skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Who Are You? by Frank Viola
http://frankviola.org/2013/02/25/whoareyou/
In Revise Us Again,
I argued at length that the Christian life is becoming who you already are.
In Ephesians, Paul says two times to
“speak the truth in love” to one another. In context, Paul is exhorting God’s
people to remind one another of who they are in Christ . . . to remind one
another about the new self into which they have been made . . . to remind one
another of their true identity. Something that’s all too easy to forget.
If you have received Jesus Christ as
Savior and Lord, here’s a list of who you really are. Marvel at the epic greatness of your Lord and what He has
done for you.
Receive it, remember it, and walk in
it . . .
You are complete in Christ who is
the Head of all principality and power (Colossians 2:10).
You have been crucified with Christ (Galatians
2:20).
You are dead to sin (Romans 6:2).
You have been made alive with Christ
(Ephesians 2:5).
You are free from the law of sin and
death (Romans 8:2).
You are born of God, and the evil
one does not touch you (1 John 5:18).
You are holy and without blame
before Him in love (Ephesians 1:4; 1 Peter 1:16).
You have been given the peace of God
that passes all understanding (Philippians 4:7).
You have the Greater One living in
you and greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4).
You have received the gift of
righteousness and reign in life by Jesus Christ (Romans 5:17).
You have received the spirit of
wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Jesus (Ephesians 1:17-18).
You can do all things through Christ
Jesus who strengthens you (Philippians 4:13).
You show forth the praises of God
who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9).
You are God’s child, born again of
the incorruptible seed of the Word of God (1 Peter 1:23; John 1:12).
You are God’s masterpiece, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works (Ephesians 2:10).
You are a new creature in Christ (2
Corinthians 5:17).
You are alive to God (Romans 6:11).
You are an heir of God and a
joint-heir with Christ (Romans 8:17).
You are more than a conqueror
through Him who loves you (Romans 8:37).
You have been brought near to God by
the blood of Christ (Ephesians 2:13).
You are beloved of God (1 John
4:10).
You are loved by the Father the same
way Jesus is loved by the Father (John 17:23).
You have been redeemed from the
curse of the Law (Galatians 3:13).
You have been justified from all
things (Acts 13:39).
You are now God’s offspring (1 John
3:2).
You are the salt of the earth
(Matthew 5:13).
You have been reconciled to God (2
Corinthians 5:18).
You have been accepted by God in the
Beloved Son (Ephesians 1:6).
You are kept by the power of God (1
Corinthians 1:8).
You are free in Christ (John 8:36;
Galatians 5:1).
You are in Christ’s hands out of
which no one can pluck you out (John 10:28).
You are in the Father’s hands out of
which no one can pluck you out (John 10:29).
You are an overcomer by the blood of
the Lamb and the word of your testimony (Revelation 12:11).
You are a partaker of His divine
nature (2 Peter 1:3-4).
You are part of a chosen generation,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a purchased people (1 Peter 2:9).
You are the righteousness of God in
Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:21).
You are the temple of the Holy
Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19).
You are the light of the world
(Matthew 5:14).
You are God’s elect, full of mercy,
kindness, humility, and longsuffering (Romans 8:33; Colossians 3:12).
You are forgiven of all sins and
washed in the blood (Ephesians 1:7).
You have been delivered from the
power of darkness and translated into God’s kingdom (Colossians 1:13).
You have put off the old man and
have put on the new man (Colossians 3:9-10).
You are healed by the stripes of
Jesus (1 Peter 2:24).
You are raised up with Christ and
seated in heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6; Colossians 2:12).
You have overcome the world (1 John
5:4).
You are greatly loved by God (Romans
1:7; Ephesians 2:4; Colossians 3:12; 1 Thessalonians 1:4).
You are strengthened with all might
according to His glorious power (Colossians 1:11).
You have not been given a spirit of
fear, but of love, power, and a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7).
You have Christ living inside of you
(Galatians 2:20).
You are a holy one (Colossians 1:2).
You are one spirit with the Lord (1
Corinthians 6:17).
You are holy, unreprovable, and
unblameable in His sight (Colossians 1:22).
You are a member of Christ’s holy
body (1 Corinthians 12:27).
You have been given all things that
pertain to life and godliness (1 Peter 1:3).
You are light in the Lord (Ephesians
5:8).
You have been given all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ (Ephesians 1:3).
You have been chosen in Christ
before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4).
You have been justified (just as if
you had never sinned) (Romans 5:1).
You are a branch on the true Vine
(John 15:1, 5).
You are born of God (1 John 5:18).
You have direct access to the throne
of grace through Jesus Christ (Hebrews 4:14-16).
You are free from condemnation and
you cannot be charged or indicted (Romans 8:1, 32-34).
You have been established, anointed
and sealed by God (2 Corinthians 1:21-22).
You are hidden with Christ in God
(Colossians 3:1-4).
You are a citizen of heaven
(Philippians 3:20).
You are at peace with God (Romans
5:1).
You have everlasting life (John 5:24).
You are kept by God’s power (1 Peter
1:5).
You are in Christ Jesus by God’s act
(1 Corinthians 1:30).
You cannot be separated from God’s
love in Christ (Romans 8:35-39).
You are fit to partake of His
inheritance (Colossians 1:12; Ephesians 1:14).
You are part of Christ’s bride that
He cherishes, bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh (Ephesians 5:29-32).
You are a king and priest unto God
(Revelation 1:6).
You have been sealed with the
promised Holy Spirit until the day of redemption (Ephesians 1:13; 4:30).
God will complete the good work that
He started in you (Philippians 1:6).
God is for you even when others are
against you (Romans 8:31).
Those Who Depart
September 12, 2012
“They went out from us,
but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt
have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made
manifest that they were not all of us.” (1 John 2:19)
One of the most hurtful
experiences in the life of a Bible believing fellowship is when an
ostensibly Christian leader, teacher, or pastor decides to abandon his
faith and even to teach against it. This sort of thing does happen all too often, and it obviously raises difficult questions.
Can a true believer, a teacher
of the Word, a soul-winner, actually lose his salvation? Can a
born-again Christian go back and be unborn? Can one who has received
everlasting life through faith in Christ not really have eternal life?
If so, what about the many promises which have assured us that “ye may know that ye have eternal life” (1 John 5:13) and that we “shall never perish” (John 10:28)?
The answer to this vexing
question is apparently in our text verse above. When such people, who
once seemed to be genuine Christians become apostates, denouncing the
truth they once taught, it is because “they were not of us” at all, no matter what they professed at one time.
This fact implies a sober
warning. When professing Christians fall away, assuming they have truly
understood the facts and evidences of the Christian faith, it is
impossible “to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame” (Hebrews 6:6).
How important it is, therefore, for all professing believers to “give diligence to make your calling and election sure” (2 Peter 1:10). We must be “rooted and built up in him” (Colossians 2:7), “ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear” (1 Peter 3:15). HMM
The Lord Jesus Christ
August 5, 2012
“Paul,
and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians which
is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace be unto you,
and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Thessalonians 1:1)
It
is significant that in this first verse of what may have been Paul’s
first inspired epistle, he twice identified the Son of God as “the Lord Jesus Christ,” thus giving Him the honor and recognition to which He is entitled.
Paul used this “full name”
of Christ at least 19 times in the two brief Thessalonian epistles, as
he often did also in his other epistles. Likewise James, in his first
verse, called himself “a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ” (James 1:1). Jude warned against any who would deny “the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ” (Jude 4). Peter began his first epistle with “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:3). The apostle John closed the last book of the Bible with the benediction: “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen” (Revelation 22:21).
In the New Testament epistles, He was also frequently called “Jesus Christ,” “Christ Jesus,” “the Lord Jesus,” “the Lord,” or simply “Christ.” Once He was called “the Lord Christ” (Colossians 3:24). It is significant, however, that He was never called merely by His human name “Jesus” except when the writer was referring strictly to His human incarnation. In the gospels, the name “Jesus” was used very often in relating His words and deeds, but never did His followers address Him as “Jesus.” Always when speaking to Him they addressed Him as “Lord” or “Master” (note John 13:13).
Perhaps
modern Christians are too careless when they speak or sing of Him or
pray to Him using only His human name. As Peter said, “God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36).
He is now our risen and glorified Lord Jesus Christ!
HMM by Henry Morris, Ph.D. |
http://www.icr.org/articles/type/6/
Posts
