The Believer’s Identity in Christ

Isaiah 65:1
“I permitted Myself to be sought by those who did not ask for Me; I permitted Myself to be found by those who did not seek Me. I said, ‘Here am I, here am I,’ To a nation which did not call on My name.

Joel 2:12-19
“Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “Return to Me with all your heart, And with fasting, weeping and mourning; ¹³ And rend your heart and not your garments.” Now return to the Lord your God, For He is gracious and compassionate, Slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness and relenting of evil.  ¹⁴ Who knows whether He will not turn and relent And leave a blessing behind Him, Even a grain offering and a drink offering For the Lord your God? ¹⁵ Blow a trumpet in Zion, Consecrate a fast, proclaim a solemn assembly, ¹⁶ Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, Assemble the elders, Gather the children and the nursing infants. Let the bridegroom come out of his room and the bride out of her bridal chamber. ¹⁷ Let the priests, the Lord’s ministers, Weep between the porch and the altar, And let them say, “Spare Your people, O Lord, And do not make Your inheritance a reproach, A byword among the nations. Why should they among the peoples say, ‘Where is their God?’”  ¹⁸ Then the Lord will be zealous for His land and will have pity on His people.  ¹⁹ The Lord will answer and say to His people, “Behold, I am going to send you grain, new wine and oil, And you will be satisfied in full with them;  And I will never again make you a reproach among the nations.

1 Corinthians 1:1-3
Paul, called as an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother,  ² To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours:  ³ Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 1:3-6
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, ⁴ just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love ⁵ He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, ⁶ to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. 

Luke 9:23-25
Then he said to them all, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me. ²⁴ For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me will save it. ²⁵ For what does it benefit someone if he gains the whole world, and yet loses or forfeits himself?

2 Corinthians 5:18-21
That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and he has committed the message of reconciliation to us.  ²⁰ Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us. We plead on Christ’s behalf, “Be reconciled to God.” ²¹ He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.