When you don’t know who you are, you’re susceptible to accepting a counterfeit!
• Racial Labels
• Historical Labels
• Experiential Labels
“For God is not the author of confusion but of peace…” (1 Corinthians 14:33. NKJV)
When we know who WE are, we can help others discover who they are.
1The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites. 6 Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the Lord for help. 11The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. 12 When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.” 13 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.” 14 The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?” 15 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.” 16 The Lord answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.” 22 When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the Lord, he exclaimed, “Alas, Sovereign Lord! I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face!” (Judges 6:1, 6, 11-16, 22 NIV)
1. Know
15…“but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”
Knowing your weaknesses doesn’t make you weak. It makes you wise.
Humility is not thinking less of yourself. It is thinking of yourself less.
Don’t allow your trauma to inform your identity.
Where Gideon saw weakness, God saw a warrior. When we see our problems, God sees our potential.
2. Know who
13 …“But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.”
Religion – I messed up my dad is going to kill me.
Relationship – I messed up I need my dad.
Show me your friends and I’ll show you your future.
22 “When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the Lord…”
3. Know who you are
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV)
God’s instructions don’t have to be logical. They only have to be miraculous.
So because Gideon broke down Baal’s altar, they gave him the name Jerub-Baal that day, saying, “Let Baal contend with him.” (Judges 6:32 NIV)