Look at a fully grown circus elephant. We are talking about a creature that weighs 12,000 pounds. It can uproot a tree with its face. It can flip a car like a toy. It is a biological tank.

But if you look closely at that elephant in the tent, you will see something tragic. It isn't held back by a cage of steel bars. It is held in place by a small rope tied to a wooden stake.

How is that possible? The elephant could snap that rope with a flick of its ankle.

Here is the secret—and it is cruel: When the elephant was a baby, the trainers used a heavy chain. The baby pulled and pulled, but it wasn't strong enough. It fought until it broke. It learned a lie. It learned: "I am stuck. I am weak. I can't."

Years later, the elephant is a giant. The chain is gone, replaced by a flimsy string. But the elephant never tries to break free.

Why? Because it is not being held back by the rope; it is being held back by the memory of the chain.

It is being held back by learned helplessness.

And that is exactly how the devil holds you back.

He has backed up and dumped an avalanche of learned helplessness on your past self, and everything in Scripture is the force of heaven to help you break free.

I look around this room, and I see spiritual giants. I see people who have Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit. I see sons and daughters of the Most High King.

But so many of us are standing still, paralyzed by a flimsy string.

Maybe your string is a word spoken over you by a parent twenty years ago.

Maybe your string is a shame from a past failure.
Maybe your string is the anxiety that says, "You'll never change."

You have the power of the Resurrection inside you, but you are living like you are still in chains.

 

So, how can you snap the string?

You might think you need a "zap" from heaven—a lightning bolt moment where everything instantly changes.

But for most of us, the string doesn't snap because of a zap from heaven; it snaps because you bring your present self under the sound of grace teaching, and that silences the whining of your past self, so you can set up your future self for the glory that belongs to you as a child of God.

It snaps when the reality of Jesus gets wired into your soul, deeper than the lie. John 1:14 says that Jesus came to us "full of grace and truth."

You need His Truth to expose the lie that you are weak.

You need His Grace to heal the wound that made you believe it.

This isn't about "trying harder" to be free. It is about hearing who you really are again and again until you actually believe it. Romans 10:17 says, "Faith comes by hearing..."

Faith is the switchblade that cuts the rope. And faith comes when you hear the grace of Jesus, over and over again, drowning out the lies you learned; the lies that still brainwash you.

You need to preach Good News to yourself every single day until the "Elephant" inside realizes: Wait a minute... I'm an elephant! What am I waiting for!

Bam!
The rope snaps.

We have been in a series called "Quit Telling Yourself I Can't."

And my message today is simple: "Quit Playing Small"

And today, we are going to finish it by looking at Philippians. Paul was a man who had snapped the string. He was a man who refused to be held back by his Past Self, his prison, or his problems.

He writes:
"Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me." (Philippians 3:12)

Do you see it? Christ has laid hold of you. That is the Truth and the Grace.

Now, you must lay hold of it. That is the Faith.
Then he says:
"Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:13-14)

Paul is on a do-or-die mission to possess every square inch of the glorious inheritance that Jesus had in mind for him on the day He got saved.

So today, we're going to open the vault.
Here it is.

Six inexhaustible accounts in your heavenly trust fund.

Account #1: Your New IDENTITY
The world tries to name you. The devil tries to name you. The powers of darkness try to define your life.

You have to stop it. You have to snap the rope.

Stop letting the world name you. Stop letting your trauma name you. Stop letting your ex, your boss, or your bank balance name you.

On the day you got saved, God issued you a new ID card.

It is an identity that is bulletproof because it isn't based on what you do; it is based on who you are in Him.

"For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God." (Colossians 3:3)

That is your reality. The old preserved identity is dead; the real you is wrapped up in the victory and love of Jesus. And your future self will one day prove it.

The devil tells you... you're an accident, a mistake, unwanted.

But Jesus shouts back, No. You are CHOSEN. I loved you before the world began (Ephesians 1:4).

Your Past Self tells you... you're in trouble. You're in trouble with God...

But the blood of Christ speaks, declaring your true self is RECONCILED. The war is over... it's time to believe that you are who God says you are  (2 Corinthians 5:20).

The voices in your head label you stupid, and your ex- labels you worthless, and the demons say you're garbage...

And along comes your father to scoop you into his arms, and he calls you MASTERPIECE. You are GOD'S WORKMANSHIP, sculpted by the loving hands of the Master Artist, designed for royalty, honor, dignity, love, value, importance, meaning, influence, victory, joy, peace, goodness, blessing, and grace (Ephesians 2:10).

When somebody asks who are you... here's your answer: