Hi everybody, Pastor Vince here. Thanks for joining me on this Friday edition of Life Lifters. Our whole purpose is to give your life a lift through a five minute blast of encouragement and scripture.

This week, we are wrapping up our first of two weeks. This is a unique thing that we're doing for Life Lifters. Usually, we have a theme for a week. This time, I'm engaged in a theme for two weeks and I hope it helps you. When you become a Christian, you have a brand new identity in Christ. So many people do not understand their identity in Jesus Christ and I want to talk to you about 10 different things that take place in your life to give you a brand new identity the moment you become a Christian. If you don't know your new identity in Christ, you won't live your new life in Christ, so it's important to understand them. So far, I've talked about four of them and today I want to talk to you about a fifth and that's this: you are redeemed.

Now, don't let that make you feel like a coupon. When I hear the word 'redeemed', I think of a coupon. "Here's the coupon for $3 off a large pizza and 25 wings, right?" Or "$3 off hummus" or, "$2 off creamer" or whatever it is. When you turn in a coupon, it's redeemed. We're not a coupon. We're more valuable than a coupon, but that has the idea of what redeemed really does. Let me read Ephesians 1:7a so you can see this fifth identity we have in Christ. It says, "in Him, we have redemption through his blood." What does that mean? We have been redeemed by Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ made the payment. Jesus Christ did everything needed to purchase us to redeem us. It has the idea that we have been freed by the payment of our ransom for sin. Sin means that we have to be forgiven. We have to be dealt with. A payment has to be made for our sins. Jesus Christ made that payment for us and when we put our faith in him, that ransom has been paid to our account. We have been redeemed.

Redeemed also has the idea that you're on a path to a new life. You say, "boy, he did that, now he's on the path to redemption." He's being redeemed. That's true. You have been redeemed and you're being redeemed. God has redeemed your life. He's helping you make up for all the nonsense of your past. You don't earn heaven, but you're being redeemed to say thank you. God is redeeming you. What a great thought that God redeemed you and paid for your sins. No self improvement campaign and no good work effort could ever be enough, only the work of Jesus Christ. As the text says, through his shed blood, can we be redeemed.

Maybe as we end this first week it's important that you know that Jesus Christ wants to redeem you, too. He wants His shed blood to cleanse you from your sin. But you have to want it too, and He'll redeem you. He'll do all the things that we're talking about this week and next week to give you a brand new identity. Do you want that? Then pray with me. Say, "Jesus Christ, I believe that you are God. I believe you paid for all of my sins to redeem me from them and the payment from the penalty and the punishment of them. Thank you for coming into my life. Thank you that You rose from the dead to prove that everything you said about yourself was true. I want you in my life. I want to live for you."

Friend, if you said that, you are redeemed. You're redeemed by Jesus Christ. It's the greatest thing in the world. Let us know about it. Email us at info@lakeshorechurch.org and we'll help you grow in your faith. Redeemed. What a great thought. Well, that's just the first five. Next week we're going to talk about five more ways. You have a new identity in Jesus Christ when you become a Christian. I hope you'll join me then. Thanks.

Hi everybody, Pastor Vince here. Thanks for joining me in this Wednesday edition of Life Lifters. Our whole purpose is to give your life a lift through a five-minute blast of encouragement and scripture.

Today, and this week and next, we're going to do a two week theme about your identity in Christ. Once you become a Christian, you have a brand new identity. Ephesians 1 gives us at least (and I could probably find more) 10 new aspects and features of our new identity in Christ once you become a Christian. These are 10 new identities. They're all encouraging. They're all amazing. They're all supernatural. And they're all super cool. And so far, I've told you in Ephesians 1:3, the first thing you are is you're blessed. In chapter Ephesians 1:4, you are chosen.

Today, I want to talk to you about a third thing that happens to give you a new identity: you are adopted. You become children of Almighty God through Jesus Christ. I get that through verse five, look at what it says. It says, "He predestined us to be adopted, as his sons through Jesus Christ in accordance with his pleasure and will". His pleasure and will refers back to the one we talked about yesterday, chosen, but here's the thing: we are adopted, we become children of the living God.

Now, this is important, because lots of people say this. I hear this and it frustrates me because it's thoroughly unbiblical. You hear people say this all the time, "We are all children of God", and my answer is, no, we are not all children of God. I say that for a number of reasons. Number one, first and foremost, this text says that we become adopted as children of God when we become a Christian. Secondly, Jesus told religious leaders, "you are of your father, the devil", so God couldn't be their father if the devil was their father. You couldn't have two more opposite fathers if you tried. Third, well, we are all the creation of God. While we are all made in the image of God, we are not all children of God; you become a child of God through faith in Jesus Christ. How do I know that? Because the text says you are adopted. What does adopted mean? You go from one family to another. You have left the family of the world and are then adopted into the family of God.

Romans 8 says that when we're adopted, we cry out to God and we call him 'Abba Father'. Adopted means what it means: that you're in the family and you have the reward of the family. You have an inheritance, you have a blessing, you have the nurture, you have everything that comes along with that family when you're adopted. In God's family, you have everything God has for your life because you're in his family. You're now a child of God—a son of God, a daughter of God—you are adopted.

Over the years, I've seen many families adopt children. I'm on record: if you're a great family and you love Jesus Christ and you want me to be someone to sign your reference papers for adoption, I will gladly do it. You know why? Because when a child who's maybe in a bad situation, maybe a child is in a foster home or a child who doesn't have the right situation, gets adopted in the Christian family, they won't fully understand it if they're young, but as they grow old, and if this family truly is living for Christ, this child is blessed beyond belief, because they're adopted. They get all the blessings that come with it. How much more exciting is that when God adopts us? It's an amazing thought that we become children of God and no longer children of the world or of the evil one. What an amazing thought. Adopted. That's your identity in Christ.

Let's pray. Father, thank You for adopting us. We are so blessed. We're so favored. We're so fortunate to call you Our Father, and for you to be our God. Help us to be children, adopted children who live for you, love you, please you and do what counts. Thank you for this amazing thing called adoption, in Jesus name. And through Jesus Christ alone. Amen. You're adopted by God. That's your third identity in Christ. We'll talk about another tomorrow, I hope you can join us. Thanks.