Seacoast Church (Audio) - Weekly Service

How To Know Who You Are

·31 min·3 clips

Seacoast Church never intended to be large, but now has 13-14 campuses across the Carolinas.

The episode is a sermon delivered at Seacoast Church, part of a series on Romans 8. It opens with a prayer for the Manning campus and other locations facing space constraints. The speaker introduces the day's topic: how a proper understanding of God leads to better understanding of ourselves, our pain, and our hope. He begins by discussing the importance of names, sharing personal anecdotes about friends named Cash and his own children's names. The speaker then uses humorous examples from product instruction manuals—like a toaster oven manual advising to wipe with a 'damp sloth'—to illustrate that understanding something requires listening to its maker. He contrasts the world's view of self-identity (looking inward) with the gospel's view (looking upward to God). The sermon delves into Romans 8:17, highlighting the terms 'heirs' and 'children' as key to understanding our identity in God. The biblical figure Jacob is examined in detail; his name change from Jacob (meaning 'trickster') to Israel (meaning 'my God overcomes') exemplifies how God reveals true identity. The speaker then addresses the problem of pain and suffering, referencing Romans 8:18-25. He critiques Western cultural attitudes toward suffering and philosophical arguments about God's goodness and power, using an analogy of a teenager challenging a parent's curfew to illustrate human arrogance in demanding God justify himself. The speaker argues that suffering entered the world through human sin, not God, and that God can redeem pain. Returning to Jacob's story, he emphasizes that 'breaking and healing are not opposites in the kingdom of God.' The final section discusses hope, using Paul's accounting term 'logidzomai' to assert that future glory outweighs present suffering. The speaker encourages looking to the cross as proof of God's love, goodness, and power. The sermon concludes with the story from Luke 8 of a sinful woman who anoints Jesus' feet; Jesus renames her 'forgiven,' demonstrating identity transformation through grace. The episode ends with a prayer for listeners to embrace their true identity in God.

As heard by us

A brisk sermon on receiving identity from God when mistakes, reputation, and pain have done the naming.

Identity is framed as something received through connection with God, with the sermon moving from Seacoast's growing campus needs into Romans 8, Jacob's wrestling, and a woman's realization that Jesus has set her free.

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Why you'd press play

You want to stop letting mistakes and other people's opinions introduce you before God gets a word in.

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