Voices: Who God Says We Are

Who God Says We Are

Welcome to the Battle Council Voices, Who God Says We Are. We're recording this. So Just you know, we're recording this. You guys know how to be, you know, so this is all good. So go ahead, go to the next slide, Justin Yat e che Dino Butler and Shikat Chini Shlakiya Aani Busus Chin A one Slanu Dasha Che Ini Dashanala. So what I just told use my clan. Go to the next slide. These are my clans. Go to the next slide, Justin. These are my clans and this is what's represented. I am on my mom's side, red running into the water. On my dad's side, it's towering house people.

On my mom's mom side is many homes And then on my dad's dad, it's bitter water. And this is how Navajo people express their kinship with each other in each one of those things. Go to the next one. This is my family, my two boys, or our two boys, Josiah and Caleb. My boys both are Not here. There ones in New Mexico and the others in Michigan and they wish they could be here. But uh uh we're grateful to the Lord that we have two boys. Go to the next one. Our ministry is uh we've been the lead mentors at the Broken Rail Bible Ranch now for 26 years.

I was a worship leader at our church for many years, but then handed that over to somebody else who's uh able to take that over. We work with native youth in the Gallup area in New Mexico and across the Navajo Nation. And we have both been missionaries to youth and kids for 40 plus years. So we've done this for a little bit. Go to the next one. I'm about to give this disclaimer and you have it on your sheets there, but I want to explain it a little bit. Go to the next slide This is not a sociological or anthropological treatise on identity. Go to the next one.

This is an honest look at what forms our identity. and how we must look at it as believers and followers of Jesus Christ. So I'm taking this thing of identity and I'm just squashing it down into a very narrow look. Because I'm not going to deal with other things. And Lord willing, we'll have some time for questions for you to ask me at the end of this. But I want to make this disclaimer to let you know that I'm looking at it through a very narrow look. I'm looking at identity through the eyes of us as native people who follow Jesus. Okay, go to the next one.

How the World Defines Identity

Identity, the world will say to you, is all of these things. That your identity is your interests, the the things that you possess, creations that you make, choices that you have, values that you possess, beliefs that you have in whatever it may be, the way that you look your ethnicity, the practices and habits that you've acquired over the course of your lifetime, the work, the hobbies, and friends and family. The world would have you believe that your identity is formed from the outside. And so I want to take you on a journey. of what identity really is.

So go to the next slide. Identity is this and I took this directly out of the so you can follow along on your paper there. Keep going. I'm just gonna read it and just keep going until I get to the end Identity, who I am, may be defined as a distinctive character belonging to any given individual shared by all members of a particular social category or group. is a term used to describe a person's conception and expression of an individuality or group affiliation, such as national identity and cultural identity. The term is used more specifically in psychology and sociology and is given a great deal of attention in social Psychology.

The formation of one's identity occurs through one's identification, others primarily of parents and other individuals during one's biographical experience. And also with groups as they are perceived. These others may be benign, such as one aspires to their characteristics, values, and believes a process of idealistic identification, or malign when one wishes to disassociate from their characteristics. a process of defensive contra-identification. Now, after saying all that, go to the next one. We're going to explain it very simply. Identity is this, who you really are.

Now that definition is not wrong It's just the way that they look at it through the lens they look at. It is something that is outside of you. But we are going to look at it through this lens of who you really are. Okay, and we're going to build on some of these things. Now, let me ask this question. Okay? Now, this side of the room, are you an elephant? Let me ask this side of the room. Are you a grain of sand? Let me ask on this side. Are you silly? Okay, now I ask you, do you get angry? Okay, so I gave you two different things there. Okay, you're not elephants and you're not ducks.

But you have characteristics of silliness and anger. So that comprises us as human beings. So let's go to the next slide.

Understanding Identity

I want to talk about understanding who you are. And you see that white streak right there? That's an arrow that goes up. And as we start feeling this thing out, I want to start from the beginning when we talk about identity because if we are to form the right identity that we have as believers and followers of Jesus, we have to start at the beginning. So the first one, go to the next slide. Presuppositions. presuppositions and what that means is that where you begin. Okay? And we started that when I said to you, are you elephants? No. And I asked over here, are you ducks?

No, we're not either one of those things. So we are narrowing it down to where we begin And since we're not ducks or elephants, we are something else. And those characteristics include silliness and anger. Going to the next slide. Now we talk about origins. Now when we talk about oranges or oranges did I just say oranges? Origins speak English, you know. Origins, we're talking about where we came from. Where do these things begin? Go to the next slide. After origins, we talk about identity, who you really are. And identity comes from origins, and origins come from Where we believe and what we believe we came from.

Go to the next one. On top of that we go to purpose Purpose is, and once we've established our identity and who we really are, then why are we here? What's the purpose of us being alive? At some point in time We were birthed and now we're here. But what is our purpose? Going to the next one. And now we have direction. So when we have purpose and we know why we're here. Then we start to go. I'm going to give you an example of this. Okay? All right? A shark. When a shark is birthed. The purpose of the shark is to eat other fish. You know? They eat.

This is what they do. You guys seen the movie? You guys seen the movie Jaws? Okay. That's the whole purpose of the sharks, to eat. And when The shark fulfills its purpose, it has a direction, and it just goes and it swims and it finds something to eat until it's time for that shark to be done. Now, when a shark lives its purpose and finds its direction and eats, it is the fulfillment, go to the next one, of sharkhood, and in our case, fulfillment of personhood So when we understand who we are, we have to go back to the beginning. When we talk about identity, we have to go back to the beginning and say, where do we begin?

All right, go to the next one.

Where We Begin

Let's talk about presuppositions. Presuppositions, the definition is background beliefs or assumptions that must hold true for a worldview to be authentic. Real and plausible. Now the word plausible, all that that word means is that given enough evidence, this could be true Given enough evidence, plausible, this could be true. Okay? Now, with that in mind, let's go back to what we said earlier You guys are not elephants. How do we know that? I don't see big oversized feet. I don't see a trunk. I don't see webbed feet over here, and to my knowledge, nobody is hiding feathers.

So it's plausible that you're not elephants and you're not ducks. But we do have characteristics where you're being silly and you got angry. So it's plausible that you might be a human being. This is how presuppositions are built. Go to the next one.

Two Origin Stories

Where did humans come from? And this is where we get to the nitty-gritty guys. When we talk about beginnings, when we talk about what voices we're going to hear, we need to go all the way back to the beginning. There's two places that they've told us we've come from. We either come from evolution or we come from creation. From times past, the Bible has said, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. That is the origin story that we have been given through the scripture, through the Word of God But the world has decided that they want to tell you that where you came from was a different place.

And so they want to tell you that you evolved over time. So let's examine how those two voices Go together. Go to the next slide. The universe came from nothing. You keep going back, keep going back. Well, where did it evolve from? Where did that come from? Where did the humans, oh yeah, we crawled out of the ocean. Well, where did that come from? Oh, we came from fish. Okay, well, where did the fish come from? And they go back and back and back and back and you realize that they want to believe that it came from nothing. Because they don't have a point where it began.

It was just always there. But they don't have anything to say where it came from. Now, on the other hand, on the creation side, it says God handcrafted the universe. He took seven days, there's debate about the seven days, but in reality, God created, He made the earth. He made the universe. He did it with his own hands. Now those of you who are craftsmen here, or who play an instrument, or use your hands for stuff, you know exactly what it feels like to take that material and to make it into something. For those of us who are who are who use uh are artists and use our hands for this, we know what it takes to do and to make artistic things.

And that's why we are a reflection as creators of the ultimate creator. The next one for evolution is this. You came from primordial ooze. You came from matter that was not living in that sense, and then you became alive. Go to the next one. You were created by God for God. We're going to go over some of these verses again back as you go further. Colossians chapter 1. You were created by God for God Go to the next one. You came from nothing. So the one voice is saying out loud to you, you know what? The universe came from nothing, and you came from that universe, and so therefore You're nothing.

You came from nothing. But on the other side of the creation, you came from the mind and heart of God. That God had you in mind. And we're going to keep coming back to this, guys, because the voices that you hear, and I tell our students all the time, you will become your influences. If you are going to listen to these voices, you will become what they are telling you to become. Now let's go a little further with that, okay? Let's go a little further. And I know you may not be all the way through with this thing, filling it out, but I'm going to go to the next question.

Where Our Worth Comes From

Where does my worth come from then? Because now again, we talked about presuppositions. Now we're talking about origins, evolution, creation. Go to the next slide. Now the world is telling me where does my worth come from? And the other side we have creation or in the next slide you'll see it say creator. Your identity comes from outside of you. We looked at that first slide where it said identity and had all the different things around it. They're telling you that since you came from nothing, everything that you want to become is what you get your worth from.

But the creator says this instead. The creator God gave you an identity. And you know what that identity is? You are made in his image You are made in his image. And God's came together, the word of God says in Genesis, let us create man what? Like an elephant. No. Like a duck. No. Let us make him in our image because this is the way I want them to be special in their creation. Go to the next one. You must make your worth in order to be someone or something. This is where the world tells you, hey, you need to go out and succeed. You need to go and make something out of your life in order for you to have an identity.

You need to become a doctor, a lawyer, a fireman, a whatever. You know, all these different things that the world says. This is where you get your worth from by what you do. Because when you become something, now you have something that you can look at. Look at me, I work for the government. Look at me, I work for the school. Look at me, I'm And you fill in the blank. But all of that is outside of us. But the Creator says this instead: you are unique An original and a divine masterpiece. Okay, now I want everybody when I say count to three, I want you to tell me your name and I want you to say it out loud, okay?

So I'm gonna count to three and I want you to say your name. Alright? One, two, three. One more time. You guys trying to reverse I want you to be louder than that, okay? Everybody. All right? Everybody. One, two, three. Okay. A little too exuberant over here. Um it's alright, brother. When you said your name, when you said your name, there is nobody else in the room who has that name bearing your resemblance. We teach our staff at Broken Air Bible Ranch, say the name of your campers over and over and over again because nobody in your group has that name and who looks like you Because you are unique.

You are an original. And some of us need to hear this, because you weren't created out of nothing. And you were made special by God. And your value does not come from what you do. Your value comes from being made in the image of God. Also, what happens next when we have to find our order? You are made for the purpose of knowing God. We were made for the purpose of knowing our Creator. That's what he made us for. So in the garden, when Adam and Eve were created, the Bible says they walked together with God. in the garden. So we were made to know him.

And when we know people, what does that mean? It means that we are in relationship. Now, understand how I'm building this guys. Again, don't let's not lose the plot here. Our identity is rooted in our presuppositions, what we basically believe. Elephants, ducks And when we understand that there's two origin stories that are out there, created by God or created out of nothing And because of that, everything about our identity now, if we believe evolution, comes from outside of us. But if we believe that we are created by God, we bear his image, and that is where we get our worth.

Go to the next slide. We despair because life then means nothing. Because if we came from nothing and we can't make ourselves in life, nothing, then what are we? Who are we? And guys, I'm going to tell you right now, this is why our friends and our relatives commit suicide. Because they believe the lie that they are nothing. This is why they drink, this is why they do drugs, this is why they abuse, this is why they leave, this is why nobody holds on to anything, because inherently in their minds they believe. Life means nothing because I came from nothing.

Nothing holds on to me. But You were made for the purpose of knowing God. In the next slide, God promises life abundantly Because we are created by God, we were made especially, that we are a unique, original, and a divine masterpiece. And there are scriptures that back this up, and we're going to get to those in a second. But God not only promises life, but life abundantly, lots and lots of life. Okay, so let's go to the next question here.

Our Purpose

What is my purpose in life then? So as we're building each one of those presuppositions, origins, identity, now we get to purpose. What is my purpose in life? When we go back to evolution, And this is what it says about the world. The world says your purpose for living does not fulfill. You know what? I'm gonna go and I'm going to get as much education, I'm gonna get a great job, I'm gonna get all kinds of money, I'm gonna do all these different things. And people who have done that will say, it doesn't fulfill. Go to the next one. The Creator gives you your purpose.

He tells us, live and live for and follow me. You were created to have a relationship with me. Adam and Eve were supposed to be with God. They walked with him in the garden. We were supposed to be living for God and following him. But what do we do? What happens next? The world says this. You pursue power, pleasure, happiness outside of the Creator This is why the young ladies in our community offer themselves for sex, for security, and love. They say, you know what, if no one's gonna gonna love me for who I am, I'll just offer my body to this guy, and then he's gonna give me security.

It doesn't matter whether he sleeps around on me, it doesn't matter if he If he cheats on me, it doesn't matter if he abuses me because I've sold to him my body for sex so that now he's satisfied, but he's gonna stay with me Or we go and we say, hey, you know, I made all this money, I've done all these things, I'm really successful, but you know what it doesn't fulfill? So I'm gonna start doing drugs because I can feel better. Or I'll start drinking to numb the pain so I can I can escape some of these things. Or whatever, just put put that in there and we try every one of these things.

Because if we came from nothing and we can only find our purpose outside of ourselves, then what's next? There's nothing. And it fills for a little bit, but then it goes away. But the creator says this. The creator promises to love you and never leave you. He's made that promise. The Creator has said, you know, I love you regardless. The famous verse from the Bible, John 3. 16, for God so loved the world. That he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him will have eternal life The world says this again. They finally get to the end. The world, in the next slide, it says, oh sorry, the Creator promises to bless your life with joy and meaning.

Not only does he promise to love you and never leave you, he promises to bless your life and give you joy and meaning. This is what I'm supposed to be doing. The reason I'm here, guys, is because God has given me joy and given me meaning that I want you to have as well. But what does the world say? We despair because life still means nothing. Because if we keep following down that track, it lasts for a little bit, but then it goes away. But the Creator says this instead: God's love never fails and we get to be his child. Now, I went through that fast and there's a whole lot of stuff in there and I wish I could impact.

or or just unpack every single one of those things about the creator. But we're only going to cut touch on a couple of things. So the next slide is this. The question is this guys, and this is what does this all mean? Go to the next one.

Why This Matters

What difference does it make in my world? Now this is important, guys. Everything I just said to you just now, why are all these concepts that we talked about So important in the real world. Okay, let's talk about this. The next slide is this.

Created by God

God is your creator And there are verses that the word of God says that I want you to understand what this really means. Go to the next one. And because you are created, you are more than, and we're just gonna roll, I'm just gonna have you go through, just put them all up there for me Just put them all up there for me. Just keep going. Every one of those. And you're going to have time to write those down. Just keep going. Each one of those things I want you to look at. And because you are created, you are more than each one of those things. Right there, stop right there.

That's it. You are more than your clothes. You are more than your appetite. You are more than your attitude. You are more than your friends. You are more than your gifts and talents. You are more than your fears and failures. You are more than your personality. You are more than your family. You are more than your gender, and you are more than your ethnicity. The reason why this applies in the real world, guys, is because God doesn't love you because you're native God doesn't love you because you're male or you're female. God doesn't love you because you come from a particular family.

God doesn't love you because of your personality. God doesn't love you where you have failed and where you are afraid. And God doesn't love you because you have lots of gifts and talents. God doesn't love you because of your friends. God doesn't love you even if you have a good attitude and even if you have a bad attitude. If you struggle with eating or with any kind of appetite, whether it's for drugs, alcohol, praise, anger, God loves you more than any of that. And the reason why I say that, guys, is because if we if we break it all the way down, who are we?

We're not elephants and we're not ducks. But we have characteristics like silliness and anger that make us into this next thing. Go ahead and put it up. You are a human being created to be in relationship with the Creator God. Now I'm about to step on some toes, and I'm telling you this ahead of time so you understand what I'm about to say. I'm Navajo, the Ninshlim, and I am thankful to God That he allowed me to be birthed into a Navajo family. But that is not my identity. This is how I am. I'm Navajo. God made me like this. But that is not my identity.

My identity is one of a human being. Not an elephant, not a duck. Not a grain of sand, not a concept, but a human being. And you know what that does? If I look at it through that lens, then I have no reason to not relate to my non-native brother. I don't have any reason to be at war with anyone who's human Because when Adam and Eve were born, they were born without ethnicity. And that's what God originally wanted us to be. human beings in relationship with him. Oh Dino, you don't understand. I take great pride in my tribe. I take great pride in the blood that I have in my veins.

Why are you trying to take away that wait away that from from me? Why are you doing that? Hold on. I'm not taking anybody's away. Didn't I just tell you that I'm thankful to God? I told you my clans. I'm so thankful to God that he made me Navajo. But I'm talking about identity. Because if I can relate to my non-native brother, or if I can relate to somebody who's my sister or my brother And we know what this is, guys, because we've had our whole existence trampled on for the last 500 years I'm telling you, we can transcend that. We can get beyond that.

But we have to look at it through the lens of God. That we are all human beings. That's the only way. Go to the next slide. God is your creator. Let's look at some good news here. Genesis 1, 1, Colossians 1, 15 through 18, Psalms 139, 13, and 14. And we're going to look at these passages. We're going to take some of this apart, guys, because I want you to know who you are. The way God intended. Okay? Genesis 1. 1 says this. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The most insidious thing about evolution is that it tells you you came from nothing.

Therefore, you are worth nothing from the very beginning. God says that He has fashioned you. He created it all. He had an intent and a purpose for that. Go to the next one. Colossians 1, 15 through 18. He, meaning Jesus, is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities. All things were created by him, by Jesus, and for him, for Jesus. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together, and he is the head of the body, the church.

He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. Because when Jesus came, he died on the cross, he rose again, he took authority over all of that and said, that belongs to me now. And he holds that gift of eternal life in front of you, every one of us, and says, you want to know who you really are, you want to walk the way that you need to walk, then you come. and take this gift of eternal life that you were meant to have from the very beginning. I have it in my hands, Jesus says. No one can take it from me.

I earned it He paid for the sin. He lived. He died. He rose again. Now it's in his hands. And because he created it and he knows how it works, he knows how you work. And because he knows how you work, he's trying to get you to follow his plan. Does an Olympian who's training for the Olympics go to a drunk to learn how to train? No. It goes to somebody who's been there who's done that, who knows what it takes. Jesus is standing in front of us. I know what it takes to live the kind of life that you need to follow me. Because in Psalms it says this, For you created my inmost being.

You knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. I know that full well. Guys, God had a special design for every single one of you. And the voice that you hear over here saying you are nothing is screaming so loud that we can't hear God's whisper of love. that I love you and I made you for a purpose. Go to the next one. Things we must consider, guys. God created this world for himself. God created this world for himself. That's what he did. That's why he said it was good and at the end, very good.

But He also created us to have relationship with him. This is why we're here to have relationship. And that's what happened with Adam and Eve from the very beginning. And we have a relationship walking with God in the cool of the garden. So, because we are made by him, we are not accidents, but created on purpose. Nobody's here by accident, guys. When you were born, God knew you'd be born. And not only did he know you would be born. He wanted to have a relationship with you. And because God does not coerce us, God does not make us, he gives us the opportunity to respond.

Now I always use the analogy of my wife. I fell in love with this woman and I made my intention of wanting to get to know her better to her. But she could have said no. But because I loved her, I didn't force her to do anything. I wanted her to respond and make her own choice to be my wife. And when we look at it through that lens of love, for God so loved the world, he didn't compel us, but he made everything available for us so that we would have the opportunity to respond to his love. Next slide. Because he created you, God has an especially designed identity, purpose, and direction for you.

God has an especially designed identity, purpose, and direction for you. Why? Because this is what he intended for us from the very beginning. Again, don't lose where we're at, guys. The world says your identity comes from outside of you by everything that you do and everything you have to become. God says, I've already given you an identity. You are made in my image. You are an original. You are unique. You are a divine masterpiece. You are not here by accident. And I sent my son. to to live, to die, and to rise again, so that he would carry the keys of life, joy, and meaning to give to you, which was intended from the very beginning, so that you would have an identity, a purpose, and a direction.

and that is to be his child. Go to the next one. Nothing you do, no matter what life throws at you, will ever shake or destroy your identity in Jesus Christ. God gives us a promise. The promise is found in Romans chapter 8, 37 through 39. In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

You know why this is important is because we all go through dark times. We all go through dark things and we have things that we need to deal with. And God says, I'm never going to leave you. I'm always going to be there. I'm always going to be right there with you. It may not feel like it But I am there. Next one. Your identity in Christ is not defined by feelings, popularity, or performance. but by being a loved, chosen, forgiven child of God. I showed you the pictures of my sons, Josiah and Caleb. They're still my sons. They could go across the ocean, be somewhere else.

They're still my sons. They could get into a spaceship, go up into space. They're still my sons. My sons could pass away and die But they're still my sons. God is the same way with you guys. It doesn't matter how you feel, you're still his child. It doesn't matter whether people see you or they don't see you, and it doesn't matter how well you do anything, you are still God's child. And I look at my boys and I tell them, I'm so proud of you. And they say, Dad, why are you proud of us? Because you're my child. God gave you to me, gave you to your mom, and we're we're so proud of you.

And we You belong to us. We love you. And God is saying the same thing to you. The Bible says this. You are chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praise of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. What voice are you listening to that's keeping you in the dark? What voice are you listening to that's deceiving you into thinking that you're not special, that you're not unique? Because God made you unique in a divine masterpiece. Go to the next one. Weston talked about this this morning.

Right? Right? I don't even know what he's saying. I guess somebody online said they knew what the guy was saying. Look, there's a lion. Oh my God. You guys know the story, right? What happens? What happens? Tell me. Tell me. He who dies? Mufasa dies. Why? And what happens to the sun? What does he believe? What does he believe? What does he believe happened? Yeah, he killed his dad. And so he takes off and he goes. But then the monkey shows up, you know? Then the monkey tells him what? What does the monkey tell him? Don't believe the lies, what else?

Go to the next slide. The monkey says, hey, eat grubs the rest of your life, running away from things? He goes and he invokes his father. And he tells, Simba, remember who you are. Guys, the world is trying to tell you. Don't believe the lies of the church. Don't believe the lies of the Bible Don't believe the lie that you have to submit yourself under something that's archaic and has been proven wrong and all this and all that. And they try to fill your head with deception. And God in his love is saying to you, remember who you are. You are an original.

You were created by God. He's the one who knit your inward parts. He's the one who took death So that we could live. Go to the next one. Native America has become part of the global community through smartphones, the internet, and social media. We were part of the global community now. We share far more with the youth of the world than ever before. Raise your hand if you've heard of BTS. Raise your hand if you've heard of BTS. Okay. How many of you heard of K-pop? K pop? You guys heard of K-pop? Okay. How many of you have heard of Taylor Swift Okay?

I asked the same group. I asked this group similar to this same thing, different ethnicity, different place. Same amount of people raised their hands Because we all know this. And it's really because of this, guys, right here. It's because of this. And we are connected. And I want to issue a challenge. What voices you're hearing. As believers in Christ, Native American youth have a role to play in the world that allows us to be able to share Jesus Christ like never before. If You remember who you are, who created you, and who you belong to. Now some of us need to hear the fact that we are unique and that we're a divine masterpiece.

But some of us need to hear the fact that because God made us this way, we can go and tell people about Jesus. Native America has been sent to for generations. And now it's time for us to be the senders. for us to go and tell other people about Jesus. This is the last slide, guys. Go to the next one.

Remember Who You Are

Remember who you are. Simba had a relationship with his dad, his father, that was broken. But he had to come back to that understanding, to get past all the deception and all the lies, to take his rightful place. As king of Pride Rock. And God is calling us to do the same thing What voices are you listening to? Because wherever we begin, if we begin with evolution, then you're nothing. But if you begin with the Creator God, Who made you and knit you together and says, I have a plan for you. I made you for these things. I have a purpose for you, and that is to live for and follow me.

And I'm not only gonna give you what you need to do that, but I'm gonna give you everything. for life and godliness. That's found in 2 Peter. He also said, I'm never going to leave you. I'm never going to walk away from you. I'm always going to be your God. You follow me, I'm going to be with you every step of the way. And because it comes through Jesus, he's the one that has the authority. He's the one who holds it. And we can count on him because it's already been paid for by his blood, his death, and his resurrection. So what voice are you listening to?

My wife's going to come and tell you a little bit about what your identity in Christ really is.

A Personal Story of Identity

Hi, um, my name is Nanette, and uh I've been following the Lord uh since I was ten years old. God found me in the laundromat. Well Jesus found me in that laundromat and uh in Gallop and there I gave my life to Jesus and uh identity has been a very uh something I've learned through the years. And you know, just growing up in a home where I've just felt so hopeless. And I wanted to, as Jesus said, He's the hope of glory. I knew I knew that what Jesus was and is, but I didn't know hope in my life, in my in my identity. And as I learned my heart as my my encounters with Jesus through his word And you know, when the Holy Spirit shows you things, when the word shines on you, and when you grow up in a home where where you see a lot of brokenness.

You see a lot of, you know, when someone says a Navajo, oh then kiss, like you're so stupid. You see, you know, when you try to fit in and you don't you're not like uh for me as a woman, you know, just I don't look like this, I don't act like this. They seem to have more friends and all all those thoughts that you know that come from my home and um and the way that I grew up thinking all these things. And I didn't realize that what when Jesus came in, he's he's um Jesus said, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

So I'm like, wow, Jesus is in me, the truth. And uh so as I started reading scripture I realize, you know, we we struggle with the flesh and the spirit and we can struggle in those thoughts, the way that we grow up, the the ways before Christ. I mean, all those thoughts could define define me. And uh I can keep living in the hopelessness, but I realize, oh wow, Jesus is the hope of glory in me, and how do I stop that hopelessness, how do I start to thrive in Jesus instead of living continuously hopeless and have Jesus inside of me? I, you know, through the through the years just studying the Bible in in Ephesians, it talks about our armor, you know, our breasts.

our breastplate of righteousness, our helmet of salvation, the belt of truth. I mean if Jesus is in us and he he says it's for freedom that Christ set us free You know, taking those thoughts of the flesh and the enemies and the things that I grew up with and and bringing the truth to light to those thoughts. And the way I felt. I'm like, wow, Lord Jesus, you don't want me to be a slave again in a Galatians 5. If you want to read that verse 1, it talks about You know, stay free. Don't go back to the way that you were in the past before Jesus, before Christ, BC, I call it BC, before Christ And how do I thrive in this identity?

How do I thrive even though the world, you know, there's still sin, we're not redeemed yet. But I'm like, God, I want to thrive in you. And a lot of that took discipline of surrendering myself to Jesus, just to say Jesus I'm not enough. I can't change my life. I can't change the thoughts that I grew up. I can believe that I'm worthless. But you bought me at the cross and my worth comes from you. How do I get there And so a lot of it took a lot of surrender. A lot of it took like, wow, that's a lie from the enemy. If I'm not in God's word, you know, I couldn't see those lies.

And and uh not seeing my identity, but the more I saw as I yield to Jesus. As I yield to the Spirit that He's He has helped me and empowered me to live for Him and to recognize, wow, Jesus, you broke the power of sin at the cross. You broke the enemy's power. And I know what power is, because my uncle is a medicine man. You know, I saw things in the spiritual realm, you know, that made me scared. But You know, I taking God's word and taking that truth and believing what Christ has done has helped me to overcome those things in my life. And you know, I feel more hope in my life.

I feel like I was like a boat tossed here and there. But the more I let God's word, I tighten his truth around my belt I mean that belt around my waist, I tightened and I said, God, I'm gonna I believe what you say about me. And that's how I started to realize thriving and not only that because I was um I was uh molested by my nephew Those lies like the worthlessness I felt. I'm like, Jesus, if you are Jehovah Rapha, you know how to heal this pain. And it didn't feel great, but I trusted God And his hope started coming out of my life. He brought people into my life, his word, prayer, all those disciplines, just going to him, going to him.

And his hope is it's starting to flow from my life. I'm like, I want you to know the hope that I have because, you know, I encountered Jesus And like many people in the Bible, they encountered Jesus. And so I just one thing that I did was when Jacob, you know, his hip went out of joint and he was holding on to the angel, I told God. I'm not gonna let go of you until you bless me, Lord, until you help me through these things. And and the truth started setting me free, and I didn't want to go back to the way I was and to to to being a slave to sin and to the enemy.

I I wanted to stay in that freedom and of hope and and we don't have to wait to heaven to experience God. to to experience like oh wait to heaven no we can experience what he did on the cross now the victory he rose again and so we can have that hope in us so And I tell the enemy, no, you're gee, you're defeated. And I I'm gonna thrive because of Jesus, because I will trust my God, even though I don't feel great at times, but my faith, he honors faith. So thank you. I just wanted to share that a little bit.

Questions and Final Challenge

So I wanted to leave a moment here at the end for questions. I apologize if your handout was not the same as what I had up there on the screen. That was my fault if it was a little different But I wanted to leave a little bit of time here for anybody who had any questions about anything that we talked about or if you want to go back and look at something that you wanted to write down again that we had up on the screen. Yes. The third page. What's the what's on top? I'm sorry, I can't I can't I can you gotta speak a little louder Can you go just cycle back Justin and Owers?

Is this is that what is that the right one? That one right there? Okay. Is that what we're looking for? It says, because he created you, God is an especially designed identity, purpose, and direction for you to be his child. Anybody else? Any other places on this? Now there's one thing I didn't put on there that I want to talk that'll dovetail into what Nanette was talking about, and that is this How do we get there? The most practical thing I can tell you is this. You will become your influences. And by that I mean what you allow to influence you will be eventually the path that you're led down.

Now let me use an example, okay? All right Raise your hand if you are into rap or hip-hop. Raise your hand if you are into country music. Raise your hand if you are into all kinds of heavy metal rock and roll music. Okay, now listen. Somebody showed you that music and said, listen to this. And then you started to move in that direction. Okay? Now those of you who have your own genres will say, I don't like that, but it's okay. Or you may say, I hate everything but this one. Either way, somebody influenced you, and then you started to listen to that music more and more and more.

And then somebody who hears that music will say, oh, that just all sounds the same. And you say, no, it doesn't. There's differences to this music and there's this one and this one and this one and this one because you spent time investing your life in that music. Now think about it when it comes to your spiritual life. What are you allowing to influence you? We talk all the time at WLS. Read your Bible, pray, spend time at church, go talk to people who know Jesus like you. Because that's where your influence comes from. If this is what you want, you need to mind the voices that you let into your head and influence you.

So What are you allowing to influence you? Yes, sir It's not smooth nowadays. How do you say I've never got the way I Heavy metal music, most of it's filled with hate. You guys want to search me in my band that will be horizontal to the bloodline if you have one? But there are there are Christian death metal bands. Which sounds kind of, you know, paradoxical. Christian death metal. But hey, that's another question for another time. But yeah. But understand guys, those are all influences. Those are all pushing you in one direction or another. What are you, what kind of TikToks are you look looking at?

What are the memes that you're looking at? What are the things if I were to ask you, give me your phone, let me see what what your history looks like I could tell you what you're being influenced by. How many people follow, right, raise your hand, how many of you follow influencers on your phone? Anybody? Yeah? Are we afraid to admit that out loud? You know what? People who are influencers, that's what they're there for. That's the word right there. Influence. They want to push you in a certain direction. And God is saying, remember who you are.

Be influenced by me, by the Word of God, by other people who are like-minded Because if we leave from here and we don't understand that, none of this means anything if we can't apply it to the real world. Now let me leave you with this, okay? Who is influencing you? And what do you need to change? Who is influencing you and what do you need to change? Because whatever voices You're going to listen to is who you will eventually become.

Closing Prayer

Let me offer a prayer for you guys, and then don't forget to leave your evaluations back there. And thank you for listening. Let's pray. Lord, forgive me for all the times, for I let other voices lead me astray. Father, forgive me for allowing whatever the devil decided to cloak in something very desirable. that eventually turned into my own personal demise and ruin. Lord forgive me for allowing the wrong influences to dominate my head and my heart and eventually my actions. And Lord, thank you for the influence and the voice of Jesus Christ. Who told me, I love you, and I have a plan that I originally intended for every human being that I want for you.

Thank you that Jesus came so that we would have an opportunity to know you and have relationship with you the way you intended from the very beginning. so that our identity may be formed in you, the Creator God, the Creator God who wants relationship with us. And I thank you, God, for that. That you have been everything you have promised. And every failure that has happened, God, has been because of me, not because of you. You have fulfilled every promise that you have made to me. And you have given me joy, meaning, purpose, and direction. Because I have found my identity in you.

So Lord help us to be able to navigate that. Help us to find our way. Because you love us so very much. You did not leave us without a path to you. So help us to be mindful, God, of the voices that we listen to. We pray all this in the name of Jesus. Amen.