Connect Church
What God Calls You
  • Build My Life
  • Friend Of God
  • Good Good Father
  • Here Again
  • There’s a big difference between what people call you, what life has done to you, and what God says about you.
    Some people have been labeled by failure, divorce, addiction, insecurity, depression, mistakes, shame, their past, and what someone else did to them.
    And if we’re not careful, we start living out of labels that God never gave us.
    That’s why this new series matters.
    Over the next few weeks, we’re going to answer some of the most important questions a believer can ask:
    Who am I in Christ?
    Who has God called me to be at home?
    What is my role in the church?
    How do I discover my calling?
    How do I balance work, family, and ministry?
    Because if you don’t know who you are, you’ll never fully walk in what God called you to do.
    Before we can talk about being a godly husband or wife, being a godly father or mother, being a faithful servant in the church and being a witness in the workplace, we have to settle the foundational question Who am I now that I belong to Jesus?
    And that’s where Paul takes us in 2 Corinthians 5.
    But before we get there, let me show you a man in the Old Testament who perfectly illustrates this struggle.
    His name is Gideon.
    When we meet Gideon, he is hiding in fear, living under oppression, feeling weak, talking small, and seeing himself as insignificant
    But God walks into Gideon’s hiding place and starts speaking to him based on heaven’s perspective, not Gideon’s present condition.
    That’s exactly what happens when you come to Christ. God doesn’t just forgive your sin, He gives you a new identity.
    If you have your bible go with me to the book of 2 Corinthians. I will be reading from chapter 5.
    Before we read this passage, here’s what you need to understand: Paul is not writing to people who need a little encouragement or a better version of themselves—he’s writing to people who need to understand what salvation actually does. When Jesus saves you, He doesn’t just clean up your behavior, patch up your brokenness, or give you religious routines. He gives you a brand-new identity. That means the old labels don’t get the final word, your past doesn’t define your future, and what God says about you in Christ is greater than what life has tried to call you. Listen to what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5. I want to start reading at verse 17.
    2 Corinthians 5:17–21 NIV
    17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
    This passage is talking about our identity in Christ. Who are we when we become a Christian? Everyone of us must understand that we don’t live for Christ until we understand that we have been made new in Christ.
    Who you were before is not who you are now.
    This morning I want to give you three understandings of what God has called you to be.

    1. God Has Called You To Be a New Creation

    How many of you remember the first time you asked Jesus to be your Savior?
    I have you my story many times.
    Salvation is not behavior modification. It is not self-help. It is not a cleaned-up version of the old you. It is a band new identity in Christ.
    Verse 17 says…
    2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV
    17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
    You are not improved, not slightly adjusted, not spiritually renovated, but what you are is made new.
    Everything about the old life, the guilt, the chains, the shame, the labels, that old mind set, every bit of it, does not get the final word.
    I mention Gideon in my introduction. With one encounter with God, he became a completely different person. Go with me to Judges chapter 6. Look at verses 11 & 12.
    Judges 6:11–12 NIV
    11 The 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.”
    Notice the contradiction.
    Gideon is hiding out, but God calls him mighty warrior.
    Gideon feels small, but God speaks about strength.
    Gideon is in a winepress, but God is speaking to him as if he belongs on a battlefield.
    Why is that?
    It is because God is not speaking to Gideon based on his location. God is not speaking to Gideon based on his fear. God is not speaking to Gideon based on his insecurity. God is not speaking on Gideon based on his current behavior.
    However, God was speaking to Gideon based on what He intended to make him.
    That’s what happens in Christ, you may be standing in your own pile of rubble of your old life, but if you are in Christ, Heaven no longer addresses you by your past.
    You are a new creation in Christ. Now you need to start living like it. Stop addressing yourself by your worst mistake. Stop addressing yourself by your deepest wound. Stop addressing yourself by your current struggle. Stop addressing yourself by your past season.
    If you are in Christ, then you are forgiven, you are made new, you are not who you use to be.
    God may have found you in a winepress, but He never intended to leave you there.

    2. God Has Called You To Be Reconciled To God

    Your identity begins with relationship.
    Imagine a child who has grown up in an orphanage. Every day, they are told: “You have to prove yourself. You have to earn love. You are only worth something if you perform.”
    One day, a family comes and says, “We are adopting you. You don’t have to earn it. You are ours. You belong to us.”
    Everything changes. The child’s identity shifts immediately—not because of what they did or how well they behaved, but because of the relationship. They are now a son or daughter, fully accepted and fully loved.
    This is exactly how God works with us. Your identity in Christ is not built on your performance, your past, or your mistakes. It begins with a relationship. You are reconciled to God through Jesus Christ. You don’t have to earn it—you are His child, and that relationship defines who you are.
    2 Corinthians 5:18 NIV
    18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:
    Before you are a servant, a leader, a volunteer, a spouse, a parent, or a church member, you are someone who has been brought near to God.
    Reconciled means the distance that once was there between you and God has now been closed. Reconciled means the hostility that once was there between you and God has now been removed. And thank you Lord for this one, the relationship that is there between you and God has now been restored.
    You are not trying to earn God’s love. You are living from God’s love. You are not serving for acceptance. You are serving from acceptance.
    Look at Gideon again.
    Judges 6:14–16 NIV
    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.”
    Now go a few verses later.
    Judges 6:22–24 NIV
    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!” 23 But the Lord said to him, “Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die.” 24 So Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and called it The Lord Is Peace. To this day it stands in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
    I want you to get this. This is huge.
    Before Gideon wins a battle, before Gideon tears down Baal’s altar, before Gideon leads 300 men, he has an encounter with the presence of God. God says to Gideon, “I will be with you,” and “Peace be with you.”
    Gideon’s assignment was never meant to flow from self-confidence. It was meant to flow from God’s presence. That’s reconciliation. Our confidence is not, “I can do this.” Our confidence is “God is with me.”
    There is no performance that you can do to perform your way into God’s favor. Some of us live like spiritual employees. We are always trying to prove ourselves. Some of you are afraid that you are just not enough. How many of you always feel behind?
    Here’s the truth! You are in Christ so therefore you have been brought near. You have been reconciled. In Christ, peace has been spoken over your life.
    And before God ever gives you an assignment, He gives you His presence.

    3. God Has Called You To Be An Ambassador

    Your identity leads to your assignment. You are not just saved from something. You are saved for something.
    2 Corinthians 5:20 NIV
    20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.
    An ambassador carries the authority of another country. An ambassador speaks on behave of another ruler. An ambassador represents another culture in a foreign land. That means at home, at work, in the church, in your neighborhoods, in your friendships, you represent Jesus.
    My girls are always talking about when people know they are a preachers kid and they cuss around them they apologize. They are like don’t apologize to me, apologize to Jesus.
    As a believer, you represent Jesus.
    Gideon has a radical change take place in his life.
    In Judges 6:25-27, God tells Gideon to tear down the altar of Baal and build an altar to the Lord. In Judges 7:7, God tells Gideon that He will save him and his people with the 300 men that God gives him. In Judges 7:20, Gideon is conquering the Midianites.
    Gideon didn’t stay in the winepress.
    The man who once was in hiding is not obeying God in public. He is tearing down the idols. He is leading the people courageously. He is becoming a deliverer.
    Why is this?
    Because when God changes your identity, eventually He changes your assignment.
    Gideon became a visible representative of what happens when God takes an ordinary, insecure person and fills them with divine purpose.
    That’s what an ambassador is.
    Every believer has a where?
    Where do you represent Christ? Your home, your marriage, your children, your workplace, your team, your neighborhood, your church.
    You may not stand on a platform, buy you are a representative of the king.
    You don’t need a title to carry kingdom authority.
    So, what can you take from what Paul says and the life of Gideon?
    Like Gideon some of you are still hiding in places God is trying to call you out of. Some of you are still arguing with the identity God has already spoken. Some of you are still defining yourselves by fear when God has called you by faith.
    What does the Gospel say?
    I am a new creation — my past is not my identity.
    I am reconciled to God — I live from acceptance, not for it.
    I am an ambassador — I have purpose, assignment, and kingdom representation.
    God did not save you just to forgive you.
    God saved you to rename you. God saved you to restore you. God saved you to send you.
    Some of you this morning are still living in the winepress. You are hiding. You are still ashamed. you are stuck in old labels. You are afraid to step into what God has called you to be.
    But today the spirit of God is saying to you, you are not what you did, you are not what you said, you are not what you fear, you are not your failure. However, you are who God says you are in Christ.
    Come out of the winepress.
    Step into the identity heaven has already spoken over you.
    Let’s all stand. Repeat this like you mean it. Say it after me.

    I am a new creation! The old is gone—the new is here!

    My past is forgiven! My shame is broken! My life is made new!

    I am reconciled to God! I am not distant—I am brought near!

    I don’t live for approval—I live from acceptance!

    I am an ambassador for Christ! I have purpose! I have calling! I represent Jesus everywhere I go!

    I will not hide! I will not live in fear! I will not go back to who I was!

    I am who God says I am! And I will live like it!

    In Jesus’ name—AMEN!

      • 2 Corinthians 5:17–21NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 5:17NIV2011

      • Judges 6:11–12NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 5:18NIV2011

      • Judges 6:14–16NIV2011

      • Judges 6:22–24NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 5:20NIV2011

      • John 3:16NIV2011

Connect Church
connectchurchfs@gmail.com
4794525734
https://www.connectchurchfs.com
31 members • 3 followers