Becoming Who God Says You Are

Hi, everyone. My name is Liv Tidmore. I am a second year here in rds. And today I get the honor to tell you about what God has done in my life through rds. So, growing up, I lived in a house that loved the Lord.

My parents were pastors in a church in Alabama. And I knew who God was. I was at church every Sunday. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. You get it.

I lived at church. But even though I lived at church and I knew who God was, I didn't have a personal relationship with the Lord. My relationship with the Lord was built off what I could do and what I could do for others. I thought because I served in youth or I served every Sunday, or because I was a good person, that that was enough. But I never truly knew who Jesus was.

It was all head knowledge, not a heart knowledge. Doing this only caused me to fall into pride. Because what you can do will never satisfy you. Because your identity has to be built on what God has done for you. I wasn't allowing him to be my strength.

And I sought approval from many different people. Because when you put your identity in what you can do, you tend to please others. And that's where you find your identity at. I sought approval from my friends, from family, from my church, and from boys. Wanting approval from many different people makes you to change who you are, depending on who you're with.

When I was at church, I was the outgoing pastor's kid who was helpful, who could do whatever you needed her to do, was up on the stage or in the back. And then when I was at school, I was the friend they wanted me to be. I gossiped, I drank, I did whatever the group was down for. I turned into someone who put masks on. I didn't know who I was or who God had called me to be.

And it wasn't until I came to RDS that God had stripped back every mask that I had hid behind for so long. I was then able to see him rightly. I was able to see him rightly, even though every level of vulnerability and exposing of lies, it hurt. And it was hard and it wasn't fun, but it was definitely worth it. God was faithful to continue to seek me out, even in all my pride.

I'll never forget in my first year, one day, Pastor Abe had asked me over and over again, who are you? Who was I? All I could think about was what I could do for others or things I had done in the past. I didn't know who I was. I had no idea who God had called me.

To be. But in that moment, I heard the Lord so clearly say, you are who you are because of who I am. When I had learned that the cross in Jesus was enough, it was so freeing. I didn't have to try and be what others wanted me to be. All I had to do was just sit in communion with him and let him be my God.

When pride fell off of me, I. I started to care less about others opinions and only about God's. When I removed the distractions of the world and just focused on Jesus and let him clean me up, I saw there's nothing I can do that can ever compete with what he's done for me. I lived a life before that seemed right on the outside, but on the inside was lost and I was broken. I'm so thankful that I can stand up here today and say that the Lord is my strength and the only reason that I'm here. Galatians 2:20 says, I, I have been crucified with Christ.

It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me and the life I now live in the flesh. I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. So my question for you church is have you put your identity in what you can do for Christ? Or is who Christ is enough?

I've already said it, but I'll say it again. These guys are the real deal. If you get the chance to know them in any way, you'll see Jesus and keep seeing Jesus and you'll probably get convicted like me and just be like, man, I need to look more like Jesus because man, they're killing it. They love Jesus so. Well you guys.

Well, I only have 12 minutes and 42 seconds, so we're gonna go here. If you have your Bibles, you can go ahead and turn to Luke chapter 10. That's where we're going to dive into today. But really I just want to answer the question, what is discipleship? Today we've had this whole graduation service kind of proclaiming what the Lord has done in these students life.

And I want you to have a clear idea of what we're talking about. And that can be a loaded question. I get that question a lot because I am the pastor and director of the Refuge Discipleship School, which has several words that make people anxious like school and discipleship and pastor. So you can imagine my interactions. But anyways, today there's nothing scary about it, but there's something so freeing when you tap into it.

So what is discipleship really? It's a way to be rather than to seem. That is the essence of discipleship, being like Liv described to you, instead of just trying to put on all the mask and perform your way to salvation. Our relationship to Jesus, that's not what he came for. That's not what he died for.

That's not what he's called us to. He's called us to be real and authentic and pictures of him through the process he gave us, which is taking up our cross every day and dying to ourself. So my prayer has been leading up to this, and you might be mad at me for this. If so, you know, I'll be out in the concourse, so we can talk later. But my prayer for you has been that you would be convicted today.

And that's my prayer for myself. Because conviction means you're alive. It means that you're responsive to the Holy Spirit. So if you don't feel convicted, that should tell you there's a problem. I may be dead.

Let me put my finger on the pulse here. So don't flee conviction. It's actually a really good thing. It makes you more like Jesus. It hurts a little bit, but respond to it, and it'll be for your benefit.

So if I were to ask you, in what ways are you like Jesus? How would you respond? Would you be quick to tell me all the things that you do to recount how much you serve, how many verses you can recite from memory, how often you attend a service, how much you tithe?

Would it be in how you treat other people? Would it be in your thoughts and your intentions and your mindsets?

If I ask you the question, does your heart and mind reflect Jesus? What would your answer be to that? That's much deeper than an action. That's much deeper than something you can fake. Because at the end of the day, when you lie on your pillow at night and it's just you and your thoughts, you can't fake that.

You can't run from that. You can fool everyone around you. I've done that before to believing you're away. But when you're alone by yourself, you know, man, the anxiety that that produces, you know, the dread of having to keep up the facade one more day. And, guys, there's a better way.

And that's what I want to tell you about today. A few weeks ago, Pastor Clay spoke a message on hypocrisy. It was a powerful message. If you haven't listened to, would serve you well to go back and find that message. I think it was probably A month ago.

Exactly. That he spoke that message and he talked about, you know, there's a difference between just being a believer of Jesus and actually being a disciple of Jesus. And in the south, we love to play the part. You know, we're really good at seeming a way that we're not saying the right things and keeping up the polite etiquette. And, oh, you know what?

I was thinking about you the other day, and actually, I wasn't thinking about you the other day or, hey, I'll pray for you, brother. And I didn't even remember your name. So sorry. And Jesus doesn't like that in his church, you guys. That's not the church that he planned to build because that doesn't look like him.

He means what he says. He does what is in his heart, and that's because he knows who he is. And in the same way, he's calling us to know who we are in Christ. Pastor Clay mentioned there were two. There was a fig tree that Jesus cursed in the final week of his ministry, and there was another tree that he blessed in the final week of his ministry, and that was the cross.

See, one tree seemed blessed and was cursed. Another tree seemed cursed and he called blessed. He's calling you to lay down your life and pick up the cross. In that final week of his life, he sat with his disciples and he said, guys, I don't want you to do it. How the world does it.

I came not to be served, but to become a servant of many, and you're to do likewise. If I'm your teacher and I'm serving you, how much more should you do unto others? He tells them, a new commandment I give to you, to love one another as I have loved you. And there's no greater love than this to lay down one's life for one's friends. The summary of that week of Jesus life, passion week, I feel like, hinges on this one verse, John 14:6.

Jesus said to him, I am the way, I am the truth, and I'm the life. And no one comes to the Father except through me. You see, Jesus is our example. He is our path. He is our strength.

He is our ability. He is the way.

So it's not about church attendance anymore. It's not about how much we can do for God, but it's about being like Jesus. It's about following him and being close to him and laying your head on his chest and hearing his heartbeat, like John the beloved saying, I want to be with him. That's what these guys have Done, man. We're so proud of them.

We're so proud of them because they have said yes in the hard things. And you know what, guys? It is hard church. It's not easy to say yes to the Lord. We've all been at the place where we wanted to quit.

These guys will all tell you that there were times that they wanted to quit this year. But Proverbs tells us the righteous fall seven times and rise again. But it's the wicked that fall and are subdued. The difference is not if they don't fall, but the difference is, will you rise again when you fall?

And today, that is what Jesus is looking at us and saying. Will you say yes again to this process of discipleship? I know it's hard. I know you mess up. I know there are times where you don't know what you're doing, or you feel so out of place, or your feelings can be so loud to tell you you shouldn't be doing this.

But let me tell you what. Whenever you say yes to the Lord, faith is activated in your life. And just like I witnessed in these 18 students, life transformation will happen.

And it's not in a moment where, you know, Kenny just passed through a doorway, and he was different all of a sudden. It was every day saying, I want to be like Jesus. It was every day showing up and saying, God, I've put my identity in this thing. Please help me. I want to make you my identity.

And in that man, he looks like Jesus. All these guys do.

Dallas Willard, a theologian and philosopher of our day, said, the greatest issue facing the world today, with all of its heartbreaking needs, is whether those who by profession or culture are identified as Christians will become disciples, students, apprentices, practitioners of Jesus Christ, steadily learning from him how to live the life of the kingdom of the heavens into every corner of human existence.

So my question for you today, whatever you have come in here with, wherever you're at in your process, is will you transition from being a believer in Jesus to being a disciple of Jesus? Will you say yes to resubmitting yourself to that process?

Because once we as a church will be unified under the mantle of discipleship, the world will be a different place.

Yeah, I'll say that again. Yeah. Once we as a church are unified under the mantle of discipleship, the world will be a different place, a better place, because Jesus will have his glory in all of us, and it will be reflected to the whole world.

I want to ask you a question today.

Is he worthy? That's the question we know the cost. It's everything you will not be able to to retain the things that you want and follow Jesus. But can I give you a little a little news flash? The things he has for you are better than the things you want.

That's just me speaking, but if I were you, I would say yes. Cause it's worth it. Is he worthy of your genuine devotion to saying yes, to being a disciple, addressing the sin, the insecurities, the pride, etc. Etc. Etc.

Every day that is hindering you from receiving the more he has for you and living in the identity he has called you to be and not just to seem like you are.