Identity // Back to the Beginning

2 Peter 3:8 NIV

8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.

Genesis 1:1 NASB

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

bara - to fashion something out of nothing.

Genesis 1:3 NASB

3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.

1. Our Communicating

Genesis 1:26a NIV

26a Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness.

Proverbs 18:20-21 NIV

20 From the fruit of their mouth a person’s stomach is filled; with the harvest of their lips they are satisfied. 21 The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.

Matthew 12:34b-35 NASB

34b For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. 35 The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good; and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil.

2. Our Cognition

Genesis 3:1-5 NIV

1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” 4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Genesis 3:6-11 NIV

6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for  themselves. 8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” 10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” 11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”

2 Corinthians 10:5 NASB

5 We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ

3. Our Covering

Genesis 3:6-7 NIV

6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

Genesis 3:21 NASB

21 The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.

Isaiah 61:10b NASB

10b For He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness…

2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV

21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

1. Our Communication

2. Our Cognition

3. Our Covering

Questions:

1. If everything you communicated became tangible reality, what would it look like? Is it the world you want?

2. What does it look like to take a thought captive and make it submit to what you know about the Lord? How can you incorporate asking yourself “who told me that?”

3. How does understanding the fullness of what Jesus has done for you affect your identity?