Identification
Paul Identifies with the Struggles of His Listeners
Romans 7:14-25
Paul identifies with the struggles of common men and women. He knows we all can feel:
1. Trapped: “For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin.” (Rom. 7:14).
2. Confused: “For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.” (7:15).
3. Eager to do what is right and unable to follow through: “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find” (7:18).
4. An inward war: “I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. 22 For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members” (7:21-23).
5. Frustration: “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (7:24).
Good leaders do not seek to impress, but to identify!
Identity
Sunday Morning
21 Christian Growth Issues in the Bible
2 Pet. 3:14-18
I. You Have Great Value Because God Values You
a. 2 Cor. 12:9
II. Gideon Is a Mighty Warrior: Because God Says So
a. Judges 6:11-10
III. God Knows Us Completely
a. Psalm 139:1-24
IV. Peter’s Sense of identity Gives Him Confidence
a. Acts 4:1-20
Sunday Evening
God Is Looking For you
Luke 15:1-10
I. God Seeks Those Who Will Stand in The Gap Between Good and Evil
a. Ezek. 22:30
b. Isa. 5:20; Eph. 4:15
c. Matt. 6:33; 1 Pet. 1:13-16; 1 Pet. 4:1-4
d. Psa. 106:19-31
II. God Seeks His Sheep And their Welfare
a. Ezek. 34:11-16, 23-24, 31
b. John 10:10-11, 16, 25-27
c. Ezek. 34:12; Matt. 18:10-14
d. Ezek. 34:13-15
e. Ezek. 34:16-17; Matt. 23:15, 15, 23-24
III. God Seeks True Worshippers
a. John 4:22-24
b. Psa. 9:1-2; Luke 18:9-14
c. John 4:20-22
d. Matt. 6:5; Isa. 1:10-17; Mal. 1:12-13; 1 Pet. 2:5, 9, 11; Matt. 7:22-23; Acts 23:1; Phil. 3:6
Identification
Leadership Begins with Identity: Jesus Led from Who He Was
John 1:1, 14
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”
The best leadership simply expresses who we are. Jesus led from who He was: God incarnate, the perfect expression of the Father. As He pursued His divine mission, He influenced others. Similarly, as we pursue who God called us to be, our leadership will be most natural and effective.