Sermon Central
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Identity In Christ Alone Series
Contributed by Kyle Gray on Nov 28, 2017 (message contributor)
Summary: What makes up your identity? Sanctification is a process that God wants to use to refine you. You'll find your identity there.
When you put yourself aside and take up God, you need to MOVE ON. Stop looking back.
Allowing this process to happen is saying that you’re no longer INDEPENDENT but you’re now FULLY dependent on GOD.
That’s hard for some of you. It’s scary sometimes. To truly live a Christ centered life you’re going to have to let Him tear down some walls. You’re going to have to be brutally honest with yourself. You’re going to have to try hard to get your identity from Christ and not everyone or everything else!
Here’s a verse in the Bible that you should never look at the same way again.
Ephesians 2:5-6 says we were DEAD to sin. We were terminally diagnosed with an irreversible disease. Verse 6 says UPON salvation in Jesus, we were RAISED up TOGETHER and made to SIT TOGETHER in the heavenly places IN Christ Jesus. Wait, what??
Josh Peck points out something profound here in his book Quantum Creation.
This passage seems to be saying that, as Christians, we ALREADY are IN heaven!? (here he goes honey, Kyle’s getting weird again, he’s talking about weird things in the Bible) I can hear your thoughts.
We started off in this life as dead in our sins from the soles of our feet to the tops of our heads. If we had continued down that path and never accepted Jesus we would be dead already even though we are physically alive.
Accepting the gift of salvation takes us out of the spiritual state of death and raises us to life with Jesus Christ in heaven in that moment.
We were not born into a holy eternity we were born into a sin infested mortality. But when we accepted Jesus we were lifted into eternity (as the angels thundered rejoicing) to be seated with Jesus where we are right at this moment. The Bible says as Christians our names are sealed in heaven.
If you’re finding your identity, as Christian, in anything other than Jesus Christ, you’re not living a Christian life and God is waiting for YOU to let Him turn things around!
You just have to give your life to Him and then start letting Him refine you.
It starts today. Get out of His way and get into His plan.
Stop letting who you THINK you are get in the way of who God SAYS you are! Don’t doubt Him!
God looks at you and sees a NEW creation!
You are a child of the Living God!
The old is gone.
Leave it there!
