Who am I in Christ? On Sunday, November 1, 2026, Wyly Gammon asked that question at Ellijay City Church in Ellijay, GA, in a message he called “Who are we? Who am I?” His answer came straight from the Word: God has given you a new name, a new image and His own Spirit.
Who am I in Christ? Why your identity matters
We all identify with something. Our family. Our friends. Our job. Our team. Wyly put it plainly: “most of our issues are based in a false image of ourselves.” God made us one way, and then life happened. Failures, hard seasons and painful words pressed an image on us that isn’t true.
That false image matters because it shapes everything. How we see ourselves decides how we read the Word, how we speak, how we treat people, how we live in our marriages and what we believe we can do. When Scripture says “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Philippians 4:13), it can go in one ear and out the other if it doesn’t match who we think we are.
Wyly shared his own story. He grew up confessing the same sins over and over, and he saw no power over them. Years later, at a church full of real, ordinary people, he gave his life to Jesus. The man who prayed with him asked him to turn around and tell the room what he had just done. Saying it out loud, he said, “was the beginning of changing” how he saw himself. Even Jesus faced people who wanted to keep Him in an old box: “Is not this the carpenter’s son?” (Matthew 13:55).
You are mine: God renames the rejected
The message opened in Romans 9:25-26, where Paul quotes the prophet Hosea:
“I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved. And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God.” (Romans 9:25-26, KJV)
Some of us have been rejected. Some have never really been accepted for who we are. To every one of us, God says, “You are mine.” Wyly spoke it straight to the room: “We accept you and we’re offering to you a new image.”
“Accepting you doesn’t mean He’s willing to leave you like you are.”
God gets us. He understands us and loves us. But Jesus died and rose again on the third day to give us a new image. And the very place where you were told “you are nobody” is the place where He renames you a child of the living God. If you are His child, He is your Father.
You are spiritual: the Spirit shows you God’s heart
Next, Wyly walked through 1 Corinthians 2. Paul did not come with clever speech. He came “in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,” so that our faith “should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God” (1 Corinthians 2:4-5).
When Jesus said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19), He was pointing to something new. We are now the temple of God (1 Corinthians 3:16). The holy place that no one could enter now lives in us.
That means you can hear God for yourself. Wyly told how, as a young believer, he watched visiting ministers give prophetic words to others but never to him. So he prayed, “Lord, if they don’t want to speak to me, I know that you will.” He built a habit of hearing from the Spirit. Counsel and prayer from others are good, he said, but we shouldn’t depend on someone else to bring us a word. God speaks to each of us in our own way.
Paul hammers the point: “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God” (1 Corinthians 2:12). Wyly reminded us that God “doesn’t do anything chinchy.” He is a lavish, generous God who gives life in abundance (John 10:10). And if you think you’re “not very spiritual,” he had good news: “If you are born again, you are spiritual.”
Speak who you are, and stay full of the Spirit
If the church doesn’t walk in its true identity, the world will press one on us. That’s why Wyly urged us to say out loud what God says about us:
- I am the redeemed of the Lord.
- I have the Spirit of the living God.
- I walk in power and anointing.
- I have wisdom from heaven.
A Christ-shaped identity doesn’t make us all the same. “Unity is not uniformity,” Wyly said. You don’t have to look, pray or study like anyone else. God made you an individual and stamped the image of Christ on you.
He also called us to pray in the Spirit. On the day of Pentecost the believers were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke in other tongues (Acts 2:4), just as Jesus promised power to be His witnesses (Acts 1:8). Leaving that gift unused, he said, is “like a carpenter to build a house leaving his skill saw in his truck.” You can read more about what we hold to on our beliefs page.
We have the mind of Christ
The chapter ends with a staggering line: “For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16). Wyly’s word to us was simple: “You have more than you think.” More power, more authority, more understanding. Not to become someone else, but to handle the stressful thing that makes you want to quit, right where you live.
“We’ve got to turn the identity switch on,” he said. We are seated in heavenly places with Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:6). We have everlasting life (John 3:16). And we are here to reveal heaven on earth.
The message closed with an invitation. Believe in your heart that Jesus is the Son of God who died and rose again, and confess with your mouth that He is Lord. You hand Him your old identity and your mess, and He gives you His: born again, eternally loved and protected by your Father. If old wounds still shape how you see yourself, our Rooted team would love to pray with you.
Scriptures from this message
- Romans 9:25-26 (quoting Hosea 2:23)
- 1 Corinthians 2:1-16
- 1 Corinthians 3:16
- Matthew 13:55-57
- John 2:19
- John 3:16
- John 10:10
- Philippians 4:13
- Ephesians 2:6
- Acts 1:8 and Acts 2:4
Questions to talk about this week
- What labels have life, people or past failures put on you? Which ones don’t match what God says about you?
- Read Romans 9:25-26 together. What does it mean to you that God calls you “beloved” and “children of the living God”?
- How has the Holy Spirit spoken to you personally? What could help you listen for Him more often?
- Pick one declaration from this message. Say it out loud each morning this week and share what changes.
Questions about this message
What does it mean to know who I am in Christ?
In this message, Wyly Gammon taught that God gives every believer a new image: you are His, you are a child of the living God, and His Spirit lives in you. Knowing that, and saying it out loud, changes how you think, speak and live.
What Bible passages does this message on identity cover?
The message centers on Romans 9:25-26 and 1 Corinthians 2:1-16, with Philippians 4:13, John 3:16, John 10:10, Ephesians 2:6 and Acts 2:4 along the way.
When can I hear the next message at Ellijay City Church?
Sunday services are at 9:00 AM and 11:00 AM at 443 Pleasant Grove Rd, Ellijay, GA 30540. Every message streams live on our YouTube channel.
You were made for more than a false image. Come worship with us this Sunday and discover who God says you are. Plan your visit, or catch up on more messages from our church family.
