A Light in the Night - Holy Living in a Hostile World

Can I pick on my uh Arizona folks for a minute? Is that alright? So um we uh I I lived in Arizona on the Hopi Reservation for almost 15 years And uh it's where my wife and I got married uh twenty years ago and um we we love that place. We still get to go back and visit. But one of the weird things in Arizona was there would be every few months Down there was military bases down near Phoenix and everything, but every few months there'd be these weird lights in the sky. And now we hear about it all the time. I mean the UFO councils and everything else, and evidently that's the priority of the government. I don't know. But we have all these different Weird lights in the sky and I mean social media would light up with these things. It was what are these? I think it's this, uh ET's back, whatever it was But all of a sudden people would sit up and take notice. Even the other day, I don't know if you've tracked the Starlink satellites But you can see them going by in the sky and uh they they even have a website you can kinda track that. So we did that as a family. The other night we're just like, they're gonna be going over. And so we went out and just see these lights moving across the sky. The reality is that when all of a sudden there's these different bright lights up against a dark sky, up against the darkness, it stands out. If that is true physically, if that is true when we see that, it is exponentially true spiritually. We are supposed to be bright lights in the darkness. We're going to take a look at that in Deuteronomy this morning for a few minutes because God's plan for living light in an upside-down world, a world that's gone dark. is a people who know they are who they are, independent of their environment, independent of the factors around them, independent of what's going on in politics or on the world stage, they know who they are, no matter their emotions. whose identity comes from the God who made them, and that defines how they live in a hostile world. Philippians 2, 14 through 16, Paul talks about this. Do everything without grumbling or arguing. I know I'm nailing that one. All right, maybe not. But so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault. in a warped and crooked generation. Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky, as you hold firmly to the word of life. This is Paul's confirmation here that light stands out against the darkness We live in a world. I don't know if you guys have known. I we're going to be talking some about identity this morning, and when you look at an upside-down world Could we have imagined even a few years ago how upside down identity would get? How upside down that people would be saying you can choose who you are, you can choose what you are. It is an upside-down world when it comes to identity, but the reality is that why wouldn't people think that we, as followers of Christ, should change to fit the world around us? They believe that God does change to fit the world around them. A Barna survey just a few years ago, so just a couple of years ago, actually, half of the respondents believe God learns and adapts to different situations. Half of the people around us Believe that God changes and adapts. Why wouldn't they think that those who claim to follow Him should do the same thing? The shocking thing about that survey Half of evangelicals believe that God changes or adapts to the world around him. to situations. Same survey. So you may be thinking, well, lost people, of course they believe that. People who love Jesus, who say I'm following him, believe that. So we live in a world that is upside down and where people are saying, yes, you should change. You've got to change with the times. Come on, man, get with it We don't believe this old way anymore, but we know that God doesn't change. Jesus doesn't change because Hebrews 13. 8, this is one of the hope of young people we worked with for years This was his favorite verse, that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. There's no changing with Jesus. He is always the same. I'm going to pick on uh Brad and Diane. Could you come up here for a second? Just to the front of the stage. Yeah, they have no idea that I'm calling them up here. Real quick. I I won't embarrass you, you know, too much. Uh Brad and Diane uh travel with us some during the summers. Uh Diane's a nurse and helps out with the team, and Brad, well, he fixes everything we break uh during the summer. Um Real quick, if you could just take this and uh I'm gonna throw that mic on the ground. Is that all right? Cool. Um if you could take that, uh real quick, just using your hands, if you could make a frog for me, just real quick. Brad, come on, get get going here. What Brad, I mean we've got to I told I just told him that you fix things. I mean come on, you should be able to work with this. Well All right, I'll tell you what, we're just gonna we're gonna call it. I uh Diane's the winner already. So I they I Brad, I'm sorry, but all right, let's hear from Brad and Diane here, all right? Thank you very much Look, the reality is that when we have Play-Doh and we have a rock, one of these is much more moldable. We are not supposed to be play-doh people in this world that we live in. God calls us to be unchanging and to stand firm. As he does, he does not change. He never changes. He is the rock and he calls us to be the same. We're not supposed to be this in the world around us. We're going to talk this morning a little bit about how that unfolds in our lives. The reality is this is a new day, but it's really the same story. I love that people always like, well, I can't believe this is happening, this is happening. We see this in history. We see this in Deuteronomy. Look at the children of God in Deuteronomy. You'll see some key verses on identity there. We cover some of those as we go through here, but I wanted you to have those there. But the reality is the children of God knew that it was clear that if they cannot conquer Canaan, Canaan conquers them. If they cannot stand firm, if they cannot follow closely, if they cannot be obedient, that they're going to be the ones that get conquered. And it would happen unless their identity, unless who they are comes from within. Then they would be a light in the night that surrounds them. And that's what God is calling us to be, is lights in the night that surround us. The darkness has never been more dark. The need for light has never been greater. Who you are is a lens that through which you see all of your life experiences. And um you know we sometimes in in this world we live we're coming up on a uh you know end of the month we know people are gonna be dressing up in costumes, right? and they pretend they're someone else. I my family's gonna be thrilled I'm showing this. But I w we you know we we have our identity. I we my family is a secret identity. Yeah so I mean We um that's not a current picture, but um, you know, do I fancy ourselves the incredible? Sure, but um We we know that that is not who we really are. That is a costume we're putting on. A lot of times we put on kind of this outside costume of who we are because of what people say we are. Some people or how we feel we are, and I'm not I'm not minimizing these things because some of these things are very real that we deal with. We may feel like a victim. We may feel like we're failures. We may feel like we're unlovable. We may feel like we're unworthy. But the reality is that these are all as we call these things, including shame and other things, we use this phrase with the native young people we work with. Those were our lie identities. Those are lie identities for us. And they all come from the outside. All of these things come from the outside. God's plan for is not for us to find who we are in our extrinsic identity. I mostly am using that word to sound smarter. And we're not supposed to find our worth in our extrinsic identity, who we are from the outside. That's not how God wired us. So even some of the positive things in our lives The the tribe of people that are around us, the whether it's John, you mentioned in the video, the tennis tribe, the skiing tribe, soccer moms, whatever it is your church tribe, whatever it is, that that that is part of who you are, but that's not really your identity. Your family, your triumphs, your job. How you're treated, your talents, your politics, your pain, your past failures, all of this is Telling us who we are from the outside. Yes, they make up some of who we are, but they are not our real identity. Maybe you found your identity in work Maybe you have found your identity in what you do, and now you're at a point in your life that you can't do it anymore Whether it's you've chosen retirement or physically you've had to retire and you just have to move on. So who are you when the work is gone? Maybe it's been your children that have been your identity. And it's been all about your kids. I we have our daughter who is in her senior year of college. She's gonna head off to college and You know, as you have your children leave in the empty nest and you've been all about your children, so who are you then? If all of your identity has been from the outside, from these things around you Many of these things may describe you, but they do not define you. You are, praise God, who God says you are. He gives us this intrinsic identity. Psalm 139. You guys they're familiar verses, but Psalm 139, 13 through 16. 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. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be God has made you with intrinsic value in this in inner identity. So bold choice number one is I will trust his sovereignty. Bold choice number two, I will live my true identity. I will live my true identity. So we're going to look at three steps to living your true identity. These are pretty straightforward. But these are incredible reminders, especially depending on where you're at in life right now. Number one is to know who you are. We have to know who we are. Deuteronomy chapter 7. Let's go to Deuteronomy here. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy. Do not intermarry with them, do not give your daughters to their sons, or take their daughters for your sons. For they will turn your children away from following me to serve other gods, and the Lord's anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy you. This is what you are to do to them. Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones, cut down their ashera poles, and burn their idols in the fire. For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people. his treasured possession. The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Know therefore That the Lord your God is God. He is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments. We are holy, meaning we are set apart. This is going off of what this says here. We are treasured. We are chosen. We are loved. We are rescued. We are covenanted with the Almighty God, the Lord our God. He has a desire for this holy God. His plan has always been the same for his people. And it doesn't change now. He has always wanted us to burn every bridge to the darkness around us because of who you are and whose you are. Now, I want to be clear here that I'm not talking specifically even right here about sin. Now, we're going to talk about that in a minute, but The darkness around us, I was just sharing this with our uh students at the Leadership Center the other day, that when you look in history You have got the church that's been here and the world that is here. You've always had the church that is holding fast to what God says. Do you look in history? And then the then the world starts moving. The world starts getting darker, starts getting worse, and what we've seen over time is that the church has slid over with it. Because we don't want to look too weird We don't want to look too out of place. If we're still back here, they're gonna think we're freaks or something like that. So we we move a little bit and all of a sudden we're where the world was But the challenge is that the increase of wickedness has accelerated. And so all of a sudden the world is rapidly moving this way. And the church, in many cases, too many cases, is still trying to keep up. And the church, the body of Christ is making decisions that when we were back here would have thought never possible. We would never compromise in this area. We would never change our tune on this. But all of a sudden we're trying to figure out how we live in this world, in this new world. How do we change? God may want methods to change. He may want our approach to change. He does not want our message to change. He does not want that. We aren't supposed to look like the world. We're not supposed to do all the things they do. We're supposed to be separate. We're supposed to come out and be separate. We're supposed look different So if that's the case and we are supposed to know who we are, then choose like you are his chosen. We've got to choose like we're his chosen. Let's go to Deuteronomy again, chapter 10. And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you? But to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him. to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. And to observe the Lord's commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good. To the Lord your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it. Yet the Lord set his affection on your ancestors and loved them, and he chose you their descendants above all the nations, as it is today. Circumcise your hearts therefore and do not be stiff-necked any longer, for the Lord your God is God of gods And Lord of Lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. A quick word. Um I want to be careful here because I know there's there's probably parents in this room who have a hard time with how your children are living. Maybe you have a child that has wandered from the Lord. Maybe you have a child that is making wrong choices. The reality is as parents, one of the easiest places for us to compromise and start to make changes in what we believe is when we don't want to lose relationship with our children Don't compromise. Love them. Don't berate them. Don't judge them. But don't change the message that God has given because you're afraid of what they might say because the reality is they need a lighthouse. Your children who may be wandering, your grown children who may be wandering, maybe there's not a lot of relationship there. They need Some place that when the walls fall down and life falls apart, they can still look and say, I know there's a place of safety. I know there's a place for me to run to. Don't compromise and don't give up. Keep praying for your children. Know who you are. Keep showing them that. So they know there's a place to run to. Alright. So number two, we know who we are. You need to show who you are. Doesn't do much good if we know who we are and we don't show the world around us. The good news, great news here, is this is done with God's help and God's strength. Because if we're trying to do this on our own, if we're trying to show who we are in the world around us, w on our own strength, we're gonna fall apart. It's gonna be stressful, it's gonna cause you to eat poorly, it's gonna cause you to do all sorts of bad habits in your life, because we aren't made to do this on our own. We're made to do this with God's strength. So these steps we're going to look at to show who we are, this is in God's strength. And the first one is avoid contamination Live like you belong to Yahweh Elohim, the Lord your God. Alright, Proverbs 4, 14 and 15. Do not set foot on the path of the wicked or walk in the way of evil men. Avoid it. Do not travel on it. Turn from it and go on your way. There's a story of uh maybe some of you have heard this of this rich guy who was looking for a new limo driver This was not someone at Ron Hutchcraft Ministries. I want to be clear there. There's rich guy looking for a new limo driver. And so he's trying out some candidates. And he first guy comes up and he says, all right, here's the final test. You have got to get as close to the edge of that cliff up there and stop. So the first guy's like, all right, I got this. So he goes and he slams on the brakes. He's about 10 feet from the edge of the cliff. Not too bad Second guy comes up, tells him the same thing, get as close to the edge of the cliff, and you stop. That guy gets within two feet of the edge of the cliff Whew, he's in the running and then the third guy comes up and they this rich guy says, you know what, all right, so here's your task. Get as close as you can to the edge of the cliff and then stop. And the guy says, why in the world would I do that? I'm not going to put you at risk or me at risk to try and do that. You're hired. The rich guy wasn't looking for who could get closest to the edge of the cliff. He was looking for someone who knew boundaries were important, who knew not to push the limits God is wanting us to not look how close can we get to the edge of the cliff and how we live in the choices we make, in the sin things that maybe we are harboring in our hearts. He wants us to avoid contamination altogether. Knowing who we are impacts everything. It impacts the choices we make. It impacts what we watch. It impacts whether you're going to click on that website or not. It impacts what we do on our phones. It impacts how we use our time. It impacts how we treat our spouse, how we treat our children. When we know the Lord our God is with us wherever we go. In whatever we say, in whatever our eyes are seeing. If the Lord our God is with us wherever we go when we make those choices that are out of line with him, And we allow ourselves to be contaminated. What does that mean for us? Because the Lord our God is looking to walk with us Great news, he gives us the strength to live pure. Avoid contamination. Number two, live to bring him glory. Live to bring them glory. Deuteronomy 10, verses 1 and 2. At that time the Lord said to me, Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones, and come up to me on the mountain. Also make a wooden ark. Oh, write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets which you broke. Like that you broke. Little reminder. Then you are to put them in the ark. Go, the Lord said to me, and lead the people on their way, so that they may enter and possess the land I swore to their ancestors to give them. God here makes clear, first of all, with he is writing on these tablets. He is giving this land. He is the one that is supposed to get the glory. Recently as we were building the leadership center, I'm kind of a uh kid at heart. Well, we saw the picture. All right, so I'm a kid at heart, and the uh the reality is I was like, man, I've always kind of wanted like Put a handprint in concrete or something like that. And I'm like, cool. So we're gonna take the family over. And I was talking to Sam like we're gonna do that. We're gonna go do it when they're pouring the concrete. And then I stopped and I was like, you know what I don't want to do that. Because it has been God's fingerprints all over with this building. I don't want to mess that up. We've talked all along that it is God's fingerprints that have allowed us to be where at, not just with a leadership center, but in all aspects of the ministry we're doing. I see that in my own family personally that He has his fingerprints all over the place. He doesn't want us messing it up. He doesn't want us. He doesn't, he uses us, but he doesn't need us. But he does choose to use us, but he should always receive the glory. He gives us irrefutable evidence that the victories are from him We know that in our lives, we know that to be true, so don't start taking credit for the things God has done. Speak that out to those around you to show who you are. Third thing is focus on the broken. Another way to show who we are is to focus on the broken. I'm not gonna have all the verses put up there just for time, but if you look in Deuteronomy 15, 7 and 8, verse 11, chapter 14, 28, and 29, 24, 19, what God is saying here is take care of the poor, the foreigners, the fatherless, the widows. That's the list he gives us there. In those verses, he gives to his people to care for those around us. Why? Because the broken are God's VIPs. We were the broken. We've been there. We know that God reached out to us where we were at and he has rescued us. He still wants to do that, not just spiritually, but physically for people We live in a constant news cycle of people arguing and debating about human lives. They have these conversations about all sorts of ages and all these people and border crossings and everything else. And God is saying Please care for the broken. It doesn't mean we agree with everything, but those around us, we care for the broken. February 2020, there was a group of four children. They ranged in uh from uh early teenagers down to two years old. And they were out in the Alaskan wilderness. They went out for a walk, a storm hit in the mountains, and they got trapped. And they sent out a search and rescue effort. Time went on a little bit, and you know, a group of children in the cold, man, hope was not, there was not a whole lot of hope around. And all of a sudden they found them. They found them alive and well. Most of them had been dressed well for the weather and everything, but not all. And there was this one two-year-old The one two-year-old, how did this little one survive? They found the other three siblings huddled around Keeping him warm. Keeping him safe. That's what God wants for us. He wants for his people. to shelter the broken, to care for the broken, to be seen as those that are protecting them, helping them, rescuing them. So focus on the broken. He gives us eyes to see others the way he sees them. And then the other one to show who we are, steward his blessings. Steward his blessings. Deuteronomy 16. Then celebrate the festival of weeks to the Lord your God by giving a free will offering in proportion to the blessings the Lord your God has given you. For seven days celebrate the festival to the Lord your God at the place the Lord will choose. For the Lord your God, here we go again, Dad, the Lord your God will bless you in all your harvest and in all the work of your hands and your joy will be complete. Each of you must bring a gift in proportion to the way the Lord your God has blessed you. How do we view what we have in the bank? More importantly, how do we view what we drive? What about just our furniture? What about Sarah and I talk about this sometimes. We're filling up nowadays. And we're like, we're really grateful the Lord has provided for us to be able to fill up this tank. Because it's getting harder and harder. But how do we view, do we view these things as blessings still? Do we view the little things we get to do when you go out to eat and we're praying before our meal? Do you sit and say, Lord, thank you for this blessing? I get to go out and sit in a restaurant and eat dinner Thank you for blessing me this way. But what really hit me as I was studying this, I was challenged as I was looking at Steward Your Blessings because um a friend of mine, we've sat and talked sometimes about Well, how much are we supposed to give? It's always a bad place to win it's a how much do I have to give? Um God loves a cheerful giver, but it's okay, well is it is it 10% is the the tithe is the tithe still in effect? Are we the but New Covenant, all these different things? Well, guess what? The Bible says, give in proportion to your blessings. All of a sudden I'm sitting there thinking as I'm preparing. We have so much that God has given us. We have so much that He has blessed us with. Am I giving in proportion to the blessing I have received? Honestly, I've got work to do. It's not about a percentage. It's about the proportion We should be good stewards of his blessing. A. W. Tozer says this, as base a thing as money often is. It yet can be transmuted into everlasting treasure. It can be converted into food for the hungry and clothing for the poor. It can keep a missionary actively winning lost men to the light of the gospel. and thus transmute itself into heavenly values. Any temporal possession can be turned into everlasting wealth. Whatever is given to Christ is immediately touched with immortality. Hosanna to God in the highest. What is this talking about? It's talking about giving living. That we look to those around us and say How can I give? Maybe it's financially, maybe it's with time, maybe it's just helping them out with a task, whatever it is, how do I have giving living so that I can help steward his blessings he's given me. He faithfully gives his provision so we can partner in what he is doing. Take me back to kindergarten for a second. Go with me. There was a uh, you know, you look and they give you assignments. Kindergarten assignments are pretty simple. I mean they're not that complex. Nowadays I actually don't know. School's getting harder. I don't know. But kindergarten, you had show and Yes, and if you came in, it was pr I mean it's in the title show and tell. So if all of a sudden I come in and I'm like, yeah, I've I've got Play-Doh at home, or I'd just go in and I don't even say it's just That's not a passing grade right there. If I go in, I'm just like, I've got this weird stuff at home, it's soft and squishy, it's blue. You can mold it into different things. No, that's not the assignment. It is to show and tell. And that's number three. Tell who you are. We have got to tell others who we are. Deuteronomy 6. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give to you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. That doesn't work by just showing We have to impress them, talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. If you haven't realized that's all the time. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates. And then Psalm 107, 2. Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story, those he redeemed from the hand of the foe. I love how the NLT phrases this one. Has the Lord redeemed you? Then speak out. It's right there. It's so clear. We're supposed to be reminding our children, reminding those we work with, those we walk with down the road, those we exercise and work out with. We're supposed to be all about talking about Jesus. A song came to mind. I don't come up here and lead worship, alright? So I'm gonna need your help. Alright? You with me? Alright. This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine. This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine. Alright. And the one we loved, I believe it was with with Carissa that we did this. Uh that kids love when we tell stories about them. Um the uh Carissa we would, you know, hide it under a bushel. No, I'm gonna let it shine. Well, that is what we're talking about here. But she would get into it. I mean, it would be hide it under a bushel and no All right, so it was that's what we're talking about, is to tell who we are. We're not supposed to be hiding it, we're supposed to be talking about it. Declare whose you are to those around you. Declare whose you are to those around you. You want to know where to start? Start at home. Start at home, Mark 5. As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. Jesus did not let him but said, go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how he has had mercy on you. So the man went away and began to tell in the decapitus how much Jesus had done for him, and all the people were amazed. Sometimes the hardest place to talk about Jesus is at home. The enemy doesn't want us talking about Jesus at home. But it starts there. So start at home. That's what the instruction Jesus gave. You've been set free. Go tell people at home. Ask for forgiveness where needed. We don't have time to unpack forgiveness right now this morning. It's hard. I can tell you that. And sometimes we don't even think it's us that's done the wrong. And so we don't want to ask for forgiveness because, oh, what are they going to think then? And then that shows weakness or whatever else. But if there is a place Where forgiveness is the issue standing between you and telling someone about Jesus, forgiveness is worth it It's hard, but it's worth it. Ask forgiveness where needed. And speak in a way that is seasoned with salt and light I added not vinegar to the list here with salt and light. 1 Peter 3. 16 Keeping a clear conscience so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander, living in such a way speaking in such a way that it is salt and light. So even when people maybe want to come at you, there's not evidence to convict because all of a sudden it's like, well, all they've said it's salt and light This is everywhere. Quick point. That includes social media. My encouragement to you before you make that post about the issue of the day before you make that political commentary online. I'm gonna be honest, it's not changing people's opinions. When we post online and just fire it off there before you do that. Read it again. Then read it again. Then, if you've got someone else in your house with you, your spouse, whoever else. Maybe have them read it, all right? And see, is this really something that is filled with salt and light? We need to stand firm in our convictions. Don't get me wrong But we need to do it in a way that will draw people to Jesus, not to our political viewpoint. Because they could agree with us and they may wind up voting the same way you do and they may die without Jesus. Point them to Jesus. The other point here is to tell his story. So we'll wrap things up today, but tell his story. Deuteronomy 2, 7. The Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this vast wilderness. These 40 years, the Lord your God. has been with you and you have not lacked anything. It's all about Jesus. It's all about the Lord our God, what he is doing. He has watched over me. He has guided me. The story is his story. Tell it. Deuteronomy 6. 21. Tell him we were we were we were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Tell them what we were. We need to tell them what we were. Tell them who you were before Jesus. Tell them what you are lacking before Jesus, what you are struggling with. You may be someone who's like, I've known Jesus a lot of my life. I don't have that much of a hope story. Yes, you do He still rescued you. It maybe it's in your family history that you can talk about it then, but we were something before Jesus. Talk about what we were until he brought us out. First Peter 2, 9 and 10. But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Talk about what we are. Because of Jesus. We need to tell them what we were, but we need to tell them who we are now and the difference Jesus has made. Spend a lot of time on that. Sometimes it's easy to get into the talking about the stuff before. I did this, I did that, I did that. Talk about the difference Jesus has made. And even if you're someone that you don't have a lot of pre-Jesus hope story that you think you have to share, you've got a lot of post-Jesus hope story to share. Share the difference he has made for you, your family, your marriage, whatever it is. Talk about the difference Jesus has made and who you are. And always remember. Deuteronomy 5. 5, let's look at this. At that time I stood between the Lord And you to declare to you the word of the Lord, because you were afraid of the fire and did not go up to the mountain. Always remember that you are standing They're building a bridge between them and the Lord. We're standing between, we're God's conduit for hope We stand between 2 Corinthians 3, 14 and 15. But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. Even to this day when Moses is right, a veil covers their heart. So there's this veil, there's this covering there. They still need someone to bring them hope, to talk to them about Jesus, to help them see clearly. And 2 Corinthians 5. 20, it's actually the theme verse for the podcast that Doug and I do. 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. God is sending you as his ambassadors to those around you. He has uniquely positioned you where you are with a special voice for the people. who will listen to you because you are walking through life with them. Don't give up on being ambassadors, standing between God and them and helping them see clearly. Jude 23. Save others by snatching them from the fire. To others show mercy mixed with fear, hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh. Save others by snatching them from the fire. This is not a passive word. It's not a passive picture. We're supposed to be about rescue, about grabbing them, getting yeah, maybe we have to get close to the heat, but we are going to pull them out. We're going to be about rescue. If we fail to be who God made us to be. The light goes out and it's totally dark. If we live as God wants us to live And we realize who we really are and we walk in his strength and live out our true identity. We are bright lights, stars in the sky. Put up against the darkness. And people will notice. Deuteronomy 33, 27. The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. Blessed are you, Israel, who is like you, a people saved by the Lord? He is your shield and helper, and your glorious sword. Your enemies will cower before you and you will tread on their heights. This isn't about our strength. This is about the Lord. He is our shield. He is the power that we need. We can live our true identity boldly in the darkness because we have his strength. Ephesians two ten. So there's a verse that we have Spoken over people many times this past year. Just know that we're wanting to help these young warriors know who they are in Christ. know that they are so much more than they've ever been told before. We want them to know, Ephesians 2. 10, for we are God's workmanship. created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Another version says you are God's masterpiece Where's workmanship? Where's masterpiece? That Greek word there is poema. You are God's poem. You are his. He wants you to live and walk in that true, that real identity. Not what others have told you, not what you felt, but who he says you are. Live and walk in that reality.