TODAY I WANT TO CHALLENGE YOU TO IDENTIFY WITH
• WHO YOU ARE......NOT “WHAT YOU DO”

• WHO are you?….. A child of the King!
• Who are you? …..BELOVED BY GOD!
• Who are you? A SINNER SAVED BY GRACE!!! Come on!

SO….WHAT DOES GOD’S WORD SAY ABOUT IDENTITY?

• One of the MOST INFORMATIVE passages about identity in Christ is found in Ephesians 1:3-14.
• In this passage, Paul addressed to the church in Ephesus, explains the new identity given to a person when they are “IN CHRST”.

PAUL USED THE PHRASE “IN CHRIST” 164 times in 13 epistles. It's a central theme in his writings, so it should be a central theme in our lives.

SO WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE “IN CHRIST? PAUL SAYS IN VERSE 3…

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known[c] to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10

DOESN’T THAT MAKE YOU WANT TO SHOUT!
Paul says, we have been:
• blessed with every spiritual blessing;
• we have been chosen, adopted, redeemed, forgiven, grace-lavished, unconditionally loved and accepted.
• We are pure, blameless and forgiven.
• We have received the hope of spending eternity with God!

SO THAT’S WHO WE ARE IN CHRIST… CHOSEN, ADOPTED, REDEEMED TO SUM IT UP…... WE ARE HIS BELOVED.

AND THAT MEANS HE LIKES YOU A LOT!

WE HAVE “POSITIONAL HOLINESS.” AND NOTHING CAN TAKE THAT FROM US.

HAVING YOUR IDENTITY IN JESUS MEANS WE WAKE UP EVERYDAY LOVED BY THE GOD OF ALL CREATION!

AND THE GOD OF THE UNIVERSE WHAT’S TO TALK TO ME!
How cool is that? Wow! When I wake up God is waiting to start up a conversation.

And yet, somedays…..I wake up and forget he’s even around? Don’t even notice him.

It like this…If I woke up everyday FOR A WEEK and never ACKNOWLEDGED THAT my wife Johnnie WAS LIVING IN MY HOUSE…WHAT KIND OF LOVE IS THAT? I didn’t even miss TALKING TO HER!!

But how many of us wake up everyday and don’t acknowledge that Jesus is PRESENT!

SO MANY TIMES…we just go about our day, identifying with

WHAT WE GOTTA DO instead of WHO WE GET TO DO IT WITH!

You get to do it with the CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE!

He’s the God of the Universe..that’s who YOU’RE LIVING LIFE WITH THE CREATOR OF ALL THIS! THAT’S WHO YOUR IDENTITY IS in!!!