SLIDE: A Letter to the Ephesians

 

SLIDE: Identity – “In Christ”  (sermon series title)

 

READ: Identity is often described as finite and consisting of separate and distinct parts (family, cultural, personal, professional, etc.), involving our genetics (biology), culture, loved ones, those we cared for, people who have harmed us and those we have harmed, the deeds done (good and ill) to self and others, experiences lived, and choices made come together to form who we are at this moment.

 

14 months, adolescence and 20-30 (last large change)

Identity crisis – Mid Life Crisis  – A BEARD

 

BRAD BIGLER – JAG ceremony Faith/Family

 

In Christ – 27xs  164xs in the letters of Paul

 

 

SLIDE:  The Apostle Paul

 

Paul has an identity change. (witness protection, identity theft)

 

He was a Pharisee.  Political. Educated.  Driven.  Intelligent.

 

letter to arrest and to kill people Christians.

 

Road to Damascus

 

A new identity – in Christ

 

SLIDE: Then Saul, who was also called Paul- Acts 13:9

 

Ephesians 1:3-14.

³ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. ⁴ For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love ⁵ he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— ⁶ to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. ⁷ In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace ⁸ that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.

 

SLIDE: to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.

 

SLIDE: BIG SCREEN-  Read Revelation 21.

 

Heaven and earth “ONE”.

sin is gone.

No sun  – Jesus at the center

 

Tension: ALREADY but NOT YET!

 

SoulCare – Life Groups – Young Moms gathering  10:00am Tuesday

 

We are now joining with Jesus in his work here

 

 

SLIDE: Praise (blessed) be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.  Ephesians 1:3

 

SLIDE: Berakah (Hebrew for Blessing)

 

1:3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” a

berakah (A Hebrew blessing).  WORSHIP – PRAYER

Barukh Attah Adonai Eloheinu Melekh ha-Olam

(“Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the Universe”).

 

How Jews found and preserved – their IDENTITY

Praise for Spiritual Blessings in Christ

 

 SLIDE: I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you. Ephesians 1:18-19

 

Heart– center of knowledge, understanding, thinking, wisdom. Mind will.

 

Enlightened –passive voice – done to you

 

EXAMPLE: identity is now in Christ

 

 

SLIDE:  FEET TO YOUR FAITH

 

SLIDE: when you heard the gospel

 

SLIDE:  Blessings in Christ – listed

 

REMEMBER THESE THINGS!

 

Identity in Christ is NOT about uniformity

 

Incredible diversity and differences and yet Christ is the connection

 

VISION FOR CITY CHURCH!

 

Robert Bellah, who is a sociologist at the University of California at Berkeley, and also head of the Center of Japanese and Korean Studies there. “We should not underestimate the significance of the small group of people who have a new vision of a just and gentle world. In Japan a very small minority of Protestant Christians introduced ethics into politics and had an impact beyond all proportion to their numbers. They were central in the beginnings of the women’s movement, labor unions, and virtually every reform movement.” Then he added: “The quality of a culture may be changed when two percent of its people have a new vision.”