True Identity | Sermon Four

You Are Competent | Ephesians 1:15-23

Brene Brown “Shame is the “painful feeling or experience of believing we are flawed and therefore unworthy of love and belonging.”

Shame keeps you from believing you are worthy.

Shame is powerful and debilitating, but it’s not as powerful as grace.

Genesis 3:11b “And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”

2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”

Ephesians 1:17-23 “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength 20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.”

2 Lifechanging Requests:
1. Paul asks God to give the Ephesians “the Spirit of wisdom and revelation” (1:17a).

2. Paul asks “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened” (1:18a)
“in order that you may know.”
3 things Paul wants his readers to know

1. “The hope to which he has called you” (1:18b).

2. “The riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people” (1:18c).

3. “His incomparably great power for us who believe” (1:19a).

Paul gives 3 examples of how God’s power works:
1. It’s the same power God used when He raised Jesus from the dead and seated Him in the heavenly realms (1:19-20).

2. It’s a power that comes because God placed all things under Jesus’s feet (1:21-22a).

3. God appointed Jesus to be head over everything for the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills everything in every way (1:22b-23).

Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

Three Critical Steps to Break the Grip of Shame.
Step #1. Receive Jesus.

John 1:12 “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God”

Step #2. Ask the Father. (Eph. 1:17-23)

Step #3 Believe 3 Key Truths:

Truth #1 Your past no longer defines you.

Psalm 103:12 “as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.”

Truth #2 Your future happiness is guaranteed.

1 Corinthians 2:9 “That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.”

Truth #3. You have inconceivable power from God to meet all your challenges and opportunities.

Take Action:

1. Write down the lies of how you see yourself.
2. Start reading the Gospels.

Romans 12:2a “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…”

3. Praise God for His grace.