You were born for this! In this message, Pastor Jimmy Witcher teaches us how our identity is connected to our calling and how seeing ourselves the way God sees us changes everything!

Series: Epic
Message: A Hero's Choice
Speaker: Jimmy Witcher

Notes:
Epic – a long poem narrating the deeds and adventures of heroic or legendary figures

Ephesians 2:10 (TPT)
We have become his poetry, a re-created people that will fulfill the destiny he has given
each of us, for we are joined to Jesus, the Anointed One. Even before we were born,
God planned in advance our destiny and the good works we would do to fulfill it!

Judges 6:1-6 (NLT)
The Israelites did evil in the LORD’s sight. So the LORD [Yahweh] handed them over to
the Midianites for seven years. The Midianites were so cruel that the Israelites made
hiding places for themselves in the mountains, caves, and strongholds. Whenever the
Israelites planted their crops, marauders from Midian, Amalek, and the people of the
east would attack Israel, camping in the land and destroying crops as far away as Gaza.
They left the Israelites with nothing to eat, taking all the sheep, goats, cattle, and
donkeys. These enemy hordes, coming with their livestock and tents, were as thick as
locusts; they arrived on droves of camels too numerous to count. And they stayed until
the land was stripped bare. So Israel was reduced to starvation by the Midianites. Then
the Israelites cried out to the LORD for help.

Judges 6:11-13 (NLT)
Then the angel of the LORD came and sat beneath the great tree at Ophrah, which
belonged to Joash of the clan of Abiezer. Gideon son of Joash was threshing wheat at
the bottom of a winepress to hide the grain from the Midianites. The angel of the LORD
appeared to him and said, “Mighty hero, the LORD is with you!” “Sir,” Gideon replied, “if
the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all the miracles
our ancestors told us about? Didn’t they say, ‘The LORD brought us up out of Egypt’?
But now the LORD has abandoned us and handed us over to the Midianites.”

1. We have to learn to see ourselves the way God sees us!

Judges 6:14-15 (NLT)
Then the LORD turned to him and said, “Go with the strength you have, and rescue
Israel from the Midianites. I am sending you!” “But Lord [master],” Gideon replied, “how
can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in the whole tribe of Manasseh, and I am
the least in my entire family!”

2. Until you derive your IDENTITY from God, you’re fighting against yourself!
• The SOURCE of our IDENTITY dictates the AUTHORITY we walk in!
• Two Important Questions:
o What is your view of God the Father?
o Where are you deriving your identity from?

Judges 6:16-24 (NLT)
The LORD said to him, “I will be with you. And you will destroy the Midianites as if you
were fighting against one man.” Gideon replied, “If you are truly going to help me, show
me a sign to prove that it is really the LORD speaking to me. Don’t go away until I come
back and bring my offering to you.” He answered, “I will stay here until you return.”
Gideon hurried home. He cooked a young goat, and with a basket of flour he baked
some bread without yeast. Then, carrying the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot,
he brought them out and presented them to the angel, who was under the great tree.
The angel of God said to him, “Place the meat and the unleavened bread on this rock,
and pour the broth over it.” And Gideon did as he was told. Then the angel of the LORD
touched the meat and bread with the tip of the staff in his hand, and fire flamed up from
the rock and consumed all he had brought. And the angel of the LORD disappeared.
When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the LORD, he cried out, “Oh, Sovereign
LORD, I’m doomed! I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face!” “It is all right,” the
LORD replied. “Do not be afraid. You will not die.” And Gideon built an altar to the
LORD there and named it Yahweh-Shalom (which means “the LORD is peace”).

3. You must be settled in your IDENTITY to walk into your CALLING.