KNOW YOUR IDENTITY ‘IN CHRIST’

Review You were created to be completed not by another person but Christ. It is possible for a lonely, insecure, unhappy single person to become a lonely, insecure, unhappy married person.

Objectives By the end of this message, you will know that: Only Christ can complete you. How Christ completes you. How to be a secure, sufficient and significant whether you are single or married person.

IDENTITY What is identity? Identity defines who we are. We are born into families that have identities. We function in different groups with unique identities. throughout our lives. Yet, we all have an individual identity. To know our identity, we need to ask the question: who I am?

Who am I?

IDENTITY People sometimes confuse identity with: Our Roles I am a teacher; an engineer; a student; a deacon. Our Responsibilities I am the cook. I am the manager. Our Roots I am Jamaican, I am an alcoholic, Our Relationships I am John’s wife, Peter’s father, Mrs. Brown’s daughter. Our Race I am Black, Brown, White, etc. These do not define you, they describe you in terms of the positions you fill, the functions you carry out, or the people of things to which you are affiliated..

Our identity is linked to our Creator. The Bible says we are created in the image of God. Genesis 1:26 Then God said, "Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."

Perfect Man

Created as Body-Soul Spirit Genesis 2:7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. John 4: 24 - God is Spirit… Notice that: God formed Adam’s body - BODY God breathed into him – SPIRIT Adam became a living soul – SOUL

BODY SOUL SPIRIT

Created as Body-Soul-Spirit We understand that God made Adam and Eve, the first two human beings, with a body, soul and spirit. This tripartite make up is supported by 1 Thessalonians 5:23: May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Created as Body-Soul-Spirit As descendants of Adam and Eve, we inherited that same makeup of body-soul-spirit. BODY – Gives us world consciousness. SOUL – Gives us self-consciousness. SPIRIT – Gives us God-consciousness or consciousness of the spirit realm.

However, only one chapter later, something went terribly wrong! God had warned Adam not to eat of one particular tree in the garden saying: Genesis 2:17: “…you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die." Genesis 3:6 states: When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

BODY SOUL SPIRIT Created Man

BODY SOUL SPIRIT Fallen Man

Their relationship with God was affected: Sin caused them to became broken in body- soul-spirit. BODY – Became subject to disease and ultimately. SPIRIT- They were spiritually dead and separated from God because of sin. SOUL – Their souls became bent towards rebellion against God.

EVERYONE Inherited the sin nature from Adam Romans 5:12 “ Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned-“ Romans 5:19 “through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners…” Psalm 51:5 “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.” Colossians 2:13 “When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins,”

What does this mean for Us? We are all born spiritually dead which we experience as a spiritual void. Some says they feel an inner emptiness or darkness. We will all sense it.

God’s Remedy God’s remedy for Spiritual Death God provides Spiritual life for us through Jesus Christ. John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Colossians 1:13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins…

WHAT DOES SALVATION HAVE TO DO WITH MY IDENTITY?

Salvation gives every believer a new Identity! 2 Corinthians 5:21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

2 major things happened: 1.You were marked with the Holy Spirit 2.You were included in Christ Ephesians 1: And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.

I am “the righteousness of God In Christ.” 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

BODY SOUL SPIRIT

BODY SOUL SPIRIT

Objectives By the end of this message, you will know that: Only Christ can complete you. How Christ completes you. How to be a secure, sufficient and significant whether you are single or married person.

Application Individuals: You need to know your identity in Christ. Couples: You need to know your identity in Christ, as individuals. Parents: You need to ground your children in their identity in Christ. Church: We need to know our corporate identity in Christ. He completes us and gives us security, sufficiency, and significance.

I am “the righteousness of God In Christ.” For every believer, here is the answer to the question: Who am I?