We welcome you to Stone's Hill today!

A typical Stone's Hill service has:

* music (so feel free to sing out);

* some announcements (things that are upcoming that you can be a part of);

* a message out of the Bible (God speaks to us through his Word);

* and an opportunity for you to respond to the message (either immediately in the case of a decision that needs to be made OR in the future as you live out the message in your daily life.)

So relax and enjoy your morning! We're so glad you are here!

MESSAGE TEXT
Acts 19; Ephesians 1
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INTRODUCTION
This phrase in Christ is used about 140 times in the Bible. We are said to be in Christ. It's the most used term to describe a disciple, a believer - somebody in the family of God. The word Christian is only used a couple times in the Bible. Instead of the word Christian, the Bible says you are in Christ and this is how Paul begins his letter to the Ephesians. God says because you're in Christ, here is your true identity; here's who you were made to be; here's the real you now. What is your core identity? Where do you get your sense of worth from? How does this impact what you do? Paul's message is that you've been saved and rescued. You've been stamped with a new identity. So now, live in light of this new reality. Every day, people are being fed messages about their identity and self-worth, through social media, peers, and self-condemning thoughts. The basic message “Never enough. I’ll never be enough.”
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BACKGROUND
Acts 19 records for us the founding of the church in Ephesus. Paul forms a beachhead for the Kingdom of God (Acts 19:8). He wants to establish an outpost, a foothold in a thoroughly paganized city. Acts 19 gives us vignettes or some selected scenes of what that looked like. Now, there’s a lot of verses in Acts 19 and we’ll come back to some of them next week – but these verses record vignettes or scenes but we’re only going to look at one of them today (Acts 19:13-20) for it sets the scene for this message today and our entire Ephesians series.
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Believers in Jesus were being bullied and shamed by some of the citizens of Ephesus after Paul had planted the church there in 52 AD - some 8-10 years prior to his letter to them around 62 AD. “You Christians aren’t pretty enough, thin enough, rich enough, loved enough, smart enough, athletic enough – you’re just losers here in Ephesus and nobody likes you.” The Ephesian believers were trying to survive and move forward in a toxic culture determined to shape their identity. Realizing this, Paul just pours it on about who they were in Christ, how wealthy they were in him, and how much worth and value they have – even though they were no longer pagans doing what pagans did in first century Ephesus. They had lost friends, jobs, money, prestige, social clout, and status. Their old identity was gone. They were trying to transition into their new identify in Christ.
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PROPOSITION
Grace has happened for you. You have been saved and rescued. Rescued from what? A carnival-mirrored life! that is turned in on itself and from ultimate destruction apart from God. So, now, live in light of this new reality and status you have with God through Christ Jesus. Acts 19:15“Who are you?” What is the meaning of the question… Who am I? I want you to see there’s a deeper question than the question, “Who am I?” There’s a deeper question. The deeper question to, “Who am I?” is, “Whose am I?” You belong to Somebody. That means there’s a bigger question we must answer: “Who is God?” “He gets to tell me who I am because He made me. He call’s me worthy, holy, a saint! My value comes from him.”
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CONCLUSION
Paul’s “Summer of ‘62” can be your “Spring of ’25”. Jesus says, “When you look at the gospel, you see something. I went to the cross. On the cross, I lost my identity in a sense, so you could have one. On the cross, I lost my relationship with my Father,” which was the source of his identity. That’s why on the cross he quotes Psalm 22. Part of Psalm 22 says, “…I am a worm, and no man…” On the cross, Jesus Christ lost his identity, his relationship with his Father. Why? To pay the price of sin so we could have, by free grace, the adoption as sons and daughters of the Father. That’s love. This is what Christianity offers, something no other religion dares to offer. It says when you join to God through Jesus Christ, the verdict is in, now. You have the applause, the praise, the delight of God. The great paradox is that we “find” ourselves, this lasting identity in Christ, only when we “lose” ourselves in Him.
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So Jesus comes and says, “I have the answer to the ‘Who am I? question. I have the answer!’” And He laid down and died for you so that Father-God could reclaim you as His Own, even though we humans decided to go our own way. You belong to God. He made you. Jesus redeemed you. The Spirit pursues you. The key to identity is not to go find yourself. The key to identity is to come to Jesus and lose yourself in Him. And if you want a new identity, take up your cross, and follow Him. Make Him your center. Stop creating your own identity and allow Him to stamp you as His own.