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Best of 2024: Who God Says You Are

Best of 2024: Who God Says You Are

Speaking to an enthusiastic crowd of two-thousand women, J.John uses his trademark humor and compelling stories to convey four traits that God sees in each of us: We are lovable, we are valuable, we are forgiven, and we are capable.
Original Air Date: February 29, 2024

Preview

Rev. Canon J.John: It doesn’t matter how dirty, how creased… it doesn’t matter where you’ve been. You can’t alter the past, bring the entire past to the altar of Jesus and He is gonna clean it, He’s gonna restore it, and He will reframe you. That is what He’s gonna do.

End of Preview

John Fuller: Today, we have great encouragement for you on Focus on the Family with Jim Daly. We’re featuring another of our Best of 2024 shows. Thanks for joining us, I’m John Fuller.

Jim Daly: Today’s guest, J.John is incredibly popular with you, our audience, and he’s going to deliver a timely reminder of how valuable we are in God’s eyes… isn’t that a great thought? Yeah, this message was given to a crowd of over 2,000 women, but the message is applicable to all of us. Uh, J.John is an international speaker and author. He and his wife Killy live just outside London, and, uh, I’m looking forward to this presentation.

John: I am too Jim. Uh, here’s J.John recorded at the 2019 Zoe Women’s Conference hosted by The Life Church in Memphis, Tennessee on today’s episode of Focus on the Family with Jim Daly.

J.John: I’m gonna tell you about four things that God says about each one of us, each one of you. The first thing He says is, “You are lovable.” Now can you repeat this, “I am lovable.”

Audience: I am lovable.

J.John: You are indeed. The Bible says this, “This is how God showed His love among us. He sent His one and only son into the world that we might live through Him.” Have you heard this, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never harm me.” Has there ever been a greater untruth sung in the playground?

Audience: (laughs), yeah.

J.John: That is not a nursery rhyme, that is a nursery crime.

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: And we need to reject what has been spoken over us, and hear what God speaks over us.

Audience: Yeah.

J.John: There’s a lovely story when Jesus is asked by a desperate man, would He go and visit his sick daughter, and He says, “Well, of course I’ll come and visit your sick daughter.” So, Jesus is walking. He’s with His disciples. He’s going through this narrow-lane street, and people are hearing, “It’s Jesus, it’s Jesus,” it’s pretty congested, it’s pretty crowded, and then all of a sudden Jesus stops and He says, “Who touched me?” I mean, can you imagine, you know, you- you’re- you’re walking with a friend into a stadium, thousands of people are pouring in, and then your friend says, “Who touched me?”

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: You’re like, “I wouldn’t worry about it.”

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: You know, “Chill out.” There’s always gonna be a bit of an elbow-

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: … I mean, even here tonight there could’ve been a little bit of an elbow.

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: Jesus said, “Who touched me?” And, you know, the disciples, “Oh Lord.” I mean, it’s not a-

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: … isn’t it.

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: I mean, it’s not as if you’ve got a wallet and you’re gonna lose it.

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: I mean, “Chill out Lord.”

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: Jesus said, “Who touched me.” This woman came out of the crowd, and she says, “I touched you,” and He said to her, “Why did you touch me?” Now I- I think Jesus knew the answer, but He just wanted her to articulate it.

Audience: Yeah.

J.John: And she- she had a woman’s problem, and no one could help her, and she says, “I heard about you Jesus, and I thought if I could reach and touch the hem, the hem of your garment-

Audience: Yeah, yeah.

J.John: … not even touch your skin, just touch the hem of your garment, something would happen.” Jesus said, “Did it happen?” “Oh yes.” Now, this is the great thing about that story. The crowd was following Jesus, but Jesus stopped the whole crowd for one woman.

Audience: Yeah. (applause)

J.John: So, even here tonight, you may feel, “Wow, I,” there’s 2,000 women here, “Does He know, He knows?”

Audience: Yeah.

J.John: He knows. He knows, and all you do is reach out, He’ll stop for you, why, because you are lovable.

Audience: Yeah.

J.John: So, repeat, “I am lovable.”

Audience: I am lovable.

J.John: Secondly, “You are valuable.” Now say, “I am valuable.”

Audience: I am valuable.

J.John: Listen to what Jesus said, “Look at the birds, they don’t plant or harvest, or store food in barns, but God feeds them.” Are you not more valuable to Him than these birds? Listen to the birds. (Chirping sounds)

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: Jesus said… look at the birds. Are you not more valuable than they are, and Jesus says, “Of course you are. You are far more valuable than those birds are, far more valuable.” I’ve got in my pocket a $50 bill. It’s a brand-new one. It’s nice when they’re brand-new, isn’t it? I like them, they’re really nice, and it’s crisp-

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: … and it’s clean-

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: … and it’s worth $50. Now, I know, this was all beautifully cleaned, but of course many of us have walked up here with shoes from the outside, so, maybe it’s a bit dusty. Yeah, I think, I can see a little bit of dust there. Right-

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: … let’s put some dust on this $50 note. Is this illegal-

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: … because in England, it’s illegal to step on the Queen.

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: Alright, let’s put a bit of dust, bit of dust, alright. Okay, there we are, right. A moment ago, this was a clean, crisp $50 bill, and it was worth $50. I can see that I’ve got dirt all over it, but it hasn’t lost its value.

Audience: Yeah, yeah.

J.John: It’s still worth $50.

Audience: (applause)

J.John: But it’s, but it’s crisp. It’s a crisp $50 bill. Okay, I’m gonna scrunch it up now. Okay, now I’ve got a scrunched up $50 bill. A moment ago, it was clean and crisp. It was worth $50, then it got dirt on it, it never lost its value, now it’s all scrunched up, and it hasn’t lost its value. Listen, it doesn’t matter how dirty, how scrunched up-

Audience: Yeah. (applause)

J.John: … you think you are, you have never lost your value in God’s eyes. I am lovable.

Audience: I am lovable.

J.John: I am valuable.

Audience: I am valuable.

J.John: Thirdly, you are forgivable. Now say, “I am forgivable.”

Audience: I am forgivable.

J.John: Yes, the Bible says, “This is love, not that we love God, but that He loved us, and sent His son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” The psalmists wrote, “God, He forgives our sins. He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.” There’s a woman who had lots of problems, and she went to see a psychotherapist, and the psychotherapist tried to work out, “When did this woman’s problems all begin,” and he journeyed through her life eventually to a time when she was quite young, and she was at school, and for some reason, her teacher took a great dislike to her, and the teacher said to her, “Come out here, and write on the board, ‘I am a failure.’”

And then the teacher said to the rest of the class, “I want you all one by one to come out here and write what you think of her,” and the psychotherapist said, “Well, how did you feel when that was happening?” She said, “Well, I- I- I- I couldn’t look at anybody, and- and- and I started to cry, and- and all I wanted to do was to d- die,” and the psychotherapist says, “As a Christian, I know that something else happened that day, and I’m so sorry you were not aware of it, but when everybody else had finished writing on that board, there was a man at the back called, “Jesus,” He got up from His desk, He walked to the front, He picked up an eraser, He erased everything that was written on that blackboard.

Audience: Yeah. (applause)

J.John: And He wrote, “I love you and forgive you.” You see, maybe some of that stuff on the board was true, maybe some of it was true, but whether it was true, whether it wasn’t true, Jesus wants to wipe it clean.

Audience: Yeah. (applause)

J.John: Jesus did not come into this world to rub it in, but He came to rub it out.

Audience: Yeah.

J.John: You are lovable, you are valuable, and you are forgivable. Jesus wants to cleanse us from the past. You and I cannot alter the past, but we can bring the past to the altar of God.

Audience: Amen.

John: Well, you’re listening to British evangelist J.John on Focus on the Family, and we’re making this message available along with all of our Best of 2024 programs in a complimentary audio bundle. We wanna encourage you and help you in your walk with God, and your relationships in your family. This collection includes 18 great shows, and you can learn more and download it all at focusonthefamily.com/broadcast. Let’s return now to more from J.John.

J.John: I’m from London. I was walking around London. There was this gigantic poster of a woman advertising lingerie, but obviously she was also advertising various other parts of her anatomy.

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: And someone wrote across the poster in large letters, “S-I-N,” sin. And somebody wrote underneath, “What is sin?” And I could see that loads of people had written definitions all over the poster. So, I went to read them-

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: … and I’m reading, I’m reading what everybody’s written, and I disagree with everything people have written. So, I get my pen out-

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: … and I wrote this, “Whoever knows what is right to do, but fails to do it, for that person-

Audience: Yeah.

J.John: … it is sin,” and then I signed it, “James.”

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: And the reason I signed it, “James,” is because I didn’t wanna get the credit for it, because James in the Bible wrote that.

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: Whoever knows what is right to do, but fails to do it, for that person it is sin. Look, even by our own standards, we fail, let alone God’s standards.

Audience: Right.

J.John: Yeah. And- and the great news is, the great news is, is that this Jesus has done something for each one of us.

Audience: Yeah.

J.John: There was a famous artist, and this famous artist went back to the very small rural community where he was born and brought up, and he’s walking around some of the stores. There’s an antique shop. He looks in the window. He cannot believe what he sees. In the window, he sees one of his masterpieces. It was a painting that he painted years before he was famous, but it was his. The frame was broken. The picture was scratched and dirty, but he couldn’t go into the store and say, “That’s my painting, give it back to me.” If he wanted it back, he had to buy it back, before he could clean it, restore it, reframe it. That is what Jesus did for us.

Audience: Hallelujah. (applause)

J.John: So, look, it doesn’t matter how dirty, how creased, it doesn’t matter where you’ve been, you can’t alter the past, bring the entire past to the altar of Jesus-

Audience: Yeah.

J.John: … and He is gonna clean it, He’s gonna restore it, and He will reframe you.

Audience: Yeah.

J.John: That is what He’s gonna do.

Audience: Yeah.

J.John: One, I am lovable.

Audience: I am lovable.

J.John: Two, I am valuable.

Audience: I am valuable.

J.John: Three, I am forgivable.

Audience: I am forgivable.

J.John: And four, you are capable. Now say, “I am capable.”

Audience: I am capable.

J.John: You are absolutely capable. There was an ice factory that caught fire, and this ice factory that produced ice caught fire-

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: … and they had to call the fire people to come and put the fire out, even though the- the factory had all the H2O it needed to put the fire out, but the problem was, all its assets were frozen.

Audience: (laughs)

J.John: Now, when I was g- I was growing up in London, I was an agnostic. I didn’t believe in God. I wasn’t interested in God. I didn’t know anything really, but when I was a student, I met a Christian, and then one day he showed me in the last book of the Bible, in the book of Revelation 3:20, there’s this beautiful picture of Jesus standing outside of a door of a house knocking. And it says this, “If you hear the knock, open the door, and let Him in,” and my friend read this to me, and he said to me, “Have you heard Jesus knocking?” I said, “I think so.” He said, “Have you opened the door?”

Audience: Wow.

J.John: I said, “Where’s the door?”

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: He said, “Don’t worry about where the door is, ask Jesus to break the door down.”

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: On the 9th of February 1975, I- I remember kneeling down, first time I ever knelt, or was aware of kneeling, first time I ever prayed, and I said, “Jesus, if you are knocking on my door, could you break that door down and come into my life,” and as I said that… the light came on. The light came on. My heart, something happened, I could feel it in my heart, something happened, something shifted. I didn’t have the vocabulary to explain what had happened, but I knew that the light had come on. I knew that- that something happened in my heart. My mother said to me, “You’re brainwashed.” I said, “Mother, my brain has been washed.

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: If you only knew-

Audience: Yeah.

J.John: … what was in my brain, you’d be pleased it got washed.”

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: And Jesus came into my life, and Jesus came into my house. That is such a beautiful, helpful analogy for us. We- we invite Jesus to come in, not to be our landlord, but to be our Lord.

Audience: Yeah, amen.

J.John: Not just to be resident, but to be president.

Audience: Yeah.

J.John: Yeah, it’s very easy to say, “Ah, come in, come in,” and then you open this cupboard, “Get in there.”

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: Did that resonate? Did that resonate? I want you in my life, uh, but- but you- you, restricted. I want you in my life, but only… you can hang out there.

Audience: Yeah.

J.John: No, the Bible says, “When He comes into our lives, He comes into our lives by His Holy Spirit,” and the Bible says, “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit, do not quench the Holy Spirit, do not resist the Holy Spirit.”

Audience: Yeah.

J.John: Three, “Do nots.” Don’t resist Him, don’t quench Him, don’t grieve Him. So, what we need to do is to say, “Come on down to the basement of our lives-

Audience: Yes.

J.John: … clear out all the cobwebs, come into the attic of our lives, clear out all the, all the bats, come into the sitting room of our lives, come into the- the dining room of our lives, come into the kitchen of our lives, come into the bedroom of our lives, come into this room of our life, come into that, it- it’s all yours, Jesus I want you to be resident and president.

Audience: Yeah.

J.John: Reign and rule in my life. Reign and rule in my heart. Reign and rule in my mind.”

Audience: Yeah.

J.John: Do you know, as we do that, His spirit living in us… this is the incredible thing, His spirit living in us is the same Holy Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead?

Audience: Yes, yeah.

J.John: Wow, wait a minute, wait a minute-

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: … the same, wow, there’s a lot in here.

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: Yeah, therefore I am capable. Therefore, you are capable.

Audience: Yeah.

J.John: Therefore, everything is possible… everything. If you’ve got God’s Holy Spirit everything is possible. Miracles are possible. Everything is possible, because His spirit is living in us.

Audience: Yeah.

J.John: Our next-door neighbors, they’re not Christians yet, but they call my wife and I, “The neighbors from Heaven.”

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: Which is really nice, isn’t it? Well, we wouldn’t wanna be called, “The neighbors from the other side,” would we?

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: The lady next-door, she had a stroke, and as a consequence of the stroke, she fell into a coma, and she got transferred from our local hospital to a re- a big hospital in Oxford, and her daughter came round and spoke to my wife and she said to her, “We’ve just met with a consultant, and they’ve told us that mum is brain-dead, and she’s on the a life support machine for f- and we’ve decided that after five days, we’re gonna switch the machine off.” So, m- my wife said, “Well, look, can we visit your mother before you switch the machine off and she dies,” and the daughter said, “Oh please, i- if you could visit my mother, uh, we’d be so grateful, because my mother was so, was… just loved you guys.” So, great, we’re gonna go. The only day I could go, was the fifth day. So, fifth day, we have to drive to another city, and I’m a little bit irritated, because I’m like, “Ugh, she was in local hospital, now we gotta drive an hour.”

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: You know, and then you don’t know this hospital, and you don’t know where to park the car, and I was a bit irritable. Anyway, we eventually get there, and she’s in intensive care. We walk in, and she’s got tubes all over her. So, I start speaking to her, “Hi Joyce,” I said, “It’s the neighbors from Heaven.”

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: I said, “We’ve just come to say a prayer with you,” and she had tubes… I took her by the hand. I held Killy’s hand. Killy held her other hand, and I start speaking to her. I said, “Now, what we’re gonna do now Joyce, we’re gonna pray the Lord’s prayer. Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your Kingdom come,” and when we said, “Your Kingdom come,” she woke up.

Audience: Whoa. (applause)

J.John: We went back, I said to her husband, “She woke up.” He goes, “No, she didn’t.” I say, “She did.”

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: He said, “No, she didn’t.” I said, “She did.”

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: She- he goes, “She’s brain-dead. She didn’t wake up.” I said, “She did.”

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: Anyway, it didn’t matter. She came home the following week. She’s still alive.

Audience: (applause)

J.John: Look, you see, when you’ve let Jesus into your heart here-

Audience: Yeah.

J.John: … it’s like, “Whoa, whoa, whoa, you are carrying resurrection fire.”

Audience: (cheering and applause)

J.John: Right, now look, we live in a world of miracle and mystery. Okay, uh, yeah, look, that’s the world in which we live in. We, don’t try and figure it all out. God is God, He’s not applying for the job.

Audience: (laughs), whoa.

J.John: So, uh, you just gotta trust Him.

Audience: Yeah.

J.John: But, in the meantime, just be channels of that grace, of that love, of that power-

Audience: Yeah.

J.John: … to other people.

Audience: (applause)

J.John: We carry the presence of Jesus. Listen, you are lovable. You are valuable. You are forgivable, and you are capable.

Audience: Yeah, amen.

J.John: And what, you know, if you’re gonna get the most out of the next 24 hours, it begins with saying, “Jesus, I open the door.

Audience: Yes, amen.

J.John: L- come in, come in and cleanse me. Set me free from the past. Come in and heal me.” For those of us that have already got Jesus in our, in our h- lives and homes, i- it might be that we gotta say, “Jesus, I know you’re already in, but I’ve restricted you. I’ve restricted you, but I- I don’t wanna restrict you anymore. I want you to reign and rule in my life. I want you to be resident and president.

Audience: (applause)

J.John: I want you to go into every room of my life and be who you wanna be, and I wanna be a channel of whatever you want me to be.” That’s where it begins with. It begins with that.

John: And, we’re gonna have to end right there for this powerful Best of 2024 message from British evangelist J.John on today’s Focus on the Family.

Jim: Uh, J.John invited the audience to stand up at this point and he gave everyone an opportunity to ask Jesus Christ into their hearts for the first time, or to reconnect with the Lord after a period of absence. I had some of that in my early, uh, 20s, uh, so why don’t we do that right now, John.

John: Okay.

Jim: Let’s all pray together. Thank you Jesus for knocking on my door. I open the door of my life now. I know I’ve done many things wrong and I ask you to forgive me. Cleanse my life, set me free from the past. I invite you now into my life. Come in by your Holy Spirit. Fill me with your presence, your peace, and your power, and thank you Jesus that I am lovable, valuable, forgivable and capable. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Amen. And if you prayed that prayer with me, uh, well done. Welcome to the family of God.

John: Mm, yeah, you’ve made a great decision, a life-changing decision. Get in touch with us, so, we can, uh, help you along the way, and, uh, point you to some follow-up resources to grow in your faith, like our Coming Home booklet, which explains what it means to be a follower of Christ, and it’ll offer you some next steps.

Jim: And we really wanna bless you, uh, with more insight and encouragement. So, we’ve put together a special audio bundle, all of the Best of 2024 shows. That’s a great package.

John: Mm-hmm.

Jim: I mean, these shows are so good and thousands of you responded, uh, to these shows. So, visit us online for complimentary access.

John: Yeah, this is quite a collection, featuring 18 titles, including insights on Heaven, from John Burke, uh, some great advice for single moms, and then tips on how to know others better through meaningful conversation, featuring Heather Holleman. Just visit focusonthefamily.com/broadcast to get started. Next time a special Christmas Day presentation, a visit with Phil and Kay Robertson in the backwoods of Louisiana.

Preview:

Jim: I mean, cooking a squirrel. Yeah, that’s right everybody. Some people just went, “What?” I mean, cooking a squirrel.

Phil Robertson: One of the finest eating things-

Jim: (laughs).

Phil: … on the earth is squirrels.

Jim: Yeah, okay.

John: What were you going to ask about cooking squirrels, Jim?  I’m curious.

Jim: Well, I was just, (laughs) you know, did you, where’d you learn how to do that?

End of Preview

Today's Guests

Best of 2024 Audio Collection

Listeners have spoken! Jim Daly and John Fuller are your hosts in this collection of the year's most popular episodes from Focus on the Family with Jim Daly. You'll hear all of the year's best encouragement on marriage, parenting, and growing your faith, all from a biblical perspective you can trust. The 18 titles in this series feature John Burke, Kevin Leman, Jodie Berndt, Lee Strobel and more. Take a minute to sign up below, and receive this FREE collection!

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