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Well, my name is Hamish and I do have the privilege of pastoring here. And it's been a little while since I've been able to stand on a Sunday morning and share with you all, so I'm excited. I am, I guess technically, if we're talking about the ages in the room, I guess I've become a middle-aged man at some stage. I don't know when you officially graduate to middle-aged. You can keep claiming it for as long as you like. And I would have to say that I have a very middle-aged man style. There was a time where I was a youth pastor and I would try and be one of the cool kids, uh, but those days are behind me. So I just stick to the basics, I don't get too excited about my fashion choices. And it's funny how the clothes we wear become an extension of who we are. And I remember probably at a time when I was similar to your age, Jeffrey, where uh many people they could buy a $10 t-shirt, but they would buy the $30, $40 t-shirt simply because it had the word rusty or rip curl or billiabong on it. For some reason, uh, 20 odd years ago in Australia, there was some higher value assigned to a surfy brand. Now I'm I can swim, I can survive, but uh with a surfboard tied to my leg and waves pummeling me, that's not my idea of fun. So, but even so, I still wanted to wear the Billabong shirt. And there's only two types of people who like Billabong, that's surfers and jolly swagman. And that's a waltzing Matilda joke. And if you're new to Australia, uh you may have no idea about Billabongs or Waltzing Matildas or Jolly Swagman, but you can ask Google about it later. You know, fashion choices they come and go. I remember a time where emo music came in, and uh I'm probably showing my age. I reckon Chris probably dabbled in a little bit of that. He was probably more death metal or it still does. And uh if you were around, I guess in high school when emo music was a thing, it's like the music became dark and the fashion became dark, the makeup became dark, the hair became dark, the emotions became dark. That was part of emo music. It was about being deeply emotional. Uh, and I've shared this before, but I did not listen to emo music. I listened to far too much rap music growing up as a teenager. And I was a private school kid from the outer suburbs of Perth, living a very normal suburban life, listening to the truths of the streets from people based in New York and Chicago and these urban metropolises. I remember one particular day when I was feeling particularly gangster, and I uh I showed up to my year 11 economics class. I was on time, I was down the front, just living the thug life. And uh our teacher was Mr. Sterling. Mr. Sterling was all about preparing us for university. So he would walk in, he would take his place at the seat of the room and just start lecturing. It was your responsibility to keep up with Mr. Sterling. He was getting us ready for university life. And this particular day I was listening to all those sorts of things, uh, you know, and he was talking about supply and demand, microeconomics, macroeconomics, monetary policy, fiscal policy, all those things. I did do a uh a commerce degree, so I spent a lot of time with those sorts of things. But that particular day, I took a black per uh black texter to my forearm and I wrote on the letters B-U-S-T-A, which spells Buster, which is of course an ode to the great poet Buster Rhymes. Anyone here you're familiar with the poetry of Buster Rhymes? Stephen Foster? No, not there. Mr. Sterling looks at me, this schoolboy in grey trousers and a button-up shirt, attending a positive Christian schooling environment, and asks me, Hey Mish, why did you write Buster on your forearm? And as a 16-year-old boy, I gave what every 16-year-old boy responds at that time, and that is, I don't know. I just did it. And there's something strange about this, right? That my identity was being shaped by something that I had no connection to whatsoever. And the stories and the themes of music I was listening to that had no relationship to my life, but they were forming part of my identity. And whether it's surfeys or emos or hip-hop, we can laugh about those impressionable years. And perhaps you went through some of your own. But the reality is as humanity, we never outgrow this stage where we're trying to find our identity. We're trying to make sense of who we are. Some people care so deeply about how they're perceived, trying to hold their identity together. Some people care so deeply about uh others care deeply about not caring about how they're perceived. But all of us are drawing our identity from somewhere. Whether it's our success or our failures, whether it's the things we stand for or the things we stand against. Identity might be in family or it might be in distancing yourself from the family that you came from. We see a culture that is linking their identity to gender or to sexuality, and this concept that we all grapple with in humanity of defining who we are. We're asking the question, who am I? And today we're going to begin a journey through Ephesians, Troy shared from Ephesians chapter one, where we'll spend some time today, where Paul gives a remarkable answer. Our deepest identity, an unshakable identity that doesn't change with the fashions or the music or whatever's going on in culture. Our identity is found in Christ. Today I want to share with you from the topic in Christ, our identity in Ephesians. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we open up our hearts to you. That your word would speak to us. Holy Spirit, speak to everyone in this room and help them to understand all that you've given us and all that you've made us to be. In Jesus' name. Amen. So we're going to start with two Bible verses, neither of which are actually in Ephesians. But we do have our props here. And our first one is this mirror. And our first Bible verse is in Genesis chapter 1, verse 27. And we are on the very first page of your Bible. And it says, So God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created them, male and female. And if you can't make out what this is, this is a mirror. I'm looking back at myself right now, which is quite a strange view when you're on stage. But we were made in God's image. We reflect who he is. Humanity's first identity isn't something they discovered. You've heard that saying, that I'm going to go find myself. But in fact, our first identity was one that we received from God. Verse 28 gives us some insight in who we are as God's image-bearers. We are to be fruitful and multiply. We are to fill the earth and subdue it, have dominion over it. God created us to be like Him. And that's what that creation account teaches us. That God, with all his power, is creative. He's creating earth. He says, Let there be light and there is light. He creates everything that we see today. And he's generous because he gives of himself and places us, creates a garden and places us in it. And he's relational. God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and then He creates humanity to experience Him. And we are created in that identity. Tim Mackey from the Bible Project says this they, being Adam and Eve, are made to be reflections of God's character out in the world. And they are appointed representatives to rule God's good world on his behalf. They are to harness this world's potential, to care for it, and to make in it a place where they can multiply and flourish. And this is where Adam and Eve are given just one key instruction or one boundary, and that is to keep their identity in God who created them. Keep that image that they were given. But somewhere along the line, the creation account gives us the story of two trees: the tree of life, where God is the source of everything that we need, or the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And not to get too drawn in to stories with uh talking snakes and the creation account, we can touch on that another time. Perhaps you could go to uh Hillsong College to uh discuss that a little bit more. But ultimately, Adam and Eve decide to exchange their identity from who they were made in the image of for something else. Where humanity was created to draw its identity from a vertical relationship. Now Adam and Eve are drawing their relationship from the things around them, from a horizontal thing, drawing their identity from created things. And what's the first thing that happens after they take the fruit? We see shame comes in. Suddenly their identity is in their nakedness. All of a sudden, blame comes in. Adam is blaming Eve, and now there's a fracture in the relationship that they share. And then all of a sudden they're hiding. They're hiding from God. We see the impact of sin, which is rebellion against God. It's more than just being naughty, doing the naughty things the Bible tells you you shouldn't do. What sin does is it fractures our identity. It's an act of rebellion through which sin entered the world and it destroys the identity we were created in. So now where I was in the perfect image of God, now my identity is distorted. I'm still made in the image of God. That creativity that He placed in me is still in me, and we see that at work today. We're still relational, we still have this deep dependency for one another. We still have acts of generosity. When you first hold that baby in your arms, there's a generosity that overflows out of you. We're made in the image of God, but that image which was once secure and confident in who I was created to be because of the relationship that I had with God, now it's distorted. So that is the first side of the equation. Since the time of those opening chapters of Genesis, and still to this day, people are looking for their identity horizontally for what we were designed to draw vertically. While our identity was created to have God at the center, we're now asking people, places, things to do for our identity what only God can do. Here's the thing about identity. Wherever we base our identity, whatever thing it is that we think gives us our identity, makes us significant, makes us important, or uh gives us our self-worth, that thing becomes Lord in our lives. Let me put it another way. When our identity is in temporary things, you're now in a state where your identity can be under threat. So if my career tells me who I am, then my career becomes my master. If another person's approval tells me who I am, then their opinion begins to control me. If my body tells me who I am, my strength or my um well-being tells me who I am, suddenly aging or sickness becomes a terrifying threat to my identity. I can't do the things that I used to do. If success tells me who I am, then any failure becomes an impact and a devastation to my identity. So we'll pause that side of the story for a moment where we were in the first page of the Bible, and we will move forward into the New Testament. And on this side we have a window, we'll call that a window. Uh and we are introduced to a new image in the story. It says in Colossians chapter 1, verse 15, says, Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all. So if on this side we had a view of who God was, but it's been distorted. Now on this side, in Jesus, we have a full image of who God is. In Jesus, we see the perfect image of God. Humanity was created to reflect God. Jesus perfectly reveals God. Fully God, fully man. In seeing Jesus, in knowing Jesus, we now have a clear picture of who the image of God is. We were made in the image of God, but we traded it for a broken identity. But he is the image of God. Jesus embodies the fullness of a creative, generous, and relational God. And this is where we finally land in Ephesians. Ephesians chapter one is this beautiful passage where, in one way or another, in a small passage of Scripture, Paul writes 11 in Christ statements where he defines our identity. And Paul is writing to the church in Ephesus just as he is writing to us today, that the message of the gospel and the work of Jesus means that our identity isn't in the brokenness, our identity is in the fullness of Christ. Our identity isn't in the temporary things. Our identity is in the one who existed before anything was created. Our identity isn't in our mistakes, our identity is in the perfect obedience of Christ. And that's what it means to be a born-again Christian. I don't know if you've ever received that as an insult where someone said, Oh, you're one of those born-again Christians. I invite that as a I appreciate that as a label. I'm the same person with the same life or in the same situations, facing the same challenges, but I have a new identity. Because of my faith, I am now in Christ. N. T. Wright says it like this: the king represents his people, so that what happens to him happens to them, and what is true of him is true of them. So with us, Jesus has won the decisive victory over the oldest and darkest enemy of all. And if we are in him, in the king, in Christ, we shall discover step by step what that means. Paul's letters to the Paul's letter to the Ephesians, it does transition to behaviors. Later in the chapters, he talks about the way to conduct yourself, he talks about uh unity, to how to love, how to live in purity, wisdom, in good works. But all those behaviors all flow out of the identity we've become. So what does it mean to be in Christ? And we'll turn to Ephesians chapter 1, uh, verse 3 to 14. And this is far more poetic than perhaps we give it credit for. In fact, the Greek, Paul is writing in one singular sentence. Uh Tim Mackey from the Bible Project describes it as Greek, that is terrible English, but in Greek it is brilliant Greek. Uh, translators have added full stops and punctuation for the sanity of our English language, but this is one beautiful poetic thought. Are you ready to dive in, church? Ephesians chapter 1, verse 3 says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. We've got the Father, we've got our Lord Jesus Christ, we've got spiritual blessings, we've got the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and in Christ we've received blessings. So what are these blessings? Let's start in the first section, verses three, uh, verses four to six. Just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestined us to adoptions as sons by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, by which he has made us accepted in the beloved. So what is the first thing that we are receiving as a spiritual blessing? What is the first thing of our identity? It is the adoption of their Father. Number one, we are chosen, holy, and predestined. And if you're new to church, and I've met some people that haven't been in church for a long time, but uh, you've just walked into a 500-year debate about how we describe predestined and chosen and how we apply these sorts of things. And again, I'll point you to Hillsong College if you really want to have those debates. But remember, we're talking about in Christ. So who was the one predestined to take our place on the cross? And who was the one chosen to receive the name above all names? And who was the one who is blameless and holy? We're talking about who we are in Christ. I can't suddenly take this discussion and see words like chosen and predestined and make them about in Hamish. Like this is suddenly, all of a sudden, a personal thing when in fact it is a story about who Jesus is and what he's done to make a place for all of us. We've been chosen. My being chosen, my being predestined, my being elected, my being holy, it never had anything to do with me. It's all about him. So if you feel unworthy, and perhaps that's part of your identity, that's okay. You're in Christ, and he's worthy. If you're feeling left out, and perhaps that's part of your identity when you look in the mirror, that's okay. You're in Christ, and he's been chosen. The story of the gospel is about who he is and what he's done to the praise of the glory of his grace, and it gives it to us. Amen. So we've been adopted to sonship, and if you were here last week, you would have heard from Amy Or Ewing, who was the little British lady that was in our uh in our Hillsong conference highlights. I encourage you, if you weren't here, you can go find it on the uh Hillsong YouTube. Uh and she spoke from the topic of whose son are you? And and all that we become as a son of God. And for the ladies of the room, sonship is an inclusive statement. Men and women are called to be sons of Christ. So much of our identity is about fitting in. It's this ever-going cycle to ensure we have a place. So sometimes we wear the clothes so that we fit in with the emo kids or whatever kids we're trying to fit in with, or we act a certain way to keep up with the crowds. We strive to achieve so that we can measure up to a to an expectation. The the term keeping up with the Joneses would apply. But sons don't have to strive, they simply are. You don't earn sonship, you're born into it, you're adopted into it. When Jesus came to be baptized by John. He hadn't done a miracle. He hadn't taught about the kingdom of God yet. He hadn't started those three years of active ministry that the gospel tells us so much about. But before all that, a voice comes from heaven. God the Father speaks. He says, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. When you're in Christ, God looks at you and he is well pleased. I wonder if you got a right revelation of your adoption, of your sonship, that you've been chosen, not because of what you're doing or how you're going, but because you're in Christ. I wonder what insecurities would fall off your life. I wonder how that would change your identity and that would flow into the decisions that you make. I wonder what peace, what joy, what rest you might experience when you understand that in Christ, you're chosen, adopted, and loved. You can stop striving. You can stop hoping that the next thing will place value on you. You can stop looking for status symbols because you're chosen, adopted, and loved. The Bible even goes further to teach us, Jesus teaches us, that sons don't lose their place. Jesus taught about a father who, when the son rejected him, he was on the lookout, waiting for the son to return. He never disowned, he never disqualified. He's waiting for you to be a son in the family. So the first thing our identity learns in Christ is the adoption of the Father. And we'll go on to the next verse, verse 7. Once again, in him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace, which he made to abound towards us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times he might gather together one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth in him. In him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will. That we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of his glory. So what we have been adopted as a son, and we also receive the righteousness of the Son. Jesus has provided for us, He has graced us with redemption and forgiveness. He's made known to us the purpose of his will. In Christ, we have obtained an inheritance. In Christ, God's love and mercy is drawing us back to himself. How has he made known the purpose of his will? There's some sentences in there that take a bit of wrestling with. In Jesus, we have a hope that the brokenness of the garden would be restored once and for all in the fullness of Jesus. That in the fullness of time, as it says there in verse 10, the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ. That's his plan. Since man rejected God in rebellion, his plan is to draw us away from that side of the story into this side of the story. That is the purpose of his will. So desperate he is for the creation that he made to be restored and redeemed. Our identity is in his redemption and forgiveness. That means our identity isn't our failures or our shortcomings. Our identity isn't in our sickness or disabilities. Our identity isn't in the things that have wronged us or been done to us. Through the cross, it is the restoration of our identity. Through forgiveness and redemption, our identity is the righteousness and victory of Jesus. So even your mistakes are removed. Jesus doesn't have to go back to the cross. You might walk out these doors, shout out the kids, argue with the wife. You can just turn to him and receive the righteousness of who you are. Your identity doesn't go back to being broken. Your identity doesn't go back to being uh you know a failure. You can remain in Christ. And to follow Jesus is to learn and grow in that new identity. We are in Christ. Because of Jesus' work on the cross, we don't have to find value in the horizontal things, our achievements, or our success. None of it matters because Jesus has given us the greatest victory. Often we talk about our failures and things like that. It's like we're very easy to say, oh Jesus, have my failures, I don't like them. But the reality is our successes and our achievements, they fail in comparison to the one who is above all and has the greatest name, has the greatest value, and he places it on us. In those moments where you feel like your pride has been pricked, perhaps when you're overlooked or not acknowledged, then remind yourself that by grace, and we sang about it today, the grace of God, the free gift given to us, Jesus has already placed value on you. So it doesn't come from the things around you. You don't need to be acknowledged, you don't need to be validated by the things around you. You've been validated in Christ. So let's carry on, and I'll invite the band to come. Ephesians 1, verse 13. In him you also trusted. After you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also, having been believed, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession to the praise of his glory. So we've been adopted, and that's part of our identity. We are adopted as a son. We have been given the righteousness of Jesus. We've been made right through Jesus. That's part of our identity. And now our identity is sealed by the Spirit. Because you also trusted, and that's you as in us, the Jewish, the non-Jewish believers, because we trusted in him, we've been sealed with the same promise of God's blessing, of God's restoration. The Holy Spirit has sealed us with his promise. Now that we're in Christ, we're sealed by the Spirit. What does that mean? The Holy Spirit is a sealing guarantee of a future experience. What is that future experience? It is that in one in Christ, he is gathering all things to himself. And now the Holy Spirit is the sealing deposit that tells us that one day this image will be fully restored. One day, all the brokenness, all the failure, all the shame that Adam and Eve experienced in the garden, all our brokenness and all our insecurities, all the things that we've placed our identity in, one day they'll be removed and we will be full and complete in the finished work of Jesus. Our identity is not in the broken things of this world because our future is not the brokenness of this world. Our identity isn't the things of this world because we're in it, but we're not of this world. Philippians 3 verse 20 says, Our citizenship is in heaven, for which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is the guarantee, He's the down payment, He's the advance that's been made. It's the Holy Spirit working in us. While we might not be in our full and present reality, and my identity is in Christ, but sometimes my behavior and my actions and my insecurities they flare up, and I'm not in the full and present reality. But the Holy Spirit is the down payment of my future inheritance. I'm moving from that side to this side. The Holy Spirit is the future arriving early. It is the day it comes where my identity is fully restored and fully redeemed. But in the meantime, the Holy Spirit is working in me to transform how I see myself and who I am. If you're wavering in your identity, remember God has given himself in his Holy Spirit and He's deposited in you. If you're looking in the mirror and you see doubt, allow His Holy Spirit to minister to you. If you're looking in the mirror and you see weakness, allow his Holy Spirit to strengthen you. Can we stand across this place? Perhaps the Holy Spirit is a new concept to you. The Bible teaches us that Jesus sent his Holy Spirit. It's the presence of God. And he's here with us. He's in this room. And if you've made a decision to put your faith in Jesus, then he's with you. If you feel comfortable, would you open your hands to heaven? I'm gonna pray for us, and then we're gonna worship the name above every name. Holy Spirit come in this place right now. For every identity, Lord God. For every identity which is failure, for every identity which is sorrow, for every identity which is brokenness. May your Holy Spirit seal in them the fullness of who they are, that they are in Christ, that you are redeeming all things. For every identity that is their mistake, that is their shortcomings or God, that your Holy Spirit would be the stealing deposit that reminds them that they are fully loved, that they are fully chosen, that they are fully accepted. Come on, Tenny, would you look up?