In Part 2 of Identify As Who you Are, Pastor Dave continues to remind us that, when we become a Christian, the changes in our life did not happen because we are trying harder, but because our attention became focused elsewhere, on the things of God. He also, gives us comfort that our identity in Christ means we are protected by God. We are never left defenseless in this brutal world.
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Identify as who you are! Christianty is not a religion, it's a relationship. We can achieve a new identitiy through Christ and that will bring comfort, change and protection. Change can happen not because we try harder, but because our attention becomes focused elsewhere, on things of God.
Pastor Dave explains why we have an obscured view of God and how it can fill our lives with selfishness, fear, anxiety, and unbelief. Only when we become like Christ can we truly be happy and true happiness grows out of holiness. We need to listen to God and use those difficult times as an opportunity to develop Godly characteristics.
Pastor Scott Cody spoke about How to get up when life beats you down. He encoraged us to stop focusing on the pain, but to focus on Jesus. He also, gave us three steps to help us to focus on His name, 1. Look up, 2. Let go and 3. Get up.
Pastor Dave talks about God's desire is that we have peace, not anxiety, faith, not fear, and joy, not constant stress. Money is one of the leading causes of stress but God doesn't want us to be anxious about the materials things of the earth, and he does not need your money, he wants your heart.
Pastor Dave spoke about how often, people who become Christians do so because they see something different, something they want, in the lives of their believing friends. Attending church is great way to learn, grow spiritually and to connect with fellow believers. Jesus said that those who are faithful in small things will be given authority over great things in God's kingdom.
In part 4 of Address the Mess Pastor Dave talks about how God loves and accepts us as we are, but he loves us too much to leave us as we are. He encrourages us to take the next steps towards surrending to God, which is an on going process, as we mature, we get better at it. Ultimately God is not trying to get us cleaned up, he wants us to get us grown up.
In week 3 Pastor Dave explains that following Jesus will help you avoid trouble in life. But staying out of trouble is not enough to give us a fulfilling life. We need to seek the tools that will help us to transform our lives, God says "Let me change who you are, and that will change what you do."
Today Pastor Dave talked about how the mess you're in right now did not happen because you were following Jesus. It happened because you were not following Jesus. Pastor Dave reassures us that by following Jesus, and if we allow him, Jesus can turn our mess into somthing magnificent.
Everyone faces messes in life, but not everyone knows they can lead us to God. In part 1 of this series, Pastor Dave helps us see that our messes are the lenses through which we discover God, and reminds us that the core belief of Christianity is that God has reached out to us because He sees our mess, and wants us to know He is there to clean it up for us.