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At Sandals Church, our vision is to be real with ourselves, God and others. This channel features sermons and teaching from Pastor Matt Brown and other members of the Sandals Church preaching team. You can find sermon notes, videos and more content at http://sandalschurch.com/watch
Thanks for tuning in to the Sandals Church podcast. Our vision as a church is to be real with ourselves, god, and others. We're glad you're here, and we we hope you enjoy this message.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Something pretty rare has been happening in my life recently over the last month, and that is that I found myself officiating 3 funerals in the span of about 3 weeks. Now what you gotta understand is as a pastor, it's very normal and important, part of our job to officiate funerals. But for me, to do 3 in 3 weeks was new. It was challenging. It was beautiful.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:It was hard. And and I realized I came to a point where I needed to kind of process conversation with Ash, and I was just kind of talking through what it was like to kind of officiate 3 in in such a short time frame. And 1 thing that became really clear to me is that, you know, when you go into these settings, you're you're deemed the minister. You know, like, you go in as a minister to serve the family, to help honor the person that we're celebrating and remembering, and, but what I was telling my wife was that I I, even though I was the minister, became the 1 who was being ministered to. Because if you are around people who are in grief, you realize it's a gift to be close to someone who's in pain, and it's a powerful way to be changed and transformed.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Like, when you get around people who are grieving, you don't leave that the same person. You're different. And and here's how they started to minister to me. The first funeral was actually for a high school friend who I grew up with, went to high school with, was a really good friend of mine. But, unfortunately, he had suffered from a lifelong disease called sickle cell anemia, and it took him.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:It took his life recently. And I hadn't seen him in, like, 15 plus years. But at his funeral, to hear family get up 1 by 1 and talk about the kind of man he became, like, gave me life. And the kind of husband he had become, the kind of dad he had become to his kids was was really profound. And just knowing, like, who we were when we were 18 because I remember things we were doing.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Doing. And and to just hear them speak about the kind of person he became was so moving and transformational. And then the other 2 funerals were actually for, members here at Sandals Church. And, again, person after person would come up and talk about the kind of person they became. Now, what that was is what, 1 author calls the difference between a resume virtue and a eulogy virtue.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:A resume virtue are the things that you and I will say about ourselves to try to get a job. Like, you know, you worked so hard. You're a team player. That's a lie. You don't like anybody.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Right? There are things that we will say when we're trying to land a job. But a eulogy virtue are all the things people will say about you, not when you're trying to get a job, but when your life has come to an end. Right? And oftentimes, the eulogy virtues describe the kind of person you became.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Because when you think about it, the most important thing in life is the person that you become, and and and the main thing that you get out of your life, in fact, the main thing that God gets out of us is the person we become. And the best thing you leave this world is yourself, like, who you became. And and all those other, you know, things, they they they kinda just drift into the distance. Your 401 k, your job, your career, the pleasures you experience, the the places you went, they all kind of fade. And what becomes so important to speak about is who you became.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:And so I say that because we have just started this series called Image, where we're all on a journey discovering that very thing, who we are becoming in Jesus, and embracing our identity as someone who is, known by God, saved in him, and then allowing that to to set us off into our calling. And the beautiful news about Christianity is that our identity isn't something we earn or even create, but it's something that's given to us by a gift. Right? It's a gift from God that comes to us. And and that's really what is going to ground us as we move forward.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:And so, as we continue in this series, we're gonna hear today about what it's like to actually find yourself in Jesus, to find your identity in him, not in what you do, not in what you can accomplish, not in the things that you've been able to experience, but what it means to be found in him and how that really transforms the kind of person you become. And so I'm gonna ask that if you are willing and able that you would stand with us, for the reading of God's word. We are in Colossians chapter 3 today, and Paul writes these words. For you died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. Just let that sink.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:You died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. This is God's word. Let's pray together. Heavenly father, what a gift it is for us to gather here today, and we pause in prayer, God, to acknowledge the reality that you have gathered with us to.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:And so we ask now that you would speak to us and that as Jesus says, you would give us ears to hear today, give us eyes to see so that we might become all that you have for us in Jesus. We pray these things in his name. Amen.
McKay Vandenberg:Hey, Sandals Church. Thank you so much for joining us today for pastor Fredo's message. I wanted to take a brief moment to invite you to partner with Sandals Church and the work that we are doing. 1 way you can do that is by going to give.sc. Now let's get back to our message.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Amen. You guys may be seated. I wanna begin by just simply asking you guys, as followers of Jesus, where do our identities come from? For a lot of us, well, that's an easy question. Jesus, you know, Sunday school answer.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:But what's important to realize is Jesus himself. Right? Meaning in his life, you'll remember that scene in Matthew chapter 4, when he's baptized by John the Baptist, we're told that as he comes out of the water from his baptismal, that the heavens open, a dove descends, and then this voice then speaks. And and we're told that the the God of all the universe, the father, speaks and says, this is my beloved son with whom I'm well pleased. So in short, Jesus gets his identity from heaven.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Amen. Now for us, that's the goal, to find ourselves in that same kind of place. But oftentimes, we don't. If we're being honest today, many of our identities come from not heaven, but earth and the people of earth, and the things they might say about us. But the New Testament invites us to consider that if you're going to follow Jesus, this phrase has got to be immensely important into how you view yourself.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:And when you look yourself in the mirror, this phrase has got to be the bedrock bottom truth about who you are, and it's this. You you are in Christ. In Christ or in Jesus. This phrase is used well over a 150 times in the New Testament. That's a lot of times.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:And in fact, it's Paul's favorite way to talk about a Christian's identity. Now this phrase, in Christ, in, you know, theological terms, and we like to get fancy with our words, means, incorporation or union. Maybe you're familiar with that idea. But incorporation or union essentially says that when you get baptized and and when you become, really, a follower of Jesus, at that very moment, you are incorporated into Jesus and your life is now in His life, which which means essentially this, that when I find my identity in Christ, everything that is true of Jesus is also true of me. Amen.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Everything. So when Paul says there in verse 3, your life is now hidden with Christ and God, that means where is your life to be found? Where is your meaning to be found? Is it found in stuff? Is it found in pleasure?
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Is it found in what you are feeling like that day? Where is your life found? Paul says it's actually found because it's hidden somewhere and it's hidden in God. So that means that the truest thing about you is whatever's true of Jesus. Now now let's explore this a little bit, and we're gonna do a little deep dive.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:So, you know, put on your masks. We're gonna go deep. We will come up for air, but just hang on. We'll see some fish. We'll see some nice coral.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:If you get claustrophobic, there might be a refund, but just buckle in with me for a second. This phrase is critically important. En Christos. That's what it is in the Greek. Now what you gotta understand is Christ is is really a title, and it's the Greek word for the Hebrew word, Messiah.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:So when we say Jesus Christ, we're we're essentially saying Jesus the Messiah. Now in Jewish theology, Messiah, it means that there was this long awaited king that Israel was anticipating, and this messiah was to be Israel's representative so that whatever happened to the messiah also happened to Israel. And whatever he did then also applied to them. So, for example, think of David for a moment and David, King David, fighting Goliath. When you when you think about that story, it's a very familiar story, David, in a sense, is representing Israel.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:He had already been anointed king. You remember that? Samuel actually anoints him before this happens. And and after his victory, he actually sends Israel into their future, probably the best future Israel ever had. And so, likewise, theologically, what we're saying is that with Jesus, he has won the decisive victory over our darkest enemy.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Not just Goliath, but over sin, over death, and over hell. Which means, Jesus' victory is now our victory. In the same way that David's victory was so important that it it changed everything for Israel. And when you think historically about that story, geographically, where David fought Goliath was just 1 town away from David's hometown, which meant this. Had David lost to Goliath, where is Goliath going next?
Pastor Fredo Ramos:To find his family, to find his village. His whole neighborhood would be wiped. They'd be slaughtered probably the next day. So the moment that David conquered Goliath, everyone conquered Goliath. That's right.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:All of Israel was now victorious. His freedom became their freedom. His kingdom became their kingdom. And in the same way through Jesus, the long awaited messiah, through his victory over sin, hell, and death, and through his life, we have life, right? And so His kingdom is now our kingdom.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:His freedom is our freedom. The resurrection, when Paul says you've been raised with Jesus, His resurrection is now our resurrection, which means for Christians, Easter is every single day you wake up. It's Easter morning, right? We're alive in Him. And so we're united into that reality.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:We're we're brought together. There's union. There's incorporation. It's a fancy theological word. I pay too much money to learn that word.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Right? But essentially, the picture of baptism then, when we baptize people, what we're saying is when you come out of those waters, you you are clothed in the life of Jesus. Right? Alright. Deep dive over.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Come back to the surface. Breathe in some air. Again, the idea is simple. Everything that is true of Jesus is now true of you. That's the point.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:And, you know, Christianity is good for a lot of things, and 1 of the things it's kinda good for is our cliche phrases. Like and 1 of the phrases that became really popular over the years was when God sees you, he sees Jesus. And that just sounds warm. You know? It's nice on a card.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:But the truth is when God sees me, he sees Fredo. Like, he sees my laziness, my critical spirit. He sees all those things. Those are all true of me, but are they the truest part about me? Because if you're united with Jesus means that, yes, god sees all those parts of me, but where I'm truly hidden is in his son.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Right? And this has all sorts of implications on our identity. Like, just listen to a few of these verses from Colossians 1. It says this, but now he has reconciled you, that's you and I, by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight. So through the death of Jesus, through his physical body dying, God now presents you as holy.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Then he goes on, without blemish. Without blemish. Like, when I hear that phrase, I think of a fresh pair of sneakers coming out of the box, not a single scuff. You can pick that. You can smell it.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:I love to smell new shoes and just take in all those chemicals from the warehouse. I love that. That's without blemish. There's not a scuff on that shoe. The laces are wedding day white.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Right? Perfect. Without blemish. He goes on and says free from accusation. So through Jesus' physical death, you and I are presented holy, without blemish, and free of all accusation.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:There's not a thing anybody can say about you. You're freed of accusation. That's Colossians 1. Colossians 127, he goes on to verse 27. For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles too.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:And this is the secret. Christ lives in you, and this gives you assurance of sharing with his glory. Or another translation says, Christ is in you, the hope of glory. Meaning all that's coming to Jesus 1 day is coming to us too. The fact that he reigns supreme, we too will reign with him.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:That that's what's coming to us. And so that then begins to change the way you and I relate to power today, and there's no longer a need to to struggle for it, to abuse people with it. Why? Because you reign with Jesus. Come on.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:So why are we fighting and bickering about earthly things? There's there's a kingdom that's coming and we're gonna reign 1 day there. So it radically changes the way we live today. Colossians 212. You were buried with Christ when you were baptized, and with him you were raised to new life because, listen, not because you have the strength to do it or because you knew all the right answers, but because you trusted in the mighty power of God.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:You trusted in the mighty power of God who raised Christ from the dead. Colossians 324, since you know that you will receive an inheritance. Like, we're gonna receive an inheritance. Everything that is true of Jesus is not true of you. And he goes on and on throughout this entire book, line after line, reminding us this is who you are in Christ.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:But, again, let may be honest. I look around and I realize you guys are intelligent people. And so some of you might be thinking, that's not how I feel. I'm not those things. I'm not without blemish.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:I'm living with my girlfriend. I'm living with my boyfriend. I'm not free of accusation. There's a lot of things people can say about me. I'm not holy.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Like, I blow up on people. I'm not blameless. Right? I don't think Christ is living in me. I feel pretty alone, actually.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:And maybe you're like, I don't even know what to think about myself or God. And here's what you gotta consider because you might be thinking like, how is this all true of me? Well, this is true of you if and when Christ is in you. So he is holy, so you are holy. He's blameless, so so you're blameless.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Meaning, what is true of me and you may not always be seen by us, but it doesn't change the fact that it is true of us. This is the the struggle of actually growing in Christ. And now listen. This isn't just true of you theologically. Right?
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Like, this is just an idea in the bible, but it is becoming true of you in reality. This word becoming is so important because when I find my identity in Christ, I am in the process of becoming who I truly am. You are a Christian, and you are becoming 1 at the same exact time. That's the point. Listen to Colossians 2 verse 6.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Just as you received Christ, Jesus as lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. What a picture. Just as you received Jesus, continue to live in him. In other words, don't stop there. Continue to live in the reality of what you know is true.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Rooted and built up, strengthened in faith, and he says overflowing with thankfulness. Here's, I think, just a great little marker. If you're curious as to who you're becoming, pay attention to the areas of gratitude in your life. Paul says overflowing with thankfulness, meaning gratitude, I think, is a sure tell sign that you are in fact walking and living in the calling that God has for you. When you find yourself grateful, like, you wake up and you're like, god, this is a good thing.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Thank you. You're you're in your identity. You're you're in your calling. Right? People who are, like, free and comfortable in their own skin, there's a joy and a and a gratitude and a thankfulness there that is hard to explain elsewhere.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:And it's because I think they're they're walking in the life that god has called for them. Right? Now here's what's really key about this. Don't miss this point because you might hear that phrase and think, oh, that's kinda simple. Like, I showed up for this today.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:But, yes, you are becoming you are in the process of becoming who you truly are in Jesus, which means your identity, listen now, is not rooted in the past, who you were. It's not even rooted in the present, who you are today, but it's rooted actually in the future. You are in the process of becoming the future version of yourself. Now if to you that sounds a bit like, you know, a sci fi movie, it kinda is. When you think of Back to the Future, Marty McFly is radically changed in the present because of what he's experienced and seen in the future.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:He's back to the future. Right? The future teaches him something about himself in the present. Now there's some weird stuff with his mom. We don't get to get into all of that.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:But the point is simple. What he knows is coming in the future changes the way he lives in the present. Right? And I say that because even for many of us who will even use this phrase as Christians, like, yeah, I'm in Christ, we still when someone says, like, who are you? We talk about our past as if that's still who we are.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Right? So if you were to say, you know, Fredo, tell me about yourself. I would say, well, you know, I grew up, had great parents. They worked hard to give me everything, so I kinda was someone who just expected everything. I took life not too seriously.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:I love to have a good time. I kinda viewed it as, like, you know, work hard so you can have fun on the weekends. Like, I laughed at a lot of stuff. I expected a lot of things just to be given, and I didn't wanna work hard. Like, that's that's who I was.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:That's not who I am. We say, well, Freda, who are you? I'm not talking about the present. Well, you know, I'm a Christian. I like being a peaceful person.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:I'm pretty relaxed. I love Jesus. I kinda like people. Like, I like people. You know?
Pastor Fredo Ramos:I avoid conflict. I avoid hard things. I would rather just relax for a second and maybe it'll just fix itself. Right? I find myself laying down at night wondering, did I do enough today?
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Was I courageous today? Did I take risks today? Did I trust God in those things? Right? Again, but what's the problem there?
Pastor Fredo Ramos:I'm talking about a version of myself that's me in the present, but that's not who I'm becoming. If I am in Jesus and if you are in Jesus, you are in the process of becoming who you truly are. So when you say, Freda, who are you? I say, man, I'm I'm a son and a child of God the father. I'm fully loved in him.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:I'm alive today. My soul is healthy. I'm far more comfortable in my own skin than I have ever been. I find myself in the most ordinary moments, breathing in the presence of God. There's times where the sun rises and I'm I'm filled with energy and life.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Sometimes I, you know, I'll over spiritualize a bug walking by, but it's okay. It's great. Like, I feel just energized and and feel closer to God than I have ever felt. I feel more likely Jesus than I have ever felt in my life. That's who I'm becoming.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:That's right. But here's the problem. On the timeline, that's the future. Right? That's not always who I am, but it is who I am becoming in Jesus.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:And this is who you are becoming in Jesus too. And I say all this not at all to dismiss sin and to take it lightly. Right? Because there is a temptation for a lot of us to say, well, I'm, you know, I'm in the process of becoming Jesus. Just give me grace.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:And to overlook and minimize the real issues of growth in our life that we need to address. But what I'm saying to you is this, don't root your sense of yourself in your past or even in the present, but root your sense of yourself in the future. So for those of you right now who are dealing with real addictions, you have addictive personalities, but by the grace of god, that is not who you are becoming. That's right. Some of you cannot seem to get to a healthy place where you can receive correction from your spouse, from your friends, but that is not who you are becoming.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:By the grace of God, you are becoming the kind of person who can receive correction. Some of you have terrible habits with money. That's who you are presently. But by the grace of god, that is not who you are becoming. You are learning over the course of your life what it's like to both receive and to give, to to live on what God has called you to live on and and then to open your life and share with others.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Right? So the the challenge here for so many of us is that, you know, in the American church, we have this self hatred about ourselves. Like, we just dislike who we are, and I think it's because we've rooted a sense of who we are in the present. You are in Christ, which means who you really are is somewhere down the future, who you're becoming. And so it's fine and important to talk about the things you're working through, but don't find yourself in those things.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Okay. You've messed up. You've fallen short, but that is not who you are becoming. It's a more beautiful version of you. And Paul in in Colossians is is riffing on this because he's wanting to drill it down for people that what you want to do as a Christian and what the bible calls us to be as a Christian is so much rooted in the reality of who we are.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Right? In the bible, we call this the Indicatives and the Imperatives. Meaning the indicative statements are all the true statements. This is what God has done. He loves you.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:He's forgiven you. Therefore, forgive other people. Right? So the the commands, the imperatives to do something is rooted in the fact of who you are and who you see yourself to be. In short, what you do flows out of the truth or the lies that you are believing about yourself, which is why I think the very first command given in Colossians doesn't come until the second chapter 6th verse, where he says, you received Jesus.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Now live your life from that place. Right? You can't understand the Bible's commands until you have first settled that the Bible is speaking to Christians and people who understand who they are in Jesus. You don't behave this way because that is not who you are anymore. And and even with that, there's a there's a temptation, I think, to misread Paul there when he says, live your life in him as if what he's saying is, like, you gotta prove, you know, that you're worthy of Jesus' love.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Or, you know, he did so much for you, so you gotta earn it. And I don't think what he's saying at all. I think what he's saying is you have a holy calling on your life. Live from that place. Like, the temptation to do what you used to do, that's not who you are anymore.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:You're a brand new person, so live from a place of this higher and more beautiful calling. Right? It's a lot like, on the day I got married and became a husband to Ashley. I think we got a cool little picture of it somewhere. Look at that.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:0 hair. I didn't trust any of the barbers in Louisville, and that's where I was living at the time. But beautiful day. On that day, December 3, 2011, I became a husband. If you were to ask me how good of a husband I was, you know, let's see who's keeping score that day.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:So at best, mediocre husband. I was a mediocre husband, But that didn't change the fact that I was still a husband. I wasn't any more of a husband then or less than a husband than I am today. My status is unquestioned as a husband. But what I've been doing since that day I got married is that I have been on a journey of learning to become what I already am as a husband.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:That's that's the journey I'm walking in. Right? I'm learning to become what was already declared over me as someone who's married to someone. Same with being a father. Kaiser just handed us our son.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Like, go ahead. I drove home in our little Honda freaking out. Like, it was it was it was a life changing day. I remember the day Ashley told me that she was pregnant. The next morning, I cried all the way to work.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:I just cried, like, what? It's just I couldn't fathom this new change coming. Right? But the day Eli was born, I became a father. Was I a good father?
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Not yet. Was it more or less of 1 than I am today? Why? Because I am in the process of becoming and learning for the rest of my life what I am right now. That's the journey.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Do you see the pattern? Right? This this is the pattern that you're on. And so where your ID where your identity is, you realize now, it's not constantly shifting based on your performance, based on what people are saying, but you are rooted in the fact that you are becoming a certain kind of person. And the gift is that over time, you start to see yourself the way that god sees you.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:And when you get god's eyes on your identity, that is the turning point for your life. In other words, when you start to see yourself the way that god sees you, that becomes AAA focal point of transformation where you're freed now because you know how how how much God loves you. And, you know, as Psalm 32 says, God's loving gaze is on you, and you are surrounded by his faithful love today. Right? That's a freeing place to be.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:And so, really, when you start to think about it, what God does for his children, you and I, he loves us into our destiny. Right? He calls us what he calls us and then he makes us that. He calls you a son and he makes you a son. He calls you a daughter and he makes you that.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:When you think about it, the Bible is a story about God loving you into your future. Not just in the past, but he loves you into your future as any good parent would. Right? Like, any good parent knows the role they have with the words they speak over their children. I think back to my own life and how grateful I was when I was 21 and I told my parents I was gonna change my major in my last year of college.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:I was 3 years into a business degree. My dad, you know, was a small business owner. My mom was a professional like, she had been in medicine her whole life, and I think there was a part of them that always wanted me to be a doctor. And I, you know, was thinking I was gonna do business. And in my going into my 4th year, my last year, I said, hey.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:I'm gonna change my major. I was 21 years old. I had just become a Christian, and I'm like, I think I wanna do philosophy. And I'm sure they're thinking, well, that's not gonna pay bills. And I said, I got a plan, kinda.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:I'm gonna finish school with a philosophy degree, and then I wanna I wanna get a master's. I wanna learn how to teach the bible. And I'll never forget walking into my dad's home office, sitting my parents down. They're like, man, what is he gonna say? And I kinda laid this all out to them.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:And they just took it in and they said, alright. It's clear God has a calling on your life, and we're not gonna get in the way of that. As soon as they spoke those words over me, there was so much, like, freedom and release. It was profound and there's not a pastor in our family. Like, you know, there's some El Pastor.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Right? But there's not a pastor in our family. And they have been incredibly successful, working in medicine, working in business, and here I'm like, I'm gonna be a pastor. You know? But but their their space in that moment, it radically transformed where I was going.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:They spoke words over me. Right? And and that's what God does with our identity. He he loves us into our future That's right. Into the process of who you're becoming.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:And I say that realizing, you know, some of you had parents, unfortunately, who spoke harsh words over your life to the point that who you are today is still short circuited by some of those conversations, and I'm so sorry. Some of you probably have parents today who are like, they're amazed that you became anything. And maybe you have family members that you can't even talk about your plans because, like, it just turns into a political conversation somehow. Right? But but parents you know and I wanna say this to you, parents who are maybe raising teenagers.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:You know, we just came back from camp. Maybe you're raising young kids. You you need to understand that our kids, they either live up or down to the words that we speak over them. In the same way that we live up or down to the words we hear from god speak over us, right, which is why it's so important we take in scripture as a reminder of who we are. And so part of our role as parents is just to re speak God's words over our children.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:And I see, you know, my wife doing this from time to time as we're correcting our kids. We'll say a lot of things. But 1 of the things that she has made such a good habit of doing is when she's correcting something, she'll say this, this is not who you are. So we're correcting a behavior or an issue that happened or a fight that broke out or someone got pushed into the pool, whatever the case is, and I'll hear her say, this is not who you are. This is not who you are.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:And and what we're doing is we're starting to try to give our kids a vocabulary for understanding how what they do flows from a sense of them knowing who they are. This is what it means to be in Jesus, and this will radically change the way I think we, lead ourselves. Of course, as parents, parent our kids, but even how we speak to 1 another in the church. There's a reason why Paul begins and ends his letters just like he does in Colossians with these words, grace and peace to you. Grace and peace to you.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Knowing full well that how we speak to 1 another very much can set in the course the direction of our lives. We are in the process of becoming who we truly are. And then lastly, as we close, when I find my identity in Christ, everything else falls into proper perspective. In the beginning of this passage, Colossians 3, it's it's 1 of the most well known recited verses in the new testament. He says these words, and you're probably familiar with them.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Since then, you have been raised with Christ, you know the next part, set your heart on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of god. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. So in other words, when when you have a resounding sense that you are raised with Jesus, that's where your gaze goes. Right? We set our minds on things above.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Why? Because that's where our true selves are. Right? We're we're we're in heaven. We're we're raised with Jesus.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Now the cliche that we have picked up over the years was, you know, you're so heavenly minded, you have no earthly good. Right? Well, kinda, but, like, you wanna be of earthly good. Right? You don't wanna tell your boss you're late because you were just praying.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Like, you're gonna lose your job. The point is, though, that you would you would come to this place where where your your gaze is fixed on on Jesus with kind of a singular focus. Right? Set your mind on God. Set your hearts on God.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:You know, writers today say that we all live in a world where we are continually, partially attentive. We live in a constant, continual state of partial attention. Why? Because we are dominated by distractions. So we are very used to being partially attentive to this person or that thing.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:And oftentimes, our devices convince us that we're like God, which means we can know everything, discover everything, and be everywhere all at 1 time. And as a result, we live we live our lives continually in a state of partial attention. So when Paul says set your heart on things above, he's calling for a single focus, a single kind of devotion. And when this happens, when your heart is set on things above, success falls into its proper perspective. When my heart is set on things above, failure falls into its proper perspective.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Relationships fall into its proper perspectives. Your your shortcomings, your setbacks, the things that bother you so much about yourself when your mind is set on things above, those things fall into their proper perspective. Why? Because you are living from the future. You're living from the future.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:And 1 of the most beautiful things we do as Christians every week to remind ourselves of this is communion. Communion is that single moment of eating where we are combining the past of Jesus with the present that we're dealing with now, believing for the future of what's to come. 1 single meal joins together every aspect of time. What Jesus has done in the past means what you're dealing with now in light of who you're becoming in the future. Where Jesus himself said, I am waiting to eat this meal again with you soon.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:This is a beautiful picture of how we find ourselves, not even now in this moment, but later on. So that when you say that you are in Christ, you remember you are not your sin. You're not your sin. You are loved. Last week, I gave I gave this statement that I wanted everyone to, you know, kind of answer for themselves.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:I am blank. How would you answer that now? I would hope at some level, you would be able to say, I'm loved. At the end of the day, I'm loved. Because until you get to that place, you won't have the the courage to step into the calling that god has for you.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:My hunch is that god has appointed all of us to live in this particular time for a particular reason, which means he's got a purpose for us to step into. And if we continue to live from this old place, you won't be able to step into that. You won't have enough confidence. You won't know how loved you are. But if you can embrace the future version of yourself that god sees and knows you're becoming, you're gonna be set free to do some prophetic, powerful things in the world today.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:So that when your day comes, when we're not just reading off your resume virtues, but we're reading your eulogy, what's going to be said of you? Because we will not talk about the things that you have accomplished. You will not talk about the things Fredo said or anything like that or the places you went to or the lovely people you had time with. What will be said about you is the kind of person you become. At the end of the day, in the not too distant future, we will all be hearing the words spoken over us.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:And who have we become? Have we become someone who knows that they are in Christ? Let's pray together. Heavenly father, what a gift it is, for us to embrace your love, to know that you see us as in Jesus. And so I ask now, god, that you would help us to live from that place as we set our minds on you.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:As we give you singular focus and attention, would that help give us a vision of who we are becoming in Jesus? And would that set us free? Would that set some of us free today who are dealing with addiction, who are dealing with fear, who are dealing with the wounds of the past? Would you help us, god, by your holy spirit to find a sense of who we are rooted in the person that we are becoming in Jesus. We pray these things in his name.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Amen.