Identity in Christ, 101

~ I Am Resurrected With Christ, 2 ~

Introduction  ~  When Christians understand the various characteristics and aspects of the birthright which came with their second birth, they comprehend their identity in Christ.  Once Christians understand their identity, their destiny is also clear!  This series of “Abundant Life Now” posts will look at one of those facets each week. 

This Week’s Verse  ~  “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.  Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.  For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.  When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory” (Colossians 3:1-4). 

~~~ EXPLANATORY “IDENTITY IN CHRIST” NOTES ~~~  

(1)  Each Monday ALN posts an example of Scripture’s description of aspects/characteristics of Christians—those who have personally trusted in Jesus Christ, The Messiah, as their personal Savior.

(2)  This series is not intended to be an exhaustive list.

(3)  God the Father described Himself to Moses as the great “I AM” (Exodus 3:14).  God the Son also said “I AM” (John 8:58). 

(4)  Jesus Christ is the Son of God and several times in the Gospel of John He refers to Himself as “I am.”  “I am the Bread of Life” (6:35-51), “I am the Light of the World” (8:12, 9:5), “I am the Door” (10:7-9), “I am the Good Shepherd” (10:11-14), “I am the Son of God” (10:36), “I am the Resurrection and the Life” (11:25), “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life” (14:6), “I am in the Father, and the Father in Me … Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me” (John 14:10-11), and “I am the True Vine” (15:1-5). 

(5)  Individual Christians are also sons and daughters of God.  This series will show some of the various “I am” aspects of a Christian. 

~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW

NOTES:

(1)     The current TOP 10 ALN posts are listed at the very bottom of this home page.

(2)     There is an INDEX of all ALN posts accessed by scrolling down the left column.

(3)     You may LINK to any ALN posts on your own blog or website. 

(4)     You may COPY any ALN post, but please credit ALN as the source by prominently displaying the following statement:  Reprinted from “Abundant Life Now,” a free blog which offers inspiring moments, thought-provoking comments, and solid Biblical insight at http://RobertLloydRussell.blogspot.com/ .

Jesus Saw, 26

~ Jesus Christ Is All-Knowing ~ 

General Comment  ~  When Jesus saw there was always an appropriate reaction and in each case we can learn from the event.

Today’s Scripture  ~  “Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth.  And His disciples asked Him, saying, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’  Jesus answered, ‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.  I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work.  As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.’  When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay.  And He said to him, ‘Go, wash in the pool of Siloam’ (which is translated, Sent).  So he went and washed, and came back seeing.  Therefore the neighbors and those who previously had seen that he was blind said, ‘Is not this he who sat and begged?’” (John 9:1-8). 

Application  ~  As the Creator and Sustainer of the universe (Colossians 1:15-18) Jesus Christ is omniscient (knows all things).  He brought physical light into the eyes of this man who was born blind.  While on earth He was the light of the world.  He brought spiritual light to the lives of His followers.  In His absence we are his lights to a dark and needy world.  Jesus said, “You are the light of the world.  A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.  Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:14-16). 

~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW

NOTES:

(1)     The current TOP 10 ALN posts are listed at the very bottom of this home page.

(2)     There is an INDEX of all ALN posts accessed by scrolling down the left column.

(3)     You may LINK to any ALN posts on your own blog or website. 

(4)     You may COPY any ALN post, but please credit ALN as the source by prominently displaying the following statement:  Reprinted from “Abundant Life Now,” a free blog which offers inspiring moments, thought-provoking comments, and solid Biblical insight at http://RobertLloydRussell.blogspot.com/ .

The Messiah, 291A

~ Jesus Christ and The Feast of Unleavened Bread ~

Background  ~ “Search the Scriptures—they testify of Me” — Jesus Christ (John 5:39).

“And beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, Jesus explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures” (Luke 24:27).  “Let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.  Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body [the true Church of Jesus Christ], nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God” (Colossians 2:16-19).

The Scripture  ~  …  “And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord; seven days you must eat unleavened bread.  On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall do no customary work on it.  But you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord for seven days.  The seventh day shall be a holy convocation; you shall do no customary work on it” (Leviticus 23:6-8).  …

The Messiah  ~  “Indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.  Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (1 Corinthians 5:7-8).  Paul wrote this in a letter to the early Corinthian Christian church—listen to it in modern day English.  “Your flip and callous arrogance in these things bothers me.  You pass it off as a small thing, but it’s anything but that.  Yeast, too, is a ‘small thing,’ but it works its way through a whole batch of bread dough pretty fast.  So get rid of this ‘yeast.’  Our true identity is flat and plain, not puffed up with the wrong kind of ingredient.  The Messiah, our Passover Lamb, has already been sacrificed for the Passover meal, and we are the Unraised Bread part of the Feast.  So let’s live out our part in the Feast, not as raised bread swollen with the yeast of evil, but as flat bread — simple, genuine, unpretentious” (1 Corinthians 5:6-8). 

The Feast of Unleavened Bread (April)  ~  The holy time of celebrating the Feast of Unleavened Bread is at its heart a concern for a holy lifestyle, one that is pleasing to God.  Because of the work of Jesus Christ—The Messiah on the Cross of Calvary we now have fellowship with Him.

“That which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.  And these things we write to you that your joy may be full” (1 John 1:2-4).  The Apostle Paul could say, “But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ.  Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death” (Philippians 3:7-10). 

~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW

NOTES:

(1)     The current TOP 10 ALN posts are listed at the very bottom of this home page.

(2)     There is an INDEX of all ALN posts accessed by scrolling down the left column.

(3)     You may LINK to any ALN posts on your own blog or website. 

(4)     You may COPY any ALN post, but please credit ALN as the source by prominently displaying the following statement:  Reprinted from “Abundant Life Now,” a free blog which offers inspiring moments, thought-provoking comments, and solid Biblical insight at http://RobertLloydRussell.blogspot.com/ .