All Things New: 30 Days on Identity & Issues

By Josh Stone and Gene Shumaker

A thirty-day devotional journey divided into two main sections—identity and issues. Spend fifteen days learning more about your identity in Christ, followed by fifteen days of practical application as you come to terms with many common life issues.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Oct 11, 2018
• ISBN: 9781973640295

Josh Stone

Josh Stone is the co-founder of Outward Conversation a conversational apologetics ministry and serves as Outreach Pastor of Refuge Church. Josh currently resides in Statesville, North Carolina Gene Shumaker is the founding and lead pastor of Refuge Church, a new, life-giving, multicampus church. Gene, his wife Chasta, and two sons live in the Statesville, North Carolina area where Refuge Church was started in 2015. Both authors can be contacted via the web @ www.YourRefuge.Church

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SECTION 1

15-DAYS ON YOUR IDENTITY

day 1

CONSIDER THE PATTERN

Then God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. ²⁷ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. - Genesis 1:26–27 (NKJV)

Just days ago, my wife and I sat across from a couple who attends our church. As we listened to the wife of that couple share her heart with us, we heard those familiar words, I just don’t fit in anywhere! We were quick to address that statement for what it is, a lie! You see, the enemy of our souls, Satan, wants to isolate us from people who care. Then, he attempts to convince us that we are one of a kind, a unique person that no one else can relate to or understand. The truth is, we are all much more alike than we’d care to admit. Through our years of counseling, we’ve noticed that the enemy uses the same five or so strategies for everyone. After all, he’s been very successful with those strategies, so why should he change anything - it works!

All of those strategies attack our identity in some manner. The area where he [satan] often begins his assault is the area of our worth. He wants us to think that we’re worth nothing, that we’ve made mistakes that have decreased our value as a person, and that we’re so bad that God couldn’t possibly want anything to do with us. That is a lie! It doesn’t matter who you are, what you’ve done, where you’ve been, etc. - God still loves you and wants a relationship with you! The Bible is clear that Jesus died on the cross for the all the sins of humanity! There is no qualifier or exception clause to that truth - all people, all sins!

You must understand that you are of great value to God. In our passage from Genesis we learn that we are made in His likeness. Biblical scholars and theologians have debated for centuries about what exactly that likeness is. There is not sufficient space here to dive into the depths of that truth. For the sake of our time today, just know that, as a child of God you possess three things, characteristics if you will, from your heavenly Father.

Reason - Like your heavenly Father, you possess the mental capacity to reason. You can think through problems and create solutions. You do no operate on instinct like the remainder of creation, you operate based on reason.

Personality - Like your heavenly Father, you are a unique personality. Physically and emotionally, you are one of a kind and created for a specific purpose.

Intellect - Like your heavenly Father, you possess the ability to create things, solve problems, etc.

With this in mind, the question is…why did God create us in His likeness with these capacities? That’s simple - He created you with those capacities so you can choose to live for Him, accomplish His will, and expand His kingdom on the earth - all for His glory! In short, He created you to glorify Himself! These capacities allow you to relate, hear, see, speak and interact with the rest of creation and the God who created you!

Back to our passage from Genesis, notice the phrase "God created man in his own image." The picture here is that God knitted you together in your mother’s womb. He knitted together the exact person He needed to accomplish His purpose and plan for your life. You were knit together by the Sovereign God who knows you intimately, loves you immeasurably, and has your best interest in mind!

Understand, you are a created being, created in the pattern, likeness, and image of your Heavenly Father. This truth should revolutionize how you view yourself and your worth. In the field of ethics there are two type of worth or value, intrinsic and extrinsic (also called instrumental worth).

If something has intrinsic worth, it’s value or worth is determined by itself or is within.

If something has extrinsic worth, it’s value or worth is determined from what it contributes.

These types of worth are most visible when you compare the Biblical record to our cultural trends. The Bible states that you are created in God’s likeness and image. Simply because of that fact, you are of immeasurable worth! On the other hand, our culture holds to the idea that your worth as a person is determined by your occupation, looks, criminal history, contribution to the community, bank balance, etc.

It is imperative that you have a proper view of yourself and determine your worth from the proper source - your Heavenly Father. You were created in His likeness and bear His image, do not believe the lie that your life is not worth living! You are a child of the Most High God and you look just like your Daddy!

Prayer: Father, I thank you for creating me in your likeness and image. Thank you for making me the exact person I need to be in order to accomplish what you created me for. Help me to discover your plan and purpose for my life because design determines destiny. Help me to live my life and determine my worth based on the truth of your Word and not cultural trends.

day 2

CONSIDER THE PRICE

For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver. ¹⁹ It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. - 1 Peter 1:18-19 (NLT)

In all honesty, our family watches very little television. The demands of family, ministry, businesses, and life in general leave little spare time for entertainment. However, I must admit there are two shows that I do enjoy watching and one of them is a great example of the biblical truth that I want to communicate to you during our time together today. What show is it that clearly communicates this Biblical truth? It’s not the usual suspects that may come into your mind, such as; The Andy Griffith Show, Leave It To Beaver, Dennis the Menace, etc. Those shows of an earlier generation are wholesome and filled with biblical truth but none of them are the one I have in mind. The show that clearly illustrates this great biblical truth is the PBS series Antique Roadshow.

We are not antique collectors, nor do we have anything in our home that would be considered an antique. So, why do I watch the show? I simply enjoy listening to the expert appraisers discuss the objects and their history. I also enjoy the added challenge of trying to guess the values before they reveal it on the show. Each and every time, the appraiser will say something like this, "Based