Here are the notes from the message preached at New Life Community Church Sunday, September 22, 2013. This is the second in the series IDENTITY: Finding the Real You, and is entitled “I am in Christ”. If you desire to listen to this message, you may do so by going to our website at www.newlifesite.com. God bless.
IDENTITY: Finding the Real You, Part 2 Sun., Sept. 22, 2013
“I am in Christ”
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. II Corinthians 5:17 (ESV)
Question: Who are the two most important, most influential people in world history?
Jesus and Adam
I Co., 15
Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. I Co. 15:45 (ESV)
21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. I Co. 15:21-22 (ESV)
Three Questions:
Who do you think you are?
Who does God say that you are?
Who does Satan say that you are?
Who does God say that you are?
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.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion… Genesis 1:26-27 (ESV)
1. Revelation Receiver
2. Image Bearer
3. Over and Under
4. Birthed for Blessing
Then the devil comes along in Genesis 3 and says, “Did God say….?”
Who does God say that you are?
Illustration: Johnny Cash
Illustration: Chelsea Clinton
We are in a BATTLE of IDENTITIES.
Question: Do people ever really change?
15 I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. Romans 7:15 (NLT)
22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being,23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Romans 7:22-24 (ESV)
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Romans 8:1 (ESV)
Will you live in ADAM or in CHRIST?
1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Colossian 3:1-3 (ESV)
4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. 5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them.
8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Colossians 3:1-10 (ESV)
The Way to Lose This Battle:
1. A NEGATIVE area of your life becomes part of your IDENTITY.
Anger, Depression, Poverty, Lack of Success, Broken Relationships, Addiction, Habitual Sin.
Difference between AA and Celebrate Recovery
2. You feel increasingly HOPELESS.
Start losing hope because you’ve tried really hard, but failed.
3. You become DEFENSIVE.
Sensitive to others’ opinions. Hide from public scrutiny. Pull back from being vulnerable about it.
4. You become a SLAVE.
When the devil isolates you, he can really pound you.
5. You begin to LOSE your life.
knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. Romans 6:6 (NKJV)
Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. Romans 6:4 (NKJV)