Clark Kent! What a wimp! I started watching Clark Kent when he was a "mild-mannered reporter," it said, "for a great metropolitan newspaper." I was a kid then. Poor Clark! He always seemed pretty easy to push around, kind of Joe Ordinary; "Clark Can't" really. Of course there was a secret no one in Metropolis suspected. No one knew that underneath that ordinary exterior was his real identity - Superman! Clark knew that he was a whole lot more than meets the eye.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Your Secret Identity, a Secret No More."

For many years the ancient Jews had been sort of Clark Kent - pushed around, ordinary, powerless. They had been the slave labor force of the Egyptian Empire, exploited, they were beaten and they were stripped of their dignity. In a word, they were victims. But not any more. No, God had delivered them. They were free! Outside that is, but they hadn't gotten that message inside. The Lord was giving them a super new identity, but they were still "Clark Kent-ing."

Our word for today from the Word of God, Leviticus 26, beginning at verse 12 (you're going to like this). God says, "I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be My people. I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians. I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high." Man, listen to who they are! God says, "You are My people, no longer slaves. The bars that have held you have been broken. You can walk with your head held high." God's saying, "I know what you were, but you can stop living like that now. You are liberated! You're Mine!"

They were out of Egypt, sure. But Egypt wasn't out of them. They were out of slavery, but the slavery wasn't out of them. You say, "What does that have to do with me?" A lot, especially if that word victim rings a bell in your heart. Because maybe you've been carrying around a lot of hurt. Honestly, there's been rejection, abuse, maybe rape, abandonment, betrayal. In some form, or maybe in many forms you have been the victim of someone else's sin. If you've been through a lot of pain, it is very natural to see your identity as a victim. Like a business card that has your name and your position on it, except yours has a name and it says "Victim."

But it doesn't have to be that way if you have given your heart to Jesus Christ. He's called Savior, Redeemer, Healer, and if you have Christ, you have a secret identity. A secret because maybe only He knows who you really are now. You don't have to be what you have been. You are no longer a slave He says. He's broken the bars that held you. You can walk with your head held high. You've been loved by God Himself. You've been cleaned up from the sins of the past - yours and those of others because of Jesus' death on the cross. He's made you a son of the King and daughter of the King. You're a prince; you're a princess. You don't have to make the future an extension of your painful or sinful past.

Ask for His grace to turn the page on your past and not be defined by it anymore. To begin a whole new volume. Begin to act as if you are who God says you are, not a victim but a victor.

Clark, maybe your secret identity has been secret even to you. But God says you're free! You're royalty! It's not a secret any more. You don't have to crawl anymore. Because of Jesus, you were meant to fly. It all comes together the day you begin your personal relationship with Jesus. That could be right now when you say, "Jesus, I am Yours."

He'll make you "a new creation," the Bible says. And our website will help you know you belong to Him. If you can get there today, it's ANewStory.com. This is who you were meant to be - new, because of Jesus.