Archive for the ‘Participation’ Tag
The Most Important Priority For Everyone Everywhere! Part 1 (Our Christian/Biblical Worldview)
Filed under: Bible, By Tim Brassell, Christian Living, Christianity, Church, Discipleship, Evangelism, Faith, GCI Windsor Mill, Maryland, God, God Father Son and Spirit, God the Trinity, God's love, good news, Gospel, Grace Communion Baltimore, Grace Communion International, identity in Christ, Inclusion, Jesus Christ, Love, Ministry, New Life Fellowship Of Baltimore Maryland, New Life Fellowship Of Windsor Mill, MD., On Mission with Christ, Participation with Christ, Participation with Jesus, Pentecost, Perichoresis, Prayer, relationship with God, Relationships, Sermons, The Church, The Father, Son and Holy Spirit, The Gospel Project, The Holy Spirit, The Plan of Adoption, Timothy Brassell, Trinity, Uncategorized, union, Union In Christ, Union with Christ, Witness, Witnessing to God, Witnessing to Jesus, Worship, Worshiping God, Worshipping Jesus | Tags: Active Participation With Jesus, Adoption, All Are Included In Christ, Christian Living, Christianity, Church, Colossians, Colossians 1, Discipleship, Faith, Faith in God, Faith in Jesus, Faithfulness, father, Fruit of God's Grace, GCI Baltimore, God Father Son and Spirit, God in Flesh, God Incarnate, God Likes You, God the Trinity, God's Faith, God's Faithfulness, God's Gift, God's Grace, God's Healing, God's Hope, God's Humility, God's love, God's Love And Life, God's Mercy, God's Mission, God's Patience, God's Power, God's Presence, God's Unconditional Love, Gospel, Gospels, grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, Grace Communion International, Humanity Uplifted, Humility, Humility of God, Incarnation, Included In Christ, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Jesus Is God's Love Revealed, Jesus is the way the truth and the life, jesus ministry, JESUS THE CHRIST, Jesus Transforms, Jesus' Authority, Jesus' Presence, Love, Outpouring Of The Holy Spirit, participating with God, Participation, Participation with Jesus, Participation with Jesus Christ, Pastor Timothy Brassell of New Life Baltimore, Perichoresis, Priority, Purpose, Receiving God's Love, Reconciliation, Reconciliation with God, Relationship With Jesus, Relationships, Salvation, Salvation By Grace, Salvation In Christ, Sharing God's Love With Others, Spiritual Maturity, Spirituality, The Father, The Father's Love, The Father-Son-and-Spirit-God, The Father-Son-Holy Spirit-God, The Holy Spirit, The Holy Spirit Of Love, The Holy Spirit's Power, Trinitarian Theology, Trinity, Unconditional, unconditional acceptance, Unconditional Love, Union and Communion, Union With Jesus, Union with Jesus Christ, Wholeness in Christ, Worship, Worshipping Jesus
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Part 1A:
Part 1B:
Full Message:
Bible Verses: Colossians ( Various Scriptures)
Introduction:
Over the past few Gospel messages we’ve been sharing in the mind of Jesus Christ by reading through the book of Colossians and seeking to grasp all that the Father inspired to be written for the Christians living there under His leading! We have been beholding the complexity of the Father, Son and Spirit’s oversight and purpose for everything, everywhere! Understanding His loving care and concern for our faith, hope and love in Him! Trusting Him for His loving care and concern for His Church, His Kingdom, and the World at large. Receiving His loving care and concern for all created things as Reconciler and Redeemer of each and all of us who have been negatively impacted by evil and are in a state of recovery from the Fall in Christ our Lord!
We’ve been seeking to understand and have God’s view of what it means to live in and amongst all this complexity, even as the Colossian church members were, too! We are hearing the call of the Lord to continue to let the Truth of our Being (Jesus Christ!) be the Way of our Being, participating with him in his earthly historical life!
Theological Theme:
In Astounding and Inclusive Love the Father has sent and given humanity His Son and Word (Jesus), and gives us His Holy Spirit, that all of humanity might share in His Fellowship as Father, Son and Spirit! How do we receive, trust and live out this relationship in the complex situation going on around us? How do we honor and love God and neighbor while we are still in a becoming state of being more like Jesus? In Colossae, and like us, they were believers who are seeking to relate with Jesus and seeking to understand the Jewish/Christian connections of faith in Jesus Christ! At the same time they are also working, living, and breathing in a particular secular culture that had businesses, educational institutions, gossip, industry, various religions, and therefore various idols and powerful influences that threatened to attack and undermine their faith and trust in Christ!
“Human beings are fallen and therefore subject to temptation and being deceived by evil influences. Fallen, we are also inveterate self-justifiers seeking to maintain our own autonomous righteousness (ethics) apart from the gift of God received by repentance and faith upon hearing the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ by the ministry of the Holy Spirit.” – Dr. Gary Deddo.
Abba, Father, help and save us through this tension through our Lord Jesus Christ, by Your Spirit!
Christ Connection:
The Good News of the Gospel is that Christ has already overcome this tension, and our fallenness, through his obedience to His Father by the Spirit, from inside our broken human nature. He has turned our human nature around and back to the Father! From his place of Ascension as a glorified human being he now sends, and we receive freely, the Holy Spirit he sends from the Father, giving us a share in his overcoming power through his very own faith and trust poured out in us!
“For the Lord touched all parts of creation, and freed and undeceived them all from every deceit.”
― St. Athanasius, On the Incarnation
Missional Application:
Jesus is the only hope for all, not just Christians! As Jesus encounters and empowers us believers in our relationship with him, we call upon pre-believers to place their faith and trust in Jesus by the Spirit – calling on them to repent, be baptized, deny themselves and pick up their cross, following Jesus!
“The problem of pursing a life of moral faithfulness is not simply a matter of discerning what God’s will is—as if simply knowing it, figuring it out, takes care of it. The barriers are much greater. No earnest pursuit of moral faithfulness to Jesus Christ will come to fruition unless the Holy Spirit in conjunction with the Word of God, breaks down our resistance to the Word and the Spirit and kills our self-justifying pride that resists repentance and faith in Jesus Christ and his Word.” – Dr. Gary Deddo
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Becoming An Ethically Responsible Christian Disciple! Part 4 (Our Christian/ Biblical Worldview)
Filed under: Bible, By Tim Brassell, Christian Living, Christianity, Church, Discipleship, Evangelism, Faith, GCI Windsor Mill, Maryland, God, God Father Son and Spirit, God the Trinity, God's love, good news, Gospel, Grace Communion Baltimore, Grace Communion International, identity in Christ, Inclusion, Jesus Christ, Liturgy, Love, Ministry, New Life Fellowship Of Baltimore Maryland, New Life Fellowship Of Windsor Mill, MD., On Mission with Christ, Participation with Christ, Participation with Jesus, Pentecost, Perichoresis, Prayer, relationship with God, Relationships, Scripture Paraphrases, Sermons, The Church, The Dance and Dream of the Trinity, The Father, Son and Holy Spirit, The Holy Spirit, The Plan of Adoption, Timothy Brassell, Trinity, Uncategorized, union, Union In Christ, Union with Christ, Witness, Witnessing to God, Witnessing to Jesus, Worship, Worshiping God, Worshipping Jesus | Tags: Active Participation With Jesus, Adoption, All Are Included In Christ, Christian Living, Colossians, Discipleship, evil age, father, GCI Baltimore, God Father Son and Spirit, God in Flesh, God Incarnate, God Likes You, God the Trinity, God's Faith, God's Faithfulness, God's Gift, God's Grace, God's Healing, God's Hope, God's Humility, God's love, God's Love And Life, God's Mercy, God's Mission, God's Patience, God's Power, God's Presence, God's Unconditional Love, Gospel, grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, Grace Communion International, His mission, Humanity Uplifted, Humility, Humility of God, Incarnation, Included In Christ, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Jesus Is God's Love Revealed, Jesus is the way the truth and the life, jesus ministry, JESUS THE CHRIST, Jesus Transforms, Jesus' Presence, Love, Outpouring Of The Holy Spirit, participate, Participating In God's Divine Nature, participating with God, Participating with Jesus, Participation, Participation with Christ, Participation with Jesus, Participation with Jesus Christ, Pastor Timothy Brassell of New Life Baltimore, Purpose, Receiving God's Love, Relationship With Jesus, Salvation, Salvation By Grace, Salvation By Grace Alone, Salvation In Christ, Sharing God's Love With Others, Spiritual Maturity, Spirituality, The Father, The Father's Love, The Father-Son-and-Spirit-God, The Holy Spirit, The Holy Spirit Of Love, the living word, the written word, this present evil age, Trinitarian Theology, Trinity, Unconditional, unconditional acceptance, Unconditional Love, Union and Communion, Union With Jesus, Union with Jesus Christ, Wholeness in Christ, Worship, Worshipping Jesus
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Part 4A:
Part 4B:
Full Message:
Bible Verses: Colossians (various scriptures)
Introduction:
In Jesus, God’s Elect One, you and every other person you know have been elected/chosen to be at the highest place of honor and privilege possible for a human being, participating with Jesus in his union and relationship with His Father, in the Holy Spirit. In fact, all of what it means to be truly and fully human is seated, truly and mysteriously, with the Father, and in Jesus who share in our humanity. Jesus represents and substitutes for each and all of us human beings before the Father not so we don’t have to participate but so that we can, with him!
Theological Theme:
Because of the Reality of Jesus in our humanity, now glorified, we are invited and urged to share more deeply in in the humanity of Christ by the Spirit Christ than in the divided humanity of those who reject God! In the worshipful and relational way of Jesus, we who trust and believe in him, prioritize and live out the Great Command to love God with our all, first, and then, at His direction and lead in the Spirit, to love our neighbors as ourselves.
As the late George MacDonald has written: “God can no more than an earthly parent be content to have only children: he must have sons and daughters—children of his soul, of his spirit, of his love—not merely in the sense that he loves them, or even that they love him, but in the sense that they love like him, love as he loves. For this he does not adopt them; he dies to give them himself, thereby to raise his own to his heart; he gives them a birth from above; they are born again out of himself and into himself.” ― George MacDonald
Christ Connection:
There is a call from the Father for us to be different and to be transformed in Christ in the Holy Spirit; to begin and keep becoming and growing up in Him, right here and right now! To keep sharing in the mind of Christ about our world, that we are forever going to be relating with and oversee with Jesus in a larger more fulfilling way! We’re not in a pretend mode right now just because everything here on earth will one day be transformed! In believers, and by the Holy Spirit, Jesus has an earthly body that still resides in our present history, interacting with his Father and our neighbors in love. Obeying Jesus right now is as vital as it was vital when he actually walked the earth in his distinct human body because he is the Risen Lord and still has an ongoing and present ministry!
Missional Application:
Jesus, being our Great Ethic, has pointed out what it means to participate with him in relation to God and our neighbor:
A lawyer asked [Jesus] a question to test him. “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matt. 22:35-40, NRSV)
As Dr. Gary Deddo points out in his article “Theological Ethics”:
“When we love God with all we are and have, there shines forth a reflection of it towards those who are not God. We love God because God first loved us (1 John 4:19). Our love for God is a response, the right and appropriate response, to God’s love for us. We first receive God’s love and we first love God. When we love the neighbor in the way God would have us, then like Jesus, we are passing on to others what we have received from God. Think of the offering of the Lord’s Supper and Paul’s words: “For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you” (1 Cor. 11:23). In God’s economy, we can pass on only what we have first received. First things must remain first, otherwise, as C.S. Lewis reminds us, we will lose both the first and the second things.”
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Job And The Dilemma Of Suffering!
Filed under: Bible, by Tony Marra, Christian Living, Church, Evangelism, Faith, God Father Son and Spirit, God the Trinity, Gospel, Grace Communion International, Inclusion, Love, Ministry, On Mission with Christ, Participation with Christ, Participation with Jesus, Perichoresis, Prayer, Relationships, Sermons, The Dance and Dream of the Trinity, The Gospel Project, The Plan of Adoption, Timothy Brassell, Trinity, Uncategorized, union, Union with Christ, Witness, Worship | Tags: Called, called to belong to Jesus Christ, Celled to belong, Christian Living, Christianity, Faith, Fellowship, Gideon, God Father Son and Spirit, God speaks, god the father, God the Holy Spirit, God the Trinity, God's Faithfulness, God's good news, God's Grace, God's love, God's Power, God's Presence, Gospel, Grace Communion International, humanity, I will be your God, inspiration, Jesus Christ, Jesus Transforms, Job 16: 1-5, Job 16: 18-22, Job 1: 20-22, Job 1: 6-12, Job 40: 1-5, Job 42: 7-9, King, King who fights, life, Love, Luke 11, Ministry, New Life Fellowship Of Baltimore Maryland, On Mission with Christ, Overcoming Fear, Participation, Participation with Christ, Participation with Jesus, Reconciliation, redemption, Relationships, Resurrection, self-worship, Sermons, Solomon, Temple, The Gospel Project, the Truth, Timothy Brassell, Tony Marra, Trust, Truth, Uncategorized, Union with Christ, Wisdom, Wisdom of God
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Part 1a: 25min
Part 1b: 31min
Full Message: 56min
Main Passages
“The story of Job confronts us with the question “Why do good people suffer?” And the story offers us insight into right and wrong ways to pursue the answer to this question. The suffering of Job points us forward to the ultimate answer to the problem of evil—the redemptive suffering of Jesus Christ and the promise of a world made new. And as Jesus’ followers, we seek to alleviate suffering as we walk alongside others.” – The Gospel Project
Theological Theme
God- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, does not give us the answer to why we go through suffering, but He does give us Himself.
Christ Connection
In his time of suffering, Job yearned for a mediator—someone to stand between him and God. Jesus is the mediator who suffered, even though He had never sinned, in order to pay the price for human sin and to put an end to suffering on earth.
Missional Application
God, through His Holy Spirit, calls us to comfort people going through a time of suffering, not by answering every question but by assuring them of God’s great love.
“Jesus does not give recipes that show the way to God as other teachers of religion do. He is Himself the way”
― Karl Barth
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The Foolishness Of a Once Wise King!
Filed under: Ascension, Ascension of Jesus, By Xiara Lee, Christian Living, Church, Evangelism, Faith, God Father Son and Spirit, God the Trinity, Gospel, Grace Communion International, Inclusion, Love, Ministry, On Mission with Christ, Participation with Christ, Participation with Jesus, Perichoresis, Prayer, Relationships, Sermons, The Dance and Dream of the Trinity, The Gospel Project, The Plan of Adoption, Timothy Brassell, Trinity, Uncategorized, union, Union In Christ, Union with Christ, Witness, Worship | Tags: 1 Corinthians 1, 1 Kings 11: 1-13, 1Kings, Belong, Bible, By Tim Brassell, Called, called to belong to Jesus Christ, Celled to belong, Christian Living, Christianity, Faith, Fellowship, Gideon, God Father Son and Spirit, God speaks, god the father, God the Holy Spirit, God the Trinity, God's Faithfulness, God's good news, God's Grace, God's love, God's Power, God's Presence, Gospel, Grace Communion International, humanity, I will be your God, inspiration, Jesus Christ, Jesus Transforms, King, King who fights, life, Love, Luke 11, Ministry, New Life Fellowship Of Baltimore Maryland, On Mission with Christ, Overcoming Fear, Participation, Participation with Christ, Participation with Jesus, Reconciliation, redemption, Relationships, Resurrection, self-worship, Sermons, Solomon, Temple, The Gospel Project, the Truth, Timothy Brassell, Trust, Truth, Uncategorized, Union with Christ, Wisdom, Wisdom of God, Wise King, Witness
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Full Message: 24min
Main Passages
Luke 11:31; 1 Corinthians 1:30
“Near the end of Solomon’s reign, he put foolishness on display. Solomon’s story is a reminder that all of us are capable of derailing our walk with God by making foolish choices. It is also a reminder our only hope is in the true King whose wisdom and righteousness are perfect—Jesus Christ. As believers, we repent of our foolishness, rely on God for wisdom and salvation, and then call others to trust in Him.” -The Gospel Project
Theological Theme
Foolishness is the failure to give God- Father, Son and Holy Spirit, glory in every area of life.
Christ Connection
Solomon was a king whose reign was marked by prosperity and peace. Unfortunately, at the end of his reign, Solomon’s sinful compromise led to the division of the kingdom. During His earthly ministry, Jesus spoke of Himself when He claimed “something greater than Solomon is here” (Luke 11:31). Whereas sinful choices divided Solomon’s kingdom, Christ’s righteous submission to God established a new unity for God’s people.
Missional Application
God, through His Holy Spirit, calls us to proclaim the foolishness of relying on our own wisdom for salvation and to lift up Jesus as the only hope.
“As Christians, we pledge allegiance to Jesus as King. We believe that Jesus, the Messiah of Israel who was crucified for our sins, has been raised from the dead and is now Lord of the universe. This means that we are to put our trust in his sacrifice and live submissively under his lordship.” –Trevin Wax
“Therefore let us repent and pass from ignorance to knowledge, from foolishness to wisdom, from licentiousness to self-control, from injustice to righteousness, from godlessness to God.”
—Clement of Alexandria
Solomon Builds The Temple
Filed under: Ascension, Ascension of Jesus, Bible, By Richard Andrews, Christian Living, Church, Evangelism, Faith, God Father Son and Spirit, God the Trinity, Gospel, Grace Communion International, Inclusion, Love, Ministry, On Mission with Christ, Participation with Christ, Participation with Jesus, Perichoresis, Prayer, Relationships, Sermons, Song, The Dance and Dream of the Trinity, The Gospel Project, The Plan of Adoption, Timothy Brassell, Trinity, Uncategorized, union, Union In Christ, Union with Christ, Witness, Worship | Tags: 1 kings 5, 1kings 8, Belong, Bible, By Tim Brassell, Called, called to belong to Jesus Christ, Celled to belong, Christian Living, Christianity, Faith, Fellowship, Gideon, God Father Son and Spirit, God speaks, god the father, God the Holy Spirit, God the Trinity, God's Faithfulness, God's good news, God's Grace, God's love, God's Power, God's Presence, Gospel, Grace Communion International, humanity, I will be your God, inspiration, Jesus Christ, Jesus Transforms, King, King who fights, life, Love, Ministry, New Life Fellowship Of Baltimore Maryland, On Mission with Christ, Overcoming Fear, Participation, Participation with Christ, Participation with Jesus, Pastor Richard Andrews, Pastor Timothy Brassell, Reconciliation, redemption, Relationships, Resurrection, Richard Andrews, self-worship, Sermons, Solomon, Temple, The Gospel Project, the Truth, Timothy Brassell, Trust, Truth, Uncategorized, Union with Christ, Wisdom, Wisdom of God, Witness
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Part 1a: 22min
Part 1b: 21min
Full Message: 43min
Main Passages: 1 Kings 5:1-5, 1 Kings 8:10-14,54-61
“Solomon built a temple for the Lord, and that temple bore God’s name, manifested God’s presence, and represented God’s glory to the world. As Christians, we belong to the church, described by the apostles as “the temple of God.” In the Old Testament, the temple referred to a place. In the New Testament, the temple refers to a people. We are being built together as God’s residence—a beacon of light and hope to the world.”- The Gospel Project
Theological Theme:
Because of the Holy Spirit’s presence, God’s people are the temple of God- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit today, the people who bear His name and join His mission.
Christ Connection:
The temple was to be a place where the name of God would be upheld and the presence of God would be experienced so that the nations would know that the Lord is God. Jesus spoke of Himself as God’s temple, and in His life, death, and resurrection, He upheld God’s name, embodied God’s presence, and extended God’s mission.
Missional Application:
God through His Holy Spirit, calls us to be devoted to Him in obedience so that the original purpose of the temple can be fulfilled—the people of the earth will know our God is King.
“The perfect church service would be one we were almost unaware of; our attention would have been on God.”, – C.S. Lewis.
photo compliments – Corpedo.com
“Jesus! : Humanity’s Participation In God’s Yes and No!”
Filed under: Ascension, Ascension of Jesus, Bible, By Tim Brassell, Christian Living, Church, Faith, God Father Son and Spirit, God the Trinity, Gospel, Grace Communion International, Inclusion, Love, Ministry, On Mission with Christ, Participation with Christ, Participation with Jesus, Perichoresis, Prayer, Relationships, Sermons, The Dance and Dream of the Trinity, The Gospel Project, The Plan of Adoption, Timothy Brassell, Trinity, Uncategorized, union, Union In Christ, Union with Christ, Witness, Worship | Tags: Belong, Bible, By Tim Brassell, Called, called to belong to Jesus Christ, Celled to belong, Christian Living, Christianity, Faith, Fellowship, Gideon, God Father Son and Spirit, God speaks, god the father, God the Holy Spirit, God the Trinity, God's Faithfulness, God's good news, God's Grace, God's love, God's Power, God's Presence, Gospel, Grace Communion International, humanity, I will be your God, inspiration, Jesus Christ, Jesus Transforms, King, King who fights, life, Love, Ministry, New Life Fellowship Of Baltimore Maryland, On Mission with Christ, Overcoming Fear, Participation, Participation with Christ, Participation with Jesus, Pastor Timothy Brassell, Reconciliation, redemption, Relationships, Resurrection, Romans, Romans1:1-7, self-worship, Sermons, The Gospel Project, the Truth, Timothy Brassell, Trust, Truth, Uncategorized, Union with Christ, Wisdom, Wisdom of God, Witness, Ye shall be my people
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Part 1a: 27min
Part 1b: 27min
Full Message: 54min
Main Passages: Romans 1:1-6
Because God has said “YES, humanity, you will live!”, then he must necessarily say “NO!” to sin and everything which destroys life!
“God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) is so for us that He has accomplished a HUGE NO on our behalf but it is only a NO that serves His YES!” “How will YOU respond to your resurrection in Jesus Christ?” – TJBrassell
“God is the ‘Yes’ in our ‘No’ and the ‘No’ in our ‘Yes’, the First and the Last…” – Karl Barth
Photo Compliments: http://dustoffthebible.com
So Why Not Say You’re Gay, or…?
Filed under: By Tim Brassell, Christian Living, Evangelism, Gospel, Grace Communion International, Love, Ministry, Relationships, Scripture Paraphrases, Timothy Brassell, Trinity, Uncategorized, union, Witness, Worship | Tags: Faith, God Father Son and Spirit, god the father, God the Holy Spirit, God the Son, God the Trinity, God's good news, good news, Gospel, Grace Communion International, Homosexuality, Hope, Identity, identity in Christ, Image of God, Love, Meyers-Briggs, New Life Fellowship Baltimore MD, Participation, Participation with Christ, Pastor Tim of New Life Fellowship, Politics, Race, Sharing God's Good News, The Good News, Union In Christ, Union with Christ
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…Black, White, Asian or Hispanic??? Or Republican, or Democrat? Or why not say you’re a Millennial, Boomer, or a Gen X’er??? (After all everyone else calls themselves by their age, too?) Why not call yourself ESFJ, or INTJ – for those familiar with the Myers Briggs personality inventory?
Because, simply put but complexly true, according to Jesus Christ and the God Revealed in Him, you are not any of those things! You certainly may exhibit some of those traits but…
“Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life—even though invisible to spectators—is with Christ in God. He is your life. When Christ (your real life, remember) shows up again on this earth, you’ll show up, too—the real you, the glorious you. Meanwhile, be content with obscurity, like Christ.
– Colossians 3:3-4 (The Msg)
According to Jesus, from the Father and through the Holy Spirit in the Apostle Paul, that’s why you shouldn’t identify as just any old “thing”, or even as your own thing! So if you’re struggling with your identity, it is probably because you’ve forgotten, or never knew the Truth God points out through this scripture:
1.) Your identity is not in some thing (your sexual attraction, your skin color, your political party or age), it is in Someone outside yourself, namely, in Jesus Christ, in God. You’re going to have to look outside yourself in the first instance to discover your identity! You should receive and look to Jesus because your real life is hidden in him. Your true humanity is hidden in him. He is your life! (By the way, what largely remains hidden to you now is the glorified humanity Jesus has for you; the humanity that will never die and is incorruptible. What isn’t hidden is all of the other stuff revealed and witnessed to about Jesus in the bible!)
2.) If you’re going to receive who you really are, you’re going to have to follow Jesus and let him show and tell you. Because he is a Person and you are a person, that means discovering your identity is not static but dynamic, or relational and active. Identity is not a thing that can be discovered in isolation from others (as in “I’m a hermit”). Your identity is a discovery that comes in relationship with Jesus and the God Revealed in Him.
3.) One of the greatest and common places Jesus is pleased to meet you is in the scriptures! Perhaps you, personally, are having more clarity about your identity through the scripture just quoted. It wouldn’t surprise me! This Relational God – Father, Son and Spirit is the one who inspired and left us these books we call the bible through which he would encounter us and witness to himself! If you like reading books, he left you quite a few to catch up on! Lol! If you are getting clarity about your identity through the scripture notice that we went to a passage through which God has been pleased to witness to himself (though He’s NOT the bible!) Through that passage he was pleased to speak to you not only about who he is but also about who you really are!
4.) Notice also that this isn’t a scripture only about you, it’s about every one of us! Because of who we are speaking of, Jesus, the God/Man and One who created and sustains every single person, your fellow human beings also have their identity in Him! Jesus is literally the One Human for all! Pointedly, this means you should seek to see your neighbor also for who they are in Jesus who represents all humans in his humanity, namely, your brother or sister, or neighbor in Christ!
Imagine for one moment how transformed our world would be if we referred to all others as “brother” or “sister” or “neighbor” “in Christ” rather than the things I noted in my first few sentences? Can you see the difference that would make in our treatment of each other? Can you sense the other-centered love in humility that could thrive, and the self-centered pride that could die? Wow!!!
By the way, none of this means that you become Jesus or that he becomes you! No! He will still be Jesus and you will still be distinctly you. It does mean that Jesus intends to share with you his awesome and glorified human nature so you can relate with God and each other in a way that partakes of the divine nature, as one made in the image of his image in Jesus (2 Cor 4:4)! His life reveals what it really means to be human and those who trust him get to participate in that!
Here’s the link to a GREAT read through which I was encountered by God – Father, Son and Spirit and got stirred to write this article: http://www.livingout.org/why-not-say-you-re-gay-
As author Jonathan Berry writes in his last paragraph:
“We’re often warned of the dangers of identity theft in an increasingly digital age. As a Christian I feel passionately that I don’t want to allow myself to be robbed of the enjoyment of these great blessings, by falsely embracing any other identity. In his letter to Christians in Rome, Paul urges his readers not to “conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2). For me, a really important aspect of that mind-renewal process involves ditching any unbiblical labels and securing my true identity as being in Christ.” (underline emphasis mine!)
Amen!
– tjbrassell
*photo courtesy of rhemafromgod.blogspot.com
Breaking News: Jesus Is Renewing T/His Church! pt.5
Filed under: Bible, By Tim Brassell, Christian Living, Church, Evangelism, Gospel, Humor, Love, Ministry, Prayer, Relationships, Sermons, The Dance and Dream of the Trinity, Timothy Brassell, Trinity, Uncategorized, Witness, Worship | Tags: Bible, Christian Living, Church Renewal, Faith, god the father, God the Holy Spirit, God the Son, God the Trinity, God's Grace, God's Mercy, Hope, Jesus Christ, Jonah, Love, New Life Fellowship Of Baltimore Maryland, Participation, Participation with Christ, Pastor Tim of New Life Fellowship, Psalm 139, repentance, Salvation, The Relational God Revealed, Trinitarian Theology, Union with Christ
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As Hank Coates has written: “Jonah, the Prophet who ran away, is the Lord’s. And the Lord won’t let Jonah go. And the Lord gets what the Lord wants. And what the Lord wants is that all people come to know his saving love that stands on the side of the oppressed, makes the crooked straight, and releases the captives from their chains.”
That’s what this message is all about as a local Church heads “outside the walls”, witnessing in Word and Deed to God, Father, Son and Spirit – The Lord! Check it out!
*photo courtesy of shainadomatilia.wordpress.com
Breaking News: Jesus Is Renewing T/His Church! pt.4
Filed under: Bible, By Tim Brassell, Christian Living, Church, Gospel, Grace Communion International, Humor, Love, Ministry, Relationships, Sermons, The Dance and Dream of the Trinity, Timothy Brassell, Trinity, Uncategorized, Witness, Worship | Tags: Bible, Christian Living, Christianity, Church, Excuse-making, Exodus 3, Exodus 4, Faith, god the father, God the Holy Spirit, God the Son, God the Trinity, Grace, Great Commission, Hope, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Love, Mercy, Moses, New Life Fellowship Of Baltimore Maryland, Participation, Participation with Christ, Pastor Tim of New Life Fellowship, Pastor Timothy Brassell, Relationships, The Relational God Revealed, Trinitarian Theology
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This message of Good News is proclaimed to a congregation on mission with Jesus “Outside the Walls “of their Church bldg., literally.
The Gospel proclaims God, Father, Son and Spirit as the God who calls human beings to participate with Him in a special and gracious way that He provides in the power of the Holy Spirit. It reminds every member of Jesus’ Body that, even like God’s great leaders such as Moses, we can often keep giving God excuses as to why we don’t follow through on what He says. In the Light of His provision and grace Revealed in Jesus and in the power of the Spirit, our Father’s command comes to us through the Apostle Paul all the same, “See to it that you complete the ministry you have received in the Lord.”
Check it out!
*picture courtesy of buildingabrandonline.com
Rebellion Against The Redeemer
Filed under: by Tony Marra, Christian Living, Gospel, Love, Ministry, Relationships, Sermons, Spiritual Warfare, Trinity, Uncategorized, Witness, Worship | Tags: Assistant Pastor Tony Marra, Bible, Christian Living, Christianity, Church, Exodus, Exodus 32, Faith, Forgiveness, god the father, God the Holy Spirit, God the Son, God the Trinity, good news, Gospel, Grace, Hope, Idolatry, Incarnation, Jesus, Jesus Christ, jesus ministry, Love, Moses, New Life Fellowship Of Baltimore Maryland, Participation, Pastor Tim of New Life Fellowship, Preaching, Rebellion, Relational God Revealed, Relationships, Salvation, Scriptures, Sin, Trinitarian Theology, Trinity, Worship
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Theological Them: Idolatry is putting something or someone in the place of God – Father, Son and Spirit.
Christ Connection: The children of Israel needed a mediator to intercede on their behalf. Jesus Christ is the mediator between God and sinful humanity; He intercedes on behalf of His people.
Missional Application: God calls us to intercede for people who need Him, appealing to His character and His will as we pray for their salvation.
*photo courtesy of av1611.org
Trinity and Humanity 