Rise Above People Pleasing

My name is Adrian, one of the pastors here, and I'm up here during this time. You might know me from my work during the announcements or occasionally during music. I'm very excited to share with you this morning, and we're continuing our series titled Rise. So first thing, if you could take out these message notes that are inside your bulletin, we're going to use those in just a minute. And also, I just want to encourage you, this Rise devotional book, we still have some in the lobby. If you didn't pick up one yet, I encourage you to get one. They're synchronized with all the sermons that you're going to hear in this series. So after today's message, you'll go through this week if you have the book and be able to meditate on scriptures and prayers that go along with what we're going to talk about.

But yeah, I'm Adrian, and I'm going to talk to you about the Bible today, and I'm excited about that. But some of you might not know who I am, so it's just a little introduction and refresher on who I and my family are. So this is a picture of us. That's me in the blue in the middle, just in case. I wasn't sure. That's my wife, Jamie. We've been married just a little over 10 years, and she's my best friend. I love her. And there's our daughter, Ella. She's five. She's very quiet, but very creative, and she loves to sing and dance and draw, and she's very funny. And then the little one is Penelope. And I was telling my wife, when it's all blown up, you could tell in her face. She's like ready to do something. She's like our little ball of energy, our spitfire, and she's very intense. This morning, she was angry. She was intense about it. And when she's happy, she's very intense. Anyways, that's us. And this is us after our services last weekend during Easter.

Who was here during Easter last week? It wasn't an awesome service. It was a lot of fun. We got to get together. And what I love is joining together with thousands of people and worshiping Jesus and focusing on the incredible work of Jesus on the cross and his resurrection from the dead. I love talking about it. I love thinking about it. And you're going to hear me say those terms a lot today because it's so important. But there's something I think we get wrong about the resurrection, about the whole work of what happened last weekend that we remembered and celebrated. We think of that event as something that affects only our future. Like it's a ticket into heaven.

When I was a junior high kid and high school kid, I'd go to these different youth groups or churches and I'd hear talks from different pastors. And they always focus on the same thing. They said, "What's going to happen when you die?" And they always use the same phrase. They would say, "If you walked out of this room and you get hit by a truck, where are you going to go?" Like the hospital. You know? But you're dead. And it's funny because I literally heard the "hit by the truck, where are you going to go?" thing by like different, like multiple in different areas. It's like they get together and it's like, "What's going to get kids to accept Jesus? Death by truck. They're going to sign me up." But they were so focused on the end of your life. But I believe God is very focused and he cares about your life here today.

Because this is the truth. And I think the theologian, N.T. Wright, says it really well. He says, "The bodily resurrection of Jesus is more than a proof that God performs miracles or that the Bible is true. It is much, much more than the assurance of heaven after death. Jesus' resurrection is the beginning of God's new project, not to snatch people away from the earth to heaven, but to colonize earth with the life of heaven. Here's the truth and you can fill this in. The resurrection of Jesus doesn't just affect my future. It changes my today. It doesn't just affect my future. It changes my today." And you saw this happen immediately after the resurrection.

If you were here last week, René talked about Peter. And if you remember before the crucifixion, Jesus was on trial. Peter shows up at this fire. There's a kid there. There's just random people. This junior high kid up at the trial of Jesus. I don't know why she's there. Anyways, so she's there and he goes up and he's talking and she's like, "Hey, isn't that your friend?" "No!" And he freaks out. And he's so scared of what she's going to think, what the people are going to think. Another guy asked him if he knows Jesus. This event is so intense. He not only says no and denies it, he starts cursing, bringing curses upon himself like, "May I die? May God hit me with a truck that doesn't exist yet?" But "And kill me?" And then he goes and he cusses. And then later in the story he hears a rooster crow and he's crying. This is a very intense moment, but a very good picture of the cowardly Peter in the inquisition of a little girl and a few people around a fire.

But what happens after the resurrection? Not only does Peter now know that Jesus is God and that what he said was true, but the incredible truth that we're going to find out today is that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead now lived inside of Peter. And it changed his life. Especially after the crucifixion, the apostles are preaching the gospel and thousands of people are accepting Jesus, are coming to know the Lord and are joining the church. Now the religious leaders are starting to freak out. Because if you're going to do battle with some group, you knock out the leader and they scatter, right? And they thought that's what happened. We knocked him out, they all hid, but they didn't know Jesus was going to come back. And so now the church is growing and they're like, "What are we going to do?" And so they thought, "Well, let's start arresting these apostles."

And so we see in Acts 4:18–20, they now are arrested and they are put on trial by the same people who tried Jesus, and this is what it says. "So they called the apostles back in and commanded them, never again, to speak or teach in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John replied," watch how they reply now, "Do you think God wants us to obey you rather than him? We cannot stop telling about everything we have seen and heard." And then in Acts 5:29, Peter and the other apostles replied, "We must obey God rather than human beings. The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead, whom you killed by hanging him on a cross. God exalted him to his own right hand as prince and savior, that he might bring Israel to repentance and forgive their sins. We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him."

This is a little different than his response to that girl at the fire. I mean, the worst that could happen to her, she's like, "Well, you better get out of here." You know, she's going to say something. But these are the same people. Think about it. The same people that tried Jesus and that put him on a cross are now questioning them, and they know that the same could happen to them. But how do they respond? They don't just say, like, "He's alive." They're like, "You killed him!" They don't back down. You know why? Because the power that raised Jesus from the dead was inside of them and empowering them. He went from being so concerned about what people thought about him to becoming somebody who didn't care and would stand up for his convictions.

And I think God can do the same thing for you and for me, because the same power that was inside of Peter is inside of you. Look what Romans 8:11 says. "The Spirit of God who raised Jesus from the dead lives in who? In you." And just like that spirit empowered Peter to rise above, caring what other people think, he can do that for us. And that's what we're going to talk about today. Rise above people-pleasing. How do we do that? How do we rise above people-pleasing? Well, first, I think we've got to define people-pleasing, because when I think of a people-pleaser, I think of a meek, weak, soft-spoken person who can't say no and who gets run over by people and just does whatever they say. But I think it's more than that, because I think we all suffer from what people-pleasing really is.

Because the thing is, I mean, if you think about people-pleasing, it doesn't seem that bad, right? Like trying to make other people happy. Like I want to make people happy. I want them to be joyful. And that isn't bad, like trying to help people. Because Jesus himself told us, you know, we need to care about people. Because some people think, I don't want to be a people-pleaser. I'm not going to care about anybody. But Jesus says, and he responded to the Pharisees when they asked them, what is the greatest commandment? He said, I know you know the greatest commandment is to love God, but what you're not doing is you're not loving people. And so Jesus himself tells us we got to care about people. So today what we're talking about is unhealthy people-pleasing. And this is what it is. It's not about how others feel. It's actually about how I feel.

It's not about how others feel. It's actually about how I feel. Because this is what people-pleasing really is. I want to make you happy so that I feel good, because you're going to respond in a way that makes me feel good. What's the motivation of people-pleasing, of being concerned with what other people think? Because we're all chasing something. We're all looking for something. We're looking for acceptance. We're looking for approval. We're looking for belonging. And a lot of us, it starts at a, you know, we've been dealing with this for a long time. I know I have. I'm a people-pleaser. I'll admit it. And we've been struggling with this our whole lives, and it starts maybe in our homes with our parents.

Just quick confession time. If you ask any person speaking or a pastor speaking about a subject, they are dealing with that subject that whole week. This whole week, I'm dealing with people-pleasing in my mind. That was so stressed out. Literally, I talked to the pastor that made fun of me, but I was like, "Okay, I'm going to be up there in sun this weekend. Should I buy new pants? Are my pants okay? I'm going to buy jeans?" And I'm like, "I just bought this shirt. Does this look okay? Is it too casual? Should I button the top button?" It's kind of big, but if I button it up, it's not trying to be a little bit more casual. It's not choking me, but if I lay it out and it chokes me, "What shoes am I going to wear?" And literally, I'm like, "Should I wear these socks? Well, nobody's going to see those socks, but what if my pants ride up? Then they will see the socks, and I've got to worry about that all week."

And another thing I was seriously super stressed out about, if you've ever heard me speak before, I talk about my mom because she's Korean, and she's kind of crazy, and I've perfected this accent over my whole life. And so I use that as a way to make you laugh, and really, they're like me, and people come up and say, "Oh, I love when you speak. I love when you talk about your mom." I'm like, "Oh, great." And so this week, I'm like, "I don't have anything that goes with this subject about my mom," and I'm stressed out. They're not going to like me, and they're not going to listen to me, and now that I'm saying this, some people are leaving, and you're not going to talk about your mom. And then I thought, "You know what? No. I'm talking about rising above people, please. I'm not going to talk about my mom. I don't care. I'm just going to preach the Bible." And then I remembered a story about my mom, so it worked out.

So I was growing up, and I was growing up. Every day, it was about what other people thought. Any time I left the house, I remember going to the doctor as a kid. My mom would take me to the doctor, and she's like, "Go take a shower and get dressed up." And I remember thinking as a kid, like an eight-year-old kid, "What? He knows what's going on. He's going to take these clothes off anyways, and if I'm a dirty kid, he knows I'm a dirty kid, whatever. Who cares?" And she goes, "No. That is a doctor. You go to that doctor. You dirty clothes. You dirty body. You know what he's going to think? That dirty boy? Bad mommy." I'm like, "Go take a shower!" I'm like, "Ugh!" And I would go take a shower. And I've been dealing with this my whole life, and she still deals with it.

People pleasing. It's funny, she visits Santa Cruz sometimes. She's older, so she doesn't like to fly as much anymore. But the last time she was here, I remember on a Sunday morning, it's time to go to church and say, "Mom, let's go to church." And she goes, "No." I'm like, "Oh, you're not feeling good? You don't want to go to church?" She's like, "No. I don't have no money." I'm like, "You don't have money? You know, offering. I'm going to put money." I'm like, "You don't need money to go to church? Just go to church. I don't care. Just go sit and listen. We'll go home." "No. I have to put money." You know why? Why? You know your pastor? What's the name? René. That's a girl's name? Yes. That's a girl's name. Okay. You know that pastor? That girl named Pastor? He going to see me. He going to see I'm going to put money. He going to think, "Oh, yeah? You come my beautiful church. You come this beautiful chair, good sing song. I'm going to talking so good Jesus talking. You're not going to put money? Get out of here." I'm like, "Mom, he doesn't know who gives anything. He can't see you. He doesn't care. He knows." So she didn't come to church today. I couldn't convince her.

Because she and I suffer from this thing where we want to fit in. Because she thinks all of you just pour money into that offering every week. And like, if she doesn't, she's not going to fit in. And that's her motivation. She doesn't want to be rejected and ostracized. Why is it so bad to want to make people happy? That makes us happy. Is that so bad? I think it is. We're going to take a look. What is wrong with people pleasing? The first thing is this. People pleasing is a miserable trap. It is a miserable trap. And if you suffer with this, you know the trap of people pleasing is a cycle. You get caught in the cycle that robs you of living a life that God wants you to live. Look what it says in the book of Proverbs 29:25. "Fearing people is a dangerous trap, but trusting the Lord means safety."

I think there's no better way that I see this happening today than what's happening online. Quick survey. Who here is on some sort of social media? Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, whatever. There's many out there. Anybody else have MySpace? Anybody have MySpace people out there? If you're not on there, let me say this. One, you don't know anything that's going on with people. But that's okay. Because two, you're not stuck in this terrible trap of social media. Because this is what social media is about. It's about acceptance and approval. On Facebook, you get acceptance. You get liked in the form of a thumbs up. And now, other things. On Instagram, you get a heart. On Twitter, you get a star. And if they retweet or share your... I mean, it's like, "Oh, people like me." Because in the beginning, we just posted stuff like, "Oh, I want you to show you a picture of my daughter." But then people start liking you, this picture. And you're like, "People like me." And then you start posting stuff. And people don't like that one. "I'm not going to do that one anymore." They post, "They like this one. That's all I'm going to do."

It's all about your perfect meal that you've lined up to take a picture of. Or your room that you've cropped out all the dirt around. And look how cool my house is. And your shoes somewhere on earth. All those things are attempts to gain acceptance and approval from people. In her post, Addicted to Likes for NYMag.com, Maureen O'Connor writes to this, "A self-centered man joined Instagram and ran into a problem. Since he neither looked at nor liked his friend's post, they thought he was snubbing them. 'I am only on Instagram or Facebook to humble brag,' Ramee Chahla told The Daily Dot. 'I don't consume other people's information.' So Chahla, a programmer, created a bot that would crawl his feed and automatically like every single picture that every single person he followed posted." Some people are like, "Where do I get that bot?"

The result, he became incredibly popular on Instagram. His follower count rocketed, his pictures were liked more often. He became so insta-famous, someone stopped him on the street to commend his insta-magnificence. And watch what he says here. "I think people give too much value to the like," he concluded. People are addicted. We experience withdrawals. We are so driven by this drug, getting just one hit elicits truly peculiar reactions. He compared the experience of watching a social media post rocket in popularity to smoking crack cocaine. A little intense. But it's true. We're like, just, you know, when you get a like, I mean, literally, when I posted a picture of like, when we posted a picture that we're pregnant, it was like a thousand people were like, "Congratulations!" Like, "Oh, man, people love us." Then I posted a picture of like, me doing something like, "Nobody cares." And you feel terrible, because it's this trap.

But it's not just social media. What happens when you get dressed in the morning? The shoes you pick, the pants you wear, the socks you pick, the shirt, I mean, all these things you do, the car you drive, the coffee shop you decide to drink coffee at. If it's not Verve, you're not cool. Not in this town. And then some people are like, "I don't shop, go to Verve. I go somewhere else." Because that's cool. You're so worried about what other people think that you shape yourselves into the image that you think people will like. It is a trap, and it is miserable, and it's a terrible way to live. Not only that, number two, it leads to sin.

We crave acceptance and reward like a drug. We'll do anything to feel those things. I mean, even if it means going against our morals and our convictions, and what we know is right and wrong in the Bible. Think about when you're in junior high or high school, and maybe you're in here and you are in junior high or high school. When you walk into the doors of a school, especially as a younger, sixth grader, or a freshman in high school, or even college, you're on a battlefield for approval. Watch any show or movie about coming of age in school, and it's all about who can I fit in with, how can I get accepted, what do I need to do. How many times have you heard a story of a guy going to a party or doing stuff, or doing stuff with people, drinking stuff, smoking stuff, just to fit in, just to be accepted by his friends?

My heart breaks every single time I hear of a girl, compromising her self-worth and her morals to be accepted or to be liked or to be loved by a guy or by her friends. Look what the Bible says in Proverbs 1:10. My child, if sinners entice you, turn your back on them. God knows peer pressure is a real thing. People pleasing is a real thing. And he says, when you are around people that entice you to sin, get away. It leads to sin. And thirdly, people pleasing also leads you away from God's purpose for you. It leads you away from God's purpose for you, his plan for you, his will for you.

I think this is an interesting thing to think about because a lot of people want to know what God's purpose is for them, what's God's will for me. I was just having coffee with a friend at Verve and he wanted to talk about some stuff and he was saying, "I just want to know God's will for me. I want to know what God wants me to do in this situation." And I think a lot of us are like that. We just want to know. We think God has it all laid out for us. And he's our Google maps. Take one, get off at 41st, go all the way down, make a left, park, go to Verve. God has every direction we're supposed to go and we just need to pray a certain way so we can hear him whisper it to our ear. What school should I go to? What school should I send my kids to? TLCS, obviously. What outfit should I wear? Is this the right job for me? Is this the right person for me? Are these the right friends to hang out with? Is this the right church for me? We wish God would just tell us.

I was at a men's conference last year and I heard a pastor talk about this situation and at his church, young people would come up to him and say, "You know, pastor, I don't know what to do so I'm just going to wait. I'm going to wait until God tells me exactly what I need to do." And this pastor was like, "It's annoying every time these guys come up to me." And he said, "This is how I respond." He says, "I actually know what God's will is for you. Do you want me to tell you?" And they're like, "Please, I've been waiting." And he goes, "This is it. Love God, love people, serve people, and share the gospel. Get up and get out of here. Go do it." God's will for us, God's purpose for us, I don't think is this exact set of directions. I think God has given us a purpose, an overarching purpose that fills every part of our lives no matter where you go, no matter what job you're in, no matter what school you go to. You're supposed to love God, love people, and share His good news.

But when you're so concerned about what other people think of you, you get sidetracked from that. Look what it says in 1 Thessalonians 2:4. For we speak as messengers approved by God to be entrusted with the good news, the gospel. Our purpose is to please God, not people. He alone examines the motives of our heart. And in John 12, it says, "Many people did believe in Him, however, including some of the Jewish leaders, but they wouldn't admit it for fear that the Pharisees would expel them from the synagogue. For they loved human praise more than the praise of God." When you're trying to gain the approval from people, you're going to make compromises. Because how will people know about the gospel? How will they know about His love unless you tell them? How can you tell them unless you love them? A people-pleasing life is a miserable, dangerous, and distracting trap.

So how do we rise? How do we rise above people-pleasing? I want to share three things with you today. The first is this, resist living for others. The Apostle Paul is writing to the Galatians, and in this book, he's getting pressure to change his message. And look what he says in Galatians 1:10. "Obviously, I'm not trying to win the approval of people but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ's servant." You and I have to stop living for the approval of people and start living for the approval of God. I want us to take a quick, just moral, just fearless, honest moral inventory and see how has this issue, being so concerned about what other people think of you, people-pleasing, how has it affected your life?

Maybe you're in here and you had Easter invites in your pocket, and you were about to give it out but you were a little worried. You were scared because of what they would think. Maybe you've had the opportunity to share your faith and share the gospel, to talk about Jesus with a neighbor or a friend, but you backed down because you were just a little worried about what they would think of you. Maybe you have a roommate or somebody you know that you care about that are making terrible life decisions, destructive life decisions, and you don't say anything because you're worried about what they're going to say. You and I must start to resist the big and small temptations to people-pleasing. But what does it look like to do what Paul says? To not live for people's approval but to live for God's approval. Is God looking at us with a checklist of things we're supposed to do and saying at the end of each day, "These stamps you were approved today?" No.

So number two, realize the verdict is in. This is a big one. Realize the verdict is in. First Corinthians 4:3, Paul writes, "I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court. Indeed, I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me." All right, let's look at what's going on here. I think Paul right here is giving us a picture of a person who's risen above people-pleasing. Look how he starts. "I care very little if I'm judged by you." Do you know what he's saying? I don't care what you think of me or what anybody thinks of me. And I love that he uses the word judge. What does a judge do? Now, I'm no legal expert, but I watch people's court as a kid. A judge examines and evaluates the evidence, and he brings a verdict, and he brings a judgment when I was a kid, Judge Wapner, he just brought it down. And now there are tons of them. Judy, Steve, Phil, I don't know who. There's all these judges, and what they do is they evaluate the evidence, and they say, "Okay, you're right, and you're wrong."

What Paul is saying, we are on trial every day. You and me are bringing up evidence. Our actions, our words, our decisions, our performance in life. They are evidence in a trial of who we are, and so we hand it to people, and we're asked, "Give me a verdict that you approve of me." To your parents, "Give me a verdict that you're happy with me." And Paul is saying, "I don't care about that." And then he takes it a step further. Look what he says. "Indeed, I do not even judge myself, because I don't care about what I think," which is counterintuitive to everything you've heard about this situation, right? Have you ever heard this phrase, "You shouldn't care what other people think of you"? "You should only care what who thinks of you"? You. The answer to this, to every, you know, to a psychologist is, "Just think better about yourself. Set standards for yourself, and then live up to them, and you'll feel good about yourself, and you don't have to worry about what other people think." But that is a trap, Paul is saying.

We bring up evidence to ourselves every day. Look what you've done, Adrian, and I look, and I'm like, "Still not good enough." Think about January 1st when that rolls around every year. How many diets start on January 1st, only to end January 15th, with a full bag of Cheetos, a six-pack of Coke, binge-watching some show on TV? I don't know how many, but for me, a few. You can't live up to the standards that you set for yourself. You can't live up to the standards anybody has set for you. And you know what happens? You don't meet those standards, and you feel terrible. It's a trap. But Paul gives us the answer right at the end. It is the Lord who judges me. When you say it is the Lord who judges me, it kind of sounds negative, like God's judging me. But remember, a judgment, all it is is a verdict. All it is is saying, "Okay, I've seen the evidence, and this is what I've said," not in a negative way, necessarily.

The crazy thing about the kingdom of God, about Christianity, about the gospel, is everything is counterintuitive. Because when God judges you, He doesn't look at your evidence, He looks at Jesus Christ. The crazy thing is our evidence, our life, our performance, they're not even admissible in this trial. God's judgment of us, He doesn't even look at our evidence. He looks at Jesus' evidence. Jesus is taking our place, and His perfect life, His death on the cross, His resurrection from the dead, that is the evidence that God looks at. And then He stamps a verdict down, and He says, "Because of what Jesus did, you are approved. You are worthy, and you are loved." All the evidence we put up to gain the verdict of others doesn't count. The performance, because in the world, everything you've done in your life, the verdict comes after your performance, right? When you go to school and you perform well, you get good grades. When you perform well in life, you get applause, you get pats on the back, you get compliments, you get a raise, you get a promotion.

But in the gospel, in Christianity, the verdict comes first. The verdict that you are accepted, you are approved of because of Jesus' death and His resurrection, and now you can live a life that is approved by God. You can live a godly life. You cannot perform not to get the verdict, but because of the verdict. I love that God just flips this world upside down. You don't have to do good things to feel good. You can do them for the joy of doing them. You don't have to help people so that you feel better about yourself. You can help people to help them. And all that happens because of what Jesus did. So all I need to do is I need to ask God to accept me because of what Jesus did. And then the only person whose opinion counts and matters in this situation looks at me because of Jesus and says, "You are worthy and you are loved."

And the crazy thing is, like we saw in Romans 8:11, that the same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead now lives inside of us and He gives us the power to live a godly life. Not only does He save you by His own work, but He helps you grow by His own work. So we rise above people pleasing by resisting, living for others, realizing the verdict is in and finally, remember who you are. Remember who you are. Romans 8:15. Such a good verse. This is the verse that song we sang earlier, "No Longer Slaves" comes from. It says, "So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God's spirit when He adopted you as His own children. Now we call Him Abba, Father." We have to remember who we are. Remember who you are. You are a child adopted by God.

I started doing this thing with my daughter Ella every day, or as much as I can. You know, that's standard every day. I don't even meet that. But as much as I can, I try to do this thing with her. And as soon as Penelope can understand, I'll do this. I ask her this question every day. I say, "Ella, if God were to line up every five-year-old girl in the whole world, I'd be happy. And I could pick one to be my daughter. Who do you think I would pick?" The first time I asked her, she looked at me and said, "um, Mackenzie? Or Abby?" It was like kids in her class that I know. And I'm like, "No, honey, of course not. I would pick you, because I love you." And her eyes would widen, and she was, "Really?" And then we'd hug, and then I'd cry.

I started doing that because I was at a mentor treat this year, and I went to a seminar about parenting. And I went to the seminar because the pastor speaking at this parenting seminar is the dad of five girls. And I said, "I gotta find out. One, what happens, and two, what to do?" And so this is him. This is Gary Kudini. He is the pastor of Peninsula Covenant Church up in Redwood City. And these are his five daughters. And he said that he did this every day with his daughters, his oldest when she was young until now their youngest. But what was most striking is when he described doing this with his youngest daughter. As you can see, she's there. Her name is Joella. She is adopted, and they adopted her from the Congo. And they call her Jojo. And he ... I'm going to cry through this. He says, "I sat her down, and I told her, 'If God wind up every six-year-old girl in the whole world, who do you think I would pick?'" And Jojo responded this way. She says, "You'd pick me. 'Cause you did pick me. You flew across the world, and you came to my village, and you picked me to be your daughter." She knows who she is.

We so easily forget who we are, that we are adopted by God. You are a person who God went to extraordinary lengths to adopt. But we so easily forget, for whatever reason, sometimes it's because of situations in your life. Maybe you don't have a good relationship with a parent. You know, I don't have a good relationship with my father. And that affects the way I see God, not being able to live up to that standard. And I kind of transfer that hurt to God. But God tells me, "Remember who you are. Your identity isn't wrapped up in what other people think of you, what your parents think of you, what your friends think of you, or even what you think of yourself. Your identity is wrapped up in what I think of you. And because of Jesus' death and His resurrection, the lengths I went to to adopt you, you are loved and you are adopted. You no longer have to be a slave to fear, fear of rejection, fear of the approval of others. With God, through Jesus, you have acceptance, you have approval, and you have adoption. Because you are a child of God."

Let's pray. Father, thank You for Your love and for Your grace. God, it is amazing to think of how You work. God, You don't, You're not waiting for us to become perfect to accept us. God, You sent Your perfect Son to die for us. You raised Him from the dead. You did all the work and You allow us to become children of God. If you're here today and you've not put your faith in Jesus, I would encourage you, you can do that today. This message applies to you. If you've not yet asked God to accept you because of Jesus' work, you can do that. All you have to do is pray to God and say, "God, I know that Jesus died for me. I believe He raised, He rose from the dead. Accept me as Your son, as Your daughter." That's all it takes, a simple prayer. Father, thank You again for Your love and Your grace. God, I pray You bless us. Help us, Lord, to know that our identity is wrapped up in You and what You think of us based upon Jesus' work. Help us to rise above caring about what other people think of us or what we even think of ourselves. In Jesus' name, amen.