"Uncontestable Identity/ Unlimited Impact Pt.2: Bonus Convo w/ Chris Durso" S1 Ep19 - podcast episode cover

"Uncontestable Identity/ Unlimited Impact Pt.2: Bonus Convo w/ Chris Durso" S1 Ep19

Nov 17, 202049 min
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Episode description

Ours is a nation that has been hit with a health pandemic, But maybe the most UNDECTED PANDEMIC is a loss of authentic identity.   If we’re honest with ourselves, we often feel insecure … and those who hide it best; often feel it most.  But what if our insecurity is an INVITATION from God to escape the danger of false beliefs about who we are.  What if the fear of insignificance is wrongly causing us to plant our identity flag at the top of our achievements, followers, tribe or affiliation instead our MAKER … in this episode of “keep it 100” we continue this discussion … plus a bonus conversation with Chris Durso.

 

Website: www.seanandchristasmith.com

Facebook: @seanandchristasmithministries

Instagram: @revseansmith @mrschristasmith

Transcript

Our nation has been hit with a health pandemic, but maybe the most undetected pandemic is a loss of authentic identity. If we're honest with ourselves, we often feel insecure. And those who hide it best often feel it most. But what if our insecurity is an invitation from God to escape the danger of false beliefs about who we are?

What if the fear of insignificance is wrongly causing us to plant our identity flag on the top of our achievements, followers, tribe, or affiliation instead of our maker? In this episode of Keeper 100, we continue this impactful discussion plus a bonus conversation with Chris Durso. Welcome to Keeper 100 podcast with Sean and Christa Smith. Join us in this space where we take on real issues with real insight and real inspiration.

This podcast is for those not looking for temporary relief to change circumstance, but revelation to forever change lives. All right, all right, what's going on everybody? Welcome to the Keeper 100 podcast with Christa and Sean Smith. Yeah, welcome to the party y'all. We are so turned up about this episode and you're gonna be snatched by the Chris Durso interview. So you need to stay tuned. You know, Christa, there was an online article entitled, What Were We Thinking?

Whackiest Fads Over the Past 30 Years. Okay, I'm ready for it, bring it. All right, number one on that list was hacky sack. I remember that, I totally remember that. I just remember seeing these guys on my campus at a university kicking hacky sack for like hours in between classes. And I just thought, man, at that time, my thought was what a waste of time. You know, it's really funny the fact you brought it up. It makes me go, does, do people not do that anymore? Right?

All right, tell me, what else? Another wacky fat was garbage pail kids. Oh, I remember those. My friends had like trading cards and I wasn't allowed to have them because they were like kind of like, they were just kind of gross. And I just remember like, me, you know, my parents, there's no way. Garbage pail kids were like, the demon possessed cabbage patch kid. It looked like Chucky, you know, up that horrible. They did. Another thing they listed was jelly shoes. Oh, I wanted those.

I never had a pair. I remember those plastic shoes. I remember, I'm not exaggerating. I remember one time in high school, a girl's jelly shoes melted on her feet. Stop it. She must've got like the knockoff version that they went and made out of good plastic. If your shoes melt because of heat, I'm going to go ahead and guarantee that you don't have the best brand. Right? Oh my gosh, that's bad. I mean, come on. All right. How about this one, MySpace.com Oh my gosh.

Do you remember how they had like the favorites and like people's feelings got hurt because they weren't like included in people's best friends list. And they were, you were like, hey, I put you in mine, but you didn't put me in yours. Are we not friends anymore? I remember that. I don't even think I ever closed my account. I wonder if it's still there. That is straight comedy. All right, here's another one. Okay. They talked about Bond Dutch trucking hats. I remember those.

When I lived down Australia, those were like super popular. Oh my, I remember Ashton Kutcher Oh yeah, I see. And Paris Hilton was both rocking them. And so I don't know who Bond Dutch was, but that brother collected some cash during that season. So funny. You know, speaking of that, it kind of reminds me too, Christa, that all of us grew up with friends who were always into the latest fads. So true. In some instances, they were trying to be something that they're not.

But some of us looking back in these instances, there may have been some identity issues with some of these people that always felt like they had to be cool and be on the latest thing so they could feel relevant. And a couple of things that I've learned about identity. Identity gives confidence to action and identity reveals our deeper purpose.

You know, as we kind of just continue to dive into the conversation about identity, I think that what's so important is we really understand when someone isn't walking in their full identity, what you just mentioned, Sean, there's really some clear signs that begin to happen in our lives when we're lacking identity. One of the signs, especially as a follower of Christ, is you really start dipping in the area of radical affection and your resolve for Christ.

If you don't know who you are in Christ when the storms of life come, and we can say 2020 has kind of been an ongoing tsunami storm. It has been one thing after another. And the unfortunate part of storms, there's, you actually said this in your sermon. You said the enemy brings storms to shake you, but the Lord uses storms to shape you.

And what I think is so profound about that is if you allow the storms of life, we've all been in storms this year that are out of our control and out of our hands. And it's in these storms, we actually see what's in us on an identity level. And if you don't know who you are, I've seen so many people that once had a radical affection and a resolve for Christ begin to wane in that because there's been a despair, there's been a disillusionment and a disappointment.

And when despair sets in, often a radical zeal and affection and resolve pursuit of God begins to wane as well. The second sign that you lose on your identity is you start altering your beliefs to accommodate the world's culture and values. And what happens in the midst of this is you're trying to be politically correct rather than biblically correct. And when you do that, you start moving it to a place that you start being a reflection of your culture.

And that hurts you because we're called to be a contrast. And I reminded me of a story when I was growing up in West Oakland, California, West Oakland as elementary school kid, we went on one field trip on my entire years in elementary school, my school was ghetto, y'all. And I don't know the state of California must not have had a lot of money. So they sent us to the Oakland Zoo. Now, in all fairness, I've been to the Oakland Zoo for a while.

So right now it could be an awesome zoo, but back in the day, I'm just gonna straight tell you, it was hood, y'all. We pulled up in a bus and we took public transportation. We didn't have a school bus, right? Stop it. Seriously, we took public transportation. We went to Oakland Zoo. Now you go to zoos, right? Okay, you think of crabs, elephants, zebras, monkeys, orangutans, right? We went to Oakland Zoo. But the first thing I remember is, okay, y'all ready for this?

I'm not exaggerating, this is not comedic license. They had a dog in a cage. Stop it right now. Seriously, they had a dog. They said it was a dingo dog from Africa, but I think it was on loan from Sacramento, man. Oh my, no. It was not even on loan from Sacramento. You and I both know a dingo looks like a mutt. I mean, it doesn't even look like a specific breed. They could have taken that from the rescue in like downtown Oakland. Okay, that's hilarious. A dog. The zoo has a dog.

That is, that's, you can't even make this up. That's so funny. Okay, then we went to the next exhibit. They had raccoons in a cage. Stop it right now. Seriously. Are you actually serious right now? I'm totally serious. People listening. They took, they basically, that raccoon was trying to get its trash and they took him to the zoo. That's what happened. Went to the third exhibit. They had deers behind cages. Stop it. They had deers. I can't even believe this is a true story.

And the deers were all lethargic. I mean, usually deers are like running. And that's the other thing. They like tranquilize them. They have deers, right? They have deers in Oakland Hills. Like, what are you doing in a zoo? Let me just say, the animals in your zoo shouldn't be animals that you would see. Okay, that's like honestly the worst field trip ever. It was. Like ever. Can I tell you my highlight though? Yeah. This woman came out with like a greenish glove.

And when she came out with this greenish glove, she had a lizard on her hands. So I'm like, okay, we got a lizard at the zoo. Wait, but this lizard was a chameleon. And so as she brought it on the glove, the lizard turned green on her glove. And then she put it back on its natural habitat. She had like a brown, like little branch. And she put it on the branch. We're losing it right now, y'all. She put this lizard on a branch and it turned brown.

So then she was telling us, because you gotta remember, we didn't have Animal Planet on a cable channel back in the day, 24 hours, right? So she told us that the chameleon is able to adapt itself and turn towards the colors of whatever it's placed upon. And she said it was a defense mechanism. So I was a little kid, I was a little kid. I'm in the superheroes and I'm still in the superheroes. Now shout out to the MCU Marvel Cinematic Universe.

But I started thinking, now be cool to be chameleon, man. Like you can just chameleon, man. You can just poop and then turn invisible because you can just blend it to the wall. So you could be listening on people's conversation. That part's awesome. Right, you can sneak into places and kind of be there and people wouldn't know it. But as I got older, I began to realize that being a chameleon is not a superhero quality because they're forced to reflect their environment.

They're forced to change their colors to the hue and the pigmentation. That's good. And whatever it is you place them on. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I began to realize that instead of having Christians that are contrasted with the world, we got chameleon Christians that are blending in and a chameleon isn't a strength, it's a weakness. Ooh, hilarious as a story as that is. And genuinely one of the funniest zoo stories I've heard in my entire life.

The point that you're pulling out about a chameleon is super profound and so accurate because a chameleon just literally absorbs their environment and becomes just like it. There's no contrast. You and I are called to be salt and light. So there could be nothing opposite of identity in Christ when you just blend. And I think there's such a pressure. There's such a peer pressure right now. Political correctness, saying this or that, right?

And the reality is we have to break that man-pleasing spirit and have within us a resolve as long as we honor God. That is what our identity is rooted in, grounded in. And there's really no place for chameleon in that. And that's what's difficult and yet is so vital to us walking in our identity. You know, we're talking about what it is to lose your identity.

And really one of the last things I wanna bring to this table, a part of this part of the conversation is, you know, you commence a lifestyle of settling and being in safe mode, hiding in the backgrounds and not going on the battlegrounds. And really here's the truth that it kind of just continues what I just said. And that is you're going limp in areas where you need to go lethal. And I believe you and I are called to walk in an authority and an identity of who we are.

But that only comes when we have a clear understanding of our divine identity, our spiritual DNA. And that's what allows us to manifest God's dominion on the earth. You and I are called to walk in the earth. We're called to be atmosphere shifters. And that happens when we know who we are in Christ Jesus and we stop playing it safe. That is so true and so accurate. I love what you're saying on that. Keep it 100 tribe. I'm excited.

We're going to right now introduce a new segment that we call the Hondo P segment, which let me explain Hondo P is short for 100%. And it's in these segments that Christa and I, we just wanna share some thoughts on some things. Kind of some free flow conversation. So the topic of discussion is this whole concept that your perception is your reality, but it's not always God's reality. Ooh, man, have I walked that out?

I mean, I think so many of us growing up, you know, and the part of it's just natural maturity. And then I would say a lot of it is just coming into the fullness of your identity in the Lord. And we're all born into families of thinking systems and the perceptions of who we are. And so much of our identity and worth is modeled within our community, our caregivers, our siblings, our family unit.

And so I think for me, I really discovered that I had a lot of thoughts that were negative about myself, but because everyone around me kind of thought like me, my friends thought like me, my friends sounded like me. And I realized in time, as a daughter of God, I shouldn't sound like people that don't have a covenant relationship with them. And for that matter, I don't want them to sound like that.

You know, I want people, no matter where they're at in their journey to have a revelation of their worth and their value, but I found myself really hard on myself in life where if I didn't measure up in what I estimated measuring up, if I didn't, if I wasn't successful in what I measured as success, I was privately very, very hard on myself and I was constantly in my estimation coming up short.

And the Lord really took me through a process of really pursuing my heart as my father and really showing me the approval and the affirmation on the father, not by what I did for him, but simply because I was his. I'm such a natural doer and achiever. Like I get Martha and the story of Mary and Martha, I get Martha because I'm like, okay, what do we need to do? What do we need to do?

I find fulfillment and achievement, which isn't a bad thing, but it is when you find your identity in what you do. There's the clutch for that. And for me, my perception of my reality was not always God's because I was in this distortion of who I was as based on what I did and nothing could be farther from the truth. Who you are is not based on what you do for God. Who you are in God is based on the fact that your his kidney loves you. That's so on point.

You know, as you're talking about that, I just began to realize it didn't really dawn on me Christian until later on, then not every thought in my head didn't come from my own logic. In other words, that I didn't evaluate everything going on and if the thought is in my head, it's mine and it's my thought, then it must be true of me. True. That took me a while to figure out too. And the devil, the Bible calls it the adversary of our souls. You know, he's able to project thoughts.

And I just remember struggling so long as it relates to identity. I mean, that was probably my characteristic battle. I just remember just struggling and just beginning to make conclusions based on my past and not realizing, hey, those thoughts are my reality, but when I came to Christ, God's got a whole other reality. He has a whole book full of positive thoughts that he has about our life.

And it's so important that the closer you get to God, you begin to recognize those are negative perceptions, not accurate. You know, you've said just a key thing. So many of us in our walk with God, our rear reamir is still really big instead of our windshield.

Meaning how we look back, sure we learn from our past, we grow from our past, we mature from our past, but if you're sitting there always looking and your greatest vantage point is behind you, not ahead of you, it's often a distorted view of who we are because it never gives you room to mature or grow or transform for that matter in your identity in God. And the enemy, that's where I feel like the enemy really kind of can go nuts on you.

100. Is getting you so locked into seeing your past failures and disappointments and pain and gets you locked in this space where you don't ever evolve from your perception of who you are today and moving forward in what's possible. When God intervenes and you encounter the healer and the restore of Jesus, because he can heal any trauma, he can heal any pain. And when we actually encounter God as our healer, as our restore, as our redeemer, he can redeem all things.

And we actually allow the weak part of the places, the places that used to be shame, actually become these beautiful displays of the redemption of God. And we begin to testify, even the hard parts of our story, it actually solidifies our identity that I'm a new creation in Christ Jesus, that every one of us is a brand new creation. But that revelation of our new creation that we are fully forgiven in Christ Jesus can only happen when we actually allow the windshield to become big.

You know, I just said just a moment ago, our new creation. I think a lot of people are limited in that revelation of new creation because they have not fully forgiven themselves. And I think that is something just, you know, pastoring people for years and, you know, just walking alongside people in discipleship situations in schools and ministry where I was director. So many people had asked for forgiveness, so therefore God had forgiven them.

They had even asked for forgiveness from people that wronged them or had asked for forgiveness for who they wronged and forgiven those that wronged them, but they had never forgiven themselves. Wow. And when we don't forgive ourselves, we're holding ourselves hostage to the wrong identity. Isn't that true? That's so good.

You know, it's funny because as you were saying about that and you talk about the enemy planning thoughts, I started thinking, you know, before the devil's the devil, he was Lucifer and he was the angel in charge of worship. Right. But all of a sudden, instead of bringing glory to the Father, he started getting ideas that he wanted to bring glory to himself. Right. And I really want to get technical. The first identity crisis was in heaven by Lucifer.

And then all of a sudden, when that happened, God had the archangel Michael kick him out of heaven, slap any eviction notice on his behind and he fell down to earth. And so I've convinced today that Satan is in your ear because he no longer has gods. And if God isn't giving them space, then neither should you. And I know that they're so often that I can go awhile and you've helped me with this, boo, a lot of times, is that you stop and go, wait, I break that off. I come against that.

You know, we got a joke. I cancel that, I cancel that. We do. But it's in that you begin to be reminded, wait a second, there's a war for my identity. And therefore there's a war over my mind. Yes, there is. And I've got to recognize, you look at it differently when you're in a battle like that. And you know, a lot of times, modern terminology, we talk about FOMO. FOMO is the fear of missing out. But I just want to throw in the mix, Jomo. There's a joy of missing out. That's awesome.

I don't want to miss out on certain things that God has, but I got the joy of missing out on the thoughts of the enemy that brings anxiety, that brings depression, that brings suicide, they bring addictive, codependent behavior. There's a joy in missing out on that. And I miss out on that when I allow God's thoughts to become my reality. Keep it going, Hunter Tribe.

I want you to really dial into this moment because even as Sean and I were just talking, I just felt like Holy Spirit was saying, there's some people that are going to listen to this and a couple of things in just even this segment that we're talking about right now, that not every thought that's in your head is of God.

And for you to really take inventory of what you're allowing to be your internal dialogue and what you're actually allowing to be the narrative, there's things that are a loop in all of our minds, but are they things that bring you closer to Jesus? Are they things that are the fruit? You know, the enemy has a job description to kill, still and destroy. So let's not get that twisted. Let's understand that there is a real devil that wants to take you out. And that's not from a place of fear.

It's from a place of understanding you have authority over the enemy and then you do not in any way, shape or form, have to accept any thought. So, you know, the word talks about taking every thought captive and taking a thought captive is cleaning the blood of Jesus over it. Taking a thought captive is putting it under the feet of Jesus.

And so when I take thoughts captive, I actually see a picture of Jesus' feet and I see that thought going underneath his feet physically and him standing on it and then they disappear because his authority, his blood, who he is can break every word curse. And another thing that I feel like I just talked about, but again, I feel like the Lord's highlighting for a listener right now is really forgiving yourself.

You are not hostage to the sins you've been forgiven of and the enemy wants to keep you hostage, but I want to declare the freedom of the Lord over you for you to walk in your full identity. Wherever you're listening to this podcast right now, I want you to take a moment and forgive yourself. God has forgiven you. It's time you forgive yourself. You are not hostage to the past decisions, the past sin and the past lifestyle you were living.

You are covered by the blood of the lamb, which means you are a bloodbought and you are a covenant child with God. Therefore, it's time you access the fullness of who he created you to be and shame is no longer your friend. So we break that off just like Sean and I do in our own lives. We break that off of you because you're called to walk in freedom. Bible, which is another way now of saying, I think the Kardashians have made that saying popular, meaning that's the real truth right there.

Bible, they keep your 100. We have a special surprise for you. Our next guest on this next segment is an influencer from NYC. He has literally led a movement on the East Coast and he literally saw an awakening breakout amongst his youth group called Misfits NYC. He actually sent me some gear. They even have gear y'all when y'all get gear, you're serious. And since that time, he and his wife, Jai, have become the lead pastors of saints church NYC. So welcome to the mic.

My good friend, Chris Dursow. ["Misfits NYC"] Hey, keep your 100 tribe. We have leader of saints church, the author of the heist, how grace robs us of our shame. My friend, Chris Dursow, what's going on, bro? Man, I am so well. It's so good to hear you. I'm so happy to be on this podcast with you. Thank you so much for having me. Oh, absolutely, man. There was no one that I would rather have on this episode of what we're talking about in terms of uncontestable identity.

So Chris, just tell me, man, you're on the East Coast, man. What's it like right now? What you seeing right now? Yeah, I mean, it's tough right now in New York. I mean, just like it has been for the whole world, you know, COVID hit us, COVID hit us tough. We had at least over two dozen people pass in this season due to the pandemic. How to do the funeral for my best friend's mother. And just a tough season, a tough season, but like it is all around the world.

But like you, we're believing that our best days are in front of us. We know that God has great plans. We believe that revival is about to break out in churches all over the world. And it's gonna be special. And I'm so excited for it. I can feel the stirring in my spirit, even now as I say to you. I absolutely agree with you, man. I so feel, Lord's has been dealing with me at Isaiah 53.

I usually go there for the, he took up our infirmities, bore sickness by Jesus stripes and made a Isaiah 53, four. But I believe it's verse two. It says like a tender shoot out of dry ground. And my whole premise that Lord's been dealing with me is that you deem dry ground the wrong nutrients and the wrong circumstance for a tender blade of grass to break through. But it's because you judged it by the outside. You saw how hard America is. You saw how hard hearts are.

But God has a tender blade of grass, which is the context that's Jesus, the great revival that he often breaks through. So the whole thought of that, when I show that thought is revivals are most likely when they're least likely because part ground is neither the proper nutrients or the optimal circumstances. So I 100% agree with you. So Chris, man, you wrote this book and I highly recommend you go out and get this book, The Heist, How Grace Robges of Our Shame.

I read this thing seriously in a night and the next day plane ride, I was just so impacted by it. It came from such a deep place, Chris. That's why we're blessed to have you because of your heart for God. And we can probably talk about some other things, but let's jump in in this one. How did you become solidified, confident in your identity in Christ? That's a big question.

The irony of that question, and you don't even realize this or know this, but I am actually sitting in my parents' house right now, recording this podcast coincidentally. I am sitting in the same spot that when I was seven years old, Pastor Jim Symbola prophesied over me and he said to me in front of my parents, I had a learning disability. I was doing bad in school. I was a troublemaker and he told my parents not to worry about me.

He said that God's hand was on me and that the God was gonna use me to be a pastor. And I mean, tears are coming to my eyes as I'm saying it because I didn't even realize until you just asked me that question and I'm realizing where I'm sitting right now as I'm having this conversation with you. Well, when I was seven years old, I knew from that point forward that I was gonna be a pastor. I spent a good amount of my life running from it. My testimony was I did not want to be a pastor.

I grew up in a pastor's home, but I spent a good amount of my life running from it. But the moment that my wife, who was my girlfriend at the time, she said, why do you keep running from the very thing we all know that you're called to do? And it just, it hit me in that moment. It hit me when she said, and I said, why am I running? Why am I trying to avoid what God has called me to do? And the reason why I frame it that way is because purpose is tied into identity.

Your identity, I am not what I do, right? But I am who I am called to be by Christ. And that's a very big difference. I'm not just a pastor. No, I'm a man of God, but I'm a man of God with an assignment. And I have an assignment to be a pastor. I have an assignment to be a father. I have an assignment to be a husband. I have an assignment to be a friend. These are my assignments. And I would encourage every listener that is listening right now to ask God to show you what your assignment is.

Because here's the truth. You do not get to be saved and not assigned. You are saved and you are assigned. And the goodness of grace is not only does he forgive you of sins and save you and make you safe in him, but then he purposes you so that you could go out and tell others, but you don't get to just sit in his good graces. He said, no, now that you know, and now that you've experienced me, I need you to go out and tell others.

I could do it, but I'm commissioning you because that's what brings me glorious God. Man, that is so good. You know, it's very interesting because I read that in your book and the way you're describing it and the fact that you're sitting in the very spot. Man, I had chills. That's so prophetic.

Jim Symbol is Word. And I think about Chris the power, the prophetic, and there's so many different things, but when a true prophetic word comes, it is obviously a declaration of divine intent, but it carries a grace in that immediate moment to upgrade you from wherever you're at into the reality of the word. And so I so love that that word begin to brand you towards that thing that God has for you.

And you're such a man of the word in what ways maybe early on, we're grabbing hold of the truths of God's word as well as knowing your purpose.

How crucial was that into stepping in your identity because you walk in a confidence, Chris, those of us that know you see you preach, man, you walk in a confidence and it's a humility, it's a confidence, it's not an arrogance, but if people don't know who they are, then they're either walking, they're either strutting in pride or they're languishing in this false humility, negativity and not acknowledging who they are. So how did you cross over in terms of the word of God speaking to you?

Yeah, I think my personality, my personality, I'm at Enneagram 8, Wing 9, I don't know if you're into all that, but it just means I'm a really strong personality and I have no problem with confrontation and I have no problem taking the bull by the horn. However, I'm only able to do that when I know what I'm dealing with. So for me, if I know the word of God and I believe the word of God, then I'm gonna move forward with the word of God and I'm not gonna pay attention to any other words.

That's how God designed me, but from an early age, because I grew up in a pastor's home and I grew up around Christians and prayer meetings and services and all night prayer meetings and all of that. And experiencing and seeing it, but not understanding it, I thought, well, I've had enough of the experience, but what does the Bible say? What does the word say? And because I had a learning disability, I had to read it for myself.

I could listen to preachers preach, but as a kid, I didn't get it, I didn't make the connection. So I would read the Bible for myself. And then when I became a teenager, I would have moments, I was on and off, but I would have moments when I was on, I was in that word and I was studying it and I was chewing it and I wasn't hanging out and I was just in the presence of God and the same thing just followed all the way through.

And then when I learned about something called soap and the Bible reading plan that came with soap, I didn't even know there were Bible reading plans. And the more I started to learn about the word of God and theology, it just solidified why I would step forward. And I think the thing that so often happens with believers and Christians, especially those that are willing to step out, they receive the calling and God will do that for you.

But just because you receive a calling or assignment that does not mean you've arrived, you have to fill up your tank and you have to keep growing as you go. The whole reason why we are disciples, what's a disciple? It's a student teacher, which means that we learn and we teach and we teach and we learn and we learn and we teach. We can't ever break that pivot. So we as believers, we always have to be in that position that we're learning as we're going.

There's the perfectionist that will listen to this and say, well, I'm not going until I know it all. And God's saying, but that's not how I operate. I've called you, drop your nets, follow me. This is why somebody could go from being a fisherman to a disciple just like that. He said, because I go with you. And that's how God gets his pleasure. When I think about identity, I think about Paul. Paul is my favorite in the Bible. You know, after Jesus, Paul is my favorite.

And what I love about Paul is that Paul would start off his letters by saying, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ. He never pivoted any other way. He'd let you know who he was. This is who I am. And I remember reading that going from the beginning. If you were to read any of these letters, you don't have to guess who Paul is. You know that he's an apostle. You know that he is saved by grace. You know that his name is Paul and that he's not who he used to be. He's Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ.

He has no problem identifying his identity. And somebody might hear that and go, oh, I got to change my bio right now. No, I'm not talking about going around and switching up your LinkedIn profile and putting all your title. We don't need anybody else with any more titles. But what I love about Paul is that he's confident in knowing that he used to be Saul, but man, now he's Paul and God has called him to a Timothy or to this land or this region to preach.

And I think if we pay attention to those, even those beginning verses, we learn, man, there's so much there about identity. Bro, that is so profound. That's off the chart. That whole idea that God uses your identity is fuel towards where he's wanting to take you. And then the whole understanding what he's saying, I love this, Chris, I'm hearing you say too, is oftentimes God gives us a designation before it's our realization. And the way that we realize is that we have to accept it.

So he calls us the righteousness of God when we don't look very righteous. He's saying to Gideon, you're a mighty man of valor and you're beating wheat in the wine press like practicing your golf swing in the closet. He calls us something. And so he gives us an identification. So our behavior matches it rather than waiting for our behavior to come to a certain level. Then he gives us that title. And Paul also identifies it's always by the will of God.

In other words, I didn't call me, God called me. And if God called me and if he's God, then if I can't grab confidence from that, what are we even talking about? I didn't call me. At any time I've had a moment where I've gotten nervous about something, maybe it was about preaching, maybe it was about leading, maybe it was stepping into a new season. And then I realized, wait a minute, I didn't kick down any door to be here. God called me and God's not gonna call me and leave me.

No, God's gonna call me and grace me. And that's some encouragement. If God calls you, he equips you. He sustains you with the grace and goes with you as your obedient. Man, I love that so good. Chris, another question I wanted to ask you. What are some of the battles in this generation that you see as it relates to identity? The battle, so I was just talking to someone about this yesterday and they were saying, you know, this generation is all purpose driven.

And I thought to myself, it's true, but that's what they were. They're still purpose driven, but it's a different type of purpose driven. Like there was a time where everybody was buying certain shoes or they were putting on certain outfits because they wanted to fit the part of looking purpose driven. But when I think of this generation, I think about the fact that what they really want is authenticity. They want honesty. They want to keep it 100. Real recognize real.

And if they get it that way, just tell me what I'm supposed to do. Tell me what I'm supposed to be. Hey, just cut the fluff and let's get to it. And then the moment we get through that, I'll go do whatever. That's what I'm supposed to do. Yeah, I'll operate in purpose. But because of all of the reality television and because of all the social media and the filters, this generation is done with fake.

Like think about the moment where we found out that reality television was staged and it wasn't what we thought it was. So this generation is so beyond that. And because of the pace and how culture moves, it has just only got them there quicker. And the reason why even the entertainment industry is gonna find themselves in such a debacle is because you're not gonna be able to produce authenticity because authenticity is authenticity. It has to happen organically.

The other day I was talking to my wife and we had gotten some bad news earlier that week and it was just a really tough moment for us. And I felt like I had just a hard time thinking and I wrote an intro for the sermon and had a preach the next day. And I said, you know, honey, let me just read this to you. And as I read it to my wife, my daughter's there, my 10 year old daughter, Chloe. And I said, you know, does this come off too harsh or too direct?

And I already know that I kind of like go for it when I preach. So if I'm asking about my own stuff, I'm thinking this might be too harsh. And my daughter, Chloe goes, dad, it's not too harsh. It's good because you're getting to the point. And then she says, I just hate when I hear preachers preach and they're just talking all this other stuff, like get to the point already.

And then she said, dad, the fact that you get to the point that quick will give you more time to tell us what the scripture actually means. Me and my wife looked at each other and we looked at her because I wasn't thinking like that at 10 years old. But this is how 10 year olds are thinking now because of social media and YouTube and everything they've experienced. They are craving for 100. It's no surprise to me, Sean, that your podcast is doing as well as it's doing.

It's this idea of let's be honest. Let's throw out all this other jargon, all this other talk and let's just be real. And that is what a generation is craving. That's what this world is craving. You know, it's so true. And I think we kind of came out of an era where it was about the show. It was about you put on kind of like, you know, them little memes that will come out on people's profile pics. They would crop it and do all kinds of stuff. They would photoshop it and get this.

But now you saw even on the gram, you just see this shift where you see a lot of people, I'm gonna just show you no makeup. I'm gonna show you how I really look. I'm gonna show you how I do. I'm gonna uncover stuff. And I think it's so coincides with aspect of when you're strong in your identity, you can really be you. You don't have to try to be something you're not. It's codependent.

Like we think a codependency is somebody, I'm gonna be in this relationship and I'm gonna enable this person because it really allows me to feel secure or whatever. But I think the simple definition of codependency is that I'm living my life in a way that I have to have your validation in order for me to feel good about yourself.

And I feel like the message of identity Christ delivers a person from codependency in its classic definition or even codependent Christianity that we need the world to validate us. When we already have a father in heaven, he says, this is my son, this is my daughter in whom I'm well pleased. And when you start at that point, all of a sudden you just think of all the opinions of all men of all time or equal absolutely zero at the end of the day. So only gonna be the thumbs up from the master.

And so if I can get up every day and live my life like that, I'm not gonna have this image or distorted identity. I can walk in the revealed identity because here's the thing I'm learning is blowing me away is our identity really is Jesus. So if we could see it in Jesus, we could see it in us. So in other words, the clearer we see the father, the clearer you understand ourselves. We were never meant to develop identity outside of knowing our maker.

When my Mac goes down, I don't take it to Samsung. I take my Mac to Apple because they made it. They're the manufacturer. And so man, that's so profound. And I do, I see a generation and I believe that we're more in terms of emerging generation, it's more about the tribe. It's more about the people you're hanging with. It's more about who you identify with. But at the same time, we want that authenticity. And so I just love the way you phrase it. Here's the third final question for you, Chris.

How does knowing your identity make you impactful for the kingdom? When somebody walks in the room and they're confident, whether everyone talks to them, they notice them. When you are confident, people look to you and want to learn what you have, who you are, and how you got there. Let me learn your rhythm. What do you do in the morning? What books are you reading? You become a magnet to point people to the answer. When we get everything that you just said, I could not agree with you more.

My identity comes from Christ. I am no one else but a child of God. And if I attempt to live outside of the original version that God created me to be, it is the equivalent of trying to bring my MacBook Pro to Samsung to fix it. And where I do believe Great Revival is going to come is because so many people are so done and they've realized that there's a dead end to all these other lifestyles, fame.

Think about how one season, fame was so far off for so many people, but now it's so tangible and easy. And I really believe the silver lining in the exposure of that is people are realizing, oh, I don't need to live for fame. It's not gonna do it for me. So if fame is not gonna do it for me, and that's what I thought I needed my entire life, now there has to be something.

And if there's something and you're walking in your confidence and you are showing people Jesus, and they will look to you and they will say, show me what it is that you do when you are operating in your identity as a believer, as a saint, as a Christian, knowing that this is not my doing, but God's will, that allows me to be obedient to do whatever it is that God calls me to do, no matter how crazy it sounds, no matter how ridiculous it sounds, no matter how over the top it sounds.

So if he says, go play in the church, if he says, go pray for that person for healing, if he says, open up your mouth and gives them this word of knowledge, call them right now in the middle of the night, and then you're now spot on because you're able to hit those things. You start to realize, oh my goodness, that voice that I'm listening to is the Holy Spirit.

That's the voice I should have been listening to the whole time, not my insecurity, not celebrity, not culture, that's who I need to be relying on. And because I realized I could be confident because it's not me, it's God. And it gives me a voice that allows me to hear where it is that I need to go. Man, it's so powerful. I was just thinking too, Chris, right along with what you're saying, I mean, you nailed it, bro.

But the Bible talks about, I believe it's one of the major prophets, says, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the rich man boast in his accruediments, but let the him who boasts, boasts in his head, he understands and knows me, said the Lord. And I was thinking about, what if we're talking about identity leading to impact, what if that day in Jerusalem, Peter and John are being asked by the beggar, hey, can I have some money?

If their identity was in their IRA, was in their investment in Google, was in how much money they got, how they were running, what they were wearing, he would probably would have given them some money. But the fact is, he said, silver gold, I have not, I'm not defined by that. He says, but such as I have, I give to you, because I think when you know you have identity, you know you've got the resources of heaven, you're not limited to the resources of earth.

And particularly at a time like this, like you were mentioned earlier, you know, in a time of pandemic, people of economies are affected. But the thing is, is if our identity is not based on that, because here's the thing, I think God wants our identity to be a conviction in us, because conviction in us must be greater than the circumstances that surround us. And that's what I hear you saying, man. You know, as it relates to having an impact, man, tell us something you're doing.

I know you got Saints Church, you're over in the East Coast, and just let us know, Chris, how we could follow you. Yeah, you know, in this season, because we're all virtual and we're not able to open. So you could follow me, Chris Dersoe, on Instagram and Twitter, or Saints Church, Saints Church, NYC on YouTube. And we just wanna help encourage and bless the body. That's the goal. I mean, let's make disciples.

That's why I am so grateful for a podcast like this one, because it goes out into all the world and people get to listen to it from wherever they're at, and then they get to grow where they are. That's the beauty of this whole thing. You don't have to go somewhere else. You need to be planted where you are, and be that man, be that woman that God has called you to be. So let us encourage you as you're there. That is so awesome, Chris.

Hey, we're so blessed to have you up, man, and be on the show, man, give Jai and the kids a big hug, man, Chris and I love you. Can't wait till we're together in person again. Can not wait. Love you, thank you. Oh my goodness. Chris Dersoe is a man of wisdom. I love, he is just a straight shooter. He's vulnerable, he's honest, he tells it like it is, but I hope that the Keep It 100 Tribe really grabbed a hold of everything he just shared. That was incredible. That was mighty. You know what?

I think we need to have him back. I would love it. I just love his voice. I love his perspective. We definitely have to have him on some future episodes. Keep it 100 Tribe. As always, we have our Keep It 100 takeaways. And this episode, we're talking about keys of confident identity. First thing we wanna give you is you need to have a revelation of your significance and being convinced of your design. In the Bible, Jesus tells the parable of the pearl of great price.

And to us, the pearl of great price is the kingdom that we are to by all means give up everything we can that we can receive the pearl of eternal life and be children of the king and walk in kingdom lifestyle. But to God, you have to understand, you're the pearl of great price because God was willing to bankrupt all of glory by sending his son, Jesus, to die for you.

I believe the devil looked up an utter shock to recognize that God himself would take the sins of all man of all mankind upon his life just so he could redeem us and purchase us. But you have to understand the value of anything is really based on the price someone is willing to pay for it. And God sent his son for you. You always need to keep in mind of your significance. You need to be convinced of your design. See, self-esteem is how you see yourself, but self-worth is how you value yourself.

And so I believe that the most important thing is understanding that you are significant, that you're not an accident in terms of how you were born. That you're not a person that no one values. It doesn't matter where you find yourself in life. There's a God in heaven that looks down on you and he sees value and he sees gold inside of you. I think what happens is if you're not convinced of your design, so often we make excuses for, as we talked about earlier, false identities.

And you hear people saying, I can't help it. You hear people saying, I was born this way. Or I was raised this way. Or this is what I became after this person did this thing to me after that terrible accident. But let me tell you, you may have been born that way, but the good news is you can be born again this way. And what I mean by this way, now you can walk in freedom. Now you can walk in victory. Now you can experience fulfillment, joy, and a life with the most amazing person ever, Jesus.

So understand that a key to confident identity is a revelation of your significance and being convinced of your design. I love that. Come on, that is so good. You know, the second key for a confident identity is your devotion to God. That might sound simple. It might sound obvious, but friends, you and I know, we have to have an ever-deepening, intimate connection with Jesus. You have to guard it at all costs. Say that.

You wanna recognize when your relationship with God becomes polluted or diluted, you and I know there is a disconnect and there is a opening for other things to come in to pull you away from God. There can never be anything more important than your relationship with Jesus, your ability to connect and engage and really hear His voice. It's never been more important than I believe that it is in this hour.

And I believe you have to relentlessly weed out, consistently go through this process of whatever is blocking your connection. You're being really intentional to keep your flow and your heart clear and connected with God. We can all agree, moving away from God will not move you towards healing. You want healing, you want breakthrough, you have to lean into God, not away from God. Right, that's so true.

Come on, last takeaway for having a keys to confident identity is having an understanding that your identity is what weaponizes your life. I love this. With this revelation, you are not passive, you're not on the sidelines, but you're active. You're in the battlefield. Just like Apostle Paul, you resist and you rebuke like Jesus. Like Apostle Paul, you're an agent of change. You're not drifting, you're detonating, you're not conforming, you're transforming.

You're not a spiritual survivalist, you're a supernatural revivalist. And I love that, because this is about being the head and not the tail. It's about being victorious and not a victim. It's about one that's walking in the confidence knowing who you are. I believe it's some listeners' day that are gonna rise up and be like, why the heck am I putting up with this or that? When I'm called to be a weapon for the things of God. 100. Keep it 100, tribe.

As we close out this episode, we want you to not only take away the truth in which we released, and I believe can really change and transform your life, but I want you to take some time with God today. I wanna challenge you to inquire with the Lord and say, Lord, are there things that I'm listening to in my life? Are there voices or narratives that do not align up with your word and who you say I am?

You know, don't just rush through this moment, but allow God to transform your mind and ultimately transform your identity. Friends, you have one life to live. That's it, one life. I believe you and I have the privilege to live that life in full freedom and full confidence who we are. It's time that we stop living in a sense of just tolerating who we are, but living in the celebration of who we're called to be. You and I are not an accident. You are born with a plan and a purpose.

God designed you from the womb, so don't let the enemy have one more day. Don't give him any more airtime in your mind and don't give him any more real estate in your emotional capacity. From this day forward, together as a Keep It 100 Tribe, let's move forward in the fullness of who God's called us to be. Thanks so much, tuning in, and for taking the time to download another episode of Keep It 100.

Please make sure and subscribe so that you're alerted as soon as new episodes drop, we also ask that you would rate, review, and refer this podcast as it helps us get the word out, and it's really our vision to disciple a generation. Share this link on your social media platforms, tag us, and we will make sure to give you a shout out. Check us out at www.SeanandChristasmith.com and inside information to y'all. We're about to have a brand new website unveil.

You can also find us on Facebook at Sean and Christosmith Ministries, and we'd love to hear how this podcast has impacted you. All right, Keep It 100 Tribe, next episode is going to be about one of the Smith's core values. Sean and I are talking about the topic of gratitude because we believe gratitude is so gangster. This is the truth that will revolutionize your life. And remember, relief may change your circumstance, but a revelation will change you.

We hope you enjoyed today's episode of the Keep It 100 podcast with Sean and Christosmith. Keep up with us on Facebook and Instagram and SeanandChristasmith.com where you can discover more resources. If this podcast has impacted you, please subscribe and review wherever you listen to your podcast.

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