Summarizing last week, we ended our conversation with the good news that because of God’s mercy, He has saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit imparts this life (Saved by Grace), and the Word of God is the instrument the Holy Spirit uses in regeneration. We have discovered that God chose to give us birth through the Word of Truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of all He created (James 1:18) Let us rehearse and receive the Grace of God in one of our foundation scriptures that John 1:14 The Word became a human being. He made his home with us. We have seen his glory. It is the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father. And the Word was full of grace and truth. Truth is a Person – Jesus says I am the Truth, the Way, and the Life. Grace and Truth have made His home with us. We hare His habitation! Let us spend some time on the issue and the wonder of being “chosen”. 1 Peter 1:2 You are not forgotten, for you have been chosen and destined by Father God. The Holy Spirit has set you apart to be God’s holy ones, obedient followers of Jesus Christ who have been gloriously sprinkled with his blood. May God’s delightful grace and peace cascade over you many times over! Being chosen means that we are the object of God’s choice, we are the elect, the object of divine favor. We have been distinguished, taken in preference, and predestined. Thank You, God, for choosing us in Christ Jesus! Ephesians 1:3-8 Give praise to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing. Those blessings come from the heavenly world. They belong to us because we belong to Christ. 4 God chose us to belong to Christ before the world was created. He chose us to be holy and without blame in his eyes. He loved us. 5 So he decided long ago to adopt us. He adopted us as his children with all the rights children have. He did it because of what Jesus Christ has done. It pleased God to do it. 6 All those things bring praise to his glorious grace. God freely gave us his grace because of the One he loves. 7 We have been set free because of what Christ has done. Because he bled and died our sins have been forgiven. We have been set free because God’s grace is so rich. 8 He poured his grace on us. This choice declares who we belong to, our identity and our destiny. In North America today, specifically in Massachusetts, identity has become a major source of conflict, division and pain in families and among friends. The Bible says in Proverbs 29 verse 18 that where there is no vision the people perish but he that keepeth the law happy is he. The message translation says “If people can't see what God is doing, they stumble all over themselves; but when they attend to what He reveals they are most blessed. In Galatians 15 -16 But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by His grace, was pleased 16 to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, my immediate response was not to consult any human being. Here we see that we are called by His Grace (Material that constitutes God) and that the location of revelation of Jesus Christ is in me. I am Ciiru in Christ ! what a liberating truth. Identity answers the question who am I? who are you? In Genesis 1 we discover who we are – verse 26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness. God says who I am! I do not know who I am based on my feelings. Grace creates my identity, I am in Christ I am a new creation, the old has passed away and the new has come. The old is the fallen nature in Adam and the new is the redeemed image and likeness of God in my life in Christ. Hallelujah! There is no confusion here. There is the only certainty of who I am. 1 Corinthians 15:21-22 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead also came through a man. For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. (1) To be in Adam means that you have inherited his nature (sinful), the consequences of his actions (condemnation), and his destiny (death). (2) To be in Christ means that you have inherited his nature (righteousness), the consequences of his actions (justification), and his destiny (eternal life). Last week we reflected on the fact that the Holy Spirit imparts spiritual life to us because we were dead in our sins and trespasses. The written Word is the instrument that the Holy Spirit uses in regeneration (impartation of spiritual life). It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life (John 6:63 NKJV) Our identity is found in our relationship with Christ. In that relationship, we are dependent on and accountable to God. The words He speaks are spirit and they are life. Identity Amnesia Poem (Tripp) Identity Amnesia produces identity replacement. It has been humanity’s problem since a man and a woman in a Garden given as a gift attempted to reach up for the place of Another. Grace is a story and grace is a gift. It is God’s character, and it is my/your hope. Grace is a transforming tool and a state of the relationship.