No Longer Me: I am ABLE in Christ - Louie Giglio

0:25 and it might have been over yours. Some of you are not church people. You didn't grow up going to church. You're newer to the faith. But when I came to faith, in a great church, by the way, this is no shade on the church that I grew up in, it just was sort of the byword of the day, was that if you were a Christian, you were labeled by these six words. I'm just a sinner. Does anybody know what I'm going to say? Saved by grace. That's who we are. Just a sinner, saved by grace. And the interesting thing was, is that the Holy Spirit was challenging me and all of us to a holy life. The preaching was calling me to a holy life, to a different kind of life, to a new life, to a new way of life. Yet the foundation, sort of the starting point was I'm just a sinner saved by grace. I'm being called to holy things, but you know, probably not going to get there because I'm just a sinner saved by grace. And I'm barely getting by, lucky to be in the room, barely know God's grace, just a sinner saved by grace. And the label over life was simply that, just a sinner saved by grace. That was the label that we were all living with, trying not to do sinner-like stuff, but just the sinner saved by grace.

2:04 And then a revelation came, came to our whole church actually, at the same time, it's pretty great. And the revelation was not the doing of the Christian life, but the being of the Christian life. Not what are the things you need to do as a follower of Jesus, But before that, who are you as a follower of Jesus? And identity became a revelation of who we are in Christ. And that became the pathway to how we live out our lives for Christ. And so we want to take a few weeks to talk about who we are in Christ. And what God has to say about our new identity in Him. And to do that, we're talking about labels. And there are a lot of labels.

2:56 They get stuck on our lives, some by people who loved us, some by people who just kind of were in our lives for a season, maybe circumstance or situation put a label on your life. Maybe you put a label on your life or the enemy has put a label on your life. But God wants to put his labels on our lives. And he's already done that in Christ. But let's think about labels for a minute. What would you say is the main label on your life? There's so many. We could take an hour and talk about labels, but one of them is funny. Anybody got that one? You're the funny one. Everybody knows it. You're the life of the party. You're funny. You're the one. People around you, not funny at all, dull, boring, but you, no, funny. Maybe the label on your life is failure.

3:46 Or maybe the label on your life is stud. like you're the man or you're the woman. You're the stud. Maybe the label on you is insecure. Always has been that way. Maybe your label is influential.

4:06 Maybe your label's dumb. People just tell you that pretty regularly. You're just dumb. Maybe it's ripped. I mean, you know, in the good way, like you've been to CrossFit way and you wear short sleeve shirts all year long so people can see that you're ripped. People are like, man, look at that dude. Maybe your label is, anybody's label yet, is stylish.

4:32 Smart. Maybe you've always been the smart one. Maybe your label is your family name. You just have the name. Everybody knows. Oh, you're from that family. Or abandoned. Addict. Sweet.

4:54 Rager. Shame. Arrogate. Loyal. What a great label that would be. And she's the loyal one. Guilty. Cheater. trustworthy. See where I'm going? Once you get one of these on you, it kind of has a way of defining you.

5:33 Empty, confident, humble, sinner, unwanted, insignificant, accomplished, lonely, not enough. And then the enemy, he said, I'll highlight a couple. Let's go back to failure. Let's go back to shame. Let's go back to guilty. Let's go back to not enough. And let's just all remember that you're just a sinner saved by grace. Don't get your hopes up too high because that's who you are. And the Holy Spirit comes along through the gospels and through the epistles and he makes a massive point of hoping that we will understand and have revelation side of the fact that yes, we're supposed to live a new kind of life, but that the way that you live a new kind of life is by understanding that you are a new person in Christ.

6:36 And that when we meet Christ, It's not just a means to heaven. It's a redefining of who we are. Our entire identity changes in Christ. And we understand that, yes, I'm a sinner saved by grace. But do you know what that means, that I'm a sinner saved by grace? It means that now I have a brand new life. This is what Paul is trying to say to us in 2 Corinthians 5. this beautiful text about who we are, our relationship with God, and then our mission on earth as agents of God to share the gospel of Christ to everyone on the planet. He says in verse 17, therefore, if anyone, anyone, any person, the rager or the unwanted person or the influencer or the trustworthy person or the accomplished person or the stylish person or the not enough person or the addict, if anyone is in Christ, he or she is a new creation. The old has gone and the new has come. The operating moment in this text is the position of anyone. If anyone is in Christ. In other words, when I put my faith in Jesus, I didn't just get a means to heaven, but I got connected and joined to Jesus. So when I'm praying this prayer, by the way, talk about revelation, and I'm thinking the other day about how amazing it is that this mighty power of God raised Christ from the dead, seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, every name in his name, not only in this age, but also in the age to come.

8:33 And he put everything under his feet and appointed him head over everything for the church. That's where Christ is. And then I went, oh my goodness, I'm praying for wisdom and revelation, and I got revelation right now. I just got it. I am standing on planet earth, but I am seated at the right hand of God in Jesus Christ, far above all rule and authority. Because when I put my faith in him, I was joined to him. Our stories were wed together when I put my faith in Jesus. And what the question that we should be asking today isn't, are you in church? It's, are you in Christ? It is amazing that you're in the building, but are you in Christ? It's amazing that you grew up in a denomination, but it's not about, are you in a denomination? is about are you in Christ? Are you positionally joined together with Jesus right now? And if you are, then you're a new creation. The old has gone and the new has come. And what God is wanting us to do is live out the new, to say goodbye to the old and to live out the new. And we can do that because of our new position in Christ.

9:48 Paul expands this thought in Ephesians chapter four, and this is what he says. He says, that, however, is not the way of life that you learned when you heard about Christ and were taught in him, there's that position again, even, in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught with regard to your former way of life, that's the old self, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires, and to be made new in the attitude of your minds. This is that spirit of wisdom in Revelation. And to put on the new self, created, hello, to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. So what he's helping the Ephesians understand is that there is a new way to live, but the new way to live is by having a change of your attitude, of your thinking, of putting off the old me and putting on what happened when I was joined with Jesus Christ. To take off the old self and put on the new self. And then he goes on to tell us all these things that we should do and the way that should affect the way that we live. I didn't put Ephesians 1 on the iPad, but listen to Loy. He starts this letter. He's writing to these believers and he wants them to know the way they should live.

11:15 So there's a bunch of, here's how you should live in Ephesians. But the very first sentence isn't about how you should live. The very first sentence is about who you are in Christ. He says, Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, that's who I am, to the saints in Ephesus. That's who you are. The faithful, here's the position again, in Christ Jesus. So I'm going to show you how to live. I want to encourage you in how to live. I want to talk about how you should be living. I want to help you walk out what it looks like to follow Jesus, but I'm not going to start there. I want to start by reminding you who you are, of your new identity, of your new position in Christ. And you know what your new position is? It's not just a sinner saved by grace. He is not writing saying, dear people in Ephesus, you know who you are. You're just a sinner saved by grace. Now let's get with it. Let me get to the first thing. No, he's writing to these people who I'm sure, just like you and me, are struggling to be conformed to the plan of God for their lives, but he reminds them from the drop, I'm writing to saints, to holy ones in Christ, to people who have a new identity. So we're not talking about the old you trying to live a new way. We're talking about God making you a new you so that you can live the way that God has created you to live.

12:45 And look at how he says it in verse 24. He says, and to put on the new self, which is created to be like God. That's the goal. That's the goal. When you put your faith in Jesus, the new plan, well, it was always the plan, but now the plan that is in effect when you put your faith in Jesus is that you'll be like God. not be God, that's not the plan, but to be like him, to think like him, to act like him, to talk like him, to see the world like him, to be generous like him, to have faith like him, to be a light like him, to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. It is so much higher than just a sinner saved by grace. It is, I was a sinner saved by grace. We all were, but in Christ, we were made holy ones to live holy lives. And this is possible for all of us to move out of the I can't mentality and into the I can mentality, because no matter what label the world has put on me or the enemy tried to put on me or that I put on myself, God is telling me who I am.

14:15 The subtitle in this collection, the title of this collection is no longer me, but the subtitle is powerful. Living out the power and potential of our new identity in Christ. And so we're going to take some time for a few weeks now and talk about labels that God puts on our lives. I love this. We've done this collection in different versions over the years at Passion City, and I've almost always gotten it wrong with the label maker. So let's see if I can do one today. The label that he wants to put on your life today, that he's putting on your life today is this label. Anybody nervous? The label that God wants to put on our lives today. is able he wants to take justice and are saved by grace, which probably means that's what we're going to keep doing.

15:29 Or I don't know what version of that you had growing up. Maybe yours was just a beggar trying to help another beggar find bread. Is that really in the Bible? Or have we been invited to a banqueting table and his banner over me is love? Are we on our way to the wedding feast of the lamb and we've never seen anything like the spread that's gonna be on that table. That we have the living word of God, the miracle of God, who is the word of God and who is the bread of life in our hands. the Holy Spirit wants to upgrade your view of you, not in you, but in Christ. And he wants you to know today that you're able. This is the, this is why this message was so powerful to me going into passion camp this summer. And I'm not belittling, uh, condition when I say this, because I have conditions. I mean, I'm an anxiety overcomer. Most people know that. And I still, in some ways, manage and struggle with that by the power of the Holy Spirit. It's not the major label over my life. And if you met me, I wouldn't say in the first hour of our conversation, oh, and by the way, I'm an anxiety overcomer.

16:52 But walking into Passion Camp and looking around that room and walking into church today and looking around here, living in America in 2026, you start realizing that everybody has something. There are more somethings than there have ever been. And again, I'm not belittling any of the somethings that we're all negotiating and navigating. I'm just saying if the something becomes the label over my life, then somehow, subtly, I'm going to believe I can't. and the reason I can't is because of my something and what God is wanting to say is I know that there's a something I know there are lots of somethings I know A, that you're a human being and that you're formed out of the dust I get all of that but I just want you to know that you can do everything I've called you to do and you can be everything I've called you to be you are not just a sinner saved by grace you are a saint connected to Jesus with royal capacity Thank you.

17:51 If you put that on the earthly terms, it was Sasha winning the U.S. Open, the men's tennis. Did anybody see this, know this happened? Yes? Thank you. I appreciate you being here. It's been just me otherwise.

18:15 So he wins, and I don't know why because I'm into tennis. and I'd never noticed before that on the changeovers between the games, he's checking his blood sugar on his leg. Maybe taking an insulin shot. I'm not an expert on that. And I'm like, I've never noticed that before. And then at his thank you speech at the end of the tournament while he's holding the trophy, he says, and I want to thank my mom because when I was four years old and we walked out of the doctor's office having just received a diabetes diagnosis. She looked at me, my mom did, and said, I want you to know that you can be anything you want to be in life. She told me, you can be the greatest athlete if you want to be that. You can lead the greatest business if you want to do that.

19:09 You can do whatever you want to do. So yes, four years old, and I'm now just expanding, there's a diagnosis, there's a something, There's something that has to be negotiated. But for him, that didn't become the thing. That had to be under the thing. And the thing was, my mom said, I can do whatever I want to do. And I'm going to do that. Now, we're upping that today because it's not my mom that told me that only. Although my mom did tell me that. It's God Almighty, my Heavenly Father, telling me that. And he's saying, hey, there are going to be a lot of somethings in life. But you can.

19:45 And I want you to know that you're able. And I want you to take the condition and put that on the lower level. And I want you to take your position and put that on the upper level. oh come on i'm telling you this is so freeing paul said it this way and again this is a this is a verse that has typically just gotten excised out of the scripture and sort of standalone text and and it can do that but the context of this verse in philippians 4 is paul talking about his ability to live with lot and with little. He's thanking these believers for sowing into his ministry and appreciating what they've done to support him, but he's also letting them know, you know, there've been times where it's been pretty good, and there've been times out here where it's been pretty thin, but you know what? He said, I learned the secret of being content, whether I had a lot or whether I had a little. I learned how to be content when I had all this stuff and I learned how to be content when I didn't know where my next meal was coming from.

20:55 I learned the secret. Don't you want to know that secret? Don't you want the spirit of wisdom and revelation to learn that secret? He said, I learned the secret of being content no matter what kind of situation I'm in. And you're like, well, what is the secret? Right here. I can, this is what he said, here's the secret. I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. so when I'm flush I've got Christ and when I'm flustered I've got Christ when I can see how it's going to work I've got Christ and when I cannot see how it's going to work I've got Christ when I feel like this is my best day I've got Christ when I'm face to face with a condition or a situation or a circumstance that's trying to label me and tell me I can't I've got Christ and I can do all things.

21:51 What are the first words? In fact, let's just say this verse together. Say it with me. I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. 515, Cumberland, let's try it again. I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. Maybe that's another verse we need to be saying over our lives every day because it starts with the right words. I can. and I just am asking God through the power of the Holy Spirit to let that word pierce the heart of this generation. I am not the sum total of my conditions. I am in Christ.

22:42 And Christ will help me navigate any condition. I can. I can do what? I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. I am. able. In Christ, I'm able. I've been joined together with Christ. I'm able. Paul wrote it a different way. And he said, I've been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. And let me tell you something today. Christ is able. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

23:48 I'm not counting on me. I'm counting on Christ. And Christ is able, and Christ is in me, and I am in Christ. And in Christ, I have a brand new identity. identity. The enemy does not want you to get this. He just wants you to keep walking with shame. He wants you to keep hearing about the holy possibility. but to walk in the drudgery of carrying boulders in your pockets because of shame. And he does not want you to know that the shame died on the cross and that you are crucified with Christ. And when he died, you died. When the shame died, your shame died. And yes, you failed.

24:42 Yes, you made a terrible mistake. Yes, there's always going to be some sense of regret and consequence, but the shame is gone. And you are able. You are able to walk free and just be able to save the enemy and more importantly to say to yourself, hey, that's no longer me. The guilt? Yeah, I can see why I should feel guilty. But then I also understand that Christ took all the guilt on the cross. and I got grace, not guilt.

25:18 And if the enemy comes to try to tell me that I should carry the guilt, I need to be able to tell myself and tell him and anybody else, that's no longer me. That drunk is no longer me. That raging person, that's no longer me. That selfish person, that's no longer me. That arrogant, prideful person, that's no longer me. You got me mixed up with the old me and not the new me. I'm putting off the old self and putting on the new self. I am taking off the old me and I'm putting on the new me. I am being renewed in the attitude of my mind so that my first thought is who am I in Christ? and in Christ, I'm able. Say able to what? Able to do what you've been convinced that you can't do.

26:13 Some of you have been on this journey your whole life to try to figure out how to not become your parent. and it's a condition, amen? It's something to navigate and negotiate, but I'm telling you in Christ, you are able to not be your parent. some of you have been wrestling with a habit, and the enemy has just convinced you, you're just a sinner saved by grace, and that just did not give you the pathway and the power possibility to make a change. You thought, well, just a sinner saved by grace, and that's kind of what sinners do, and that's probably what I'm going to end up doing, and I don't love it, and I don't want it, and it doesn't sound like it's in the plan, but, you know, just a sinner saved by grace. and I'm telling you in Christ you are able to break the family curse. You are able to break the chains that are binding you. You are able to be free from the habit that has defined you.

27:18 You are able to walk free and live a different life. Some of you are so frustrated because you know this is a story. This is a love story. But for whatever reason, you can't receive it. and God is wanting to put a new label over the story today and it's able you are in Christ able to receive the love of God and to share it with this world.

28:05 You in Christ are not going to spend your whole life feeling unlovable. In Christ, you're going to have revelation and you're going to see that the greatest love known to man was extended to you. in Christ. And you are going to stop arguing with God. And you're going to stop telling everybody else why you can't receive it. And you are going to humble yourself and miraculously open your arms and go, thank you, God, that you said, I am worthy of your love. I receive it. I am able to be loved and to love.

29:07 I'm able to be like God. I'm able to live a new life. I'm able to break the patterns of the past. I'm able to stand. I'm able to make it through this season. I'm able to recover from this setback. I'm able to be... different and new. I'm able to set a new legacy in motion. I'm able to change because I have been changed. I'm able to overcome my condition. I'm able to be everything God wants me to be. I'm able. wouldn't it be great if that became like our second nature? We default too often to the first nature, the old us. And when circumstances come or challenges come, yeah, I don't know if I can do that.

30:00 I don't know if we'll make, I don't, I don't, I don't, we just default too quickly to our first nature. It would be beautiful to see us default to our second nature, our new life in Christ. We hosted some college leaders Thursday and Friday. from across the country. They came here so we could pour into them, encourage them, hear what God's doing on their campuses, send them back, hopefully renewed, inspired, and so that we could partner together for these two passion gatherings that we're doing. And one of the college leaders that was here used to be a chaplain for NASCAR way back in the day. He now leads a major campus, all spiritual formation on one of the greatest campuses in America. And he was reminding me of the time that he had invited Chris and myself to come and lead chapel at a NASCAR race. And I was so excited because Shelly and I were big NASCAR fans. We would watch NASCAR at home on Saturday, like a whole race. Anybody? Thank you. Got you and you coming to lunch with us. Okay.

31:07 But we would say to each other, I don't want to go to NASCAR unless we could really go. Back then, NASCAR, there would be 100,000 people at a race. And I was like, I don't think sitting up there is probably the right way. I want to go where you can be right down on pit road. And then we got invited by my friend to come to chapel at Talladega Motor Speedway. this is like redneck on steroids i'm sorry you guys were clapping for talladega i apologize so we go um i'll never forget it in fact i don't remember a lot of things about what happened this week but i remember the chapel very vividly drivers came team owners came crew pit crews came And I remember what I spoke on, almost word for word.

32:05 And after the chapel, before the race started, the chaplain guy said, hey, would you guys like to take a lap in the pace car? And I was like, yes, we would love to do that. And so we got in with a former NASCAR driver, Jeff Bodine, into what looked like a Chevrolet Impala. I mean, it wasn't like a race car, but I don't know. It had something under the hood that was not like a Chevrolet Impala. and the two of them were in the front, Shelly and I were in the back and I mean, all of a sudden, he just floors this car and we're, I mean, shot out of a rocket. We're going around this track. If you don't know about a NASCAR track, I went and looked this up online just so I would know exactly what I'm talking about. The bank at Talladega is 33 degrees incline, four and a half story building is what you're kind of looking up at. That's how they keep the cars on the track going 200 miles an hour like crazy.

32:55 And we come around the first corner and I can see over the thing, we're going like 145 miles an hour. And we are this close to the wall on the top of the track, looking down the embankment. Crazy town. But the crazy thing was Jeff Bodine. He was just real happy to be in the car with us. He had all kinds of questions and wanted to talk about life and about following Jesus and how do we enjoy going to chapel. And he's looking in the rearview mirror with his hand up on this seat, one hand on the steering wheel, talking to me and Shelly in the back seat in the mirror. I'm looking at her and I'm like... He needs to be looking out in front of the car.

33:50 You could put a Kleenex between the wall and the window. Barely. Anyway, so when y'all started Passion, where was that? That was Austin, Texas when y'all did that? He's looking in the mirror, you know, looking at us. and I realized after I saw Tim this week and I was driving home from the reason all that came up is because he had a picture of us at the thing man that was pretty awesome and I was driving home thinking about it and and I remembered the him looking in the mirror thing Thank you. and I'm just sitting in my new nature, and I thought to myself, him going 145 miles an hour around that track was just second nature to him. He didn't even think about it.

34:46 He'd done it his whole life. Way faster than that. With dudes bumping into him. It was just, how y'all doing? Y'all doing good? And I thought to myself driving home Friday, I want my first instinct to be who I am in Christ. Second nature. I want it to become second nature to me. I want it to be just like second nature. When whatever happens, I want to be able to say right away, oh, I'm able. I don't want to have to work my way five different directions to oh thank you Lord for finally reminding me that you're going to come through and that in me by the Holy Spirit you're going to be able to do what I cannot do on my own I want to be second nature I want to be my first thought I want to be the first response I want to be the go-to the default I want to be the setting of all settings in my mind I am in Christ and in Christ I am able to do everything that God has called me to do and I'm able to become everything God has called me to become.

36:02 Holy Spirit, will you help me today?