IN HIM - Part 12 - The Lion Identity

We're living in victory! The battle's won in victory! We've overcome whatever comes our way! No one can change the scene! We're living in victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! Hello, brothers and sisters. This is Mike Kennedy with the Living in Victory broadcast. If you would join your faith with me. Heavenly Father, we ask you for direction, for light, for revelation, to understand who we are in you, what we have in you, to apply it to our lives, to live in victory. Father, we touch and agree asking for this in the name of Jesus, amen. Well, this is part 12 of the series titled, In Him. The message today is called, The Lion Identity. The series is based on Philemon, verse 6, that the sharing of your faith, in other words, we should share our faith, amen, that the sharing of your faith may become effective by the acknowledgement of every good thing which is in you. In other words, if Jesus is in you, you have tremendous things in you. We need to acknowledge them. Acknowledgement of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus, amen. So, I want to ask you,

who or what do you identify with? Your gender, job, education, paycheck, W-2, a disability, or do you identify as a child of God, the creator of heaven and earth? If looks, popularity, your job title, your income are number one in your life, they will be your true identity, regardless what you say. If God is truly number one in your life, it will change you. It will be truth to you, amen. If you identify as a son or a child of God, it should be changing you daily. You may say, I'm a Christian, but if becoming a Christian did not change you and is not changing you for the better, there's a big issue. Only doers of the word of God, people who read it and actually apply it to their life, get results, amen, positive results. Many Christians are afraid to share who they are in Christ, that they're a Christian. They're afraid to share they identify as a Christian because of fear. You need to understand who you are in Christ and boldly be willing to declare who you are. I want to know what God thinks about me. I want Him to approve of me. I want to please Him. Back in the 1980s, early 90s,

there was a Christian rock group called Petra, and they had a song, and it was about I want to be a God pleaser, not a man pleaser. That still applies to me today, hallelujah. I want to please Him. Our identity should be in Him. If God is not mad at me, if He's pleased with me, then I can deal with other people being mad at me. I can deal with you being upset with me, not agreeing with me, if God agrees with me, amen. If your identity is in anything that you can lose, a job, your sports ability, your income, then it's in the wrong thing, such as looks, makeup. Your identity should be in Christ Jesus, founded in Him. A lot of people, their identity is in things like looks, makeup, a relationship, and because of that, they become very needy. In other words, we need to get free of neediness, to be seen, to be heard, to be acknowledged by other people, for other people to agree with us. We need to be no-maintenance friends, not low-maintenance, no-maintenance friends. A lot of people, because of their neediness to be seen, neediness to have certain items, they're in prison, they're divorced, no peace in their life. Oh, I have to be seen with that jewelry, so I'm going to steal it.

And then they get busted, and they're in jail, amen. Do you know who you really are? Who do you identify with? Matthew 16, verse 13 says, When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, now that word Caesarea means gates, of hell. And it's because they had so many fake gods there in temples, living ungodly lives. That's what it was known for. Jesus asked his disciples saying, who do men say that I, the son of man, am? Caesarea, the gate of hell is where he asked this. Because so many people identified in other gods, other beliefs, homosexual lifestyles, ungodly situations in their life. And Peter, he said in verse 16, you are the Christ, the son of the living God. And Jesus said, blessed are you, Simon bar Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my father in heaven has. And also I say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades or hell shall not prevail against it. Amen. I was in a coffee shop a few weeks ago, and a lady was checking me out behind the register. I was paying, and somehow it was brought up. I said, well have a blessed day. And she said, yes, we're all blessed. We're all children of God. And I said, no ma'am, you could not, you could be a child of another God, so-called God, a defeated God, Satan. And she said, oh no, it doesn't matter if you worship Buddha, Allah, Satan, God, you're all going to heaven. And I said, no, you are greatly confused, ma'am. I said, there's two families on earth, the family of God, and the family of Satan. If you're not part of the family of God, hence you didn't receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior. You're not of the family of God. I didn't

say it, Jesus said it. It's written in the Word of God. Amen. So my question is, which family are you part of? She said, well I'm going to find a scripture. And she looked and looked and couldn't find one. She said, well my brother taught me this, I'm going to ask him. And so she asked him, and I just sat there for a while. She couldn't find a scripture. Our brother couldn't explain it to her. And seeds were planted in her life. Amen. Peter, in this situation, discovered his identity in God at that time. That gave him true purpose. He recognized that God had ordained Jesus, the Son of God, to be our Savior. Don't let social media, news tell you who you are, what culture around you, to determine who your identity is and who you are identifying with. Let the Word of God establish that for you. Amen. People doing things His way may not seem natural. In other words, it may not seem natural to turn your cheek like the Bible says, to forgive those who have who have hurt you. But if you do, it indicates your true identity in Jesus. Glory to God. You know, a lot of the LGBTQ community, they keep adding letters because they are looking for something to make them happy, to identify with that gives them peace. There will never be peace without Jesus. There's one place to find it, and that's through the spirit of peace. Amen. They keep looking for something, and it's all based on lies. You cannot find truth that sets you free in the middle of a lie or a partial truth. You know, Satan tried to give Jesus partial scriptures, and Jesus said, no, it is also written you must rightly divide the Word. What does that mean? That means don't take a piece of a scripture and make that a doctrine. Read the whole chapter, understand what Jesus or the people are talking about, what God is trying to explain to you,

and get more than one scripture to back it up. Amen. Make sure that you are reading it in the context it was meant. Many false doctrines would have been resolved if people read a few scriptures before and after a verse that they based their doctrine on. Paul said, I don't do what I want to do. In other words, the example of turning a cheek when somebody punches you on one side. Jesus said, forgive those who trespass you, who sin against you, not one time, not ten times, but seventy times seven in a day. In other words, every time continuously. That's not natural, but you see we don't walk in the natural, we walk in the spirit as children of the Most High God if we know who is in us and we serve Him. Many people reject the Bible because they don't really agree with something in it, they want it their way. I've got family members that way. They take out parts of the Bible, parts of it they like, that oh you're going to be blessed, but parts of it where they shouldn't do certain things or that it's wrong, they take that out. That doesn't apply to them anymore. In other words, God has changed or His Word is not true. They think they're smarter than God. You know, have you ever heard the statement, dumber than a box of rocks? Selah. That means think about that. God, the Creator. There is no way that the smartest, wisest men on earth are smarter than God. He created us, amen. There's only one way that leads to eternal life. Only one way for you to be set free and that is the truth written in the Word of God. People keep trying to do things their way rather than God's way. They go in circles, in and out of relationships, in and out of prison, in and out of jobs. You see, people try to use the word my truth. I talked about this in a previous message. They are confused. Your truth will not set

you free. There's only one truth, the truth of God and that truth will set you free, amen. If you say my truth and it's based on your personal perspective and opinion, it's confusion. Don't shut this broadcast off because you don't agree because if you do, you'll still be dealing with this issue in years to come and wonder why you aren't getting revelation, why you aren't getting peace, amen. If true, there's power in it. There's meaning in it. You can stand on it. Today's culture, they try to say truth is relative. No, truth is true, amen. Regardless if you know it, if you believe it, truth will set you free. This is the Word of truth. God is the Spirit of truth. If you're a Christian, you need to know and see and recognize who you are in Christ Jesus, who you've been recreated to be. See you the way God sees you, victorious, made righteous, as a son of God, amen. You know, there was a movie called The Lion King and it was about this young lion named Simba who was exiled from his kingdom after his father Mufasa was murdered by his uncle Scar. As he grows up, he left, he hid. As he grew up, Simba was blaming him for the death of his father. He didn't understand the truth. He didn't see the truth. Mufasa, you know, that was his his dad that was murdered. And instead of casting the care of the situation onto God, he tried to carry the weight of it. So Simba was cast out into the pride land, the land of pride. And in that situation, he found some friends. And those friends had a lifestyle, a no-care attitude, amen. And those, he hung around those friends for years, not being in the position of authority that God had created him to be in. He ran from that situation. And when he was out in the the pride lands, away from the

tribe that he was in, the tribe of the lions as leader, he ended up running into a girl that he grew up with, Nala. And Nala convinced him to go back. But before that happened, Simba had to recognize who he was, who he had in him, amen. And in that situation, he had to look and see what was in him. So I want you to watch this short clip from the Lion King. You see, he lives in you. Father? Simba, you have forgotten me. No, how could I? You have forgotten who you are, and so forgotten me. Look inside yourself, Simba. You are more than what you have become. You must take your place in the circle of life. How can I go back? I'm not who I used to be. Remember who you are. Did you notice in that video that Simba looked into the water and saw his father? He looked just like him. You should look in the mirror and see who is in you, the authority that is in you, the power that is in you working through you, that you are a child of the Son of God and in Him you can come up. In Him all your sins are washed clean like you never did them. You have victory, you have eternal life as a Son of God. He has plans to prosper you, He has plans to bring you up. Amen. No matter what the enemy tries to tell you to make you feel inadequate, during that situation, scar had let him believe that it was his fault. You know, Satan deceives us. He endeavors to get us to receive the blame, to join him in the blame game and to receive the blame for failures. There's times we need to just say, I missed it and receive our cleansing. But don't enter the blame game. Amen. Even if you failed and missed it, God is merciful. He tried to get Peter to live a lifestyle of condemnation and he had to restore him. Even after Peter denied him three times, Jesus restored him. It's critical to know and receive our position as sons of God, no matter what we have done. Amen. Even though this was, scar had done premeditated murder, if he would have recognized it, humbled himself, you know, he could have got right. Just like David who sent his best friend to go on the front lines to be killed because he slept with his best friend's wife and got her pregnant. God still

forgave him and He will forgive you no matter what you have done. Amen. Well, Simba felt inadequate. It reminds me of Jonah. Jonah was told to go to the land of Nineveh. It's a great city and to speak to the people due to their wickedness. In Jonah chapter 1 verse 3, it says, but Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. You can't, you can run, but you can't hide. He tried to free because he, to flee because he felt inadequate. Amen. He blamed himself and then he blamed God for trying to have mercy on them. Amen. He lived in condemnation. He did not obey God. Simba did not forgive himself. He lived in condemnation which kept him in the wilderness for years. You know, Moses, when God told him to go and to help set the people free, the first thing Moses did was bring up his inadequacy of speech. We need to see who we are in Christ Jesus. We all have inadequacies. We all have failures. We all come short of the glory of God, but that's where His power comes in. That's where His mercy comes in. That's why we need to know who we are in Christ Jesus. Amen. See, Satan will attack our minds, our thoughts. He'll bring up all the failures, all the inadequacies. He tries to speak defeat and mistakes to us, not the Word. See, Satan wants to prevent us from speaking the Word, from doing the Word, because he knows there's power in the Word. Amen. He knows we win. We live in victory by doing the Word, by speaking the Word, by acting on the Word. Well, when Simba looked into the water and saw his dad in the water, at that point in time, the door was opened up for him to fulfill the call. We need to recognize who we are in Him, who we are in Christ Jesus. Amen. That will set you free from depression. It will set you free from oppression, from fear, from condemnation. Amen. John 14 10 says, Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does the works. Even Jesus had to recognize that He could do nothing without the Father working in Him and through Him. That requires mind renewal. There's so much pride in our earth, so much pride in us because of what we can do. Oh, I can do that. We can't do anything without God giving us the graces, the ability, even the ability to breathe. Amen. Hallelujah. Well, during that situation, we find out that Simba saw who he was, saw his Father in him, and it built up his strength, it built up his boldness. Amen. And because of that, we need to do the same type of thing that he did when he went back and fulfilled the call of God on his life. Look in the mirror and see who you are in Christ Jesus and go forth and fulfill the call. Amen. It takes faith, amen, to step out and go and do what God has

called you to do. Amen. In 1st Timothy 6 12 it says, Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold of eternal life to which you are also called and have confessed a good confession in the presence of many witnesses. Amen. We're not supposed to live conscious of our failures, of our weaknesses, what we can't do. We're supposed to live conscious of what God has done through us and what He can do through us. Just like Jesus said, I can do nothing without the Father. That will build us up and as we take steps of faith, act on faith, the power of God will come through us. It will grace us and it will help us to walk in Him and His authority, the authority that you have as a believer. Amen. I remember whenever I was learning how to fly a plane, there were some areas that I was being challenged with and man, I was beating myself up. I don't know that I can do this. Those thoughts were coming. You know, I was expected to move quickly in some areas that I was challenged with and I had to go and get some some help in those areas and I overcame them. So even if you are challenged, don't quit. Ask for help. Humble yourself and the Lord helped me, graced me and it's an area of no problem at all today. But if I would have quit at that point in time, recognize the ability and the graces of God in my life in the call. Didn't say it was easy. I had to fight. I had to study. There's some areas that I had to focus on to do and that is throughout my life and it's throughout your life. I remember whenever I was in high school, my grades weren't good. I was working on farms early in the morning and cleaning horse stalls and then after school going to work again. My grades weren't the best. I did not know how to study. I had to learn how to study. My school counselor said that, oh you shouldn't try to go to college. You should go ahead and just get a job at the local plant. There's nothing wrong with that. Actually I did that. A tool and dye job came up and I took that position and during that period I was still cleaning horse stalls for an individual who was a vice president of a process control company, engineering company. He became the vice president of engineering for Nabisco. He convinced me to go to college and it changed my life. Oh the first year my grades weren't good. They were a little bit better the second year. The third year even better. The fourth year my grades were immaculate but it took work and it took me not quitting. I had to recognize that through Jesus Christ I could do it. Amen. And you can do whatever is in front of you. You can defeat anything that's in the ring with you. You know if it's in a ring with you, you can whoop it. God does not allow anything to get in the ring with you that you cannot whoop through Jesus Christ because in Him you have authority. In Him you have power. He will enable you if you come to

Him and ask for strength, ask for wisdom. Amen. We need to know who we are in Him when we go to battle because if we're in a battle and He's on our side, no weapon formed against us can prosper because He is with us. The King of kings, the Lord of lords. In Revelations it talks about Jesus coming back as the Lion of the tribe of Judah. Amen. Glory to God. Hallelujah. When Jesus comes back as the Lion of the tribe of Judah, He's coming back to get a church without blemish, without spot, without wrinkle. And if you are a son of God, He's coming to get you and me. Hallelujah. For eternal life in Him. Hallelujah. Glory to God. We do not need man's approval. We need God's approval. Amen. Hallelujah. We need to see who we are in Christ Jesus. We need to believe God's Word and only His Word when it comes to our eternal life, walking in holiness. Amen. We need to recognize the keys that are in Him, that we are healed, we are set free, we are saved, that God has plans to prosper us and bring us up. Just like Simba had to go back and he had to fight and he had to go against Scar who had killed his father. He had to go back to take his rightful place. He had to know who was in him. Amen. He had to know his rightful place. Well, you are a child of God and with that Jesus has bought and paid for our victory. He's bought and paid for our eternal life. But we still must fight. Fight the good fight of faith, not quitting until we win. Amen. IN UNTIL WE WIN AND WE TAKE IT IN THE NAME OF JESUS. GLORY TO GOD. WELL, THIS IS MIKE KENNEDY WITH LIVING IN VICTORY. REMEMBER, AS THE NEW YEAR STARTS, I ENCOURAGE YOU TO GET INTO WORD DAILY, TO SEEK THE LORD, TO PRAY. AMEN? TO PUT ON THE ARMOR OF GOD DAILY, TO RECOGNIZE WHO YOU ARE IN HIM. YOU HAVE VICTORY IN JESUS. AMEN? WELL, FIRST JOHN 5-4 SAYS, FOR WHATEVER IS BORN OF GOD OVERCOMES THE WORLD, AND THIS IS THE VICTORY THAT HAS OVERCOME THE WORLD, OUR FAITH. HALLELUJAH. BROTHERS AND SISTERS, I APPRECIATE YOUR PARTNERSHIP. YOU'RE JOINING YOUR FAITH WITH ME TO GET THE WORD OUT. TODAY WE'RE IN NUMEROUS COUNTRIES IN SOUTH PACIFIC, INCLUDING PLACES LIKE SOUTH CHINA,

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