 All right, so I've turned on the recording ever. Can everyone hear me? Okay. It's fine. All right. Good Okay, so let's pray and You will get started. I'm sure other students will Join us in the next few moments Students will connect to the class Yeah, so let me just ask somebody to pray Aradhana, Kamble. Okay, you've got your video on would you like to pray and then we will start Amen. Amen. Thank you Aradhana and welcome to everybody else is just connected. Good morning. Good evening whichever part of the world you are But good afternoon for some maybe Thank you. All right, so Let me just share my screen and Go through a few things as we get ready to start all right, so You all of all of you all of us would have logged in to BC 101 the Google Classroom and And you've got you know, you clicked on the link for the Google Meet and you joined the Google Meet In the classwork section is where we you know, we will start posting things So as of now, there are two PDFs that you can download and go through and we will be using them in our lecture. So We will go to them today. So in case you haven't downloaded, you know, you could download them now or in at any time and we'll be using these materials and Later today the video lectures will you know, we will start posting these lectures here At the end of the end of the Towards the end of the day these videos will come up here So in case you want to go back and review you can do that, right? So just to remind you that this is where we will be releasing Content for you and this is where you'd be able to watch videos and later on We will be also creating your creating assignments for you here. All right. So in the classwork tab is where you will be able to See the assignments we create for you, right? So We will get started today This is I'm just going through the course overview PDF So both these PDFs that we'll be looking at today are already there in the classwork section. So you could You know, download that and see see the PDF so Just to give an overview of what we are going what is this course about the course on identity on who In the New Testament one of the most important revelations that We find especially through the letters of the Apostle Paul is that about who the believer is in Christ Right and there are Several scriptures a few, you know, some some people have tried to count it It's definitely over a hundred and thirty scripture references On who we are in Christ or the identity of the believer. And so this course Is a real journey that we make by studying Everything that, you know, that's in the New Testament or as much as we can in the New Testament About what is our real identity? Who are we in Christ? We will, you know, cover this in several sections. We talk about a revelation and Neucration and different aspects of our identity as we make this journey There's just an introduction. I will we will go into the details shortly We'll have three assessments. These are simple question answers Based on the content we cover There'd be one in mid-September another one in mid-October and one towards the end of November most likely the end of the third week of November and they just get it 30 percent 30 percent 40 percent, right and The grading scheme they've already shared with you So remember you need to have the in 85 percent attendance and then just get a passing grade, right? We will be giving you the course lectures the PDFs as we progress we will release it in the classwork section Another book that we encourage you to read. It's a free book if you go to apcw.org slash books There you will find a lot of our books. All our books are free So you can download the father's love is one book that you could read You will not be tested or you know assessed on that but we encourage you to read it because it complements a Lot of what we cover in this course Okay now Before we Get started and let me just come back here to The the government media Before we you know get into the actual course material just want to share a few things one is Please feel free To ask as many questions as you want to on what we are discussing. Okay, so don't hesitate. It's a good thing to ask questions, you know Usually when you know in a Sunday church service When we speak or when we preach You just have to listen, you know the pastor or the preacher is preaching And all you get to do is listen if you have a question you have a doubt You cannot ask Typical Sunday service, but this is you know Okay, but this is different We want you to engage. We want you to ask questions and you know, we can Clarify things things if you don't understand something or something you want me to repeat Maybe you didn't understand it clearly just free free to ask questions and I want you to keep in mind that When you ask a question It's very likely that you know, there may be three or four other people who have the same question in their minds Maybe they're just hesitating to ask so by you asking the question You're actually helping others as well To learn better right so although I'm going to be talking and explaining and we're going to be going through the scriptures at any point in time Just ask your question right, so you can You can Unmute your mic And ask a question You can raise your hand here by yeah, there's a little hand icon at the bottom of Your screen there you can Tap on that so I will know you have a question to ask so I will pause and Give you the time to ask question or You could just type your question in the chat, right? So either ways fine and you know when I see a question the chat then I can pause and Respond to that question now sometimes what happens is On a given day we may run out of time so we will just pick up that question in the next lecture and Respond to that so in case we don't complete answering your question. I will just continue it in the next lecture The other thing I do want to mention is that I can let me just share my screen on the screen the Over here and in the stream The class Google Classroom stream is where we can interact, right? So, you know, like somebody is posted some comments others have posted some comments. That's fine So this is where you know you can post in case you have a question that comes up a little later You know outside of the class hours You can post your question here. You can just any student can you know put your question here Then I will get notified and I may I may respond to the question right here in the stream Or I may pick up that question in the next lecture so that everybody can you know Discussed I mean we can share that answer in the class people can discuss it So this is another way in case you have a question that comes up outside of the class hours You're welcome to post things here in the class stream So the class stream is more like a discussion board where we can engage in discussions share our thoughts right, but and Sometimes some students also post prayer requests If they have some urgent need they may post it here so that other students can also pray for them As you're welcome to do that. There's nothing wrong with it The only request we make is please don't use the class stream To do promotions of personal things or things happening in your city, right? So keep this for you know engaging around the subject and just for Encouraging interacting with each other right so we will use this in a proper way. Okay All right, so now what I'm going to do is I'm going to start off with the PDF that we have given you Start up with the introduction and get into the first lesson on on who we are in Christ and as we go through it just feel free to You know understand follow along and ask questions as we have mentioned Okay, so You would be able to download this PDF from the Classwork section and Now let's start off with this worse, you know second Corinthians 5 verse 17 We're all very familiar with this verse of scripture and You know the Bible says if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation Now, you know, we just pause and think about that if we are in Christ and We are a new creation Something brand new right old things have passed away all things Have become new and you know, we can just ponder on this verse and say about that's you know That there's a lot here. We had a new creation So what you know first of all, what does it mean to be in Christ? What does it mean to be a new creation? What does it mean all things are passed away? So You know, what does it really mean to me in everyday life? You know, can I be really free from all the old things? That once affected me, you know, and all things have become new. You know, what does that mean? so Our goal in this course is to understand this whole new creation that we have become and So, you know one analogy that I like to use often every time I Talk about who we are in Christ Is to think about And again, this is just an example to think about a boy an orphan boy, let's say an orphan child abandoned in the slums With you know with nothing it's just nothing, you know, and You know that this this orphan boy would you know, you can just try to imagine how hard how difficult each and every day would be Just struggling for survival and unsure about life unsure about even the next meal He was going to get But imagine and this is just illustration imagine that this orphan boy was adopted into the family of a very wealthy man Just imagine he was adopted in that family and This man, you know gave this boy his family name Brought him to the house just gave him everything everything that you know, he has he just put it upon this little boy You know, how how how transformative how Transformated that experience would be and life changing because the rest of This boy's life and future is totally changed by what has happened but just imagine and again, this is just something to Think about just imagine that if this boy Orphan boy who has been adopted in this wealthy family Did not change his mentality But he continued to another you know, I just like to look at you when I'm talking so Suppose he you know just Continue to think the old way You know as though he was still an orphan boy His mentality didn't change. Just continue thinking the other way and You know, you can just imagine him he's living in this house where everything is there, but he comes to Have his breakfast or lunch whatever and then he Back some food and takes it back to his room. It's because he's afraid that he may not get the next meal Right, so that's his old mentality at work But he's actually in a house where there's Overflowing of food food overflows. So he doesn't have to worry about his next meal Or think about it if he still thinks that nobody loves him the factors This wealthy man and his family love him That's why they were dumb to him and they're giving him everything, right? Or think about, you know, if he Runs away in all these nice clothes he has and everything he runs back and he starts playing in the slum That would be just totally out of place Because that's what he used to be but now he's been his life has changed right The only reason he would want to go back to the slum is To tell the other people. Hey, there's a way out and there's a better life that they can have and maybe help them come into You know our place where things are better for them So this is just an example where you know for us as believers in Jesus Christ Our lives have been so transformed in Christ But we have to embrace what God has done for us You know, we have to believe that and we have to change our thinking I'm going to change the way we live and accept what God has done for us spiritually speaking I mean and let that affect every aspect of our being, you know, affect the way we live affect our lifestyle and so on but very often Because we don't Undergo that transformation. We don't undergo that change. You know, we're still thinking the old way We still think according to our old life. So we're not able to express, you know, the new life that we have in Christ The way God works The way God works is that he completes the work for us spiritually and Then he says I wanted to live out of what I have completed for you. So the Christian life is not I'm striving to achieve something For God but rather I receive something what God has done for me and I learned to live out of that Okay, that's very important for us to understand Right the this Christian life. It's not that I'm trying to achieve something. No The work was done by God Jesus did the work for us on the cross And God says I've completed the work for you spiritually and I want you to live out of that In your life here on earth, right? So that's the journey we make of growing into Who we are in Christ Okay, and as I've shared in the in the pdf There are many ways that this truth this revelation will affect our lives and you and I understand Our identity in Christ, you know what God has done for us in Christ The inheritance he has given to us And the life he's called us to live in Christ It will first of all change our self-image You know, how do you see yourself? You know how many times you know our self-image As human beings, you know, we base our self image on, you know, so many different things Maybe our education maybe Uh, the family we were born in and maybe Yeah, you know the connections we have with Influential people whatever, you know, we base our self image on various things money and wealth and so on But those things can easily change You know, they can be there. They cannot be there But if you and I learn to base our self image how we see ourselves On what God has done for us, you know, that will change how you and I look at ourselves So that no matter, you know the externals the externals may be there may not be there doesn't matter Who you are in Christ Is who you really are and that's a statement we will repeat often Who you are in Christ is who you really are. That's who you really are and you and I Will learn to live out of that so it changes our self image Understanding, you know, this whole revelation Of our identity in Christ Secondly is also going to change the way we relate to God You know many times People relate to God just, you know, based on again, like this like we said, maybe based on The works they do And I'm not saying we shouldn't live a good life. We should live a righteous life But our relationship with God is based should be based on Who we are in Christ all the time You know, there may be some days when you pray for many hours. There may be some days when you don't pray It doesn't change who you are in Christ There will be some days when you read the Bible a lot and some days you may not read your Bible But it doesn't change who you are in Christ right, so You don't base your relationship with God You know based on these things Your relationship with God is based on Who you are in Christ so you can relate to him with freedom At any point I'm not saying we should live we can live in sin and ignore it No, I've been living in sin. They need to address that and you know Ask God for forgiveness and come out of it. But I'm saying as a believer Your relationship with God is not based on How much things you do but it's based on who you are in Christ Thirdly When you and I understand who we are in Christ It will affect the way we face life situations You know that when we face challenges some people all face, you know different things in life There will be the storms of life and there will be people You know do things and all kinds of challenges but You will always face them based on your identity in Christ You know you will know that in Christ God always causes me to triumph So in every battle you'll face it saying hey, I'm going to win Sometimes the battle may be intense sometimes a battle may be long Sometimes the battle may be very rough, but you are convinced That because you are in Christ God will cause you to triumph right, so You learn you and I will learn, you know, this is how we face life situations out of our identity in Christ It'll also change the way you and I face Satan and his demonic powers You know that we will be unafraid unafraid of Satan You'll be unafraid of evil spirits demonic paths You know that when you face you know Satan at work or when you are ministering to people You minister out of who you are in Christ And you're not afraid Of any evil spirit or any demon or anything that satan can do you Is my audio too low Isaac I see your comment there Um Do you all hear me? Okay. Yes, boss Okay Isaac I need to see Okay I just see if you can increase your volume a bit. Maybe I will Keep my mic a little closer. Okay. Hope hope that helps Isaac Okay, so what was I saying? Yeah So When you live out of your identity in Christ it will Make you a master Of satan and his demonic powers. You'll be fearless and bold Because you are in christ and in christ You're seated at the father's right hand In the heavenly places There is no higher place that god could put you and me and satan is underneath your feet Now many believers don't understand that or Uh That that understanding the revelation of that truth has not gripped their hearts And so we still live in fear or what is the devil doing to me? The devil is attacking me the devil is troubling me. Look satan is underneath your feet and you are seated in christ At the right hand of god But that is your position as a believer That is your identity. That is your inheritance And so from there you're looking down at satan You're looking down at all the demons They're underneath your feet. So how are you going to look at them? You're going to look at them as master. You're going to look at them as lord You're going to look at them as You know, you are in authority and dominion over satan But that's how you are going to face satan and his demons right So understanding this truth of your identity in christ is going to change how you face satan and his demonic powers and lastly understanding your Identity and your inheritance in christ will also change the way you relate to other people Right, that means when you when you look at other people you If you you know you're looking at other believers you look at them as who they are in christ You know, you don't look at them as how they are just in the natural In the natural all of us have our flaws and of us are perfect in the natural But you learn to see who each person is in the spirit that hey that person is in christ and In christ, this is who they are And I need to you know, I need to relate to them Based on their identity in jesus christ So that is how This revelation is going to change our lives as we you know start journeying through this In this course on our identity. It's going to really transform us. It's going to really change our lives Okay, so whatever I've just spoken to you right now is in the introduction part of the first pdf so you could just You know go over that any questions at this point before we get into the first chapter any questions Anybody any thoughts any questions? Okay, everyone's with me. All right good All right, so let's get into the first chapter on the pdf um think Let's go there So I've just we have covered all of this Um, so section one revelation Okay, so let's begin by reading can somebody just read for us john 14 versus 19 and 20 john 14 19 and 20 Let me come back to this meat session here Okay, good can somebody read john chapter 14 versus 19 and 20 Somebody can read that for us just unmute your mic and can read it for us, please A little while longer and the world will see me no more But you will see me because I live you all also live At that day, you will know that I am my father And you and me and I and you Okay, thank you, shawnee so in john 14 Jesus is um you know Preparing his disciples for his departure. He's going to you know be crucified And of course, he's going to be resurrected. He's going to rise up So he says, you know, you're you're not going to see me but then because I live you will also live john 14 verse 19 Then in verse 20, he says At that day That means the time after my resurrection at that day right You will know that I am in my father and you in me And I knew at that day. That's a time coming when You will know that means you're going to know something when you receive a revelation And what are you going to know you're going to know That I am in my father. Jesus isn't the father You in me and I in you So he says look After my death in resurrection You're going to receive a revelation You're going to know That I am in you and you are in me john 14 Versus 19 and 20 you're gonna you're going to receive that revelation and sure enough After jesus ascended into heaven he sent the holy spirit And then through the apostles and as we mentioned primarily through the apostle paul This whole revelation unfolded Paul in his writings often says, you know, we are in christ. We are in him He is in us And because we are in him and because he is in us. This is who we are This is how we can live. This is what we can do, right? So jesus foretold that you're going to receive this revelation Another way that jesus also communicated this to his disciples before he Was crucified ascended is there in john 15 worse John 15 Let me sell we can you It's the whole passage there on jesus being the wine and we being branches on the wine, but Can somebody read verses one and two for us, please john 15 verses one and two I am wine and my father is the gardener He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit While every branch that does not bear fruits. He pursues so that it will be even more fruitful Yeah so John 15 was one and two So here's a different analogy or a different picture that jesus is using to Dedicate to us That we are in him. He is in us, you know this this being in christ. He says I am the wine And you are branches on the wine Yeah, you are connected to the wine right, so Spiritually and we will explain this a little later again through scripture Spiritually we are like a branch in the wine. That means we are actually connected to jesus So spiritually you and I are connected to jesus just like The branch Is connected to the wine spiritually You are connected to jesus okay, so You and I are not distant from jesus It's not like every time you pray you're trying to make a long distance call to jesus It's not like that You and I are spiritually connected 24 7 all the time connected See the branch Doesn't come off and go back off and back on the wine No, that's not the relationship the branch has on the wine. The branch is connected to the wine all the time Now that's your connection with jesus. You are spiritually So that analogy is in the natural the wine and the branch spiritually You and I are always connected. That's it's like an inseparable connection You're connected with jesus spiritually all the time and What is in the wine? Is also flowing in the branch Now it's not like there's something different in the branch and different in the wine. No What's in the wine Is flowing in the branch That means the life of jesus Is flowing in you and me in the spirit? That's what that's the reality. That's the truth So we need to find out What is this life all about? That's flowing in me in my spirit What is this wine life? What is this life of jesus? What is it about? And how is it going to change my life? You know, how is it going to make a difference? To me For me and through me Because 24 seven you are connected And his life is flowing in you the life of his spirit this is flowing in you So how's it going to make a difference? Uh for you and me we need to find out And that's what we are going to do As we journey through this whole study on Our identity in christ Right, so these are too powerful Scriptures that jesus gave before he went into heaven And he says This coming a day When you're going to get to know that You are in me I am in you Right, you're going to receive that revelation Now sure enough Later on the apostle paul came along and so Uh in the notes, let me see here in the notes Um, we okay. Let's go to effusion chapter one Uh effusions chapter one. We're going to look at verses one to fourteen. So sure enough the apostle paul came along and He in his episodes just began to pour out This revelation for us Right, he began to pour out this revelation Thank you. Isaac and glaring you can hear it's clearly now You know and uh, so we're going to study the episodes. What did paul say? So Let's take a moment now to read effusion chapter one Versus one to fourteen. I'm going to ask Each person just read two verses right those who haven't read so far Just take two verses And just read one after the other jeffina you have a question No, I just want to read Yeah, so you start off versus one and two effusions versus one and two and then we go to verse 14 to assist each jeffina. Please start This letter is from paul chosen by the will of god to be in a person of jesus christ I'm writing in gods holy people and in pieces Who are faithful followers of christ jesus may god our father and the lord jesus christ give you grace and grace someone else Blessed be the god and father of our lord jesus christ Who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in christ Just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we would be holy and blameless before him Having predestined us to adoption as thanks by jesus christ himself according to the good pleasure of his will to the praise of the glory of his grace By which he made us accepted in the bellagant In him we have redemption to the to his blood The pilgrimage of our faith process according to the riches of his faith Which he libised upon us in all wisdom and insight Verse nine and ten And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure Which he purposed in christ Must then also please To be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment To bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head even christ Thank you was loud and 12 somebody please In whom also we have obtained an inheritance Being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worked at all things after the council of his own will That we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in christ Okay, verses 13 and 14 somebody please In him you also trusted after you heard the word of the truth the gospel of our soul of your salvation In whom also heaven believed you were sealed with the power of the whole sorry with the spirit of promise Who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchase position to the praise of his glory Thank you. Thank you everyone So we just read half of this chapter right Ephesians chapter one. We haven't read the full chapter but it's very interesting if you would take a highlighter and mark How many times the apostle paul is Talking about being in christ You know, and I can just show you in my bible um, I've kind of I don't know if you can see it, you know, I've Marked it out there starting from verse one, you know uh, just You know looking at it. So amazing. So right there in verse one, right very first verse he says To the saints who are in Ephesians and faithful in christ Jesus In christ jesus then again in verse three Oh Sam, I think you clicked on your present button. You need to Take that off. Okay. Thank you. All right okay, now verse three Again, he talks about you know the end of verse three in christ Again in verse four he says he chose us in him All right then again in verse six end of verse six he says in the beloved The beloved is christ. Right. So he says in the beloved again in verse seven the beginning of verse seven he says in him Right, so And then you find this again in verse 10 He says in christ in him again verse 11. He says in him Again verse 13. He says in him and in home. So about 10 times In these 14 verses Paul is saying in christ in him in home He's repeating says look at this believer. He's talking. He's talking writing to believers and he's saying believers. You are in christ You are in him you are in the beloved So that's the reference point He's talking to people Who he says They're in christ They're in him in jesus And he's speaking to them you know just just Sharing that it's like wow. It's amazing. This is who he's talking to people Who are in jesus in him And as he's addressing people that as you and me believers who are in christ He is you he is using you know, i'm just Using the word descriptors. He's using descriptors things that describe Who you and i are in christ And once again, you know if you Circle The descriptors he uses just in these 14 verses You know, I I have marked out about 16 descriptors You know and you look at it for instance in verse verse three he says Blessed so that's one descriptor of the believer blessed Or verse four he says chose us so you're a chosen person Then he says we are holy again at verse four. We are holy In verse four we are without blame Then in same verse four we are in love that means we're covered in love Then verse five he says we are predestined Then in that same verse we are adopted as children Then we're six we are for the praise of his glory and it's we're here to you know, just glorify god to praise his glory bring And declare his glory Then he says we are accepted That's in verse six accepted In verse seven he says we have redemption that is we are redeemed And then he says we are we have in the same verse we're seven the forgiveness So like this and I've I've listed the 16 out in the pdf I notice that we put out but you know, you can see these descriptors so to the believer he's saying believer You are blessed You are chosen You are without blame. You are holy You're covered by his love You're predestined You are adopted You are for the praise of his glory You are accepted and You are you know god is You are redeemed. You are forgiven God has given you a bounding grace So he says this is all that god has done for you as a believer And this is who you are In christ as a person who's in christ so Having said all this Having said all this to these believers Paul is saying Now I need to pray for you Or I have been praying for you for what? That god will open your eyes So that you can understand these things So They got to open your eyes So you can understand you can receive a revelation Of these things and that's what he writes, you know, if you read on Let's could somebody read for us versus 15 to 18 or 15 to eight in the same chapter For this reason ever since I heard about your faith in the lord jesus And your love for all the saints. I have not stopped giving thanks for you remembering you in my prayers I keep asking that the god of our lord jesus christ The glorious father may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation So that you may know him better I pray also that the eyes of your heart May be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you The riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints Hey, so what's he saying? Saying I'm praying for you That God we're 17 That god would give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation In knowing him All right, so first of all you need to know god But it's through the holy spirit to the wisdom revelation that the holy spirit gives And then he says Verse 18 That the eyes of your understanding Should be enlightened And the holy spirit should open your eyes your spiritual eyes So that you can know the hope of his calling that means the future that he's called you to right What has god called you to I want you to know that And then he says and the glorious inheritance That he has for the saints That says I want you to know that The inheritance That god has for his people Right, so For us You need to pray right and say lord Open our eyes That We too will know you We will know the future you've called us to And we will know the inheritance You have for your people right Otherwise, if we don't know the inheritance then we will be like the you know the example we said The slum boy or orphan boy who's taken into this wealthy family, but he doesn't understand what has happened He continues to go back to living like a you know In the same miserable way he was before Right we need to go out open our eyes Give us revelation Okay, so we're going to go for a 10 minute break right now and I can just refresh ourselves and Get back to after 10 minutes Okay, but before you dismiss. I just want somebody to pray Just pray for all of us And say god give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation So that we will know you And we will know the inheritance you're giving us Okay, somebody lead in prayer. Just a quick prayer then we'll go for a break. Please Yeah, go ahead. Go ahead. Please Say hello the father we come to the name of jesus We thank you for the beautiful day for the very fantastic attend together God we pray that you open our eyes and let us know who we are in christ You bless it and your chosen and come that is help us to open our eyes and see how much blessed we are The things that christ did for us on the cross the great things that we've received Through christ what day for us on the cross help us to open our eyes and look into you And let us know who we are in christ. Let us understand the subject for identity in christ And work powerfully for your kingdom Amen Thank you everyone. Just uh, thank you. Have a quick break. We'll see you in 10 minutes. Okay Thank you