Welcome to Session 4 of the Mark of the Lion. In this session, we examine how  being marked by Jesus Christ impacts your relationship with the world.  

The Bible teaches us that before Jesus Christ came, God identified all of  humankind as being dead in trespasses and sins, under His judgment, and  deserving of His wrath. In Ephesians 2, we read: Once you were dead, because of your disobedience and your many sins. You used to live in sin just like the  rest of the world, obeying the devil, the commander of the powers in the unseen  world. He is the Spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. All  of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of  our sinful nature. By our very nature, we were subject to God's anger just like  everyone else.  

Jesus Christ came to earth to make peace between God and humankind  through the cross and to save us from God's wrath. The apostle Paul wrote in  Romans 5: But God demonstrates His own love for us in this; While we were  still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by His blood,  how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through Him?  

Those who are marked by Jesus Christ turn from their old way of life. They're  delivered from God's wrath, and they become ambassadors of reconciliation. In  I Thessalonians 1, we read, You turned to God from idols, to serve the living  and true God and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the  dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.  

In John 20, Jesus said to His disciples, Peace to you, as the Father has sent  Me, I also send you. Just as the Father sent Jesus Christ to show the world His  love and to make peace with humankind, Jesus sends those who identify with  him to be His ambassadors. of love and peace to the world. In II Corinthians 5  we read, Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were  pleading through us, we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God.  

Those who are marked by Jesus Christ carry the aroma of his life into all of their relationships. In II Corinthians 2, we read, Now thanks be to God, who always  leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of his  knowledge in every place. For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among  those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To the one we  are the aroma of death leading to death and to the other the aroma of life  leading to life.  

The mark of Jesus Christ brings about a separation from the world's way of  doing things in exchange for doing things Jesus’ way. Jesus said in Matthew 10, Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace  but a sword. He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of me.  And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of me. And he 

who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who  finds his life will lose it. He who loses his life for my sake, will find it. 

The division that Jesus references in Matthew 10 is the division between those  who identify with him and those who reject Him. Those who are marked by  Jesus Christ identify with His love for all people, regardless of how people treat  us or respond to us.  

Those who are marked by Jesus Christ, don't identify people as their foes or  enemies. In Ephesians 6:12 we read, For we are not fighting against flesh and  blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world,  against mighty powers in this dark world and against evil spirits in heavenly  places.  

Those who are marked by Jesus Christ can identify with people from every  intersectionality category, because Jesus loves people in every intersectionality  category. He wants them to be saved from God's wrath and to know His peace.  In I Timothy 2 we read, For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our  Savior, who desires all people to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth.  

Intersectionality identifies, defines and divides people by their differences. Jesus Christ identifies with our differences and divisions, yet loves us and unites us  through the cross and the Holy Spirit.  

As your life and identity intersects with the philosophy of intersectionality, bring  your color, bring your ethnicity, bring your gender, your sexual preferences, your age, your ability, status, and every other status that you might claim. Bring it to  the foot of the cross and remember Jesus’ words: He who finds his life will lose  it. He loses his life for my sake will find it.  

Those who are marked by Jesus Christ, find their identity in Him and find that  He takes the oppression, He takes the discrimination, the wounds, the scars, the suffering, the injustice, the disillusionment, the misunderstanding, the  mischaracterizations, the persecutions, and He makes something beautiful out  of it for His glory and for the blessing of people. In Romans 8 we read, And we  know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who  are the called according to His purpose. Who shall separate us from the love of  Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or  peril, or sword? Yet in all these things, we are more than conquerors through  him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, angels nor  principalities, nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of  God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. 

In closing, I invite you to examine your relationship with Jesus Christ. Have you  been marked by the lion of the tribe of Judah? Is your life so identified with him  that you consider yourself His ambassador in all of your relationships? Is the  aroma of his life present in those relationships? Do you identify with him as your first love? Or has your identity been marked by a love for self or someone else  or something else? Do you have any identity idols that have pushed Jesus  Christ to the periphery of your life? Maybe you're watching this and have never  identified with Jesus Christ in the way that I've described in these sessions.  Wherever you may be, today is the day you can humble yourself at the foot of  the cross and say, “Father, I want to bear the mark of Jesus Christ. I want to  identify with you.” 

If you do that, receive His love. receive His grace, receive His mercy, receive His forgiveness. And thank him for making peace with you through the cross.  Receive his life! He will fill you with the Holy Spirit if you ask him to do so.  Become an ambassador of the Heavenly Kingdom and let his love mark every  one of your relationships.  

God bless you and thank you for watching this mini course. May you lay hold of  that for which Jesus Christ has laid hold of you. Let me pray for you.  

Father, thank You for my friends who are watching this mini course. I ask you to  reveal yourself to them. I pray that you would mark them and that they would  know the fullness of what it means to be marked by Jesus Christ, to identify  with Jesus Christ. I pray that they would take all of their life and, by your grace,  bring it to you at the foot of the cross and may you take it and make something  beautiful out of it that brings glory to Jesus Christ, brings blessing to them and  blessing to all those that they encounter day by day as you change them.  Transform them from glory to glory, more and more into your marvelous,  beautiful image. I praise you and thank you, for Jesus Christ and for your Holy  Spirit. And I pray all these things in Jesus name, Amen.



Last modified: Friday, March 22, 2024, 8:09 AM