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I've read about these "identity shops" that supposedly exist throughout the underworld. When a criminal has garnered such a track record and such a criminal history that he cannot escape it and that it continually hovers over his existence, then -- for a very large fee -- he can enroll in one of the specialty identity shops of the underworld and "disappear" for a time. During his "disappearance," he will under go plastic surgery to change the way that he looks and appears, will be given a new name and new IDs and a new social security card. He will be coached as to cover stories of the past of his new identity. Some even try to surgically alter their fingertips and other identifying marks. Supposedly, for enough money, there are certain places where the worst person can be "reborn" into a new person with a new future and a new outlook on life.

Whether those places are a work of fiction writers or whether they really exist I do not know, nor wish to ever find out. But I can tell you of a place where -- for free -- you can have an identity makeover! The church of the living God is a place where those with pasts that hang over them can come and have the past erased, and it's free because the cost was paid on Calvary years ago! A person can walk into here with a track record of sin and wrong doing and a bad attitude and a depressed future and yet through the cleansing power and work of the Spirit and blood of Jesus, leave a new creature with a forgiven past, a blessed present, and a bright future! He can change your outlook and His Spirit can lift your spirit better than any psychologist! His Word can transform your dreams and your identity more than any self-help book. The church is the best identity makeover secret in the world -- but I'm glad I found out about it!

Where else can you trade mourning for gladness and sorrow for joy? Where else can you take the broken pieces of a fragmented life only to find them become something beautiful in the hands of the Master Potter? Where else can you take a worthless life riddled with mistakes and heartaches and disappointments and have it all turned around? Where else can you get such a brand new identity and forgiveness?

You won't get it at the bar down the street! All they will give you is an empty pocket book, a hangover, and liver and lung disease, STDs, and not to mention a broken heart! You can't get all of this with money and financial well-being, because money can't heal broken spirits and money cannot solace shattered dreams. You won't get it in a relationship with another human being, because even the best friend will at times let you down and not understand. You won't get all of this in a dry, man-made religion because rituals and dogmas cannot take a stony heart and replace it with a soft one! This new identity -- this fresh start -- can only be found in receiving the Spirit of the Almighty God! It can only be found in a church where that Spirit actively moves in people's lives day in and day out! It can only be found where the pure Word of God is preached uninhibited and unimpeded by man's opinion. It can only be found where people worship Him in spirit and in truth. The church of the living God is the only place where you can have a spiritual transformation giving you a new-found identity!

Hear this preacher: we must never forget that the kingdom of God is not about you accepting a doctrine or accepting Christ. It is not about the mental or verbal statements and affirmations that men have created to replace the Biblical modes of salvation. Because you can say you accept Christ or believe a particular thing and it not change you one iota. You can repeat a verbal statement that a preacher tells you to say and it not change your life or lifestyle at all. Religion doesn't change you. Statements of whatever don't change you.

The kingdom of God is rather about being born again. It's about a spiritual transformation of a fleshly soul. It's about a spiritual work where the Spirit deals with you through the Word of God to change who you are; to give up your old identity of sin; to step out in faith on what God has promised. The world is full of self-professed Christians who are no different than they were before they made the statement! What we need is to be born again of the water and the of the Spirit. We need old things to pass away and all things to become new. We need a work of grace stronger than the works of flesh! I believe that you must believe. I believe that you must receive doctrine. But the old man of who you were when you were in control cannot truly believe on the things of God. The old man of your past cannot really receive the doctrines of Christ. For you to be able to act in faith on such things, you must be born again!

Bro. Hector pointed out to me recently something that I heard preached years ago but had forgotten until his reminder. When Jesus told Nicodemus that you must be born again in John chapter 3, there is a distinction between the first and second time that Jesus made that statement. Listen carefully:

There is a difference between "seeing the kingdom of God" and "entering the kingdom of God." The first time was the general commandment and the second is the specific. First, Jesus said "you must be born again" and then in the second He described what it meant to be "born again," namely "to be born of the water and of the spirit." Water Baptism and Spirit baptism. Being born of the water and of the Spirit is how you enter the kingdom of God. But we forget sometimes Jesus' first statement: unless you are born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God. That word "see" means "to understand" or "to grasp" or "to comprehend." If a person has not been born of the water and of the Spirit, not only have they not entered into the kingdom of God, but they don't even have the ability to grasp the concepts of the kingdom or to understand what the kingdom of God truly is. That's why Jesus said: you must be born again! Like Nicodemus, there can be religious leaders and preachers and scholars that think they understand the Bible but really don't because they have a religion and a dogma but no life transformation through the Spirit!

This thing is about getting a new identity! It's about leaving the kingdom of this world and entering the kingdom of God! We still live on the same planet as before, but we follow different rules and answer to a different authority! I don't condemn the people of this world for drinking themselves silly and doing drugs and for their sexual promiscuity -- it makes perfect sense in their kingdom. In the kingdom of self, that is the way to act. But understand that I don't live in that kingdom because I have been born again! I have been born into the kingdom of God and in the kingdom of God there are things that we don't do because we are under different laws and following a different power. You can tell when a person has been truly born again because they begin to live in this world through the eyes of a different kingdom! They no longer embrace their old identity of sin, but they have become new creature in Christ Jesus. They seem different to their old friends because they are different! They've had an identity change over! When you have been born again, you are a new you!

And let me say this: if you want to live in the kingdom of this world and follow its rules and live for the moment and give yourself to sin, then go ahead because you have the choice to choose that. But remember that one day you will inherit the eternal end of whichever kingdom you choose to abide in. And remember that the eternal end of the kingdom of self and of this world is everlasting punishment and a lake of fire, but the eternal end of God's kingdom is everlasting life. You can choose however you like, but choose with the end of the kingdom in sight! God's kingdom will never pass away! That's why I'm glad that I have been born again into it and why I serve Him in it! I relish my new identity in God! I want to be made in the image of the second Adam, Jesus Christ, rather than stay in the image of the first Adam!

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But those of you who along with me have gotten a new identity in the kingdom of God, listen carefully: there is a principle in God's Word of Him speaking something as it will be and not necessarily as it is actively in that person's life. When you receive the Spirit of God and are baptized in His name, then instantly, the past is washed away and you embrace a new existence. Your new identity in God is called according to what God is going to do through you and not necessarily to the level of power that you are operating in at the time.

For example, God chose David to be king of Israel and from the moment that he was anointed, he was a king, but he did not actually take the throne and act like or use the authority of a king until Saul died many years later. In between his anointing and his actual assumption of the throne were many years of wilderness and running for his life and testing. There was a time interval between receiving the new identity and acting in the full power of the new identity. He was king of Israel living in the caves of Philistia, but he did not operate in the power and authority of a king, until years later when he was actually crowned by the men of Judah. There was a time of testing between his receiving his new identity and his operating in the fullness of his new identity.

Think of Joseph of the book of Genesis. As a child, God gave him a dream where he was in control and in power and authority. It was God's dream for his life. His dad listened to the dream and gave him a coat of authority and honor, a coat of many colors -- one like only royalty wore. He is a young man wandering around the wilderness with this royal coat and all it brought was envy and mocking from his brothers. We read in our text, that one day when he went to the field, they saw him coming and decided to show him who was boss. They grabbed him and put him down a dry well after first stripping off the coat of many colors. They then sold him into Egypt and dipped the coat in blood to make his father believe that a wild animal had killed him.

God had pronounced a new identity on Joseph with the dream and the coat. God was the one who had said that this younger brother would become the chief! And yet between the pronouncement by God and the day in Egypt where Joseph ruled the land and had his brothers bow before him was a wilderness experience and a dry well. And a temporary coat of servant hood. And a temporary garment of prison. There was a time of testing between the pronouncement of God's new identity of who Joseph was to be, and Joseph's actually acting and walking in the power and anointing of that identity. There was a time of testing of his new identity of God. And his time of testing lasted a few years! Between the receiving the coat of many colors and the throne room of Egypt was a wilderness, a pit, a time of slavery, false accusations, and a jail cell.

Now we fast forward to Jesus Christ. Hopefully you have no need of me pointing out that this was no ordinary man. And He was not an ordinary man that became extraordinary some time in His life, but rather Jesus Christ was unique from the moment of His conception. He was the God-man-kinsman-redeemer, and all the fullness of the Godhead dwelt in Him bodily. He was God manifest in flesh; Emmanuel, which being interpreted is "God with us." The Holy Ghost overshadowed Mary and she conceived. That baby forming in her belly was the work of the Spirit of God within her, and somehow Spirit mingled with humanity to produce a baby boy born in Bethlehem. And as such this "holy thing," as the KJV puts it, would be called "the Son of God." Such a title refers to His divine origin. It refers to the miracle of His conception. It refers to the deity that lived within flesh for the purpose of redemption. Jesus was special from the moment of conception. He was unique at His birth. He was the Son of God from the beginning of the matter! Amazingly, the baby held close to a mother's chest in the wee hours of the Bethlehem night was just as much God in flesh as the adult man that would minister throughout the Gospels! God had taken on a new identity and was revealing Himself to mankind in a new way. And it started with the conception and birth of Jesus Christ.

Now fast forward thirty years. Besides not sinning, Jesus has done nothing during that time to reveal His divine origin. He has done nothing to reveal to others the power that lies within Him. For thirty years, there have been no miracles and no healings and no signs or wonders. And yet the time is come for the revelation of God in flesh to come to the world. It is time for the people to realize the identity proclaimed in the Bethlehem stable. And so in our other text, to "fulfill all righteousness," Jesus goes to the Jordan to be baptized by John the Baptist.

Hopefully you grasp that the baptism of Jesus simply proves that God can be in three places and do more than one thing at a time. The events of the baptism do not proclaim that God is three persons any more than God's Spirit moving simultaneously in twelve churches on Sunday morning does not make God twelve persons. We understand that God was able to fill the universe at the same time He walked in flesh upon the earth because God is not limited by human limitations and can do more than one thing at the same time!

Focus rather on the revelation of the flesh in the water: a visible anointing descends through the air upon Him much like a dove would have lighted on His shoulder. As the people are staring at Him trying to grasp the significance of the glory that shines upon Him, a voice booms from heaven and says: "this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased!" The pronouncement has been made; the identity has been revealed to all those around Him. He was the Son of God in the womb of Mary. He was the Son of God on the hills of Nazareth, but what has changed is that now He is to walk openly in the power and performance of that identity. The time has come for Him to demonstrate His new identity. The will of God is saying, "it's time to manifest Your identity to the world and the kingdom of heaven!"

Let me read my text again starting with the last verse of the third chapter of Matthew, keeping in mind that in the Greek there is no chapter or verse numbers and the passage is all together:

Amazing! God has said made it obvious that Jesus is about to operate in all of the power and prerogative of deity in flesh and that the announcement has been made "this is my Son!" And yet between the pronouncement and the ministry is a wilderness and not just a wilderness but a time of testing and not only that, but the devil and the first words out of the devil's mouth are "If you are the Son of God!" What has been true from the beginning, and what has now come the time to manifest to the world -- before Jesus can demonstrate it -- is being questioned by the devil! God had already told Mary "this holy thing is the Son of God." The voice has boomed from heaven "this is my Son." And yet the devil says "If you are . . . !"

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Let me preach to somebody here tonight. The similarities between your spiritual birth and Jesus' conception are too many to mistake or miss! You were born again by the Holy Ghost working within your life! This new identity that you have been born into was a God thing and a God conception! God has proclaimed a new identity for you in the kingdom of God. But like David, Joseph, and even Jesus, there is often a wilderness between the pronouncement of who we are in Christ and the manifestation of who we are in Christ! I'm preaching to some people who were genuinely born again of the water and of the Spirit and you have been given a new identity in Jesus Christ. Some of you may not even realize what it is. For some of you, your new identity is "soul winner." For some of you it is "prayer warrior." For all of you it is to be "witnesses." Some of you are called to a preaching and pulpit ministry. Some of you are called to be great warriors in the Spirit and worshippers. Some of your identity is "miracle worker," "hope bringer," "encourager." And to all of you your new identity is to be "a child of God." But there has been a time of testing and it hasn't come as fast as you thought it would. You thought you'd have seen the supernatural by now. You'd thought that the pew would have been filled by now. You'd thought that the understanding and the anointing and liberty to walk in the Spirit would have come by now. You'd thought that the victory over depression and gloominess and distractions and your ability to overcome would have come by now.

After all, you were born again into the kingdom of God! There was a royal coat of many colors that was given to you! The anointing oil of the Holy Ghost had descended upon you and you left services charged with a dream of what God has called you to be. But instead of it working out like you planned, you find yourself in a wilderness, under duress, under temptation, under testing, under attack. And the devil is saying "if you really are this in God, then show it!"

But the Word of God is speaking to someone, today: don't you dare question in the wilderness what you heard under the anointing of God! Don't question in the darkness what was revealed in the light. And don't you believe the lie of the pits of hell that there is even a question as to your new identity. He wants you to think that there is, but just as Jesus was the very Son of God and David was king and Joseph was ruler in the wilderness, so are you still a new creature in Christ Jesus no matter what the devil says! Your born again identity and coat of anointing is a God thing and it was God proclaimed. And if God said it, then even a pit in the wilderness or a jail cell or people wrongly accusing can stop it from coming true!

The truth is that when Jesus heard the mocking voice of Satan questioning His identity, that Jesus Christ was the closest that He had ever been to revealing that identity in a powerful way. Luke tells us that it would be right after the wilderness that Jesus would go to Nazareth and proclaim that He was there to do miracles, signs, and wonders. And then the ministry started and there could be no doubt. And the next time the devils ran into Jesus, they proclaimed, "we know who thou art!"

David was on a fast track to the throne room when he was in the caves in the wilderness running for his life. Joseph didn't realize it, but the very act of being in the dungeon and being falsely accused and even being sold into Egypt in the first place was the will of God setting up the realization of the dream that God had pronounced. Never forget that when the enemy whispers "if you are?" and questions what God has said that it means that you are on the verge of demonstrating and manifesting that new identity in all of its power and glory! Don't grow disheartened by the present situation. Don't grow distracted by the dryness of the wilderness. Don't listen to the questioning and mocking lie of Satan. If God has given you a dream and God has pronounced you a new creature, then you will -- if you faint not -- reap that anointing and walk in the fullness of what He has said would be!

Our problem is that we get distracted by the wilderness; we want the manifestation of the full calling of God and the full revealing of our new identity immediately. We don't get excited when the preacher points out the wilderness between the anointing and the miraculous. But let me point out that the wilderness and the dungeon and the testing was only a temporary situation! And it was the situation immediately before the fulfillment and realization of the power! God has given you a new identity -- don't you dare let that go! Don't you believe the lie of Satan that questions what God has said. And whatever you do, don't live as if what God has said is not true! Don't believe the lie that you are destined to just have the calling without seeing the promises come true! The wilderness is only a temporary situation and is the last situation before the fulfillment! Unless you believe the lie of doubt of Satan, it can't change your new identity in God! It's just a test! It's just setting up the fulfillment of God's promise! Don't give up and don't give in!

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Did you ever notice that before the wilderness episode, Jesus never said "I am" anything? The voice of God said "you are" and the devil questioned "if you are" but Jesus had never said "I am."

But after the wilderness experience, Jesus walked into Nazareth read the prophecies about the Messiah and proclaimed "I am He!" The ministry of Jesus from that point on is one pronouncement of "I am" after another:

Those are snippets of the words of Jesus during a ministry that rocked this world. But that ministry only came when He said what the voice of heaven had said and did not believe the lie of Satan!

God can say "you are," but until you make up in your mind to say "I am" then nothing is going to happen! That's why the devil is trying to get some of you to question whether or not you have a ministry or a particular calling of God. That's why the devil is whispering to you, tauntingly, "if you are this, then how come this?" That's why some of you hear the voice of doubt "if you really were born again then how come you don't feel this or see this?" Because the only thing that can stop you walking and operating in the power of your new identity is if you convince yourself that it is not real! Why do you think that the devil is so adamant about questioning it?

Let me help somebody out right now. The devil is the father of lies. He tells lies when the truth would do more damage. He can't help it. So when He is questioning Jesus saying "if you are the Son of God" then that's a pretty good indication that if you remove the "if" you've got the truth. Take out the "if" and you realize the true identity of Christ: "you are the Son of God." The devil can't touch you and the only thing that he can do is talk. He couldn't kill Joseph because Joseph had the prophecy of God on his life. So the devil tried to kill Joseph's faith instead. The devil knew that if Joseph would start listening to the voice of doubt, that the voice of God would come to naught. The devil even tried this with Jesus, but in his questioning, the devil tipped his hand about how he works . . .

Some of you who are wondering about the will of God in your life, don't need to hear from God because you can hear the truth from the devil. Take that voice of doubt and take the "if" out of it and you've got the voice of God. When he says "if you are a soul winner, then how come you have fear?" Then take out the if and you realize the truth: "you are a soul winner" and God is waiting on you to realize it! God has said "you are" but you must say "I am!" The voice of doubt says "if you are really born again, the how come you still battle this?" Take out the "if" because the devil only says that to people who are really born again! And then say "I am!"

And let me say this: your excuses are just doubt dressed up and made pretty. To get rid of doubt and fear, you've got to get rid of the excuses. There are some of you who can list me an entire legal pad of reasons why you can't be great in God. You've got all sorts of shortcoming and weaknesses and ways that you don't measure up. I wish I had a bunch of notepads to hand out but we'll just do it mentally right now: list your excuses as to why you can't see the supernatural. List all of your faults and shortcomings and failures and weaknesses and lack of talent. Give all your excuses on a piece of paper and look at it in your mind. For most of you it is a big, long list. Now remember that God never used a giant, but rather He has always used the "little guy." If the list was of your qualifications, then it would be a long list of reasons why God can't use you. But since the list is of your weaknesses and short comings, then it is actually a long, long list of why God can use you!

The truth is, that some of us do the devil's work for him. He doesn't have to come question with an "if" because we supply the "if" for him! It's time some of you lose the Satanic language in your life when you talk about yourself. We need to drop the "ifs" in our statements about what we are called to do from God. It's not "if" we are, it is "I am!" You need to boldly declare, like Jesus, "I am" and then walk in the power that is rightfully yours!

Joseph, the coat of the prison is just a temporary identity. Don't buy the lie that it is your destiny in God. Jesus, the thirty years of no miracles is but a temporary thing. God is about to do in three and a half years, so many great things, that people will not even remember the thirty. David, the time in the caves and the leader of the down and out is only a temporary position, don't buy the lie that it is all that there is. And to you -- what you have experienced in God so far is not the ultimate but only the wasteland. It's just been the wilderness. David had a few victories in the wilderness. Jesus was ministered to by angels in the wilderness. Joseph made some friends in the prison. But those good things were nothing compared to what was coming when they walked in the full manifestation of their new identity in God.

And so I've got good news for you: every blessing and every good thing that you've experienced in God so far is just the small drops of favor of the wilderness. Don't deceive yourselves into thinking that what you have experienced is all that there is. No, when you were born again, God did more than just wash your past away, but He also gave you a new identity. The wilderness area is just the last step before you walk in the fullness of what He has said.

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I close with this:

Jesus acted obediently and faithfully to the calling of what He was to walk in even before He saw it manifested powerfully. David also acted like a king in the wilderness even before he ever sat on the throne. And Joseph, despite the rags of prison on his back, still behaved like the great ruler that God had proclaimed him to be, even when friends forgot him and disappointments came. Between the pronouncement of God of their new identity and their ability to see the power and authority of that identity was a wilderness time of testing. And it will be the same with you, but just remember: the test is how you act during this wilderness time. If you believe the lie of Satan that would try to question the Word of God and refuse to believe what God has said, then you may never operate in the anointing and see the fulfillment of what God said. But if you -- in the wilderness -- never let go what God has said you are! And make up in your mind to say only "I am" to what God said "you are." Then you will stand and see shortly the manifestation of that promise in your life. God has given you a new calling and a new identity in the kingdom of heaven: don't fail the test of the wilderness!