This Sunday

October 11 – Who You Believe You Are Will Determine How You Live

Who you believe you are will determine how you live. Our identity shapes what we believe, what we do, and ultimately the environments and patterns we create around ourselves, yet pain, sin, fear, guilt, shame, unforgiveness, and disappointment can distort the way we see ourselves. Romans 7 captures the frustration of wanting to do what is right while repeatedly doing what we hate. Still, Romans 8 announces a radically different reality. There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, and the Holy Spirit does not lead us back into slavery and fear but into the freedom of knowing that we have been adopted as children of God. Through Christ, we are not defined by our failures, our past, our struggles, or the ways we have learned to see ourselves; we are a new creation, welcomed into the family of God and given the right to approach Him as “Abba, Father.” The question is not simply what you are doing, but who you believe you are, because you will inevitably live from that identity. When we believe we are slaves, we live in fear and strive for approval; when we understand that we are sons and daughters, we approach God with confidence, receive His grace, and begin to live from the freedom He has already given us. Our behavior doesn't establish our identity; in Christ, our identity becomes the foundation from which our lives are transformed.

Identity shapes beliefs > Beliefs shape behavior > Environment reinforces behavior

Main Point: You will live out of who you believe you are

Things That Distort Your Identity:

Concealed pain

Concealed sin

Fear

Guilt and shame

Unforgiveness

Disappointment

Romans 8:14–17

For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.[a] And by him we cry, “Abba,[b] Father.” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ...

Romans 7:15: I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.

Romans 8:1: Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

Romans 8:15: The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again…”

Romans 8:15: …the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.

2 Corinthians 5:17: 

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

Romans 8:15: 

And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’

Hebrews 4:16: Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence…

John 8:34–36 (NIV)

Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

Romans 8:16: The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children.

Luke 15:29: Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders.  

John 1:12: Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.