Transcription
All right, I want to jump into this word 'cause I don't have a lot of time, but I promise you I have a lot of word. And already look at this, I may not finish it all, but my goal is to try to push through it.
Today we're teaching from this subject, "Remember Who You Are." Remember who you are. There's a verse in John 11:43 and 44. It says, "Then Jesus shouted, 'Lazarus, come out.' And the dead man came out, hands and feet bound in grave clothes, face wrapped with a head cloth. And Jesus told them, 'Unwrap him and let him go.'"
And maybe you're wondering, why would I use Lazarus right now when I'm talking about Simba? Because this was a Lazarus moment for Simba. Simba had lost everything that he was, lost his identity, and he needed to be reconnected to the Father to find it. Uh, Lazarus lost his life, but Simba lost his purpose. When you lose your purpose, you lose your identity.
There's a saying that says this, "The best way to kill a man and to let him live is to take away his hope." If you take away a person's hope, even if they're alive, they're just a dead man walking. But, but you watch the movie, everything changes for Simba when Simba remembered who he was.
I need you to write this down. Identity is revealed, never created. Identity is revealed, never created. Don't let anyone try to create an identity for you to step into. God already gave you an identity. He said it this way to Jeremiah, "Before you were in your mother's womb, I knew you. And I anointed you and ordained you there to be a prophet." Which means, before your mother ever gave you a name, I already gave you an identity. I already gave you a purpose. I already knew who you were. And life is about you revealing who you are, not trying to create some new version of yourself.
See, that's the real battle that we'll all have for forever. It's never a behavior battle. It's an identity battle. Because if the enemy can get you to lose who you are, then you'll lose everything that follows along with it.
I, I'll try to break this down in six points. If I can get to all six, then praise God. One is that the, the song that Timon was singing, we didn't get a chance to put it in the clip for the sake of time, but the song they were singing before this, you know, was in the jungle, the mighty jungle, "The Lion Sleeps Tonight." You got that song? "In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight." And then the falsetto. You know, I knew that everybody want to get to the, right? It's such a soothing song, and it's actually a bad time because he forgets that he's a lion and he's sleeping in the wilderness. And that's what happens when you forget who you are, you'll sleep with anybody.
He's, he's in the wilderness with a pig and a meerkat making up songs when he's supposed to be at Pride Rock stepping into his identity. This song WASN'T ABOUT REST. THIS SONG was about condition. That he was in a bad place, and that's usually the kind of songs we like, isn't it? We, we like the kind of songs that sing about our condition. That's, those are the kind of songs that go viral, right? The R. Kelly song, I ain't going to sing. He wrote a song years ago that said, "My mind's telling me no." But we ain't going to sing that. We're not singing. That's it. That's it. You know the song I'm referencing. Amen. All right. But my mind's telling me no, my body's. And people love it. I mean, he comes on hard. PEOPLE LOVE THE SONG AND I'M LIKE, WHY DID THIS SONG GO SO VIRAL? IT'S because he was singing what everybody was doing. Living in vicarious sexual relationships, having fun touching people they're not actually connected to. And because it's a song, people sing along with it and say, "YEAH, THAT'S MY JAM." BUT IT'S REALLY JUST singing your condition. That's how the enemy rocks you to sleep with your favorite song.
My wife and I were talking about music. She was talking about some stuff she went through years ago when she went through a hard season and she said at that time, "I really love listening to Adele music." And so we were on the road. I was like, "Let me hear." And she was cutting on the music and she was like, "Yeah, every song is depressing." I said, "Yeah, but when you're battling depression, it feels like a band-aid on a wound." And sometimes you don't even know the reason you like the music you like is because there are unresolved things on the inside of you. That doesn't mean you're spiritually asleep.
Ephesians 5:14 says, "This is why it said, 'Wake up, sleeper, and rise from the dead and Christ will shine on you.'" Question is, how many times do we come to church, hear the message, and still remain spiritually asleep? You've been there. How easy is it to listen to a message and to think, "Man, they really needed to hear this." All while missing what you needed to hear. I mean, how many times do we hear come across the stage in the pulpit? God says, "Let go of the sin." God says, "Repent." God says, "Forgive." And you're like, "I hear you, but I'm not quite ready to forgive them." I can know to do right but still be spiritually asleep.
After the song is the point to where Nala comes into the story. And Nala becomes this beautiful collision because she brings the memory of Simba's past. As she runs into him and they like wrestle for a minute, and he's like, "Nala?" She's like, "Simba?" And they wrestle, and they get all excited and are having a good moment, and then it clicks. And Nala says, "If you've been alive all this time, where have you been?" It was fun and games at first, but now here's the real question. Why is your family back home struggling while you playing playhouse with a pig and a meerkat?
See, Nala really loved him. And when somebody really loves you, please write this down, real love calls you higher. See, that's why you argue with so many people you love because you love them too much to lie to them. When you really love somebody, it comes with accountability. I can't let you just live a certain way, and I know it ain't right, and I say nothing about it. She's like, "Simba, what's wrong with you? The Simba I knew ran to the hyenas looking for a fight, BUT NOW THIS SIMBA'S HIDING IN THE WILDERNESS WITH A PIG. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE SIMBA I KNOW?" And he said, "That Simba's dead long time ago." SHE WAS CALLING OUT SOMETHING IN HIM THAT HAD DIED.
And this is why Proverbs 27:6 says, "Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses." If somebody that really love you ain't going to kiss you while you wrong. I'm not here to make you feel better about the sin that you're in. That's why I love my friends. I got friends that ain't going to let me feel good about nothing wrong. Like, I need people in my life that's going to call me up, call me higher. Hey, this is not you, man of God. That's not what you do. THAT'S NOT HOW YOU MOVE. We operate with character, operate with integrity. I don't want people in my life that think sin is funny.
Then Nala tries to speak purpose back into him, but if you look at that scene, he refuses Nala. And I've learned this in my own personal experience that you can't make someone receive what they are not ready to receive. She loves him and she's like, "Come on, Simba. This ain't you." And he's trying to force it and, and he gets into an argument 'cause Simba isn't ready to hear it.
I need you to write this next point down. A mind convinced against its will is a mind unconvinced still. A mind convinced against its will is a mind unconvinced still. If you ever noticed this, you have a full-heated argument with somebody and y'all realize that y'all didn't come to an agreement, y'all just got tired of arguing? And then a week later, a month later, that same argument pick back up and they're like, "You remember we argued about this a month ago?" They're like, "Yeah, and we was arguing." A month AGO I SAID IT, RIGHT? BUT YOU REALIZE Y'ALL NEVER CAME to an agreement, y'all just stopped talking.
And Joshua dealt with this. If you read the story of Joshua, the 24th chapter is the end of his book. And we see something alarming being released from Joshua. The end of his book after walking for 40 years in ministry with the Israelites, he literally gets fed up because what he realizes is there's nothing I can give y'all that will stop y'all from running to the enemy 'cause some of y'all just don't want to live for God. Can we HAVE THAT CONVERSATION? THAT there's some people that want God but don't want to live for him. THAT YOU CAN BE GOD BUT YOU WILL NEVER BE MY lord 'cause I'm not going to give you the authority of my life.
And Joshua's in that place and look at what he says here. He says in Joshua 24:15, "But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve. Whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are now living. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." And Joshua learned at the end of his ministry, I'M NOT ABOUT TO GO BLUE IN THE FACE TRYING TO CONVINCE y'all that serving God is the right move. IF YOU DON'T WANT IT, OH WELL, SO BE IT. BUT AS FOR ME AND MY HOUSE, WE'VE ALREADY MADE A COVENANT WITH GOD THAT WE WILL LIVE BEFORE GOD WITH HONESTY and integrity. He learned I can't force this purpose on y'all.
Sometimes you trying to force your purpose on people and they just don't see it. Every parent in the room know what I'm talking about. You want your kids to see God CAN USE YOU. THERE'S SOMETHING MORE YOU CAN DO. USE YOUR LIFE FOR A PURPOSE. BUT YOU REALIZE THAT SOMETIMES THE child can't, the child cannot receive it until they're ready to actually hear the truth. And that's why Jesus said in Matthew 11:15, "Whoever has ears, let them hear." Even Jesus stood in front of a crowd and realized they don't want to hear me, they just want bread. They don't want to hear me, they just want another miracle. So he said, "Whoever has ears, let him hear." What he was saying is you got to learn just to let it be. That if a person isn't ready to hear you, stop wasting your mouth and your energy trying to convince them. I'mma set somebody free today. By the end of this series, you going, you going get free of, I don't know why they just won't get it and they're not going to get it. And you going to keep talking till you blue in the face, arguing over and over. WELL, I JUST GOT TO SPEAK MY MIND AND THEY STILL NOT listening to it. So when will you learn to walk away?
Nala comes into the story and Nala becomes this beautiful collision, this collision that Simba never even knew he needed. You know, he still carried the DNA of a king. But he wasn't living like kings because life beat that out of him. Did he have the DNA of Mufasa? Absolutely, but he was, he was moving like a coward. He was moving scared until Nala reminded him of who he was. And I think this is the powerful point about what a godly woman can do.
A godly woman can take a man who has the DNA to be great, but life has stripped him of confidence and bring him back together and take a man who was just good and make him a king. I can prove it to you in scripture. Look at Proverbs 12:4. Proverbs 12:4 says, "A noble wife is her husband's crown." Crowns are only for kings. A noble wife is her husband's crown, but a wife who brings shame is like sickness in his bones. The woman doesn't understand that you can literally make or break your man based on what you call him up to. Hear me. And it doesn't mean that men don't want to hear it. I'mma tell you 'cause sometimes men don't want to hear it and Simba didn't want to hear it, but even after Nala walked off, it was still on Simba's mind. HOW CAN I GET BACK TO WHAT IT WAS I USED TO BE? How can I return to the purpose? This is why you need Nalas in your life. 'Cause Nalas help call you higher.
And then we get to Simba's anger. And this is where the video picks up. Where he's yelling at the sky and he's angry at Mufasa or angry at his father, angry at God. He screams at the sky, "You said you would always be here for me. And you are not." And this, and all the movie there's a lot of spiritual parallels, but this is the most honest spiritual moment. This is that spiritual moment that a lot of times you can't say in church. 'Cause church dresses up pretenders. You know what I'm saying? Like church will look at you weird if you hear you like, "Yeah, I don't think I have faith right now." I actually, I don't feel good right now. Like, I actually, I'm not happy about the current condition of my life. He's angry at God and he says, "God, where are you? You promised you would be here and you're not here."
When I heard that, it reminded me of how Gideon responded to God. See, Gideon said in Judges 6:13, "Sir," Gideon replied, "'If the Lord is with us, then why has all this happened to us? And where are all the miracles our ancestors told us about? Didn't they say the Lord brought us up out of Egypt? But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to the Midianites.'" He's speaking his frustration and his confusion in the Lord. And what I've learned is that God is not offended by your anger. He's actually been waiting for you to be honest. Like, he knows when you're praying with that fake confidence and he knows that there are issues in your heart of things you haven't settled and he knows that there are question marks in your mind of things you're still trying to process. And God is saying, "Hey, invite me into it. I'm not asking you to pretend. I want you to be real." 'Cause I can't help the person you pretend to be. I can only help the real you. I can only help the real person that shows up in abandonment.
In this scene felt like God left him, but God didn't leave him. I found out that when you feel abandonment, those are the moments where faith is required the most. That's where you need the most faith. And we don't talk enough about that. We only talk about having faith and shout. And so sometimes the believer is left with a question mark saying, "Pastor, what do I do WHEN I DON'T FEEL LIKE GOD SEES ME? I don't feel like God hears me."
My baby girl, she's 10 months now and she's obsessed with me and I love it, right? If I, if I walk out the room, she's going to scream and she would scream UNTIL I DADA. AND SHE CRY AND I ALWAYS COME BACK IN, "BABY, DADDY'S HERE." And, and I hold her. And what I've learned is that when I walk out, she cries because she can't see me. And she hasn't yet developed maturity enough to know that just because you can't see me doesn't mean I left you.
I'm preaching to somebody right now. And God is speaking to some of you 'cause you're like, "GOD, I CAN'T TRACE YOU." And God is like, "But I still need you to trust me. THAT JUST BECAUSE YOU CAN'T SEE WHAT I'm doing doesn't mean I'm not moving in your situation. Doesn't mean I'm not moving in your life. THAT'S THE MOMENT WHERE I NEED you to have more faith than you've EVER HAD BEFORE. THAT'S the moment where I'm challenging your HEART TO SAY, 'DO YOU ACTUALLY BELIEVE THAT I WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU NOR FORSAKE YOU? THAT IT'S IN THE VALLEY SEASONS YOU HAVE TO TRUST THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD.'" I SHALL not want.
And we get to Rafiki. Rafiki shows up and I love him. Rafiki shows up because he is happy while Simba's going through. Ain't that frustrating, pastor? Always smiling. I don't know what to tell him. He, you mad, I'm smiling. God's going to do it. Don't, don't smile. I don't believe God's going to do it right now. I'm homeless, all right? What is he going to do? It's hard. He comes up the line of Hakuna Matata and we go, "Woo!" He's happy. And when he shows up to him, he, he's talking and he's giving these words and Simba walks away like, "Man, who are you?" And Rafiki says, "The question is, who are you?" And that's funny, but that's the most important question in the universe. That's the question that a lot of people in church are too ashamed to say they don't have an answer for. Because a lot of people are trying to figure out who they are. And that's why the enemy can play with you.
Because you don't know who you are. I mean, oh, you can tell me who everybody else is. If I were to ask you right now, you can give definitions on everyone else, but if I were to ask you, "Who are you?" That's usually where we get quiet because we don't live from a place of sonship. See, Romans 8:16 and 17 lets us know we have to at least acknowledge we're sons before we try to be anything else. Sons and daughters of God. It says, "For the Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God's children. And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ, we are heirs of God's glory." That you have to live from a place of what I do is not who I am. I'm a pastor and I work and I've got here, but that's not who I am. I'm a son. I belong to God. I know who I am and who's I am. I need you to know that because if you don't know that, the enemy will play with your identity and have you thinking you need to perform to be loved. But God says, "Before you did anything, I loved you. Jeremiah. Before your mama gave you a name, before you ever went to school, before you ever got a grade, before you got a degree, BEFORE YOU GOT A JOB, BEFORE YOU GOT A MINISTRY TITLE, BEFORE YOU PRAYED FOR ANYBODY, BEFORE YOU SHARED THE NAME OF JESUS, I ALREADY LOVED YOU." SEE, I WANT TO SET SOMEBODY FREE CUZ TOO MANY OF YOU ARE WORKING for love and not from love. God is saying, "I already love you."
He's talking to Rafiki. Rafiki comes up and he's talking about his dad and he's like, "Yeah, I'm sorry to tell you, you know, my dad's dead." He's like, "Correction, I didn't knew your father, I know your father." He's like, "He's alive?" I'll show him to you. Follow that Rafiki, he knows the way, right? So, he starts looking at him and he's chasing after Rafiki going into a deeper place. And this is how God gets all of us. That God gives you just enough to start moving, but the next step is going to require faith. Some of y'all know what I'm talking about. He'll say to Abraham, "Abraham, just start walking and I'll tell you where to stop." And I know Abraham had a million questions and God is like, "That's fine, but at least you got one direction, start walking." And some of you, you're going to miss that because when God tells you to do something, he doesn't give you the whole picture. He just gives you the next puzzle piece and he needs you to trust him with that. And so, sometimes God would tell you to walk away from somebody, you're like, "Well, God, who am I going have?" Wrong question. I need YOU TO TRUST THAT WHEN YOU WALK AWAY, I GOT another community that's getting ready to embrace you and to cover you. THAT SOMETIMES GOD WOULD TELL you to start that ministry, to start that business and YOU'RE LIKE, "GOD, WHO GOING TO SUPPORT ME?" WRONG QUESTION. I NEED YOU TO KNOW I'M GOING TO BRING THE RIGHT PEOPLE, THE RIGHT PEOPLE TO SUPPORT, TO STAND WITH YOU AND TO COVER YOU WHEN YOU NEED IT. SEE, THAT'S WHAT GOD DOES. HE DOESN'T JUST ANSWER QUESTIONS, he invites you into something deeper.
Proverbs 25:2 says it this way, it says, "It is the glory of God to conceal a matter. But to search out a matter is the glory of kings." Which means that God is not hiding it from you, he's hiding it for you. Because he's inviting you into something deeper. The deep calls out to the deep. And Rafiki takes him through the hard valley. He doesn't take him the easy way. If you understand where they were, there could have been an easier path that Rafiki could have taken him, but no, he purposely went fast and went the hardest way on purpose because God does that with us. Sometimes he likes to take us through the hard things to shape us. See, see, the, the easy path makes you feel better. But it's the hard path that makes you be better. I mean, it would be easier to not have to forgive. But you become better when you do have to forgive. Uh, it would be easier to not have to wait, but you become better when you learn patience. I'm talking to somebody that don't want patience in this season. Uh, no, it would be easier if God gave you the promise right away, but you become better when you have to trust God while waiting on the promise.
I get to the, he wrestled him out and when he get to the finest to the end, there's, there's water. And remember, water in the Bible always represents the Holy Spirit. Jesus, when the water comes out, the Spirit of God rests on him like a dove. John 7:38 says, um, that that from their belly shall flow rivers of living water. That's talking about the Holy Spirit. So Rafiki brings him up and he says, "Look down there." And so he, uh, Simba goes and he looks down there. He looks in the water, but all he sees is himself. This is what we call the shallow end of prayer. This is stuff we don't talk about enough in church. That when you first start praying, it's hard because all you hear is you. You like, "Everybody keep telling me to pray, but I don't even get the point because when I pray, all I hear is me." That's because you haven't gone deep enough yet. See, the deeper you go into prayer, it becomes less about you and more about what God needs to do in you. And you will start up praying about them and God will start telling you, "But I need to fix your heart." And you'll be mad about them, but God will say, "You're wrong, too." And you'll be talking about somebody else and God will start challenging you like, "Hey, I need you to step into greater righteousness. I NEED YOU TO BE A representation of Jesus on the earth." That's the purpose of going into DEEP PRAYER. IF YOU ONLY PRAYING ABOUT WHAT YOU CAN GET FROM GOD, YOU'RE STILL in the shallow end. YOU CAN'T DIVE UNTIL YOU GET TO THE PLACE WHERE YOU START SAYING, "GOD, WHAT DO YOU NEED FROM ME? WHAT'S THE ASSIGNMENT ON MY LIFE? WHO HAVE YOU ASSIGNED ME TO? WHO HAVE YOU CALLED ME TO? HOW CAN MILWAUKEE BE BETTER IF I STEPPED INTO PURPOSE?" IT CAN'T JUST BE ABOUT MY BLESSING. IT HAS TO BE ABOUT MY ASSIGNMENT. IT HAS TO BE ABOUT WHAT I'M CALLED TO DO.
He tells Rafiki, "Man, that's, that ain't my dad. That's just me." And Rafiki grabs his head, and he says, "Look harder." He lives in you. Simba, you've been missing it 'cause you've been looking for God out there. And the whole time he's been right here. Are y'all going to miss it? Because this is literally pivotal to the gospel. This is the most important part of the gospel. This is what Paul said in Colossians, that this was the hope of glory, the secret, the mystery that had been revealed. And so many Christians are living without this one truth in their heart right now. We are still living like God is some transcendent ethereal being that's out there that nobody can get to, nobody can touch, and you don't know when you pray if he actually hears YOU. BUT THAT'S NOT WHAT YOUR BIBLE SAYS. YOUR BIBLE SAYS that God is alive on THE INSIDE OF YOU. CAN I READ the Bible verse? Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Uh, uh, 1 Corinthians 3:16. It says, "Don't you know that you are God's temple?" And that God's spirit lives in you. Amen. NOT JUST OUT THERE, HE LIVES IN YOU. SEE, THAT'S THE WHOLE POINT.
Just call me Rafiki right now, Pastor Rafiki, right? I have one this time in your life, and that is time in is to let you know that you don't just need some outside person to be God and you to YOUR FATHER. THAT YOUR heavenly father is already alive on the inside of you. AND THE REASON YOU KEEP GETTING TRICKED IS BECAUSE YOU'RE LIVING LIKE YOU NEED SOMEBODY ELSE TO GIVE YOU THE ADVICE WHEN GOD IS SAYING, "HEY, I'M HERE THE WHOLE TIME. I NEED YOU JUST TO WAIT ON ME. LEAN INTO ME. PRAY. SEEK MY VOICE. WHEN YOU DO THAT, YOU WON'T BE LOST." AND SO MANY PEOPLE ARE LOST BEING TRICKED BECAUSE THEY LET EVERYBODY TELL them what they need to do WHILE MISSING THE GOD, the Holy Spirit that's on the inside of us.
Once he realizes that the Father was inside of him, he can see his Father's face on his own reflection. And once he can see the Father's face, then the voice comes from heaven. And I'm saying this really quickly that maybe you're missing God's voice is because you don't know he's actually there already. Can't tell you how many times people say, "How does it mean to hear God? I pray and I never hear God." Because you still think he's out there. You know how hard it is to hear somebody 100,000 miles away? You know how easy it is to hear somebody who's one with you?
The voice comes from out of the sky. Mufasa appears in the clouds, and he says something so profound. He says, "You have forgotten me." And Simba says, "No, I didn't. How could I? I didn't forget you." And he says this, this is profound. "You have forgotten who you are, and so you have forgotten me." Do you know how heavy that is? God says, "Your Your entire identity was built on mine. You are proof of my thumbprint. Which means to erase you is to erase me." My God.
I'm not going to be able to shout the rest of the message 'cause this is so heavy. That all of this is heavy to me. It said, "You have forgotten who I've made you." And the whole point of this is you're trying to see me outside of my DNA in you. And that's why it's so hard. And that's why it feels like others get what you don't have. Because you're still looking outside of you. And God is saying, "I'm right here inside of you." And when you claim to be anything other than what God created, you now are saying that God is a liar.
See, Isaiah challenges us on this. And this is one of the main ones that every people ask me about identity, purpose, orientation. I said, "Guys, I don't have an opinion. I only have scripture." And what the scripture tells us is that whenever you tell God, "He messed up." You are the clay telling the potter, "You don't know what you're doing." Uh, okay. Let Isaiah 45 and 9 says, "What sorrow awaits those who argue with their creator? Does a clay pot argue with its maker? Does the clay dispute with the one who shapes it saying, 'Stop. You're doing it wrong.' Does the pot exclaim, 'How clumsy can you be?'" And I need you to hear me. That God did not say everything else was good and very good but you. Like, like He, He didn't all of a sudden get slippery fingers when he got to you. The perfect God didn't mess up when your name came across his mind. Everything he made with you and in you and inside of you, God made it to be good and very good. And the goal of the enemy is to distort it to make you think that the way God made me, something must be wrong. YOU DON'T KNOW HOW DAMAGING THAT IS BECAUSE IF YOU believe something is wrong with you, YOU ARE ULTIMATELY SAYING SOMETHING is wrong with God. And I cannot believe that God is perfect and believe he messed up with me. I have to deal with the fact that if I'm struggling in any place in my life, I have to ask, what did I begin to believe that wasn't what the Father told me?
I thank you, Holy Spirit. I'm going to stop right here. Let me pray for you. Father, this is my prayer. Lord, I pray that you would continue to show up in our lives, Lord. That you would challenge us, oh God, to see you, to see your hand, to see your face. God, there are so many symbols in the room who life has made us to become something you didn't originally intend. But God, we now realize that you are the potter. We are the clay and we can't tell you you messed up with us. You are perfect. The entire universe hinges on your word. You didn't stutter when you got to us. And so we pray, Lord, that you will help us to see every lie we've come to believe. I feel this so heavy. Will you help us see every lie we've come to believe, every lie that we're broken, that we can't be fixed, or that we're stuck the way we are? Pray for your grace, Lord, and that your hand would heal someone today who's been crying out the same way Simba did. You said you would never leave me. But I feel abandoned. I feel alone. God, that's not you. It's not your identity. It's not who you are. It's Abba. You're not that kind of father. But the voice of the enemy sometimes is louder than your voice and we believe that you are out there somewhere. Truly, you're right here inside of us, Holy Spirit. And thank you for being there. In Jesus name we pray. God's people say.