The Way God Changes Us

What if real change starts with changing who you believe you are? Jesus doesn’t just want a better version of the old you. He wants to form something completely new. And two of the biggest ways He changes us? The relationships around us… and the identity we receive in Him.

Key Takeaways:

God often transforms you through the people He places around you.
Healthy spiritual relationships help shape who you’re becoming.
Your behavior follows what you believe to be true about yourself.
Real transformation happens when you receive your identity in Christ.
You don’t have to stay trapped in old labels, old failures, or old versions of yourself

The Big Idea: God changes you through relationships and renewed identity.

Series: True Disciples

Date: May 24, 2026

Discipleship Identity Transformation

Message Notes

Two Ways God Transforms You:

1. Relationships

Mark 3:13-15 (ESV) - 13 And he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him. 14 And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach 15 and have authority to cast out demons
Acts 4:13 (ESV) - Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.
How Jesus did it:
1. Proximity - they were close!
2. Consistently - for three years they were together!
3. He was lifting them.
  1. Lifting their understanding.
  2. Lifting their confidence.
You need spiritual relationships to help form you!
1. You need lateral Christian relationships.
2. You need upward Christian relationships.
Christ is being formed in you by the relationships around you!

2. Identity

Jesus worked on the identity of his disciples. He challenged who they were and called out who they were becoming.
How change really happens:
1. Your behavior follows what you believe to be true about yourself.
2. The way to truly change as a person is to accept a new identity!
Your mind needs to be renewed!
1. 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 learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
2. You need to think differently. You need to think more like Him.
A New Identity:
1. From Slave to Son - Romans 8:15 (NLT) - So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.”
2. From Outsider to Citizen - Ephesians 2:19 - (NLT) So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family.
3. From Dead to Alive - Ephesians 2:1 - (NLT) Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. 4 But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, 5 that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!)
4. From Slave to Free - John 8:35-36 (NLT) - 35 A slave is not a permanent member of the family, but a son is part of the family forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free.
5. From Lost to Sent - 2 Corinthians 5:20 (NLT) - So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!”

Revivals & Rhythms

Pastor Jonathan Stockstill

Pt. 2

The Way God Changes Us

Pastor Jonathan Stockstill

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