I Am of the Race of Christ

There are messages that, in just a few minutes, put Christian identity back where it belongs. The one from Pastor Celestin YAO, preached at ICC Montreal, is one of them. The title says it all: "I am of the race of Christ." This is not a slogan. It is a declaration that touches on the greatest miracle God has accomplished in your life: the new birth.

Pastor YAO says it without hesitation: the greatest miracle God has accomplished in your life is neither healing, nor prosperity, nor deliverance. It is salvation. And this salvation does not stop at a ticket to heaven, it grafts you into another race, another lineage. You no longer belong to the race of Adam. You belong to the race of Christ.

Outline of the message

1. The greatest miracle: the new birth
2. Two races since Genesis: Adam and Christ
3. The incorruptible seed: the Word and the Holy Spirit
4. Living according to your true identity: child of God

1. The greatest miracle: the new birth

Pastor YAO begins by refocusing the listener. In a year when the church is talking about an abundant harvest, revelation, and resembling Christ, he reminds us that we need to return to the basics. "Before going further into revelation and resemblance to Christ, it is important to go back to the fundamentals, the ABCs of the greatest miracle God has accomplished in our lives."

And that greatest miracle is not what you think. It is not healing. It is not obtaining possessions on this earth. It is salvation. Because salvation is not just a forgiveness of sins received from a distance, it is a precise mechanism that the Bible calls the new birth. And this new birth, says the preacher, "has grafted us into a particular race, into another race, not the race of Adam."

Everything that follows in the message flows from this. If you do not see clearly what happened on the day of your conversion, you will live your Christian life like a descendant of Adam trying hard to make an effort, instead of living it like a child of God expressing who you truly are.

2. Two races since Genesis: Adam and Christ

To show where this shift comes from, Pastor YAO goes back to Genesis. God forms Adam from the dust and breathes into his nostrils the breath of life (Genesis 2:7). Man receives a spirit, a soul, a body. Above all, he receives dominion over the earth: "Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it."

But in Genesis 3, everything falls apart. Eve listens to the serpent, gives in to the lust of the eyes, draws Adam in, and the authority given to man passes into the hands of the enemy. That is where the race of Adam receives its mark: sin, corruption, death.

Pastor YAO then quotes Paul, in Romans 5:12: "Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned." And he continues with Romans 5:18-19: "As one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men."

"There are only two races: the race of Adam and the race of Christ. We were all of the race of Adam. But because of the blood of Jesus, because of the new birth, we have been grafted into the race of Christ."

The preacher insists: as long as you belong to the race of Adam, no matter how beautiful your family, no matter how solid the values your society upholds, that is not enough for God. The first birth qualifies no one for the kingdom of heaven. That is what Jesus tells Nicodemus in John 3:3: "Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."

3. The incorruptible seed: the Word and the Holy Spirit

How does this change of race actually happen? Pastor YAO uses two very powerful images.

First image: the annunciation. He opens to Luke 1:34-35. Mary asks the angel, "How will this be?" And the angel answers, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you." First there is the Word spoken, then the Holy Spirit who makes that word effective. It is exactly the same mechanism as at creation, in Genesis 1:2-3: the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters, God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.

Second image: the seed. Pastor YAO quotes 1 Peter 1:23: "You have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God." God's seed is his Word. And this seed, when the Holy Spirit causes it to germinate in a heart, gives birth to a new being.

The preacher then returns to John 1:12-13: "To all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God." The power to become a child of God, that is where everything is decided. It is not a religious statement, it is a spiritual birth.

And this new birth changes your lineage. You are no longer of the line of Adam. You are of the line of Christ, of whom Paul says he is the last Adam: 1 Corinthians 15:45-49. "The first man Adam became a living being, the last Adam became a life giving spirit."

4. Living according to your true identity: child of God

Pastor YAO does not stop at doctrine. He leads the listener toward declaration. If you are born again, you are of the race of Christ, and it must show in the way you speak to yourself.

He quotes Romans 8:16: "The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God." And he leads the congregation into a declaration that runs through the rest of the message:

"I am no longer a slave to fear, no longer a slave to failure, no longer a slave to limitation, no longer a slave to shame, no longer a slave to condemnation. I am a child of God. I am of the race of Christ."

This is not self talk or positive thinking. It is the testimony borne by the Spirit to your spirit. If you are still living trapped in the patterns of Adam (comparison, envy, fear of tomorrow, resignation), it is because you have not yet grasped the weight of your new lineage. The preacher puts it this way: you cannot envy an Adam when God himself has placed you in Christ. What a descendant of Adam experiences on this earth is only a matter of a hundred years. What you experience is eternity.

The message closes with a very clear appeal. To everyone who has never received Christ as Savior and Lord, Pastor YAO says, "Today is a day of decision. Do you want to belong to Christ or not?" Because the real question, before any other, is this: what race do you truly belong to?

Key takeaways

• The greatest miracle God accomplishes in your life is not healing or prosperity, it is salvation, which causes you to be born again.
• Since Genesis, there have only ever been two races: that of Adam, marked by sin and death, and that of Christ, marked by eternal life.
• The new birth operates through the Word (the incorruptible seed) and the Holy Spirit who causes it to germinate in you.
• A good family, a solid upbringing, or a good society are never enough, the first birth qualifies no one for the kingdom.
• If you are in Christ, you are no longer a slave, you are a child of God, grafted into an eternal lineage.

Personal application

• Which race do you claim when you talk to yourself, that of Adam, who has to defend himself, or that of Christ, who reigns?
• Are there patterns in your life inherited from Adam (fear, shame, comparison, bondage to the past) that the new birth has already broken, but that you keep accepting anyway?
• How much room do you give the Word of God (the seed) to keep germinating in your heart today?
• Does your inner testimony, that of the Spirit to your spirit, confirm that you are a child of God? If not, what is blocking it?
• Is there someone around you to whom you can pass on this good news, that there exists another race besides that of Adam?

Verses cited

• Genesis 2:7 - God forms man and breathes into him the breath of life
• Genesis 3 - The fall and the corruption of the race of Adam
• Romans 3:23 - "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God"
• Romans 5:12 - Sin entered through one man
• Romans 5:18-19 - The justification that gives life through one act of righteousness
• Romans 6:23 - The wages of sin and the free gift of God
• Romans 8:16 - The Spirit bears witness that we are children of God
• John 1:12-13 - The right to become children of God
• John 3:3 - "Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God"
• Luke 1:34-35 - The annunciation to Mary
• 1 Peter 1:23 - The incorruptible seed, the living and abiding Word
• 1 Corinthians 15:45-49 - Adam, a living being; Christ, a life giving spirit

FAQ

What does "I am of the race of Christ" actually mean?

It means that the moment you are born again, you no longer belong, in the spiritual realm, to the fallen lineage of Adam, but to the lineage of Christ, the last Adam. Your family line changes. Your spirit, once dead because of sin, is brought to life and connected to God. Pastor Celestin YAO sums it up this way: you are grafted into another race, with a different eternal trajectory.

How does the new birth happen according to this message?

It happens exactly the way Jesus was born in Mary's womb: through the Word and the Holy Spirit. You hear the Word of God, the Holy Spirit causes it to germinate in your heart, you recognize your need for a Savior, you receive Christ. This is what 1 Peter 1:23 calls being born of an incorruptible seed.

If I am of the race of Christ, why do I still struggle with fear or shame?

Pastor YAO explains that your new identity is a gift, but you now need to walk it out through the Word and through declaration. That is the meaning of Romans 8:16, the Spirit bears witness to your spirit. As long as you speak to yourself as a descendant of Adam, you will live as a slave. When you begin speaking to yourself according to your true lineage, freedom takes over.