Guest Speaker: Pastor Mark Hankins

Sunday Outline – October 22, 2023

Pastor Mark Hankins ministered this past Sunday.

Topic: “Who you are in Christ.”

“Father God, we thank you for the precious blood of Jesus. We are washed in the blood. We're redeemed by the blood. We overcome satan by the blood of the lamb. We thank you for the precious blood of Jesus. Oh, we thank you Lord, that that blood brings us victory and freedom. We'll not be silent about it, but we lift our voice with a bold declaration and confession and praise; the blood alone has set us free! We thank you for that blood. Thank you, Lord, today for your loving kindness. Your tender mercies, great is Your faithfulness. Thank you Lord for all that you've done for us. Thank you for your word. We receive your word today. Thank you Lord for Holy Ghost, our helper, and our teacher today. In Jesus' name.”

Galatians 2:20;

“I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me and the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.”

Paul talks about two major factors of our redemption. 

One is substitution. That everything Jesus did for us in our behalf.

The second is what we call identification with Christ. Identification means to consider or treat as one and the same.

When Paul says in Galatians 2:20, “I am crucified with Christ.” Paul is saying, who I am and what I am is determined by what happened on the cross.

Romans 5:15;

“We're sin abounds, grace did much more abound.”

God's work in Christ far exceeds any damage done to us by Adam's fault. What Jesus has done for us on the cross in His death, in His burial, and in His resurrection as a Christian – that's where we receive our identity.

Mylon LeFevre would say in the 80’s; 

“I always gave my sin to Jesus, but I never gave Him my life.”

A lot of times people just give Jesus their sin, but they never give Him their self or their identity, or they never give Him their life. What Paul is saying is Jesus has done more than just take away my sin. He has absolutely changed my identity. I'm no longer what my mama made me, or my past made me, or circumstances made me. I am now the workmanship of God created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them.

A.J. Gordon said; “The events that brought you into union with Christ,” the crucifixion, the cross, the death, the burial, the resurrection of Christ, “the events that brought us into union with Christ, are immortal in energy and limitless in application.”

That means there is no problem you could face which Jesus’ blood and His name, and the power of His resurrection, it will change that situation in your life.

You're now in Christ, in the Anointed One, which means today through the power of Holy Spirit, every touch of the anointing of Holy Spirit brings you into the consciousness of your identification with Christ.

This is not something you simply learn, but something you carry in your consciousness, just like you would carry a drivers license when you drive, or a passport if you are taking a flight. You must carry the consciousness of your identification with Christ.

Brother Kenneth Hagin would teach on faith and taught there are different levels a person can achieve. He said, if you want the highest kind of faith, you go through Paul's letters (or Paul's revelation), and every time you see the two words “in Christ,” “in Him” or “in whom,” then that describes something you are, or something you have because you are now in Christ.

There are 130 “In Him” references in Paul’s revelation (King James Version).  I don’t think Holy Spirit has an issue with repetition. He is trying to emphasize the importance to us.

Once you see each of these “in Christ” phrases, change them to be personal and then each day, confess or acknowledge this is who I am, this is what I have because I am now in Christ.

The key to the gospel is in the prepositions. 

A preposition connects nouns and pronouns.

A word governing, and usually preceding, a noun or pronoun and expressing a relation to another word or element in the clause, as in “the man on the platform,” “she arrived after dinner,” “what did you do it for?”

Everything Jesus did, He did for us, on our behalf. 

Hebrews 9:12;

“Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood, he entered in once into the holy place and he obtained eternal redemption for us.”

This means everything He did, He did it for us to the credit of our account. He did it as our substitute, therefore we were identified with Him.

I'm not interested in just a lot of theology and no personal victory. In other words, Holy Spirit will help you to win in your mind, in your body, in your life, and in your family.

Romans 8:11;

“The same spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwells in you and he quickens your mortal body.”

The same identical Spirit that's in Christ and raise Christ from the dead, now lives on the inside of you.

Colossians 2:15;

“When Jesus was raised from the dead…”

Jesus wasn’t just barely raised from the dead or only partially raised…

When Jesus was raised from the dead, He didn't come out of the tomb limping with his hair all messed up, missing a few teeth, and scars all over his face. He came out alive! And then said, all power in heaven and in earth is given unto Me. Go in My name. You're identified with Him.

In the four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John there's a disproportionate amount of space given to the events that lead up to the cross and then to the resurrection of Christ. 

The main event is He came victorious through death, so that He might destroy him that had the power of death.

What's the difference between a photograph and an x-ray? 

A photograph is a picture of the outside. 

The x-ray's is a picture of the inside.

The four gospels show you what happened to Christ. 

Paul’s letters show you what happened in Christ.

Craig T. Owens said; 

“Many Christians think they need more power when they really just need more gospel. The gospel of Christ is the power of God.” 

The center of the gospel is what happened on the cross, which Paul includes in Colossians one, the blood of His cross – the blood covenant. 

The same power that's in the events is in the message.

Brother Hagin said, take the Ephesians chapter one prayer. So, I [Mark] just took that prayer, and I wrote it down. Multiple times throughout the day I would pull it out of my pocket, at least twice in the morning, twice in the afternoon and at least twice in the evening. I'd say this, “Father God, I'm asking you that the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God that you have already given me, and the eyes of my understanding be flooded with light. That I may know what is the hope of Your calling and what is the riches of the glory of Your inheritance in the saints? And what is the exceeding greatness of Your power towards me who believe according to the working of Your mighty power, which you wrought in Christ when you raised Him from the dead.” 

I started praying that prayer. Dad Hagen said, you do it every day for at least six months and the Bible will become a different book to you.

I stuck with it for six months. Then eight months, and ten months, a year. I just kept on doing it because there's no end to it. Paul in his revelation, had seen something awesome. Something happened in the resurrection of Christ that Paul could not come up with enough adjectives to describe the kind of power that raised Christ from the dead.

There is no power shortage. There is no energy shortage here. When God raised Christ from the dead, exceeding great, unlimited immeasurable power, explosive power, unlimited energy, the greatest display of power in the history of the universe is the resurrection of Christ.

Ephesians 2:4;

“But God, who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith, he loved us even when we were dead in sin. He made us alive together with Christ. And he raised us up together with Christ. And he made us sit down together with Christ far above all principality power and by dominion.”

Go ahead and laugh at the devil for a few minutes!

In the Amplified Bible, it says He gave us the same life. That's resurrection life. That's overcoming life. That's heaven's life. That's the life of God. That's divine nature. This is healing life. This is blessing life. This is victorious life. That's in you right now!

Quit acting like you're trying to get something and act like you already have something.

Jesus opened the book, Isaiah 61, and He said, that scripture there, that's me right there!

Even though this identification is a spiritual reality, it is not automatic. You must put it on. In other words, dress yourself up in the consciousness of who you are in Christ.

Very few people will send out an x-ray of their family for Christmas. <laugh>. (It would be so hard to recognize everybody.)

How you know God's done something for you in Christ that is so radical is you have a hard time recognizing yourself – a picture of yourself, but it begins on the inside the x-ray, the spirit of man. 

What made the change in me is I took Ephesians 2:4-6; 10. And I started reading that and meditating on that. And I had a friend with me, and we were studying faith and how faith works. And as we were studying Paul's revelation, our identification with Christ, our union with Christ. He that is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit. We saw we are joined to the master. Our spirit is a part of Jesus Christ. This is the real you. This is who I am.

We were studying that, meditating on that. We started reading in a couple of translations and Holy Spirit hit me with revelation knowledge, not just information. Holy Spirit began to open the truth to me.

Psalm 17, Holy Spirit hit it and I saw myself when He says, we are made alive together.

So, in the mind of God, we were there. And He gave me the same life that He gave to Christ. I was made alive together, raised up together. And He made me sit down together, blessed in Him, a place of authority in Him, seated together with Him. And He showed me that picture. You don't need to wait until you are in heaven to check out the video. I saw myself raised up in Christ, seated together with Him.

Acts 26:1-2 (NKJV), Paul stood before King Agrippa, and the Governor and the leaders of the whole Roman Empire. Paul said, the one with the chains on his hands, chains on his feet. He has scars on his back. But he said, I'm the only happy man here. I think myself happy. 

Why is Paul so happy? Listen, he's standing in the place that Jesus told him 30 years ago. “You will stand in that place.” And the devil tried to stop him. Shipwrecks tried to stop him, but he didn’t allow circumstances to stop his destiny. And the leading of Holy Spirit took him right to that place. 

I don't know what is in your destiny, but I believe Jesus will bring you to your divine destiny as you follow Holy Spirit’s leading.

1 Corinthians 3:6;

Paul said, I planted, Apollo watered, and God gave the increase.

Apollo was trained by Paul. So they preached the same gospel. Paul said the first-time people heard the gospel, they called it the planting.

After that it would be the watering. Then God gives increase, or you get results. 

So, he said, Lord, how come some people don't ever get increase? The Lord said, because they reject the watering process.

No matter how good the seed is, no matter how good the ground is, if it's not watered, there'll be no increase.