Who Are You?

Who Are You Really?

The most fundamental truth we need to know is who we are. What makes up the real me or you?

We were made “ in God’s image.”

Gen 1:26 “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.

PRAY!!!!!

The Original Design

God is spirit. So at the most fundamental level, we too a spiritual being.

We have a spirit in our inner person

We also are physically alive. We have a body

The Bible tells us we are all descendants of Adam and Eve. Did you Scientists have confirmed that our mitochondrial DNA proves that we are all descended from the same woman and our Y chromosomes prove we all descended from the same man.

This spiritual connection to God gave Adam 3 very significant things and you were also created for this kind of life.

Adam was given:

Acceptance

He had an intimate relationship w God. Adam could walk and talk w God at any time and have His full attention.

2. Significance

He was given a purpose: to rule over the birds of the sky. the beasts in the field, and the fish of the sea

Gen 1:26 “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.””

3. Security

He was totally safe and secure in God’s presence. Everything he needed was provided for - food, shelter. companionship, everything!

We also were created for this kind of life: complete acceptance by God; significance - a real purpose; and absolute security - no need to worry about anything!

So what happened?

The Consequence Of The Fall

If you remember, Adam and Eve were told,

Gen 2:17 “but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.””

They died spiritually. The connection their spirit had to God was broken and they were separated from God. Consequentially, all of their descendents (Us) were born physically alive but spiritually dead.

The acceptance they enjoyed, the amazing moment by moment relationship w God GONE! it was changed into a crushing sense of rejection and we all know what that feels like

That sense of significance was replaced by a sense of guilt and shame, and were all born with it.

And that sense of security turned to fear. The very first emotion Adam had was fear Gen 3:10 “And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”” Don’t be afraid is the most repeated command in the bible

So all of us are born into this kind of environment that's not anything like the one we were designed for, and we instinctively are trying to find our way back to acceptance, significance and security we were designed for.

What Jesus Came To Do

The only solution to this problem is to restore our relationship with God, that's why He sent Jesus. Like Adam at the very beginning, He was both spiritually and physically alive, but unlike Adam, He never sinned. He came to forgive sins and to give us new life

John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”

A Saint - Not A Sinner

The moment you accepted Christ as your savior, everything changed.

2 Cor 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

Can you be partly old creation and new? NO!

Eph 5:8 “for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light”

Many of us think of ourselves as “sinners saved by grace” ad we certainly were sinners and we were saved by grace, but here’s an intresting verse

Rom 5:8 “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

This verse implies that we are no longer sinners. In the NT the word “sinner is found over 300 x and is clearly shorthand for people who are not yet Christians. You never see it applied to a Christian, at least not in terms of who they are now, only in terms of who they used to be.

There's another word that is used for believers used over 200x in the bible and that word translated is “saint” it means “holy one.”

Yes you are holy, set apart for God. Special.

Gal 3:27 say that we have been clothed with Christ. that doesn’t mean your still a dirty smelly sinner that’s been covered up with Christ, so when God looks at you, He sees Jesus. Regardless of how you feel about yourself, the truth is, if you have accepted Christ as your savior. you are now a son or daughter of God Himself. When God looks at you now, He doesn’t see a mess being covered up by Jesus, He sees you just as you are: a new creation, holy and wonderful and He delights in you.

Who you are is a fact and Satan knows it, But if he can ge you to believe a lie about who you are, he can absolutely cripple your walk w God’

What about your future sins? well, if when Jesus died once and for all, how many of your sins were future? all of them? Your not saved based on you behave, your saved by your belief.

What About When Things Go wrong And I Sin?Listen, it’s bound to happen. We are “new creations”but were not living in state of sinless perfection, the bible makes this clear.

1 john 1:8 “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”

An accurate way to describe us is

“Saints Who Sometimes Sin”

When we mess up and sin, we simply need to to the Father, agree with Him that we did wrong, turn away from it and know our sin is already forgiven because of Jesus Christ.

Who Am I In Christ?

This what God says

You are God’s child

John 1:12 “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,”

You are Christ’s friend

John 15:5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”

You have been justified

Rom 5:1 “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

You are united with the Lord and you are one spirit with Him

1 Cor 6:17 “But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.”

You have bee bought with a price

1 Cor 6:19-20 “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”

You are a saint, a holy one

Eph 1:1 “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus:”

you have been adopted as God’s child

Eph 1:5 “he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,”

You have direct access to God through the Holy Spirit

Eph 2:18 “For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.”

You have been redeemed and forgiven of ALL your sins

Col 1:14 “in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

You are complete in Christ

Col 2:10 “and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.”

You Are Secure

God Says

You are free from all condemnation

Rom 8:1-2 “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.”

You are assured that all things work together for your good

Rom 8:28 “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”

You are free from any condemning charges against you

Rom 8:31-34 “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.”

You cannot be separated from God’s love

Rom 8:35-39 “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” God

You have been established, anointed, and sealed by God

2 Cor 1:21-22 “And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.”

You are promised that God will “finish what He started in you.”

Phil 1:6 “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”

You are citizen of heaven

Phil 3:20 “But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,”

You are hidden with Christ in God

Col 3:3 “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”

You have not been given a spirit of fear

2 Tim 1:7 “for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”

You will find grace and mercy in your time of need

Heb 4:16 “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

Satan Cannot touch you

1 John 5:18 “We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.”

You Are Significant

You are NOT worthless, inadequate, helpless in Christ or hopeless in christ, you are significant

God says:

You are salt and the light of the world

Matt 5:13-14 ““You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.”

You are a channeler of Jesus life

John 15:1 “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.”

You have chosen to appointed by God to bear fruit

John 15:16 “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.”

You are a personal, Spirit - empowered witness of Christ’s

Acts 1:8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.””

You are a temple of God

1 Cor 3:16 “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?”

You are minister of reconciliation for God

2 Cor 5:17-21 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

You are a fellow worker with God

2 Cor 6:1 “Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain.”

You are seated with Christ in the heavenly realms

Eph 2:6 “and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,”

You are God’s workmanship, created for good works

Eph 2:10 “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

You may approach God with freedom and confidence

Eph 3:12 “in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him.”

YOU CAN DO IT!

Phil 4:13 “I can do all things through him re who strengthens me.”

“ I am not the great I Am, but by the grace of God I am what I am.” (Neal Anderson)

In Closing:

Call up worship team

Are you in Christ? if your a Christian the answer is Yes! If satan has beat you to a pulp and you’ve been living a defeated Christian life, come up her and meet with God and reclaim what has always been your true identity

PRAY!!!