More Biblical Perspectives
From God’s Word

By Ken L. Birks

This course features advanced lessons that are focused on three major areas of our Christian growth—doctrine, character, and destiny. These lessons are designed to give you a Biblical understanding that will strengthen your Christian foundation.

Romans 10 17 says, “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.” My prayer is that as you give yourselves to the study of God’s Word, a greater deposit of faith will be imparted into your spirit.

Over the years I have been blessed to have had some great Bible teachers impart the Word of God to me. The revelation of God’s Word has been very rewarding and fulfilling. As a result, I have a great love and passion for His Word. Just as Paul the apostle told Timothy to commit what he had been taught to faithful men and women, my desire is to do the same.

2 Timothy 2:2 And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

May God bless you in the study of His Word.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken
from the Holy Bible, New King James Version

© 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

For more Bible studies visit the website below.

Copyright © 2016

Discovering our True Identity in Jesus Christ Ken Birks, Pastor/Teacher

Biblical Perspectives From God’s Word Page 1

Discovering our True Identity in Jesus Christ Ken Birks, Pastor/Teacher

More Biblical Perspectives
from God’s Word

By Ken Birks, Pastor/Teacher

Table of Contents

Lesson 1
Lesson 2
Lesson 3
Lesson 4
Lesson 5
Lesson 6
Lesson 7
Lesson 8
Lesson 9
Lesson 10
Lesson 11
Lesson 12
Lesson 13
Lesson 14
Lesson 15
Lesson 16
Lesson 17
Lesson 18
Lesson 19
Lesson 20
Lesson 21 / Discovering Your True Identity in Christ
Dealing with the Old and the New Nature
Ministries in the Body of Christ
Seven Major Faith Keys
The Healing Covenant
Predestination, Election and Foreknowledge
Eternal Security – What Does the Bible Say?
Maintaining Your Sense of Vision and Purpose
Destiny Lessons from the Beatitudes
The Second Coming of Christ
Our Spiritual Inheritance – Joint Heirs with Christ
Consecrated: What It Means to Live for God
The Dynamics of Biblical Change
Striving for Moral Excellence
Sowing and Reaping Principles
Kingdom Stewardship
The Weapon of Truth
The Ministry of an Armor Bearer
Dealing with Strongholds
Spiritual Warfare – Making a Determined Effort
Maintaining Your Sense of Focus / Page 1
Page 9
Page 21
Page 29
Page 35
Page 47
Page 73
Page 87
Page 97
Page 105
Page 117
Page 125
Page 133
Page 141
Page 149
Page 157
Page 167
Page 175
Page 183
Page 193
Page 201

Biblical Perspectives From God’s Word Page 1

Discovering our True Identity in Jesus Christ Ken Birks, Pastor/Teacher

Biblical Perspectives From God’s Word Page 1

Discovering our True Identity in Jesus Christ Ken Birks, Pastor/Teacher

Biblical Perspectives from God’s Word

Discovering Your True Identity in Christ

Ken Birks, Pastor/Teacher

  1. Introductory Remarks.

The focus of this lesson will be on our identity and who we are in Christ. Before we can fully take on a new identity we must first be willing to shed our old identity which was birthed in a worldly and ungodly environment. We must be willing to allow our old identity to be crucified before the new identity can take hold in our lives.

God’s desire and will for our lives is to translate us or rescue us from the kingdom of darkness and to bring us into the kingdom of His Son.

Colossians 1:13-14 (NLT) For he has rescued us from the one who rules in the kingdom of darkness, and he has brought us into the Kingdom of his dear Son. 14God has purchased our freedom with his blood and has forgiven all our sins.

  • The Source of our Old Identity

The identity that we developed before we came to Christ was a result of an accumulation of un-crucified thoughts and unsanctified attitudes that have ruled our lives during our formative years. As children growing up in a world that is under the influence and the sway of the enemy we received a steady stream of information and experiences that continually shaped our childhood perceptions.

1 John 5:19We know that we are of God, & the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.

This is why the Bible says our minds need to be renewed once we are born again of God's Spirit.

  • Much of our identity was a result of copying the worldly influences around us.

Romans 12:2 (NLT) Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is.

The amount of love (or lack of love) in our home, our cultural environment, peer values and pressures, as well as fears of rejection and exposure – even our physical appearance and intelligence, all combine to form our sense of identity and our view of life.

Many of our opinions about life are ours only because we know of no other way to think. Yet we protect and defend our ideas, justify our opinions as though they were born in the wombs of our own creativity.

Proverbs 23:7 ...for as he thinks in his heart, so is he.

  • The essence of who we are is an accumulation of our thought life.

For example, many of our thoughts and opinions were shaped by our parents andeducators. As good of people as they may have been, if their opinions were not God's than they were wrong.

The media also has had a great effect upon who we are and our identity. We are constantly being bombarded in many ways from various sources of the media.

  1. Changing Identities.

Isaiah 55:7-8 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways..."

  • How Our Mindset was developed.

We have a mindset and identity that has been shaped by our parents and educators as well as the ungodly environment in which we live.

As Christians, the only truth suitable for eternity is the truth of Christ. If we fail to realize this we will be like our teacher, never doing more than the deeds of our fathers. When we come to Christ, all that we are in nature and character is destined to change.

  • Our old identityand mindset must die!

Galatians 2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

Unless we are willing to dieto our old identity and allow it to be crucified with Christ and everything it represented, we will never fully take on the wonderful new identity God has promised us as believers in Christ.

Matthew 16:25 (NLT) If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for me, you will find true life.

  • The Birth of the New Identity.

Once we have come to the place where we are willing to lose our old identity we can begin the wonderful process of discovery that brings us into a complete and new identity that is born out of the beauty and the glory of heaven rather than the depravity of hell.

Knowing that our old identity was developed in our sinful nature, God now desires that our new identity be birthed according to His nature within us.

2 Corinthians 5:16-17Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. 17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

Our identity is made up of how you are known on earth and how you are known in heaven. Our lives should be influenced by who God is in our lives, not by our fleshly nature and the circumstances of life.

III. What Does Our New Identity Look Like?

1. Our New Identity Will BeShaped in Humility.

Philippians 2:5-11 (NLT) Your attitude should be the same that Christ Jesus had. 6 Though he was God, he did not demand and cling to his rights as God. 7He made himself nothing; (of no reputation NKJV) he took the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form. 8And in human form he obediently humbled himself even further by dying a criminal's death on a cross.

This is the hard part, because humility is the exact opposite of a reputation that is based on pride and ego. We will never come into the wonderful attributes of our new identity until we are able to humble ourselves, becauseGod only relates to us according to our new persona – who we are in Him.

  • Your new identity is how you are perceived perpetually by God.

Our new identity is our adopted role, which gives us the legal right to rule and reign over the enemy and our flesh; and to take possession of all great and wonderful promises that have beenfreely given to us as His divine nature and identity take root in our lives.

2 Peter 1:2-4 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

  • The Purifyingeffect of God’s promises.

These “precious promises” have a purifying effect on the believer’s life. Conversion involves a definite break with the corruption caused by evil desire. In coming to know God through Christ, not only do we as believers escape the corruption of sin, but also Christ renews and restores the divine image in us.

  1. Humility Will Produce the Fruit of the Spirit Within Us.

The manner that we are truly known as Christians is the spiritual fruit that becomes evident in our lives.

Matthew 7:17-20“Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18”A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19”Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20”Therefore by their fruits you will know them.

Matthew 7:20 (NLT) Yes, the way to identify a tree or a person is by the kind of fruit that is produced.

  • TheFruit of the Spirit.

Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

2 Peter 1:5-9 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, 6to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, 7to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. 8For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.

3. You Will Receive Power, AuthorityandConfidence.

One of the big problems with our old identity was that it produced a poor self image and an inferiority complex in many of us. The new identity that God has to offer to us will have an opposite effect. You will be filled with power, confidence and authority.

As Christians with a new identity, we now walk in the same power and authority that Jesus Christ walked in. We have His mind and divine nature operating within us. This will produce a dynamic change in the way we relate to others and to God.

1 Corinthians 2:16 For "who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?" But we have the mind of Christ.

The Holy Spirit comes into our lives to reveal the heart of the Father unto us and to give us the authority and power that comes from Him as well.

Acts 1:8 "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."

Ephesians 1:19-20 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power 20which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,

4. His Grace or DivineAbility Becomes a Natural Outflowin your Life.

2 Peter 1:4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

  • The grace of God involves more than the dimension of it simply being God's unmerited favor towards us.

Faith is simply agreeing with God’s word. Believe His Word and watch it work in your life. As you begin to watch it work you will see that grace is also God's divine enabling through His Spirit.

Through God's grace we are enabled to cope with whatever adversity, trial, or dilemma we face in a godly manner. We are also equipped by His grace to perform the spiritual tasks He gives us to do.

1 Peter 4:10 As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifoldgrace of God.

2 Corinthians 9:8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, have an abundance for every good work.

The gifts of the Spirit as enumerated in 1 Corinthians 12 are supernatural manifestations of God’s Spirit that are to be evidenced in our lives. They are a part of God’s grace being poured into our lives.

5. We Receive an Overcoming, Conquering Mentality.

One of the great and wonderful aspects of our new identity is that we are able to be more than conquerors in anything we set our hearts to do within the confines of the sphere of influence God has given to us.

God’s desire is to develop within us a conquering and overcoming attitude. We are able to navigate through the issues of life with confidence.

Romans 8:37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

1 John 5:4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world; our faith.

1 John 4:4You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

2 Corinthians 2:14 Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.

IV. Concluding Remarks

Our new identity consists of everything mentioned above and much more as the windows of heaven open over our persona, but we have to be standing in it. Your inheritance can only come to your persona, which is your new identity in Christ.

When we get a taste of all that God has to offer us in our new identity with Him, the cost of dying to our old identity doesn’t seem that costly.

Biblical Perspectives From God’s Word Page 1

Discovering our True Identity in Jesus Christ Ken Birks, Pastor/Teacher

Journal Notes

  1. What was the primary truth you received from this lesson?
  1. How will this truth be applied to your life?
  1. What was the hardest part of your old identity to let go of?
  1. What part of your old identity were you happy to let go of?
  1. How have you sensed the Holy Spirit working in your life to bring about your new identity?

Biblical Perspectives From God’s Word Page 1

Dealing with the Old and the New Nature Ken Birks, Pastor/Teacher

Biblical Perspectives from God’s Word

Dealing With the Old and the New Nature

Ken Birks, Pastor/Teacher

  1. Introductory Remarks.

In this lesson we will be exploring the transformation process of putting off the old nature putting on the nature and why it is an important aspect of our salvation. This is more of a doctrinal statement on the need for change and letting go of past sins and the need for change by clothing ourselves in Christ and His nature than on how the transformation comes about.