Yesterday afternoon (Sunday, January 13) I preached at the Vineyard church service in the Dona Chonita neighborhood of Mazatlan, Mexico, where great friends Ellen and Kyle Benefield are church-planting pastors. Kyle Benefield was my translator.
I told the flock that God’s view of them is the same as that of his own son Jesus about whom he said at his baptism: “This is my Son with whom I am well pleased.”
“That’s what God says about you, too,” I told them. “Maybe you never heard that from your own father and mother, but that’s how God views you. He really loves you. He’s not mad at you. How does that sound to you?”
In my introduction I asked them several questions asked some months back by one of my favorite tweeters … Rich Nathan, senior pastor at the Columbus Vineyard Church in Columbus, OH.
A few months ago @RichNathan asked in three separate tweets:
You aren’t merely who you think you are nor simply who others believe you to be. Most fundamentally, you are who God says you are! Who is that?
God doesn’t merely agree with our view of ourselves or other’s view of us. He has his own opinion. God call us his beloved children, forgiven.
God calls us beloved saints, righteous, blessed, citizens of his kingdom, the temple of the Holy Spirit, the Israel of God. Is this your identity?
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