Discover Your True Self - You are Wanted, Part 1

You ever been rejected by family friend maybe or maybe even world work or church you hate walking on eggshells find yourself always trying to please people all the time. If you want a break from that. Stay with me. That's today on the welcome to this Edition of Living on the Edge with Living on the Edges of international discipleship ministry featuring the Bible to this program. Ship begins a new series discover your true self is a series that's been decades of growing out of a very personal journey we all struggle with issues of self chips desired course of the series is that you learn how to ask the power and freedom.

Jesus makes available to overcome those issues just before we get started, let me encourage you to try using his message notes while you listen chips notes containers outline his scripture references and much more to help you remember what you even sure what you're learning for quick download. Just go to LivingontheEdge.org and click the broadcasts tab for top billing notes on the stuff you have your Bible, heavy opening now to Ephesians chapter 1. Let's join Chip for his message. You are wanted what comes into your mind. Think about God is the most important thing about there is a secret law of your soul that you will gravitate toward your image of God, and that's why getting a high holy clear loving accurate picture of him is the greatest thing you can do for every year of your life.

But the second most important thing is that you can see God accurately but he longs for you to see yourself the way he sees you do a little experiment want you to think of a picture of yourself now coming to your mind and want you to describe yourself just in your in your heart of hearts, how would you describe yourself. What are the three or four words that depict you that you think are accurate. Is it loving, caring, warm and approachable, smart, gifted, innovative, powerful, where is it lonely, inadequate and secure confused, fearful, lost, angry, are there old labels of two tall, too skinny to fat loser never amount to anything as honest as you can. How do you actually see yourself not how you wish you did. Father, we ask now in the name of your son about the power of your spirit that you all activate the gifts our minds and our hearts that we could hear from you today and that as we walk out of this building by a supernatural unction of your spirit that you'll take the written word and make it the living word and allow us at least in some measure Lord in a significant measure to see ourselves the way you long for us to see ourselves. Pray that in Jesus name, amen. If you pull out your notes. What we just talked about is something psychologists call our self image. If you want to definition of that. It's the mental picture or conception of oneself. It's a person's idea of your self-worth.

It's the composite pictures of all the mirrors others all kind of things your parents have the biggest impact on that authority figures people in authority when your teenager, your peers begin to greatly influence you culture media. No words. There's all these mirrors that have told you over time. Who you are and you unconsciously believe them. Some of them actually you believe things about yourself that you're not even aware of is a lot like walk into a fun house and there's a mere when you walk in and you look 8 foot tall and you look at another Mary legate that why didn't you look at another mirror in your 1 foot tall numbers there there all distortions. Some of you had great home.

Some of you came through horrendous homes. Some of you had traumatic experiences.

Some of you were labeled early on and all those things impact us. You have a view it's almost unconscious of yourself, but your living out of that and if most of our problems are rooted in a warped view of God. I would suggest that all the rest of them are in a were few of yourself. This isn't some academic exercise where we hope we get to the end and you can just think of yourself as wonderful, and everything's great and you don't have any problems that that's not the world that we live in, but in a fallen world. Everyone has warped mirrors. I can tell you about every single one of us. You do not see yourself accurately, nor do I but the more you do, the healthier you become, the more you do the more you're able to receive love and the more you're able to give love and at the end of the day.

I will tell you there's a lot of things in life, but receiving love and giving love is all that really matters for someone I said your smart your warm your innovative, you honestly said yeah I think it's pretty true of me for others.

When I talked about in adequate insecure loser some painful emotions. Some memories came back. I have some cards that were to look at a little bit later and their cards that I would say unequivocally not only transformed my wife's life in my life, but saved our marriage is a very personal series to me. My wife came from a horrendous home background and experience rejection that I will go into. She never heard her father say I love you. She never got a hug that she can ever remember. And that was just the beginning. After that, like most young girls who aren't loved well by their father to look for other places that built tragedy and lots of pain in her life and then she came to know Jesus and God loved her and I met her a couple years later, and then a year or so after that we got married in 18 months into our marriage. I'm thinking I don't think this is good work. She couldn't receive love. She was beautiful, smart, loving, caring, and passionate in her relationship with God.

But when she looked in the mirror she saw someone that was unworthy of love, who was a loser who was rejected, who was absolutely unfit for anyone to care for her and so she couldn't receive my love are other peoples and I will tell you what, sit in the counselor's office trying to figure that one out was painful. By God's grace. We had a counselor that wasn't just good in psychology, but it was a theologian. He was a retired senior pastor and he Saul be on all the psychological issues and saw that my wife had such a warped view of herself. She needed to see yourself the way God saw her and so he had her begin to write down Miss beliefs that she had a missed belief like I need other people's approval in order to be happy and then at the bottom stop sign and then the truth. I want people's approval of me, but I don't need it. With God's approval and no longer compelled to earn love and acceptance. I'm free to be me and then he gave her a passage about longing and she read it over for two years. We would read over these cards because you'll notice on your notes there some very dysfunctional and ugly things that happen we have a warped view of yourself.

One.

It builds a sense of rejection. We all deal with rejection. Some of you.

It's a huge issue. Some a smaller issue, but because we do we become people pleasers at all cost. Some people that are overly sensitive to criticism. It's like without don't you reject me to brothers you withdraw to avoid you what you just don't risk you don't engage in certain things are certain activities because you don't want to get hurt some your greatest success. Some of your achievements.

Some of the reason you get up earlier and you work harder and you've made it, and you've achieved an everyone thing is so great behind all of that is a scared person that you always have to because your whole value is based on what you do and how you appear as we were reviewing all those cards. I thought I was being a loving, kind, husband helping my wife come through these deep issues, but when I read those cards. What I realized was I had all the same issues I just I was actually getting rewarded for my dysfunction. I thought I had to please people. I thought I had to be successful. I thought I had been overachiever to the point that in my 20s I ended up in the hospital through exhaustion and then again in my 30s and the first church and Dr. say you don't even have an immune system right now what the what are you doing and I gave him my schedule and he looked me ghostly your Nettie which my wife said I been telling that he just won't listen to me. So here's what I want to know more than a go on a journey. I'm gonna share some of those cards with you is what you do is ready to take the lies that we believe about ourselves in order to replace them with.

This is how and who God sees you open your notes because we have a command here and the command is this is not an option. Our self perception is not like. Wouldn't this be nice. Romans 12 verse three says, for through the grace of God given to me. I say to every man among you, not to think more highly than yourself, then you ought to think, but to think as to have sound judgment as God is allotted to each man a measure of faith. In other words, we are commanded not to think too high not to think too low were to think about ourselves.

The way God sees us that little phrase where it says a measure of faith in a circle around.

This is your personal faith. Grammatically, this is the faith. In other words, notice the word to think to think to think and sober. All four of those are the same root word in Greek. This is the command you've been given a measure of the faith. This is who you are in Christ. That's the big concept when you trust in Christ as your Savior. You died with him.

Your sense of been forgiven. The big word is you were justified in other words, you were declared legally righteous all your sins, past, present, future, are forgiven. The imputed righteousness of Christ is given to you. And so as a follower of Jesus. God sees you to the lands of the forgiveness in the blood of the sun so you ready for this.

He loves you just as much as he loved Jesus. That's what the Bible teaches. It says that if any man is in Christ, any woman as in Christ real relationship not in church, not immorality in Christ. The old things passed away behold all things become new. The process, but what I want you know is I don't think most people understand what it means to be in Christ, what have you received how you see yourself. My observation most Christians as we so are big on justification and we should be all while yes I am born again. I have a new relationship and that kinda stops, but the average believer doesn't know that that led to being a son or a daughter and there's a journey and now you have a heavenly father and a new standing and you don't ever live anymore. Trying to earn his Savior. You've Artie got it.

You have a loving, kind heavenly father and elder brother Jesus at the right hand of the father and he wants you to live out of a love that we already have, but getting that from here to here and out in your life while that's a journey. So where do we get this accurate view of God, we could go a lot of places that I would say the book of Ephesians is probably the best that I know of the book is a circular letter is written to the churches in Asia minor and the apostle Paul had been there for quite a while and what he wanted to do. It was it's a huge metropolitan city of very influential city. So is going to be read here in all the other places and what is going to help them understand is first three chapters. This is what you received and this is who you are in Christ. The next four chapters. This, then, in light of what you've already see is how you live, and so he opens it up very common beginning.

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God to the saints. That means just the holy set apart people at live trust in Christ, who were faithful in Christ Jesus Christ's and peace from God our father and the Lord Jesus Christ. So there's this general opening. Now here's what you need to get the structure of this passage encourage you maybe to follow along in your Bible, your phone, whatever use verse three all the way through verse 14 is one long sentence. I think it's the longest one in the New Testament and what happens is verse three is the thesis. He makes this amazing amazing statement and all the rest of the verses in all these prepositional phrases he's gonna wind us through a journey to say all these spiritual blessings and I think he just went off.

I think the Holy Spirit just captured him and he goes, here's all that we have and he just started going were chosen were adopted were redeemed. We have an inheritance we been sealed with but here's where he starts Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with what every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. In other words, now that you are part of God's family. Every spiritual blessing. He's given to them. Here's our friends again in Christ now need to make a quick disclaimer here everything I'm going to talk about. From here on is written to those that are in Christ. If you have to be visiting or if you're checking out Christianity. I'm going talk about this is how God see those who are in Christ. This isn't true of the whole world know what I will tell you is, is that he's pursuing you and he wants you and he loves you and you need to hear if you would like to join his family. This is the relationship he wants for you this. This is not how God feels about everyone. The fact the matter is, is that we were all rebels. We were all hostile to God and is how we understood that we needed forgiveness and we turn to him and receive forgiveness through Christ.

These things are true, but notice what he says about those of you that understood and humbled yourself and realized I need help. He says just what's a spiritual blessing verse four just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him in love he predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to himself, according to the kind intention of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, which he freely bestowed upon us in the beloved. As you look at that you notice there's a few keywords.

One, every spiritual blessing begins with this he chooses you. Another word you might writing your notes.

God wants me some of you are know someone that you want to date or you want to marry some of you are looking for someone to fill a position and you want this kind of person.

This word is used negatively. The FBI has a top 10 list that they really want and their pursuing. If you want and what you do you pursue them kiss. I want you to know this is an amazing thing God wants you he wants you for himself a member as a kid we grew up in a suburb so it was, you know lawn driveway lawn driveway long driveway. This is a touchdown. This is a touchdown and the big kids would play. It was tackle stupid I know, and I was always three or four years younger and I was small and I was skinny and so they would pick up sides and I get down to the last two guys and it just is. Choose me choose may choose me I'm stupid young kid all dive on the concrete make you laugh.

I'll try and tackle the big guys. I'll do whatever you want. I just want to belong. I just want to be on the team and you know that desire is in you and me, just the teams change of day would be on that team owner be in that fraternity. I would be in the group that lives in that section of town.

I want to have want to be in the group whose kids go to that college.

I want to be someone that when they look at me at the gym I have that kind of body I want to belong. I want to be wanted.

Do you realize so much of our lives is doing crazy things to want to belong to other people that honestly didn't care too much about us and God says I want you care about you you I hear Christians of the Christians for long time and series of circumstances will happen. And if it's good they wow is really lucky really. There's no order. There's no plan is just what life is about chance you were just lucky instead of you know a sovereign God orchestrated the circumstances in this way and enters. And there's another group that something happens and it's like God predestined that that card back color would be in this spot in my whole world and plan for me. I'm a robot everything is predestined to limit give you good definition of predestination and how the path applies to this passage predestined means God has determined before hand that those who believe in Christ will be adopted in his family and be conformed to the image of his son. The theological concepts are twofold, and I just want to touch on this because I don't want your mind going places rather than why this passage was written sovereignty of God. The Scripture clearly teaches that God is all-powerful, all-knowing and in control from attorney Pastor Turney future. He knows the beginning from the end right that's just the truth that's a reality you read this book in the beginning to the end God is never surprised by contrast or actually in parallel the responsibility of men. As you read through Scripture equally teaches that men and women are responsible and culpable for their actions. They must choose to accept or reject a relationship with God. So it's not like everything is all lined out in your choices don't matter. We hold these two truths, intention, and we do it produces a couple things one reverence for God's word when the apostle Paul who wrote all about this idea of sovereignty and responsibility when he got done he did have an argument he broke into praise into O the depth of the riches about the knowledge and the wisdom of God, how unsearchable are his ways and his past, beyond finding out. And so what we know is it does a couple things one reverence for God's word and in humility with each other and just all for the unsearchable wisdom of God. Here's what I want you to get. Often when people go through Ephesians they want to argue about. Is it more responsibility or is it more sovereignty and you can can you imagine getting a love letter from someone overseas and arguing about now is this blue ink or black ink, as I can't quite tell and miss the point. It's a love letter. The purposes I want you I love you and here's the implications this wasn't written for people to debate this was written for people to know that the awesome God who spoke the galaxies into existence sent God the son, and he died in your place, and when he did.

You cannot just be forgiven, but he wants you and whosoever will, the Scripture says God is not willing or desiring that any should perish but all would come to a knowledge of the truth and he says Ephesians. I chose you. Just like I chose Israel. I chose Israel not to reject other nations. I chose them so they would be like to share with other people. You've been listening part's message, you are wanted series discover your true self, how to silence the lives of your past actually experience who God says you are chip will be right back with his application, but before is I hope you'll take a second and go online or capture and encourage others to join us for the series 2 we all struggle with doubts about self worth and value, but the facts about who we are change when we put our faith in Jesus chips teaching from the book of Ephesians to help us understand who we are as believers in Christ, he explains the nature of the new creation.

We become and how to leave old thinking and doubts in the past for limited time resources for discover your true self are discounted and the MP3s are always free to order your copy or to send to a friend visit us online at http://livingontheedge.org for additional information.

Just give us a call at AAA 83336003 will check before you get to your application. I'd like to read an email we got recently. He starts out dear chip and the local team. Thank you so much for the study in Ephesians chapters 1 through three. Those are the passages in our current series goes on. I can't express how much of a blessing. It's been in my life. One of my biggest stumbling blocks is to believe and really accept the God loves me just for who I am.

Maybe you biggest take away from the soul time together is that I am now living from God's approval rather than for God's approval hasn't had great good you feel people in on the resources talking about your will day. That is our daily discipleship video series where I meet one-on-one with people and I walk them through Ephesians, chapters 1, two and three knelt there hearing me preach it on the broadcast. But this isn't preaching. This is actually going through the passage systematically learning how to study the Bible. Learning how to not just talk to God, but to hear God's voice and literally going to the Scriptures in a way were over time.

You understand what the passage teaches what it really means, and maybe most importantly, what it means to you and we did this in over 10,000 people signed up and did it with us in the fall and we had literally hundreds of thousands of views and emails and letters like this of people who said I've been a Christian for a long time from a brand-new Christian or even one lady who says I came from China and I prayed to receive Christ and now walking through this with you. I understand how God sees me, it's change the course of my life. That's what the daily discipleship is and I would just love to meet with every single person hearing my voice. Good deal.

Thanks daily discipleship with chip is a course of 10 minute videos were chip walks you through how to study a passage from the Bible and really hear God's voice of the sessions are designed to help you get into the practice of doing that every day. The study chips. Recommending is based on his current series discover your true self because you see yourself as God sees you, is an essential to overcoming your deepest struggles. Having healthy relationships living in freedom and fulfilling your life's purpose notifying the daily discipleship with chip@livingontheedge.org on the homepage Listeners just tap discipleship as we close today's program. I want to take just a minute to ask you to really consider something she were to talk about some theology and really talk about some things about this is how God sees you, but it can be academic.

I mean you can learn about redemption and some great doctrines in here amazing things that you're gifted that you been empowered that you been sealed that there's these wonderful things that are true, but if you don't embrace them if you don't lean and if you don't go along with me day by day and began to ask God all Lord I want to see myself the way you see me do you realize that you are so shaped by what other people have told you all your life. You are so shaped every day by media and you're bombarded in many of those messages or you don't measure up. You not pretty enough. You not strong enough you not smart enough.

And God wants you to know that he is made, you specially that he saved you he has an amazing plan for your life. But it's going to require for you to want to experience that to want to see it.

So here's my request. Would you just pray a prayer and say, oh Lord I'm going to go on the journey for the next two or three weeks and I want to assure your voice.

I want the mere that I look at that tells me who I am to be the mirror of your word, and the truth of your spirit. I will tell you it'll be the greatest investment you made in a very very long time so I'll see you next time. If you happen to miss a day you can go online you can download the notes you can hear it again on the app let's do this together you'll find the message notes trip just mentioned in the couple of places online. Just go to LivingontheEdge.org and click on the broadcasts. Tab app listeners will find them by tapping fill in notes the miss belief cards chips talking about throughout the series. All of the Scripture references and much more. Are there to help you get the most out of each message will be sure to join us next time. Until then, this is Dave really saying thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge