Heaven Breaks In! Identity Interrupted  

                 

Heaven Breaks In! – Sermon Notes                     Pastor Brad Myers

Identity Interrupted                                         November 30, 2025

This Christmas Series will teach us God doesn’t wait for perfect conditions—He steps right into the middle of real life. Into shadows, He brings light; Into silence, He speaks; Into ordinary places, He reveals glory; The birth of Jesus is Heaven’s bold announcement that God is closer than we think and moving more than we see.”

Today: Identity Interrupted

Sometimes, the first place Heaven breaks into isn’t your situation. It’s you! Your identity!

• Who You Think You Are!
• How you see yourself.

Some live exactly the same way with God.

• Heaven keeps speaking identity over us —
  • Favored, Chosen, Called, Forgiven, Loved, Strengthened, Anointed.
  • Us: Fear, Failure, Forgotten, Not Good Enough,

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Luke 1: Birth of Jesus Foretold

• Background: God silent for 400 years!
• No Leaders, Prophets, Demonstrations, Direction!
• Silence!

Luke 1:26-38 (NIV)

Last Words from God 400 years earlier!

Malachi 4:5-6 (ESV)

• Prophecy about John the Baptist (Elijah) coming in power!
• Why? To prepare the way for Jesus.

“The Day of the LORD”

• Prophetic term for divine interruption in human history

 “And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers”

• God will restore what generations have lost.
• Repentance that heals families, reconnects spiritual inheritance, repairs broken relationships, and brings the whole nation back into alignment with God.
• It’s about a true revival that heals for generations!

“lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”

• God warns His people if they refuse to repent for their sin, He’ll lift His protective covering and allow the consequences of sin and rebellion to fall!
• God is urging His people to turn before judgment comes.
• Malachi ends with warning, but the New Testament begins with an interruption!.”

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400 years later Heaven Breaks In!

Luke 1:28 (ESV)

Last words before silence in Malachi: “Destruction.”

First words after 400 years of silence: “Highly Favored!”

• Heaven shows up at Mary’s door with a name she doesn’t recognize

Mary’s first reaction wasn’t celebration:

Luke 1:29 (NIV)

“Greatly Troubled” Greek Means:

• Deeply disturbed
• Emotionally shaken
• Intense inner turmoil
• unsettled down to the core.

Mary was wrecked and said….

Luke 1:29 (NIV)

Greeting was: “you’re highly favored!”

Why So Troubled?

• Wasn’t feeling it!

Mary didn’t realize

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God always names you by your future, not your feelings. He names you by your destiny, not your history. By your calling, not your current condition.

Some in this room, or online, have spent years not feeling what Heaven has been trying to deliver.

Mary didn’t feel favored, but God said she was.

Today, Heaven is breaking in to speak a new identity over all of us, but some may not be recognizing it yet…but it’s already ours.

There’s a Holy Pattern in Scripture:

Before Heaven breaks in; before God moves in power; before a miracle comes into view… God speaks who you are!

• Christmas sermons focus: manger, angel, miracle, prophecy, virgin birth.

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Today, We’ll Focus on What’s Overlooked.

Before Mary ever carried a miracle inside of her; before she became a figure of faith… Heaven calls her something she does not yet feel.

Gabriel says:

“Greetings, you who are highly favored.”   “ favored one.” “selected”

• Not what she was going to do; but who she is!!!
• “Favored”  Appointed Divine Identity
• Means: “the recipient of God’s unearned grace.”

Mary’s Response;

June 1:29 (NIV)

• Mary’s troubled, confused, overwhelmed, unsure.. heaven calls her favored.

Mary did not feel favored. Mary did not look favored. Mary’s circumstances didn’t shout “favor.” But the angel pronounces heaven’s identity over her anyway.

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What does that tell us?

God names you by your calling, not your condition. By your future, not your feelings. By His purpose, not your past. Heaven breaks in not just to change your circumstances…but to make you realize who you really are!

We concentrate so much time on our circumstances we never get to our appointed identity. Even when we eventually realize it, we tend to question it!

Mary’s Favor Becomes Our Favor!

Greek word for “highly favored” in Luke 1 (kecharitōmenē)

Used again

Ephesians 1:6 (NASB)

Means

• Same grace-favor that rested on Mary now rests on every believer.
  • Mary carried Christ physically.
  • Believers carry Christ spiritually.
• Mary was favored because Christ was in her.
• We are favored because Christ lives in us.

Mary’s identity becomes our inheritance. Her grace becomes our status. Her name becomes our name. You are more favored than you realize!

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Problem:

• Doesn’t look or feel favored.
• Not positioned, privileged, or powerful.
• She’s a teenager living in obscurity
• She’s engaged to a blue-collar carpenter.
• She lives under Roman occupation.
• She has zero social influence.
• She’s a nobody..
• All Circumstances!

Heaven Breaks In and says: “Favored.”

Why? Because…

God never speaks to you based on what you are— He speaks to you based on what He’s going to make you. The enemy tries to steal identity to stop destiny, but God restores identity to release destiny.

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First spiritual attack in the Bible in the Garden of Eden.

• Not against Eve’s behavior—But against her identity.

Genesis 3:1

• The enemy doesn’t start with temptation.
• The enemy made Eve question what God said about her.

Then he escalates.

Genesis 3:5

Here’s the tragedy: Eve was already like God.

Genesis 1:27 (NIV)

Satan tempted Eve with a counterfeit identity.

Satan Said,

• “You’re not enough….”
• You need something else to become someone else

Mary stands where Eve once stood— but instead of the serpent whispering what she lacks Heaven declared who she is: “Greetings, favored one.”

Our identity in the kingdom is never achieved. It is always received.

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The Holy Spirit always confirms what God names.

Luke 1:35 (NIV)

• Mary’s identity was not a pep talk. Not self-esteem. Not emotional hype.
• Mary doesn’t just receive a name— she receives a filling.
• Heaven never names you without supplying power.

Your Identity is the first place Heaven Breaks into!

Christmas is not just the story of Jesus coming into the world. It’s the story of God reshaping human identity.

• Heaven breaks into Mary’s heart before heaven breaks into Bethlehem’s sky.

Identity is always God’s first miracle. Because identity determines everything else:

Mary walked into a calling she never could have carried without first carrying the identity God spoke over her.

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Mary Accepts a New Identity!

Luke 1:38 (NIV)

• She accepts the name before the evidence.
• She agrees with Heaven before she sees anything change.

The moment she accepts it…the angel leaves.

Why? Because Heaven had what it came for. Identity agreement.

Same Things He Comes for Today!