WHAT WE FEAR, Matt. 10:28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill
the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

OUR VALUE, Matt.10:31 Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many
sparrows.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Matt 10:8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have
received, freely give.

John 12:26 If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant
be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.

Our value system is linked to what we value. This then is also very close to where we get our
value from. Our identity is connected to our treasure and values, and this provides the source of
our personal value, our esteem.

So first, let me say, when our value system is messed up because our treasure is
misplaced, don’t expect to find personal value and a workable sense of dignity and esteem.
Little wonder the homosexual has a low self image, and little wonder that trying to build that self
image first doesn’t work. Also know this - you can love a person all you want to, but unless they
come face to face with their valuables and their values, your love for them will not produce love
in them.

Our fears are also well established as long as our values, treasures, and personal value is
misplaced. Jesus has been saying, “Stop working against the Kingdom plan for your well being
by trying to lay up earthly treasures along side of your religion.” You’re going to wind up living
in fear.

The context of these words is about the mission of the disciple. “Go.” “Freely you have
received, freely give.” They were to take nothing with them. Temptations of treasures would
bog them down. Matt. 16 has shown them identity. Their value was established. They had
received the very dignity of God! To receive His love is to receive His signet ring of identity.
“You are Peter, a rock!”

Our value is not far from our mission journey. What we truly believe in for our value,
what we truly hold as our treasure is what we will be motivated to share with others. The reason
we do so little sharing is that our treasure and our value has revealed an identity that is not after
the heart of God. When our eggs are in carnal baskets, we will talk about the “easter bunny”
more than about God. We say we are afraid, but our fears are wrapped up in our loss of value
and what is valuable.

These men became passionate because God brought them face to face with who they
really were - cowards caught up in personal pride and carnal life. He brought them to the very
brink of defeat so they would see who they really were, and then He freely gave them - GRACE.
They were fully convinced that they were nothing, so their pride need not rise up. Then He
blessed them.
To learn to freely receive is not a cheap experience!

AUTHORITY, Matt. 13:19 And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and
whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on
earth shall be loosed in heaven.

LIFE IN THE SPIRIT John 7:38 He that believeth on Me, out of His belly shall flow rivers of
living water.

WHO WE ARE, Matt. 16:18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I
will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
God said, if you abide in His Word you will be free. John 15
John 8:34

Here is the identity part of the 5 fold message of Jesus that we might have eternal life.
They call alcoholism, drug addiction and sexual perversions bondages. They say they are slaves to their life
controlling problem. So they try to get free. They go to treatment, or jail, or meetings. Some even bandage
their guilt, conviction of sin, and spiritual emptiness with their success in changing their lives. But Jesus says
that whoever commits sin is a slave. There is still an addiction. This slave doesn't stay in the master's house
forever. He may visit the house of luxury and honor for a time, but will soon have to leave again. But Jesus
makes a person a son - no longer to be a slave. It is this being made a son, a brother, a relative of Jesus that
changes everything. Therefore He says you shall be free indeed. You'll be free from the visible addictions
of substance, sex and also from the addiction to sin and self. Yes, people are addicted to themselves. But
when Jesus makes you free you become addicted to Him. Imagine the life that is so full of the joy of heaven
that this person is driven by love and gratitude and reward to continue to seek him.

You don't drink because you feel guilty if you don't. You don't commit adultery because you feel guilty if
you don't. Neither should you serve Jesus because you feel guilty if you don't. Guilt is not freedom!
Too many people want to be born again simply because their life has become miserable. They want to try
Jesus. I no longer will pray for a person to be saved by such a motivation. You can't find freedom in Christ
and sonship because you have asked Him to ease the misery of your failures from addictions, broken
relationships, or financial ruin. That's seeking Him for the bread only. It's who we are that God is wanting
to free us from - the addiction to self which causes us to live in sin. It's the deeper realization that who we
are is unacceptable in the eyes of God. Sin will cause consequences, but God wants to do more than remove
the consequences. He wants to remove the motivations and the inner drives to sin. Otherwise He will, and
we will spend our lives trying to get out of jam after jam while sin ravages our joys and hopes.

John 8:37
What makes the identify of a person is not their family name, who they were born of. These Pharisee's
claimed identity with Abraham. In the next verse Jesus challenges that they were not Abraham's children.
What gives identity is the Word within the man. Then is verse 43 Jesus reveals why these people were not
able to understand what He was saying. They didn't have the ability to listen to His Word. 

John 8:51
Here is where we may tie in the five fold message that is about judgement. God is not going to judge us for
the correctness of our doctrines. We will be judged for our actions, and it is what is our primary influence
that will determine those actions. Here is the power of the Word of God. Anyone who keeps it will never see
death. Some people want to be free from adultery because they don't like the consequences of exposure,
disrespect, financial burden, lonliness, emotional despair. Yet they have no fear of death. They don't see that
being a son, born again, a new creature is having one's personal identity absolutely changed. He is now
known by His Father in heaven and bears his image. Is not this the purpose of God that we be conformed into
His image? Is this not the way of freedom that we know that all things are working for this greater good?
Such a person will never see death. Your body will die, but you will never have one moment of existence
where you will die yourself. You will not lose one moment of consciousnesss. When your spirit leaves your
body you will be just as real, just as alive, just as aware of your surroundings, and more so than when you're
body was holding you back in its carnal nature. I'll tell you this one more thing - you're loved one who has
passed has not ceased to exist. It may look like it and feel like it. But the body is not you, it's your vehicle.
You will never cease to exist. 

2 Cor 5:15
Paul's compelling motive is seen here. It is the principle of influence moving him. Now the Word in faith is
intended to be our primary source of influence. So, if Jesus died for us then what is the use in having to die
again. He said we would never die if we obeyed His Word. We've further seen that self is the biggest
addiction known to mankind. We're full of addiction to self. The only release is someone else besides us. The
only motive becomes loving gratitude mingled with never failing hope, joy, and peace.
Here is the new identity. It is no longer about who 'self' is. It is a total crucifixion of self. Life in God
is all about walking away from self and toward Him and others. Regard for ourselves and for others is now
intended to be in Christ. We receive that dignity for ourselves and we give this respect also to others. Christ
died for you. You are a dead man in Him. That is your only hope. We neither see our own identity or that
of others by what they can do, accomplish, what they say, or what their hangups are. Paul would give this
great dignity and respect away to others as if he were speaking to Christ himself. Jesus had said that to visit
the prisoner and be kind to him was doing it unto Himself. This is the rightly discerning His body as Paul
speaks of concerning the Church assembled for communion together.

He then sums this thought up with the ultimate reality - if anyone is in Christ he is a new creature.
Therefore, let's start acting like it, living it, and treating others with the same dignified identity.
It is this respect that people long for. The power of sin has totally robbed it. Our life actions,
memories and past, together with our depraved fears and lusts have ripped our sense of honor and esteem
from us. No amount of self improvement will help. At best they may make us look temporarily like somebody
special in the eyes of a few in this world, but we will know the truth inside. We have not measured up.
Running back, Barry Sanders for the Detroit Lions was one of the most prolific players in the game. Yet he
quit in his prime. His dad never seemed to give him the respect he had earned in football. He was never good
enough for his dad. Performance did not cut it, nor will it ever. But Christ has given that respect to all of
those who have discovered the secret of His living Word, and have believed it and obeyed. You have a new
identity. The honor of agape love has been stamped upon you.

2 Cor 5:17
The second therefore of this section about being compelled by the love that dies to self and lives in the Spirit
is here. But first, I emphasis this revelation. To live in the Spirit and minister the Spirit is to live in the love
that dies to self. It is the liberty from self. It is not merely a mystical spiritual existence that can not be seen
and understood. It is the experience of genuine love through a grateful response to having been rescued from
death by another's death. It is more than merely acknowledging as well that we believe that Jesus died for
us. If it is faith, then this life in the Spirit is living free from living for self, living with the need to judge by
appearances, and is one that is proving that there is new life in Christ. (So don't judge another's life and claim
all the while to be living in the Spirit.)

Now, the second therefore of Christ dying for us, of we not living for ourselves is this. Anyone who is in
Christ is a new creation. All things have become new. What matters is not what is done in the flesh and by
the flesh. I will treat you as the creation of God in the Spirit. If God gives you this distinction, then who am
I to exalt myself above the judgement of God? Gal 6:15 says that keeping the law of circumcision doesn't
matter one way or the other. What matters is a new creation. You have been re-created after the image of
Christ. All of what we do is to affirm that. My judgements of you, what you do, how you minister, is all
about affirming who Christ is in you. I simply want to know Jesus in you. And when you are treated like that,
with that motivation, you will have ministered to you the righteousness of Christ.

Yes, in the face of that, if you openly sin, it will be pointed out to you. But it must be done only to you, not
to others about you. It must be done as well only in the context of ministering righteousness and not
condemnation. It's a new way to think, act, believe and live. It can only come about naturally by those who
are living it. Those who are finding their well being and dignity and respect by how good they think they are
living their lives have no understanding about how to confront another Christian or the world.

See Ps 51:10
Then also see Ezk, and then Gal 6:15.
Remember that you are created in His image and bear His image. His image is your future, your sure hope.
It is something that is going to fully happen to you some day. You are going in a better direction. There is
no light of an oncoming train. Jesus told the Pharisees, "Before Abraham was, I am." That is a great identity.
I am. You are as well. "I am" is a statement of eternal existence and therefore deity. Yet you are now created
in Christ and share in His glory. You have the right to say, "I am."

If salvation doesn't establish a new identity then it isn't salvation at all. If a life change does not happen
because there is something, someOne on the inside now, then there is no coming life.

Isa 43:18 Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old.

Matt 9:16 No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment, for that which is put in to fill it up taketh
from the garment, and the rent is made worse.

Rom 6:4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the
dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

Rom 7:6 But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve
in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.

Old things ARE passed away. You are passed away, you old thing. When we say someone has passed away,
it's the old man that has died. But passed away doesn't mean death, it means life for His disciples.
The call to put off the old life is founded upon knowing that you have a new life. Without this, the old life
just won't go away. There is no new life seen to grasp hold of. First we must see this new life in the face of
our conviction of sins.

Ps 51:10;
One question has been how David could be declared righteous in sight of his calculated and grievous sin. The
next question is how could one ever be trusted again not to commit such a crime. How could David come
to a firm stand in his conduct? He prays for a right spirit, "right" meaning a firm, well established, and stable
heart. David needed to be trusted as King and representative of God. Men and nations would need to know
that God was still with him, and that he could be trusted as one whom God still honored. David was not
merely trusted as a great and fearless warrior. He was trusted as one whom God would bless with victory and
success in all that he did as the leader of the nation.

The great reality here for you and I is that God can give us a new identity. He would honor David's prayer
of faith. God would for David and will for you create a clean heart. It takes an act of God. You've been
trying, some of you, to change your heart for years. God will create one. Ezekiel says this clearly in 11:19,
18:31, 36:26.

Gal 6:15
God, help me glory in the cross as well. There is no glory in one's personal attainments of morality and
righteousness. The Pharisees couldn't keep the law. There was no inner esteem for them, for they knew they
were sinners if they were honest. They would glory in others following them, but it was a false glory that led
to the crucifixion. It was founded upon envy and jealousy. Paul was dead to the world as his source of dignity
and honor. But he wasn't mad at the world because he was a failure, like so many today are just angry and
frustrated so easily. The only thing that avails in personal well being is a new creature, and new identity. Paul
says in vs 17, let no man trouble me. People often and easily trouble us. Somehow who we are is at stake,
we think. But there's peace and mercy for all who walk according to the rule of a new identity through the
cross. Yet, know this - this new identity will not blossom unless we are willing to let go of our old identity.
This was a racial issue in part. It was the religious Jew against the Gentile. Peter got caught up in it. Paul said
in Ephesians that the dividing line has been broken in Christ. Jeremiah Wright is part of a black theology that
blames the whites for Jesus death. Poor analogy. It fosters racism. Why did God make blacks and whites?
Why are there different nationalities and races? Only in Christ will He let us be united. We'd be dangerous
otherwise. Integration outside of Christ will find a society unified against God. Will it be a better one than
a racist one? It will be different, but no better, because the hatred, selfishness, and pride will still be there.
The drugs will still be there. God will not have a society united against Him. Are you saying He created
racism? No, we did, because outside of Christ there will be no lasting peace.

You can't defeat racism or hatred of any kind by trying to legitimize your roots. You can't make
anyone believe that whites are as good as blacks or blacks as good as whites. I'm as good as you!? How good
is that? There is no one who does good. Not one. Will you measure good against bad in your own life before
God? Is one murder OK as long as everything else in your life was decent? Only as both, no all, races look
to Christ will there ever be peace between us. Israel and Ishmael have been fighting for thousands of years.
When will we learn?

Only a new creation makes a difference.
Our value is linked to our valuables
and values:
“freely receiving”
establishes all three of these and determines our mission journey
Cornerstone Magazine
Living Life on Purpose

 Descipleship 2
Identity