Prince is a Jehovah's Witness. My pastor asked me and says, well, Prince, I don't get it. Why are you a Jehovah's Witness? He says, man, I've played all these arena and something is missing. So my pastor goes, let me get the straight, Prince. You get up at ungodly hours on Saturdays, and you're knocking on doors? Prince says, yeah, sometimes I've got to wear a disguise, but I'm just trying to get into the 144,000.

Hear me, you go down the performance road, it's never enough. You'll never be good enough. You'll never give enough. But that's why the gospel of Jesus Christ says we have one who performed for us. I told you, I'm a little bit emotional. My youngest son is left. I ain't going to see that joker till May. I told my wife, as he was leaving, I said, man, just as my youngest is leaving, I think I'm just figuring out parenting.

Can we adopt? One of the things I've thought about my youngest, he's quite the baller, and I remember his first organized basketball game. It was like six or seven years old. I was pastoring in Memphis at the time, and so excited. I get there. I'm sitting way up in the corner of the bleachers by myself. I look out, my boy's starting. Ball gets tipped up, again, my son's six or seven.

First game, a couple minutes into the game, my son lets it fly, is a lefty, sweet stroke, swish. Ball goes through the net. Other team gets it, they're going the other direction, but my son ain't running. He finds me up in the bleachers. His only court finds me at the bleachers. He goes, and I'm like,

Yeah, go ahead, go ahead, go ahead. A little while later in the game, my son steals the ball. But he doesn't do anything with the ball. He just kind of holds on to it. Finds me up in the bleachers. And he's like, and I'm like, yeah, go ahead. Many of us in this room, we've got young kids and they play direct ball. And you know how it is.

At the end of the game, typically one of the kids' moms or dads, they're assigned to buy the Gatorade, and they're passing out the Gatorade, and the coach is gathering them all together and giving last minute. But my son has slipped out of that huddle, and he walks up into the bleachers, and he asked me a question. He said, hey, Dad, did I do good? That began a tradition after every game, even in high school. Hey, dad, what'd you think? Hey, dad, did I do good?

I noticed in all those years my boy asked me that question, I never heard him ask his coach that question. Parents of the players that question. I never heard him ask any of the teammates that question. He only asked me, it's as if my boy was saying, if dad says I'm good, I'm good. There's a place in all of us that aches for the approval of a dad. Matthew 317, as Jesus was coming out of the waters, God says, this is my beloved son. in whom I'm well pleased. Let me translate that for you.

I don't care how many people you hooked up with. I don't care how long you've been addicted to alcohol or drugs or porn. I don't care how many affairs you've had. How many lies you've told. God can legitimately say of you tonight, not because of your performance, but because of Christ. Because he doesn't see you through your righteousness for you. your righteousness is as filthy rags.

He sees you through the righteousness of Christ. I want to pray. Someone's here tonight and you are imprisoned in the chains of other people's opinions. You don't know the freedom of identity in Christ. Someone's here tonight and you're here tonight. You don't have a relationship with God. And maybe in a southern town like Jacksonville, you identify with Prince who seemingly had it all, but something was missing. And so he said, if I can just go down the road of religion that will do it, but you know there's not enough quiet times that will set you free.

So someone tonight needs to say yes to Jesus Christ for the first time in their life. someone's here tonight and you've already said yes to Jesus Christ but if you're honest your identity has gotten wrapped up into other stuff money and performance and the things of this life and tonight you want to just simply come and profess that yes I'm a follower of Jesus Christ but I want to just relocate my identity from the things of this life to the things of God I want to pray with you Father, the name of Jesus right now, all over this room, would you set the captives free? I believe your word has been speaking all night. And I pray, Lord, God, that tonight you would draw people for the first time who don't know you,

who will come to the altar, and will hear the good news of Jesus Christ and receive that news. And we'll hear you say of them, this is my beloved daughter, my beloved son, in whom I'm well, please. God, would you draw tonight? Those who would say they are followers of you, but they have been caught up in the rat race of this world, resting their identity in other things. And by their coming, they are just coming, saying, I want a fresh start, and I want my identity to be servant of Christ, steward of the mysteries of God. If that's you, would you just come to the altar right now?

If that's you, you may be a follower of Jesus Christ saying, I've gotten off course, I've put my identity in other things, yes. or you may be here tonight and you would say I wouldn't call myself a follower of Jesus Christ. I want to come. And for the first time because of the work of Jesus Christ, have my Heavenly Father say this of me. I'm proud of you. Yes, would you still come?