For many, Christianity is an exercise in behavior modification. God gives us a list of “To Dos” and “To Don’ts”, and it’s our job to do and don’t them as best we can—right? Wrong! Actually, being a follower of Jesus isn’t about a change in behavior…it’s about a change in identity! Christians are people under new management. We’re not who we used to be. So why do so many of us struggle with our new identity? Why is it hard to believe God when He says we’re loved, chosen, and blameless? It’s time to address the gap between who we think we are and who God says we are, and see what it really means to be under new management.

“Righteous. Loved. Holy. Blameless.” If you follow Jesus as King, then that is who God says you are! But if we’re honest, there’s a gaping divide between what God says about me and what I see in me. And bridging that divide seems impossible. Luckily, God has given us what we need to close the gap between who we feel like we are and who He says we are.

Man. It's good to be in God's presence, isn't it? It's good to have a God who we can be in his presence. It's good to have a God that we can actually approach and know he hears us and that he is listening to us. I am thankful for a present God. It was kind of easy to feel like we're in God's presence during that song, wasn't it? To beautiful song, right? We're sitting killed. It sounded amazing. The whole song set really was just amazing. We were we were talking about it after first service how good the music was. And man, it really did. It feels like it ushered us right into God's presence this morning. Because Because you've got the music and the band sound so good. You've got the lights dim and the cool lights up here on the stage. And everyone's thinking, Man, I can hear all your voices everyone. Do you guys sound beautiful. By the way, everyone sounded good. It was easy to feel like we were in God's presence right now. But it's not always like that. Is it? Done always like that. It's not always where we're in the middle of a church service. Sometimes things can be pretty hard. Sometimes things can be difficult. And it's hard to feel like you're in God's presence. But we learned last week. God is omnipresent. He's with us all the time. So why does it sometimes feel like he's not there? Like, I'll give you an example. So yesterday, me and my wife Jessica, we had like an impromptu workday at the house. We cleaned out the garage. We removed a bunch of bushes with my father in law we we were just all over the house doing yard work. And what I mean by impromptu is this we got home from we went to breakfast together and went and picked up our kids from my in laws house. And we got back to the house at about 1230 and for some reason I was like I'm just gonna go out in the garage. I started picking stuff up. I kid you not we were out there from about 1230 until nine o'clock at night. Like we didn't even like cooking wasn't even a thing. We just put some frozen pizzas in the waiting for those things to get done, ate and then went right back outside like we were just working non stop at the house. And I don't know why I did this. Like I said it was impromptu. So I didn't I didn't really think this out. Like at all. I worked that entire time. 1230 to nine o'clock at night. No shoes. barefoot. I have no idea why. I guess I just kind of thought I'll only be out here for a little bit. And then a little bit turned into an hour an hour to do a couple hours. And before I knew it, it's nine o'clock at night. I kid you not whenever I was walking inside after like the adrenaline of working outside and getting all this stuff done and feeling so accomplished. After that wore off. I was walking like someone had just beaten the bottom of my feet with an aluminum baseball bat for an hour. I'm like, just treading across the house. It hurt. so stinking bad, right. So that's going on the kids, they're getting frustrated because we're not inside with them. We've got three kids seven, five and one year old. They're frustrated because like the coolness of being outside and doing all this stuff that wore off after like hour, one and a half. Like they're, they're done. They want to go inside, they want to do other stuff. They're not wanting to like help mom and dad clean up. So they're getting frustrated. They're like, when are we doing this? Can we go do this? Can we do this? Like No, no, we're getting stuff done. Just hold on. So that's the whole thing. It was kind of getting hot out. We're getting all sweaty yesterday, too. There was just all of these different things going on. And what I want to say is what scripture will say is that God is omnipresent. He's with us all the time. There's no place that we can go to escape God's presence. And so what that means is God was with me yesterday, in that moment, as he was just a few seconds ago when we were singing here in the presence of the Lord, right. didn't feel like I was in God's presence yesterday, though. Right? It didn't feel like it. Like today we're singing, mercy is falling, falling. Well, yesterday, my feet were killing, killing. And I didn't feel like oh, this is great. And God's doing some wonderful things. There was a pretty big disconnect and how I felt and how close God felt yesterday right. Now we're gonna be studying in Romans chapter seven today. So if you have your Bible, you go ahead and open it up. While you do that, while you're finding it. I want to tell you something that I have noticed and I want to see if you've noticed this too. I have noticed there is a disconnect. There is a disconnect in life. There's a disconnect between what I experienced here during our worship set and what I experienced yesterday, during my work day there is a disconnect. And this is the disconnect that I see and I want to know if you guys see it too. There is a disconnect between what God says about me and what I see in me. Only two people outside the rest of you are perfect right like know

what God says. You You feel it all the time? No, I'm perfect. I'm God's handiwork. I'm a masterpiece. And I feel like that all the time. unless I'm mistaken. I would imagine a lot of you feel the same way, right? You're like, Yeah, what what God says about me what what Scripture says about who I am in Christ, I see a very big disconnect between that, and how I feel on a day to day basis. I don't know about you, I don't always feel like I'm God's handiwork. I don't always feel like I'm the light of the earth. I don't always feel like I'm God's masterpiece. I don't always feel that way. There is a disconnect. There's a gap, a very, very big gap. A lot of times between what God says about me, and what I see, in me, I will know online, if you're watching, do you feel that? Is anyone else there with me, you see this disconnect. So last week, we talked about God's identity, we kick this series off. under new management, we talked about who God is, because if we're going to talk about who we are, any conversation like that has to start with who God is. Right? It just has to, because teams take on the identity of their leader, we saw that with the Cleveland Browns, right with Freddie kitchens, they took on his identity. And that was a bad thing. Last year, they took on the new coaches identity, Kevin Stefanski, it's a good thing that happens. And so we have to know who our leader is God, because we are going to take on his identity. If we want to know who we are and who we're supposed to be. We have to know who God is. And we talked about and we had the code up here, right? We're putting names up on it with God's different attributes things like he's, he's holy, and he's love. And he's King. And he's a judge, and he's merciful. And he's gracious, all all these different things, all of God's attributes. And one of the key points that we talked about was that if I want to know who I am, this is the fact that I'm never more myself, I'm never more who I'm created to be, than when I'm more like God. Right? Like, I'm never more myself than when I'm more like God. And that right there is why you feel great. Whenever you forgive somebody, and it feels like man, that was what I was supposed to do. That's what I was created to do. There's something inside of you that says, Yes, whenever you do that, there's something inside of you that goes, That's it. That's it whenever you give of yourself sacrificially without expecting anything in return, because that's who you were created to be. You at a soul core level are going Yes, that is what I am designed to be, I'm supposed to be like my father. We're never more ourselves than when we're more like God. But there in lies the rub. Because if you were tracking along with that at all last week, and you hear me say, you're never more yourself than when you're more like God, you probably think yourself, wow, I really don't feel like God too often. I really don't feel like I'm hitting it that much. So if I'm never more myself than when I'm more like God, I'm never really myself. Because I so often do not live up to where I should be. I'm so often falling short of where I should be at. We have a thing on our church staff, we call birthday blessings. Every time it's someone's birthday, the staff we write like a little paragraph about the person whose birthday it is, and just tell him something that we've appreciated or noticed about them the last year or something that we've loved about them that is good. So we'll we'll comment on their work ethic or, you know, the way they are with the kids, if they work in the kids area, the way that they handle tense situations, we just say all these things to kind of like say, hey, look, I noticed this and I see that this is something that you're so good at, I'm so grateful for you in this way. And it's funny almost every time we read these things, every time we share them, the person who is being talked about can't make eye contact with the people around the table right there like right and part of it is like the awkwardness of someone's talking about you part of it is the awkwardness of like, Yeah, I don't know, there's just a little bit of an awkwardness about it, but some of it, and I'm gonna speak on behalf of the staff here. Some of it. I know for me, whenever I'm avoiding eye contact, I'm avoiding eye contact. So I'm like, man, those are such nice things and I don't really feel like they're super true about me. Like sometimes I hear things I'm like, Man, you guys are really building me up who Wow.

I'm you're saying I'm really patient. I don't feel like I'm that patient. You guys are saying I'm very sacrificial man. I don't feel like I'm that sacrificial all the time. Like you're saying all these awesome things. But I gotta be honest, I don't really feel it all the time. There is a disconnect, a disconnect between what people say about me what God says about me and what I see in myself. And I got to tell you, that's why I love the Apostle Paul. The piece of Scripture. I told you to go to today Romans seven. I love the Apostle Paul because this dude is relatable. He's relatable. If you ever read scripture and you feel like these people are just titans of the faith, and they're so unrelatable because they just seem like they do everything perfect. Read the letters of the Apostle Paul, because this guy is real. I want to read to you today, probably the most relatable scripture you'll ever hear in your life. This is from the book of Romans. This is Paul's letter to the church in the city of Rome. This is what he says in chapter seven. Starting in verse 14, we know that the law is spiritual, but I am unspiritual sold as a slave to sin. And then here it is, verse 15. I do not understand what I do. Can I get an amen? from anyone who's like, that's my life verse like I need that tattooed on my arm Roman 715, I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do but I hate what I do. That's relatable. That's relatable. The things that I know that at the core level of me I know I should want to do that are good, that will lead to a fulfilling life. Man, so often, I just don't want to do them. And the things that I hate the things that I look back on and I hate about myself, those are things that for some reason come So naturally, skip down to verse 21, he says, so I find this law at work, although I want to do good evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law, but I see another law at work in me waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law at sin at work within me. And then he sums it up in this way. Verse 24, what a wretched man I am. Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Can you relate? Can you relate? I don't know what I'm doing. The stuff that I know will bring me happiness. I don't do it in the stuff that I know will lead to a life that will have despair and regret and dysfunction. I do those things why in the world is going on. There is this gigantic disconnect. You see what we talked about last week, God's identity. That was an easy sermon to listen to, wasn't it? I had people come up, man, I was one of your best ones yet. Right? Because something we all agree on. God is great. God is good. Amen. Like we all agree on that. That's an easy sermon to hear. Because we're talking about God and how amazing he is and how fantastic he is. This week, though, talking about you and how you're God, if you are in Jesus, you're God's masterpiece, you're God's handiwork, you're complete. He's going to make you perfect. You hear those things? You're going, me, me, my boss, my like really? Like you're gonna he's gonna do that to my boss, who was a Christian but drives me nuts. It's a little bit hard to believe, isn't it? You see, it's easy to believe what God says about himself. It is hard to believe what God says about you. It's hard to believe what God says about me. Case in point, john 812. You know what Jesus says, Jesus says, I am the light of the world. And for that I think we could all say amen. Jesus is the light of the world. When we see him we see perfection. When we see Jesus, every area of the world that he infiltrates light comes with him. He is the light of the world. But guess what else? Jesus says, Matthew 514 You are the light of the world. You, you, you were the light of the world. If you follow him if you follow Jesus, Jesus says, hey, yeah, I'm the light of the world. So are you You are the light of the world. That one's a little bit harder to say amen to me, am I am I wrong to anyone feeling particularly lady today? Your hair is on point you're like, I don't know. I kind of am the light of the world today. My outfit looks good. I'm feeling good. Got some caffeine in me, right? unless that's you. Most of us are like, Yeah, no, I don't really. I really feel that a lot. I have some good days. I have some good moments. But man, I'm the light of the world. Like

there's a disconnect. There's a disconnect. There is a gap between what God says about me what I see in myself. And if you're not aware of what God says about you, let me let me just read some of these off real quick. This is a freedom in Christ bookmark. We've got these things there at the Welcome Center. These are really cool. This tells you about your identity in Jesus. A lot of the stuff that we're hitting in this series is going to be on here. Let me just read you some of the things that Scripture says about you. And if Scripture says that means God says this is what God says. about you, if you are in Christ, this is who you are. You are God's child. You're Jesus's friend, you have been justified. And what that means is, if you've trusted in Jesus, you have been made just as if you've never sinned, that's what it means to be justified. You are united with the Lord, you were bought at a price and you belong to God, you are a saint. You've been adopted as God's child, you have access to God through the Holy Spirit, you have been redeemed and forgiven, you are complete. In Christ, you are free forever from any condemnation, you are assured that all works will work together for your good you are free of any charge against you. You are hidden with Christ and God, you are confident that the good work God started in you will be perfected, you are a citizen of heaven, you have not been given a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power of love and of a sound mind. You can have grace and mercy in your time of need. You are born of God and the evil one cannot touch you. That's who you are. If you are in Jesus, that's who you are. But if I if I'm gonna, if I can be real with you, and I'm gonna say that a lot today because this is kind of a vulnerable sermon. If I can be real with you. So many of these things feel like yeah, that's not me. That's you. Like these are awesome things. These can't be true about me. God these these are describing you but this ain't describing Jacob young. Maybe sometimes, maybe in fleeting moments. These could be descriptors of me, but in general, no, no, God. It's not me. It's you. I don't really feel like I'm under new management sometimes. I feel like the old manager still got my number. He still knows where my goat is tied. Because again, if I can be real, and maybe it may be I'm the only one maybe the pastor is the greatest sinner in this place. But if I can be real it's hard for me to believe these things because so often I seem to love God's so little incense so much. Can we be real here today? Is that all right? Can we be real in here? Everybody online? Can we be real? That's where I'm at. So often I can seem to in the grand scheme of things love God. So little trust God so little, and man, love sins so much. Love the things that I know won't take me anywhere but regret so much. I know a lot of you are like, man, I didn't know we were having Debbie Downer as a guest speaker today at Cornerstone I would have stayed home, I would have caught this online and switched over to a different feed at about this point. Right. If you're thinking that is what I want to let you know, what we're talking about so far, this isn't depressing. This is real. This is real. And we're a real church. We I want to I want to break some assumptions today. Everybody who was up here on stage today, me included pastor included, we had drum we had acoustic we had pastor Brenda up here we had guitar, we had some singers up here, every single person up here. sins. Right? shocking, right? Including me. This is a real church. If we can't be real here, my God, where can we be. And so it is very hard for people who sin including people here at the church, people who still mess up people who still make mistakes, it can be very hard to believe this stuff. It can be very hard to believe that I'm God's handiwork. And it's God's masterpiece, and I am holy. And I've been made righteous that can be very hard to believe, because there is a disconnect. And it can feel like it's growing. And as I was thinking about it, as I'm studying on it, and praying on and asking God like, because I want to let you know, whenever I preach on these things, this is stuff that God's working on in my own heart. This isn't just me being like, Oh, this would be something that the church needs to hear. This is what I need to hear. And I hope it connects with you too. Because God's speaking this stuff to me and he's preaching it to me a lot. But whenever I think about this, I'm like, man, what's, what's the core of this disconnect? What What is what's the like?

The main reason I feel this disconnect between what God says about me and who I am and as I thought about it, and studied on it, I'm like, you know what, I think the core of that disconnect, who God says I am and what I see in myself. I think the core root of it is I believe, I don't have what I should have to be who I should be. That's where I'm at. I can't speak for you, everybody watching online. I can't speak for you. But for me, I feel like you know what, the disconnect between who God says I am and who I actually am. I feel like it's because if I only had what I Should have to be who I'm supposed to be, then we'd be good. If I just had access to a better Study Bible, or better worship music or, or better mentors, or a better accountability group or a better Bible study or better church, then I would be where I'm supposed to be, then everything would be great, then I would be living more up to that ideal. That's where I'm at a lot. That's where the core of my disconnect is. I feel like you know what, God hasn't equipped me with everything I need to be who I'm supposed to be. That has to be what it is, because there is such a disconnect such a gap between who he says I am, and how I feel about myself, again, let me read you what Paul says, Romans 721, through 23, he says, I find this law at work, although I want to do good evil is right there with me, for in my inner being I delight in God's law. But I see another law at work in me waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. See, it feels like I'm being torn. And there's a there's a battle going on inside me, and I just don't have what I need to win it. And so that's why I see this big disconnect. Because a lot of us, a lot of us, what we thought is that the moment that we gave our life to Jesus, suddenly, all of our desires for our old life would go away, right? That's where a lot of us were at a lot of us thought, you know what, as soon as I started following Jesus, that temptation, I always had to lie to get myself out of stuff, to be able to ask for forgiveness, rather than permission, that will go away. And it did on the Sunday that you got saved. Then Monday came. And suddenly, you had that temptation to tell that little lie at work to cover your butt. Hey, I didn't get it in. And the reason I didn't get my project in was because of this. But I'm going to tell them it was because of this. There we go, just saved my butt real quick. That desire didn't go away instantly, right? Some of us we come to Jesus on Sunday. And we think that our desire for just casual sex, just partner after partner is just going to go away. And then Monday comes and Tuesday comes and we realize, Oh, I still enjoy sex. Hmm, I guess the desire didn't go away. The way that we abuse alcohol, the way that we just drink ourselves to a point of no return, we think that suddenly it's not going to taste good anymore. Suddenly, we won't like that feeling. Now, I'm not saying God can't do miracles and take that away in a moment. But that's why it's called a miracle. Because that's out of the norm. The norm is those desires stay. And so it feels frustrating. That's where that disconnect comes in. How can I be God's handiwork? If I'm still desiring these things? How can I be holy, if I'm still wanting these things, if I'm still battling, I thought I would have no desire to sin. And that's just not how it is. You see, when you accept Jesus into your heart as your Lord and Savior, Jesus doesn't erase you. He doesn't turn you into a mindless automaton where you're just doing whatever he says he does, oh, yes, I will worship and serve him all day, and I will sing worship songs. And that's all I'll do all day long and read scripture and attend Bible studies. God doesn't do that. Jesus doesn't erase you. What he does is he empowers you. He empowers you. He doesn't erase who you are, and make you a robot. He says, No, I'm going to empower you to actually be able to make different decisions. I'm going to empower you to start walking by the Spirit, rather than walking by the flesh than just giving in to what sin tells you to do. Listen to Paul's response. Paul says me and this is what I'm doing. I hate what I do. And the stuff that I should be doing. I don't do. Who's gonna save me. I'm such a wretched man who's gonna save me from this life of death. Here's his answer. Verse 25, of Romans seven Thanks be to God who delivers me through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. That is his deliverance. That's his deliverance. That's that's the answer Paul's saying, hey, how am I going to get out of this? How am I going to bridge this gap? How am I going to fix this disconnect between who God says I am and what I see in myself? Jesus, Jesus, he has bridged the gap. He has fixed things, and made it where I can have a connection with God. Again, you see, we are under new management, we're not under mind control.

We still need to be managed. Jesus is managing us he didn't wipe our minds and we just follow him blindly. Those desires are still there. But through Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit, we can manage them. We can manage them and we can make better choices and follow Him more closely. So that's why you still struggle. That's why you still struggle. That's why that disconnect is there. The cross doesn't erase the disconnect. What it does is it repairs it. The cross repairs it this disconnect between who God says we are and who we see in ourself the cross repairs it romans eight, this is the very next chapter in the very next verses what it says As, therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Because through Christ Jesus, the law of the Spirit that gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death, for what the law was powerless to do, because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us. You see what Jesus has done, he came, and he defeated sin and death. And he has given us the power, he has empowered us to start making different choices. But let me tell you, it's a process. It's a process. If you're a new Christian, today, I want to let you know, do not get discouraged. It's a process. It's a process don't feel like all your desires and go away instantly. They don't, things don't work like that. It is a process repairing the connection, is a process that takes time to build back a connection. You know, here at the church building, we're actually installing new internet here, our internet has been terrible, just real spotty, not very fast. And I mean, we're trying to stream online. So it needs to be a pretty good quality internet connection. And so what we've been doing, we've we've been in contact with spectrum. And they're getting ready to run like fiber optic cable here, which is like the fastest it can be like this stuff is going to be quick, like, it'll open a web page. Before you even click a button. You're just thinking about it. It'll open a web page. It's, it's that fast, right? It's fast internet. But guess what? We don't have it. We started the process weeks ago. But if you want a good connection, you want a really good internet connection. It doesn't happen overnight. It's a process. They've had to send in contractors, they send in a construction crew to see where's the best place for us to tap in to the pre existing fiber optic line. Like it's a whole process. And it's taking time, because a solid connection is a process. A solid connection takes time. It's not an instantaneous thing. Now, and on one hand, it is an instant. On one hand, the moment the youth decide to follow Jesus, you are made new, you're a new creature, you're you're not condemned to death anymore, in the way that you were apart from Jesus. So yes, that happens in a moment, but having your desires transformed, becoming sanctified, acting and talking more like Jesus, that is a process and it takes time. Now I want to let you know what the enemy wants you to believe what the devil wants you to believe what your accuser wants you to believe is that that connection, repairing it is impossible. That that disconnect between who God says you are and what you see in yourself, the enemy wants you to believe those two will never meet, ever, there will always be this gigantic disconnect, you will never live up to what God says about you, you'll never hit it. So why even bother? That's what he wants you to believe. Because if you believe that, you will think why bother? If you do think that being who God says I am and what I see in myself, if you think that those will never meet, then why even try? Why even try to follow on the spirit why even try to follow Christ example if you know you will never ever, ever, ever make it. The enemy wants you to be paralyzed, to backslide. to hate the process to think the process won't lead any where wants you to believe that the disconnect is eternally inevitable. Essentially, he wants you to believe that your spiritual condition is route eight. eternally under construction. It's always going to be cones always going to be traffic always going to be frustrating. So why even bother taking it right? We went to Summit County Fair this past week. And we took every back road we could to avoid route a like it was like a 35 minute drive and we're like it's fine. As long as we avoid route a It's okay. That's what

the enemy wants you to do when it comes to your spiritual condition. Just avoid it. It's pointless. Why even try to change anything you're disconnect from who God says you are is eternally inevitable. And it can feel that way and it can be paralyzing. But it's a process. I can't say it enough. It is a process connecting to who you are supposed to be repairing that disconnect. It is a process connection takes time. So do not man hear me this this is it. Do not be discouraged by the disconnect that you feel. I want to see a show of hands this isn't middle school dance. Okay, it goes a lot better if you just participate. If you feel like there is a disconnect between who God says you are and who you feel like you are just shoot that hand up. Yeah, see you you're not alone online. I want to see it too. You're not alone. We're all there. And what I want you to know today is don't be discouraged by that disconnect. Don't feel like, well, this is who God says I am is who I feel like and there's just not there. And it says, Don't feel discouraged. You know, when you should be discouraged, you know, when you should be worried, is whenever you aren't discouraged by the disconnect. That's when you should be afraid. Pastor Brenda will tell you, she's counseled so many married couples, when couples come in, and during the conversation that's kind of heated, and they're kind of going at each other's throats a little bit. I mean, that's bad, right? You want every you want people to be good, but sometimes conflict is necessary. And she'll tell you, when there's that passion. When there's that frustration, it's still a good sign. That means these people care, they care about each other, they care about the situation. They care. The biggest warning sign any counselor will tell us if a married couple comes in. And both of them seem like they could care less. Just apathetic. You guys want to save this marriage? I don't know. I don't know. I don't even know if it's worth it. Yeah, that's me too. I mean, we just feel that we've just completely gone our separate ways. I just I don't know anymore. That is when the sirens go off. That's whenever you're like, Whoa, we are, we're right at the precipice of this thing, going past the point of no return. That's when you should be discouraged. That's when you should be worried. Not whenever you're frustrated about the disconnect. But if you feel there's a disconnect, and you could care less, that's when it's time to go, Whoa, God, I need you to change me, I need you to do something in my heart, because I am completely sinning against you. And I don't care. I don't care. So if you feel a disconnect today, if you're like, Man, this is who I'm supposed to be. And this is this is what I see in myself. And it's frustrating. Don't be discouraged by that disconnect. It's a good thing. It's a good thing that you're discouraged by the disconnect, because that means that you know that that you is not you anymore. You follow me. That's why you're discouraged. That's why you're frustrated because you're like, Man, that that that person is making those stupid decisions. That's not who I'm supposed to be. Now I'm supposed to be me and Jessica, my wife, we were outside the other day, just shooting hoops. She was getting on my nerves so bad. Because we're outside shooting. And like, I'll just be real. I'm really good basketball player played all throughout. I've played ever since I was like in kindergarten, really good basketball player got a really good shot. For some reason I couldn't hit a shot. I couldn't buy a bucket. It was driving me nuts. And Jessica was relishing in it. She's just messing with me like every time that I miss and she's like, not feeling it today. I'm like, give me the ball. Give me the ball right now. And so I'm like, I'm starting to sweat. I'm like, Come on, let's let's go on the journey to get shots up in its bank and off. And she's like, oh, tomorrow, you'll probably get a better tomorrow. I'm, I'm losing it. I'm about to flip. Like, I'm like, oh, and the whole reason, the whole reason I was frustrated. It's because I knew that wasn't me. I'm like, I hit the shots, like nine times out of 10. Like, this isn't me. That's why it was so frustrating. Because I knew I'm better than that. And when you feel that disconnect, and you're frustrated about it, you're frustrated that you didn't stand up for that person when you knew you should have, you're frustrated whenever you told that white lie at work, and you're like, man, why did I do that? Why don't I just own up to it. When you get frustrated over those things. Don't be discouraged by that disconnect. That is a good thing. That's a good thing that is called conviction. That's the Holy Spirit working on your heart saying, Hey, I found who you're meant to be. That's not who you really are. You're better than that. So don't be discouraged when you feel the disconnect. That is the Holy Spirit at work in your heart. That's God's grace at work in your heart. Because a lot a lot

of times we think God's grace just covers our sin. It doesn't just do that. God's grace covers our sin, but it also changes us. It works to change us to make us into better people. Man, I look around this room, I see faces. And I'm going man, God has done something in your life and in your life. And in yours. I see marriages in this room that have been saved, addictions that have been broken dysfunctions that have pretty much disappeared, because of God's grace. Because of someone saying, This is who God says I am. This is what I see in me. But you know what I'm believing this, I'm choosing to believe this. I'm working towards that. And as they do God's grace gives them power. And they get there. And their marriage has been saved, and that addiction has been broken. That's amazing. And it's God's grace at work. That's the Holy Spirit's at work. And he's at work in our church. He's at work in anyone who allows him to work in their life. So when you feel that disconnect, when you feel a disconnect between who you are and who God says you are, I want to let you know you don't need to look for anything new. You don't need to try to get anything new. All you have got to do is access what You already have. You already have everything you need to be the person God created you to be. You don't need a better Bible study you don't need what more can the church offer me for me to become who I need to be? You have it already. You don't need another Bible study a better Study Bible, a better accountability Group, a better worship team, you'll need it better. Well, if I go to this church, then I'll really grow they'll feed me there. No, you have everything you need right now to be who God created you to be you have access to it. Listen again. This is what Paul says. There. Absolutely. Therefore there is now no condemnation when now, not off in the future, somewhere one of these days you won't be a screw up anymore. Awesome. One of these days he won't be dysfunctional and ruin relationships anymore. One of these days. He said, No, now there's no condemnation. Now sin has lost its grip on you. Now you can be a different person. Those aren't often the future. Those are for here. And now. Those are for here and now. We have everything we need to be who God created us to be. We just have to actually access it. Man. This is years ago. lebrons first year of his second stint with the calves. The calves are in a playoff series against the bulls. bulls are really good that year. yoki Noah and Derrick Rose, they're really good. They're going to be a tough battle for the Cavs and the series is tied one one that we're playing in Chicago. The bulls are up with like point eight seconds to go right bulls are up the Cavs have the ball. We're down one I think we call a timeout. It's just a crazy game. The game had been back and forth pretty much the whole time and get this The game was on Mother's Day. We're worse day to have a game because like you're just expected. Let's not watch the game. Let's spend time with mother and let's enjoy mother and bask in her presence while this games going on. So what we were doing for Mother's Day, we were going out with my in laws to Texas Roadhouse. We lived in Middleburg heights, we're going to the one in Stowe. So it's a drive. So we believe in like the end of the third quarter when this game is tight. And it's one one series whoever wins game three wins the series like 77% of the time, so this is it. I'm like, oh my gosh. And so we're driving. I'm listening to this on the radio, which is just awful. Some people like oh, it's better than that. No, it's not. It's awful. You miss everything. I want to be sitting on my couch at home watching it on HD. Like that's what I want. So we're driving, I'm listening to this. I'm living in dying with every shot and every call. And it's terrible. Because there's that delay when shots up. It's good. You're like, Oh my gosh, right. And so it's, it's crazy. I'm about to wreck us a bunch of different times as we're driving. And I'm thinking to myself this whole time, my in laws, Jimmy and Sandy, both of them, even Sandy. They're big cast fans. I'm kind of surprised that we didn't like, push this off. You know what I mean? Like I pushed the dinner back later into the day, or like going right in the middle of game time. But whatever. I'm not going to be the guy who's like, no, we're not going to my mother in law's Mother's Day dinner. So I can sit home and watch the gas game. So we drive and as we're getting close, it's again it's it's that situation it calves down. 1.8 seconds to go. We have the ball out of bounds under our basket. Throw the inbound pass. LeBron catches it and as he catches it all one move turns fades away, puts up the shot and you hear it on the radio chato It's good. It's gonna cast. I mean, I'm, I'm losing my mind. I'm about to have a heart attack on the road. Like this is crazy. So cool. We pull over like oh my god, that was amazing. I was so good. And so we're amped we pull into the parking lot, just as the games ending.

We pull in, Jessica gets her phone out to get ready to text Sandy to let her know hey, we just got here. As she pulls her phone out. She has a text from her mom. The text says, Hey, sweetie, no need to leave early. We're gonna go to dinner later. So we can often it's watching this Cavs game

about lost my mind. We're sitting there just in silence like so we we could have been home because we looked at the time of the text. Like if we would have read that the moment that we got it. We wouldn't even left our house yet. Like we would have been home. So me and Jessica just kind of sit there for a little bit like I guess we go put our name and we just walk inside but our name and we're kind of quiet for a little bit. Cuz it's so depressing. Because we realized we had everything we needed to enjoy that game. Everything. We had the couch. We had the HDTV. We had everything set up. We had the okay from Sandy, my mother in law saying hey, don't come no one's coming yet stay home. We had everything we needed. But we didn't realize it. We had no clue that Sandy had empowered us to stay home and watch this game. And because that we missed it. You see where I'm going with this? So many of us see this disconnect between who God says we are and what we see in ourselves. And we're like, man, God, if you would just bring me someone into my life will be a better mentor, bring me a better group Bring me a better church, bring me more worship music that'll inspire me bring bring something into my life that will do this for me and God saying, Are you kidding me? I've given you me. I've given you my son. Like you have Jesus, what a wretched man you are, who's gonna save me? Thanks be to God who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord, You have it already. Like you already have it. You don't need to wait around for me to give you anything else. You have everything you need to be exactly who I made you to be right now you have access to it. You just got to realize it. You got to use it. I have empowered you, you have every thing you need. So if you are following Jesus, I want to let you know whether it feels like it or not, you are under new management. You are you you are under new management right now. It may not feel like it in the moment, but you are under new management. So don't let that disconnect discourage you. Don't let it discourage you. Whenever you feel like man, I'm just messing up and I'm, I'm sending in man. What? Why in the world, let that conviction push you back where you should be. Don't let it discourage you though. Don't let the disconnection discourage you because everything you need is in the cross of Christ. So again, as we close, I want to one more time, just one more time I want to read through these real quick, I'm going to ask if you want to go ahead and close your eyes as I get ready to read through these and what, what I want you to do is as you hear these words, let the words that God speaks about you become more real than the lies, you are the enemy, tell about yourself. This is what God says about you. You are His child. You are his friend. You've been justified. You are a saint, you have been adopted as God's child, you have access to God, through the Holy Spirit, you have been redeemed and forgiven, you are complete. In Christ. You're free forever from any condemnation. You are sure that all things will work together for your good you are free from any charge against you. You cannot be separated from the love of God. You are established and you are anointed you are hidden with Christ and God, you can be confident that the good work God has begun and you will be perfect if you are a citizen of heaven. You've not been given a spirit of fear, but you've been given a spirit of power, a spirit of love, a spirit of a sound mind, you can find grace and mercy in your time of need. You have been born of God and the evil one, the accuser cannot touch you. You are the salt in the light of the earth. You are a branch of the true vine of Jesus. You have been chosen and appointed to bear fruit, you are a personal witness of the power of Christ, you are God's temple, you are a minister of reconciliation. For God, you are God's co worker, you are seated with Christ in the heavenly realms, you are God's workmanship, you can approach God with freedom, boldness and confidence. And you can do all things as Christ pours his strength in you Father, God, thank you for the truth of what you say about us. It doesn't matter if we don't feel it, we know it's true. We know your word goes out and it never returns void to what you say about us is real, even if we don't feel it. So God in those moments when that disconnect seems so wide, and it seems like it's growing every single day, help us to not be discouraged by the disconnect, but for it to remind us that you know what, the reason I feel this way is because I know I was made for something better. And allow that to push us closer to you closer to what you had in mind for us to the purpose

that you've put out there for us for the will that you've created for us to live out throughout our life. God help us to see ourselves as you see us, as your workmanship as your masterpiece as your children. And then God help us to see you as our father that we would imitate you and all that we do so we would look and sound and be more like your son Jesus. Thank you for being good on your word. Father, we know that as we do these things you will see them through that he who started a good work and US will be faithful to complete it. We love you Father, we thank you for all that you do for us and it's in your name that we pray. Amen.