Your Identity: Back to the Image of God – Dan Mohler

“He wants to manifest Himself through us! You don’t pay homage to God; you manifest Him! People see Him in your eyes, your face, your words, your life. You are epistles written on the hearts of men! Your LIFE is the sermon! You live loud. You manifest Jesus!”

That is an excerpt from a recording posted on YouTube entitled Dan Mohler “Your Identity” – my partial transcript of it follows, starting 18:27 minutes into it, modified slightly for ease of reading.

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Jesus is redeeming us back to the image of God. Colossians 3:9-10  says “Do not lie to one another, because you have put off the old man with his deeds and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him…”

So what is Christianity? A restoration back to the heart of God! From selfishness to love; from “me, myself, and I” to all about Him!

[Laughing] Why do you deny yourself first? Because you were never made for you! You’re made for the image of God! You’re the biggest problem of your life, and you think it’s your neighbor! The only reason you think it’s your neighbor is because it’s all about you! [Still laughing] Are you guys alright, are you glad you came? [Applause]

See, it’s fun, because if you want truth, this kind of message is exciting, and if you don’t want truth, it’s still exciting, because something is going to get in you and start chewing away, man, you’ll just HAVE to think about it! [Still laughing] You can fight what I’m saying, but you can’t shout it out. You’ll lay in bed, it will surface in the quiet of the night! Oh, we’re having so much fun!

Matthew 16:24 – “If any man come after me, let him first deny himself” Why? Self is the biggest problem. It’s not the devil, it’s not people; it’s living for you, the ability to be offended, discouraged, disappointed, jealous, proud. That wasn’t the way God made us; that’s the way man became when he made a choice apart from truth. Every man was born into that lie, and you must be born again. We’ve turned it into a confession instead of a transformation.

So our names are in a book, and we’re still wrecked and hurt and offended, and life’s still tough, and “when are we gonna catch a break, God?” And we built a bunch of churches (meeting houses, actually; you’re the church!), but we built these buildings across the nation to pay homage to God, when He wants to manifest Himself through us! You don’t pay homage to God; you manifest Him! People see Him in your eyes, your face, your words, your life. You are epistles written on the hearts of men! Your LIFE is the sermon! You live loud. You manifest Jesus!

Do you get it? He payed the price for you to do that.

….That self thing is a big deal; it’s got to get out of the way. Living for yourself is the only way you can get offended, hurt, frustrated, angry.

….I don’t want to be so selfish that I can receive forgiveness and mercy and love without becoming those things for others. ….Why do I receive mercy? God gives mercy and pours out mercy so that I become a merciful man. Why do I receive forgiveness? God gives me forgiveness, pours out forgiveness, so that I become living forgiveness. Why does He love me unfailingly? So that I become unfailing love.

God can reproduce Himself after His own kind by as many as would believe. Pretty clear, isn’t it? You are the embodiment of Christ! So how do people know Him? Through you. He says if you forgive, men will be forgiven, if you don’t forgive, men will not be forgiven. Isn’t that amazing? Because it’s through us that they see love, it’s through us that they see mercy.

….If I’m in ministry for what you can do for me, I’m in trouble. I’m in this so I can lay down my life and impart something to someone, and there’s nothing expected in return. [Smiling] Do you get it?