Give Online: https://pushpay.com/pay/gatecitychristian Website: https://www.gatecitychristian.com/ Decision Card: https://gatecity.churchcenter.com/people/forms/371658 CROSS-CENTERED LIVING Now What? – Part 6 11/05/2023 A New Identity and A New Potential But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. Romans 8:9 NLT The Cross is the only place of hope when we realize that our greatest problems are inside us, not outside? A Cross-Centered Life Is One Where Jesus’ Work On The Cross Defines you. 1. You Are A New Creation I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20 NIV • What Christ did on the Cross permanently altered who you are now and who you will continue to be. • We are not replaced with a new an improved version of ourselves but with Christ himself. • We now live by the principle of grace • We are personally united to Christ through the Holy Spirit. We have new resources and potential because God has moved in. What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. 1 Corinthians 2:12 NIV He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me. Colossians 1:28-29 NIV 2. You Are Justified 3. You Are Adopted See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are … 1 John 3:1a NIV A Cross-Centered Life Is One Of Repentance: Turning From Sin Lessons From The Prodigal Son: (See Luke 15:11-32) 1. Coming to your senses 2. Admitting your sin - No more excuse making or blame-shifting just honest self-examination 3. Receiving the Father’s gracious embrace What true repentance looks like - You begin to rest in Christ’s work as you confess your sins, asking for forgiveness and grace. - You get smaller and Christ gets bigger. You have a godly self-forgetfulness that is very different from self-loathing. - You look at Christ, not just at your sin. - You receive new energy, joy, gratitude, hope, perseverance, and purpose. We grow when we remember our new identity as a new creation, justified, and adopted as sons and daughters.