If you are a ‘Follower of Christ’ – THAT is your IDENTITY! Remember... you'll never know WHO YOU ARE until you know WHO GOD IS! After all... it's not 'what you do' that determines 'who you are' - it's "WHO YOU ARE" that determines "WHAT YOU DO!"
Do you ever find it difficult living up to what God expects of you in your daily life? I do - and what a frustrating life that can be at times! No matter how hard any of us try to do what the Scriptures say - the 'Follower of The Way's' walk continues to be a challenge! Its demands are clear… ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ and ‘Love one another as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her.’ And WHAT does that LOVE look like exactly? ‘He laid down His Life!’ 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 actually explains this type of LOVE in a more descriptive fashion… ‘Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails…’ In reality… LOVING others like Christ can be a pretty daunting task! I mean… there appears to be no real way to measure up to these – or is there? On the outside a person might look and sound good to some - but on the inside there is a totally different story being told! Here’s what I mean… just like the physical identity described by the ID you would have pulled from a wallet or purse – the reality is that we also have spiritual IDENTITIES that describe WHO we are and WHAT we possess in the spiritual realm. Actually… the Bible contains several ‘before and after’ contrasts of WHO we were Before and WHO we are After being ‘IN CHRIST.’ When Christ is invited into a person's heart - a metamorphosis begins to take place. God refers to it as becoming a ‘new creation IN CHRIST!’ It's kind of like the caterpillar changing into a butterfly. The butterfly isn't a caterpillar with wings - it is a NEW Being with a NEW IDENTITY! The caterpillar is known for crawling on the earth with its many feet and eating leaves. The butterfly is known for being able to fly in the air – with wings of beauty. That old being is GONE and so is its IDENTITY! The caterpillar had no part in that process of change - its Creator did it all! And so the butterfly can never be a caterpillar again because God did away with the OLD creation and made a NEW creation! That same process of change occurs to every person who is ‘IN CHRIST!’ Your Old IDENTITY is gone and your New IDENTITY is eternal – this is HOW you can begin to CHANGE YOUR IDENTITY! Understanding that YOU have no real part in that CHANGE! It’s because of WHAT CHRIST has done IN YOU that enables YOU to MAKE THAT CHANGE! The ability to then… be LIKE CHRIST – living up to His standards!
This week in our IDENTiTY Series - we are taking a CLOSER LOOK at... WHAT YOU ARE TO DO NEXT! We'll be taking an in depth look into the Ministries of the CHURCH OF CELEBRATION and HOW they are strategically designed to better SHAPE your IDENTITY -- IN CHRIST! You'll hear words like GATHER - GROW - GIVE - GO! You'll better understand what BAPTISM is and WHY it's so important! You don't want to miss this week - our Exec Pastor (Give & Go Ministries) - MAT BALGAARD - is gonna BRING IT!!!
Don't Forget...
NEW TIMES (9AM & 10:45A) & NEW LOCATION (Maricopa Wells Middle School / 45725 W Honeycutt Ave)
No comments:
Post a Comment