The true you is the blessed you, the happy you, the successful you, the forgiven you. It’s still in you.
And the beauty of our God is he never loses the vision of the true you.
He still remembers the reverence he felt when he created you.
Despite all the flaws, weaknesses, disappointments, he still sees the masterpiece. He still knows who you really are.
Well, God bless you.
It’s great to be with you today and I hope you’ll stay connected with us during the week through our daily podcast, our youtube channel, social media.
We’ll keep you encouraged and inspired. I’d like to start with something funny.
And I heard about this minister that died and he was standing in line at the pearly gates and the man in front of him was dressed in a loud t shirt, sunglasses and blue jeans.
Saint Peter asked his name. He said, I’m Joe Cohen taxicab driver, New York City Peter checked his list, handed him a gold staff and silk.
Rob said, welcome to heaven minister stepped up. I’m Reverend Joseph Snow, pastor of Saint Mary’s Cathedral.
Peter checked his list, handed him a wooden staff and cotton robe said, wait a minute. That couldn’t be right.
The taxicab driver got a gold staff and this is all I get.
Peter said sir up here we were by results when you preach people slept.
But when he drove people prayed, say it like you mean it, this is my bible.
I am what it says. I am.
I have what it says I have, I can do what it says I can do today.
I will be taught the word of God. I boldly confess my mind is alert, my heart is receptive.
I will never be the same in Jesus name. God bless you.
I wanna talk to you today about the true you on the inside of every one of us is a blessed person.
Someone confident, valuable, talented. The scripture says you have been fearfully and wonderfully made and the word fearful in the original language means to stand in awe to reverence.
It implies honor, respect. When God created you. He stood back in reverence. He looked at you in awe.
He calls you a masterpiece. God didn’t make anyone average.
He didn’t say I didn’t do very good on that one. They have a bunch of flaws.
They’re gonna be angry, insecure, jealous, you’ve been exceptionally made.
But what happens is we go through life and we make mistakes, develop bad habits.
People do us wrong and shame comes guilt comes insecurity. We don’t feel like a masterpiece. We feel condemned.
How can I be successful. Look what I’ve been through or I’m struggling with an addiction.
I’m not that talented, but underneath the insecurity, the bad breaks the failures.
There’s the true you, the one that God created.
The true you is the blessed you, the happy you, the successful you, the forgiven you. It’s still in you.
And the beauty of our God is he never loses the vision of the true you.
He still remembers the reverence he felt when he created you.
Despite all the flaws, weaknesses, disappointments, he still sees the masterpiece. He still knows who you really are.
But life tries to put all these things on us to keep the true you from coming out. Impatience.
Jealousy bad breaks. The good news is God is not going to leave us like that.
He’s going to keep working on us, making us molding us until the true you comes out the free you, the blessed you, the patient you, the victorious you.
God specializes in removing everything. That’s not the true you. Well, Joel, I’ll always struggle with this addiction.
I’ve had it since high school. It’s just who I am. That is not who you are.
That’s something the enemy put on you to try to keep the true you from ever coming out.
The true you is free, the true you is whole. That addiction is not how your story ends.
God is working right now. Freedom is coming, chains are breaking strongholds are coming down you’re about to see the free you, you’re about to step up to who you were created to be the forces that are for.
You are greater than any force that’s trying to stop you.
I’m calling out the free you, the blessed you, the happy you, the favored you.
I get in agreement with God not, I’ll always struggle with this, but I am free. I am whole.
You need to see the free you, not the defeated, you, depressed you to hurt you, see the happy you see the successful you, the married you, the valuable you.
Well, you may have gone through bad breaks. Someone walked out on you.
You weren’t raised in a good environment. It’s easy to carry the hurts.
Let that limit your vision carry the shame. Go around feeling unworthy like you don’t deserve to be blessed.
Don’t believe those lies. The enemy would love for you to live. Discouraged thinking nothing good is in your future.
No, the true you is still in you. The happy you, the restored you, the valuable you.
What people did to you did not stop the true you. What wasn’t fair?
Didn’t change who God created you to be. He’s in the process right now of removing everything.
That’s not the true you. The anger is not the true you. I’m just hot tempered.
I can’t help but my father was this way. My grandfather too. That’s not who you really are.
It may be the way you are now. But you’re the one to break the cycle.
You’re the one to see it come to an end. The true you is calm, cool and collected.
Don’t buy into those lies that you can’t change. God is removing everything. That’s not the true you.
He loves you too much to leave you alone.
He’s going to keep working on you until he sees the masterpiece who he created you to be In the early 1500s, a 26 year old artist named Michelangelo had a dream to sculpture King David out of a huge piece of marble, £12,000 block that stood over 20 ft tall.
He worked tirelessly for Two years chiseling and shaping with great precision, great detail.
When he revealed the finished product, this 14 ft tall marble image of David.
It was magnificent, so beautiful and so inspiring.
Someone asked Michelangelo how he could accomplish such an incredible feat, how he could make this amazing statue out of an old piece of rock.
He said I had a vision in my mind of King David.
And I just kept removing everything that wasn’t him. That’s the way God is.
He knows who we really are.
He can see the masterpiece in the rock and throughout life, he’ll keep removing things that are not who we are, the impatience, the insecurity, unworthiness.
I’m not valuable. Look at what I’ve been through. Chisel. Chisel, that’s not who you are.
The pride, the arrogance, Chisel Chisel that doesn’t belong on you. The unforgiveness, the resentment, they hurt me.
They did me wrong Chisel. Chisel, that resentment is not who you are. I never do something great.
Joel, nobody in my family is successful. I’m not that talented.
Chisel Chisel, that limited mindset that mediocrity doesn’t belong on you.
It may try to come try to distort your image, affect your personality, limit your future.
The good news is we have someone far greater than Michelangelo working on us.
We have the creator of the universe, the God who makes spectacular solar systems. Magnificent mountain ranges, amazing sunsets.
That’s the artist that’s working on you. He’s chiseling away everything. That’s not the true.
You see, he can see things that we can’t see.
So often we let our circumstances determine who we are and how people treat us, determine our value, how good we perform, determine our worth.
God looks beyond all that like in the scripture with David, he sees the giant killer in the shepherd boy like with Gideon.
He sees a mighty hero in a man that’s hiding, afraid intimidated, like with rehab.
He sees a respectful honored woman that’s in the family line of Jesus. In a former prostitute.
God knows what’s in you. You may have made mistakes, done things that you’re not proud of.
God sees the redeemed you, the restored you, the honored you.
You may be intimidated, thinking you’re not that talented. God sees the giant killer.
He sees the history maker in you or maybe life has thrown you curves, you’ve been hurt, abandoned, betrayed.
God sees the valuable you, the blessed you, the favored you.
Nothing that’s happened to you has changed the true you.
God looks beyond our mistakes, the hurts, the bad breaks and he sees who he created you to be.
He hasn’t lost the vision of who you are. The good news is. He still has the chisel.
He still knows what to remove.
So the best you will come out, the talented you, the confident you, the loving you, the free you.
Now, sometimes when God’s chisels, it’s uncomfortable. We don’t like it. I don’t wanna bite my tongue.
I don’t wanna overlook the offense. I wanna tell them all be pliable work with God.
Let him remove that hardness that’s keeping you from going to new levels.
Drive into work, get caught in traffic, construction on the freeway. Some jerk.
I mean some person cut you off, you’ll be tempted to get upset offended. Let it sour your day.
Recognize what’s happening. God’s chiseling away the impatience. It’s giving you an opportunity to grow, the impatient.
You will try to keep the true you from coming out at the office.
You’re not getting the credit you deserve. People are taking your ideas. You could live offended trying to get revenge.
Pay them back. No, let God be your vindicator. Let him fight your battles.
He sees what’s happening He knows what’s not fair. He has the chisel out. You think it’s about them?
But really it’s about you. That’s an opportunity to show God that you trust Him, that you’ll stay in peace and not let people steal your joy.
Sometimes God will remove things.
We don’t understand, remove a friendship, someone that’s pulling us down, causing us to compromise and we don’t like change.
We were comfortable now, we’re gonna have to stretch and grow. Don’t fight the chisel. God knows what he’s doing.
He’s not gonna leave something on you that will keep you from your purpose.
He’ll never ask you to do something and then not give you the ability to do it.
If he’s asking you to walk away, you know, a season is coming to an end.
That’s the chisel at work. If you’re stubborn, you fight it, you’re going to miss the greater things God has in store.
He’s not trying to take something from you. He’s trying to get something better to you.
He wants to bring out the true you.
The true you is more blessed, more successful, more peaceful than you can imagine.
Friend of mine worked for this company for over 20 years and he’s the nicest person in the world, always kind respectful going the extra mile.
He called one day and said, Joel, I just got fired from my job.
They said I didn’t have a good attitude. They were letting me go, almost fell out of my chair.
This would be like mother Teresa getting fired. I couldn’t believe it.
Sometimes God will close the door because we’re stagnant.
If he didn’t push us into our destiny, then the true you would never come out.
We don’t realize there’s so much more in us, gifts, talents, potential.
God will chisel away things that are keeping you from your greatness. Sometimes they’re good, but they’re not the best.
Trust him. When you don’t understand, he won’t remove something unless he has something better coming.
He won’t use the chisel if it’s not going to make you better. Yes, it may hurt at the time.
It may be uncomfortable but God knows what he’s doing. About six months later. My friend called so excited.
He just got this dream job, this position running a large company, managing all these people.
He said I never knew this was in me. Never dreamed I’d be this successful, this fulfilled.
Let God remove what He knows is keeping you from the true you unforgiveness is keeping you from shining insecurity, compromise, anger, that’s blocking the best you from coming out.
Be willing to change. You don’t have to be perfect, but we should be growing.
We should be better now than we were five years ago. We should be kinder, more respectful, better attitude.
We should be more confident, more secure, we should forgive quicker, overlook offenses easier.
We should compromise, less, resist the temptation more often.
That means we’re letting the chisel chip away things that are hindering our growth.
We’re seeing more of the true you coming out.
What’s interesting is that large rock that Michael Angelo carved the statue of David out of 50 years earlier, two of the most accomplished artists of that time, these very well known sculptures looked at the rock and said there was no way they could work with.
It had too many flaws, too many imperfections, They were given the chance first, but they turned it down because the marble had too many blemishes, too many defects.
50 years later, young Miche Angelo came along.
He saw the same block of marble, the same defects, same flaws, but he looked beyond the imperfections.
He said, I see a masterpiece in this rock. I see King David in this stone.
Like those first two artists, other people may look at you and think they’ll never amount to much.
Look at their failures, look at their weaknesses, they struggle with an addiction or look at what they’ve been through.
Look at all the bad breaks, the disappointments, all they see is your flaws.
Your blemish is what hasn’t worked out. They may discount you write you off.
But then like Michelangelo did God comes along. He says, hey, wait a minute, don’t abandon that piece of rock.
Yes, I see flaws. I see weaknesses but I see something else. I see a masterpiece.
I see a blessed strong forgiving, favored child of the most high God.
It’s not that God doesn’t see the flaws, but he knows how to remove the flaws.
He knows how to make you and mold you to where the best you comes out.
Now, quit believing those lies that you’ve made too many mistakes. You’re too far off.
Course, you see yourself as the failed Jew, the broken you, the guilty, you know nothing you’ve done has stopped your destiny.
The mercy of God is bigger than any mistake you’ve made. The true you is still in you.
The blessed you, the faithful, you, the honored you, the righteous you in the scripture.
Peter was out fishing one morning, bringing his boat close to the shore and Jesus came walking by said, Peter come and follow me.
I’m gonna make you a fisher of men.
Peter had never met Jesus never had a conversation with him yet. Jesus called him by name.
Can you imagine how surprised Peter was? How does this man know by name? I know who he is.
He’s that teacher. Everyone’s talking about yet. He called me Peter. God knows your name.
He’s the one that created you. He’s the one that calls you a masterpiece. Not me, Joel.
I’m not a religious person. Neither was Peter. He didn’t have any kind of faith.
He wasn’t refined, respected, he was a fisherman. He used bad language. He was hot tempered, impulsive.
He would tell you what he thought yet.
God chose him to be his disciple, one of the 12 that would change the world out of all the people.
Jesus could have chosen. He didn’t choose a religious leader, didn’t choose the priest in the synagogue, didn’t choose the mayor of the city.
He chose Peter. He already knew Peter would deny him three times.
He already knew Peter would fall asleep in the Garden of Getim.
When Jesus needed him the most, he already knew Peter was hot tempered that he would curse that.
He would cut off the soldier’s ear. Why would Jesus choose someone like this?
Because God looks beyond the flaws, the mistakes, the weaknesses, and he sees the masterpiece in the rock.
He sees what we can become.
He hasn’t lost the vision of the true you how he made you before you were formed in your mother’s womb.
Jesus looked at Peter and said you are Simon, but you shall be called Peter.
Simon represents shifting sand being unstable, inconsistent, but Peter means rock. Jesus was telling him who the true you was.
At one point, Jesus said you are Peter and upon this rock.
I will build my church when Jesus said that Peter was anything but a rock.
He was unreliable, hot tempered yet God called out the true you the faithful.
You, it didn’t happen overnight but God kept chiseling away Peter’s weaknesses. Chiseling away the hot temper.
Chiseling away the inconsistency when the church was starting in the book of acts, they needed someone to give the inaugural address, this prominent position.
Who did they choose Peter? But now it wasn’t the impulsive Peter, the inconsistent Peter that denied Jesus Peter.
This was the rock. It was the true Peter, the faithful Peter, the strong Peter, the anointed Peter, the powerful Peter.
Here’s what I’m saying. Don’t get discouraged because of who you are right now. God still has his chisel.
He’s still removing things that are limiting your destiny. You haven’t seen your best days.
The rock in you is still going to come out the successful you, the holy you the favored you now, like those two artists that saw the slab of marble but said it’s got too many flaws.
There will probably be people that try to discount you tell you what you can’t become how you’re not talented enough.
You made too many mistakes. Don’t let them talk you out of becoming the true you.
The good news is they’re not your artist. They don’t have the chisel.
You’re not dependent on what they think, what they can do. Your sculptor is the most high God.
He has not lost the vision of who he created you to be.
See, my dad was raised very poor.
His family were cotton farmers and they lost everything in the great depression.
His mother made 10 cents an hour washing people’s clothes.
There were times they didn’t have enough money for food and he had to drop out of high school and to work on the farm.
At 17 years old, he gave his life to Christ.
The first one in his family, he felt this calling to become a minister.
Had no money, no education, no training.
But he told his parents he was gonna leave the farm and go out and start ministering.
They said John, you don’t know how to minister, you’re gonna get out there and fail.
You better stay on the farm and work with us.
They love their son but they could only see the limited John, the poor John, the not talented John that defeated John.
They looked at that marble, so to speak. Nothing good can come out of that.
Look at all the flaws, the deficiencies, the imperfections.
If daddy would have believed who they said he was, he would have never fulfilled his destiny.
People can’t see what God put in. You don’t let their negative words limit your life. Tune it out.
You’re not who people say you are. You are who God says you are. He says you’re a masterpiece.
He says you have greatness in you. He says you are destined to leave your mark.
But my father grew up with this limited mindset. His poverty mentality. It’s all he had known.
Struggle lack mediocrity, but we serve a God that has a chisel. He doesn’t let how you were raised.
What you didn’t get odds being against you, keep you from your purpose.
Little by little God removed the poverty mindset. He chiseled away the mediocrity. Not good enough.
My father rose up and against all odds. He did great things.
Pastored churches founded Lakewood impacted the world In that poor disadvantaged, not educated.
17 year old man was a world changer, a history maker.
If you only knew what was in you, the true you is not limited by your environment, the true you is not dependent on what other people think about you.
The true you is not at a disadvantage because you have flaws and weaknesses.
But the enemy would love for us to go through life.
Feeling inferior focused on our weaknesses weighed down with regrets, guilty from past mistakes, condemned ashamed.
But what the enemy put on you. God is about to take off of you. This is a new day.
The chisel is it work? He’s chiseling away wrong mindsets, chiseling away negative words that have been spoken.
Chiseling away guilt and shame. Chiseling away hurts, Brokenness, offense.
You’re about to step in to a new level of your destiny.
The true you is about to come out the bless you, the free you, the healthiest you, the victorious you.
I know a young woman. She was raised in a very dysfunctional home.
Seven years old, the police showed up at her house told her to put her belongings in a trash bag.
She’s going to spend the night somewhere else and she grabbed her pajamas toothbrush and rushed out.
She was taken to a shelter. Her mother and stepfather were arrested for child abuse.
She never met her biological father. Eventually she was turned over to him, but that wasn’t any better.
He was on drugs and in and out of jail, she became very angry.
She couldn’t understand why no one would love her.
She got to the point where she built up walls so she didn’t have to feel she became numb to the pain.
She didn’t feel happy, sad, depressed, she felt nothing.
At 16 years old, she moved out on her own hurting, broken, lonely by the grace of God.
She showed up at Lakewood. She heard us talking about how God is our heavenly father, how he has good things in store for us.
How he will give us beauty for the ashes. She never felt that love before.
She never had anyone speak faith and victory into her and tell her who she really was.
One day she gave her life to Christ. She said I realized I was no longer an orphan.
I was adopted by my heavenly father. The right people begin to show up doors, begin to open today.
That young woman desir right here on the front row is on staff with us. A beautiful girl.
She has the joy, the smile, the victory. Here’s what I’ve learned.
God will not leave you at a deficit. What you didn’t get what wasn’t fair?
What you feel robbed of God is going to make it up to you.
He’s going to pay you back for the unfair things.
But if you would have seen Desiree years back, you would have seen the broken you, the abandoned you, the angry you all these things, the enemy had put on her to try to keep her from her destiny.
But underneath the shame, the anger, the rejection was the masterpiece.
There was this beautiful, competent radiant, talented young woman, maybe like her. You’re carrying shame hurts, Brokenness.
Life has put you at a disadvantage.
God said in Joshua this day, I am removing the shame from my people. This day, God is breaking chains.
This day, strongholds are coming down this day. Things that have hindered.
You are being chiseled away through my eyes of faith.
I see the true you, the blessed you, the free you, the restored you the joy for you.
I see the masterpiece God created you to be The two years that Michelangelo worked on sculpting. David.
He did it all in private. Wouldn’t let anyone come in when he finished, he revealed it to the public.
Now, 500 million people have seen it in person. You think about that old piece of rock flaws, weaknesses.
Other artists said it was not useful yet. It’s been seen by half a billion people.
When God’s working on you chiseling away what’s not necessary often he’ll do it in private.
He’ll keep you hidden, not noticed.
But when it’s your time when God says you’re ready, he’ll cause you to be seen.
You’ll become a trophy of His grace. Where people think wasn’t that the old rock that had flaws?
Wasn’t that the fisherman? Now he’s up there leading. Isn’t that the young boy from the great depression?
Now he’s the pastor, wasn’t she abandoned by her parents and look at her.
Now, God’s going to cause you to shine to be an example of what he can do despite imperfections, despite what life throws you away, you may have some things that are limiting you.
Now, don’t worry, God still has his chisel.
He’s still working on you, I believe and declare the true you is about to come out.
What’s holding you back is being broken. The shame is being removed.
You’re about to step into favor freedom, wholeness to become the masterpiece God created you to be in Jesus name.
And if you receive it, can you say amen?
I’d like to give you an opportunity to make Jesus the Lord of your life.
Would you say it with me? Lord Jesus? I repent of my sins come into my heart.
I make you my Lord and Savior.
If you prayed that simple prayer, we believe you got born again, we’d love to give you some free information and your new walk with the Lord, you can text the number or go to the website.
I hope you’ll get into a good Bible based church and keep God first place Victoria and I’ll be right back to speak a blessing over you.
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