Identity Transformation - 01

Guest (Male): Dr. Michael Youssef offers a new and exciting perspective of Peter, the outspoken disciple of Jesus, who denied Christ and experienced amazing redemption on today's Leading the Way.
Dr. Michael Youssef: Now for us even to begin to understand the first epistle of Peter, for us to even begin to comprehend how the Holy Spirit goes through Peter and through the pen of Peter and begin to write these magnificent words coming out of a heart of a man who had a transformed identity. For us to begin, we must understand the man and how he went through the transformation himself.
Guest (Male): Thank you for joining Dr. Michael Youssef for Leading the Way audio. There is no doubt that Peter's life was radically changed by Jesus. Today, get to know Peter a little bit better and look closer at his transformed life and what that means for you. This episode begins Dr. Youssef's collection of messages called Identity Transformation. You'll discover that your identity isn't shaped by family or career or your address. It is in Christ alone. And a quick reminder that Leading the Way is a listener supported gospel ministry. Dr. Youssef and the worldwide teams rely on your prayers and your generosity to maintain and grow life impact through media across the world. Learn ways to stand with Dr. Youssef when you call 866-626-4356 or go to ltw.org. Right now though, listen and experience identity transformation.
Dr. Michael Youssef: Every one of us, without exception, have our identity in someone or something. Even young children, they have their identity in their parents. And therefore, wherever is our identity, that's where we draw our sense of security, our confidence. Now there are some people who see their identity in their title, wherever that may be, and that's where they have their confidence. There are others who see their confidence and their identity in their profession, whatever that profession may be. Some people see their identity tied to their net worth, and therefore everything about them is that in that identity. I'm sure by now you get the point. I believe the Lord wants every one of us to begin to shift from seeing our identity in someone or something to seeing our identity only in Jesus. Why? Because he loves us so much. He loves us so much that he died on a cross for us. And he loves us so much that he knows that we can lose whatever it is that we have found our identity in, whether it's a profession or it's a name or it's in the title or whatever it may be. He loves us enough to know that any of these things can be lost. But our identity when it is in Jesus and only in Jesus, it can never be lost. So he uses all possible means and I mean that's operative word, all possible means. Sometimes he uses people, sometimes he uses his word, sometimes he uses the Holy Spirit directly. He uses all possible means to bring the children whom he loves so dearly to shift or to exchange whatever their identity may be in to be in Jesus and only in Jesus. Why do you think the New Testament writers when they're introducing themselves, they don't give their credentials? Paul, great scholar, studied under the best of them all, Gamaliel, and has been in this and has done this and has accomplished that and he's No. Or Jude, the very reverent or the most reverent Jude, who is the half brother of Jesus. No, no, no. They all start by saying whatever the name is, Paul, Peter, John, Jude, James, servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, that's where they found their identity, their true identity. The clearest picture of this identity transformation is found in the life and in the writings of the apostle Peter because God had a wonderful plan for Peter's life just as he has a wonderful plan for every one of your lives. God began in Peter's life to make shifts, to make identity transformation. Question, shifted from where to where? From whatever it may be, whether it is your achievements or whether it is your business savvy or it is your strength or it's your outward appearance, whether it is the pride of race or pride of place, whatever it is, where the strength of your identity is, the Lord want to shift it. He wants to transform it from being tied to that thing to being tied with Jesus and only Jesus. Now for us even to begin to understand the first epistle of Peter, for us to even begin to comprehend how the Holy Spirit goes through Peter and through the pen of Peter and begin to write these magnificent words coming out of a heart of a man who had a transformed identity. For us to begin, we must understand the man and how he went through the transformation himself. I don't have to tell you this. Peter's name looms large in all the four Gospels, not just in the one that he's responsible for, which most people believe is Mark's Gospel, but all the four Gospels. Peter's name is mentioned more than any of the other disciples. Peter spoke more than all of the other disciples. Peter stood head and shoulder over and above all the other 12. Peter left us with a deep footprint deeper than all of the 12 put together. And while John was introvert and meditative and and Philip was phlegmatic and and Thomas was melancholy, Peter was sanguine, enthusiastic, and he would swing for the extremes from one end to the other. Oh, but the divine master, the Lord Jesus Christ saw a potential in Peter just as he saw the potential in every one of the 12. Please, please, please, please listen to me. You would be making a colossal mistake if you think because I am not her, I cannot be used of God, or because I don't have his gifts, I cannot be as effective for God and I can't do things for God, or because of this or I lack that or I lack the other thing, I cannot be used of God. Listen to me. Their 12s could not be more different than each other. Their world are very different from each other. And yet God used every one of them equally, differently but equally. And the only one, the only one who was not used of God and took his own life is the man who did not know how to repent of his sins. Think with me, just think with me. Betraying Jesus and denying Jesus are about the same. See, with God sin is sin. Betraying him or denying him, there are equal sins in the sight of God. But the reason Peter who denied Jesus could preach the sermon in Judas's funeral is because Peter learned how to repent and Judas did not. Look with me please very closely at Peter's life. And I don't want you to focus so much on Peter, but I want you to focus with me on the transforming power of God, the transforming power of Jesus in transforming Peter's identity. This is really why I want you to focus on Jesus, not so much Peter. What are the two areas in which Peter saw himself, saw his identity and therefore his security blanket and his confidence? There were number, but let me summarize them into two, just two. Just for the purpose of our time here. The first one is the Sea of Galilee and fishing, a knowledge of the Sea of Galilee and a knowledge of fishing. That was his thing. That was his expertise. That's where his confidence is. The second one is his outward courage, which is always an indication of hiding something inside, but I'll get to that in a minute. And here's what Jesus does. He hones in on those two things like a laser beam. He hones on those two things in Peter's life. And I want you to look with me at the consequences of what God, the son, the Lord Jesus Christ began to do in this identity transformation. Chapter one. There's not chapters in the Bible. There's chapters one in Peter's life. Chapter one. They've been fishing all night. Think about this. This man is an expert. Fishing all night, catching nothing, not one. And there's no doubt in my mind that Peter was thinking, you know, that that that just couldn't happen to me, surely. I know fishing. I know this lake. These things just don't happen to Peter. And so he comes back in the morning bone tired, bone tired, and not a fish to show for it. And then he sees the crowd and Jesus says to him, Peter, let's get in the water. I mean in his mind, he's probably saying, well, you okay, I failed. I'm not used to failing, but I failed this time. Well, next time I guess I'll do better. But Jesus made things worse. He really did when he asked him to go into the water in the middle of the day. And the sun is beaming on that lake. In the middle of the day, Jesus said, okay, Peter, when you got to the middle, he said, now throw your nets. What's going on in Peter's mind? I'm embarrassed enough to be seen on the lake in the middle of the day. Little alone fishing in the middle of the day. There is no self-respecting fisherman who would be seen fishing in the middle of the day. Lord, I have a reputation to protect. I have a name to uphold. I have a dignity to guard. He probably was tempted to say, Lord, you don't understand. We dry our nets during the day. Little fishies go to sleep during the day. Have you ever been in that place when you stood there, the Lord stripped you from the very thing that's been a source of your bragging? When your self-adequacy have been challenged, when you thought I know more about this than anyone else. And here comes transformation number one, first step. But that's only the first. They get there in the middle of the lake in the middle of the day and they get more fish than they could handle. Chapter two. I already told you as we saw here, Peter was born a leader. Listen to me. You must not misunderstand me. Jesus loves leadership. He loves our leadership abilities because he has given us the aptitude for our leadership. He gave it to us. He gave us the abilities, gave us the aptitude, he gave us the environment in which our leadership grows. He wants us to exercise it wherever we go because we are Christian leaders regardless of what our secular position says. Leadership was not Peter's problem. Peter had a a pride issue. Peter had a self-adequacy issue. And many of these problems needed to be replaced, needed to be transformed by his wonderful and stupendous things that only Jesus could give him. And so the next encounter with Peter was where? On the lake, in the water, where his identity has been formed through the years, which was the first area that Jesus wanted to transform. And no sooner do the disciples get into the boat, then a violent raging storm start brewing. It got so bad that the boat was bobbing on the surface of the water like a cork. Obviously, this storm was not like anything they've ever experienced before. And so they panicked and that's understandable. By the way, a lot of people you don't blame them. No, no, no. Don't blame them. It's understandable for them to panic. But guess who panicked the most? Was Peter. He not only panicked, he even doubted if the Lord cared for them. Probably what's going on in his mind is a man, I know this lake like the back of my hand. I thought this is the area of my expertise. I thought this is the area of my strength. I thought this is the area of my self-adequacy. I thought this is the area of my self-confidence. And no one can deny any of that. But the master was preparing him as he's preparing you. He really is. He's preparing every one of us to do great and mighty things for him in the year to come. And so Jesus takes authority over the storm and he stops it. And here's another layer of confidence begin to build in Peter's life. Confidence where? In the Lord. Chapter three. Peter's identity began to be transformed. This time was about walking on water, not fishing. We got that worked out. He got that confidence built. And so Peter's confidence began to build in the Lord. If this is Jesus who's walking on water, surely if he says to me to come and walk in water, I know I could do it. If he said it, it can be done. My confidence in him has grown to the point that I know I could do it if he commands it. And so Lord says, come on Peter, start walking on water. And he start walking on water and all of a sudden the old Peter came back and said, hey, look at me boys, I am walking on water. And he took a dive. And the cry was, Lord, save me. What's happening here? Peter began to trust in Christ's sufficiency, not his own sufficiency. Chapter four. This has to do with the projection of self-confidence, which in reality it covers up something inside. It's covering either fear or lack of courage on the inside, whatever it does. You know, when a person kind of constantly brag about they they're covering up something. Jesus was telling the disciples that he's about to be delivered to the hands of evil men and he's going to be crucified and he will die on the cross and but he will rise again. But all that Peter hears is that Jesus, the miracle worker must be down on himself and he needed Peter to pep him up. In expressing his dismay over what Jesus had just said caused the Lord Jesus to say something to Peter that is extremely hurtful. It is extremely hurtful. You see Peter projecting himself as a courageous man. It's one of those two big problems needed transformation. He projected himself. He's full of bravado. He's full of strength while in reality he was not. And so he gets carried away and he makes himself to be the protector of Jesus instead of the other way around. And what does Jesus do? He gives him the worst possible rebuke. Peter, you're the mouthpiece of Satan. The chief apostle. You're the mouthpiece of of Satan. For this I came. For this I was born. In the same vein in another instance, Jesus warns him as if to say to him, Peter, I am seeing straight through you. You don't have to pretend with me, Peter. You don't have to project a false image with me, Peter. Before dawn you'll deny me three times. Peter does not deny Jesus to Pontius Pilate, most powerful man on the earth at that time in Israel. He did not deny Jesus to the high priest or the Sanhedrin. He denies Jesus to what society at that time considered to be the lowest of low. I'm not saying it is, but I'm saying society considered a slave girl. And he swears, I don't know him. And the Bible said something that if you see my Bible is underlined because every year I go through the Bible, I underline it one more time. And Jesus turned and looked at Peter. That is why after the resurrection Jesus appears to Peter. If you read the account, it says and to Peter, he appeared to Peter as if to say to him, Peter, what I took away from you was to replace with far greater things. I exchange your independence to dependence on me. I have exchanged your false courage for real courage. Peter, I have exchanged false confidence with real confidence in me. I have exchanged false adequacies with my all sufficient adequacy. Finally, on the beach, right there at the edge of the Sea of Galilee before Jesus was taken up to heaven. He asked Peter the all important question and you get probably heard many sermons about this, but I'm going to give you the summary of it. What's released Jesus saying is, Peter, do you really really really love me? That's really the bottom line. The old Peter would have said, oh Lord, you know I love you, I'll die for you. And he cannot No, no, no. I, I, I Lord No, no, no, no. He didn't That's see the transformation began to take place in Peter's life. None of that, none of that. He says, Lord, you know everything. You know everything. Oh, on the day of Pentecost that transformed, Peter can stand up and he preaches one sermon, 3,000 people give their life to Christ. That's the transformation that God wants to bring in every one of our lives. Let me tell you this as I conclude. Wherever you are today and only you know wherever you are, you know where you place your sense of security. You know where your identity is tied, what your security blanket is. Is it your reputation or your education? Is it in your wealth or wanting acceptance? Is it on your accomplishments, your intellect? Whatever it may be, only you know. And here's what the Lord wants from every one of us beginning with yours truly is that we exchange this for true acceptance by God, for true wealth, for true power, for true confidence, for true adequacies. Father God, the secrets of our hearts are known to you. The depths of our being are known to you. You know our thoughts before we think them. You know what motivates us. You know where we place our identity and our confidence. And therefore we know we cannot fake it with you. And so we come to you in the name of Jesus, our father. We ask you for those of us with whom the process of transformation has taken place that you continue until that great day. For those who have not begun, that today be the beginning of a transformed identity in Christ. For Father, only you can do this. That is why we pray in confidence in Jesus's name. Amen.
Guest (Male): Please accept Dr. Michael Youssef's invitation to experience identity transformation in your life. We thank you for listening to Leading the Way. Now the first step to identity transformation is a relationship with Jesus. Begin a conversation with one of our Leading the Way pastors or counselors about your journey of transformation by filling out a contact form at ltw.org/jesus. Now you may ask about ways to learn more about and connect further with Dr. Michael Youssef and Leading the Way. Okay, allow me to share the best place to start. ltw.org/connect. Our team has links to connect and help you find and download Leading the Way apps, subscribe to available podcast and content from Leading the Way, explore ways to listen and watch Dr. Youssef right there in your area, and connect with Leading the Way through social media and so much more. Once again, we're at ltw.org/connect. Well, we are so thankful for our ministry representatives at Leading the Way's call center because they can assist with any product orders and gifts to Leading the Way. Call now and speak to someone anytime. 866-626-4356 Again, that's 866-626-4356. And we love hearing from you through the postal service as well. You know you can write to us. We're at Leading the Way, Post Office Box 201000 at Atlanta, Georgia 30325. That's PO Box 201000 at Atlanta, Georgia 30325. This program is brought to you by Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef. Connect further with audio and video content at ltw.org or through your favorite social media platform.