Who Am I?

• Intro
  • Well Good Evening – and welcome to Refuge Church
  • My name is Michael Caffee and I am the Planting Pastor here at Refuge
  • We are a new church in Byhalia and many of us are coming here from a church in Olive Branch to do 3 things
    • Share the hope of Jesus
    • Love our neighbors
    • & Grow together
  • We really are so happy and excited to have y’all here with us this evening
  • I got connected with Coach Ballard through FCA a few weeks back and it has been an honor to come alongside he and the rest of the coaching staff with my great friend Coach Zac Dias as the team chaplains. 
  • Y’all will see us around a good bit
  • Helping how we can and encouraging the wonderful young men on the team. 
• Opening illustration
  • Now a good while back I entered middle school as a 4’ 8” shrimp weighing around 65 lbs
  • I was living in a suburb of Washington DC because my dad was in the military 
  • We spent most of my childhood moving every couple years and never really got into much of a routine
  • And as many of y’all know middle school can be tough 
  • Lots of changes going on
  • But for me, I had somewhat of an identity crisis 
  • And what I mean by that is I had all these different things I enjoyed, and I was trying to find my identity in what I enjoyed but there was a bunch of variety. 
  • And rather than being ok with liking different things I would swing from one extreme to the other 
  • It played out in how I dressed and what I did.
  • On Monday you might catch me listening to some punk rock music rocking some vans and headed to skateboard at the local shopping center
  • On Wednesday you would find me rocking some Timberlands that were left loose and I definitely avoided creasing the toes
  • Yes it’s ok to laugh a bit at this
  • By Friday I’d be wearing a polo shirt and just hoping the preppy kids would let me sit at their table. 
  • You would find me doing my best on the wrestling team one week and then building robots for the robotics team the next. 
  • All that to say you never really knew what you were going to get with middle school me. 
  • & honestly, I was uncomfortable in my own skin – and not confident in any of the various ‘me’s’ that would show up to school
  • And I think if many of us were honest tonight we would say that we too have had moments of an identity crisis 
  • Who am I
  • Why am I here
  • What’s the point of doing this or that
  • Why did this or that happen to me
  • Who am I?
  • And my hope tonight is we can open up the Bible, and see if God has anything to say about who we are. 
  • So open up a Bible, click on your phone’s Bible app, and turn to Genesis 1.
  • Now if you don’t have a Bible with you there were a bunch of blue bibles scattered around the room. 
  • And if you don’t own a Bible, take that home, it’s yours to keep. 
  • If you’re using those blue bibles Genesis 1 is found on page 1. As we keep going tonight I’ll say the page numbers in those blue Bibles so that what we are seeing from God in the Bible can be easily be found, whether this is your first our 5,000th time reading a Bible.
  • So In Genesis 1 we have the account of creation
  • Where God made everything out of nothing
  • He spoke all of it into existence in 6 days
  • Day 1 we see the creation of light
  • Day 2 we see the creation of sky
  • Day 3 Dry land, seas, & plants
  • Day 4 Sun, moon, & stars
  • Day 5 sea and land creatures
  • And then Day 6 Let’s read about what God made on this day Genesis 1:26-31

²⁶ Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” ²⁷  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

²⁸ And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” ²⁹ And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. ³⁰ And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. ³¹ And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

• Let’s Pray – God you are amazing, and mighty, and the creator of everyone and everything. God, tonight have your Spirit move, move so that many will come to know you and the work of your Son Jesus. And come to learn your purpose in making them. To bring you glory, and show your glory. In Jesus name. Amen.
• So here we have in Genesis 1 the beginning of everything
  • And man, created on the 6th day was created in the image of God
  • And as man was created he was given a job to due
    • Take care of the land and the creatures
      • What does this look like? Farming, hunting, fishing, creating things, building things all part of working as God designed us.
    • Be fruitful – which means have lots of kids
  • Now being created in the image of God what does that mean?
  • Well let me explain the idea of being an image bearer
    • My wife Melanie and I have 3 wonderful kids. Cozette, Jude, & Ezra
    • And early this year we had some family pictures taken. 
    • And for my wife’s birthday I partnered up with some friends and finally got her some pictures and nice frames to hang on the wall of our living room
    • It puts a big ole smile on my face to see my happy kids on those walls
    • Us being image bearers of God is kind of like those pictures
    • They represent mykids, they show how adorable my kids are
    • The show off my kids
    • But they don’t take the place of my kids
    • Now My kids love to be rough and wrestle their dad
    • If I were sitting in my living room one day and Jude my older son ran up to me and said Daddy-O, that’s what they call me, Daddy-o let’s wrestle
    • And I said not right now bud, I’m looking at this picture of you
    • How crazy would that be
    • To let the picture take place of my actual kid
    • This is what it’s like to be an image bearer of God, we don’t take the place of God, we don’t sit equal to God
    • We show God’s amazingness we show his likeness
  • Now while bearing God’s image we are supposed to do a few things
    • We are created for the glory of God
      • Isaiah 43:7 says this
      • Epehsians 1 says made to the ‘praise of His glory.’
    • And as we work – whatever we do – we are to do to the glory of God
      • 1st Corinthians 10:31 says as much: ‘So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.’
      • This is our purpose
      • So looking back at Genesis 1 we were to
        • Be fruitful and have children to the glory of God
        • Take care of the earth and everything in it to the glory of God
        • Working hard in all that we do
• But We cannot do this easily, or naturally
  • Why
  • Why is it hard to glorify God in all we do
  • I mean I don’t know about y’all but for me it is a battle every day to even think about God
  • What went wrong
  • Why can I not, why can we not live for God’s glory?
  • Well if you go to genesis 2, which can be found on page 2 of that blue Bible
  • You will see in verse 15-17 that Man was given a job and 1 rule, let’s read it.
    • ¹⁵ The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. ¹⁶ And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, ¹⁷ but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat⁴ of it you shall surely die.”
    • SO here we see said again – take care of the earth, work the garden and keep it is what God said
    • And He said – of all the food available you can eat anything except the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil
  • Well, hate to spoil the party but This 1 rule didn’t get followed
    • God had made the first man, Adam a wife, named Eve.
    • Adam & Eve were in the garden and to care for it
    • Well one day they came into contact with a serpent.
    • And the serpent was crafty and good with words and the serpent tricked the woman
    • The serpent twisted God’s words
    • Twisted them from ‘You will surely die if you eat the fruit’ to ‘you will become like God’
    • And the woman, eve saw the fruit was good
    • Plucked it, ate it
    • And then handed the fruit to her husband – who was right there with her
    • And in an instant
    • Their eyes were open, they realized they were naked
    • And they were ashamed
    • Embarrassed
    • And they hid
    • They hid from God and covered themselves
    • And this moment
    • Ruined us all
  • God in turn had to make 10 rules, called the 10 commandments,
    • And those commandments are summed up into 2 things
    • Love God
    • Love others
    • And these rules, we can’t keep them, nobody can
    • In the book of James chapter 2 it says ‘For whoever keeps the whole law (10 commandments)  but fails in one point, has become guilty of all of it.’ 
    • Romans 3:23 says ‘for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God’
    • And it all started with the eating of the fruit that God said not to eat
    • Romans 5 tells us ‘Just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned.’
    • Look run through the top 10 list
      • You ever lied? I know I have
      • Stolen anything?
        • An answer on a test, something from your mom’s purse
      • You ever put something in front of God and think its more important?
      • You ever used the Lord’s name in vain? And thats way more than saying GD
      • You ever worshipped anything more than you worshiped God?
        • A girl
        • A guy
        • Football
        • Grades
        • A car? 
    • Remember James says guilty of 1 guilty of them all
      • Like standing on a glass bridge and throwing a rock through the glass
      • Once it is shattered – you’ve got no hope. 
    • Now because of this sin
    • We can no longer glorify God
    • We can no longer fulfill our purpose
    • Rather than being the beautiful clean pictures on my living room wall, the image is wrinkled, scratched, written on, and messed up.
    • We are stuck like middle school me
    • With an identity crisis
    • Because sin – has got you all confused about what to do, how to do it, and why to do it. 
    • You’re still an image bearer created to glorify god, but your sinful nature won’t let you do this naturally.
    • You see once that sin is in us, 
    • We go from finding value and significance in the one who created us
    • And we stare at image bearers, mainly ourselves, and what we want, what we think is best at any given moment 
    • Like me staring at the pictures of my kids, instead of playing and being with my kids
    • We miss the mark
    • Turn to Jeremiah 2:11-13 which is on page 700
    • This passage shows our confusion well

11 Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit. 12  Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the LORD, 13  for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.

• A cistern is like a jug, like our big gatorade jugs
• But like the 1 gatorade jug with a big crack on the bottom
• When we stop looking at God because of our sinful natures
• We end up looking elsewhere and  try to find water in that busted up jug that holds no water
• We end up thirsty
• And dry
• And empty

• Now I’m gonna invite my great friend Coach Dias, Zac Dias to share his story of broken water jugs.
• Man it’s been amazing to see God work and change Zac
• Now what Zac talked about there, getting saved
• What he’s talking about is our hope
• Though we all have sinned
• And all have become flawed image bearers, loving the image more than the creator we represent
• Though that is our state.
• There is hope
• And that hope is found in Jesus
• See while Adam & Eve sinned and ate the fruit
• Jesus, the very son of God, never sinned
• And yet he became sin for us
• Jesus Gave up glory
• And lived the life we couldn’t live on mission, to complete the goal, of rescuing God’s image bearers
• And though the mission was hard, so hard in fact as he approached the cross he intensely sweat, sweat drops of blood.
• And he stuck to the plan.
• He was betrayed, he was sentenced to death, beaten, and whipped though he never did anything wrong
• And he willingly did this
• Taking the punishment i deserved, you desrved
• And as those nails were driven into his wrists and feet
• As he bled from the brow of his head after the crown of thorns was slammed into it
• As his back bled from the wounds from being whipped and flogged reopened as he gasped for air on that cross
• He poured out his life
• For all that would come to faith in Him
• And when the job was done Jesus cried out with a loud voice, it is finished
• And he breathed his last
• Dead
• dead for 3 days
• Then in glorious victory up from that grave he arose
• Having paid our bill in full
• Taking the righteous holy wrath we deserved
• And declaring it is done
• And this began something, A re-creation of sorts
• For all who are in Christ
• Are a new creation
• Becoming more and more like the original intention
• Living for Christ and for the glory of God
• Why does this matter?
• 2 peter 3 9 says the Lord is not wishing that any should perish but that you should reach repentance.
• Today I want to invite you to be a new creation
• Today I want to invite you to come back to God
• Find your value and significance and worth in your creator
• Your creator’ whose image you bear
• Stop looking at pictures on the wall
• Look up and see God
• Look up and see God is good
• And he is good no matter what you’re walking through
• And mighty
• And loves you
• look, once you put your trust in Jesus
• Whatever comes your way – you can bear
• You can handle it
• You can rest
• You can find peace, find joy – no matter what
• Because whether you pass or fail geometry
  • God is holding you close
• When you’re healthy
  • God is holding you close
• When you’re sick
  • God is holding you close
• How do we know this?
• The promises of God like in Romans 8:28-29 turn there now page 1046  ‘And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified’
• This promise is so good – put your trust in Jesus – he’s gonna finish what I started, let’s continue reading
•  verse 37 ‘No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord’
• So if I’m amazingly successful in life
  • God is holding you close
• If I end up on the streets
  • God is holding you close
• If I end up living til 100
  • God is holding you close
• If I end up graduating the top of my class
  • God is holding you close
• If I end up running with C’s get Degrees
  • God is holding you close
• If i get my banner up for a High ACT score or not
  • God is holding you close
• If we beat independence on Friday
  • God is holding you close
• If I get burned off the line and my guy scores
  • God is holding you close
• If I’m a perfect parent
  • God is holding you close
• If my parents ain’t perfect
  • God is holding you close
• If I blow out my knee
  • God is holding you close
• Whatever you face – God is holding you close
• Nothing can separate you from the love of GOd
• And with that truth
• Face anything
• With your chin held high
• Resting on the promises of God
• Come what may
• You can trust God
• And you can glorify God
• In all that you do
• And you can do that
• For the first time tonight
• Coach Ballard and I both have some bracelets we wear
• They’ve got 4 symbols on them
• Mr Barry – come up here will you
  • Also Kyle, zac, & savannah
• These bracelets have 4 symbols
  • The heart
  • The Divided symbol
  • The Cross
  • And a questionmark
• The heart starts here – God loves you
  • God wants to be in relationship with you
  • He has purpose for you
  • He has plans for you
• But sin separates you from God (the divided symbol)
  • Your sin
  • Your breaking of God’s rules
  • Breaks us from relationship with him
  • We lose our purpose because of our sin
  • And the truth is – we cannot fix our sin issue
  • We are stuck
• But at teh cross
  • At the cross Christ made a way for that relationship to be fixed
  • And that was through what Jesus did
  • He died the death we deserved
  • Then rose to life
  • Offering you preace and right relationship with God
  • A restoration to you original purpose – bringing God glory in all that you do
• And now the question
  • Will you trust in Jesus
  • Will you respond to Jesus’s payment
  • Will you accept that he died for your sins
  • Paid them in full
  • And defeated death
  • And for all who put their faith and trust in Jesus
  • There is salvation
  • And purpose in life
  • No matter what life brings
• Right now i’m going to invite you to respond.
  • Whether for the first time or for the milliointh time
  • Look the bible says if you acknowledge me before man, i will acknowledge before my father but however denies me before men, I also will deny before my father
  • Jesus died for you, and that’s personal, but your faith in him isn’t private
  • Take a step of boldness whether you’ve been saved for 20 years or 20 seconds
  • Come get a bracelet and confess before men your faith in the person and work of Jesus
  • And once you get a bracelet – stand up here for a moment as everyone gets one
  • I’m going to pray for us. 
  • The apostle Paul in philippians said ‘For me to live is Christ and to Die is gain’