KICC Life Class | Remember Who You Are | 10-01-2021

before you stay found stay focused god bless you as you continue to fellowship in the father's presence well hello good morning kicc welcome to today's live class i'm so glad that you can join us this morning and those of you that are actually here in prayer city good morning god bless you before i start just wave at your neighbor welcome them to today's service once again it's a massive privilege to be speaking to you today i want to thank pastor matthew and pastor yemisi for the opportunity to speak to you uh this morning at the life class because of the short time that i have we're just gonna get into the message today we'll be starting a two-part series called the pursuit and power of purpose the pursuit and power of purpose and it's going to be a two-part series i believe that in order to successfully pursue and fulfill our god-given purpose we need to know who we are in christ and actually walk in that revelation purpose cannot be fulfilled if we do not know who we are in christ 2020 was a very rough year for us and some of us may have had our confidence not in fact some of us may have even doubted our ability and then there's some of us that even before 2020 we've lost hope of who we are and what our purpose is and what it is that we are supposed to do but today we are going to remind ourselves of who we are in christ we're going to use the word of god to refresh our memory of what god has said about us and my prayer is that after this two weeks of this series that we will walk in the revelation of who we are in christ and take 2020 by 2021 by storm in jesus name amen so the title of today's message episode one of this series is called remember who you are remember who you are so why must you know who you are in christ in order to pursue and fulfill destiny i'm glad you asked right now i'm gonna read my opening statement which will set the scene for today's sermon which will give context to today's message a person specification is a document that describes the skills knowledge and qualities needed to perform a particular task or purpose we usually see this document alongside a job description when applying for a job there is a person specification attached to the purpose that god has given you when god was creating the person's specification your purp for your purpose he pictured you however he pictured you in a certain way he saw you in christ he saw you fully operating in the revelation of what it means to be in christ therefore in order to fulfill the destiny and purpose that god has given you you must fit the person specification attached to the purpose god has created for you you must be that person that god envisioned when he produced that person's specification how do you view yourself do you view yourself as the image of god on the earth or do you view yourself the same way that society views you if you do not view yourself the same way god did when he created your person specification and purpose how will you accomplish your god given purpose you can pursue purpose all you want but if you have not become the person that god brought on that person's specification if you do not see yourself as that person that god has always seen you as it will be impossible to fulfill that purpose the purpose god has for you is in him the purpose he has for your life can never be outside of god so this is why we must know god intimately and know who we are in him there are things that have held us back in life because of the lack of the knowledge and the belief of knowing who we are in christ many of us know what the bible says about our identity in christ but knowing is different from believing and stepping in that revelation so our greatest and most important pursuit in life isn't the pursuit of wealth it isn't the pursuit of success or status or power our most important pursuit is to become all that god has called us to be and that starts by discovering who we are in christ our identity in christ and understanding how god views us your identity in christ goes hand in hand with your purpose when you walk in the revelation of who you are in christ it will transform the way you view life it will transform the way you live life this is important because the purpose god has for you requires that you carry yourself in a manner of someone that knows who they are and what they carry the purpose that god has for you requires a level of discipline boldness and specific qualities why because on your pursuit of fulfilling purpose you will come across people you will come across situations and institutions that will try and stop your progress so knowing who you are in christ provides stability in the midst of opposition knowing who you are in christ provides godly confidence and faith to press on no matter what comes your way so the discovery and the purpose the discovery and pursuit of purpose starts with finding out who you really are your true identity it's only when you step into your true identity that you will be able to effectively carry out your purpose amen so what is identity what is our identity according to long man dictionary of contemporary english someone's identity is their name who they are the qualities and attitude that a person or group of people have that make them different from everyone else as christians the only way that we can find out who we are find out our true identity is by getting into the word of god and seeing for ourself what god has said about us as we study the word of god we will see that our identity who we are our core being is tied to christ our identity identity can never be separated from christ it's in christ that we find our true identity before we were born again our identity was from the world when we became born again we were placed in christ and given a new identity when we became born again our old identity was stripped away and we were given a new identity in christ ii corinthians 5 17 says therefore if anyone is in christ the new creation has come the old has gone the new is here so in order to fully embrace your identity in christ you must know who you are in christ and actually believe it if you don't you won't be able to walk and operate in your true identity and purpose rather you will operate in an identity which is influenced by external factors around you such as people culture trends society no one has the right to tell you who you are only the one who created you has the right to identify you only the one who created you has the right to identify you so how does god identify you how does god see you romans 8 37 god sees you as a conqueror romans 8 37 says no in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us so because we are in christ jesus you are more than a conqueror which means whatever comes your way as you are pursuing purpose as you are pursuing destiny no matter what comes your way you are capable of conquering it the greek word for conquer means to gain a surpassing victory so not only will you be victorious in your pursuit of purpose but your victory will be stunning [Music] i said your victory will be stunning are we cold this morning how many of you believe that your victory will be stunning so you will be overwhelmingly conquering how else does god view you he views you as his workmanship ephesians 2 10 says for we are his workmanship created in christ jesus for good works which god prepared beforehand that we should walk in them so what this verse is telling us is that you have been purpose made for a good work that god has created you have been tailor-made for a purpose not only were you tailor-made for a purpose but you were tailor-made for a purpose before you were even born before the world was even framed god taylor made you for a specific purpose you are to be a tool in god's hand as he carry out his agenda on the earth how does god view you he views you as a chosen person a royal priesthood first peter 2 9 says but you are a chosen people a royal priesthood a holy nation god's special possession that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light so you are a special possession which means you have value you mean something to god we all know here that is a possession is treated differently from a special position so for example i'm in possession of this suit jacket that i'm wearing if i lose it i'm not going to get too upset i'll i may be annoyed but i'll get over it however my car is a special possession why because it takes me to work it allows me to do the school run it allows me to take my daughter to nursery if i was to lose my car i will be very very annoyed and upset why because it means something to me it's a special possession it allows me to do things in the same way you are a special possession a high price was paid for you what was that price jesus went to the cross and died for your sin so never again look down at yourself because god sees you as a special possession how else does god see you he sees you as approved and pardoned romans 8 1 says therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in christ jesus therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in christ jesus what does this mean you are no longer guilty of your past life you are no more guilty of your past sins so we need to stop dwelling on our past and we need to stop carrying guilt you have been pardoned not only have you been pardoned you have been pardoned by the supreme judge the judge of judges if god pardons you then no one can hold anything against you hallelujah the list goes on and on about how god views you but today i want us to focus on a particular passage of scripture that describes our identity in christ in a powerful and beautiful way and that is ephesians 1 ephesians chapter 1 verse 1 to 13. and it says paul an apostle of jesus christ by the will of god to the saints who are in ephesus and faithful in christ jesus grace to you and peace from god our father and the lord jesus christ blessed be the god and father of our lord jesus christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in christ just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in love having predestined us to adoption as sons by jesus christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will to the praise of the glory of his grace by which he made us accepted in the beloved in him we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace which he made to abound towards us in all wisdom and prudence have been made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure which he purposed in himself that in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in christ both which are in heaven and which are on earth in him in him also we have obtained an inheritance being predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the council of his will that we who first trusted in christ should be the praise of his glory in him you have you also trusted after you heard the word of truth the gospel of your salvation in whom also having believed you were sealed with the holy spirit of promise so as you can see from this passage of scripture it is absolutely loaded it shows us all the various blessings that make up who we are in christ that make up our identity in christ in verse 1 the apostle paul refers to the members of the church in ephesus as saints why is this important it's important because every single christian is a saint in fact the word saint appears over 60 times in the new testament to describe followers of christ the word christian only appears three times in the whole of the new testament what does saints mean saint the greek word for saint means to be set apart sanctified make holy if you are set apart for the lord and you have his likeness it means that you are different from this world therefore your identity cannot be found in the world it can only be found in him so from the very beginning of verse 1 you are made to know that you are someone that has been set apart you are made to know that you have been chosen by god and that you are a saint this is who you are and this is part of your identity in verse 3 of ephesians chapter 1 this passage of scripture mentions spiritual blessings and these spiritual blessings are components that make up who you are in christ verse 3 says blessed be the god and father of our lord jesus christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in christ these spiritual blessings are found in verses 4 to 13 and can be categorized in three sections verse 4 to 6 you are identified as blessed and chosen verse 7 you are identified as redeemed and forgiven in verse 13 you are identified as being sealed so let's look closely at verses four to six verses 4 to 6 verse 4 says we have been chosen by god himself in christ jesus before the foundations of the world so what this verse shows us is that you are so loved by god he chose you he named you and he loved you even before there was a world to accommodate you he loved you he chose you he named you before the world was framed which means you are not an accident you are a deliberate fort in god's mind you were a deliberate fort in god's mind the most important person of the universe has you in mind i think the weather is affecting us this morning if you can just grab this revelation of how god views you the way you will approach purpose will be different therefore man's rejection of you is trivial because you are chosen by god first peter 2 9 says but you are a chosen people a royal priesthood a holy nation god special possession that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light so in the same ephesians chapter 1 verse 4 it also says that we should be holy and without blame so the goal of the saint the goal of the believer the goal of you and i is to live a life of integrity that pleases and honors god we were created by god to bring him pleasure integrity is a vital part of what makes up our identity why because identity um integrity is an attribute that opens doors for us as we pursue purpose i remember during the women's conference there was a guest speaker i've forgotten her name apologies um she's also a businesswoman and she gave the testimony of being invited to sit on one of the biggest companies in nigeria the board of one of the biggest niger companies in nigeria the reason why she got there how she got there is because they did their homework to find out who are the business leaders in nigeria that walk in integrity and she was part of those that were shortlisted i think there was a list of 20 people and then it went down to free and she was part of those that was invited to be on the board so what am i trying to say is that integrity will open doors for you as you pursue purpose now let's look at the next verse which is verse 5 and verse 5 says having predestined us to adoption as sons by jesus christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will divine predestination means that god had a purpose that was determined long before it was brought to pass this is further evidence that god fought about you and chose you and assigned you a purpose long before you arrived this shows us that god believes in you he believes that you can fulfill the purpose that he is attached to you when you walk in this revelation that god believes in you as you carry out purpose you will do it with boldness and confidence because you know that your creator is backing you and believes in you secondly god predestined you and your purpose beforehand beforehand which means that there is nothing that the enemy throws at you that takes god by surprise because he had already predestined your purpose so the pandemic didn't take god by surprise covet 19 didn't take god by surprise in fact the pandemic could not take place without god's permission the pandemic did not surprise god so he has seen your end from the beginning when you walk in this revelation carrying out your purpose will be done in great confidence because you know no matter what comes your way god has already handled it god already has the solution to it not only did he choose you verse 5 says he adopted you to himself as a son through jesus christ so who are you you are part of the greatest family in the universe not only are you part of that family but you are a direct heir to the head of that family because you have been adopted as a son you have been adopted as a daughter what does it mean to be adopted to be adopted means that you have the same privileges rights and inheritance that a natural born child would get this means the same access the same authority the same privileges the same rights the same inheritance that jesus has you two also have oh my goodness let's let that sink in the same access the same authority the same privileges and rights and inheritance that jesus has you also have access to it romans 8 15 to 17 makes it clearer it says the spirit you receive the spirit you received which is the holy spirit does not make you slaves so that you live in fair again rather the spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship and by him we cry abba father the spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are god's children now if we are children then we are heirs heirs of god and coheirs with christ if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory so ladies and gentlemen never ever see yourself as an ordinary person ever again never see yourself as someone that just makes up the population of wherever you're from no you are the child of the most high god you are coheirs with christ and you are seated in heavenly places with christ jesus above principalities and powers which means you have access to power authority you have access to resources because your father is the owner of the whole universe let me bring it down to a personal level level me i'm a girl dad meaning i have two daughters if they come to me and they ask me for something and it is within my capacity there is nothing that will stop me from providing that thing that they want how much more god that owns the universe praise god so let's look at the next verse verse 6 says which says the praise of the glory of his grace by which he made us accepted in the beloved to the praise of the glory of his grace by which he made us accepted in the beloved this verse shows us that we are accepted by god we all know that you can accept something called someone in different ways you can accept something with annoyance you can accept something with great warmth and excitement the greek word for accepted in this passage of scripture means to gladly receive full welcoming acceptance so not only are you accepted by god you are warmly accepted in the beloved who is the beloved the beloved is christ jesus so if christ is beloved then because of your position in christ you too are beloved to be loved is different to be is different from being loved to be loved means that god loves you so much that he does daunts on you he does you mean everything to him so man and society may reject you or tolerate you because of your race class sex or appearance their acceptance doesn't matter god accepts you warmly as his very own special possession you are his beloved when you know that you are god's beloved when you enter that business meeting even if you are the only person of a particular race you won't be fearful because you know you are beloved by god and god is there with you if your manager hates you it doesn't matter because you know you are beloved by god in fact you begin to feel sorry for your manager this is what i mean by walking in the revelation of who you are in order to effectively pursue purpose if you don't know who you are in christ purpose can even batter you if you're not careful because you need to be ready for it so who are you what is your identity according to ephesians 1 verses 1 verses 4 and 6 you are a saint that has been set apart for god's use and pleasure you are holy you are loved you are chosen by god before the world was framed you are planned and you are not an accident you were and still are a deliberate fort in god's mind you are an heir of god you are co-heirs with christ you are seated in heavenly places with christ jesus you are accepted and beloved this is your identity this is who you are and this is just four verses in the bible i feel like lifting up this pulpit because oh my day this is just four verses describing who we are four verses out of 66 books because of time wow life class is very short but yeah verse seven let's go to verse seven verse seven describes you as redeemed and forgiven verse seven says in him we have re redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace what does redemption mean it means the releasing of someone from imprisonment or slavery through paying a ransom who was the ransom jesus and he secured our release from captivity to evil death and the curse of the law by his sacrificial death redemption not only cancels god's justified judgment against our acts of disobedience but it also frees us from the special from from the spiritual forces that formally bound us so now that we are redeemed we are no longer slaves we are no longer bound by lust by fear by depression by drugs by whatever god poured out his grace richly upon us and that speaks volumes and that speaks of how god views you god views you as someone that was worth dying for jesus sent his only son to the cross to die for you because he felt that you were worth dying for say to your neighbor i'm worth dying for say to your neighbor you are worth dying for so notice you were freed from the evil one all things became new there was a funeral because your former life passed away and because your former life passed away you now have an opportunity to rewrite your story you have an opportunity to pursue purpose with clarity and boldness ephesians 1 verse 7 also states that you have been forgiven the greek word for forgiven in this passage means release from bondage so you have been released from old habits you have been released from guilt you have been released from anything that is holding you back from achieving purpose when you know this as you are pursuing purpose guilt can no longer hold you down because you know you have been forgiven in fact the greek word for forgiving in this passage also means pardon of sins letting them go as if they had never been committed some of us have made small or little or no progress in our life's purpose because we haven't forgiven ourselves from our past mistakes and sins but verse 7 shows us that the way god has forgiven us he's forgiven us as siv the sins of the past were never committed so today decide to let go of your guilt and your shame of the past god has forgiven you you too forgive yourself god doesn't remind us of our past sins and mistakes god doesn't do that whenever you have a thought of your past mistakes and sin that is the devil trying to derail you and hinder your progress as you are pursuing destiny as you are pursuing purpose when you're driving a car you don't look at the rear view mirror for the whole journey if you do that you won't get to your destination the same goes for life in life you cannot stay in your mistakes and your past you cannot live there you will not move forward the pursuit of purpose requires us to have our focus facing forward the pursuit of purpose requires us to have our focus facing forward isaiah 57 says because the sovereign lord helps me i will not be disgraced therefore i have set my face like a flint and i know i will not be put to shame so what is this verse saying to us is saying that we should focus we should set our face like a flint because god has forgiven us he's forgiven our past he's forgiven our mistakes so it's now time to focus set our face like a flint and as we focus on pursuing purpose because we know the lord helps us we will not be disgraced we will not be put to shame so who are you what is your identity according to ephesians 1 verse 7 you are no longer under the influence of the devil and the world you are free and no longer a slave to sin and fair you were worth dying for so god sent his son you are redeemed and forgiven you are a product of great grace hallelujah so because of time that's where i'm going to have to end but i hope that this message message blessed you the second part of this message will be done next week and i believe that after next week's sermon even after today's sermon that we will begin to walk in the revelation of who we are in christ so that we can effectively and powerfully pursue purpose in the name of jesus heavenly father we thank you for today's word we give you the praise the honor the adoration we thank you lord god for who you have made us in christ we thank you lord god for the way you so love us the way you view us lord god you saw us as worth dying for lord god you saw us as your masterpiece lord god so lord god we ask that you will help us to walk in this revelation in the mighty mighty name of jesus we pray amen and amen praise god [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] okay okay were you blessed this morning i don't know about you i am blessed i am blessed and i'm so grateful to god i'm so grateful to god hallelujah offering time we need to know who we are in god we have to understand that we are worthy of dying for and so we need to pursue purpose because we are joined here with jesus we are not an accident but a deliberate thought in the mind of god we have access to power to authority we are gladly and warmly accepted we are god's beloved hallelujah and so we have been encouraged this morning that we need to focus facing forward because we are a product of great grace hallelujah because you see when you don't know who you are in god you can make progress you cannot make progress i want to encourage you to get the cd of this message and i believe that our lives will never never remain the same amen and amen and amen i just want to challenge us this morning to sow our seed this is a new year and in isaiah chapter 55 when you get home you can read it the whole of that chapter is an invitation to an abundant life but i'm just going to focus on verse 10 verse 10 isaiah 55 verse 10 the bible says for as the rain comes down and the snow from heaven and do not return there but water the earth and it brings forth the board that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater so shall my word be that goeth forth from my mouth it shall not return to me void but it shall accomplish what i please and it shall prosper in the things which i sent it so god is comparing his word to the fact that the rain comes down this and the snow comes from heaven and does not return there but it makes it allows the heart to give bread to the eater but seed to the sower this year has been declared our year of plenty and progress and you cannot be a seed i mean a bread eater if you want you know this year to be a year of plenty we have to learn to sow seed we have to sow seed in this year of plenty and progress you can have plenty if you are a bread eater when you look we remember the story of isaac when everybody were running away from it to egypt they were running to egypt because of farming the lord said to him so in this land so in the land and we all know the rest of the story the bible says that he prospered because he sowed in the land he was not a bread eater he was a seed sower he was a seed so and so this morning i want to encourage you from wherever you are watching all over the world to prepare your seeds this morning we are going to be seed sowers are not bread eaters because you see if you are a bread eater you eat and is gone but when you are a sick sower you sow and there will be harvest in the name of jesus and as a result there will be plenty there will be plenty please i want you to package your seat this morning make it an unusual seat not like the regular seat and even i want to encourage you this is a new year seek the face of god and ask him how much he wants you to be giving every sunday we do that and of course you have to keep increasing it every year so that is not where you get to touch you are checking your bag and then that's why you are thinking of how much to give plan what you'll be giving to god this year praise the lord so if you're i mean the all the informations are on the screen if you're giving from abroad we have the iban number there and um can i have that one okay the accounts are named for our torch is there kicc the sort code the account number the i ban and the swift code is there and for those who are here uh you can you you can pay the bank as well also you can use paypal or you can text your donation this morning to kicc donald or you can even call the church office there are some people who are waiting for you right now you can go on the website and give to the lord it's a good day to give to god it's a good day to thank him for what he has done in our lives and let's make up our mind this morning that we are not going to be bread eaters but we are going to be seed sower let's prepare to give to the lord this morning [Music] you

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Length: 40min 15sec (2415 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 10 2021