Identity Matters Booklet

IOM HEADQUARTERS P.O. Box 71 109 N. Broadway Sterling, KS 67579 602-292-2982 ChristAsLife@IOMAmerica.org

THE BOOKLET

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Note From The Author Dr. Stephen R. Phinney

6:6; 10:13; 12:1; 1 Cor. 1:30; 6:13; 9:27; 2 Cor. 4:10; 5:17-2; Gal. 2:20; 5:1; Eph. 1:4, 6; 4:17-18; Phil. 4:6-7; Col. 1:13; 2:10; 1 Thess. 5:23; Heb. 4:12; 13:8; 1 John 5:13; Rev. 3:20. *Pages 10-22 were written and carefully constructed by Dr. Phinney and Dr. Jim Fowler. Dr. Fowler is a world known theologian on matters of Christ in the believer— also a friend and mentor to Dr. Phinney.

Friends of the Ministry, It is with great honor and privilege that we are able to share with you the booklet “My Identity In Christ.” The content of this booklet was taken from one of my latest books, my autobiography—”Why The Boy Cried Wolf.”

Indwelt Christians are a new creation. The born-again believer has been given a regenerate spirit – that of Christ Jesus. The “old-self,” or “old nature,” has been crucified with Christ and is to be considered dead and gone. Meaning and purpose in life should now flow from this new identity. It is the believer’s role to demonstrate the very Life of Christ through our mind, will, and emotions and body. It is in and through our new identity that believers have a new intimacy, indwelt obedience, dependence and love relationship with Christ from within.

If there is anything in which indwelt believers should praise God, it should be our new-found identity in Christ. This booklet could be used to lead someone to Christ for Salvation, or simply to lead them to the Cross for appropriation of identification in Christ. Most believers wander around in Christianity - like the children of God in the wilderness – not experiencing the fruit of the Holy Spirit in and through them. When we walk after the flesh, it becomes our most critical moment of understanding who we are in Him. Most of the time, it is a simple case of the believer just not knowing the Truth—this booklet will reveal this.

Our Ministry Purpose Statement: To help members of the body of Christ to experience, mature in, and communicate effectively the message of identification with Christ in His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension in their various spheres of influence.

Our primary objective is to equip individuals for the purpose of building up the Body of Christ and to assist in empowering men, women, children, and families to have a greater impact on the communities they serve. This is accomplished by making use of the experiential knowledge of each individual’s identity in Christ by way of the indwelling mind and life of Jesus.

We press forward to show individuals worldwide their freedom from enslaving mental, emotional, and spiritual conflicts by placing a special emphasis on IDENTITY MATTERS. It is my hope that you take the time to read through this booklet, read the daily Scriptures recommended, and consider going through the full conference.

The content of this booklet has been extracted from the book “Why The Boy Cried Wolf, A Personal Journey Into The Exchanged Life,” by Dr. Stephen Phinney *You have permission to make copies of this booklet for classroom or educational use. It is also agreed that you will copy it in its entirety.

You can also find the following online: www.IOMAmerica.org

Identity Matters Conference 

Educational Videos On Each of the Identity Matters Message



Audio Messages On Each Message

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A Workbook Containing Personal Studies On Each Topic

Conference Bookings, call: 602-292-2982

FOR THOSE WHO LIVE IN CENTRAL KANSAS: You can attend a church fellowship, pastored by Dr. Phinney, that teaches these Identity Matters truths on a weekly basis.

HEARTLAND FAMILY FELLOWSHIP 111 N. Broadway Sterling, KS 67579 602-292-2982 Each Sunday, 9:00—11:30 am

Within Christ, Dr. Phinney’s Bio: click here

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IDENTITY MATTERS

IDENTITY MATTERS

Day by Day

Commit to reading one verse a day!

Colossians 4:2

1 Thess. 5:17

1 Timothy 2:1-3

Once I began to appropriate my true identity in Christ, these fears began to have less of a hold on my daily living. I had to continue to make choices to listen to the voice of the Lord in me and then choose to walk in what He says is true about me.

This is not a one-time occurrence but a daily reckoning myself dead to my flesh and alive unto Christ Jesus.

ACTION STEPS: 1. Pray before you go any further with this action page.

2. Write out a statement about how your emotions determine whether or not you are having a good day.

James 1:5-6

James 5:16

3. Write out a summary statement how your life experience would change if you lived according to Christ’s Life within you.

Also, write out what He says is true about you vs. what your flesh continues to say.

4. In your own words, answer these questions: What did you learn about yourself, what does it mean to be “IN” Adam, what did you learn about sin, are you a sinner or a saint, and what does it mean to be “IN” Christ?

5. Re-write Galatians 2:20, replacing the “I” with your name.

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Identity Really Does Matter

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Christ Choosing You

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The Power Of The Cross

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The Cross Is Not A Religion

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Be Careful With The Term—Co-crucifixion

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Taking Up Your Cross

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Symbolic Cross vs. The Real Cross

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Rejecting The Mystical Cross

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The Cross Is Empty

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Christ Working Through You

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Fear of God vs. Fear of Man

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Perfect Love Casts Out Fear

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Fear In The Author’s Life

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It’s Your Choice

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More Resources

1 Corinthians 1:30

2 Corinthians 5:20

6. Write a summary statement why what Christ says about you will affect your soul and body.

1 John 3:22

Ephesians 3:19

7.Pray the “Self-Life Prayer” in the appendix section of this workbook.

Study these verses: Prov. 3:7-8; John 5:24; 8:32; 10:28; Rom. 5:12;

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Galatians 2:20

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IDENTITY IDENTITY MATTERS MATTERS

Dayby byDay Day Day

Identity Really Does Matter FINDING LIFE & MEANING IN THE SHEPHERD

Colossians 1:27

I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. (Galatians 2:20 NASB)

Colossians 3:3-4

1 Peter 2:9-10

1 Peter 1:4

1 John 3:24

1 John 4:17

Indwelt Christians are a new creation. The born-again believer has been given a regenerate spirit – that of Christ Jesus. The “old-self,” or “old nature,” has been crucified with Christ and is to be considered dead and gone. Meaning and purpose in life should now flow from this new identity. It is the believer’s role to demonstrate the very Life of Christ through our mind, will, and emotions and body. It is in and through our new identity that believers have a new intimacy, indwelt obedience, dependence and love relationship with Christ from within.

If there is anything in which indwelt believers should praise God, it should be our new-found identity in Christ. This lesson could be used to lead someone to Christ for Salvation, or simply to lead them to the Cross for appropriation of identification in Christ. Most believers wander around in Christianity - like the children of God in the wilderness – not experiencing the fruit of the Holy Spirit in and through them. When we walk after the flesh, it becomes our most critical moment of understanding who we are in Him. Most of the time, it is a simple case of the believer just not knowing the Truth.

Our old life is gone, but our condition does not always line up with this truth. The believer seems to fall back on the trash left behind by the “old nature” and thus, produces fruit unto death. Meaning and purpose in life flow from identity. By faith in Jesus Christ, God has transferred us into Christ very life – eternal life. Our purpose is to demon-

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The doctrines of identity within this message are critical for the indwelt believer to embrace. Paul is actually telling us that he isn’t the one doing the things that he hates, but sin that is housed in his mortal body (flesh). He is revealing a clear understanding of his identity (who he really is), as well as the nature of sin dwelling within his body. He is separating himself from his sin in the most literal way possible. God has revealed to him that there is nothing good in his flesh – trash left behind by the old nature. Even though it sounds like Paul refuses to take responsibility for his choosing sin, he is actually confessing one of the most profound Truths of identity – I am not my sin.

Needless to say, my life became a life of attempting to live up to the standard of the Law (of God and man), confessing with my selfish behavior that the Law was good - at least in the sense that the Law could be fulfilled through self-effort. The big problem with that kind of “stinky thinking” is that the one who breaks the Law has to be punished with the letter of the Law. This is why “fear involves punishment” (1 John 4:18).

The law of sin (in our mortal bodies) constantly pushes up through the body into our emotions, forces itself into our will, and ultimately, wages war against the law of our mortal minds. By resisting the Holy Spirit (who resides in our regenerated spirit), we thus agree that the law of sin has more power than that of Christ within. This is why it is such a horrific sin to submit to the law of sin and death over the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.

To be able to say that the reality of two-thirds of our earthly triune is mastered by sin, is actually the principle which leads us to being thankful to and through Jesus Christ for understanding the identity war within the true believer.

Once the hand of resistance goes up between the Spirit and the mind of man, the human mind will default to inferiority, insecurity, inadequacy, guilt, worries, doubts, fears, which are quick to dump into the mortal body as “selfish behavior.”

It is the believer’s choice to walk after the flesh or to live in their true identity in Christ! Review the diagram ID-106 and notice the differences between the soul and body walking after the flesh and the free flowing Life of Christ by those who choose to walk in and after the Spirit. Walking after the flesh is choosing to believe that our thoughts, feelings, and appearance define who we are – behavior flows from identity. On the other hand, walking in and after the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus is choosing to believe God’s indwelling Word (Life of Christ) to direct the soul and body in living righteousness. Changes need to take place in the mind and then, in the choosing. Then, they will affect the body.

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IDENTITY MATTERS

Christ is God, we can make a clear statement about 1 John 4:16:

Day by Day

It is now we can paraphrase this passage in this way:

Colossians 4:2

strate, or live out, the very life of Christ by having an intimate, obedient, dependent, love relationship with Him.

IDENTITY MATTERS

Day by Day

We have come to know and have believed in Christ which God has for us. Since God is love, and the one who abides in Christ abides in God, and God, through Christ Jesus, abides in him.

1 John 5:20

Let’s review John 15:5 regarding abiding in Christ: "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. (Joh 15:5) 1 Thess. 5:17

Putting the two passages together in a paraphrase we can see this: I am about the Father’s support (ampelos), you are the limb or growth (klema) that comes forth from Me and that places Me in you, because of this, you can bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.

1 Timothy 2:1-3

James 1:5-6

James 5:16

1 John 3:22

The answer for me was not to “accept the fact that I am loved

by God” but rather it is in accepting Christ, who is love, into my mortal being - salvation. To many it is a “play on words” but to me it is the difference between Life and selfishly endeavoring to find “love.”

FEAR IN MY LIFE The fear in my life would block Christ in me to live out His Life through me and this resulted in “me being me through me.”

Even though I was a born-again indwelt Christian, Satan would use these fears to form in me a covert rebellion that would certainly rise up against the mind of Christ in me. Thus I found myself “doing the very thing I hate.” The simple fact is: when we put our hand up in resistance (by not allowing the Spirit of Life to renew our minds), we begin doing the things that we “hate.” These things we do not want to do, are seeds of sin leftover from the Adamic nature that was crucified with Christ on the Cross.

“For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.

But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good” (Romans 7:15-16).

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Proverbs 12:5

Jeff Brugman Family (Board Adviser) In this diagram, we explain the unsaved fallen nature of man as a spiritual, psychological, physical being, and introduce the significance of the formation of the self-life. Please note the following:

Proverbs 23:7

1. Every person is born into sin through the Adamic nature – fallen man.

2. All humans are born with a body, soul (mind, will, and emotions) and a spirit.

3. Due to being born into sin, the spirit of man is dead (detached) to God. We call this the un-regenerate man (the spirit is not generated or empowered with life). Like a broken generator that should power a building, man has no power source to live life.

4. Every person IS a spirit, HAS a soul, and LIVES IN a body.

Romans 8:6

Romans 12:2

5. Meaning and purpose for life flows from the spirit of man – dead or alive. This is how the self-life is formed.

6. God designed man to be born dead, in order that each human would seek to experience life and fulfilment from His Son. [In the above illustration, Christ is on the outside of man.]

7. All humans will build their lives upon their identity. In this case, it is the old nature – fallen man. The old nature is

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2 Cor. 4:16—18

IDENTITY MATTERS

owned and empowered by Satan. This is why unsaved people go to Hell if Christ does not come to indwell them.

Day by Day

8. Fallen man has no other choice but to build and expand their identity upon their dead state: seek gods, a darkened mind, choices of sin, emotions damaged by their fallen state, and attempts to find identity in how their body looks.

Philippians 4:8

9. The primary place of identity formation is in the mind, will, and emotions.

10. The person can associate with Christ and His teachings, but until the spirit is generated by Christ indwelling him – it is all for NOT. Colossians 3:10

1 Thess. 5:21

James 5:12

In the above diagram (ID-100), we learned about the model of fallen man. The illustration in diagram ID-101 gives us understanding as to how all persons became sinners – through their descent from Adam. Sin travels through the seed of man, NOT the blood. This why there was NO sin found in Jesus’ mortal body, for He had been conceived through the seed of God by way of the Holy Spirit. Man is born with sin and in sin, due to the seed of Adam becoming corrupt after The Fall. Therefore, all mankind is born dead to God and alive to the enemy – Satan. This is why people go to Hell if they don’t receive Christ. Note the following:

The word “love” is one of those words the emergent Christian world has twisted into being some kind of lukewarm catch all for acceptance but 1 John tells us something completely different:

2. We are all born “IN” Adam and received his nature and consequences.

We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

(1Jn 4:16)

3. The dash line next to the pathway line to Hell is illustrative of our grandparents dating back to Adam – seed to seed.

Since to most accurate definition of “love” is “God,” we can now put the passage of 1 John 4:18 this way:

4. Being in Adam means: receiving spiritual death, receiving his nature to sin, and having the identity of a sinner.

1 Kings 18:21

Since I did not understand the true meaning of love, fear began to punish me by forming in me a belief that I had to pay for my own sins. Also, this is why I searched to find “love” in all the wrong places.

Since meaning and purpose comes from our identity, it is critical that we know who is at the driving force of our identity – the enemy or Christ. If the man is unsaved as depicted in the above diagram, we can expect nothing less that behavior that support such an identity.

1. This line diagram can be used to lead others to Christ.

Joshua 24:15

emotionally freeze up when around people – that progressed well into my early years of ministry. One time remembering being asked to give my testimony. I told the pastor I would tell my story only if he put me behind a pulpit where the audience couldn’t see my knees shaking and place a glass of water at the pulpit for my dry mouth – a shame though, my hands were shaking too much to take a sip of the water! Interesting note: that night my fear was interpreted as humility and several youth came to know Christ (Rom. 8:28).

5. By birth, we are related spiritually and physically to Adam and under the sentence of death spiritually, psychologically and physically.

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There is no being forced into alarm or fright through terror in God, but the perfect God casts out phobias and terror of men and Satan, because terror involves self-payment of sin, and the one who lives in terror is not perfected by God in Christ Jesus.

One final connection I would like to make is – since “God is love” and Jesus

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IDENTITY MATTERS

Day by Day

authority figure is formed.

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. (1Jn 4:18)

Colossians 4:2

1 Thess. 5:17

1 Timothy 2:1-3

James 1:5-6

James 5:16

1 John 3:22

6. All are on their way to Hell and go past eternal life (Life of Christ), unless they are transferred over into the Life of Christ through Salvation.

If it wasn’t for the pastor on the day of my salvation making it clear to me the condition of my fallen state in Adam – I would never have come to embrace my need for the exchanged life – my life for His. All the identity stuff I was warring with; feeling stupid, retarded and any other Adamic label that I was carrying around, was actually true about my fallen state.

These identity statements came not from my family and school mates, but from my Natural Man. They may have been empowered by those around me but Truth being said, God needed these identity labels to lead me to a new identity in His Son.

The Greek word for fear in this passage is “phobos,” which is where we get the English word “phobia.” The primary definition of this word is “to force one into alarm or fright by use of terror.” The word “punishment” is “kolasis,” which is to “inflict torment or to force self-payment for one’s own sin.”

This kind of fear (phobos) was embedded in my life growing up. My mother spoiled me due to the dynamics of being a “bubble boy.” The only kind of discipline I remember from her was when she was upset and that was usually in the form of the back of her hand. Most likely due to her lack of Godly training and her abuse from her father, she was unable to develop in her children a proper fear (reverence) for authority.

Adding to that, my father spent most of their marriage physically abusing her, which obviously resulted in a lack of respect for the role of a father and husband. My poor mother was doomed to form “phobos” into her children. As for me, the consequences of this was a deep seeded struggle with terror, of man and God. This fear became so intense that I spent the majority of my childhood suffering all types of fear, which resulted in what the world classifies as anxiety attacks – the fear of having a fear reaction. This fear caused me to stutter, tremble and mentally/

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IDENTITY MATTERS Day by Day

Matt. 7:13-14

Matt. 26:41

Acts 4:19

Romans 6:16

Everything that was true about the fallen state of Adam was true about me – plain and simple. I was on my way to Hell because of these realities. I was in need of a new life, a life that could only come by being transferred out of Adam’s life into Christ’s Life – even this could only come by His choice and not mine.

Did you know that people do NOT choose Christ, but rather Christ chooses them (John 15:16). This is an impossible thought to embrace without the power of the Holy Spirit revealing it to the person. As stated before, all are born in Adam and doomed to Hell. In the illustration coming up (ID-102), we see that the pathway is interrupted by Christ introducing Himself to the candidate of being a bridal member of Christ.

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Romans 6:1-6

Galatians 5:16

IDENTITY MATTERS

Day by Day

Galatians 6:7-8

Philippians 4:8

2. Christ’s Life and heritage is the believer’s by spiritual rebirth (1 Cor. 15:22).

3. Jesus did not come to make bad people good, but to make dead people alive.

4. Christ’s Life is eternal and never changes - past, present, and future (Heb. 13:8).

5. The chosen believer is actually removed from being “in Adam” and placed “into Christ” for eternity – the key word is “transferred.”

1 Timothy 6:11

6. In the Greek, the word “transferred” emphasizes removal – permanently taken out. God removed us from Adam and graft us into Christ’s very life.

7. Once transferred from Adam into Christ, “Everything is new about the believer.”

James 1:6-8

8. The only thing that carries over with our bodies is the sin, or trash - the Adamic heritage left behind. That, too, will be renewed upon our physical death.

9. The flesh (trash left behind) resides in our mortal bodies, but God has use for it. By choosing righteousness from within, against the desires of the flesh, the believer experiences the power of the Cross (Phil. 2:12).

2 Corinthians 5:21

Day by Day

John 14:13-14

Note the following: 1. Christ chooses us, but we respond to His touch.

Colossians 3:2

IDENTITY MATTERS

Colossians 1:13-14 tells us: “For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” This action of being transferred is the greatest act of exchange in all eternity. We are not only put in the Life of Christ, but He puts our Adamic nature to death through His crucifixion with Him – that we share in being crucified with Him (Gal. 2:20). Once the transference is complete (bornagain), we are given a brand new past, present, and future that of Jesus’ past, present, and future. This is why it is possible and a reality to be crucified, buried, resurrected, and raised with Him.

10. The believer’s eternal life began when he was graft into Christ’s Life. Being born-again IN Christ means: receiving

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fear that leads us to the knowledge of God and a fear that leads us into the likeness of Satan. Allow me to explain.

John 15:7

The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of the LORD are true; they are righteous altogether. (Psa 19:9) The word fear in the Old Testament is used in three separate ways “aymah” (what happens when there is no mother), “yara” (the hand you see, reverence) and “arats” (hook clearly seen). When you combine the meanings of these three definitions, you have the following:

John 16:23-24

The hook in the man is clearly seen when he is not disciplined and shown reverence of authority by the hand of his mother because she cannot be found.

Eph. 1:15-16

In studying the topic of “fear” it is easy to see from the Hebrew that both types of fear are firmly implanted in the child through the mother – not the father. All three Hebrew words are feminine derivatives. It was customary in the Hebrew culture for the mother to build into the child a proper fear of their father and God himself. Most cultures have twisted this original premise Eph. 6:18 into a teaching that fear comes from the directives of the father.

Women are given the same responsibilities in family life that the Holy Spirit has been given in the believer – one being, forming fear in the child of the father. When the mother is not present or she refuses to instruct the child effectively, the child inherits the second kind of fear – being hooked by the man. This clearly sets the child up for the “dread” (Strong’s # 6202) of authority Philippians 1:9-11 figures. Because of this dread, the fear of punishment from an

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IDENTITY MATTERS

the Holy Spirit (His Life), being sanctified by His Life, and functioning in and through the identity of Jesus.

Day by Day

Day by Day

1 John 3:18

1 John 5:2

1 Sam. 12:23

Matt. 7:8

Hebrews 12:15

renewal of MIND that Christ provides, as He flows from the Spirit and into the human mind. Once that happens, the WILL then chooses to process the thoughts of Christ as Truth. Since the EMOTIONS always support what the will decides, excitement of renewal flows into the BODY. This is how we get Christ as Life behavior.

All the things God says are true about us, and come from the Life and mind of Christ from within. Unless we use our mind, will, and emotions to “allow” or release the Spirit, we end up living off of our own thoughts, choosing our own way, having defiled emotions, and fulfilling the desires that are embedded in our body. What Paul said to the Romans (in chapter 7), left them with a deep understanding and clarity about what is really going on within us when we do things we really don’t want to do.

“For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.

But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good” (Romans 7:15-16).

Matt. 21:22

FEAR OF GOD VS. THE FEAR OF MAN: One of my greatest struggles throughout my childhood that carried over into my walk as an indwelt believer is being in bondage to not only to fear but fear itself. I certainly understand how this stronghold could reside in my childhood but how, and why, did it carry over into my life as a believer?

Mark 11:22-25

IDENTITY MATTERS

I have done enough Biblical study on the topic of fear to know that God has built into our human frailty two kinds of fear – a

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Prov. 6:30-31

These precise truths were not shown to me that day I received Christ as my savior. For some reason, I did not make the connection that I was completely taken out of Adam’s life and placed in Christ’s Life. I continued to function as if the two lives were somehow miraculously blended into one life – a theological blunder many new converts suffer under. It is because of this deception that a new convert blends the identities of both the old and new Natures into one identity.

Diagram ID-103 further explains the position of the believer’s identity in Christ. As depicted, the Romans 6:6 passage speaks of the “old self” being crucified with Jesus. The diagram goes on to reveal that the indwelt believer is buried and raised with Him. The most significant principle being revealed here is the believer’s position – seated at the right hand of God in Christ. When behavior comes from position and not condition, victory is sure to be experienced. There are three ways converts can view life: “hanging on the Cross” (poor me), sitting in the tomb (darkness and despair), and seated at the right hand of God (seeing all of life from God’s perspective). Many teach this passage as if it is something to come, once we go to Heaven. The Truth being said: it is a position the indwelt believer is given upon the moment of Salvation.

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Ezekiel 33:14-16

Matthew 5:23-26

Matthew 6:14-15

Matthew 18:21-22

IDENTITY MATTERS

finished!" (John 19:30).

Day by Day

Mark 11:25-26

Luke 7:47

For a believer to be able to know the reality of position in Christ, each believer would then be able to adopt their new past, present and future in Christ.

UNDERSTANDING THE POWER OF THE CROSS Romans 12:17

2 Cor. 5:18-20

Galatians 6:1-2

Ephesians 4:32

The death of Jesus Christ on a cross is an important truth of the Christian gospel. In fact, it is crucial to the gospel, the crux of the message, if we might employ additional English words derived from the Latin word crux, from which we also derive the English word "cross."

In His death on the cross Jesus was taking the death consequence of sin for all mankind. Here is why‌ This He could do in that He was the sinless Savior enacting a consequential spiritual commonality with the whole human race to provide LIFE. The first man, Adam, had enacted a far-reaching spiritual disarray, when by his sin all men died spiritually (Rom. 5:12), were constituted "sinners" spiritually (Rom. 5:19), and were condemned (Rom. 5:18) to everlasting death.

God had originally told Adam in the Garden, "In the day that thou eat from it - the tree of the knowledge of good and evil - "you will surely die" (Gen. 2:17). The consequence of sin was death in its various spiritual (separated from God), psychological (effects on man) and physical forms (body would die daily).

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And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God. Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; but we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory; (1Co 2:1-8)

IDENTITY MATTERS Day by Day

1 Thess. 2:8

1 Tim. 1:5

The indwelt is who He says He is in and through the believer!

The individual who is NOT indwelt by Him will not only fall short in understanding this mystery but will consider it foolishness.

But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, THAT HE WILL INSTRUCT HIM? But we have the mind of Christ. (1Co 2:14-16)

James 4:17

1 Peter 1:22

CHRIST WORKING THROUGH YOU Our next diagram has become the clearest and most used in explaining what it looks like to walk in and after the Holy Spirit. It all starts with Christ placing Himself at the very core of the believer. Our Lord purified, redeemed, and perfected one third (1/3) of our being. Jesus, through representation of the Holy Spirit, is able to live and function in righteousness in and through the believer. Walking after the flesh is choosing to believe that our thoughts, feelings, and appearance define who we are.

In our next diagram, ID-105, we will see the details of a believer walking after their flesh. We will discover it truly is possible to walk after and in the Spirit, by choosing to believe the

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1 Peter 4:8

1 John 2:5

IDENTITY MATTERS

Day by Day

John 15: 10, 13

God" (1 Cor. 1:18). The "good news" of the gospel is not the "power of the cross," but the "power of God,“ demonstrated on and through the Cross, as Paul also wrote in Romans 1:16.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. (Rom 1:16) What really does it mean to be ashamed of the gospel? If one is ashamed of the Gospel, what does that communicate about the power of God? What does “self-effort grace” look like?

Romans 13:8, 10

1 Cor. 13:4-8a

Galatians 6:10

Eph. 4:1-3

Eph. 5:9

Anything, other than recognition of God's power of grace in the "finished work" of Jesus Christ, will inevitably be some kind of self-effort that makes void the cross of Christ (1 Cor. 1:17). Paul continues in his correspondence with the Corinthians to declare that "we preach Christ crucified" (1 Cor. 1:23), and are "determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified" (1 Cor. 2:2). Later, to the Galatians, he explains that he will boast in nothing "except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Gal. 6:14, NKJV).

Boast in this - proclaim only that Jesus Christ had performed everything necessary for our redemption on the cross and continues to perform everything necessary in the indwelt Christian life by His grace. Whenever we read of the "cross" or "Christ crucified," we should always think of the "finished work" of Christ, the completion of which He exclaimed during that historical event on that material cross. That is the good news of the Gospel.

The proclamation of the "finished work" of God in Christ, whereby God has done and is doing everything necessary for man's salvation, including sanctification, will always be regarded as a mystery, or theory, by natural man – the unsaved. It is contrary to all the conventional wisdom of the world, which believes that we must be the cause of our own effects (existentialism) and that which is worth having should be worked for. Proclaiming the "finished work" of God in Christ deals a "deathblow" to the human pride of personal performance. That "deathblow" was dealt when Jesus died on the cross and exclaimed just prior to His imminent death, "It is

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Jesus, the Son of God, was incarnated as the God-man; who, as man, could experience the death consequences of sin; who, as sinless man, could take those death consequences and pay the cost of sin for all man; and who, as God, could restore heavenly life to man spiritually, in order to restore man to the Father.

As a man, Jesus incurred all the death consequences that had occurred in Adam. As a sinless man, sin & death had no right to Him personally and could not hold Him. As God, He could thus save us from the consequences of sin and further expression of sin by becoming LIFE WITHIN US. Jesus came “to give His life a ransom for many" (Matt. 20:28).

Jesus "came that we might have life" (John 10:10). The death of Jesus on a cross is the corrective action modelled in order to restore God's indwelling life, through Christ, in man. The counteractive purpose of death and the restorative purpose of life are inseparable in the consideration of the Biblical significance of the death of Jesus Christ on a cross.

While still suspended from the cross and facing imminent physical death, Jesus exclaimed, "It is finished!" (John 19:30). The perfect tense is used, indicating completed action in the past; manifesting in the present & remains unto the future. In Hebrew, the meaning is, fulfilled requirements of debt. In the first century, Jesus’s words were inscribed on certificates of indebtedness when they were paid-off or paid in full. This is edifying when we consider Paul's comment in Col. 2:14 about the "certificate of debt" having been taken out of the way, having been "nailed to the cross."

Sin presented an indebtedness of condemnation; the Law presented an impossible DEBT, a big "IOU" before God. In and through Christ, this debt was paid in full, thus removing condemnation, self-life performance – leaving only REST in the “finished work" of Jesus Christ.

IDENTITY MATTERS Day by Day

Prov. 5:18-19

1 Cor. 13:4-8a

Eph. 4:31-32

Eph. 5:21-28

Phil. 2:3-4

Redemption, whereby we are "bought with a price" (1 Cor. 6:20; 7:23) that has been "paid in full" by the death of Jesus, is the corrective aspect. Whereas, regeneration is the restorative factor, wherein the life of God once again indwells man through His Son’s own Spirit.

Because of the CROSS, and His "finished work," all converted

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Phil. 4:13

IDENTITY MATTERS

Day by Day

Colossians 3:13

Colossians 3:19

James 4:11

(born-again) believers share in His death, burial, resurrection, ascension, the Spirit’s outpouring, and complete end-times expectations.

Due to the significant work Christ accomplished on the CROSS, all verbiage used by the writers of the New Testament maintain the words Jesus cried out from the cross, "It is finished!", and the consequent restoration of God unifying man unto Himself by placing His Spirit in all those who become saved.

The stumbling block, the scandal, the offense of the cross is that Jesus finished doing everything, which needed to be done before God. There is nothing we can do! This is "offensive" to the natural/unsaved man who wants to take some credit, who wants to think there is some merit in what he has done, who wants to be accredited for his part of the finished work of the Cross! There is no basis for any human pride in performance when we simply receive by faith what Christ did & does. The death of Jesus Christ on the cross and the subsequent availability of the divine life to all mankind, comprises the "finished work" - the sole basis of right relationship and fellowship with God.

attributed with the fundamental power to work in “Christian” lives in order to enact a continuing crucifixion and create "spirituality“ through the act of man bring the cross into daily dying.

In exposing the unbiblical mystic applications of the cross, we must not overreact by failing to proclaim the eternal VALUE of Christ's death on the cross and all the implications it offers.

The death of Jesus on the cross is indeed a central factor in the whole redemptive and restorative action of God's grace.

By His death, Jesus took our deserved death, in order that we might have His life. He did not take our death that we might have His death.

The message of the cross is the message of the completed, finished work of God in Christ. The message of the cross is the message of an empty cross, whereupon all crucifixion activity has ceased, for Jesus Christ has risen from the dead and come to live within the indwelt Christian. The message of the cross is the message of liberating freedom to be all that God intends us to be by His grace in the out-living of His character within the frail human temperamental soul of man.

IDENTITY MATTERS Day by Day

Malachi 3:16-17

Matt. 18:19-20

Heb. 10:23-25

THE CROSS IS NOT A RELIGION OR MANTRA

1 Peter 3:7-9

Religion and all its "works" programs have been exposed as frauds by the "finished work" of Christ. Consequently, they are quick to belittle and persecute those who teach and live by the grace-work of God in Christ.

Rev. 19:5-6

Paul explains that the religious "try to compel you to be circumcised, simply so that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ" (Gal. 6:12). They do not want to be persecuted and mocked by other religious people for preaching the grace of God in the activity of Jesus Christ alone.

1 Cor. 4:14-17

1 Cor. 11:1

Paul then declares, "May it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Gal. 6:14). Paul never wants to boast in what he has done by self-effort or performance, only in what Christ has done and continues to do -the "finished work."

Christ's "finished work" reconciles both Jew and Gentile into one new creation, new humanity, new body, "through the cross" (Eph. 2:16). The corrective action of Christ's death and

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1 John 5:2

The Empty Cross is the only "good news" available to mankind -- the grace (unearned favor) of God in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Paul refers to "preaching the gospel" in 1 Cor. 1:17; and then in the next verse, refers to the content of that gospel as "the word of the cross," which he continues to explain is "to us who are being saved it is the power of

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Psalm 31:19

IDENTITY MATTERS

Day by Day

Psalm 35:18

Psalm 40:16

Psalm 66:8

phasis on crucifixion is that they tend to lead the Body of Christ astray. They are preoccupied with "self," instead of Christ in the believer; preoccupied with getting rid of sin, instead of the Savior who became sin on their behalf; preoccupied with death, instead of His inward Life; preoccupied with the cross, instead of the finished work of the Cross of Christ.

As a result, they are inventing a new form of works-oriented Grace that involves the proactive work of suppressing self, which by the way, leads to “gracialistic confession-ism" of sin. They do not understand the "finished work" of Jesus Christ and the Grace provision of God provided by placing His Son in His Bride.

People of the Cross tend to act like elitist, which is cultic thinking. Often times culturing attitudes of exclusivism, wherein they regard themselves as more "spiritual," more "mature," God's special people, the "remnant" of God's true followers. The spiritual pride underlying such attitudes is evident in many teachers of the Cross. All indwelt believers are God’s people, whether they understand Christ as Life or not!

Referring often to the "deeper Christian life" and the "victorious Christian life," some of the writers indicate that the Christian can arrive at a level of Christian experience where he/she no longer sins – also called “sinless perfection.”

Psalm 107:31-32

the restorative action of Christ's life is for all men universally who respond to His election, and is the means whereby they are restored to functional humanity, society, and community, by the functional life of God, through Christ, in man.

Likewise, "all things" are reconciled to God, by His "having made peace through the blood of His (Christ’s) cross" (Col. 1:20). The hostility of the whole creation was due to sin, the consequence of sin was death, and death has been taken by Jesus Christ. Reconciliation, peace, the restoration of all things, the restoration of the elected man has been effected by the "finished work" of Jesus.

Paul decries that there are many who "are enemies of the cross of Christ" (Phil. 3:18). Who are these enemies of the Cross, the many there are who do not understand and live on the basis of the "finished work" of Christ. They do not accept that Christ has done all that needs doing and continues to be the dynamic of grace for the expression of His life and character in the Indwelt Christian. These "enemies of the cross" still advocate legalistic "works" of self-effort, perfectionist performance, and religiousness.

The theological significance of the cross must be understood within the context of the "finished work" of God in Christ.

Though the cross itself was but the death instrument; it was there that Jesus victoriously proclaimed, "It is finished!" The creativeness action of replacement death leads directly to the restorative action of God's life in the Indwelt Christian. Christ took our death to give us His life, took the consequences of our unrighteousness to give us His righteousness. The "finished work" of Jesus Christ is inclusive of redemption, regeneration, justification, sanctification, and glorification.

IDENTITY MATTERS Day by Day

Ephesians 5:1

1 Thess. 1:6

Philippians 3:17

Philippians 4:9

BE CAREFUL WITH THE TERM CO-CRUIFIXTION Psalm 148:1-2

1 Kings 18:21

All of this mounting to the ideological symbol of the cross becoming a mystical object that allegedly serves as an agent of God. With these “believers,” the cross is personified and

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The Greek word, sustauroõ, which means "to crucify together with." This has often been referred to as the Christian's "cocrucifixion" with Jesus. It is best to avoid such terminology, as the English prefix "co-" can mean "jointly" or "together with."

But it also can mean "equally," "in the same degree," or "as a complement to."

We would not want to imply that our subjective crucifixion experience is of equal significance or in the same degree as the crucifixion of the Lord, Jesus Christ. Nor would we want to im-

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Genesis 18:19

Duet. 6:1-3, 6-7

IDENTITY MATTERS Day by Day

Psalm 127:3-5

Prov. 1:8

Prov. 3:1-2

Prov. 4:1-4

Prov. 12:1

ply that our experience of being crucified is a complement to Christ's crucifixion, in order to complete it. Jesus said, "It is finished" (John 19:31) completed!

Our having been "crucified together with" Jesus must be understood in terms of spiritual solidarity. When Jesus died on the cross, He died there for me, but He also died there as me.

When He died, I died. I was "in Him" when He died. The entire human race was represented by Jesus when He took the death consequences for sin upon Himself, but that spiritual solidarity becomes personally and subjectively effective for me when I receive Jesus Christ by faith. The verb is an aorist tense indicating that "to have been crucified with Him" was a definite occurrence historically enacted when Jesus died on the cross, and which becomes experientially effective at the definite occasion of our spiritual conversion.

Paul writes that our "old man" has been crucified together with Christ. The designation "old man" signifies our spiritual identity when we were a "man of old" in our old spiritual condition of un-regeneracy & identity. Our pre-indwelt identity was that of a "natural man" (1 Cor. 2:14), a "child of wrath" (Eph. 2:3), an "old man." That "old man" identity was "laid aside" (Eph. 4:22; Col. 3:9 [both NKJV], when we became indwelt by Christ and received HIM as the "new man,“ with HIS identity (Eph. 4:24; Col. 3:10, both NKJV). The old spiritual identity of the unregenerate self is forever dead, having died with Jesus. I now have a new spiritual identity as a "new creature" (2 Cor. 5:17) in Christ, a "child of God" (John 1:12), a Bridal member of Jesus, a "spiritual" man (1 Cor. 2:15; Gal. 6:1), a Christ-one “Indwelt Christian."

This was made effective for me, in me, spiritually - when I received Jesus Christ by faith at conversion and regeneration.

The "old man" is not synonymous with the "flesh" nor "indwelling sin" that remains residually in the soul of the indwelt Christian, nor is it to be equated with the unbiblical phrases such as "old nature," "sin nature," "Adam nature," "self," "sin principle," etc. – sin and identity are different.

TAKING UP YOUR CROSS

Prov. 13:1

Jesus spoke of "taking up," "bearing," or "carrying" a cross.

We have noted that the first century Jews of Palestine were well acquainted with death by crucifixion on crosses, so there

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For many centuries, the ideas of the cross and the action of Christ's crucifixion have been considered as if they were an ongoing living reality. The concept of the cross has been energized, empowered, personified, and deified.

Ultimately symbols will be used to united religions around the world to form a false sense of peace that will usher in the antichrist to rule the entire world and its belief systems.

IDENTITY MATTERS Day by Day

1 John 2:5-6

REJECTING THE MYSTICAL ILLUSIONS OF THE CROSS

Every reference to the "cross" and "crucifixion" in the entirety of the New Testament is applicable to one of the five categories: (1) the material object of the cross (2) the historical event of Christ's crucifixion on the cross (3) the theological significance of Christ's crucifixion on the cross (4) the Body of Christ's spiritual identification with Christ's crucifixion (5) the figurative usage of "taking up a cross."

There are no Scriptures whatsoever to justify the mystical application of the cross of Jesus in an ongoing crucifixion experience. The continued crucifying activity advocated by these predominantly Protestant authors is little different than the continued crucifying activity which Roman Catholicism claims as transpiring in their Eucharistic (communion) mass.

Christian theology is based on the Grace activity of God, not upon the "works" and effort of the self-life of man. Within the indwelt Christian life, God's continuing activity is not reliant on our activity or refusal of sin. We do not effect Christian living by engaging in any particular activity, specifically self-crucifixion.

2 John 9

Neh. 8:5, 18

Neh. 9:3

The Christian life is not a matter of "doing our best so God can do the rest," doing our part so God can do His part.

Psalm 22:22

Repetitive demands that the indwelt Christian should "die to self," "apply the cross," surrender and "be broken," all reveal a self-effort approach to a formulized (ruled-based) “Christian” life, which is a theology of "works" sanctification. Particularly rampant is the admonition to "reckon" oneself dead, so God can work. We simply need to walk in what is already true & that is done through the COMPLETED WORK OF CHRIST.

Psalm 33:1-3

The focus of many Exchanged Life teachers who put an em-

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IDENTITY MATTERS

Day by Day

Psalm 119:12-16

Micah 6:8

John 4:23-24

John 15:9-10

Romans 12:1-2

Colossians 3:1-3

off evil, a practice which was condemned by true Christians.

The cross, as a symbol, was further entrenched as the primary symbol of Christian religion after the Roman emperor, Constantine ( a devout Roman Catholic), claimed to have seen a flaming cross of light in the sky with the words, "By this sign conquer" (quoted in the 4th century work - Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius). From this sign he began the greatest slaughter in Christian history by systematically removing all “Protestants” of the Roman Catholic Church (indwelt Christians) – the slaughter lasted 200 years. It is this act that further drove the “protesting” Christians into the Catacombs.

Over all, Constantine thus merged Christian religion with his political aspirations, using the symbol of the cross – the Roman State Church took this as permission based symbolism. Constantine's mother, Helena – a Roman State Church devotee, is alleged to have travelled to Palestine in AD 325 and claimed to have discovered the original wooden cross on which Jesus was crucified. The criteria for the claim was that a sick person had grasped the wood and was allegedly healed. Small fragments were transported back to Rome and sold to wealthy believers as priceless relics. There were not enough to supply the demand, so the Catholic Church claimed "the miracle of the multiplication of the cross" whereby, many more splinters from the cross were allegedly formed. It is reported that wood fragments existed in Roman Catholic churches around the world sufficient to construct many crosses. Helena is considered the founder & “mother of indulgences.”

The problem with symbols is that since they are more tangible than the abstract reality, religious people tend gradually to superstitiously worship the symbol and lose sight of the reality on which it is based. This, of course, is the essence of idolatry.

Symbols become charms, magical charms, “holy” hardware.

They are used as fetishes (demonic empowered objects) - believed to have magical power to aid or protect when rubbed, worn, or otherwise utilized. Symbols can also become conceptual fetishes - mental objects of irrational reverence and obsessive devotion. All sects of “Christians” bearing the Cross on Tshirts, jewelry or other forms of display come from the Roman State Church’s superstitions and magical idolatry imbedded in the symbol of the Cross.

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IDENTITY is no reference in Jesus' prior comments about a "cross" unless MATTERS we are reading into those comments reference to Jesus' own experience of crucifixion, which was yet to transpire. There is Day by Day no doubt that the death of Jesus Christ on a cross was "foreknown before the foundation of the world" (1 Peter 1:20; cf. Rev. 13:8). But it occurred historically in the first century, Prov. 13:24 and that historical crucifixion was subsequent to the three occasions when Jesus spoke generally of "taking up a cross."

The effects of the crucifixion of Jesus were a completed God sized reality at the time of Jesus' death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and outpouring of the Holy Spirit into the believers at Pentecost, and were personally realized individually at the indwelt Christian's conversion. "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature, the old things passed away; behold, new things have come" (2 Cor. 5:17). Every indwelt Christian is called to accept the spiritual harmony with all that Christ has done, and spiritual identification with the death and life of Christ.

The following are Paul’s references to our death with Christ, which connect our personal identification with Christ's objective death by crucifixion, all imply definite completed actions.

Prov. 19:18-19

1 Timothy 3:4

For example:

Rom. 6:6 - "our old man was crucified with Him (Christ)" Rom. 6:7 - "he who has died has been freed from sin" Rom. 7:4 - "you were made to die to the Law" Rom. 7:6 - "having died to that by which we were bound"

James 1:22-25

Gal. 2:19 - "I died to the Law, so that I might live to God" Gal. 2:20 - "I have been crucified with Christ" Gal. 5:24 - "those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh"

1 Sam. 12:14-15

Gal. 6:14 - "the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world" Col. 3:3 - "you have died and your life is hidden with Christ" Our spiritual identification with the crucifixion of Jesus does not have behavioral implications unless there is a release of the Spirit. Not in a continuing application of Christ's dying, as is found in Catholicism; rather, only as a consequence of the spiritual identification and participation in the "finished work" of 15

1 Sam. 15:23

IDENTITY MATTERS

Day by Day

Psalm 107:11-12

Ezekiel 2:8

2 Cor. 6:16

2 Cor. 10:3-5

Deut. 26:10

1 Chron. 16:29

Christ. There will not be behavioral implications until the life of Jesus Christ is lived out in the Christian.

Having been crucified with Christ, we should "no longer be slaves to sin" (Rom. 6:6), but "live with Him (Christ)" (Rom. 6:8), "bear fruit for God" (Rom. 7:4), "serve in newness of the Spirit" (Rom. 7:6), be "led by the Spirit" (Rom. 8:14), "live by faith in the Son of God" (Gal. 2:20), and "walk by the Spirit" (Gal. 5:25) in the "fruit of the Spirit" (Gal. 5:22-23). On the basis of having exchanged our "old man" identification for a "new man" identification, there will be behavioral implications of "righteousness and holiness" (Eph. 4:24) with numerous practical expressions (Eph. 4:25-5:21; Col. 3:12-17).

On three different occasions, Jesus made comments about the familiar action of bearing a cross unto crucifixion. The object of a cross, to which He refers, does not have any reference to the particular cross that stood on Golgotha; nor to the historical event of Christ's crucifixion. Jesus makes a generic and figurative reference to "a cross," to the action of cross-bearing – bearing your daily burdens that come with the indwelt Christian walk. This is not to be mixed with “being crucified with Christ.”

When Jesus said, "If any man will to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me" (Luke 9:23, KJV), He was referring to a cross as a well-known instrument of death, an execution device that will objectively kill off the “self-life” of the believer. Jesus demands that those who follow Him voluntarily allow a death instrument (life’s circumstances) to be applied to their selfish tendencies, in order to: execute, terminate, bring to an end, and allow for the absence of selfish behavior. This must be done continuously, "daily," in the midst of every situation we confront.

The next question we must ask is whether this commanded action constitutes a call for the indwelt Christian to "die to self."

"Dying to self," "crucifying self," "putting self to death," etc. are all non-biblical phrases, which are commonly used in the terminology of many exchanged life teachers and writers. If, by the phrase "dying to self," they simply meant a choice synonymous with "denying oneself," then the wordage might have appropriate usage.

Here is the key, the phrase is often loaded down with other

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meanings and pressure to add additional actions the “finished work” of Christ. Those who use this phrase are often unclear as to what "self" they are encouraging others to "die to." Is it the "self" of personal spiritual identity? Such an action would be apostasy. Is it the "self" of personal individuality? Such an action would deny the creation of God AS individuals. Is it the "self" of personal existence? Such an action would be suicide.

Is it the "self" of personal resource? Such is to suggest the mistaken identity of spiritual gifts. Is it the "self" of personal interest and selfishness? This can be the only spiritual logical usage, making the phrase equivalent to "denying oneself."

IDENTITY MATTERS Day by Day

Psalm 15:1-5

THE SYMBOLIC CROSS VS. THE REAL CROSS Misunderstandings and misinterpretations reveal a much broader mystical explanation of the cross and the crucifixion of Jesus, which needs to be addressed. There is a long history of “Christians” using the symbol of the cross in superstitious, mystical and fashionable ways.

The earliest indwelt Christians seem to have rejected the use of the cross as a symbol. This is because the cross was a despised execution instrument. Would we want to wear a gold -plated noose or gallows had Jesus been hanged, or a goldplated guillotine had Jesus been beheaded, or a gold-plated electric chair had Jesus been electrocuted, or a gold-plated syringe had Jesus been lethally injected? It is not difficult to understand their aversion to using the cross as a symbol.

Mankind has always utilized symbols to give expression to their abstract ideas. Early Christians developed a symbol of the fish, because the Greek word for fish, ichthus, was used as a crossword for "Jesus Christ, God's Son, Savior." The dove was used as a symbol of the Holy Spirit.

The primary emphasis of early Christian preaching was the resurrection- life of Jesus Christ, for which a symbol was difficult to find. The empty cross became a symbol to show that Jesus had been raised from the dead, and it eventually became the predominant Christian symbol. The first record of its use is found during the second century. Clement of Alexandria wrote, "We mark the brow with the sign of the cross.” There is also evidence that the gesture of the cross and material objects in the form of a cross, by the Roman State Church, were used as early as the second century as ritual fetishes to ward

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Psalm 27:4

Psalm 84:1-2

Psalm 91:1

Psalm 95:6-7

Psalm 96:9