Message 2: Identity

Key #1: A New Identity!

Around the world today God is raising up a new kind of Christian. This new Christian is doing incredible things in the power of the Holy Spirit that would have been unthinkable even a generation ago.

Listen to this story – as told by James Rutz in the bestselling book: Mega Shift –

“At six o’clock on an April evening in 2001, five year old Arjun Janki Dass died in New Delhi from an accidental electrocution.

His parents took him to a medial clinic where they worked on his body of ro two hours – without success. The doctor charged them 5,000 rupees (about $110) and told tthem to call a mortician.

Instead they called Rodrick at the nearby Deliverance Church. He then called upon Savitri, one of his staff members.

Savitri brought two other Christians to Arjun’s home, and the five of them began praying over the dead body about 10:00 PM. They prayed their hearts out for six hours. Then at 4:00 AM the next morning, Arjun snapped back to life – no brain damage, no problems.

Today he is a normal eight year old kids. I met with Savirtri, Arjun, and his mother, Mina, and the body is A-OK except for a nasty scar where the wire hit.

Savitri is a 60 year old widow, a ‘Dalit (untouchable) from the lowly Dom caste. She spent her life as a street sweeper, which made her, in the caste system, the lowest of the low. The broom was her livelihood, and she remains today a fine, humble lady, a former Hindu turned to Christ.

As we were parting, I asked Savitri through an interpreter, “How many resurrections have you been involved with in the six years you’ve been doing ministry?”

She answered quietly, “Sixteen.”

For a moment, my brain froze. Then I began to re-evaluate my life.

I would give you Savitri’s email address so your chould check her out for yourself, but she doesn’t have one. She can’t read.”

REFERENCE: http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=44416

WHAT would it be like to be involved with God’s work at this level?

All I know is that there are people rising up world-wide that God is using in this kind of new dimension of spiritual power to give testimony to a dying world that He really is the way, the truth and the life!

And I know, that if we are going to be involved with God in this we simply must go through a megashift in how we view everything.

NOW, to be fair, we’ve begun to see glimpses of God’s power in recent months:

• Numerous physical healings – backs, headaches, bruises, cancer
• Miraculous provision – where God provides for His church over and over again
• Changed hearts – where some of you were headed one direction and God got ahold of you and changed your heart!

BUT, where do we go from here? How do we go through this megashift?

We must adopt a new identity.

Proverbs 23:7 says: “For as a man thinks in his heart, so is he…” Proverbs 23:7

How you think about yourself, about God, about the Holy Spirit – totally impacts what you able to be involved with in the Kingdom of God!

All of our lives the world has been giving us an identity:
“Isn’t she beautiful…”
“He’s very creative…”
“You’re just like your father!”
“LOSER!”
“He’s a charmer!”
And on and on and on.

Virtually all of us view ourselves NEGATIVELY. We are our own worst critics.

“For as a man thinks in his heart, so is he…” –It is time Christian to begin to THINK DIFFERENTLY!

Let me tell what I’m not here to do today:
I’m not here to make your feel good.
I’m not here to stroke your fragile ego.
I’m not here to puff you up with meaningless motivational speeches.

I am here – however – to speak the truth in love, and to pray that the Holy Spirit would bring a spirit of revelation into your life that recreates your identity in Christ!

SO, WHAT IS YOUR TRUE IDENTITY IN CHRIST?

Let me answer that question by telling you that I’ve done some counting. And here’s what I’ve discovered:

• The Bible has 330 places where unsaved people are called sinners.
• The Bible has 240 places where saved people are called saints.
• And I found exactly ZERO places where saved people are called sinners!

Do we still sin? Yes. And when we do, do we know what to do about it? Yes. We repent and confess. But – get this – for this is the message in a nutshell: Sinner is not your true identity!
The true identity of a Christian is SAINT!

Read your Bible – look at the opening verses of Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Ephesians and Philippians – they all same the same thing: “To the SAINTS at…”

Now – make a decision: Is PAUL kidding around? Or do words have meaning?

And also you should note: Not one place in the Bible does anyone address believers as sinners!

If the Bible calls you a SAINT why would you demean it and yourself by denying it with the statement: “I’m just a sinner saved by grace!” Nonsense!

Jesus paid a hefty price to make you a SAINT. So smile and accept it. And get on with a life that reflects your true identity!

Some may be thinking: “C’mon Doug, this is just semantics.” No it isn’t! Answer this question: How many shining deeds of power and glory should we expect from a dirty, low-down good for nothing sinner? The label “Sinner” becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy!

But SAINT on the other hand – that’s different. What activities does a saint involve themselves in? Do they love? Do they believe? Do they work in things that last?

WELL, If Christ made me a SAINT – I ought to know what the word really means.

Romans 1:7 says that we were ‘called to be saints’ – what does that mean?

SAINTS - agiov hagios: That which is holy. Set apart. Selected for a special purpose.

Get this: Saints, in the New Testament, are never deceased individuals who have been canonized by the church and given sainthood. They are living individuals who have dedicated themselves to the worship and service of the one true God as revealed through his Son, Jesus Christ.

And – that is what you are. Period. End of discussion. This is the truth. Deal with it. Welcome to Sainthood.

NOW – HOW DO I EMBRACE THE SAINT IDENTITY?

There a number of issues – but I want to keep it simple today. I’ve got three things that really stand out to me. Here they are:
• Saints smell lies.
• Saints love truth.
• Saints love a good fight.
1. Saints smell lies.

Every time a negative, critical, self-defeating, self-limiting thought comes to you – from any source – sniff it out! It’s a lie. It’s not true. You are a SAINT and you are able in Christ to do the impossible!

Jesus said: “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.” John 14:12

The Bible says…“I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” Philippians 4:13

Which is why we must smell the lies.

The Bible says to…
“take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” 2 Corinthians 10:5

And this is what you must do in order to embrace the new identity!

Not only do saints smell lies, they also…

2. Saints love truth.

Saints understand that Christ meant it when He said…
“Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”” John 8:32

Truth is the native tongue of the Saints of God! We pursue truth with passion. Our hearts race when the truth is spoken and lived out. It excites us! Why? Because our hearts have been made good because of the truth! We have been set free from the lies and the deception and we are now in love with the truth!

And Saints tell the truth especially in the places where the lie is the prominent voice. Saints reject the culture and ‘conventional wisdom’ and are willing to come out of the crowd to speak and do according to the truth.

Which means to embrace your new identity as a Saint means that you turn from lies and embrace truth – at all costs!

And thirdly ---

3. Saints love a good fight.

Saints love to tango with the devil and take back the territory that belongs to God!

We fight – not with each other – but as Paul says:
“Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel” Philippians 1:27

And as we fight together – something happens:–
Our prayers change from hopeful wishing to praying believing and seeing the miraculous occur!
We are learning to silence the doubt and to genuinely speak faith into our lives and to those around us!
Our activities change from wishing people well, to doing the impossible in Christ’s name!

CONCLUSION:
Maybe you aren’t ready to tackle a resurrection – maybe you are! But you know there is far more of God available than you’ve experienced – and you know that your heart doesn’t leap when it hears someone say “I’m just a sinner saved by grace!” But your heart does leap when the truth is spoken – and here is the truth: IN Christ you are a SAINT!

To become an effective Christian in the 21st Century we need to allow God take us through this megashift on how we view ourselves. So let me help you with this right now.

Do you believe in Christ? Have you allowed Him access to your life? Are you a Christian?

Are you filled with the Holy Spirit? Are you empowered by Christ?

YES? THEN YOU ARE A SAINT OF GOD.

As a Saint of God – I hate lies. So right now I tell Satan to shut up in Jesus name.
As a Saint of God – I love truth. So, Holy Spirit, bring revelation to my life.
As a Saint of God – I love a good fight. So determine now to stand together – as one – in the Battle – believing that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!

Message 3: Empowerment

Key #2: A New Empowerment!

INTRODUCTION:
Dr. John Chacha is an evangelist to the Muslim World – listen to this story he tells:
"I began serving Jesus as a student. Once, I went with some other students to a
predominantly Muslim island to preach. We set up our loudspeakers and told the
people that we were there to tell them about Jesus. The Mullah immediately
began heckling. "We don't believe that Jesus was the Son of God, just a
prophet. Get off our island, or we will kill you. You have a few minutes to
pack up and leave." So we packed up, because none of us wanted to die. But the
Spirit of the Lord told me "Go back. If they cannot accept Jesus as the Son of
God, I have another idea." So we went back, set up the loudspeakers again, and
started to sing. The people came, but with stones in their hands, just waiting
to stone us. I told them "We are not here to tell you about Jesus the Son of
God, but about Jesus, the doctor!" "Jesus the doctor? OK, tell us about him,"
they said. I asked whether they had any sick. "Bring me a sick person. We will
pray for them in the name of Jesus. If they are healed, will you believe that
Jesus is the Son of God, crucified, risen and sitting at the right hand of
God?" "If your Jesus can do that, then he is not only the Son of God, he is God
himself!" they replied. They brought someone, but it was a shock for me. I had
been expecting someone with a headache or back pain, but they brought a blind
woman.
My faith almost vanished. I prayed "God, please let the earth open up and
swallow me." The other students started to vanish in the crowd, because I had
told them to make their escape. In this moment of my weakness, the Holy Spirit
said to me "Son, I am strong enough to defend my own Word. You do not need to
defend me. Your job is just to believe." So I just prayed a very simple prayer:
"God, open these blind eyes, so that these people recognise that Jesus is the
Son of God." The power of God came upon the woman, her eyes opened and she
shouted "I can see! I can see!" I started shouting, too! "The Bible works! The
Word of God is real!" The Mullah came to me, saying "We give you our mosque.
Please tell our people about Jesus, the Son of God!"

Source: Dr. John Chacha, web site www.teamworkministries.com

Today we are going to talk about this kind of POWER. Turn to Matthew 17:14

Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 4:20 some very important words.
“For the kingdom of God is not in word but in power.” 1 Corinthians 4:20 NKJV

The nature of God’s Kingdom is not WORD – but POWER. We live in a world that is filled with POWER STRUGGLES – and ultimately all power struggles have a common root: Who will be in charge – God or satan?

Today we speak the issue of…
POWER: The New Christian knows how to operate in the power of God, to do the impossible in order to be a witness for Christ!

I want you to turn to Matthew 17:14ff. We are going to see in this story – how the power of God is to be manifested in our lives and in our ministries.

“When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before him. “Lord, have mercy on my son,” he said. “He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him.” “O unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.” Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed from that moment. Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” He replied, “Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”” Matthew 17:14-20, NIV.

1. The NEED for power is great. v. 14-15

• A father brings his demon-possessed son to Jesus. It’s killing him. It’s destroying his life. This is the work of the enemy – stealing territory from God. Little boys aren’t supposed to be demon-possessed. That’s not God’s will.
• He brings him to Jesus – anticipating that Jesus has the power to do something about it.
• Has anything changed in our world today?
• Aren’t there people who are suffering in the hands of abuse, perversion, divorce, abandonment?
• Doesn’t pornography, sexual perversion, child molestation and rape seem to increase every year?
• Don’t you know people – in your sphere of influence – who need God’s power to change their lives – to bring them to freedom – to heal their brokenness?
• Is it God’s will that the enemy possesses so much of His territory? No, it isn’t.

The NEED for power is great. It is obvious. It is glaring. POWER is needed in order to change the world.

Now, we read in verse 16 that this father had already brought the boy to the disciples of Jesus – but they weren’t able to help him.
2. Those who SHOULD HAVE the power don’t. v. 16
“I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him.” v. 16

Imagine the frustration of that father – he brings his boy to the disciples of Jesus – anticipating something good, and gets nothing. Can you feel his sense of despair? His sense of loss – ‘Aren’t you the men who have been with Jesus? Can’t you help me where I really need the help?

In the early 20th century the dominant churches in America turned away from the authority of scripture. They decided – thanks in large part to the dean of Princeton Seminary – Benjamin Warfield, that God didn’t do miracles. God didn’t heal. That the signs and wonders, miracles, prophecies, tongues and healings of the New Testament – all stopped when the last Apostle died at the end of the 1st century.

And the church bowed down at the throne of modern science and rationalism, and left the power of God behind. If you take away the power of God from the people of God, all you have left is a group of people who spend their time ‘wishing’ things were different:
• “Gosh, I’m sorry you are sick. I sure hope you get feeling better.”

The very people who should have the power – don’t! And millions of people have turned away from Christianity because they don’t see what possible good it would do to be a Christian if all it is is a set of religious beliefs and hopeful wishing.

The NEED is great. Those who SHOULD HAVE the power don’t – so the father goes directly to Jesus.
Look at verse 17-18
“O unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.” Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed from that moment.” V. 17-18

3. Christ’s power MEETS the need. v. 17-18
Do you see Jesus’ frustration? He calls his disciples ‘unbelievers’ – He says that they are ‘perverse’ – the word ‘perverse’ means ‘to have strayed away from the right path’ or ‘to oppose the plans of God’ – These very men that Jesus has taught and invested in, lack the faith to see what God would have them do to meet the need.

So, Christ cannot stand idly by. He intervenes in power. He casts out the demon and heals the boy. How? Through a power encounter between Himself and the enemy.

Do you know what a ‘power encounter’ is?
A power encounter occurs when the people of God – lead by the Holy Spirit – come up against any activity of satan and seek to take back what rightfully belongs to God and His Kingdom.

Jesus sees the effect of satan, and goes after it – reclaiming the little boy for the glory of God the Father! And as God’s people – we are to do the same thing. This is what is needed in our 21st century world.

But do you know how to operate in the power of God? And if not, why not?

4. What’s our problem? V. 19-20a
What do we lack? What are we missing?

Look at verse 19:
“Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” He replied, “Because you have so little faith.” V. 19-20a

“Because you have so little faith.”

Yes, we believe the right things for salvation. Our theology is sound. We’ve got the fundamentals down – but – to move into a new level of empowerment and effective ministry – we need a new kind of faith – a purer, faith.

Let me explain: We are all products of our culture, our environment, our families and our nation. As Americans we learned from an early age that SCIENCE and REASON were the final arbiters of what is right and what is possible. And I’m grateful for SCIENCE and REASON – but they aren’t the final answer.

As Christians – we must come to see that GOD transcends and is not limited by the so-called laws of science and the ability of man to reason. If God cannot work outside the bounds of man’s understanding of science and ability to reason – than God becomes subject to science and reason. Which makes science and reason greater than God.

And, when we as people come to see that God is larger than science and able to do things that we cannot wrap our minds around – we will begin to BELIEVE at a level that enables us to cooperate with Him in doing the miraculous!

Yet, to be a Christian is to believe in the supernatural. Without the supernatural, Christ stayed in the grave – and your faith is in vain. If God is able to raise His Son from the dead – for His purposes – can’t He raise the dead, heal the sick and free the captives today for His glory!

This requires a major shift in our thinking and a willingness to go beyond the bounds of all of our training and experience.

The disciples were unable to help the boy because they didn’t believe they could. We don’t operate in the power of the Holy Spirit because we don’t believe we can. It’s that simple.

Yet – there’s hope. God isn’t finished.

Paul wrote:
“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:2

The world and its prince wants you to be conformed to it’s ideas. They want you to be cynical and jaded and small.

God wants you to be transformed to what’s really real. And as you are transformed – you will be empowered to know and to do God’s will in this sick and desperate world.

That’s what happened in the lives of Jesus’ disciples and that’s what can happen to us!

Look at the next part of verse 20 – for Jesus says…
5. Faith makes the impossible, POSSIBLE. V. 20b
“I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” V. 20b

A lot of people have misused this verse. They’ve used it to teach and practive a ‘name-it-and-claim-it’ form of Christianity where they say that if you have enough faith – nothing bad will happen to you in this life. That you’ll never suffer financially, emotionally or physically.

That is not what Jesus is saying.

Get this in the context of the verse: Faith can move mountains IF the mountain needs moving in order to accomplish God’s will!

The boy NEEDED freedom from the domain of darkness. Faith can cast out the enemy – faith can bring deliverance! Why do we know this? Because it is God’s will that everyone find salvation in Christ and that every area that satan has stolen be reclaimed for the glory of God.

Jesus isn’t talking about using FAITH as a tool for selfishness – He is talking about using FAITH to retrieve what belongs to Him and to advance His purposes!

If your life sold out to advancing God’s kingdom – your faith will move anything that gets in the way of that!

CONCLUSION:
Listen to these words from 1 John 5:4-5 –
“For every child of God defeats this evil world by trusting Christ to give the victory. And the ones who win this battle against the world are the ones who believe that Jesus is the Son of God.” 1 John 5:4-5 NLT

It’s time to stop believing blindly what we’ve been told by our culture and to open up to the possibilities that faith brings to our lives – in order that our lives will be involved with God in taking back what belongs to Him.