jtmhero.jpg

Services will be held online-only until further notice.

FAQs, Part 8

How Do I Break the Labels From My Past?

If you would like to extend this over a week, you can easily do one of the points each day of your devotion.  Here is a printable version.
Open your group with a prayer.
                                                                                                             
This is only a guide.  Pick and choose your points.
 
WHAT NEGATIVE LABEL FOLLOWS YOUR NAME?
__________________   the  ____________________.
(Your name)                           (Label)
 
Question:  Would you be willing to share a label from your past?  _______________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
 
Question:  Have you ever make decisions based on a label from your past?  ___________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Acts 26:9-11 - "I too was convinced that I ought to do all that was possible to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth. 10 And that is just what I did in Jerusalem. On the authority of the chief priests I put many of the saints in prison, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. 11 Many a time I went from one synagogue to another to have them punished, and I tried to force them to blaspheme. In my obsession against them, I even went to foreign cities to persecute them.
 
Question: What was Paul known for prior to his conversion?  ___________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
 
2 Corinthians 5:14-16 - For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. 16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.
 
A NEW GOD-CENTERED VIEW OF YOU.
 
  • When Paul’s assessment of Jesus changed, so did his assessment of himself and everyone else. 
 
2 Corinthians 5:17 - Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
 
Question:  How has your view of yourself changed since coming to know Christ?  _____________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
 
  • New means new in quality, not just in sequence; believers' "old self was crucified with Him"(Rom 6:6); they have therefore “laid aside the old self . . . and put on the new self" (Eph 4:22,24; Col 3:9-10).
 
  • The perfect tense of the verb (has come) indicates a past act with continuing results in the present. God plants new desires, loves, inclinations, and truths in the redeemed, so that they live in the midst of the old creation with a new creation perspective.     
 
Question:  Will you share some areas of your life that has changed because of your relationship with Christ?  _______________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
 
Read it together:    
2 Corinthians 5:17 - Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

  • Truths that will set you free from your past labels:

1. GOD WILL GIVE YOU A NEW NAME.
 
Isaiah 62:2 - ... You will be called by a new name that the mouth of the Lord will bestow.

Genesis 17:5 - No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations.

Genesis 32:27-28 - The man asked him, "What is your name?" "Jacob," he answered.  28 Then the man said, "Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome."

Judges 6:12 - When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, "The Lord is with you, mighty warrior."

Judges 6:14-15 - The Lord turned to him and said, "Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand. Am I not sending you?" 15 "But Lord," Gideon asked, "how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family."

Question:   What do you think your new God-given name is?  __________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Question:  What do you think your spouse’s God-given new name is?  ________________________   ___________________________________________________________________________________________________

2.  GOD WILL GIVE YOU A NEW PURPOSE.

Matthew 16:13-18 - When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?" 14 They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets." 15 "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" 16 Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." 17 Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.  
 
Read:
Whatever negative label that's been associated with your name, you take that label, with the power of Christ, and out of  your greatest weakness of your past God can raise up the greatest strength for your future.
 
Question:  Have you ever thought that God wants to use your greatest weakness to reveal himself to a world around you?  __________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
 
Question:  What might be your greatest weakness?  ____________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
 
Question:  Do you know God’s new purpose for your life?  ______________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
 
Question:  What areas of your life might need to grow for God’s new purpose, to be used?
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
 
3. GOD WILL GIVE YOU A NEW FUTURE.
 
Question:  have you ever had thoughts of “My life will never…”  ________________________________
 
Jeremiah 29:11 - “For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Matthew 1:5 - Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab…

Question:  Why do you think God used a prostitute in the genealogy of Jesus?  ________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
 
Question:  What does that tell you about your future?  _________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
 
Philippians 3:13-14 - …Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
 
Question:  What do you think that verse means in life?  ________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
 
Question:  What steps might you need to take to get past your past?  _________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Recent

Archive

Categories

Tags

no tags