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Building Your Identity In Christ

From The Leader’s Cut with Preston Morrison

Not understanding our identity in Christ will keep us living far below our rights and privileges in Christ. The fastest way for a Christ follower to live a subpar life is to have zero idea who they are in Him. The extent to which you know Christ and who you are in Christ is the extent to which you will live the abundant life Christ came to give.

The God of the universe thinks so highly of you that He established your inheritance that you will receive in its fullness for eternity. And the inheritance is not just all things. The inheritance is all of Him.

What's up, everybody? Welcome back to The Leader's Cut. This is your first time joining The Leader's Cut.

What's going on? It's great to have you as a part of this conversation. Jump into the comments, let us know where you're from, let us know how you got here.

“The Leader's Cut isn't just a me thing, it's an us thing. And so I love to see the conversation go on between those of us who feel called to this community of like-minded believers. So welcome, whether it's your first time, whether it's your 50th time.

I don't even know how many episodes we've done, but it's probably more than 50. Welcome to you all. As you can see from the thumbnail, we're talking about something that it's really hard for me to stay still talking about, all right?

So admittedly, I just say, I get a little bit swaggy. Whenever we talk about this, it's hard for me just to be like, when we talk about our identity in Christ, if it doesn't stir you up, you're not getting it, all right? So let's pray, and especially I'm gonna pray over those who are really feeling beaten down by the enemy, just bombarding them with lies.

“If that's you, buckle up, get out a notebook, get out your Bible, get out something to write with, because I believe the Holy Spirit is going to visit you right where you are using this conversation. So let's pray. Holy Spirit, thank you.

Thank you for being so wonderful. Thank you for being so gentle. You could be so angry with me, with us.

You could be so annoyed with me, with us. Yet, you are so kind and loving and gentle. And so Holy Spirit, we invite you in to this conversation.

Desiring that you would be the head of the conversation. You'd be the one steering it and guiding it. We didn't step into this conversation to hear Preston speak.

We'll all exit this thing immediately if that's what we're here for. Holy Spirit, we came to hear your voice. Would you reveal to us who we are in Christ?”

“Whether we've been walking with Jesus for an hour or for decades. Holy Spirit, cut on us anywhere where we have some built up scarring in our flesh related to the lies the enemy has always told us about us. Set every captive free from every lie from your enemy, O God.

And would you liberate us to step into the truth about us as we learn what you say about us. That is what is true. So Holy Spirit, do what you do, because God knows I can't.

We pray all these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.

All right. I want to read a passage of Scripture from the book of Colossians. And I want this to calibrate our hearts and our minds.

We're going to go through a lot of Scripture in this episode, and I want this passage right here. These three verses, the beginning of Colossians chapter 3, to really serve as our calibration. It says this, Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God's right hand.”

Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. For you died to this life. This is speaking to believers.

You died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God.

What a great passage to really help calibrate our hearts and our minds as we step into this conversation about our identity in Christ. Here's the reality, too many people view themselves through what others say about themselves, through what the world says about them, through what the enemy says about them. And God goes on a record in Colossians 3 and says, Listen, as a believer in Jesus, you need to set your sights, your thoughts on the realities of heaven, the truth, not this silly, frivolous conversation on the earth among earthlings.

If we're going to truly walk in our identity in Christ, we're going to have to run away from the words of man and from man's understanding oftentimes of us. A couple of questions we're going to answer. Several of them we're just going to go through briefly because really the last question, we're going to spend the bulk of our time talking through.

So here's the first question. As we talk about identity and really the two options between building your identity in Christ and building your identity on anything else, what happens when you build your life on the wrong identity or the wrong thing? Tim Keller said one time, and I love this quote, the Bible says that our real problem is that every one of us is building our identity on something besides Jesus.

This is a weighty thought that paints a very clear picture that anything you build your life upon, including your identity, anything other than Jesus that you choose to build your life upon is going to wreak havoc in your entire life. Matthew chapter 7, there is a wonderful picture of this that maybe you've heard this passage, maybe you haven't, but let's read it together because I want you to understand just how serious it is that you build your life, including your identity, on Jesus and not on anything else. Matthew chapter 7, starting in verse 24.”

These are the words of Jesus. He says, Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won't collapse because it is built on bedrock.

But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn't obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rain and flood floods come and the winds beat against that house, watch what happens. It will collapse with a mighty crash.

Now some of us hear this and go, eh, what's the big deal? It's interesting to me that the very next verse in this chapter says, and as the people heard this teaching from Jesus, they were amazed by it. Why would the people listening to Jesus teach this principle be so amazed?

“But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn't obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rain and flood floods come and the winds beat against that house, watch what happens. It will collapse with a mighty crash.

Now some of us hear this and go, eh, what's the big deal? It's interesting to me that the very next verse in this chapter says, and as the people heard this teaching from Jesus, they were amazed by it. Why would the people listening to Jesus teach this principle be so amazed?

Here's my personal belief. Because most humans are building their lives on many other things other than Jesus. As we attach this philosophy of building your life on either Jesus or building your life on anything else, on Jesus, you can go through any storm, bedrock, no problem.

Listen to me, if you choose to build your life, including your identity, on anything other than Jesus, anytime the smallest of storms comes at you, you're going to be overwhelmed, and it's going to feel like your ship is sinking, your house is collapsing. Let's connect this specifically to our identity in Christ. Not understanding our identity in Christ will keep us living far below our rights and privileges in Christ.

Another way to say it, the fastest way for a Christ follower to live a subpar life is to have zero idea who they are in Him. Now, I want to kind of illustrate this so that you really get this picture, because there's really no point in us having this conversation about who you really are, who God says you are. Because if you're feeling wobbly, and you're just being picked on by the enemy, and anxiety, and depression, and confusion, and all of those things, it's going to do us no good to talk about how to navigate those storms.

If you don't really understand, it's a choice. It's a very black and white choice. You're either going to build on Jesus, or you're going to build on anything else.

I want you to imagine that your father is a multi, multi, multi billionaire. And your father passes that inheritance to you as an only child. The day your father passes, you inherit, let's just say, hundreds of billions of dollars.

Some of you are like, I like this, this story. But I want you to think about what good would an inheritance from the richest person on the earth do if you, as the one receiving the inheritance, don't live accordingly as a result of it? Think about it.

If you inherited hundreds of billions of dollars, but you never spent a dime of it, would it really even matter what you inherited? Even if you had access to hundreds of billions of dollars, but every day of your life, you ate crackers, mac and cheese, and water with no ice. Because in your mind, you had become convinced that you were poor.

And so because you believe that, you live according to that belief. Okay, that's the financial picture of it. Let's ask the spiritual question.

What good is a spiritual inheritance from the creator of heaven and earth? So not the richest person on earth, the creator of heaven and earth, if you don't live accordingly as a result of it?

There are so many things as the sons and daughters of God that we have inherited that affect who we now are and forever will be. But listen to me, I know many, many believers in Jesus who for one reason or another have chosen not to believe what scripture teaches about who God says they are, about how God sees them, and everything that comes with being His. I see a ton of believers who don't even realize they have inherited billions, but are not even spending spiritual pennies every day.

The problem is you will always live according to what your strongest beliefs are. Now, I want to be really careful with this next picture, but we're living in a day where some men are saying they're women, that they believe themselves to be a woman, something other than the way God created them, and that some women are saying they believe themselves to be men. Now, I'm not trying to push anybody's buttons.

I'm trying to help you see how powerful a belief can be, that God can create a person one way, but their personal belief about themselves can be so powerful that it's possible that in their everyday life, what they believe about themselves trumps what God actually says and did. And we're all freaking out about it, because we're so focused on the man-woman thing. Look beyond that, at how powerful the mind is.

You will always live according to what your strongest beliefs are. And we got all these believers running around just freaking out. I'm not saying it's a good thing, it certainly is.”

“The trans issue, the trans issue. You know what's even scarier in the church than a man saying he is a woman or a woman saying she is a man? What is far to me scarier than that is a spiritual multi-billionaire.

I'm not talking about money. I'm talking about spiritual inheritance, convinced they are spiritually homeless. And if I was the enemy, I'd get the church so worked up on people who believe that they are a woman when they were born a man.

I'd get everybody all worked up on that belief so that no one would be paying attention to the much larger group of people in the church who are spiritual billionaires living their everyday lives as though they were spiritually homeless. You will always live according to what your strongest beliefs are. I'm not talking about what you look like on your best day, because everybody can fake themselves out with that fake confidence on their best day.

I'm talking about on your worst day. I can tell a lot about you based on how you live on your worst day, how you behave on your worst day. You will always live according to what your strongest beliefs are.

2.And this is why we must understand what Scripture teaches us about who we truly are. The second question that we really need to answer in this conversation is, okay, what should your identity not be built on? This is, before we talk about what our identity is built on, let's kind of talk through what most people actually build their identity on.

The lies we believe about God are the most dangerous lies in all the earth. But in my opinion, the second most dangerous lies in all the earth are the lies we believe about ourselves.

What you believe about God that is not true. I don't know that there is a bigger lie that is more dangerous than that, but right below that, the lies you believe about yourself. Remember, Satan is the accuser of the Brethren.

He's not just accusing you before God, he's accusing you. He's accusing you before you. He's literally, some of you, he is taunting.

This is who you are. I tell you this all the time, never believe what a liar says, especially when a liar talks about God and a liar is talking about you. Never believe what the father of lies says about the F father.

And never believe what the father of lies says about you as God's child. Now, the list I'm going to give you is, I don't know that we could ever call A list a comprehensive list, but it's a fairly robust list of things I've seen over the years, the last couple of decades, that people tend to build their lives upon. And they all fit in a bucket.

1 John 2 actually describes these three buckets that people build their lives upon that are no good. 1 John 2 verse 15 says, Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the father is not in him.

For all that is in the world, here are the three buckets, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the father, but of this world. And the world is passing away and the lust of it. But he who does the will of God abides forever.

Powerful passage helping us understand that what the world offers, essentially, all of it falls into three buckets. Lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, the pride of life. All of the things I'm about to give you on this list of things that many of us have either tried to build our lives upon or presently are building our lives upon.

“Everything on this list fits in one of these three buckets, okay? Let's walk through some of the things that humans tend to build their lives on. That we must never, ever build our lives upon.

1.First, you cannot build your life upon what you've done. That's sin, right? Why is it such a big deal not to build your life, your identity on what you've done in your past, the sin of your past and the shame associated with it?

I think one of the reasons is if Satan can get you to believe that you are what you did, he knows you'll struggle to receive what Jesus did for you. And so he goes to work constantly in whatever way possible, trying to describe you, labeling you as what you did in your past that you were most ashamed of. This is like the Enemies Playbook 101.”

“He loves to define you and me by what we've done, which would separate us from God. Sin. You cannot, I don't care what you've done in your past, you cannot define yourself by what you've done.

You are not what you did. As a child of God, you are not what you did. And you cannot build your understanding of yourself on anything sinful you did in your past.

2.Here's the second thing, that you cannot build your identity upon what you do. So not just what you did, what you do. Another way to say that, success.

How many people do we know who are building their lives on success, on going big, doing the big thing, having the notoriety, getting all the trophies, all the accolades, success?”

Why must you never build your identity upon success? Well, the most simple answer is, because it's fleeting. Success is never constant.

So why would you ever build your identity on something that's always a moving target? You want to be miserable?

Build your identity, your understanding of who you are based off of success. Hey, when you have a good quarter, you're going to feel good.

But you know, most of the time, what you're going to feel? Bad. Because success is a moving target, and it's never ever constant.

The greatest athletes in the world peak and then begin to regress. Success is not forever, so don't build your life and your understanding of who you are in this life on success. If Satan can get you to believe that you are what you do, he knows you'll struggle to rest in what Jesus did.”

“I've been guilty of that one. When I was younger, the enemy convinced me, you are what you do. You're successful, Preston, as long as you are experiencing success presently.

Oh my word, the lack of sleep I got. I was literally incapable of resting in God. When I was too busy trying to be successful, even in the name of God.

Why? Because my identity in that season was built not on the Spirit of God, but on success. And I made it sound godly, because I said success in the name of God.

You cannot build your identity, your understanding of who you are on success. If life is like being an athlete, you're going to have some good games and some bad games. You cannot define yourself, whether you are good or bad, based off whether you do good or bad.

3.The next thing, you cannot build your identity on is what you have. Possessions, your stuff. How many people do we see?”

My Lord, as we were printing money during COVID in this country and some other countries around the world, how many people? Have you gone to the mall recently and seen how many, I'm going to just say this tongue-in-cheek, bougie stores are popping up in malls, and they have lines outside the door? I don't think it's not inherently wrong, but I mean, you see people, and you know not all of those people can afford those possessions.

Why on earth would they be waiting in line to spend thousands and thousands of dollars that they don't have on one little possession? Here's the answer. Because unfortunately, they're building their identity off of what they have.

Please hear my heart. I'm not saying every single person who has something nice is building their identity on what they have. I'm talking about.

If you can't afford something and you still buy it, that's an identity thing. It really is. It's not just a longing thing.

“It's not just a covetous thing. It's an identity thing. And the enemy loves to come and chirp and say, hey, you'll be more impressive if that which you own is more impressive.

So overspend. If Satan can get you to believe that you are what you have, he knows you'll struggle with chasing what will never be satisfying. You can never chill.

When you're dead set, determine to chase. You can't build your understanding of you on what you have, possessions come and go. And after this life, the possessions of this life literally mean nothing.

I'm not saying constantly have nothing. Hear my heart. I'm saying don't allow your identity to be in your new pair of shoes.

Get a pair of shoes because you like them and because you can afford them. Don't get a pair of shoes because you think it does something for your identity.”

“Building your understanding of you on what you have is literally like building a house on sinking sand. It will never ever be enough. No matter how much sand you bring to this party, there will never be enough to keep the house from crumbling.

4.Here's the next thing. We cannot build our identity on where you come from. Where you come from.

Now, I know that not everybody struggles with this, but man, I've seen some people really not be able to get beyond what they grew up in or around or with. Their upbringing, their family of origin. Why can we not build our identity on where we came from?

Well, let's take the positive. Let's say your father is a billionaire, your mother is a billionaire, and you're not getting a dime from them in your inheritance. Just because your parents are wealthy doesn't mean you are.

If you make who they are to be your identity, here's what will happen. My experience is you'll never feel like you're enough, and you'll always end up chasing things that never actually bring anything to help you understand you're more than enough. The negative side of it, if Satan can get you to believe that you are what you come from, he knows you'll struggle taking your place in the family, capital F, the family of God, the family business, because you're too focused on your family's generational curses.

Well, I just come from a family that's always struggled with this.

Be careful. Think about Saul. Think about the people in Scripture who thought less of themselves because of the family they came from.

We shouldn't either think we are more than someone because of the family, we came from, or less than anyone because of the family we came from. The family I came from doesn't make me better or worse than you. It's just a part of who I am.

But you cannot build, whether good or bad, you cannot build your understanding of you based off of where you come from. Well, I came from poverty, I'm always going to be poor. Or I came from a family of success, I've always got to be a success.

5.No, no. Don't build your identity, don't build your life on that. The next thing you cannot build your identity on is who you know.

I see this one, especially with the younger or the older that are a little less mature. Connections, there's this braggadocious thing about who you know. I know this person, you're always name dropping.

I don't mean to out anybody who name drops a lot, but one of the things I've learned and I used to name drop a lot when I was younger, people who drop the name of others don't really even understand the name God has given them to live in with.”

“And I would say for His name, if you got to be dropping everybody else's name, you don't have an understanding of you. You don't. When you go into the presence of God, God isn't talking about all those other impressive people you think you know.

It comes to be with you, to talk about you, to talk directly to you, personally with you. What's the negative sign of this? If Satan can get you to believe that you are who you know, he knows you'll struggle giving God glory because you give too much credit to man.

When I was all about my connections, I got this job because of this person, I did this because of this hookup, I was constantly giving glory to man. They got all the credit, not glory to God. God shares his glory with no one.

You cannot build your life based on who you know. This whole thing of, I forget the actual saying, but this thought of life is all about who you know, not what you know. It's all about who you know, not what you know.

Bro, if you build your life based on who you think you know, the substance of your life will be shallow for the rest of your life. God made you. He made you specifically, personally.

We're going to talk about that later in this episode. But you cannot build your life based on who you know. Then here's the last one.

6.You can't build your life, your identity, your understanding of yourself on how well you're known. Another word for that, fame. How many times do we see this?

Fame chasers. They don't believe that they are who God says they are, so they chase after everybody knowing and saying their name. If Satan can get you to believe that you are how well you're known, he knows you'll struggle with trying to be a man or a woman who wants to be who everybody else wants them to be.

“This will keep you. If you really want to be known by the world, you'll do whatever you have to be to be liked by the world, which will keep you from fully becoming who God created you to be. You can't build your understanding of you based off of how well everybody knows your name.

I'm going to have fun talking about that one at the end. Okay, so those are the things, the list I'm giving you of things we can't build our life on, we can't build our identity on, we can't build this understanding we have of ourselves on any of those things, all right? This third question is a really quick answer, and we're going to jump right to number four and spend the rest of the episode here.

3.The third question, what happens when you build your life on the correct identity? So we walk through, you know, what happens when you build it on the incorrect identity? It's like building on sand, the house comes crumbling down.”

“We walk through the individual things one can incorrectly build their life, their identity upon, and the dangers of each of them. But what happens when you build your life on the correct things? Here's what I would say as it relates to your identity, when you build on Jesus, when you build your identity on and in Jesus, here's what I believe in arguably will happen.

You will have an unshakable confidence. You will have undisturbed peace. You will have immeasurable settledness.

If I started this episode by saying, question, how many of you want more? Let me say like this. If I started the episode and said, how many of you want an unshakable confidence, an undisturbed peace, an immeasurable settledness?

How many of you would have said yes? Every single one of you. Okay, I actually think the answer is really, really simple.

Now, it's going to take a lifetime of work. Listen to me. The extent to which you know Christ and who you are in Christ is the extent to which you will live the abundant life Christ came to give.”

“It's that simple. It ain't easy, but it is simple. All right, so as we walk through question number four, as we walk through our identity as a believer in Jesus and these things I'm about to teach you are true for every son or daughter of God, okay?

To the extent you understand these things, is the extent to which you will live the abundant life Jesus came to give. And if you do not understand these things, you're not going to have abundant life. I'm not just talking about spiritually, I'm talking about in every area of life, all right?

4.Question number four, what is the identity of every believer? What actually is the identity of every believer? Now, remember, the other side of that coin is what must we not build our identity on?

So I'm going to kind of use what I told you not to build your life upon, and I'm going to juxtapose it with the things we must build our identity in Christ upon. Hey, remember, the first thing was, you must not build your identity on what you've done. Here's Jesus' response to that.

You must build your identity first on this. You are forgiven.

You are forgiven.

You. Yeah, but Preston, you. Are you a believer in Jesus?

That's what I thought. You. You are forgiven.

In my opinion, the greatest gift man will ever receive is forgiveness from God. Isaiah 43 verse 25, God says it like this, I, yes, I alone will blot out your sins for my own sake and will never think of them again. Like we're going to get into some passages here that are going to light you on fire.

And if you are getting your tail kicked in with the enemy just chirping lies about who you are, you're about to get your little soul set on fire. Can you imagine the God of the universe looking you right in the eyes and saying, I alone blot out your sins. I forgive your every sin for my own sake.

Why would God forgive you for his own sake and not yours? You want to hear something romantic? God forgives you for his own sake?

One of the biggest reasons why is because he wants relationship with you that badly. Sin separated man from God and only through forgiveness. Can man, man's relationship with God be restored?

And so God personally says, use your own name. God says, Sarah, Alan, I forgive your sins for my own sake because I want relationship, intimate fellowship with you so badly. It cannot be experienced outside of my forgiving you of your sins and your receiving my forgiveness.

Here's the question. Listen to what he says. I'll never think of your sins again.

I blot them out, I forgive them, and I will never think of your sins again. I have a question for you. How consistently do you think of the sins of your past?

How many times a week do you allow the enemy to keep bringing up that thing you did that you are most ashamed of? How close do you keep the memory of your worst deed? Is it always within reach?

To define yourself by and with? You want me to tell you how closely God keeps your sin to you? Psalm 103, verse 12.

God has removed our sins as far from us, you. God has removed, let me personalize it. God has removed your sin as far from you as the East is from the West.

Please hear my heart. I know some of us have heard this verse many times. We should be able to hear this verse thousands of times and never stop getting thoroughly overwhelmed by it.

I can't tell you how many lies I made early on in my life. I was a liar's liar, and I let the enemy define me by my lies, even after I tried to stop lying. And it wasn't until I got a revelation of this one verse, every day I woke up, I always felt with an arm's reach of what I had done that I was so embarrassed by.

It wasn't until God gave me a revelation of this verse, Preston, the reason I don't say, as far as the north is from the south, is because eventually you can get to the north pole or the south pole. You can reach them. I said, as far as the east is from the west, because east will never reach west.

You go chase it, you will always be running. Preston, that's how far I have removed your nasty, but blood-soaked, covered sins from you. You are not what you did.

You are forgiven.

Here's the next way to combat the whole you are what you did. You're a new creation. You're a new creation.

When you believe you are what you've done, you'll just keep doing what you did.

2 Corinthians 5.17, though, gives us incredible hope. This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person, a new creation. The old life is gone, and a new life has begun.

Here's the best way to try and illustrate this. A new creation is like a completely new creature. The NLT describes it as a new person.

Many of the other translations translate this word as creature or creation. A new creation in Christ is like a totally different creature. Here's what it means.

In Christ, you don't just wake up to a new reality. You are given a completely new nature. Here's kind of a silly picture that I hope you'll remember.

Becoming a new creation in Christ Jesus would be like before Jesus being an elephant, but after salvation, you become a new creation. You don't just become a new elephant. This is the picture that God is painting for us in Scripture that at salvation, an old elephant doesn't just become a new elephant.

What was once an elephant after salvation becomes an airplane. I could literally spend 20 minutes on this one picture right here.

You would never compare an elephant to an airplane or an airplane to an elephant. An airplane gets up in the air, an elephant moves slowly on the ground, right? Two totally different things.

Here's one of the problems I see with many new believers. They think they're just a different elephant. No, dog.

The good news is much better news than that. You're not a new elephant. Track with me here.

You came up out of that grave, raised to new life like an airplane. No longer an elephant.”

For instance, I'll give you an actual example. One of my best friends on the planet was, before Christ, a raging alcoholic who tended to answer life's toughest questions with a bottle. But then, he gave his life to Jesus, and his whole world got flipped upside down.

And in and with Christ, as a completely new creation, my best friend now answers life's hardest questions with his Bible, not a bottle. A totally, totally different creation. New in Christ.

The way you overcome, when the enemy comes to chirp at you and go, You are what you did. No, I'm not, actually. My sin is as far as the east is from the west, away from me.

And I am a new creation in Christ Jesus. Yeah, before salvation, I was the elephant you're talking about. But God, who was rich in mercy and grace, by His grace, I'm no longer an elephant.

I am no longer a slave to sin. I'm one of heaven's airplanes. Track with my tongue and cheek here, okay?

I know you are. I know we've been running together long enough. You get what I'm saying.

How freeing is this? Some of us have just been thinking, I just got to be a better elephant. I just got to be a better elephant.

No, that's not the key to the abundant life. Understanding it is no longer you who lives, but Christ who lives in you. You ain't no elephant.

Saddle up, airplane. You were designed for divine places, places where elephants cannot go. So do not any longer allow the enemy to convince you.

You still are what you once were. You are not. You are a new creation.

Here's the next thing that was on the list. Remember that you can't build your identity upon on what you do. You are not what you do.

How do we combat this? Well, you build your identity on this principle, which Scripture teaches about you. You are loved.

You are not what you do. You are loved. I want you to think about a young woman who comes from poverty and a very wonderful kingdom with a king who is towards the end of his life, and this young woman, beautiful, but not on anyone's radar, because of the measure of poverty, she was often overlooked.

At school, no one paid attention to her, she had very few relationships in her life, and then one day, the son of the king fell in love with the nearly nameless little girl.

She had nothing to bring him, but the son of the king fell madly in love with the girl. Long story short, the prince proposes, they become husband and wife, the king passes away, the son of the king becomes the king, and the minute the son of the king becomes the king, the woman he was in love with immediately becomes the queen. Everything the girl becomes is the result of the love the king beholds her with.

As I read you the words of Paul in Romans chapter 8, two verses and to me, two of the most intimately, spiritually romantic verses in the Bible. I want you to receive these words because you are the nearly nameless little girl, and so am I. I want you to receive these words.

Paul, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is writing these words that we're about to read, saying, I was once her, I was once the nearly nameless girl, but the son of the king fell in love with me and showed his love for me. And listen to the words he writes about the love of the king. And I am convinced that nothing, no thing can ever separate us from God's love.

Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow. Not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below.

Indeed, no thing in all of creation will ever be able to separate you from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus, our Lord. What? I'm the nearly nameless little girl, but the king fell in love with me.

The son of the king fell in love with me. And everything I have become and am becoming doesn't come down to the nearly nameless little girl. Everything I am and everything I'm becoming comes down to the love with which the kings behold me with.

This is who you are. You cannot take the bait and try to be what everyone says you are. You are the beloved of God.

God loves you the way a mother loves a newborn baby she has waited years to receive. I'm trying to illustrate this. I remember one day, I was just talking with the Lord, and I was going through some identity stuff, going through some work stuff, and kind of taking the bait that I was what I did, and on good days when I was doing a lot, I felt like I was a lot, and on days where I was not doing a lot, I felt less than everyone else.

And I remember saying to the Lord, Why do you love me? Such a bold question. And to be honest, I thought the Lord was going to respond saying this, giving some long list of all His favorite things about me.

Well, Preston, I love you because of this, and I love you because yesterday you did this, and I love you because a month ago you gave me this, and I love you because this, and because you are this, and you did this, and people call you this. I thought I was going to get a laundry list of all of His favorite things about me when I said, why do you love me? And I will never forget the answer He gave me.

I love you because I love you.

Do you know how many times, in a conversation with the Lord, I've asked some kind of question, and the answer he gives seems so simple, but the profundity, profundity with which it hits my soul, well beyond my mind, is indescribable. This was one such moment. Preston, I love you because I love you.

Do you know how freeing that was? For a boy who was trying to earn his love, well, I love you when you do this. I love you because you did that.

He took all of that off the table and said, you know, I'm gonna take all of your striving away from you because you are trying to earn something I have already showered you with. I love you because I love you.

He loves you because he loves you.

Build your identity, your understanding of yourself on that, you are.

You Don't get overwhelmed with the fact that God loves you. Get overwhelmed by the measure with which He loves you.

Moses said, who should I tell them sent me? And God so profoundly and powerfully says, tell them I am that I am. Sent you.

This is kind of a similar type response. You want to know why I love you? Because I love you.

Why do you love me so much? Because I love you.”

Build your understanding of yourself on the love God has for you. And I am telling you right now, you may be able to survive any storm, because the rest of it just doesn't matter. Nothing ever will make you feel what his love makes you feel.

I could get a billion compliments from man, and it will pale in comparison to one I love you from him.

Build on that. Here's the next thing that you should build your identity upon. To combat building your identity on what you do, build it on this, you're his child.

You're not just loved, you are loved as his child, if you are a believer in Jesus. 1 John 3 verse 1, See how very much our Father loves us? For he, God, calls us his children.

That is what I am. That is what you are. My favorite thing, if you were to catch me on the street and ask me, Preston, what's your favorite thing to be called by a human on this earth?

You might think, because of the way I talk about my wife, that my favorite thing to be called on the earth by a human is babe. Which is what she typically calls me, babe.

I don't fully understand why, but my favorite thing to be called by a human on this earth is daddy.

And my favorite thing to be called by God is son. Romans 8 verses 14, 15, 16 say, For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. So you have not received the Spirit that makes you fearful slaves.

Instead, you received God's Spirit when He adopted you as His own children. Now, we get to call Him Abba. Daddy is what that means.

Abba in Hebrew, Father. For His Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God's children. Don't you just love that one of the reasons God has given us His Holy Spirit to dwell on the inside of us is to shut up the lies of the enemy when the enemy says, You're an orphan.

“No one loves you. Don't you love that one of the biggest reasons God gives us His Spirit to dwell within us is to join with our spirit and say, That's a lie. You are a child.

You are a son. You are a daughter of God Most High. I will not, the Holy Spirit says, settle for these lies.

You are His daughter. You are His son. And I think kind of Preston's paraphrase of this passage is the Holy Spirit says, And Preston, one of his favorite things to be called is a daddy.

Which means, out of all the things he could call you, out of all the things people on this earth call me, pastor, friend, mentor, big brother, nephew, cousin, board member, all the names, Preston God's favorite thing to call you. His son. This last week, as of filming this, we adopted a five-year-old that from time to time I talk about.

His name is Maxon, and he's five and a half, and we've raised him for over three of his five and a half years. And finally became legal. We did our best.

“We had him two different times. We took care of him in the early days and sent him back to his mother. And just unfortunately, things weren't able to work out.

And so rather than see Maxon go into the system, we sensed very clearly the Lord saying, You're to adopt him. And I've been processing for the last week. Like I've known this was coming.

And it wasn't until I was preparing for this that something really hit me hardcore. Because I mean, I've had this process has taken a year. So I've had lots of time to process a lot of things.

And Maxon's been calling me daddy for a long time. And so that's not new.

But when the judge in that room said, with legal authority, it's my privilege to introduce for the very first time Maxon David Morrison. And then I was studying for this. A week later, I realized, that even though Maxon has been calling me daddy for the last couple years, it wasn't until the judge made that declaration.

You. That I can officially call him my son.

“And that word, I have two other sons. That word means something altogether different to me now, after the adoption.

And it's like when I got studying this, for this teaching, when I got the revelation from the Lord, that one of his favorite things to be called by me is daddy, according to Romans 8. But the other side of the coin is that means one of the, if not the most favorite thing he ever calls me is son. Son.

Build your life on that. Build your understanding of you on that. You're his child.

You can call me all kinds of names. After my message on tongues, I got called a few names. A confused child of Satan was my favorite one.

You can call me all kinds of names. But as long as he calls me son, I really don't care what you call me. Why?”

Because my life isn't built on you or what you call me or how you see me. My life is built on him. And he calls me son.

Here's the next thing. And I know we're spending a long time. This is gonna be a longer episode, and we're gonna hit 90 minutes.

And I know some of you aren't gonna make it all the way. But those of you who've been struggling with this, you'll probably come back to this one a few times to combat the lies of the enemy. Here's something else that you are.

You're a branch. John 15, 5, Jesus says, I'm the vine, you are the branches. Those who remain in me and I in him will produce much fruit, for apart from me, you can do nothing.

Listen to me. No good thing I ever do will ever be because of me. Let me say it for you.

No good thing you ever do on your job, on the field. No good thing you ever do will ever be because of you. The pressure isn't on me to perform when only God can produce the fruit.

So listen, you need to settle in. And don't build your whole life and your understanding of yourself on your believing the lie that the fruit produced in your life is produced by you. No, I'm just a branch.

You know how much better I sleep when I just am mindful? I'm just a branch. These episodes, you know, if I, as this thing is growing, do you know how much pressure I would feel to keep up with the growth and try and do more?

If I thought I was responsible for producing the fruit, can you even wrap your mind around how much stress I would live with? I'm just a branch.

In the hands of a mighty God. I'm a branch connected to the vine. That's what I am.

And every bit of fruit produced through my life is because of Him, not because of me. Build your understanding of you on that. You are not what you do.

Everything you do as a believer in Jesus is the Spirit of God doing something great through you. Every good thing you do is because He is at work in you, and He is moving through you. Which brings us to the last thing in this part of the conversation.

You're His workmanship. Not only are you not what you do, you're His workmanship. So this is a continuation of what I just told you.

Ephesians 2 verse 10 says for you, I'm personalizing it, are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that you should walk in them. Okay, if you tend to get cocky when you do something good, I just, I want to kind of burst your balloon sweetly just a little bit. Everything you do well is because you were created for it.

You compare yourself to other people who don't do what you do as well as you. And if your life is built on that, let me tell you what you experience a lot of, insecurity. If you live with a lot of comparison, you drown in a lot of insecurity.

You're drowning in it. Okay, if you do something well, everything I do well, you say, man, Preston, I love the way you preach. Yeah, I was created for it.

And the Creator is doing it through me. Don't give me the credit. It's all him.

In the same way, don't give yourself credit. It's all him. Okay, the next thing I told you not to build your life on, don't, you cannot build your identity on what you have.

All right? So how do we combat that? You build your identity, your understanding of yourself on this, not by what you have, but on this, you are paid for.

You are not what you have paid for. You are what was paid for you. 1 Peter 1 verses 18, 19, and 20 say, For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors.

There's that where I came from thing. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which loses their value. Everyone is so impressed with gold or silver.”

Peter's saying by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the price I was paid, ain't no gold or silver. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless lamb of God. God chose you.

He chose Jesus as your ransom, long before the world began. But now in these last days, He's been revealed for your sake. The picture I want to give you, that hopefully will help you understand, because if you kind of define yourself by what you have, which is so shaky at best, not even in storms, but especially in storms, if you notice when big storms come, everybody starts freaking out about their stuff.

They lose their job. I can't have this anymore. We got to sell this anymore.

When our identity is built on what we have, that's what life looks like. Anytime we lose something, we feel like we've lost value. Let me give you a picture of this.

I want you to imagine that you have a used car. This car has 420,000 miles on it. It's over 30 years old.

“It's an absolute piece of garbage that's been sitting in your cul-de-sac for a really long time. You're hard up on cash, so you decide, you know what? Even if I just get a hundred bucks for this car, I'm going to put it up for sale.

And somebody comes one day to your front door, knocks on the door. They see the car with the for sale sign in the cul-de-sac. Knock, knock, knock.

You open the door. This is a very well dressed person with a very nice car in your driveway, the nicest car you have ever seen or ever will see. And they have a driver driving the car for them.

And you say, can I help you? Yes. I saw the vehicle in this cul-de-sac is up for sale.

Is this car belonging to you? And you say, yeah, it's a piece of garbage. I know.

And the well dressed man says, no, no, no. That's your car. And it's for sale.

And you say, yeah, it is. I'd like to buy this car. Listen, sir, I just kind of put this thing up for sale because I need a little bit of cash, but I'm not going to lie to you.

It needs a brand new transmission. Engine's garbage. I literally super glued the bumper on.

No, no, no. I cannot just take this vehicle from you. I have actually been looking for this car for 20 plus years, and this is the first time I have found one, and I must buy this car.

So you say, okay, well, I put it up for $100, and the well-dressed man says, absolutely not. Nope, I will not pay $100 for this car.

Well, how much do you want to pay for it? He starts writing on a check. He pulls out, I'm willing to pay this.

And you look at the check, and it says $321 billion.

You think it's a joke. Okay, I get it, it's a piece of garbage, just take it, the man is dead serious. Will you expect, will you receive, accept my offer?

The driver gets out of the car, saying, I'd accept the offer if I was you. And you say to the driver, is this for real? And the driver says, it's for real.

Do you understand that you're the 30 plus old vehicle? That scripture says, your best attempt at righteousness is just a beat up, broken down, over 30 year old car with 420,000 miles on it, a busted up engine, a glued on bumper. It's a hot mess.

Your best attempt at righteousness is that. But God is so in love with you, that when no one was willing to pay $100 for the car, you, he paid the immeasurable price. Question, why would the over 30 year old vehicle ever brag about itself?

There's nothing the piece of junk in its flesh can brag about. But do you know what that broke down piece of junk can celebrate? The price someone was willing to pay for it, you, my friend.

We're in an auction where the highest price ever paid for anything was paid for you. Build your understanding of you on that. Without him, broke down, beat up, over 30-year-old piece of junk, with him, the elephant becomes an airplane and a mighty flying one at that.

The next thing on the list of things that we couldn't build our life on was where we come from. And I'm not going to spend a ton of time here, but I'm going to hit these hard, okay? If you are someone who struggles with feeling like an orphan because of something you came out of, a family of origin that you grew up in, maybe they were very distant from God or the sin that was normal in the family you grew up in was just grotesque, you're going to really enjoy understanding what the Bible says about you.

Not only are you not where you come from, you are God's heir. Galatians 4 verse 7 says, Now as a believer, you are no longer a slave, but God's own child. And since you are his child, God has made you his heir.

A father who loves his child is a father who leaves an inheritance for his child based on the measure of love he has for his child. Did you know that as a child of God, you are an heir of God? What does that mean?

That the God of the universe established an inheritance for you.

But it gets even better than that. You're not just any old heir. You're a co-heir.

Romans chapter 8 verse 17, And if we are his children, then we are his heirs. Now watch, heirs of God and joint or co-heirs with Christ. You are a co-heir.

What does that mean Preston? I don't even understand. Hebrews chapter 1 verse 2 says, God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance.

Everything. Everything is the inheritance of the Son of God. And the Bible says, The inheritance the Father gave Jesus is the inheritance God gives you.

“Now, before you get all excited about a bunch of stuff, it's way better than a bunch of stuff. We're not just talking about how much money is my inheritance. Oh, it's way better than money.

How many mansions do I inherit in heaven? Oh, it's way better than mansions in heaven. You want to know what the best part of the inheritance of a co-heir of Christ is?

What is it that the Son got from the Father that was more valuable than anything in heaven and on earth? Here's the answer. The Son inherited all of the Father.

God Himself is the inheritance of His children. How about them apples? Just imagine getting to heaven, and on day one, God shows you all this stuff.

This is your inheritance. This is it. Look at it.

Look at it all. It's going to take you eternity to even see it all. You're never going to come to the end of it.

This is your inheritance, and you're all jacked up. And then He looks you in the eyes and He says, You want me to tell you the best part?

You get all of me.”

“I withhold none of myself from you forever. You get all of me.

Imagine the God of the Universe saying that to you. Yeah, thanks for the stuff, and I'm not minimizing whatever blessings and rewards God bestows upon you or me. On that day, I can't wait to receive the fullness of my inheritance, which is the fullness of himself.

God himself is the inheritance of his children. Build your identity, your understanding of you on that. The God of the Universe thinks so highly of you that he established your inheritance that you will receive in its fullness for eternity and the inheritance is not just all things.

The inheritance is all of him.

Talk about combating the lie the enemy brings. God's distant. God's hiding himself from you.

I'm his child, and if I'm his child, I'm his heir. And if I am his heir, I am a co-heir with Christ. And I don't just receive everything as my inheritance.”

“I receive all of him, and so do you. Here's the next thing, and we're almost done. I told you you can't build your understanding of yourself on who you know.

We're going to trump the whole name dropping thing, the insecurity of, oh, I know this person, and it's all about who you know more than what you know. Okay, here's how you combat all that trash. You build your understanding of yourself on this principle of Scripture.

You are a temple. You are a temple. 1 Corinthians 6.19 Don't you realize, speaking to believers, that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God?

When I was preparing for this, I just kind of heard these words related to this part of the conversation. You are not a guest house, a vacation house, or a house flip. You are a primary and preferred residence of the Spirit of the Living God.

How about them apples? You're not some every once in a while guest house that he comes and visits. You're not some project that he's trying to fix up and then get rid of.

You are a preferred, a preferred residence of the Spirit of the Living God. Here's another way to say it. God is so obsessed with you that you can never get him to leave you.

What does David say in Psalm 139? Love this chapter. I can never escape from your spirit.

I can never get away from your presence. This is talking about the obsession of God for you. If I go up to heaven, you're there.

If I go down to the grave, you're there. If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans, even there your hand will guide me and your strength will support me. I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night, but even in darkness, I cannot hide from you.

God is so obsessed with you that you, as his child, can never ever get him to get away from you. Build your understanding of yourself on that.

It's not just who he says I am. It's the promise he made to me. It's the promise he's made to you.

I will never leave you or forsake you. Preston, you couldn't get me. You couldn't pay me.

Nobody could pay me enough money. To ever leave your side, I promise to never leave you or forsake you.

Why would we be walking around talking, bragging? Oh, I know, so-and-so. Oh, I used to play basketball in high school against so-and-so.

Oh, yeah. I'm friends with her, and she's doing all this. And him, he's known for all this.

I know people. Please. Please.

I'm a temple.

I'm a temple of God Most High. Everywhere I go, He is. He is so obsessed with me.

He ain't ever going to leave me.

Build your understanding of you on that. You are never alone. You will never be alone.

If everyone you know deserts you, you are not deserted.

The Spirit of God has taken residence inside it. Every believer in Jesus.

Build your understanding of you on that. Then here is the last one I told you. You cannot build your understanding of you on how well you are known.

Fame, dog. You can't build your identity on fame. My Lord.

It is. It is a fickle pickle, people. How do you combat this?

You build your understanding of you on this principle in Scripture. You are fully known. 1 Corinthians 8 verse 3.

But if anyone loves God, this one is known by him. I know we're covering a lot of ground, and this isn't going to be for everybody, maybe. But you get to this part.

You need to understand this. We got a bunch of people with social media and how they dress and what they do, just trying to get the attention of man with a goal. This is the thought.

If I can be noticed by man, maybe I can be known by man. Everybody was created with the desire to be known. Isn't it intriguing that in the Old Testament, that when it would describe a husband and wife going in to have sex, that it would use the word known, and so-and-so knew his wife, and they conceived this child.

It was talking about having sex. Here's the thought. Why do so many people have a desire to be known sexually outside the boundaries set by God?

Have you ever thought about this? I think it's because they don't understand how known they are within an intimate relationship with God.

Every human is created with a desire to be known, but there is no better feeling than being known fully, not known famously, known fully by the God of the universe. Psalm 139, verses 1-6, David said, Oh Lord, you've examined my heart, and you know everything about me. You know when I sit down or stand up.

You know my thoughts even when I'm far away. You see me. How many people run around right now?

“I just want to be seen. Do you see me? David says, God, you see me when I travel and when I rest at home.

When nobody else can see me, you see me. You know everything I do. You know what I'm going to say even before I say it, Lord.

You go before me and you follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head. Such knowledge.

These first five verses, such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand. Here's what David teaches us. The knowledge of David's known-ness was far too wonderful a knowledge for David to ever truly know.

If you're chasing, being noticed by man, it's a simple evidence you don't understand how known you are by God.

I'm telling you, I got such a big burden for this entire teaching, because the picture I felt I got from the Lord was people who are just drowning in the storm, because their house is built on all the wrong things. You're not doing yourself any favors by building your life and your understanding of who you are on everything the world says. It's never going to work”

It's never going to work. Let me speak to the young woman who's thinking about tonight, about going to give her boyfriend the gift of her virginity. Because she's been wrestling with some stuff from her family of origin, specifically related to men.

And she thinks the only way she can truly be noticed by this boyfriend is to seemingly be known by him in a way she's never been known by another man before. Sweetheart, can I just tell you? It ain't going to work.

I can't stop you from doing it, but I can tell you, it's not going to provide what you're searching for. If you were a child of God, you are fully known, and no man on this planet can know you the way your Creator knows you.

Don't go. Stay home tonight. Embask in the revelation of who God says you really are.

It doesn't matter what that boy is saying about you. As we wrap up this episode, I'm going to be praying, because you represent all of us, any of us who are chasing, willing to do anything just to get a little something that makes us feel like more of a someone. None of it in the world will work.

I want to pray over all of us, but especially those of us who are up under it right now and the storms pounding on the house. Spirit of the Living God, thank you for the Word of God. Oh, what a foundation it gives us, no matter how raging the seas get, no matter how violent the winds become, no matter how terrifying the storm is.

When we build our lives, when we build our understanding of who we are on you, storms, schmorms, no storm can knock it down. Holy Spirit, I pray over every one of my brothers and sisters, especially those whom the enemy is picking on. With his lies, would you shut up the lies of the enemy?

And would you do so by drowning out his lies with your truth, which comes from the Word of God?

Amen. I love you so much. I know this was a longer one.

I had some fun with this one, and it may take, you may have to digest this in two different settings, maybe three. Work your way through it slowly. I love you so much, but trust and believe my love for you pales in comparison to his love for you.

Build your life, your understanding of you on him and nothing else. I love you so much. I'll see you next time.