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When God is Big... is a sermon series examining what happens when you have a bigger vision of who God is. When God is Big...Identity is a Gift — Who are you? Who or what defines you? What does it mean to be true to yourself? These are questions of identity. When God is small, you are responsible for creating and maintaining your own identity. This is stressful and exhausting. But when God is big, identity is received as a gift of grace in Christ. This brings security and peace, no matter what happens in life. Recorded on Oct 17, 2021, on Ephesians 1:3-10, by Pastor David Parks. Sermon Transcript All year, we’re focusing on The Greatness of God. And today, we’re continuing a sermon series called When God is Big… In this series, we’re considering how a bigger view of God changes everything, including how we live out our values and deal with our struggles. Last week, we looked at how a bigger view of God helps us deal with our struggle with fear. If you missed any of the messages from this series, you can always go back and watch on YouTube or listen to the audio podcast if you’d like. Well, today, we get to address one of the main issues that people in our culture struggle with today, which is understanding/establishing your identity. Now, I am a Christian, husband, father, pastor, friend. I’m a Packer fan, I’m an extrovert, I’m an ENTJ, I have 1.25 dogs. But who am I? What among these details defines me? How do I know if I’m being authentic to my true self? These are questions of identity. And these are huge questions because they tap into how we see/define/present ourselves in this world. Who are you? What is at the core of who you are? Well, if you have a Bible/app, please open to Eph 1, starting with v.3. This morning, we get to look at a very famous passage, which every Christian needs to understand, because it reveals so much about our true identity, our authentic self, who we truly are, in Christ. Let’s start with v. 3. Ephesians 1:3–10 (NIV), “3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to sonship  through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8 that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, 9 he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10 to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.” Now, Ephesians was a letter from the Apostle Paul to the Christians in and around the city of Ephesus in modern Turkey. Now, Ephesians was written broadly, meaning, it was meant to be shared with other churches in other communities. So it’s a great letter to study if you’re coming into Christianity. However, the passage we just read is dense and somewhat difficult to follow. In fact, it’s one long sentence in Greek. I think the reason that Paul did this was once he started describing who we are “in Christ” (as he says), he can’t help but add one detail after another, brick by brick, until he has built up a towering description of what God has accomplished for us through the person and work of Jesus. Let’s work through this once again starting with v. 3. Ephesians 1:3, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.” So we start with a blessing or a call to praise God. Praise be, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Why? Because he has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in ...