The question underneath everything

Pastor Michael Brian opened with a question that’s followed humanity for centuries—and it’s still echoing in apartments, classrooms, and commutes across Garland, Plano, Richardson, McKinney, and all across Dallas and Collin County and beyond:

Who am I?

Not your job title. Not your GPA. Not your relationship status. Not the thing you did in your worst season. Not the label people gave you when you were 15.

And when you’re trying to step into a new year with clarity—especially a year like 2026, where God is calling North Cities to deeper purpose—this isn’t a “nice sermon topic.” It’s a survival issue.

Because if you don’t know who you are, you’ll spend your whole life letting someone else name you.

What You Are Not

The world is loud. It doesn’t whisper identity—it shouts it. Culture works overtime trying to define you with scripts built from your past, your pain, your failures, your insecurities, and your cravings for approval.

But before you can learn who you are, you have to strip away what you’re not.

You’re not your past

Your history may explain your patterns, but it does not own your identity.
What happened to you matters—but it’s not allowed to become who you are.

You’re not your feelings

Feelings are real… but they are not reliable foundations.
Building your life on emotion is like building a house on a weather forecast—sunny one moment, storm the next.

You’re not the labels people gave you

Some labels are funny. Some are cruel. Some still sting because they stuck.
But you’re not the nickname. You’re not the rumor. You’re not the moment someone reduced you to your weakness.

You’re not culture’s shifting “truth”

Culture says, “Define yourself.” It sounds like freedom—until you realize it becomes a trap.
If you can build an identity with no boundaries, you’ll end up carrying a weight you were never designed to hold.

That’s why Scripture doesn’t say, “Conform and cope.” It says:

“Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind…” (Romans 12:2)

Who You Are

Once the false names start falling off, you’re left with the real question:

Who gets to name you?

Not your past. Not your followers. Not your failures. Not your mental spiral at 2 a.m.
Your identity begins with your Creator.

You are made in the image of God

Genesis 1:27 doesn’t speak in vague motivation. It speaks in identity:

“So God created man in his own image…”

That means your value isn’t something you earn.
It’s something you carry.

You have worth, not because you’re impressive, but because the Artist signed His work.

You are not a random accident—you are intentional design

A life without God calls you “random.”
But Scripture calls you “crafted.”

“For we are his workmanship…” (Ephesians 2:10)

You are not chaotic paint on a canvas. You are not a spiritual coincidence.
You are not the “backup plan.” You are created with intention.

You reflect God in real ways

Being made in God’s image means you were designed to mirror Him in the world:

  • To love deeply

  • To create meaningfully

  • To hunger for truth

  • To sense right and wrong

  • To long for something eternal

That “ache” you feel when nothing in the world satisfies?
That’s not weakness. That’s evidence you were made for more than the world can offer.

Why You Are Here

This is where it gets personal.

You weren’t just saved from something.
You were saved for something.

You are not here merely to attend church, survive your week, and hope the pain goes away. You’re here on assignment—right where God planted you in North Dallas, Garland, Plano, Richardson, McKinney, and the surrounding cities.

God didn’t just rescue you—He sent you

There’s a line in the message that hits like a hammer:

If the enemy can distort your identity, he steals your destiny.

Because when you don’t know who you are, you’ll keep living small—quiet, hesitant, and stuck in the shadows of labels God never gave you.

But when identity becomes clear, purpose becomes bold.

You are the answer to somebody’s prayer

A hurting world doesn’t just need more influencers.
It needs intercessors. It needs truth tellers. It needs believers who know who they are.

What was God to do about a generation drowning in anxiety, emptiness, addiction, and despair?

He sent Jesus to save us.
And He made you to reach them.

Not when you “feel ready.”
Not when you’re “less messy.”
Now.

The Invitation

So here’s the decision point:

  • Are you going to keep wearing labels God never wrote?

  • Are you going to keep building identity on shifting sand?

  • Or are you ready to live from what Heaven has already declared?

You don’t have to keep striving to prove your worth.
You don’t have to keep performing for approval.
You don’t have to keep living under a name your past gave you.

You can lay it down—and step into the truth:

You are His.
You are made in His image.
You are here on purpose.

And if God is calling North Cities into a deeper year in 2026, then this is the foundation:

You can’t build a God-sized life while living under a false identity.

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