The Key that Unlocks Every Door
Pastor David Shearin

David Shearin is the founder and Pastor of Word of Life Christian Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. The church has grown from 5 people to over 2,000 and continues to reach out through various ministries, including a weekly television broadcast. Possessing the heart of a true shepherd, Pastor David is known as a man of integrity and compassion as well as a dynamic preacher and teacher of God’s uncompromising Word. He is the founder of Word of Life Christian Academy, educating children academically and spiritually, Pre-K through High School. He also established Word of Life Bible Institute which offers a course of study that trains lay people for effective involvement in the helps ministry of the local church and equips men and women for involvement in the five-fold ministry. David ministers in churches, campmeetings and Bible schools around the country and in other nations. He is often used by the Lord in the gifts and demonstrations of the Spirit and in ministering God’s healing power through the laying on of hands. He is a graduate of RHEMA Bible Training Center and has been in full-time ministry for over 30 years. Click here to learn more about Pastor David Shearin.

The following is an excerpt taken from The Master Key by Pastor David Shearin.

The Key that Unlocks Every Door
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. (2 Corinthians 5:17)

These days our lives are absolutely flooded with words. They swirl around us 24/7, rushing at us in torrents from every direction. They rain down on us from the internet, social media, TV, movies and music in such a constant deluge that you might not think just a couple of them could make any significant difference.

But in the life of a Christian, there are two words that can change everything.

They are words so simple and unassuming; if God Himself hadn’t said them, we wouldn’t pay any attention to them. Yet the revelation they contain can completely transform us. They can open doors for every one of us that have often seemed locked – doors of divine destiny and spiritual power, doors of victory, freedom and truly abundant living.

What two words could possibly be so powerful?

In Christ.

That phrase appears in the New Testament again and again. We find it in one form or another (i.e. in Him, through Christ, by Christ, with Christ) in the New Testament approximately 130 times. Since, according to the Bible, any word can be confirmed by “two or three witnesses,”1 even if God said something only a few times, it would be important. So for Him to repeat something 130 times puts it extremely high on His list of priorities.

For Him to say it in the epistles puts it at the top of the list.

After all, the epistles are New Testament letters written directly to us, as New Covenant believers. They are God’s primary revelation to Christians today. Although the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles are precious and profitable, and the Old Testament is wonderful, those parts of the Bible were written for us. The epistles, on the other hand, were written to us. They are communications of the Holy Spirit addressed specifically to those of us who believe in Jesus.

It’s through the epistles that we discover who we are as Christians, what we have, and what God has given us the power to do. And it is primarily in the epistles that God tells us we are in Christ—not just once or twice but (let me say it again) 130 times!

Clearly, He is trying to get something across to us.

Through these simple yet profound words, He’s giving us the secret to living a truly supernatural life. He’s revealing to us the Master Key of the Christian faith. In the classic book, In Christ, A.J. Gordon put it this way:

No words of Scripture, if we except these, “God manifest in the flesh,” hold within themselves a deeper mystery than this simple formula of the Christian life, “in Christ.”…Yet great as is the mystery of these words, they are the key to the whole system of doctrinal mysteries. Like the famous Rosetta Stone, itself a partial hieroglyph, and thereby furnishing the long sought clue to the Egyptian hieroglyphics, these words, by their very mystery, unlock the mysteries of the divine life, letting us into the secrets that were “hidden from ages and generations.” 2

Notice, Gordon compares the miracle of our being in Christ with the miracle of God manifesting Himself in the flesh. Why? Because both are fundamental doctrines of the faith and both stagger the human mind. The incarnation of Jesus is something we, as Christians, accept without question…yet it still mystifies us. It causes us to wonder: How did God get in a body and become human? However, the Bible explains it to some degree. 1 Timothy 3:16 says, “Great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh.”

The same can be said about our being in Christ. While it’s a simple concept, it so surpasses our human reasoning that we ask, How can it be? How is it possible that in Christ I have become a new creature: old things have passed away and all things have become new?

It’s a mystery.

A mystery so precious and perfect, even experts who are trained to translate the Scriptures into different languages have been cautious in tampering with it. According to a note in The Translator’s New Testament, “The formula in Christ is a rich and comprehensive one, and probably for this reason most translators have retained it rather than risk under-translation.” 3 Thus, in many versions of the Bible, the phrase remains unchanged. Today, as always, the Scriptures simply say that we are:

In Christ.

Within that one small phrase is an infinite revelation. It will take all of eternity, I’m sure, for us to fully explore its depths. Yet, we can embrace it now with childlike faith and live in the light of it. When we do, grace comes upon us to access our divine inheritance as children of God. We discover the spiritual Rosetta Stone that unlocks all the other mysteries in the New Testament.

Little Words Can Make a Big Difference

It might seem obvious, but the first thing I want to point out about the two words in Christ is this: they form a prepositional phrase. A preposition is a connecting term. It’s used to link nouns and pronouns with other nouns and pronouns to show their relationship. Even though prepositions are generally little words (words like by, in, and through) they can make a big difference.

For example, take how various prepositions can be used to describe the different kinds of relationships people have with the church I pastor, Word of Life Christian Center, here in Las Vegas. There are literally thousands who ride or walk by it every day. They know where the building is. They see it all the time because, on their way to work or wherever, they go past it. But the extent of their relationship with the church is very limited. They simply go by it.

On occasion, such passers-by come a little closer. For instance, one day when we were in the middle of a construction project at the church, a man I’d never seen before walked in the door. As it turned out, he needed to use the phone. I offered him my cell phone and after he made his call, he left, having passed through the church.

During that period of construction lots of other people went through the church too. Carpenters, electricians and contractors all came in and went out on a regular basis. They had a different relationship with the church than the passers-by did. They went through it.

There’s a third group of people, however, that have a much greater relationship with the church than the other groups I’ve mentioned. They are members. They are actually in (or a part of) the church. They see, hear, and experience things in the church that other people don’t. They also regularly enjoy the resources the building has to offer. They can go into the children’s area and the media area. Some people in the church – staff members, for instance – even have a master key that they can use to access the building and everything in it all the time.

Now, compare that illustration to your relationship with Jesus. If you’ve received Him as Savior and Lord, you’re not like the people in the first two groups. You’re not just a person who passes by Him, or someone who comes and goes. You are connected with Him in the closest possible way. You are in Him.

What’s more, you’ve been given the key that provides you with access to all He is and all He has. In the New Testament, you can discover all of God’s riches that are inside you. You can find scripture after scripture that informs you of who you are and what you have because of your connection with Jesus. The phrase, in Christ, is the key that opens the door to those revelations. But if you don’t know it exists or how to use it, you’ll never enjoy all the benefits God has made available to you.

1) 2 Corinthians 13:1

2) A.J. Gordon, In Christ, (Chicago: Moody Press, circa 1872), 9-10.

3) The Translator’s New Testament (The British & Foreign Bible Society, 1973), 565.