Leon Fontaine - The Kings Kids
There's a word that we started to use a lot in last few years called tribalism. And it's, you know, psychologists today are saying it's destroying our society. Because everybody's trying to find a small group that they belong to and they get their identity from that group. And so, we're all becoming more tribal. And the Bible's very clear and it talks a lot about identity. And that's what I wanna deal with because once you identify yourself with something, I pretty much know a lot about you. I know what you value. I know what you gonna fight for. I know what you believed about yourself. And often, there's a lot of other beliefs that are attached to where you get your identity from.
A lot of times, once we determined our identity, what kind of little tribe we belong to, we end up fighting for that tribe. And, you know, people in certain tribes will even go against moral, their morals to protect that tribe and to make sure that -, and the Bible doesn't talk that way. The Bible talks about individuals. And Jesus was very accurate at going to one person at a time and meeting their needs. He wasn't trying to encourage that tribe. I was chatting a little while ago with a guy and we've met somewhere, and he says, "Hey, I'm so and so and I'm gay. Do you have a problem with that"? And I went, "You know, dude, I actually don't meet guys and ask myself the question how do they have sex? It's just, that's not the first thing that comes to my mind". But, and I think he like that because we're showing that, I said, "Hey, if we meet, we get along and let's go for coffee. We can become friends. Let's do business together". But this question, but the question really showed me his identity, his perceived identity and what he identifies with. And so as believers if you want to know one of the greatest things that hampers your ability to walk in the power of God, it's where you get your identity from.
In 1 Corinthians 3:21-23, it says, "Therefore let no one boast in men". Now, it's talking here about this kind of your group, your tribe, where who you from. You know, when you go to university, people will brag about the university that they come from and what house they stayed in. They'll brag about if they're a part of Mensa. I met some the other day and that's the first thing they told me is that they're part of Mensa. And so the Bible says let no one boast in men. For all things are yours. All things. It's not like they're the smart ones. They're the fast ones. They're the ones who are artistic. These the ones -, and we tend to, you know, brag and we're looking for something. Isn't that no one boast in men. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas.
Back here at this time they were arguing as to who they were with. Where they in Paul's group or Apollos' group, Peter's group or Cephas. And it says, or the world or life or death, or things present or things to come all are yours. This is very important, before I get into this message that you understand that to be a believer all is yours. You don't have to compartmentalized yourself, that is who we are, and this is who you are, and this is who, No. And then it says, and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's. One of the things that the apostle Paul is continually trying to teach you and I is this issue of identity. It talks about the heart beliefs. The Bible teaches very clearly that what's in the heart comes out. And when you study the Word, you find out that how you see you is a heart belief.
That the deepest beliefs of your life are not just of the mind. Your mind can change and come and go and believe. I'm gonna lose weight January 1. I'm gonna lose. New beliefs will enter in and last about a month which is why they sell. That's how most gyms make money January, February, because no one uses them from March and on except for a few people. But, so this issue of the beliefs of the mind come and go. But there are beliefs that are deeper. The Bible calls it the heart. Modern psychology might call it the subconscious. Beliefs that had been so trained into you that you're unaware that you have them. Heart beliefs are always tied to your identity. And if you want to walk in God's power. If you want to walk in the miraculous. If you wanna walk in peace. If you wanna walk in joy.
Now, I know you've heard a lot of message on it and they're probably great. But only bring you right down to identity. It's your identity. It's who you identify with. It's your perceived identity that's gonna screw this up. And so, let's dive into this and let's see what the Word has to say about it. In Ephesians 1:5-9, I'm just gonna go the last verse, verse 9. It says here, that he has made known to us the mystery of His will. In other portions of scripture like in Colossians 1:26, it says, "There's a mystery which has been hidden from generations. From the generations been hidden from but now it's revealed to the saints".
Now, when you read the Bible, I like watching debates and sometimes you see this atheist take on a Christian. They often can find a well-spoken atheist and they seldom can find well-spoken Christian. I don't think they try it that way or how they do that. But they'll debate, and they don't, they rarely bother me because I've noticed that people who are not born again, that they don't have, they have a historical look at the Bible and they argue that. But they don't have that spiritual revelation of being able to say something. And as they're talking about it, you just see things so much deeper and they can't even go there. Because this revelation, this aha is only to those who the Bible calls saints. That doesn't mean perfect. It means those who are forgiven.
And so when I look at, when you look at your life, you have to make a decision and begin to focus on who you are. Sometimes when you to go to parties or you get to big get togethers, you'll find people begin to segregate in their perceived tribes. They might do it by skin color. They might do it by finance. They can just tell. These guys wearing, you know, real expensive clothes. These guys dressed more like this and I'm kind of drawn to these guys. Whatever this is, we tend to get together in those groups. Now, the Bible's very clear that, that we are one family. Jesus said my sheep, okay, that are in the fold, I'm gonna leave the ninety and nine to find the one.
And so, all of the humans on the planet are made in the likeness and the image of God. I was listening to a debate the other day and the guy was laughing at Christians saying, "Christians really think that they've got a special thing with God as though out of all of the animals on the planet the human animal, as though, you know, he has contact with God and none of the rest". And he's laughing and they're all laughing about it. I'm just looking at that and I didn't even know where the wisdom was on that. Like, the Bible's very clear and you can see it when you begin to observe nature that God created the planet. He created, He made beautiful animals and trees and we should look after the planet. But when He put man on the planet, He put His kids on the planet.
You and I are in the God class. And right away that bother some people, "Are you saying that we're God"? No, no. I'm not saying that we are the preeminent. That we are God. I'm saying we're in the God class. Otherwise, how can we be children of God? You know, we have dogs and some people really love their dogs. But, you know, they'll say, "These our kids and they'll introduce you the dogs". And that be cool. But if you really had a kid on the road and your dog on the road and both are about to get hit by a car. Which would you save? I don't have to stop and think about it. Okay. The dog is a dog. I love it. It loves me. We've been hanging out for years. I love animals. But when it comes to my children, they're made in my likeness and image. Mankind is made in the likeness and the image of God. You are in the God family.
You've heard me say this a lot. Cats have kitties. They don't have puppies. Horses have colts. They don't have cubs. Moose have Meese. They don't have geese. But in order to have children, real children, they look like you. They talk like you. They act like you. And we are called the children of God. Why in the world with that identity would you identify with where you were born, what country you were born, the color of your skin, the money that you make, or any other area. Because the human condition tends to wanna find your group. Find your small group. We're gonna ride Harleys. We're gonna be like soccer moms. And none of that is bad, unless you get your identity from it. I love the uniqueness that all of the nationalities have. What would happen to food if we didn't have all these different nations? I mean, I love the fact you can get perogies from one country and pizza from another. And so, and the colors and the dances.
There's so much beauty and greatness that comes out of this diversity. But once you start getting your identity from it, you'll start to fight to maintain that tribe to whatever it takes. And we need to recognize that regardless of the language you speak, the color of your skin, how much money you make, where you come from or what you've done. That you are a part of, you are made in the likeness and the image of God. And really there's only two things that we're aware of on the planet. There's God's family that are found. Then there's family that don't yet know God, how much they're loved. They might have heard religion and backed away. But their identity is they are children of God and they're very precious.
And so everywhere we go, even in Christians we've gotta be careful. This is the Anglicans, the Pentecostals, the Lutherans, and the, you know, and you go on. That's fine that to a certain degree for it reaches new groups of people. But lots of time when someone wants to know what denomination you go to, so you can right away argue doctrine. Where's the unity on that? And so the family of God, people, we must learn. Even at church, we need separate families. We need separate churches. God designed family to be separate. Okay. I don't walk into Patrick's house and I just take the milk and walk out. I just don't go in there and watch his TV and ask his wife to make me supper. No, there's unique family units, with husbands and wives and moms and dads and kids and there's a very good purpose for that. But when we, as we grow and rise up we remember we are a part of God's bigger family even this church. We need churches. We need pastors. We need to get rooted together.
Psalm 92 says, if you wanna flourish for the rest of your life be planted in a church, the house of God, volunteer, give, roll up your sleeves. Don't treat church like a restaurant. I just pick whichever I want to feed from today. Because that's all about you. It's all about feed me, me, me, me. Rather than what can I give? How can I be a part of this family? How can I roll up my sleeves? How can I discover gifts and abilities in me? And as steel sharpens steel, so one man sharpens another. When that guy irritates you, that's what churches for. What do you mean? Well, if you go to a church where everything's perfect, you'll never gonna grow. It's like sandpaper or like steel. As steel sharpens steel, so one man sharpens another. So if you get in to church, as we learn about God. We begin to grow and people can help us in that area. But we've gotta understand who we are.
In Galatians 2:20, listen to this, "I have been crucified, killed with Christ". It says, "It's no longer I who live, but it's Christ who lives in me and the life which I now live in this flesh body I live by faith in the Son of God. In the Son, Jesus. Who loved me and gave Himself for me". When we begin to understand, that when you give your life to Jesus Christ, you need to become aware of I'm a king's kid. I'm not like a monkey. I'm not like an ape. Yes, the DNA only has a little bit of difference when it comes to DNA. But being like God isn't because of my physical body. For example, all my kids have my DNA. My grandkids have got my DNA and my great, great grandkids and it goes all the way down you can find. When I'm dead and gone my DNA will be found in all of these kids. I was reading an article the other day about Genghis Khan. And how every time he conquered, he was, you know, he liked women.
And so they say, 1 in 12 people on the planet, when they get their ancestry done or they check out they can find a little bit of Genghis Khan in 1 out of 12. So today, they can check you out and find out, you know, your DNA. But when it comes to God's DNA, it's not physical. God is a spirit. And we who worship Him must worship Him in spirit. When you give your life to Jesus Christ and the presence of God comes inside of you and lights up your dead spirit. You are a spirit. But without God, you're like a dead man walking. There is no life. The life of God that switch the thing on. You know, it's like that guy that went down he had to cut a tree. And so he went down and bought a power saw and he was gone half the day trying to cut down trees and he couldn't cut them down.
So takes this thing back. He's so upset. He goes back to the chainsaw section. He says to this guy, "This thing is worthless. It's useless. My axe can cut a tree down faster than this chainsaw". The guy says, "Are you kidding me? This is the best chainsaw we've got. Let's take it out back and take a look at it". And so they walk out to the back and the guy pushes the primary button and it goes, "Oh, what's that noise"? Trying to cut a tree down with a chainsaw when it's not on? That's a problem. Trying to live life when you're not on. When the life of God does not switch you on. When His power, His presence, His peace, His joy, His love, His healing, His ability for you and I to literally influence and dominate this planet. He said have dominion, go on this planet. He said that to spiritually alive people.
When you're not spiritually alive, life, systems, families, homes, sexuality, health, everything just starts to degrade brutally. When you get switched on, on the inside and you become alive with the life of God. It's no longer the way you used to live. There's something there that you've never seen before. In Ephesians 1 and I'm gonna go down to the middle of portion of the scripture, if the person on the video can find it. It says, "The eyes of your understanding are to be enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of your calling, and what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe". And I'm gonna make a couple of statement that might help some of you. It might offend some of you. Everybody thinks they have faith. If I had a nickel, everybody told me I have faith and it didn't happen. And the Bible's very clear that when it comes to faith, our faith is not in healing, our faith is not in prosperity, our faith is not in peace, our faith is in the Son. It's in what He's qualified us for.
And so, if you don't understand your identity, you will never walk in faith. You can pray. You can have little, you know, half-baked attempts. You might get the odd miracle. You might get the odd thing happening. But the absolute key to walking in consistent faith where you can walk into situations and believe God. And it's like the Bible says Jesus can speak to trees. Jesus can speak to wind. He can speak to waves. He can speak to dead bodies. He can speak to anything. He can walk through a crowd holding stones to kill Him and nobody could see Him. This guy, how could He walk in that kind of power? And by the way, He didn't walk in that power as God. He walked in that power as a Son of man. He was an example to you and I as to what a Christian should look like and the authority they should have. The three and a half years He walked on this planet that we're aware of because He was 30 to 33 approximately.
Now, He was showing us how to act, how to treat people. The authority, the dominion, that was upon us. But He knew who He was. And today, this is the biggest struggle with Christians. Who are you? "Well, I'm Leon". That's your name. Who are you? "Well, I'm a doctor". No, that's your, it's what you do for work. Who are you? And you see them struggling for this who am I? Until you realize you are a child of God. That you live with His presence within you. That watching what Jesus did in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John was to give us a hint as to how we walk. That we should not worry. The Bible says, you've been crucified with Christ. You were buried with Christ. It says that He took your sin, so you can get His purity. He took your fear, so you can get His faith. He became human, so you can become like God.
When you begin to see this substitution, that what Jesus did. It's no longer just give your life to Christ as fire insurance and try your best to get along. No, in this life, you will begin to walk in a peace, in a joy, in an authority, in a health, in an ability with finances and others, be able to speak to mountains, stop anything demonic that goes on, when you know who you are. This identity and the only way to get this identity according to Ephesians chapter 1 is that it's revealed to you. Much of Paul's praying is about you knowing who you are. In Ephesians chapter 1, he prays for the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being opened, that you might know and begins to talk what you should begin to know. If you don't know, if you've got eyes but you don't see. If you look but you cannot see. Then you are relegated to living like a normal human being still switched off, even though you're switched on. Because the only way to walk in a consistent faith is to begin to know who you are. When you know who you are, you know your rights, your privileges, your authority. And this is what's crucial to the body of Christ.
Here in Ephesians chapter 1 in that prayer, he goes on just talk about knowing the hope of your calling. Now, most people stop here and go, "Yeah. I wonder if I'm called to be a dentist or a doctor". He's not talking about your career. Most people change their career multiple times now in their lives. This calling is talking about your identity. It's who you are. You're blood bath that Jesus came and died for you and I. And you are, we are a race of being on this planet as never been before. It seems like a few people kind of breakthrough to understand who they are and then most people attacked them for ever believing to such a high level. But we need to understand that we're made in His likeness and in His image.
When you look at John chapter 17, I'm just gonna fire a couple more verses at you before we stop. Jesus begins to talk about this identity when He says, "Father, I declare that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You, and these have known that You sent Me. And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them". Like, we've gotta begin to understand that you're not at the monkey level. You're not like dogs. You're not some human beings walking this planet who'd came from an ape from so long ago. You were very specifically uniquely children of God placed on this planet to have dominion, to think, to walk, to talk.
We can have the mind of Christ now because you're alive on the inside. It even affects our minds. You'll need to begin to declare your identity everyday with your mouth. You'll need to get up in the morning, the very first thing you say is I'm made in the likeness and the image of God. I'm designed to ride upon the high places of the earth. No weapon that is ever formed against me shall prosper and no mouth that ever rises up against me will prosper. One, a thousand will fall at my side and ten thousand at my righthand. They will attack me one way and they will flee before me seven ways. Everything I put my hand to is blessed and nothing on inhale, nothing anywhere in the universe can stop me because all authority has been given to Jesus and He says to me go.