His Heart, My Home

Note: Please see last week’s post dated 1/20/25 for Part One of this teaching.

Let’s begin with our foundational scripture from last week:

(Matthew 16:13 -19) – ¹³ When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” ¹⁴ So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” ¹⁵ He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” ¹⁶ Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” ¹⁷Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. ¹⁸ And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. ¹⁹ And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

A healthy, dynamic relationship with the Lord hinges on two very necessary revelations. They are both vitally important, like two sides of the same coin.

● First, a God-given realization of who Jesus is to us. Jesus said that this truth was absolutely essential. It is the very foundation upon which He is building His church.

● Secondly, a God-taught realization of who we are to Jesus. The gates of hell cannot hold out against a Church that is self-aware, a Church that has received a revelation of what it means to be in Christ!

Our true identity is who we are in Christ. It’s the eternal reality of what God has done in us through His work of salvation.

Despite all the years that the disciples had walked with Jesus, they actually knew very little about Him. The four gospels recorded and described Jesus’ life, ministry, miracles, suffering, death, and resurrection from a human perspective, as witnessed through the eyes of those closest to Him.

These gospel accounts are indeed invaluable, because Jesus lived in, and expressed God’s life through His physical body. Jesus was the Word of God made flesh. He was 100% God and 100% human. He lived a human life and we must know that aspect of who He was, and who He is.

The apostle Paul never knew Jesus in the flesh, but he was given a deeper revelation than those who had heard Him with their own ears, and seen Him with their own eyes.

Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John show us what happened TO Christ. The gospels are like a PHOTOGRAPH OF OUR REDEMPTION!

Paul’s letters to the churches show us what happened IN Christ. Paul’s epistles are like an X-Ray or C.T. SCAN OF OUR REDEMPTION!

Paul called this revelation “his gospel”, and this is what he said about it in Galatians 1:11,12 – “But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

Holy Spirit taught Paul who Jesus was, and what He did in our redemption. Because of this, Paul had an understanding of what Jesus did in the spirit realm in His death, burial, and resurrection.

You might say that Paul had “inside information” that none of the other apostles yet possessed.

All of this  tells me that there is so much more to be revealed about Jesus than what I see as I watch The Chosen, or even as I read the four gospels.

To paraphrase Peter in 2 Peter 3:15,16, “Brother Paul teaches some heavy, (serious, deep, important) hard-to-understand truths, but it’s definitely wisdom given to him by God”.

Paul, illuminated by Holy Spirit, recognized the promise and the power of the new creation that springs forth from the seed of Jesus’ life.

“Unless a grain of wheat is buried in the ground, dead to the world, it is never any more than a grain of wheat, but if it is buried, it sprouts and reproduces itself many times over.”
(John 12:24, The Message)

Jesus’ death, burial, resurrection, and ascension released the life of God’s Kingdom into the world. The single seed of His Spirit-life produced the multitudes in heaven seen by the apostle John in the Revelation. It was the spirit-life and eternal power of that one Seed that forever changed Paul’s life, your life, and mine!

2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

This verse says, “if any man”… that means it works the same for every person. If anyone is “in Christ,” he becomes a new creature.

When we make Jesus the Lord of our lives, we are now “in Christ”, eternally connected to Him, one spirit with Him. (1 Corinthians 6:17)

The word “new” in 2 Corinthians 5:17 means “new in kind; new in quality.” God, sowing the seed of His Son’s life, has produced a new species, a new kind of human.

You’re not just a new person… you’re now a new “kind” of person. You have the life of God on the inside of you. You are one with Him. You are a new creature in Christ Jesus.

You can no longer say, “Well, I’m only human”, because you are now a “partaker of the divine nature”. (2 Peter 1:4)

God has completely changed our identity. We are no longer just what our physical DNA made us, what our upbringing made us, what our life circumstances made us, or even what our choices made us. We are what God made us in Christ Jesus!

“For we are His workmanship [His own master work, a work of art], created in Christ Jesus [reborn from above – spiritually transformed, renewed, ready to be used] for good works, which God prepared [for us] beforehand [taking paths which He set], so that we would walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us].
(Ephesians 2:10, Amplified Bible)

Your physical characteristics are described on your physical ID… your picture, your name, your address, your height, your weight, (yikes! is that really necessary?) your hair color, your eye color, etc.

You are God’s workmanship (Greek = poiema, from which we derive our English word “poem”).

You are His creative masterpiece, a living poem of His love, created as a brand new species.

You have a new spiritual I.D. that describes your spiritual characteristics. That I.D. says that “in Christ” you are:

● Child of God
● Citizen of Heaven
● Heir of God
● Eternally Alive
● Filled with God’s Spirit
● Saved
● Rescued
● Redeemed
● Healed
● Made Whole
● Prosperous
● Favored
● Forever Loved
● Righteous
● Holy
● Glorified
● Triumphant
● Partaker of the Divine Nature
● Blessed with Every Blessing
● Complete in Christ

Carry your “in Christ” I.D. in your consciousness just like you carry your physical I.D. in your purse or your wallet everywhere you go.

Just a twist on what they used to say in the old American Express credit card commercials:

“In-Christ I.D… Don’t leave home without it!”

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P.S. We are super-excited about our newest site-page entitled, ” In Christ Truths” !

Go to the page and check out over 100 “new creation identification” scriptures that will build your faith and spirit-strength!