 If you have your Bible, Matthew chapter 3 verse 16, but before we go in there, I just want to share with you one joke. There was this man, he had a hearing problem and he went to the doctor and the doctor was letting him use this new hearing aid, this advanced one, the one that they just released that was supposed to be like a most amazing hearing aid. And so he used that hearing aid. After a few weeks, he came back to the doctor and the doctor, you know, asked him, he says, you know, it must be really nice to have, be able to actually hear your family now, clearly. He says, doctor, I haven't told my family, I got a hearing aid. He says, for the for the past few weeks, I've changed my will three times. Matthew 3 16. When he was baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water. And behold, the heavens were open to him and he saw the spirit of God descending like a dove and aligning upon him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven saying, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. And Romans chapter 2, certainly not so Apostle Paul is answering the question about, should Christians live in sin? How shall we who die to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know as many of us as have been baptized into Christ Jesus been baptized into his death? Therefore, we were buried with him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we should walk in the newness of life. I want to speak today about a message titled, Becoming Who We Are. Becoming Who We Already Are. Baptism, water baptism is a public demonstration of an inward decision. Water baptism according to Romans, it tells us that we identify with Christ. When we got water baptized, we identify that we are dead to sin. Going down into water means we are dying with Christ. Being in the water means we are dead to sin. We thank God. We don't have to stay there for three days. Otherwise, we will not be only dead to sin. We'll be dead to ourselves. But after a few seconds, we go back up symbolizing and identifying that we are walking in the newness of life. And it's a position, spiritual position that God has given to us through our salvation and is exemplified, made public through our water baptism. What happened during water baptism for Jesus paints a very beautiful picture to us. When Jesus was born on this earth, he was born as a son of God. But for 30 years, he lived like a son of a carpenter. And at the age of 30, he already was a son of God, but people didn't know him as a son of God. People only knew him as a son of a carpenter. He didn't act like the son of God. He acted like the son of the carpenter. And when he got water baptized, God the Father declared publicly that Jesus is not the son of a carpenter, not just the normal average Jewish man. He is my son in whom I am well pleased. God declared Jesus's spiritual position. In spite of the fact everyone around Jesus, his family, his friends, the neighbors, the society has only seen Jesus by his present earthly temporary condition, which was son of Joseph, son of a carpenter. If you're taking notes, I would like you to write this down. God does not choose your position based on your condition. God does not call you or give you a spiritual position looking at how you're doing, looking at what's happening in your life. God declares as he did over Jesus, you are my son. He declares things over you when you become a Christian that might be contrary to what you're going through. That might sound ridiculous because you lived all your life as a son of a carpenter. Maybe you live as a son of poverty. Maybe you lived as a son of a particular addiction. Maybe you lived as a son of a particular habit that you could not conquer. Maybe your condition is not son of a carpenter, but as a son of anxiety and depression. And here God declares over you, says you are son of joy, you are son of victory, you are son of blessing through baptism. And after baptism God makes it public of who you really are, but sometimes who you are and what you're going through and what you're struggling with and how your bank account looks and how the doctor report looks, they contradict. And God doesn't choose who you are based on what you've done, based on how you feel or based on what people have been calling you. Can somebody say amen? In the Bible God sees us already in Christ as dead to sin. You may not feel like being dead to sin as a Christian. You may not feel like your past is buried. You may feel like actually you are carrying your past every single day. But in Christ right now you have buried your past. Your past is not on your shoulders in God's eyes. Your past is carried in the cave in Jerusalem and it's been buried over there. The sin that you might still be struggling, that sin impositionally before God, that sin is already been crucified on the Calvary. Through the position in Christ your new life has begun when you receive the revelation, you are who God calls you, you are. And Bible says we've risen up to walk in the newness of life. It's interesting when we look in the Bible how when the priests would bring an animal, when an individual would bring an animal to sacrifice, a priest would always inspect the lamb, not the man bringing the lamb. And if the lamb was inspected and cleared the inspection so was the man. We see in Exodus chapter 12 when God told Israel bring a lamb, make sure the lamb is without blamish and make sure on 14th day you slaughter the lamb, take a blood of the lamb, put it on a doorpost and then God said I will let the death pass over you. It's interesting God did never make the reference who will bring the lamb. You can be straight, you can be a person who struggles with homosexuality, you can be Jewish, or you can be a Egyptian, you can be a man or a woman, you can be a weak or strong, you can be a sinner or a saint. But God says I don't inspect the man, I inspect the sacrifice. And when you bring the sacrifice that is pure and that sacrifice is Jesus, that sacrifice purifies you and God looks at you through different eyes. See God doesn't look at you through your condition, God looks at you through your position. Jesus was there 30 years of age, everyone calls him Jesus the son of Joseph, God says you are my son. You are different than your predicament, you are different than your behavior says, you are different than how you've been living and what you've been struggling, why? Because of Christ on the cross you have a new position. You may say well Vlad that's all good, good pep talk, awesome. The reality is I'm not like that. Most of us are like those, have you seen those apple pictures? People who have an apple, who can't afford an apple product and have you seen this apple watch? And sometimes when we talk about being righteous you're like this is how righteous I am. It feels like you're carrying this lie, it's fake. Walking around you're righteous when you don't act like Jesus, you're the son of God when you're like a son of a carpenter. Have you seen this one? That's those of us who cannot afford a MacBook and you want to have a MacBook and so you just buy an apple, attach the apple and many times that's how we feel like. Jesus says you are righteous and you look at your life and you say there's nothing righteous about me. God says you are blessed, you're looking at your bank account, you say well there's no blessing there and this is how it feels like sometimes. It almost feels fake when God says you're the son of mine, I am pleased with you and Jesus looks around and the only thing I've been doing is chopping wood for the past three years. The only thing I did is as I grew up around Nazareth, Bethlehem, I'm not your son. I'm a son of a carpenter. God doesn't look at your condition to determine who you are. God looks at himself at the cross and determines who you are. When the revelation that I am righteous, revelation that I am blessed comes into your heart and you feel like it's fake. You feel like you're a hypocrite believing something that is not really true in your life. If you think it's fake then I also believe that Jesus dying on the cross was fake because he died like a sinner but he wasn't a sinner. Therefore, I can be blessed like a saint even if I'm not. If he was cursed like a criminal and he wasn't a criminal then I can be blessed though I'm a son of a carpenter, though I am not the son of God. In reality, in actuality, I am not there but so was in Jesus. He wasn't that bad like he was cursed and I am not the good that God declares me why because Jesus received my punishment that I can receive his blessing as somebody say amen. And so you have to settle the fact what God says is true what you feel is not. What you experience can be changed. What God says is the reality because somebody say amen. When Jesus received this revelation, I am the son of God. God is pleased with me. Everyone knows me as a son of a carpenter. Everyone knows me by my situation, by my condition, by my predicament. But God calls me as something bigger and greater. Next thing that happens the Bible says the Holy Spirit comes upon Jesus. The Holy Spirit always comes on our position in faith. Not our changed condition. Many people feel like if I quit this, drop that, stop this and stop with that. Then the Holy Spirit will be drawn to me and he will like me. What we mean is this the more moral I become, the more pleasing I become to the Holy Spirit. But you have to understand you cannot get better on your own. You can only get better through the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit. And Holy Spirit respects one thing more than anything else. He respects people and respects the word of God. When God's word becomes the standard for your life, when you believe what God says that you are blessed, that you are righteous, that you are dead to sin, that you are walking in the newness of life and it contradicts the reality of your life. But you say I stand with God. The Holy Spirit begins to come upon your life. He always comes on our position to change our condition. He always comes on a revelation to change our reality. In the beginning when we meet the Holy Spirit, he did not come because the earth cleaned up its mess. He came because God said, let there be light. What God said contradicted the reality. Every time God will speak it will contradict what you feel. It might contradict how your circumstances look like. And if you stick with what God says in the opposition to your reality, you will find out that the Holy Spirit will always honor the revelation of God's word to change our reality. He will attach himself to any person who attaches himself to what God says. But if we are busy saying my life is so dark, my life is so shattered, my life is like the earth without bounds, it's without order, it's broken and I'm going to go ahead and clean up my life. Holy Spirit doesn't come on your efforts. He only comes on your faith. That's why Paul says to Galatians, he says I want to know one thing from you. Foolish Galatians, did you receive the Holy Spirit by your works or by the hearing of faith? He says he who performs miracles in your midst. Does he do them because of your great efforts or does he do them because of the teaching of faith? Which means the Holy Spirit is committed to the word of God. And when the word of God comes into your mess, into your confusion, into your own emotional problems, into your own financial or physical issues, when the word of God comes and you say it contradicts what I feel, it contradicts what I see. God says I am you are my son. I'm not a son of a carpenter but God, I believe you. The Holy Spirit says I'm coming with you. And when the Holy Spirit comes, your reality begins to change. Can somebody say amen? When you receive what God says, Holy Spirit comes. But there comes a third point is that the devil will always use what is true to attack the truth. The devil will always use what is true to attack the truth. When Jesus went into wilderness with the Holy Spirit, with the revelation, I am a son of God. In the wilderness there came some obstacles, there came some troubles. In the wilderness there was no food. In the wilderness there was only stones and the devil came and the devil said, look at you. Your son of God, prove it. Look at you. Look at your situation, look at your trouble. Your son of God, that's just an idea that you're entertaining but your circumstances do not verify that. And the devil begins to use our circumstances, our sometimes symptoms. He begins to use the reality we are in to begin to attack the revelation we received. It's true. Your reality is true. What God said is the truth. What you feel is true. What God says is the truth. What you experience is true. What God says is the truth. And God's truth holds the universe. What is true cannot stand a test of time. Sometimes the feelings of sadness and depression can be fixed with five thousand dollars. So your feelings are true. What is truth is not your feelings. What is truth is Jesus Christ. He says I am the truth. See Buddha said I'm the secret of truth. Muhammad said I'm the prophet of truth. Jesus came and says I am the truth. See what God says is the truth. What you feel in your body, what you see on doctor's reports, what you experience in your finances, what you experience even in your family, in your mind and it feels like it's the truth. It is true. It's God's word that is the truth. And if you attach yourself to the truth you will see that what is true will change into God's truth. The devil is a liar. The devil is a liar. He wants to stick our eyes into our feet and only see what we experience today. Jesus would experience just a year later where he would feed multitudes with just five loaves into fish. Where Jesus will be elevated and they will call him kings. Where all of those things the devil says if you're really the son of God why aren't you making the miracle with bread? The devil didn't want Jesus to focus on what's gonna come after this. Where he will do miracle with bread. Where he will be exalted. Where he will be called the son of God. Not by the father but by people. Where Peter will say you're the son of most high God. Where the blind man will say to Pharisees he must be a prophet. When the kadimus will say you must be from God because no one can do things like you do if God is not with him. But the devil when that time where he will use your situation he will make it seem like the whole world is against you. Your life is so terrible and whatever you believe that river Jordan doesn't matter now because look at your life. He will use what is true to destroy what is truth. But what is truth is settled. And if you attach yourself to what God says he is your healer. Whether you get healing in your body today or not he is the healer. He says I am Jehovah Rafa. He is your savior even if your children are still in jail right now. He is the one who will save. Only one who can save. He is your Jehovah child, a God who provides. You cannot maybe make ends meet. You have $50 left on your account and the bill is due for 70 tomorrow. And even if you collapse on that and you can't pay that doesn't change. Your situation is true. Your God is the truth. He's your provider. You don't know that a year from now you might have your own business where you'll be giving money away but Satan wants you to focus on the fact you can't pay your bills but not to see the moment where you'll be healing, touching and changing others. Jesus what you experience is true. The nightmares are true. But the God who watches over Israel is the truth. He says he will not give his eyelids slumber or sleep he who watches over you Jerusalem. Your God is the truth. What do you do when God says it and Satan comes and says but that's not real. Jesus did this and we have to do the same. He told Satan men will not live by what he sees what he experiences. Men lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. He told Satan until my reality changes I won't live by what I feel I will live by what God has said until my reality transforms until the doctors report changes I will live by what God says until my finances change until the habits and the cravings change I will live not by what you tell me not by what circumstances tell me by what God has said and I will get through this and I will come out of this and see new day in Jesus name amen lastly we will become all God says we are but not limited to earth who we are in Christ is so great that life on earth is not enough to fully develop it who you are in Christ is so great that life on earth is not enough that's why John said in first John 3 3 2 he says beloved now we are the children of God it has not yet been revealed what we shall be but we know that when he is revealed we shall be like him and we will see him as he is some of you saw this picture where there was a person this this is an inspiration for me see this is who you are in Christ but all the extra stuff is who you are in life this is your condition all the extra things but the inside is your position see this is the son of a carpenter this is the child of God and many times the child of God gotta chop things out from the son of a carpenter many times who you are in Christ has to chop things out of who you are in this life many times you have to rise up and begin to become who you already are in Jesus begin to walk in the righteousness God says you received it begin to receive the blessing and prosperity God says is yours it's yours and you have to become it but I want to say one more thing no matter how good you become on this earth you don't have enough time and the earth does not have enough minerals and enough resources to fully cause your identity to be manifested because when Jesus was dying on the cross and the criminals and Pharisees religious and the crowd people looked at him and it says come down if you're the son of God that even on this earth the earth did not fully see the majesty of Jesus Christ not yet but the day is coming where fullness of majesty of Jesus will be seen but actually it will take eternity for us to see who really Jesus is for you to fully walk in who God created you to be it will take more than 70 years it will take eternity so if it happens that in this life before you pass away you don't reach all of your dreams and everything on your bucket list doesn't become true you have to understand God did not limit your inheritance to 70 years on earth God made your inheritance so rich that he allowed eternity to be used to fully unwrap it that's why when believers die young or in sickness and war even those of us who fight or they experience certain hardships and it seems like they didn't get a breakthrough on this earth we as Christians never lose hope because our inheritance and the blessing God has for us is not limited to our graveyard service God says he plays so much it will take eternity to fully unpack it it will take eternity to fully unpack it I've shared this story once and it's a true story actually where hundreds of years I think it's about 200 years ago in South Africa there was a farmer who had a who had a lot of oxen and he was plowing the oxen and this this diamond rush came around in the in the time and around I think 1800s and people came into his village and said that if you sell everything you have and go to India you'll be able to find a diamond mine and then you become very rich so this farmer he had a lot of oxen he sold his property sold his farm and he moved his family to a smaller place and went looking for diamonds he went to India he didn't find them there he went to other country didn't find them there and then he went to what the Barcelona river is at and he tried to find things there and didn't find them there 10 years past and he commits suicide in Barcelona river because he was so disappointed that he wasted 10 years and didn't find diamonds a person who bought his farm started to watch over the the soil and everything and noticed some very unusual stones there unusual rocks brought them into his house as a priest was walking by and the priest noticed on the fireplace at this stone and the priest asked the new owner he says where did you get this stone the new owners as well I just picked it up from my backyard as I was plowing the oxen and the priest says did you realize that this was actually you can put up the stone that this was actually today this stone is in the museum well it's polished the priest looked at this 20-something carrot stone and says that did you know that this is one of the rarest diamonds that is ever found on earth the farmer looked at the priest he says well my whole field in the backyard is full of them and this man eventually started to hire a company and started to work on that field and you can study today on the internet and you will find out the deep beer is the largest mine go diamond mine company that became group of companies in the world in the past 200 years and this is that place a man owned it never knew every day that he walked in and there was wealth that's for 200 years they still didn't pull all the diamonds out this is just earth it will be burned away and God's gonna create new what God placed inside of you and inside of my spiritual inheritance is so much more than carrots of diamonds he plays spiritual inheritance it will take eternity to fully unpack it but I have to start today I have to start chipping things out today sickness curses diseases demonic activity poverty wrong mind says I have to start chipping things today why because I owe it to God you owe it to God to become who he made you to be amen today we are going to be praying against incurable diseases we're going to be praying why because Christ already has given that to us on the cross and we have to possess what's been promised because somebody say amen