Pastor Alan Ninan - Your Glorious Inheritance & Identity In Christ

Good testimonies. I don't expect to be a little

glubbering mess coming up here. That was awesome.

All righty. So I have been filled up and

excited for this message this morning.

The title of today's message is Your glorious inheritance and

identity in Christ. Amen.

Your glorious inheritance and identity in Christ, you didn't

know it already as a follower of Christ, something massive

happened to you on the inside of you.

You have a glorious identity in Christ.

A couple of core themes we'll hit on is your hope, your

inheritance, your very life is secure in Christ.

That's good news. And what my what I'm after and

I'll be very upfront is what Paul prays in Ephesians is that

the eyes of your heart would be open.

They would look yourself in the mirror of God's Word and you

would recognize who He says that you are.

Truly, there's a lot that He says, and it's good.

And if we settle with who we are in Christ, so much is taking

care of you. All The text that we'll be

anchoring in today is Ephesians 4 verses 17 to 24, but just fold

Ephesians 4:17–24

it. Full disclaimer, we'll be

reading a lot of the Bible today.

We won't just be staying there. Sounds good.

Yes. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you

for this word. Thank you, Lord, for the power

of the word that's active and alive.

That the hearing of this word, Lord, that it would be preached

to the meaning that you meant it, God, that that as we receive

it, that our eyes would be open, that we would receive wisdom and

revelation of who we are and whose we are.

God and it would be transformed from the inside out, knowing

that identity does not rest on our performance, it rests in

your secure hands. So Jesus, may we be open and be

pliable and receive from you in Jesus name, Amen.

All right, reading from Ephesians 4 starting at verse

17. Now this I say and testify in

the Lord, that you must no longer walk as Gentiles do in

the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their

understanding, alienated from the life of God because of their

ignorance that is in them. Due to the hardness of their

heart. They have become callous and

have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice

every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you

learned, assuming that you have heard about Him and you were

taught in Him as the truth is in Jesus to put off your old self

which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt

through deceitful desire and to be renewed in the spirit of your

minds and to be put on the new self created at the likeness of

God in the true righteousness and holiness.

Some some key things here starting right at verse 17 where

it says now this I say so that's what my translation says the

original meaning and other translations say therefore.

So whenever we see it therefore in the Bible.

What does that mean? We have to look where is that

going back to? Where is that therefore

literally? And so in this instance we can

go back to the the start of this chapter when Paul says, I

therefore once again a prisoner for the Lord urge you to walk in

a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called.

So to really get the richness of this context, I want to go back

to the foundation. Paul preaches and spends the

first 3 chapters going into glorious detail talking about

how God freed us by his grace. He tells what he has done, that

he chose us, He predestined us, He adopted you, He redeemed you,

He forgave you, He raised you, He seated you and he sealed you

with his spirit. There's three solid chapters.

I could just read that and that would be the the sermon today.

But instead I'm going to focus on two major themes that are

going to lens everything we're talking about today.

Going back to chapter 1 of Ephesians, I'm going to be

reading verse 11, verse 11 here in Him, in what?

That's right, in Him we have obtained an inheritance.

You have an inheritance, did you know, having been predestined

according to the purpose of Him who works all things, not some

things, all things, according to the counsel of His will.

That key portion there in him, we're going to be hitting on

that quite a bit in him, in Christ, in whom?

That is an incredible foundation.

Why is that important? We build our lives on something,

our lives, our identity, it's continually built on something.

For me personally, my own personal story, I grew up in a

performance culture. What that means is you are what

you achieve if you get good grades, if you do well in work.

Everything was tied to that production.

It was never associated with a loving father.

It was associated with here's what I'm going to do and there's

a good feedback loop. You do well in school, you get

praised by teachers, you get praise with accolades.

As a recovering people, please are here.

It was felt good. My sense of worth is coming from

that chasing of approval, and I kept chasing it until I felt

like it was fulfilling, but it never was.

It's a cup that continually come to after school.

I traded my grades for a paycheck, a title, a work status

of some kind. And The funny thing about work

is when you do really well, they promote you and they give you

more work, more work, and you get more praise and it feels

good for a season. But something I realized in the

midst of this is a real revelation They I had just

gotten out of college, had a job, I was doing really well.

I kept getting affirmed at and then a recruiter reached out to

me and said, hey, I've got this, you know, super awesome

opportunity. It was a title, it was a pay

raise and I was excited about it.

So I put my two weeks in, told Jordan we had just bought a

house. I was on cloud 9 because my

foundation was built on these works that I had built start on

Monday. I'm excited.

I've got my Home Office set up. I just started working from home

and it was like a movie y'all. On Wednesday I got an e-mail

from HR that said I am laid off, my job is gone and they don't

have anything else for me. So within 48 hours, all of this

that I worked towards, I had no Plan B.

We had a new house that we had just purchased, we were renting

for years. And I'm looking at myself like

God. I put myself not in him, not in

Christ, but in Alan. And that was not the solid rock.

And here's the good news. As Christians, as followers in

Christ, our identity is rooted in him, in his foundation, in

his solid rock. That that that parable that

talks about on sand versus on the rock, We get to say we are

on the rock. It's based on his finished work,

his righteousness, his unchanging love of us.

None of that is changing. He doesn't have a bad week.

His opinion of of you doesn't change.

He loves you abundantly. So we can fail.

You can have the worst day of your life where you're losing

your job and don't know what tomorrow looks like.

But he never rests. He never slumbers nor sleeps.

And the good news that we also can look at is what Paul prays

down in verse 16. And this is such, such a rich

encouragement and prayer. Paul says, I do not cease to

give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God

of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory may give you the

spirit. This is important, the spirit of

wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, having eyes of

your heart enlightened that you may know what is the hope which

He has called you, what are the riches of His glorious

inheritance in the Saints, and what is the immeasurable

greatness of His power towards us who believe according to not

Allen, not John, Michael, according of His great might.

I really want to hit this home that inheritance is not

something that you earn, but it's given to you because he

loves you. He loves you a lot.

I think about the analogy that helped me bring this home is

imagine if you had a rich Uncle Bob.

Everyone now proof you have rich Uncle Bob in your life.

Rich Uncle Bob left you an inheritance, but unfortunately

the lawyer cannot find you to give you this inheritance.

He's got $1,000,000, a boat, whatever you can imagine, but he

cannot find you. So you're technically rich, but

are you? You don't know, you haven't

received it, you aren't living in it.

And so many believers, and this saddens my heart, are rich

beyond measure in Christ, in Christ, in his identity.

You are rich. But sometimes we're living in a

spiritual bondage where we're never meant to be in because

we've never opened our eyes to see and be revealed to the

goodness of his glorious inheritance for you today.

So the way, and this is where I want to focus a lot of our time.

I want to illustrate that identity and that inheritance

going back to Ephesians 4 verses 22 to 24 where it says to put

Ephesians 4:22–24

off your old self when we're talking about that old self

which belongs to your former manner of living and is corrupt

through through deceitful desire.

That's important there and to be renewed in the spirit of your

minds and to put on the new self created after the likeness of

God in the true righteousness of and holiness.

So it's my first summer in Deltaville and yesterday I

finally got a taste of what everyone's in warning me about

how hot and humid it could be here.

Y'all were not kidding. It does get really hot here and

so it gets worse. It gets worse from here.

That's what I was told. Like I'm just in the baby

season. It ain't human yet.

Even the Indian in me is just like man, this is hot, this is

different, this is a different level.

It is a different level. But I realized something.

It points to this analogy of we're putting off the old self

and putting on the new self. It's like clothing that we put

on yesterday. I'm playing with Adeline in the

heat, and I am drenched in sweat and I'm stinky.

And I know Jordan was like, I think a shower would benefit.

So I came in. I came inside, I took a shower.

And this analogy of my dirty, slimy, disgusting clothes are

here on the left and these clean beautiful clothes are to my

right. And I have a choice to make to

either put back on these dirty clothes that feel disgusting to

put on. It doesn't feel right anymore.

It's not what I was then. It's a different environment to

these new clean, beautiful garments that are there.

And something key to mention, it's not a shower in this

analogy is our baptism. We get baptized in Christ.

It's like, oh, he's doing the work in US.

It's so good. And I want to focus specifically

on the new clothing. We're going to come back to this

analogy a little bit later and talk in depth about our renewal

of our minds and what that choice looks like.

But for right now, I want to focus on this new clothing.

When Paul talks about this new self, this new clothing, this

new identity, what does it really look like?

It's funny, Jamaica. And I didn't talk about using

this analogy together, but it just is so good of the prodigal

son where? Yeah, he took half of his dad's

inheritance. He left.

He wasted it. He's rehearsing how to repent.

And the father looking from afar off, far off, he's like, that's

my son. I'm going to take off his

clothing and put a new robe, a new signet ring.

And in that time that's, that's identity.

He's changing, he's shifting forever.

That new clothing that's put on to him.

That's what God is going to do to us.

So I don't know if you knew, but there is over 100 verses in the

Bible that talk about in Christ in whom, in who you are.

I don't have time to go through 100, but I do have time to go

over 5 major themes that are impactful, that are powerful,

that are connected. And my goal is you're hearing

these themes is that you'll see what God does in you, what how

God lives inside of you and what God made you for and how

exciting and incredible that is. So starting with the first in

Christ, the new shirt, the new identity, you are a new

creation. Scripture is clear where it says

if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come, the old has

gone and the new is here. If you're taking notes that

Second Corinthians 517. So what?

So what that I'm a new creation. Why is that valuable to us?

Why does that matter? Couple of things.

If anyone, it doesn't matter your background doesn't matter

what life was before. It doesn't matter your family of

origin, Christianity, Christ is for everyone.

It doesn't matter your starting point in life.

That is incredible to say. Yep, he is exclusively looking

at you and saying, Yep, I love that one.

I don't care what the neglect, I don't care what the world has

called you. I want that one.

I want him in my Kingdom. I want her in my Kingdom because

I love them abundantly. I know them abundantly.

The second part of that, the creation part, when it talks

about new creation, and I hate to get a little nerdy here, but

that word for creation is very special.

It's the same word that's used in Genesis when we talk about

creation. Think about it, when God spoke

the world into life, everything that we see around us, that word

for creation totally branded from Him.

His words created us. That's what he means when He

says a new creation. You are totally transformed from

a Caterpillar to a butterfly. You're totally transformed

inside and out. What does that mean?

OK, I'm OK, I'm. I'm transformed.

I'm new. Your taste buds change.

Your desires change. What you're excited about

changes. I was thinking.

I was talking with Jordan. Adeline's taste buds changed

almost every day now. But in a season of life, there

were items that she would not like one day.

And then we'd keep feeding her. We keep feeding her.

I think green beans is what we were talking about.

And eventually her taste buds came to enjoying and liking

green beans. Or maybe she's just telling us

that. But in the same way, when we

become a new creation in Christ, our desires are changing

completely. Our desires, our hunger for God.

God puts a new hunger for him to want him, to desire him to make

this word alive. When you're reading it, you have

a new heart for people. When you're going into work,

you're going in the grocery store, the same people used to

see you have a burden, a heart for their souls.

You have a heart for having more patience and kindness and

compassion. God's already put that in you to

love them well, to love them abundantly.

You don't have to try and strive.

This is not the behavior modification department.

This is the Lord literally putting a new heart and saying,

Yep, you got this new hunger, Bubba.

You've got a new love for people.

You're not having it to try. You have a new pool for what is

right. Sin tastes disgusting.

It's no longer enjoyable. It's enjoyable for a little bit,

but it's not what you want anymore.

It's like that dirty clothing. It still bothers you to a new

degree. And you are striving because

your heart's delights become his heart's delights.

You enjoy the delight in him. Two other things.

A new priority at home, your responsibility, how you view

your world view. It starts to change how you act.

God is so clear as we're being transformed that your identity

is shifting. How you operate as a husband, as

a father, as a a leader, as a a wife, as a mom.

Like all of that changes when you're in him.

And it's not a formula that you're doing.

It's him doing the transformation, which is so

beautiful. And the final one that I want to

talk about with a new creation, the grip that your old cravings,

your old sinful desires have the stuff that may have you been

been chasing, they're going away because you've been replaced

with a better and greater desire in Christ.

Alcohol, pornography, you name the gamut of things that might

feel like a grip in your life. Christ says I am taking those

away because we're focused on him.

He is amazing. He's worth pursuit.

All of those things start to fade and the grip that they had

in the past with the transformation is a new creation

are no longer it's awesome. Amen.

So that's number one. You're a new creation.

The second is that you are chosen and adopted into the

family of God. He predestined us for adoption

as sons and daughters through Jesus Christ.

Before you took a breath, God knew you intimately.

And for for those who've been in church, that can be just

something we can read and roll over.

But really take a moment to take that back.

Imagine an orphan child who comes from a rough background,

who doesn't understand, a healthy family, who doesn't have

health in their life anywhere. And from today, this afternoon,

someone in our church, the Norwoods, the Whites, the nines,

the Clarks, adopt that child from orphan hood to sonship or

daughtership. That child's life is transformed

forever. They finally get to get around a

family of God that loves them, that cares for them.

Their name is forever changed literally as they come into a

new family. And what's key is God chose us

first. It's not that we're so cleaned

up to say, Yep, I'm ready to be chosen now.

No, he chose us before the foundations of the earth.

There's a there's an old Roman law that really struck me as I

was studying this, that in those times when a person had been

adopted. So in this, in this analogy, if

one of us were to adopt back in that time, it was a it was

complete. The person was had legitimate

right to be in that family immediately under law.

Not only that, in the eyes of the law, they were a new person.

They were a totally new person. All of their debts, their

financial debts were all paid. They're all gone.

All of that old living was gone the moment they were chosen and

adopted in the family of God that's in US today.

So if there are things that you're holding on to, they're

not yours to carry. They're meant to be His.

He no longer calls you that name anymore.

All right, so it's a little heavy, but I love you.

And it's good. It's good news.

It should change how you come to God.

God is your father. We all come from a variety of

experiences where we could imagine who God is.

Often for me, something I've had to grow in is putting, taking

off my earthly father off of the face of God and saying God is

God. He's amazing.

He's a good father. I don't have to come to him like

a worker, like I grew up in the performance culture, but I can

come to him as a son. I can come to us as a son.

And that's us today. You can come to him today in

your seat Today you can come and say father, thank you, that

you're perfect and you are good. But often we still see him as

how we grew up. So I implore you to remember

that God is so much more mighty. The final analogy to really

bring this home is a royal Prince.

So imagine you've got a Prince who's five years old.

He's the King's son. One day the Kingdom will be

inherited to him. It's his Kingdom, but he doesn't

know that yet. He's still a kid.

But that inheritance, that glorious identity of kingship,

of Kingdom is his. And today, as we look at being

adopted in the family of God, we might be at different places in

our spiritual walk, but know with confidence that you don't

have to earn your place at the table.

The Lord loves you fully as a son and daughter.

Come boldly to the throne room, He says, with your prayers and

your requests. So that's the second.

The third, you are a conqueror in all things.

We're more than conquerors through Him who loves us.

That's Romans 837. So we talked about your new

creation. You've been adopted in a new

family. And the next thing that's

already true about you in Christ, not that you've worked

towards, is that you are a conqueror.

Not someday. Right now you're a conqueror.

Here's a good news of being a conqueror.

You fight from victory. You don't fight for victory.

You work from the finished work of the cross.

Man, I can get so hype about this.

This is so good. The battle is already won.

Death has been defeated. We cannot die.

He's died so that we may live. We fight from that victory.

Often we can fall victim to fighting this uphill battle

instead of realizing the devil is dumb.

Like God has won. It's not like the Facebook memes

of like God versus the devil. It's literally God won.

And I walk from that victory. It's amazing.

And where's that strength come from?

Where's that confidence come from?

It comes in the best thing ever, the imperishable Christ.

You can lean on and dig. You don't have to dig deep each

day. You can say, Lord, this is what

I have today. Thank you and you have given me

strength for today to be a conqueror for the day ahead of

me. And here's the final part that

really seals the deal of you being a conqueror and the

foundation that it comes from Christ.

If you continue to read on in Romans 837 and read further to

38 onward. Paul continues and says this is

this is key. Neither death nor life, neither

angels nor demons, neither present nor future nor powers,

neither height nor depth or anything else in all of creation

will be able to separate us from the love of God, from the love

of God that is in Christ Jesus. So the next time you are looking

at a situation, know that you're not saying it from vain words,

that you're a conqueror, right? That that that phrase should

power you up because it comes from such strength to a God

who's not forsaking you, a God who loves you, who God who cares

about you and is clearly telling you it does not matter.

I love you. No matter what has happened, I

care about you. The 4th is more of an activating

is you are the temple of the Holy Spirit.

This comes from first Corinthians 619.

If you're taking notes, do you not know that your body is a

temple of the Holy Spirit within you whom within you whom you

have from God so far we talked about you're made new, you're

adopted, you're a conqueror. Now to talk about what God looks

like inside of you and this, I've got to go a little bit back

into the Old Testament talking about this, But when Paul talks

about the temple in that verse, it's really important.

The word that he chooses for temple.

There is one word for temple. That means like the whole temple

grounds in the Old Testament, like this is massive building,

much bigger than this building that we're in now.

And there's another word for the word temple that refers to the

Holy of Holies or this really small intimate room where they

hosted the presence of God. Why is that important, Alan?

Why is that word mean mean anything?

Well, the reason that word temple being in the the holy of

holy is important is because every year only one man could

enter into that place. Only one man once a year could

go into this holy of holies and see God's presence.

Why? If anyone else went in there,

they would die instantly under the power of God.

And it was the most sacred, it was the most untouchable place,

but it was a place that is so sacred.

And the reason that word is so important is guess what, that

holy of holies, that presence of God lives inside of us.

Now today, the presence of God is not behind a veil anymore.

The veil was torn into Scripture says and that that presence of

of God lives inside of you and he made a home in residence

inside of you Christian as a Christ follower.

What does that mean exactly? Well, that power is the same

power Jesus heal the sick. He cleansed the leper, he opened

blind eyes, he raised the dead. That spirit lives inside of you.

You have the ability to pray and he hears you and that power is

there to heal that person. That's crazy today.

And Paul says it pretty plainly that that power that was raised

from the dead, that power that walks, lives inside of us is not

in a faraway place. It's not when we get to heaven.

It's available to us today. It's not available for just a

super Christian or a pastor. It's available for the everyday

ordinary Christian like, and you're sealed that that phrase

sealed, it can feel a little like, what does that mean?

We go back to that particle sign analogy.

I mentioned that signet ring back in the day that was a way

of like a credit card or payment that you'd seal that person.

So like the King's seal. So the seal that we're talking

about here is the Lord. The Lord seals you, the Holy

Spirit seals you. So it's not something that's

just going to go away. The Lord is pursuing you.

He wants to hear from you and he wants that power that you have

in him to come alive. And it is the third, and this is

key for parents and for all of us to understand is that there's

no kid sized Holy Spirit. There's no junior Holy Spirit,

there's no trial run Holy Spirit.

I remember a long time ago, I thought when I first got saved,

I was like, do I do I have like a trial Holy Spirit?

Is it like a small like these people over here doing these

sort of like crazy miracles? Like do they have like a bigger

Holy Spirit and then hitting the revelation that that's not the

case, that the Lord said, Yep, I've given you the Holy Spirit,

the power that raised Christ from the dead, that heals the

sick, that opens the blind eyes, that heals the leper that

transforms day in and day out. So what's the point of this

specific reality when you feel alone, when you feel like man, I

don't have anybody. It's not true that God, who used

to reside, used to, is important.

And the Holy of Holies, lives inside of you.

He made a home inside of you. You're no longer powerless,

Christian. Thank you Lord, by his stripes

the deadness is now alive and we live a life that is carried by

His strength and His power. Now the final one, and I had to

add this is you are the salt and the light.

We're salt church, right? What does that mean?

We are the salt. We don't have to try to be salt,

right? You are salt, you are putting

flavour, you take preservation to what is decaying.

That's what salt does. It preserves.

You preserve the Kingdom of God, the presence of God in all of

the spaces that you go to, your workplace, the grocery store.

The moment we get out of this building, you are salt of the

earth, Christian. You can preserve a decaying,

dying world and it's incredible. And it's not coming from your

power, it's coming from his. And you are the light of the

world. I always heard that in kids

songs and I was like, I really want to understand what does

that mean? The light of the world.

You are not only pushing back the darkness, but the light

shines through you. If we think of the analogy of

the sun and the moon, the sun being Christ and it illuminating

the moon at night, that's us. We're being illuminated through

Christ, the sun, and it hits everything around us.

That should be a big relief valve, like he's shining through

us. It's his power, his strength.

And the goal is not that people are are idolizing you, but

looking at Christ through you, whatever.

What a relief, what a hope, what an excitement.

So what is the result of this? Why does this matter?

We no longer have to settle for small evangelism, small ways of

coming into our workplaces, our grocery stores, our parenthood.

We can come bold because we are salt and we are light in places.

It doesn't matter how dark the darkness is.

You are the light, and the light has overcome the darkness.

We can really believe that. I don't care if there's demons

because Christ is better. He is awesome, He is with us.

So I want to make sure we don't miss the five kind of new

realities, new transition. So I'm going to recap.

We started with you are a new creation.

The old is completely and utterly gone. 2 you're chosen

and adopted. You finally belong to the family

of God. You don't have to work for that

belonging. You already are three, you are

more than a conqueror. You've already won.

You walk from V4. You are the temple of the Holy

Spirit, his presence and his power lives inside of you.

And finally we finished with practical.

You are the salt and light God. It's shining presence in the

dark and depraved world. Amen.

And the and the great thing that I want to emphasize over and

over again, and I hope it's it feels repetitive is it's not

something you're trying to become.

It's by the blood of Jesus that you're already who you are right

now in that scene. Now the question that might be

nagging you that you might be thinking through like, oh man,

these are all great things. Alan is if I'm a new creation,

I'm chosen, I'm a conqueror, I'm full of resurrection power.

I'm salt and light. Then why doesn't my life always

look like that? Why do I have moments of

weakness? Why do I fall into temptation?

Why are these moments happening? And that moves back to my Third

Point here and what I shared earlier.

We're going to go back to that analogy of that new shirt versus

the old shirt. I have a hot, sweaty day.

We have that old shirt that's dirty, that's not for us

anymore. And we have a new clean shirt in

our identity in Christ that we're not working for.

And we have a choice every day and every moment to say, are we

going to go and reach for that old shirt, that old identity?

We're going to reach for the new shirt.

If we put that old one on, it's going to feel weird.

It's not going to feel right. And yes, if you fall and you

sin, OK, your salvation isn't lost.

It's simple. We renew our minds in the

Scripture just like we did a few minutes ago, looking at each of

these promises in Christ and we repent genuinely.

And repent is just an easy I'm over here, I'm turning around

and I'm living a different way and I'm walking in a new

reality. It doesn't need to be this

complicated. Judo, please don't make it that.

And the final thing is that we pray, we pray these promises of

the Lord, they are true, they are right.

They are your glorious inheritance and identity that

you have in Christ. So for for the Christian, I say

this everything that we talked about, every promise, every

reality is built on a strong foundation in Christ.

You can walk confidently today. You can stand up tall that you

are a conqueror. Your past does not define God's

liking and identity of you today.

Walk with strength. And for those who do not know

Christ, when we go back to verses 17 to 19 where it talks

about a darkened mind, futility, feeling aimless, if that's you

today, I'm not going to assume that someone doesn't feel that

way right now. I invite you to do business with

the Lord. There's the invitation open to

be a follower of Christ, to step into what God has called you to

what Christ has called you. It's a it's a price worth

paying. What's 100 years worth with with

an eternity with fellowship with him?

It's he's worth it. He is worth it.

You don't have to clean yourself up.

That's right. You don't have to change.

You have to change your physical appearance, but you come to him

with severity and saying, yes, Lord, I want you, I desire you.

My life is no longer mine, but it's yours.

So I'm going to pray and do an addiction here in a second, but

I'm going to linger. If if the Lord is calling you,

he's drawing you, he's pushing you say Lord, I'm not believing

I'm a follower of Christ. I'm not believing I'm a

conqueror. There's something going on.

I implore you, you are a conqueror.

You are predestined to be a son and daughter in God's family.

You are loved abundantly. Your foundations are in Him.

You no longer have to work for it.

And for the one who's on the edge, do business with the Lord

as I pray. Dear Heavenly Father, I thank

you for the preached word. I thank you that we are

conquerors. I thank you that we're sons and

daughters. I thank you that you love us,

that no height, no death, death and an Angel and our demon will

separate us from the love of God, that we have a glorious

inheritance and identity in him. And I thank you, Lord, for for

the one who is thinking, can this be true?

Can this be for me? Yes.

I pray that you would speak to that heart, Lord.

You would speak to them, cry out to them, come to them, speak to

them and say that yes, I chose you, I love you, I care for you,

I knew you before the foundations of the earth, the

decisions that you would make, and still I draw you to me.

Give me my life and I'll exchange it for a new life, new

creation in Jesus name, Amen. Now may the Lord bless you and

keep you. May his face shine upon you and

be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up his

countenance to you and give you a great peace.