 Good morning everyone. Welcome back to the session on our identity. So last class what did we study on? What did we study? Did we study on our identity? The revelation that we have in Christ. Did we? Last class we covered on revelation that we have in Christ. So today we will move on to the second section. New creation in Christ. So even before we could begin with a class, we can start the class with the word of prayer. Dear God, we thank You, we praise You. Thank You for this beautiful day that You have blessed us with. Thank You Lord for Your Son Jesus who died on the cross. Each of us, we have this new relationship with Him where we can boldly come into this grace and say that we are the child of God where we can identify ourselves in Him our Father, where we have been created new in Christ. Thank You Lord that You will enable each of us who are attending the session of other to embrace to this truth a lot. Holy Spirit, we invite You into this class. We pray that You will move in and through us. You will enable us. You will give, You will help us to, You will enable us to understand the truth that the word of God that says that You are been made new in Christ and You are one in Christ. Help us to embrace this truth in Christ. Thank You Holy Spirit. Thank You for doing it so. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen. So today we're going to study on new creation in Christ. So what, how is it that we are being made new in Christ? Let's turn to second Corinthians chapter five verse 17 and 18. Second Corinthians chapter five verse 17 and 18. It says, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. All things have passed away. Behold, all things have become near. Verse 19 says, sorry, 18 says, now all things are of God who has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. So what is that we can take from the scripture is if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. It is a journey that we discover as we journey along with Christ that we are new in Christ. So the important for us to understand here is in Christ. In Christ, we have been renewed. In Christ, we have these privileges of being one with Him. So what is in Christ is now being made available to us. How? And we are united when we are reconciled with Christ. There's a union between us and Christ. So there is a reconciliation with Christ. When we have, when we are union with Christ, we have this free abundance of God's grace. Whatever is in Christ, the inheritance is being made available to us. This is the truth that we need to understand and embrace it within ourselves. For example, if a child in natural, okay, in natural, if a child is born in a family, what does the child possess? Sorry, everything that the father and the mother has automatically has been inherited. The child carries the genetic, the genes of the parents, the inheritance has been freely moved on. And you see the family, the parents and the family have been lavishly out, you know, there's a lavish of outpouring of love and, you know, pamper, what not for the child? The child has been nurtured in the family. Is the child doing something to earn all this or just being born in the family is enough for the child to inherit everything of the family. Just being born. How do you know? By we being just been born in Christ, we have the inheritance of Christ. We don't have to earn it. We don't have to toil or work hard for it. It's just the grace which is freely given to us. Why? Because we are now been born in Christ. We have received Jesus as a Lord and Saviour. At the minute we receive Jesus as a Lord and Saviour. Here we have born again. We have born in Christ and everything, everything, whatever is in Christ, it's become now available to us. It's freely available. We have a new life and this new life is from above. So let's see what John chapter 3 verse 1 to 8 says. Request everyone to turn to John chapter 3 verse 1 to 8. There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher. Come from God for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him. So Jesus answered and said to Nicodemus, most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God. Unless one is born again. What does this born again mean? So Nicodemus asked, well said, how can a man be born when he's old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born? But here Jesus answered and says, most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of flesh is flesh and that which is born of spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again. Verse 8 says, the wind blows where it wishes. Can you see the wind? Here he says, and you hear the sound of it but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who's born of the spirit. So here Jesus is introducing a new life that is available to us to each of us through Christ. So he's revealing it to Nicodemus for him to understand. We need to be born again. So Nicodemus is asking, how can, you know, how can we born again? Can we go back to mother's womb and be born again? But then Jesus is saying, no, it's not that. Unless until one has been born of water and by spirit. He's talking about the natural birth and being born again, born again in spirit. We need to be born in spirit. How? There is a faith that is involved. When we receive Jesus as a Lord and Savior, we are getting into the kingdom. We're getting into the union with God. We're becoming one with them. We're becoming united in him. So what happens? There is a spiritual birth. There's a spiritual birth. So when we receive Jesus as a Lord and Savior, we invite the Holy Spirit to come and move and work in us. What happens? There's something happening within us. We allow the Holy Spirit to work in and through us. How have we been born new? How can we call ourself as a new creation? It's something that is happening within us. What happens? The Bible tells us clearly that in John chapter 1 verse 12 and 13. Can I request you all to please turn to John chapter 1 verse 12 and 13? It says, but as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become the children of God. To those who believe in his name who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. So what we see here, when we receive Jesus as a Lord and Savior, this is when we believe who Jesus is, who he is and what he did on the cross for each of us. The work that Jesus did on the cross for each of us, when we believe, we receive Jesus as a Lord and Savior. Now we have become the child of God. So we have been born again, born in a new life from above. What happens? We have become a new creation, new creation. We may look the same from outside, but inside our inner man, the spirit man is getting renewed day by day. So when I say getting renewed, it is a process that the spirit works in us. He's trying to change us, make us more like Christ. The things that we were doing before, we are no more doing it. We have this new birth that is available for everyone. Whoever believes in it, that's what the scripture says. Whoever believes in it has been made one in Christ. So what happens now? When the born again, there's an action of God's word, God's spirit in our spirit. So this is what in 1 Peter we read. Can I request you all to please turn to 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 23. The session will meditate on many scriptures so that we can understand our relationship in Christ. 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 23 says, Having been born again, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible through the word of God, which lives and abides forever. So what happened? I'm sure each one of us, when we are born again, when what made us to receive Jesus as a Lord and Saviour, there is a Reema word, there is a incorruptible seed within us, which has been so. The word of God is the seed that has power to change, to germinate, to grow within us. The word that touched each of us has changed and that word is working in and through us. And it is in the process of building us to be more like Christ. We also read in the book of Titus chapter 3 verse 5, chapter 3 verse 5 from the book of Titus, not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. So we are not saved by our work. We are not saved by our work. We are saved by the grace and mercy of God. So we didn't decide that, you know, I want to get into Christ. God shows us there is a time frame that God is working in and through us. So what happens in the right time? God calls us, calls each of us in the way that he wants us to be encounter him. So we have been called into this relationship with Christ or the fellowship with Christ according to his grace, his mercy by washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. So what happens when we are, when we receive Jesus as a Lord and Savior? He invite the Holy Spirit to come within us. So what does the Holy Spirit do? He starts his work within us. When we give that free will be say Holy Spirit, you work in and through me that I may become more like Christ, all my old things to be gone away and behold, I become new and Christ. So when we give this freedom, the Holy Spirit starts working in us. There is an urge to read the more of word of God. So the more and more we read the word, God speaks to us. So more and more we read the word, meditate on the word, the spirit of the Lord renews our mind, our heart automatically. We don't have to put in any effort. What happens? The people around us see the changed person in us. We are no more like what we used to be before. So I'm not telling you, we become a perfect being immediately. But then even when we do something wrong, there's an inner man within us, the Holy Spirit convicts us of ourselves. He speaks to us. Diana, what you did is not right. Apologize to the person or if you have done something wrong against God, apologize to God and make sure that you do things right, said things right. So immediately we put into action. No matter what it takes to set things right, we take it, we do, we put in that effort to do things right. Why? We want to please God. We are not like the person, like what we were before. Now we have decided to be submissive, to be obedient to God and his word. So because we are submitting ourselves, we see the Holy Spirit moving and working in us. It's a process. It's a process. So what happens in natural, in natural we see whatever Lord, whatever the Holy Spirit is working in and through us and our spirit being, we see that manifestation in the natural. People see something different in us, something different. We are no more the same. The things which used to upset us or the way we used to behave towards something is no more we are behaving in that manner. The manner of behavior has changed our attitude towards certain things are changed. The nature of the man has been changed. We are trying to align the nature of our man according to God, according to the things that would please God. So it is a progressive in nature. We are trying to renew our self in Christ. So the Word of God, the more and more we meditate on these scriptures of who we are in Christ is a way that we can renew our mind and journey along with Christ. Sean, you want us something? It is three five. So we'll turn to one Corinthians chapter one verse 30. One Corinthians chapter one verse 30. Treats this way because of him, you are in Christ Jesus who became for us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. We also read in the Good News version, a simple form where we all can understand. It says, but God has brought you into union with Christ Jesus and God has made Christ to be our wisdom. This happened now is a divine initiative. You see, God has brought us, that is you and me into union with Christ. Now God has decided. Okay, let's bring each of them to be union with Christ. So it's not we, you see whose initiative it is. It is divine initiative. It's God's initiative. So God has chosen each of us to be united, to be born in Christ. And what does it say? God has made Christ to be our wisdom. So what does one Corinthians 2 16 says that we have the mind of Christ. We have the mind of Christ. So God has made Christ to be our wisdom. So what we can do now we have access in Christ, the wisdom that Christ had, we can have when we battle the mind battles different areas. When we battle through the mind, we have the access of Christ mind. We can say, I have the mind of Christ, because this is what the scripture says. Let's embrace the word and claim it over ourselves. Let's say, I have the mind of Christ, the wisdom of God is formed within me. When we claim this, you see. We, we are trying to renew our mind with a mind of Christ. And we are claiming God, what you have given to me, I receive it. You have given the Christ to wisdom and me, I receive it. I claim it over me. So we can take it that way. We need to embrace the word of God and claim it by his word. So this is what it says by him, we are put right with God. So only through Jesus Christ, we have been made righteous. We become God's holy people and have been set free from every sinful nature. So when we claim, when we have this relationship with Christ, we start renewing our mind, our spirit man, our natural nature can be renewed. So it is a divine initiative. We see in this verse, we see it's a divine initiative, a divine action that God did it all for us. We have not earned it. We have not worked for it. We have not thought for it. We don't deserve it, but now God has decided to give that inheritance. That which is in Christ has been provided to us. We have this God has brought us into the union with Christ. And now we have this free access in Christ. We have this free access to his inheritance. So we read in Acts chapter four verse 12, nor is there salvation any other for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. So we must be saved only the name of Jesus. We need to embrace this relationship that we have in Jesus, a new life that we have got that God has brought us into union with Christ and we are in him. And this is not something that is past tense or future tense. This is the present tense. It is the present reality that each of us can inherit and receive. So what do we learn from this verse? We learn that in Christ, all that is there in Christ, wisdom of Christ, the righteousness of Christ, sanctification or redemption. We have access to all of this. This is the powerful truth that we need to embrace it. We need to know that we have been redeemed. There's a prize that has been paid for each of us. We have been sanctified by his precious blood. We have been made holy. We have been made righteous. We need to embrace this truth so that the enemy has no more power over us. The enemy cannot bring the same nature of us to our mind and say, you are not worthy. You cannot do these things. Because the battle isn't the most of the time. The battle is in our mind. We need to renew our mind with the word of God, because the word of God says you have the mind of Christ. You have been made righteous. You have been sanctified. You have been redeemed. There's a prize been paid. There is no condemnation in Christ. So we need to know and we need to embrace this truth for us to live a life in Christ with freedom for us to identify ourselves in Christ. We should know the truth. We should know what the word of God says for each of us. The inheritance that we have in Christ, Jesus should be our inheritance. We need to know that Jesus is our inheritance. All that we need is Jesus and all that we have is Jesus. We need to believe that truth. So how we can renew our mind by just claiming, claiming over ourselves, I have the mind of Christ, the wisdom of Christ is made available to me. So with that wisdom, I can think, I can analyze, I can work through that. So we need to claim over ourselves so that we receive what has been given to us. So we are created in Christ. Can I request you all to turn to just give me a couple of questions. Efficiency chapter two, verse 10. Efficiency chapter two, verse 10. Online class, am I audible or well or clear? So in efficiency chapter two, verse 10. For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. So what do we discover from this verse? What do we learn from this verse? That God himself has brought us into Christ. As I said, it is a divine initiative. So God himself has brought us into Christ and we have been created in Christ. So this creative power of God starts operating within us when we receive Jesus as a Lord and Savior. So what happens is creative power of God starts working within us. What we were, you know, we became something which we were not before. What did not exist within us? The gentleness, the fruit of the Spirit is now coming to existence with us. We are more loving. We are more gentle. We are more patient with others, you know, all the fruit of the Spirit. We see it work in and through us and we have become a new creation. How? For Christ, Spirit of the Lord who is in us is making us more to be like Jesus except the Holy Spirit. There is no one else who can lead us to Jesus, who can work in and through us to be more like Jesus. So what happens? What happened here? The Spirit of the Lord, when we receive Jesus as a Lord and Savior, the Spirit of the Lord who is in us starts working. He starts changing our mind, our heart so that we be more like Christ. So our old self, the old nature, the old Spirit being is no more active in us. So what you feed on every day is what you see grow in yourself. So when you feed yourself with more of Word of God and you spend your time more with praying, what happens? We are loving the Holy Spirit to work and move in and through us. So what happens? There's a lot of work for the Holy Spirit. Help us to change ourselves. There are so many things that we will unlearn certain things. The process of melting and molding or chisel all happens by the help of the Holy Spirit. So we allow the Holy Spirit to work in and through us. So you may have noticed yourself. There are so many things that have changed in you. From the time you have received Jesus as a Lord and Savior, or the simple step of surrendering your will into the Lord and saying, Lord, you work in and through me. So it is an initiative from both the sides. Yes, God initiated, but even we to fulfill God's work in our life, we also should cooperate. We also should work. So even you are doing your part of being what God wanted each of us to be. So we draw many insights from the scripture as in when we journey together. So let's come back to 1 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 13. 1 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 13. For by one spirit, we were all baptized into one body. Whether Jew or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and all have been made to drink into one spirit. What do we see from this verse? What has this verse revealed to us? We have been born again. We have been born in spirit. So it is a new birth. New birth as we heard in the Word of God, the Gospel, when the Gospel has been shared to us, when we have made an attempt to say yes to the call of God and we have received the Holy Spirit to move in and through us. So what does the Holy Spirit do? He starts renewing us, renewing our spirit being within us. The Holy Spirit is one who works in and through us and helps us to be that new creature, new being in Christ, new creation in Christ. Holy Spirit is the one who helps us to experience the new life in Christ. So it is a process. The Holy Spirit is working in and through us. I'm sure we all would have experienced the battle. There is a battle. It's not easy. The minute you receive Jesus, you say yes to everything. No. Certain areas, it's been so very difficult. There are certain areas at times we would not have submitted to God or we would have said, God, yes, you can handle all. I submit everything to you except for certain area. I reserve it for myself. So the Holy Spirit need to work in and through us. So there's a battle. There's something that we need to come to a place where we submit all our being, all our heart, all our mind to Christ and say, Lord, I invite you into every area of my life. I submit myself. You work in and through me. The minute we submit, there should be a total submission. It should not be a path submission, but a total submission. And we all know Holy Spirit is very gentle. He will not force, He will not penetrate, He will not do anything like that. He waits for our permission. The minute we surrender and submit, you see the hand of the Lord upon us. You see how the Lord works in and through us. He works in every area. The areas that was a challenge for us before is no more the same. Why? Because we have allowed the Spirit of the Lord to work. Help. We are one in Christ. We are in union with Christ. Whatever is in Christ is available to us. Whatever's in us is available to Him. So what is the Christ? There's a divine exchange. So the Christ, we allow the Spirit of the Lord to move in and every area of our life where we become one in union with Christ. So what happens here? There's a Greek word in this verse. For by one Spirit, we were all baptized into one body. One body in Christ. So we have been baptized. What does this Greek word for baptized mean? Means we immersed, we submerged in Christ. We immersed or submerged in Christ. We are in Christ. Just like how we are baptized in the water. We have been going inside. We have been submerged. We have been immersed. So that's how we need to immerse ourselves in Christ so that there is no part of us been seen. It's completely Christ has been seen. So we need to immerse ourselves so much in Christ that only Christ is seen in and through us. Let's turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 6 verse 17. So we see that 1 Corinthians chapter 6 verse 17. He who is joined to the Lord is one with Him. One spirit with Him. But He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit in Him. That means our union with Christ is a spiritual union. It's a spiritual union. We have been created new in spirit. Our spirit is renewed. We may look same. You know a human has a three-part brain body. What is that? Soul and spirit. So what has been renewed? The spirit man has been renewed. So the spirit has been made one with Christ. It is a spiritual union. So in that context we will also turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 6. The same chapter 13, 15, 19 and 20. We read that now the body is for the Lord and the Lord for the body. Verse 15 we read, Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? 19 verse 19 says, Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit? Who is in you? Whom you have from God and you are not your own. For you were bought at a price. For glorified God in your body and in your spirit which are gods. So we need to know that this realization we should have within us that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. Now the body is for the Lord and the Lord is for the body. We belong to him. As we say whatever we have in Christ is mine. Whatever we have is his. So our body is a body of the Holy Spirit temple of the Holy Spirit. So who is in you? Whom you have from God and you are not your own. There is a price that has been paid. We have been redeemed. Therefore we need to glorify God in our body in your spirit which are of God. So what it means to be spiritually one with Christ? To be in Christ is to be born in him. Born of God. To be in Christ it means that we need to be immersed in it. We need to be covered in it. We need to be submerged in Christ. Or to be in Christ should be that we are in union with Christ. We both have the same understanding. We have Christ and we have the same realization. So we need to have the mind of Christ. We need to tune ourselves to the mind of Christ. How it is a process. Everything that we do we think what would Jesus do? WJD. What would Jesus do? So we are trying to become union with Christ. It is not become we are. When we believe it is present. We are in union with Christ. So to be in Christ is to be one with him spiritually. Spiritually we are one with Christ. So now we have become a new create creatures how in our spirit in our spirit. So 1 Thessalonians Chapter 5 verse 23 1 Thessalonians Chapter 5 verse 23 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely and may your whole spirit soul and body be preserved, blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. So this verse reveals to us that each human is a try part being as we just discussed spirit soul and body and each of us have a spirit being and have a soul and we live in a body. So what happens when we talk about the soul what does the soul include? mind, emotions will and all our mental capabilities. So what happens and the body is the house that we live in it is just an outer part the outer shell of our spirit and soul. So what happens the real person who lives inside is the spirit being. So this spirit being needs to be renewed. So when we are united in Christ the spirit being has been renewed and he's become a new creation. So we have become new creation and Christ not in our body not in our soul but in our spirit. Our spirit being is renewed. That's why in Ephesians Chapter 4 verse 22 to 24 Ephesians Chapter 4 verse 2 to 24. So more of our studies on the scriptures. So there will be lot of scriptures been shared for us to embrace the truth that what we have in Christ. This will be the last scripture that we can study for this class. Ephesians Chapter 4 verse 22 to 24 says that you put off concerning your former contact the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lust and he's renewed in spirit of your mind and that you put on the new man which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness. So what happens here when we are born again we grow spiritually we renew our mind we put off all our former conducts far and we take up this new nature that has been made available in Christ we think like we move like him we act like him every actor every day that we do we you know we make sure to do watchfully that's this please God. So what happens we are no more cardinal minded but spiritual we no more give heed to the flesh but of the spirit. So there is the work that needs to be done how by renewing our mind through the word of God the more we meditate on the word we see that our mind has been renewed we no more give place to the cardinal mind but then we think spiritually what would Jesus want us to do in this time in this season and we do the things with the nature of God we operate in the give in the fruit of the spirit with love with selflessness with much more patience sometimes we are bearing long suffering we are more patient patient with others and patient with our self as well so we need to embrace ourselves with this new identity this new relationship that we have in Christ that a spirit person has been renewed our body may be the same our mind has been renewed in Christ our spirit is renewed in Christ we are trying to live our life that pleases him so we need to embrace the truth that we have we are now in union with Christ it is a divine initiative it is by the grace and mercy of God that God has called us into this relationship and made things available to us that which is in Christ is now been available to us we have this access to God our Father and this is our inheritance this is our birth right to live our life in Christ we need to embrace this truth that our identity is in Christ and it is not in ourselves so who we are in Christ who we really are through that we can overcome we will be an overcomer in all the areas of our life so what we need to do is the more and more we study about our identity in Christ what is very important here is being ourselves open to Christ one thing we need to understand that there is nothing hidden to God we cannot hide that is what the psalmist says David says where can I go to hide myself from you we cannot hide anything from God so when we know that we cannot hide anything from God it is good to bring everything to the notice of God and keep our self open and allow God to work in and through us so that God can work in every area there is nothing impossible for God to bring a change to renew our mind to make us a new being in Christ He will give us the freedom freedom to live ourselves in Christ there are so many battles that each of us carry in our life and we try to fight out of our own effort but here we have the axis in Christ saying I care for you cast your care to me because I care for you I take away my burden is very light my yoke is very light I take up all your burdens and make it right for you so what we need to do we need to allow God we need to ask God God now I have this new relationship with you I invite you into my life into every area I pray that you will work in and through me it is not very easy for us to give up on the carnal nature it is not by our own effort yes it is by the help of the Holy Spirit we can overcome we can renew our mind we can renew our self we can renew our spirit and we can lead our life in union with Christ in fellowship with Christ so with that revelation with that in our mind can we pray as God as the spirit of the Lord goes in midst of us invite him into your spirit invite him into yourself and ask God God I surrender and I submit my heart my mind and every area especially the area that you are struggling just bring it to God into his presence and surrender and submit to him and say God you take control spirit of the Lord you move you work in and through me renew my mind renew my heart help me to be more like you more like Jesus Father we thank you we thank you Lord the divine initiative that you have called each one of us we are not here by your own choice but by your will those who are on campus and to the students online and to those who will be doing the course Lord we surrender each one and some of them into your hand we pray your blessing over them Lord spirit of the living God we pray that you will move in and through them thank you that you are renewing their mind and their spirit drawing them close to Jesus so that they can inherit every spiritual blessing that has been made available to each of us in Christ Lord in the heavenly places thank you Lord for doing it so in Jesus name we pray amen amen thank you so much for joining in today's session God bless thank you if you'll have any questions please type in we can discuss that in the next class thank you God bless Krisha I will answer to your question okay thank you thank you all for joining in today's session see you all next class thank you