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Today, we are going to take a posture of peace by removing the heavy burden of trying to

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protect our image.

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Posture is a short, audible fist bump to remind you God is with you in everything.

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Together, we're going to be emboldened to take a daily posture of perfect peace.

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I'm just going to read several scriptures over us today.

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More scriptures than usual, which is always a good thing.

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Great way to start.

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I'm going to start with Romans chapter seven, verse six.

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It says, and I'm reading from my mobile Bible in case you're wondering, but we now have

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been released from the law for we died to it and no longer are captive to its power.

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Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the

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new way of living in the spirit.

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Second Corinthians 517, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.

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The old has passed away and behold, the new has come.

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Ephesians chapter four, verses 21 through 24 says, when you heard about Christ and were

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taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus, you were taught with regard

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to your former way of life to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its

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deceitful desires and to be made new in the attitude of your minds and to put on the new

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self created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

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Colossians chapter three, 10 for you have acquired new creation life, which is continually

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being renewed into the likeness of the one who created you, giving you the full revelation

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of God.

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My mentor friend Graham Cook says this.

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He says, allow the certainties in God's heart, create an expectation in your heart.

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It is evident by his word that God is very certain in the finished work of Jesus that

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made you a new creation.

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So you can be certain of this too.

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You can expect to live dead to sin and alive to God every day.

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Why am I bringing this up?

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Well, I get quite a few messages from people who are afraid.

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They are concerned.

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They are not measuring up.

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They are not living the life that is required by them.

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They're not living according to their calling, to their purpose.

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And so I want to talk about who we actually are, our identity in Christ and what that

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means for our life.

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First of all, God's primary purpose has not changed.

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Genesis 1, 26, his purpose was to make us in his image and likeness.

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He's still doing that.

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And through Jesus, we became new creations, which means our new nature is God's nature.

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We bear his image, how Jesus.

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Galatians 2, 20 says, I have been crucified with Christ.

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It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.

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And the life I now live in faith, I'm sorry, in flesh, I live by faith in the son of God

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who loved me and gave himself up for me.

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Christ is in you.

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You are one with God.

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It's the truth.

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It's an internal truth that affects external expression.

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But this is important.

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External expression does not affect this internal truth.

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Your behavior, your reputation, your counterculture Christian lifestyle, your ability to evangelize

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people, to be different, to be set apart, that has no effect on your oneness with God.

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Because the truth is you're one with God.

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In Christ Jesus.

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And this is good news because there's a lot of people out there who believe that following

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Jesus is saying yes to living in religion.

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And they believe their whole life purpose is to be good for God, to protect their image

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in the eyes of the world and the church.

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So God will be glorified by their good behavior and their good deeds.

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But let me tell you, in a broken world, that is a losing game because eventually you're

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going to let someone down.

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The way you dress or don't dress, what you say, what you don't say, what you talk about,

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what you don't talk about, what you post, what you don't post.

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Eat this.

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Don't eat that.

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Feel this.

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Don't feel that.

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Be nice.

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Don't offend.

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Don't cause people to stumble, which is different for everyone.

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So really exhaust yourselves in trying to be a people pleaser.

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Be good for God.

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And we think that is our testimony.

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We think that's how we're going to change the world, how we're going

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and evangelize people by keeping the strictest of standards.

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But here's the problem, we're still not at peace,

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we're just as stressed out as the world,

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we're just as impacted by external pressures as the world,

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if not more, because we are trying to be good

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and the world doesn't carry that pressure.

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Protecting your image is a heavy burden

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that you were never meant to carry.

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Jesus said in Matthew 11, he said,

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"'My yoke is easy and my burden is light.'"

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Christ did not die so that you could do better

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at keeping a moral code or performing religious rituals.

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Christ died to bring you into and keep you in

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a relational covenant with God.

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You're not an image protector, you are an image bearer.

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And it's an image that in Christ

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you have been empowered to bear.

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God does not need a PR team, he wants sons and daughters

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carrying his glory here on earth,

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not when we get to heaven someday.

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But Lindsay, what about behavior, what about sin?

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Would sin even be an issue if you lived

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with overwhelming peace, overflowing joy,

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relentless gentleness, enduring patience,

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catalytic kindness, victorious faith, unending goodness,

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led completely by the spirit,

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living in the newness of life?

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This is who God is, this is his character,

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this is the fruit of his spirit,

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and it's who he is in you and it's who you are in him.

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This is the power of being one with God.

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So I wanna encourage you to allow the certainties

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in God's heart create an expectation in yours.

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How do we do this?

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You know, I believe it, but I'm not seeing it.

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I hear that a lot, I understand that.

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We have to come to understand that there is so much grace

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in our becoming, in our journey with God.

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Sometimes we expect something different from him

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than who he is, what do I mean by that?

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We don't expect him to be patient with us

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in our practicing this truth.

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We don't expect him to be loving, to be kind,

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to be faithful, to hold us in his faithfulness

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and in his mercy.

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At some point, we just expect him to come out

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of his character and do something that is beyond who he is,

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take us out, hit us upside the head,

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remove himself from us, abandon us,

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and maybe that's because that's what we've experienced

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externally with other people.

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We've experienced the abandonment,

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we've experienced the distance when we don't behave

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or do what we're supposed to do, but God is not like this.

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We need to spend time discovering his character,

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not trying to be something we're not in order to earn favor

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that he never intended for us to earn,

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love that he never expected for us to work for.

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He's given us himself and who he is

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is who we get to discover and explore our whole lives.

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Our life purpose is not to be good for God,

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our life purpose is to be one with him.

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So I wanna encourage you today, practice this truth.

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An easy way to start doing it

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is to just own your identity with him.

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Instead of saying, I'm trying to be more patient,

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I'm trying to be more kind, I'm trying to be more joyful,

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I'm trying to be more peaceful,

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or I'm not trying to be this or that

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or whatever the thing is that we're trying to avoid,

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say I am, I am patient, I am peace-filled,

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I am overflowing with joy,

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because even though I might not be seeing

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the evidence of that immediately, I know him

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and I know that he tells the truth

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and this is who he says I am,

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so this is who I'm becoming in him.

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Who you are in Christ is exactly what this world needs.