52 - The Identity Crisis in the Church

In this episode of One Gospel, we explore one of the most important truths for every believer: identity. 

Many Christians continue struggling because they still identify with their old life instead of who they have become in Christ. 

Johan explains why God's Word reveals your true identity and how renewing your mind leads to freedom, confidence, and victory. This episode will help you move from confusion to clarity and from struggle to spiritual growth. 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Welcome to One Gospel, bringing you the full truth of God's Word, clearly explained. Together with our host, Johann Tuit, we'll unpack scripture to understand what's written and grow as a disciple of Christ. Ready to take notes? Let's open the Bible.

SPEAKER_01 0:19

Hi there, and welcome to today's episode of One Gospel. I am your host, Johan Tut, and as always, I am excited to share the word of God with you. Now, I've started this teaching called In Christ, and man, I don't know, we have done about, I believe, 12, 11, or 12 episodes already on the In Christ series, and man, it's really has been a blessing. It has blessed me. And we've been through a lot. We have discovered how we are now in Christ Jesus and how we have peace with God in Christ Jesus, how the peace of God is now with us. And then we have shared on the fact that we now are endued with grace and that we are highly favored of God, blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. We have discovered the I am proclamations, like I am a child of God, I am chosen, predestined, I am accepted in the beloved, I'm forgiven, I'm a new creation, I'm a temple of the Holy Spirit, and so on and so forth. And man, that was really, really amazing, also. And so we have discovered that we are everything that God says that we are, and that we have everything that God says that we have, and we can do anything that God says that we can do. Everything that He says that we can do, we can do it. Amen. And so, man, I really want to encourage you to go back through to the very first episode of the In Christ series, and I really believe it's gonna be a huge blessing to you. Um, you know, for those who already are following it from the very first episode, thank you for sticking with me. If you have any comments or testimonies concerning these studies, please let me know. You know, in the link below, it really blesses me if you encourage me or contact me concerning this one gospel uh broadcast. Amen. And so today I want to continue this uh in Christ series, and I gave a title to um the the last uh part of the in Christ series. It is in Christ, and you know the I am series, or however you want to call it, but this one I want to call identifying with Christ, identifying with Christ, because um it's very important that we identify with who we truly are instead of what we maybe believe about ourselves or think about ourselves or what other people say about ourselves, you know, or our feelings or whatever that are not in line with the word of God, we need to identify with the truth, amen. And so, Father God, thank you for this teaching. I pray that it's gonna be a blessing for those who hear it and that they receive it. I give you all the glory in Jesus' name, amen. Alright, so if we look at the world that we are living in, the world that we are living in determines their identity in a lot of different ways. So, first of all, identity comes by origin and culture. So people have their identity determined by where they come from and what their culture is, their origin and their culture, and then also identity uh lies a lot in social uh roles, social parts that people play, or in their relationships, or in their belief systems. Then also in the world, you can see that people have their identity in their work, in their career, or in their performances. In modern societies, this is one of the central pillars of somebody's identity. Uh, you know, what they what they uh what they do and what they perform, what they uh achieve in life, the success that they have in life, you know, according to the world determination of success is different for everybody else. But if they are successful according to the world, then that's this is very important in the world that we are living in, that people identify themselves, and their identity is found in what they do and in their successes that they have in this world. And so also identity can be laying in the personal expression of an individual. And so there are many ways in how people identify themselves where they find their identity within. But what does identity really mean? Identity determines who you are, identity determines who you are. Now, um we could say that it is determined by your origin and by your gender, that determines your identity, where you come from, whether you were born in the Netherlands, or you were born in Spain, or you were born in Turkey or in the US, you know, and uh your gender that you are born with, whether you're a man or a boy or a girl. And so this is determined since birth. Now, in the world, um individuals sometimes identify with something or with someone that is not in line with their true identity, so they do not identify themselves with their identity that is determined by birth, gender, and origin. And so identifying a person that identifies himself, um, that is where with what or with who somebody associates himself with. So I see myself as this person, or I see myself as this thing, and I identify myself with that. So I associate with that. So you could say that if somebody identifies himself or herself with something or with someone, then he or she sees himself or considers himself or herself as one and the same. So I am this because I identify with that, or I am that because I identify with that, or I am like her, or I am like him because I identify with him or with her. I am the same. That's when somebody identifies himself with something or with someone. Now there are people that identify themselves in a lot of different ways and a lot of different different shapes. Man, I don't even want to go in all to all of that, you know, but not always everything they say about with what or with who they identify says something truly about their identity. Because there is a difference. There is a difference between identity and identifying, because my identity, as I said, it is from birth, and then I identify with whatever I want to identify myself with or associate myself with, and I consider myself the same as. And so some people identify themselves in a way that is not in line with their true identity. For example, a he identifies as a she, and a she identifies as a he. And then some people don't identify as a he or as a she, but as an it. You know, and people identify themselves with the world that they are living in. And so um they identify with the things they do, they identify with the things they have, and they identify with the things they can. You know, for example, I am a football player, so I am what I can, you know, what my talent is, that's who I am. You know, um, and somebody identifies, you know, himself and he says, you know, I am a millionaire, and so I am what I have. And then somebody says, you know, I am a carpenter, and he identifies with what he does. And so, you know, people um identify themselves in very, very different ways. And so a legal way to identify yourself is with your passport or with your identity card or your driver's license. This is a legal way to identify yourself. Listen, this is my origin and this is my gender, because that's what I've been determined, I have been determined by birth. Amen. And so you always have to carry this with you so that people know who you are. If they if they uh you know, I can identify the way that I want, but if I need to identify myself legally, then I have to show my passport or my identity card and say, listen, this is who I am. Here is my identity card, and then you know, it will determine my real identity. Um, unless, of course, it has been um how you say that uh uh they have fig uh did something with it that that doesn't say anymore what it really said when you were born, amen. And so, but I'm talking about your original birth certificate that determines your gender and determines your origin, and so and that is your identity in this world. Now, uh I don't have to explain that there that the world is pretty confused when it comes through to their true identity. In many cases, people don't know who they truly are, they just don't know, they are confused, they are lost, they are in darkness, they are, you know, the Bible says that we have all gone astray as sheep, lost sheep, you know, and so without a shepherd. And so, you know, there are a lot of people are confused and and they will look in many twisted ways in the hope to find their true self, their true identity. And so they are looking in all these things that this world is is teaching them, is feeding them, is showing them, is telling them, you know, and is approving for, you know, and and um it doesn't only have to do with people that are, you know, uh it doesn't have to do with, you know, only your sexual uh preferences or anything like that. It's with a lot of stuff, and it's all over the it's all over the place, you know, that people identify themselves with all that stuff that this world, you know, uh offers them or shows them or tells them that man, if you are like this, then man, you are gonna be the bomb. And so you're gonna start to identify yourself, you know, as that because you know you want to be accepted, you want to be good, you want to find your true self, you want to try, you want to find your true identity. Now, um, a lot of people in this world cannot identify themselves with what their passport says or what their driver's license says, they just can't identify themselves with that person. They look at that passport and they say, This is not me because they are lost, because they are confused. Now we should pray for all those people 100%, and we should love them, you know. Um, but um, you know, you would be surprised, you know, if we if we just flip the coin for a moment, this is the world and the state of the world. We know that this world is a fallen world, we know that in this world people are lost, people are in darkness, people are blinded, people are being deceived and lied to, and people, you know, they are they are confused because that's the world that we live in, this fallen world, and so there's a lot of people that don't know their true identity or they don't do not identify themselves with what they you know um what they are according to you know the birth certificate, and you know there's a lot of people that do not identify with anything, they just they're lost, they have no no idea what their identity is, and you know, and that's the world that we live in. But if you flip the coin, you know, you should be really surprised how many Christians have no clue, and I'm just I'm saying it in love and without judgment or rejection, but it's it's a fact, they have no clue whatsoever, they're completely in the dark concerning their true identity. They have no clue, they have no clue, and it's because of two things, and I'm gonna share them with you. The first one is because of the lack of knowledge. Uh, Haseya, I don't know how to say it in English, Haseya, whatever, Haseya, Hosea 4.6, you know, it says that my people perish by the lack of knowledge. That means that people, Christians, have no clue, they don't know what the word of God says about them, and therefore they cannot recognize themselves in it. If you don't know what the word of God says, if you do not study the word of God, you you don't know what it says about you, and therefore you cannot find yourself in it. You cannot recognize yourself in the scriptures and say, amen, this is about me, you know, because it's a lack of knowledge. They cannot identify themselves as beloved child of God in whom he's well pleased, they cannot identify themselves as being holy, sanctified, bought, and paid for with the precious blood of Jesus. They cannot identify themselves as blameless and righteous, they cannot identify as that new creation, that new man that they now are in Christ Jesus. They cannot identify themselves with the nature of God because lack of knowledge, because they don't know the word of God, they don't know what God is saying about them in His Word. And so that's a serious problem. And there is a lot of believers, people that go to church every Sunday, you know, people that go to every prayer night and every conference and all that stuff, you know, and hop from left to right and you know, and go all through this thing, they have no idea what the word of God says about them. They receive bits and pieces, but it doesn't really transform them because they don't have this relationship with God and don't know the word of God and then understand what their true identity is, which is a real shame and it's a real robbery, it's a deception from the enemy, thinking that you shouldn't that you don't need the word of God. Man, I when I became a born-again Christian, you know, uh it took months before I had the chance to get a Bible smuggled into prison because I was in prison in Portugal and I couldn't have books from outside, and so I've got finally I had this Bible, you know, and my wife Brenda bought it from me, and she had no clue what kind of Bible. I mean, there's uh I don't know how many translations and things like that, and so she brought this Bible, man. What I the picture that I had had of a Bible, it was exactly the Bible that she brought from. It was like this high, it was huge, like this, and it weighed like a few kilograms, it was really huge. And then there were no verses in the Bibles, there were just the whole story was written down, and it just had in the beginning of the book the name of the book, but then it wasn't like you know, Genesis 12 2, or you know, 1 John 3, 16, or something like nothing. It wasn't there was nothing there, just the book of John, you know, the book of Mark. That's it. And so, you know, and I read that Bible only after like many months that after I became a born-again Christian, and I read it, I didn't understand anything of it. I was just reading these stories, and like, I have no clue what this is about. Why do I need to know all that stuff, you know? And so I just didn't read the Bible because I didn't understand it, because it didn't make sense to me, you know. Pluck your eyes out when you look wrong to a woman, and I'm like, man, I've got only two eyes. I have a problem, you know. What I'm gonna do, you know, I'm gonna walk like this every day, you know. I mean, and so I had all I had no idea, no revelation whatsoever about the word of God or how I should read or study it. I had no relationship with God through the word. I had, man, I was carried by the Holy Spirit supernaturally. He showed me things in the spirit that it's impossible that can come from a natural man. You know, I I had revelations from the Spirit of God in his grace for me, because you know, he can do that. He spoke through me, showed me things, and made me understand things that when I read the Bible later and understood the Bible, I found those things that he already showed me in the spirit, he revealed it to me in the spirit, and that was really powerful. But I didn't think it was really important, and so um, you know, I did went through it sometimes and read a little bit here and read a little bit there, but I had no understanding of it, you know, and whatever it said about me. I can't even remember that I said to a friend of mine, a brother in the Lord, you know, we were together in the car, and I told him, I said, you know, I listen, you know, uh I don't believe that it's really important that we know the whole word of God, that we know the whole Bible out of our heads and hearts, you know. I I don't think it's really that important. Because I had no clue. I had no clue about the importance of the word of God. I had no clue on how important it is for me to know what the word of God says, because in it I find every answer that I need in this for this life and for the life that's coming. In it, I find who God is, who Jesus is and what he has done for me, who the Holy Spirit is and how I can have communion with him, and who I am, what my identity is in Christ Jesus, and what I have in Christ Jesus. It's all in the word of God. Every answer you need, every every solution you need, every, you know, whatever you need, it's a life, you know, it's sharper than a two-edged sword. You know, you cannot live without it. It's the word of God, it's a seed that you need to sow in your heart so it can bear fruit in your life. And the things that God has bestowed upon you in grace can become manifest in your life, man. You have to live by the word. You know, the Bible says in Joshua 1.8 that this word should not depart from your mouth, but you should meditate in it day and night and then do according to what is written in it, so that you will make your way prosperous and will act wisely. I mean, this word of God is like life-changing. It's by the word of God that we became born again Christians, amen. Everything that you need for this life and eternal life, you know, it's here, it's in this word. So, how could I ever believe, have believed that this wasn't important? How could I ever believe that? Man, I was deceived. Amen. I was deceived. But once I understood, it changed everything. It changed my life completely. It changed the way I looked at myself, the way that I walk with God, talk with God, I have a relationship with God, the way that I speak, the way that I confess, the way that I proclaim, the way that I go against things that come against me, you know, the way that I built myself up in most holy faith, you know, and so on and so forth. Man, it changed everything for me. And I am where I am today because of the knowledge of the word of God, the revelation through the Holy Spirit. But, you know, the word of God that was logos, but became rehema in my heart. You know, that became a supernatural revelation. And now I know that I know that I know who I am in Christ Jesus, and nobody ever, ever, ever can change my mind about that. Never. It doesn't matter who you are and what you bring against me, it doesn't matter how many times you try to counterattack the word of God in what kind of way, whatsoever. You know, I know what the word of God says, and I know what my identity is in Christ Jesus because of the word of God, and because I know I can walk in this fullness, I can walk in this life of victory, and I cannot be deceived concerning my identity and concerning, you know, with whom and what I identify. Now I don't want to get ahead of myself, but man, that's a lot. I mean, this is really, really important. And so there's a lot of a lot of born-again Christians in this world, and also not born-again Christians in this world, I have to say, sad to say so. But there's a lot of believers, you know, in the body of Christ, they don't think that this Bible is important. They don't think that the word of God is important, they have no clue what it says about them, they have no clue, you know, how they can find their true identity within it. If you could say that, what is my passport? You could say this is it. The love letter of the Lord, this is your passport, because it tells you exactly your origin and it tells you exactly your gender, it tells you exactly who you are, what your identity is, and what that means. It will tell you. And you could know it by the word of God. And so Hosea 4.6 says that my people perish for the lack of knowledge. My people won't walk in victory, my people will not walk in a life of abundance, my people do not walk in a life of uh in a healthy life, in a in a peaceful life, in a prosperous life, in a good life, in a joyful life, you know, in a life of love and and and freedom and all these things. They they don't walk in it because the lack of knowledge, because they don't know what their true identity is in Christ Jesus. And so, second of all, uh they don't know the true identity because they have been taught, or they have taught themselves, or they have been taught to identify themselves with their old men. So they do not identify with who they now are in Christ Jesus, they identify with who they were before Christ Jesus as their old man. And therefore, they do not walk in victory, therefore, they do not experience the fullness in God. I mean, that was one of the reasons why I had a lot of struggles in the beginning because I didn't know what the word of God was saying about me, and I was still, you know, unaware of the fact that I was still identifying. Myself as with the old man, because I still said things, did things, and thought things that I didn't want to do. But I didn't know how to get rid of it. I didn't know how to deal with it. And, you know, I still, you know, went through circumstances and poor decisions and, you know, and all that stuff, and all my battles, and you know, where I was doubting and so on and so forth, you know, because I still saw myself as because I knew that something changed. I knew that, you know, I was not the same person anymore, but because I didn't know what, I couldn't explain it, I had no revelation on my true identity now in Christ. You know, I was constantly, you know, like Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde, this yo-yo effect, constantly saying, uh, you know, um, I know that somewhere inside of me, you know, that doesn't conform anymore with what I'm doing and what I'm saying, but this is who I am. I mean, you know, I am a guy that uses a lot of bad words when he talks, you know. I am a guy that, you know, uh is is is um, I don't know, you know, manipulating his way into a lot of things, you know. I am this person, you know, that that loves to watch certain things, you know, that is just part of who I am and and everything, but it's a lie. But I didn't know it was a lie because I didn't know what the word of God says, because I wasn't identifying myself and seeing my identity in Christ, I was seeing myself still in that old person. Because I did not know that I was a new creation and that all old things have passed away, and behold, everything had become new. I had no clue. And so that is the reason why it's so important that we renew our minds with the word of God so that we in the very first place know who we are in Christ. It's you know, I hear a lot preaching in the churches about what God has done for us and how we can receive our breakthroughs and our, you know, and the abundance and the prosperity and the overflow and you know, and your healing and all the kind of stuff. It's all amazing, it's all part of who we are. It's a you know, it's all the fruit of being a child of God and all that stuff. But man, the most important for a believer is to understand what his true identity is in Christ Jesus, and once he knows what his identity is in Christ Jesus, then all the other things automatically will flow from the fact that he knows that he knows that he knows. It's ABC, and so this is the most important. Romans 12 2 says that we should not be conformed to this world, but that we should be renewed, you know, in our minds. And we renew ourselves with what? The word of God, you know, lie out, truth in. Yeah, just keep putting the truth in, and then the lie will go out. Because if you know the truth, you will recognize the lie. And so it's important. We are no longer of this world. You know, in the natural, we still can be identified after origin and gender, you know, what is in my passport, you know, and that's where it is. But spiritually, spiritually seen, my identity is no longer in what my passport says. My identity is no longer, you know. I mean, my origin is I am from the Netherlands, you know, and my gender is I'm a man, and that will never change. I am born in the Netherlands and I'm a man, but I identify myself no longer as of this world. I identify no longer as a natural man. I identify as a spiritual being, I identify myself in Christ. My true identity is now in Christ Jesus. And for you and me, it is so important that we are getting to the point where we automatically identify and automatically find our identity in Christ Jesus. We don't even have to think about it anymore, it just becomes part, you know, it just becomes part of your whole being. I want to say part, but it has to become your whole being. It has to become you. This is you. And it's like, you know, when you wake up, you know, in a normal situation, you wake up, you know, you know when you wake up, you know, you're a man. You don't think about the fact that you're a man or you're a woman, but you don't think about it. That's who you are. You don't think about you know, I am from the Netherlands. I don't have to think an every day and say to myself, I am born in the Netherlands, I am born in Holland. I don't have to say that. I know that because that's my identity. And so with Christ, it's the same. If you just know, you have to you don't have to think about it and keep saying it to yourself. You just know this is my identity. I am a child of God in whom He is well pleased. That's my identity. And so, you know, um my time is up in this episode, but I will continue in the next episode, and I really, you know, hope we're gonna see you again there. Man, I really believe this is gonna be a blessing for you. So stay tuned in in the next episode. I'm gonna see you back. God bless you. I love you, and see you next time. Bye bye.

SPEAKER_00 26:55

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