Take a moment right now and assess your life. Evaluate your needs. Go ahead… I’ll wait… Now whatever your current needs are, whatever seems to be lacking, I want to tell you that the supply is already there. Whether it is a physical need in your body, such as healing, or whether it is a financial need, a mental need such as peace of mind, or even a spiritual need; the supply is there. The supply was paid for and done long before you ever had the need; long before you have even existed on the earth, your need has been covered. Many times, we settle for mediocrity. We may receive one or two things from God, but then we think it is enough, we think that we have imposed upon Him too much already, or we simply accept things into our lives that are not needed… we tolerate things that need not be tolerated. There are many things that Jesus has paid to free us from that we have accepted as facts of life in our modern culture. I want to encourage you today that you don’t have to put up with these things any longer – there is a better way, made possible by Jesus Christ.
In our continuing study of who we are in Christ, one thing that tends to receive a lot of push-back from the traditionalists in the world today, is the truth that in Christ Jesus today, we are the manifestation of Him on the earth. We are the manifestation of Jesus to all of the people of the world today. This idea irritates those who believe that it is insolence to in any way liken ourselves to Jesus They believe that because He is so much greater than us, that it is an insult to even make any kind of comparison which connects Him with us. It may seem right to our human thinking, however, God Himself has a different idea than this traditionalist view. That’s why as we study today, we are going to be taking a look at precisely what Jesus has to say about Himself and us, and what our relationship to Him actually is. And by seeing this truth, we will no longer have this perceived distance between us and God any longer. We will be able to embrace our true nature in Him; and live in the truth that He wants us to live in.
God’s will for you is nothing short of perfection. That fact must be completely understood right from the very start. His will for you is perfect and that is exactly what He has given to you as a gift. Perfection. He has given you Himself. He has given you Jesus, and through Jesus, you are madeperfectly justified, perfectly righteous, perfectly redeemed, perfectly holy, perfectly whole and perfectly healed. He paid for these things to be yours in Christ, and for all of those that have received Jesus, this is actually your reality today, as amazing as that sounds. Why is it then that some never see this reality for themselves? Why is it that for some this reality seems to be nothing more than a fleeting wish. Why do some shrug it off as a fantasy. These are questions that many believers struggle with, these questions have even shipwrecked the faith of some people. And so we will be examining these questions today, and see what God’s Word says about them, in the light of the finished work of Jesus Christ, so that these questions will not stumble people any longer.
A common belief among the church is we should exhort each-other to holy living, which we commonly believe to be to stop committing sinful acts. This has actually caused a lot of confusion, resentment, bitterness and condemnation with many in the church due to the fact that it takes the center focus away from Christ and puts the focus back onto ourselves and our own works. It may surprise you to learn then that God has a completely different diagnosis and prescription for living a strong life in Christ (your holiness is actually already taken care of, as we have studied previously); but as for living a strong and solid life built on the foundation of Jesus Christ, the typical way in which the church body handles this is not only detrimental, but actually opposite to what scripture says! That's why, today in this study we will be examining from scripture what God says about living a strong life in Christ. How it happens, what can hinder it, and how we should react if we see someone else struggling (or ourselves!) and hint: it is not by pointing out their faults! If you have been wondering what the real Biblical solution is to strength for living, this study will reveal the “secret”.
Ask a group of believers how they see themselves and you will likely receive many different answers... Ranging from “I'm just a dirty rotten sinner saved by Grace.”, “I'm just a sheep following the Shepherd, to “I'm just a servant”. While all of these things have a certain element of truth, they all fall short of what the Bible says is our true identity in Christ, and it is this realization of this identity that can enable us to operate in the victory and authority which Christ has given to us. If we are not sure of our identity, we can never truly live with authority. A Police officer who is not aware of his identity will never make use of his authority to arrest criminals – even though the power has been given to him. Likewise, we as believers have been given authority from God Himself, but if we are not sure of our identity, we will never be able to make use of that power. So this is what we will be studying today.