The Apostle Paul is the original “in Christ” preacher and teacher. Paul was a new creature preacher. He was a new creature, a new man. He was Saul when he met Jesus. Somebody said his experience with Jesus was so strong, it knocked the “S” off the front of his name and put a “P” there.

In other words, he is a Paul instead of a Saul. God is in the people-making business. No one else has been able to make a person. God is the original manufacturer. If there is something wrong with you, He can make you over again. Whether it is your spirit, your soul, or your body, He has the materials necessary to correct your problem.

"In Him-ers"
I have been preaching this since I was seventeen years old. People start to call you different names if you preach on something a lot. If you preach on faith, they say, He is one of those ‘faith’ people.” If you preach prosperity, they say, “He is one of those ‘prosperity’ people.” If you preach healing, they say, “He is one of those ‘healing’ people.”

When I was a youth pastor in North Louisiana in 1975 and 1976, I had a Christian radio program called “Rock ‘n’ Roll Preacher.” I taught on who you are in Christ on a secular station. I preached on “in Christ’ a lot, so they said, “He is one of those in Him-ers.” That means you have put a lot of emphasis on who you are in Him and not on who you are in yourself. The emphasis is not on who you are because of your denominational affiliation, but on who you are because of your relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ, I am a new creature preacher! 

Experience Jesus
“For whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God: or whether we be sober, it is for your cause.” (2 Cor. 5:13)

In other translations Paul simply said, “If we have lost our minds, it is God’s fault.” Many people thought Paul was crazy because he had such a radical experience with Jesus Christ. His life turned in a totally different direction. I am sure his mama, his daddy, his kinfolks, and his old friends thought he was crazy and had lost his mind.

I believe your experience with Jesus ought to be so strong and put such a dividing line in your life, that your old friends do not even want to be around you anymore! They will say, “We do not want to be around him. He is always talking about Jesus, reading the Bible, praising God, and wanting to go to church.”

Paul was not a gang member or a drug addict, but Paul was hooked on religion. He was bound by religion and good works. When he met Jesus, Paul found that knowing Jesus was greater than any effort, religion, tradition, or anything else that man could attempt.

Religion and tradition bring death; however Jesus brings life and a living experience with Him. Jesus is not a bunch of rules and regulations.  Sometimes people get caught up in rules and regulations, but Paul said, “You need to get caught up with who you are in Christ and who you are in Christ and who you are in Him. You need to experience Jesus!”

Many people, especially the Pharisees, probably thought Paul was crazy. When he was on the road to Damascus, he met Jesus and was never the same. He spent a number of years getting a revelation of “in Christ” and who you are in Christ, so he used this phrase over and over again. Paul said, “If I have lost my mind, it is God’s fault, but I am trying to stay sober for your sake.”

Once you see what God has done for you in Christ is so big and so good, you will want to jump, run, laugh, and shout!

So Paul said, “Sometimes I just get beside myself when I start thinking about Jesus, what God has done for me in Jesus, who I am in Jesus, and what I have in Jesus. I am not the same person I used to be. I am a new person in Jesus. Oh, the possibilities that are mine in Jesus! When I started thinking about the access I have to the Father in Jesus and the Holy Spirit living in me because I am in Christ, I feel like I am losing my mind.”

You need to have a daily soak or a daily saturation of the reality of who you are and what you have “in Christ.” A daily saturation, not just a confession, allows the Holy Spirit to bring those things into your experience until old things are passed away and everything has become new.