Pastor Pete Hartwig

Identity – You Belong

SLIDE: Biblically Based, Relationally Driven, Spirit Led

1^st– 5^th graders are with us!! – room is being used.

SLIDE: IDENTITY:  YOU BELONG!

SLIDE: Ephesians 5:1 Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children… and walk in the way of love.

IDENTITY: YOU BELONG!

Identity is often described as finite and consisting of separate and distinct parts (family, cultural, personal, professional, etc.), involving our genetics (biology), culture, loved ones, those we cared for, people who have harmed us and those we have harmed, the deeds done (good and ill) to self and others, experiences lived, and choices made come together to form who we are at this moment.  HOW WE THINK ABOUT AND SEE THE WORLD and OURSELVES IN THE WORLD!

A NEW SECTION in Ephesians

BIG SCREEN   Ephesians 4:1 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

SLIDE:  Ephesians 4:1 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 

Paul’s context –  “Prisoner for the Lord”.  – his identity 

An identity – ALL circumstances.

I feel like nobody!  Less than.  Small.  Insignificant

A “prisoner for the Lord”.

His identity is “In Christ”?

BIG SCREEN Philippians 4:11-13

¹¹ I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. ¹² I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. ¹³ I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

Paul “has learned” to be content in ALL circumstances.

Faith = material and financial wealth

SLIDE: 1 Timothy 6:6-7 (Bible teachers) who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain. But godliness with contentment is great gain. 

This is a lie.

Wealth is like a wisp in the wind.

IDENTITY:  A PRISONER OF CHRIST JESUS…

paper thin, materialistic faith

MATURE, ROBUST, Christ-Center spirit led faith

!!!!KIDS STAND AND ushers!!!

BIG SCREEN.  Ephesians 4:17-19 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19 Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity with a continual lust for more.

SLIDE:  Sensitivity – Sensuality

Continual lust…. A lack of contentment

Sensitivity –  sees others.  Not “SELF” – contentment

Sensuality – sees myself ONLY – emptiness