Date: 20-Sep-2024
Name: Barry
Topic: IDENTITY IN CHRIST
Content:
Identity in Christ
Good morning fellow men of God. This is the day the Lord has made. We will be glad and rejoice.
Thank you brothers for the wonderful words delivered this week.
Bro Juan on Sunday, “Puddling” has left me pondering on my own transformation in Christ and the necessary changes I must make in my life.
Bro Simon on Monday with a wonderful exposition of “Intimacy With God” again reminding me to find more time just to be with and surrounded by Him.
Bro Richard’s Holy Spirit led a “ Pure Heart, a Good Conscience and a Sincere Faith” that inspired me to pivot more as I listen to my conscience.
Ps Chidi yesterday with part 4 of “ Unraveling The Mysteries”, the way you convey your messages actually transports us to the places Solomon and Paul walked.
The New Man
Ephesians 4:17-24
This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.
I have presented a similar message at a recent men’s breakfast.
The meat of this message will be the same, though there have been other revelations since.
Very recently I became quite unusually unsettled and I couldn’t put a finger on it. There was a gnawing feeling and though I wasn’t upset, it felt like I was wearing clothes that did not fit properly.
I noted that nothing had changed in my day to day living. My workplace environment had improved dramatically and more so.
My commitments with the church have increased and I had recently returned from a mission trip in Vietnam. Prayers were answered as my son had just ended a toxic relationship that had lasted more than a year, praise God.
What was wrong?
I discussed this with my wife and we prayed together for an answer. And it came almost immediately. I knew that I was finding my identity in Christ and it was affecting every area in my life.
The agitation came from the knowledge that I can’t have an identity in Christ in only some parts of my life. It has to encompass all areas and applied thus.
What is an identity in Christ?
1) Identity in Christ is knowing that you are part of His family.
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
2) You share Jesus' values and make them part of your life.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
3) Every decision you make in life then becomes Christ centered. In every marketplace, when we are Spirit led with the mind of Christ, what comes out of our mouths is authentic and irrefutable.
To our children, our spouses and work colleagues.
We will not require a HR department when we have the conviction of the Holy Spirit and His impartation to others.
It can be said as in
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
Or in,
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
To be in Christ is to live as He lives, move as he moves. Speak as He speaks in all things.
You will then be known by His fruits.
Galatians 5:22-23
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
Importantly, this is how others will come to identify you.
Righteousness in Christ
The space that I lacked was that of my own household. There was fear in provoking the children for their general lack of respect and upsetting my wife in the process. This I knew was not my portion as my identity I Christ.
The word says in,
For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.
In that space, immediately after praying, I was convicted in the Spirit to address the situation in a big way. My wife was hesitant at first though when she saw the purpose in me, we went to the boys and sat to speak.
Prayer Point 1.
Lord we pray that you bless us with a righteous identity in Christ, to fear not and move only as the Holy Spirit commands. Let us be bold and loving in all the market places in our lives.
Compassion in Christ
It is right to say that Jesus had abundant compassion in His heart. When feeding the five thousand,
Matthew 14:14
And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick.
Matthew 15:32
Now Jesus called His disciples to Himself and said, “I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat. And I do not want to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.”
To have an identity in Christ is to possess His compassionate heart.
Those on this platform who are Pastors, educators, connect leaders or regional leaders share a heart for their “flock” and will go the extra mile for them. Sometimes this is a challenge and even if we are patient, we may lose compassion and develop hardened hearts for them.
I was in this space also recently and prayed that God would soften my heart to again align with Jesus’s.
Then at connect this week, one of our members shared about a custody mediation for her children. Listening to her broke my heart and compassion flowed as I had been in similar circumstances once.
Prayer Point 2
We pray Father God for soft and yielding hearts for others, that we have the compassion that Jesus had for all He met. It is with this heart we minister as Jesus did to do Your will here on earth.
Scriptures That Hit Home The Message
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:
For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.
Ps Lakers.
Prayer Points:
Lord we pray that you bless us with a righteous identity in Christ, to fear not and move only as the Holy Spirit commands. Let us be bold and loving in all the market places in our lives.
Compassion in Christ
It is right to say that Jesus had abundant compassion in His heart. When feeding the five thousand,
Matthew 14:14
And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick.
Matthew 15:32
Now Jesus called His disciples to Himself and said, “I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat. And I do not want to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.”
To have an identity in Christ is to possess His compassionate heart.
Those on this platform who are Pastors, educators, connect leaders or regional leaders share a heart for their “flock” and will go the extra mile for them. Sometimes this is a challenge and even if we are patient, we may lose compassion and develop hardened hearts for them.
I was in this space also recently and prayed that God would soften my heart to again align with Jesus’s.
Then at connect this week, one of our members shared about a custody mediation for her children. Listening to her broke my heart and compassion flowed as I had been in similar circumstances once.
Prayer Point 2
We pray Father God for soft and yielding hearts for others, that we have the compassion that Jesus had for all He met. It is with this heart we minister as Jesus did to do Your will here on earth.
Scriptures That Hit Home The Message
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:
For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.
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