Session 1. Who Am I? FREEDOM IN CHRIST

Transcription

1 Session 1 Who Am I? 47

2 Session 1: Who Am I? FOCUS VERSE: 2 Corinthians 5:17 (ESV): Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. OBJECTIVE: To realize that deep down inside we are now completely new creations in Christ, holy ones who are accepted, secre, and significant. FOCUS TRUTH: Yor decision to follow Christ was the defining moment of yor life and led to a complete change in who yo now are. POINTERS FOR LEADERS: In this first session yo will be helping people answer the qestion, Who am I? The way Christians respond to the qestion reveals what they believe abot the gospel and their spirital heritage. This is a delightfl session to lead becase yo will see people who for years have believed that deep down they are somehow a disappointment to God start to realize the trth of what Jess has done for them He has changed their very natre from someone who was displeasing to God to someone in whom He delights. Some people may strggle becase they do not feel like a holy one. Keep emphasising that the critical thing is not what yo feel bt what the Word of God actally says. If yo want to explore this topic in more detail, we recommend that yo read Victory Over The Darkness by Dr. Neil T. Anderson (Bethany Hose). This session contains the first of three key lists of Biblical trth that we will share with participants dring the corse. They can be life-transforming if people make the choice to believe them. The lists are readily accessible via the app and in the Participant s Gide. Yo can also order from Freedom In Christ a set of color bookmarks that many really find helpfl to keep in their Bible or pin on their fridge. If yo are planning an away day after Session 7, remember to inform people of the date so that they can keep it clear. We recommend that, at an appropriate point dring the session, yo share testimonies from yorself or others who have been throgh the Freedom In Christ Corse previosly. If yo are sing the video presentations, some will be shown on that bt it wold be even more effective to spplement those with live testimonies if yo can. If yo are not sing the video and yo do not yet have any testimonies of yor own, yo might like to read the extracts from letters sent to Freedom In Christ Ministries on page 49. If yo are sing the video to present the corse, there is an additional video lasting jst over 16 mintes that introdces the three presenters, Steve Goss, Nancy Maldonado, and Daryl Fitzgerald (available on the DVD, and also on the app). If yo didn t show it dring the Introdction Session, sggest that participants have a look at it on the app. Participants will find it beneficial to read the for Discipleship Series books alongside going throgh the corse (see page 24). We recommend that yo have some available for people to by or refer them to Freedom In Christ s website. There are details in the Participant s Gide on page 6. At the start of each session (in the Word section) we have listed the relevant pages from the book series. 48

3 THE APP We strongly encorage yo to recommend the Freedom In Christ app to participants. It has been specifically designed to accompany participants throgh the corse so that they really connect with the life-changing trths they will enconter. They can enter the dates of the sessions and for seven days after each session the app will send them short daily nggets to reinforce the teaching in that week s session. It also contains additional teaching films on important areas sch as handling temptation and working ot who is responsible for what in the Christian life. One of the key featres is the Stronghold-Bster Bilder. Stronghold-bsting is a tool to help participants renew their mind which is taght in Session 8. The app will prompt participants to se their strongholdbsters on a daily basis. It also gives participants access to the Freedom In Christ Daily Devotional, a year s worth of daily encoragements that will remind them of the principles they will learn on the corse. It s available as a free download giving access to the first three sessions and the lists of Biblical trth. There is a small charge to nlock the other sessions. Try it for yorself first! See page 25 for more details. TESTIMONIES The following are extracts from commnications sent to Freedom In Christ Ministries. They can be read ot as testimonies of people s experiences on the corse if yo do not have any of live testimonies of yor own yet and are not sing the video. 1. I can trly say that, after finding Jess as my Savior, entering into the fllness of my spirital freedom in Christ has been the most significant moment of my life I recommend it. 2. Finding my freedom in Christ has changed my life. 3. I have been a Christian for many years, been to all the right meetings, done the right actions, worn all the T-Shirts! For a long time now I have been feeling qite despondent, thinking that there mst be more to chrch life than this, and that if I were prayed for by the right person or had a dramatic experience or manifestation then I wold be more spirital and wold be a better Christian. Bt listening to all the teaching last week I began to realize that actally I already knew all the trths that were spoken and this was so encoraging. Then on Satrday going throgh The Steps To Freedom In Christ I didn t actally feel anything, bt later realized that I didn t have any deep-seated isses that needed dealing with (only a few minor ones) as they had already been dealt with by God before. I jst hadn t believed it. Any other isses I now know how to deal with. I wept throgh or worship time on Snday morning. 4. I wanted to contact yo with thanks and praise! For the first time, I went to bed last night jst praising God, telling him that I loved him. And I woke p this morning with my heart fll and ponding with his love. The trths that I encontered in the corse were liberating. Althogh mch of it I knew, it was not tre in my heart. I was separated from the trth of God s love and Jess liberation by a large wall of pain, wonds, and lies so many lies abot God. Bt the wall came tmbling down this week. 49

4 SMALL GROUP TIMINGS: The following plan is designed to help those leading the corse in small grops. It assmes a meeting of arond 2 hors in length and sggests how long each part of the session shold last and also indicates the cmlative elapsed time (in mintes). Yo will find a time plan in each session. Welcome 30 mintes 30 (inclding Introdcing The Presenters video) Worship 12 mintes 42 Word part 1 6 mintes 48 Pase For Thoght 1 15 mintes 63 Word part 2 11 mintes 74 Pase For Thoght 2 25 mintes 99 Word part 3 14 mintes 113 Reflection 7 mintes 120 Note: The time allocated for the Word sections is based on the length of the corresponding section of the accompanying video sessions. The Witness section is not inclded in the time plan as it tends to be sed in place of a Pase For Thoght section. Yo will need to add on 5 to 10 mintes if yo want to inclde it separately. Registered sers of the corse can download a spreadsheet with these timings. Simply enter yor own start time, adjst the length of the varios components as desired and yo will have a timed plan of yor session. SONGS: The song from Worship In Spirit And Trth (see page 26) that has been written to accompany this session is That s Who I Am (Part One of For). See page 208 of the Participant s Gide for the lyrics and backgrond info FREEDOM IN IN CHRIST

5 WELCOME If this is a new grop yo might like to extend this time and ask the pairs to introdce each other to the whole grop. Spend a cople of mintes in pairs finding ot as mch as yo can abot each other. Then, in no more than 30 seconds, answer this qestion abot yor partner. Who is he/she? WORSHIP Sggested theme: God s plans and promises. Read one or two of the following passages: Psalm 33:10 11, Job 42:2, Proverbs 19:21 Sggest that grop members speak ot in worship and praise the attribtes of or God for example, wisdom, sovereignty, holiness, faithflness or God s varios names. WORD I highly recommend yo download the Freedom In Christ app which will really help yo as we go throgh the corse. Before we begin the session, let me recommend two ways yo can reinforce the Biblical principles we will consider. In case of difficlty finding the app, participants can go to FICMinternational.org/ app to get the correct link. There is an accompanying app that yo are likely to find very helpfl. Yo might like to go to yor app store and search for Freedom In Christ right now. It s free to download. Yo can enter the date of today s session and for seven days it will give yo some short nggets of trth to consider. It also contains some extra teaching films and a lot of other featres that I ll mention in de corse. The first three sessions are free and there s a small charge to nlock the others. See page 7 in yor Participant s Gide for more information. Also, Steve Goss has written for short books, collectively known as The Freedom In Christ Discipleship Series, that correspond to the for parts of the corse (see page 6 in yor Participant s Gide). The first in the series, Free To Be Yorself, corresponds to Part A of the corse (the first two sessions). Read p to page 59 in the book for the material that relates to this session. 51

6 SESSION 1 WHO AM I? Welcome to Freedom In Christ! In yor Participant s Gide there are notes yo can se as we go throgh each session. This session starts on page 21. Or focs over these ten sessions together is making sre that we really experience the trth in God s Word, not jst as head knowledge bt in or hearts. Who Are Yo Really? Perhaps the most fndamental trth we need to know is who we are. So, who are yo? It sonds like a simple qestion. If yo were to meet me at a party and say Who are yo? I might say Well, I m [name]. Bt yo might rightly point ot, No, that s jst yor name. Who are yo? I am a [job title]. No, that s what yo do. I m [nationality]. No, that s where yo were born or where yo live. Is this person that yo are looking at really me? [List some physical characteristics: height, hair color etc.]. Yo cold pt me on an operating table to try to find ot who I really am. If yo chopped off one of my arms, wold I still be me? If yo chopped off one of my legs as well, wold I still be me? What if yo transplanted my heart, kidneys, and liver, wold I still be me? Where am I then? If yo keep chopping will yo eventally find me? I mst be in here somewhere! The qestion is: what makes p the real me, the real yo? 52

7 The Original Design Yo Were Created In The Image Of God The Bible says that we were made in God s image (Genesis 1:26), and God is spirit. So at the most fndamental level of or being we too have a spirital natre. It is not or body, or oter person, that is created in the image of God; it s or inner person. God is spirit John 4:24. Jess answered, Very trly I tell yo, no one can enter the kingdom of God nless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, bt the Spirit gives birth to spirit. John 3:5-6 There s a TV series in which celebrities trace their family tree. It seems that every family has its share of sccess, shame and secrets. In the TV series, people have become very emotional as they fond ot abot their ancestors as if this additional knowledge somehow helps them nderstand themselves a little better. Bt if we really want to nderstand why we are as we are and why we have the in-bilt drives that we do, we need to go a lot frther back than that and start with the cople that we are all descended from. Scientists confirm that or mitochondrial DNA proves that we are all descended from the same woman and or Y-chromosomes prove that we are all also ltimately descended from the same man. Look arond the room. We re all related to each other What a terrible thoght! The Bible tells s that or ltimate ancestors were called Adam and Eve. Christians disagree abot exactly how God created them bt we all agree that God inspired their story to be written down to commnicate some very significant trth. Note: Some theologians believe that the hman spirit and the sol are the same thing. Others believe that the hman spirit is distinct from the sol. From this point on we will tend to se the term inner person that incorporates both concepts. Adam s spirit his inner person, the core of his being was connected to his body. In other words he was physically alive. Jst as we are. Bt Adam s spirit was also connected to God. Which meant that he was also spiritally alive. That is how we were designed to be too: on the one hand or spirit connected to or physical body, and on the other hand or spirit connected to God. 53

8 SESSION 1 WHO AM I? This spirital life, this connection to God gave Adam three very significant things: 1. Acceptance Adam had an intimate relationship with God. He cold talk with Him at any time and have His fll attention. 2. Significance Adam was given a prpose for being to rle over the birds of the sky, the beasts of the field and the fish of the sea (Genesis 1:26). 3. Secrity He was totally safe and secre in God s presence. Everything he needed was provided for food, shelter, companionship everything! Here s the key thing to get hold of. Yo were created for that kind of life: complete acceptance by God and other people; significance a real prpose; and absolte secrity: no need to worry abot a single thing. The Conseqence Of The Fall Adam and Eve were told, Yo mst not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when yo eat of it yo will srely die (Genesis 2:17). They did eat. Did they die? Physically? No. Physical death did eventally come bt not ntil 900 years later. They died spiritally. The connection that their spirit had to God was broken and they were separated from God. Conseqently, all their descendants inclding yo and me were born physically alive bt spiritally dead. The acceptance they enjoyed, that amazing intimate moment-by-moment relationship with God, changed into a crshing sense of rejection and we all know that feeling. 54

9 That sense of significance was replaced by a sense of gilt and shame and we re all born with it. This little piece of wisdom comes from the internet: If yo can start the day withot caffeine or pep pills, If yo can be cheerfl, ignoring aches and pains, If yo can eat the same food every day and be gratefl for it, If yo can conqer tension withot medical help, It is often said that the command Do not be afraid appears 365 times in the Bible, one for every day of the year. That wold be a nice concept if it were tre! In fact there are abot 170 occrrences. If yo can relax withot alcohol, If yo can sleep withot the aid of drgs, Then yo mst be the family dog. Dogs don t seem to have this need to feel significant, to make their life worth something. In fact as long as they can eat, sleep and sniff other dogs occasionally, they seem qite happy. I ve tried it and it s not enogh for me! And that sense of secrity trned to fear. The first emotion expressed by Adam was, I was afraid (Genesis 3:10). Don t be afraid is the most repeated commandment in the Bible. So all of s are born into an environment that s not at all like the one we were designed for. Bt instinctively we want to find or way back to the acceptance, significance and secrity we were meant to have. 55

10 SESSION 1 WHO AM I? PAUSE FOR THOUGHT 1 OBJECTIVE: TO GET PEOPLE TALKING AND TO START TO REINFORCE THE IMPORTANT CONCEPT THAT ADAM AND EVE WERE ORIGINALLY COMPLETELY CONFIDENT IN THEIR SIGNIFICANCE, SECURITY, AND ACCEPTANCE BUT LOST THOSE THINGS.? QUESTIONS: What prompted yo to come on the Freedom In Christ Corse and what are yor hopes for it? What were the conseqences of Adam and Eve s sin? What are the ways it cased their relationship with God to change? What sort of things in or daily lives promise to make s feel accepted, significant, and secre? What Jess Came To Do The only soltion to the predicament that we ve looked at is to restore or relationship with God, to become spiritally alive again. That s why God sent Jess. Jess was like Adam at the very beginning He was both physically and spiritally alive. Bt nlike Adam, Jess never sinned. He showed s how a spiritally alive person can live in this fallen world if they live dependently pon their heavenly Father. However, Jess came to give s more than an example, He came to.. well, why did He come? What wold yo say? Most people say, He came to forgive my sins and, yes, that s tre. Bt that was jst a means to an end. What if we asked Jess? Actally someone did and Jess Himself said, I have come that they may have life, and have it to the fll (John 10:10). 56

11 What did Adam lose? Life. What did Jess come to give s? Life. Other verses in John referring to the life that Jess came to bring: John 6:48 ; 11:25; 14:6. When we become Christians or spirit is reconnected to God s Spirit. At that moment we get back the life we were always meant to have with its acceptance, significance, and secrity. Eternal life is not jst something yo get when yo die. It s a whole different qality of life right now (John 5:24). So, who are yo? The moment yo became a Christian was the defining moment of yor life. Everything changed for yo. And the langage the Bible ses is very dramatic: Throghot the corse the difference between Christians and not-yet Christians is shown to be a stark one. Depending on the grop, it may well be worth emphasizing at this stage that yo only get the life back if yo become a Christian. Yo may like to say something like: If yo are not sre that yo are a Christian, then it s a matter of choosing to receive God s free gift and making Him yor Lord. Simply thank God that He sent Jess to die for yo when yo were in a completely hopeless state and accept Him as yor Lord and Savior. There ll be an opportnity to do this at the end of the session. In some traditions it might be helpfl to add: Althogh we commonly se the word saint to refer to a Christian rolemodel whose life on earth is complete, the Bible ses it to refer to Christian believers in local chrches. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV) Can yo be partly old creation and partly new? No! For yo were once darkness, bt now yo are light in the Lord. (Ephesians 5:8) Can yo be both light and darkness? Not according to that verse. A Saint Not A Sinner Many of s have come to think of orselves as a sinner saved by grace. Yo certainly were a sinner, and yo were saved by grace alone. Bt, here s an interesting verse: While we were still sinners, Christ died for s. (Romans 5:8) Past tense. This verse seems to imply that we re no longer sinners. In the New Testament, the word sinner appears over 300 times. Bt it s clearly a shorthand way of referring to people who are not yet Christians. Yo never see it applied to a Christian, at least not in terms of who they are now, only in terms of who they sed to be. There s another word that is shorthand for believers and yo ll find it over 200 times. Traditionally in English this word has been translated saint bt it really means holy one. 57

12 SESSION 1 WHO AM I? Langages sch as Spanish, Portgese, Italian, and French don t have this problem the same word still means both holy one and saint. Yes, yo are holy. Set apart for God. Special. At the moment yo became a Christian even if yo can t pinpoint the exact moment yo became completely new in yor inner person. Who yo are deep down inside changed from being someone who coldn t help bt displease God to someone who is accepted, significant, and secre in Christ. Galatians 3:27 says that we have clothed orselves with Christ. Perhaps yo have nderstood that to mean that yo re still the same dirty, rotten no-good person deep down inside, bt it s all covered p by Christ, so that when God looks at yo, He doesn t really see yo, He sees Jess. Bt that s not at all what the Bible says. It s more like the story Jess told abot a son who messed p badly and came crawling back home dirty, smelly and broken, expecting to be pnished. His father nexpectedly welcomed him with open arms and within a few mintes of his arrival gave him a fine, expensive robe to wear (Lke 15:22). Did the robe make him acceptable becase it covered p all the dirt? No. The dirt was on the otside. It wasn t the robe that made him a son, was it? He was given the robe becase he was already a son and it was the appropriate dress for a son. Regardless of the mess yo may have made or how bad yo feel abot yorself, the trth is that, if yo have accepted Jess as yor Lord, yo are now a son or daghter of God Himself. Yo re righteos, clean and holy on the inside. Yo can clothe yorself with Christ becase at the deepest level of yor being He s already made yo holy. When God the Father looks at yo now, He doesn t see Christ covering yor mess. He sees yo jst as yo are: His child, a new creation, holy, wonderfl. And He delights in yo. [Do yo have a personal story yo can tell to illstrate how in yor own life yo came to the nderstanding that yo are a holy one rather than a sinner?] Understanding this is crcial, not so mch for or salvation bt if we want to become the people God created s to be. The story of the prodigal son forms the basis of the Grace Corse (Goss, Miller, Graham Monarch 2012) which is designed as a follow-p to this corse and the illstrations are taken from there. 58

13 Sppose yo were an orphan who became a thief and yo heard one day that the king had decreed that all thieves were forgiven. Good news bt if that s all the decree said, wold it change how yo saw yorself? No yo d still be an orphan and a thief. Wold it change yor behavior? Probably not. If yo think of yorself as a forgiven sinner (bt still a sinner) what are yo likely to do? Sin! Becase, by definition, that s what sinners do! Bt what if the decree mentioned yor name and said that the king not only forgave yo, bt also wanted to adopt yo, wanted to make yo a prince? Wold that change how yo saw yorself? Of corse. Wold it change yor behavior? Of corse: Why wold I ever want to go back to the life I had now that I am a prince? Yo are not only forgiven, yo are adopted. Yo have become a son or daghter of the King of Kings! Who yo are now is a fact and Satan can t change it. Bt if he can get yo to believe a lie abot who yo are, he can cripple yor walk with God. No child of God is inferior or seless, bt if Satan can get yo to believe that yo are, that s how yo ll act. No child of God is dirty or abandoned any more. Bt if Satan can get yo to believe that yo are, that s how yo ll act. Yo might say, Yo don t know what s been done to me. It doesn t change who yo are in Christ. Yo don t know what failres I ve had as a Christian. It doesn t change who yo are in Christ. Jess loved yo when yo were still a sinner. He s not going to stop now that yo re a saint. Bt what abot my ftre sins? When Jess died once for all, how many of yor sins were ftre? All of them! Yo re not saved by how yo behave bt by what yo believe. And life as a Christian is more of the same. It s not abot trying to behave differently. It s abot knowing the trth, which then works ot into yor behavior. This corse is not abot learning to behave differently bt to believe differently. 59

14 SESSION 1 WHO AM I? PAUSE FOR THOUGHT 2 OBJECTIVE: TO REINFORCE THE KEY TRUTH THAT WE ARE NOW HOLY ONES WHO HAVE BACK THE LIFE WE WERE CREATED TO HAVE.? QUESTIONS: John 10:10 says that Jess came to bring s life in all its fllness. What do yo think that might look like in practice? How might knowing that we are saints or holy ones instead of sinners change how we see orselves? What are some of the things that cold prevent s from flly knowing that we are now new creations in Christ who are completely forgiven? What Happens When I Go Wrong? One of the main problems we have with seeing orselves as saints rather than sinners is: we are painflly aware that we still sin. Let me tell yo a secret. I snore / brp. Bt when I introdce myself to yo, I don t have to say, Hi, my name is [Name] and I m a snorer / brper! I may snore / brp bt that s not who I am. It s what I do and there is a big difference between the two. It s what we are deep down in or inner person that defines or identity, not what we do. If yo are a Christian, at the very core of yor being yo now share in God s divine natre. We are now new creations; the old has gone; the new has come. However, that doesn t mean that we are living in a state of sinless perfection: The Bible is clear: If we claim to be withot sin, we deceive orselves and the trth is not in s. (1 John 1:8). We will go wrong from time to time. The trth is that we all have a deep need to be loved nconditionally for who we are by definition we can t do anything to earn that. 60

15 Perhaps an accrate way to describe s wold be saints who sometimes sin. And sin is a serios matter. It gives the devil a foothold in or lives and stops s being fritfl. It disrpts the harmony of or fellowship with God. Bt it doesn t fndamentally change or relationship with Him. When yo were born again, yo became God s child. Spiritally speaking yo received His DNA God s own Spirit lives in yo (Romans 8:9) and yo now share His very natre (2 Peter 1:4). Nothing can separate yo from God s love (Romans 8:39). No one can snatch yo ot of His hand (John 10:28). If yo are trly born again, yor relationship with God is settled no matter what yo or anyone else might do. Let me give yo an illstration. Yo know the fairy tale of the princess who decided to kiss a frog? When she kisses the frog, it changes into a handsome prince. Now imagine they go ot to dinner to celebrate at a fancy restarant and sddenly a fly starts to bzz arond their table. The prince leaps ot of his chair and catches the fly with his tonge. Does his frog-like behavior make him a frog again? No, he s still a prince. He s jst acting like a frog. That s how it is when we sin as Christians. It doesn t mean we have gone back to being a sinner. We are still saints. We re jst acting like sinners. When we do wrong, we need simply to go to or loving Father, agree with Him that we were wrong, change or thinking abot the sin, trn away from it, and know or sin is already forgiven becase of Christ s death. The trth is: nothing yo do can make God love yo any more or any less. If yo were the only person in the whole world who needed Christ to die, He wold have died jst for yo. That s how special yo are! On pages of yor Participant s Gide yo will find the Who I Am In Christ list. We ve taken a variety of verses from the Bible that tell s who we really are if we have decided to follow Jess and we ve pt them in the I form. Let s read them alod together: 61

16 SESSION 1 WHO AM I? I Am Accepted I renonce the lie that I am rejected, nloved, or shamefl. In Christ I am accepted. God says: I am God s child. I am Christ s friend. I have been jstified. I am nited with the Lord and I am one spirit with Him. I have been boght with a price: I belong to God. 9 SLIDES IN TOTAL I am a member of Christ s body. I am a saint, a holy one. I have been adopted as God s child. I have direct access to God throgh the Holy Spirit. I have been redeemed and forgiven of all my sins. I am complete in Christ. I Am Secre Some may not be familiar with the word renonce. It wold be worth checking that it is nderstood. If yo prefer, yo cold se an alternative sch as reject, refse, or say no to. I renonce the lie that I am gilty, nprotected, alone, or abandoned. In Christ I am secre. God says: I am free from condemnation. I am assred that all things work together for good. I am free from any condemning charges against me. I cannot be separated from the love of God. I have been established, anointed, and sealed by God. I am confident that the good work God has begn in me will be perfected. I am a citizen of heaven. I am hidden with Christ in God. I have not been given a spirit of fear, bt of power, love, and self-control. I can find grace and mercy to help in time of need. I am born of God and the evil one cannot toch me. 62

17 I Am Significant I renonce the lie that I am worthless, inadeqate, helpless, or hopeless. In Christ I am significant. God says: I am the salt of the earth and the light of the world. I am a branch of the tre vine, Jess, a channel of His life. I have been chosen and appointed by God to bear frit. I am a personal, Spirit-empowered witness of Christ s. I am a temple of God. I am a minister of reconciliation for God. I am a fellow worker with God. I am seated with Christ in the heavenly realms. I am God s workmanship, created for good works. I may approach God with freedom and confidence. I can do all things throgh Christ who strengthens me! I am not the great I Am, bt by the grace of God I am what I am. Yo may have been sitting here thinking Does all this apply to me? If yo are a Christian the answer is a definite yes bt if yo are not a Christian it doesn t. If yo are not qite sre yo are a Christian or yo know yo are not, it s very easy for yo to make a decision to make Jess the Lord of yor life. Yo can do it simply by asking for the forgiveness of yor sins and accepting the free gift of life He came to give. Yo can do that by speaking to Him in yor own heart. If yo want to, yo can pray it with me. Let s pray: Thank Yo, Jess, for dying in my place to take away all of my sin. Right now I accept Yor free gift of life. I choose to make Yo Lord of my life so that I can become someone completely new. Thank Yo that I belong to Yo and now I am Yor child. If yo prayed that prayer for the first time, go and tell someone. It will make their day. It means that the list of Biblical facts we read now definitely apply to yo. 63

18 SESSION 1 WHO AM I? There was a pastor who loved skiing. One season he was given a brand new electronic pass yo don t even have to take ot of yor pocket to get throgh the gate to the ski lift. Bt sometimes when he tried to go throgh the gate the screen said not valid. However, he fond that if he jmped arond in front of the gate long enogh, it wold eventally let him throgh. He finally discovered the problem. In another pocket in his ski jacket, he was carrying the old card from the previos year and the machine was sometimes reading the old card rather than the new one. The moment he got rid of the old card, the problem disappeared. As a believer in Christ yo now have a new card, a new identity. Get rid of yor old way of thinking becase yor old identity has gone and yor new identity has come. Begin to recognize who yo really are in Christ! REFLECTION OBJECTIVE: TO HELP PEOPLE GRASP THE TRUTHS IN THE WHO I AM IN CHRIST LIST AT A DEEPER LEVEL. Leader s NoteS: HEARing someone else read these trths specifically to yo is a powerfl way of grasping them. encorage people to face each other and look at each other as they speak. ASK THEM to speak slowly, deliberately, and meaningflly. Some will find this a little ncomfortable bt it can be incredibly powerfl.? REFLECTION Get together with one other person and have the first person read the Who I Am In Christ statements to the other changing I am to Yo are. Then swap arond. Spend a few mintes discssing the statements and the verses they are based on. Share which ones impacted yo and why. Spend some time praying for each other, that yo will have a deeper nderstanding that yor significance, secrity, and acceptance are fond in Him. 64

19 WITNESS If yo were asked by a neighbor to explain the difference between a Christian and someone who is not yet a Christian, what wold yo say? Do yo think that a Christian is in any way better than a non-christian? What wold yo say to someone who asks yo, Why shold I become a Christian? IN THE COMING WEEK Read the Who I Am In Christ list ot lod every day. Then pick one of the trths that is particlarly meaningfl to yo and spend some time reading it in its context and asking God to help yo nderstand it more flly. 65

20 Who I Am In Christ I Am Accepted I renonce the lie that I am rejected, nloved, or shamefl. In Christ I am accepted. God says: I am God s child (John 1:12) I am Christ s friend (John 15:5) I have been jstified (Romans 5:1) I am nited with the Lord and I am one spirit with Him (1 Corinthians 6:17) I have been boght with a price: I belong to God (1 Corinthians 6:19 20) I am a member of Christ s body (1 Corinthians 12:27) I am a saint, a holy one (Ephesians 1:1) I have been adopted as God s child (Ephesians 1:5) I have direct access to God throgh the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 2:18) I have been redeemed and forgiven of all my sins (Colossians 1:14) I am complete in Christ (Colossians 2:10) I Am Secre I renonce the lie that I am gilty, nprotected, alone, or abandoned. In Christ I am secre. God says: I am free from condemnation (Romans 8:1 2) I am assred that all things work together for good (Romans 8:28) I am free from any condemning charges against me (Romans 8:31 34) I cannot be separated from the love of God (Romans 8:35 39) I have been established, anointed, and sealed by God (2 Corinthians 1:21 22) I am confident that the good work God has begn in me will be perfected (Philippians 1:6) I am a citizen of heaven (Philippians 3:20) I am hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3) I have not been given a spirit of fear, bt of power, love, and self-control (2 Timothy 1:7) I can find grace and mercy to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:16) I am born of God and the evil one cannot toch me (1 John 5:18) 66

21 I Am Significant I renonce the lie that I am worthless, inadeqate, helpless, or hopeless. In Christ I am significant. God says: I am the salt of the earth and the light of the world (Matthew 5:13 14) I am a branch of the tre vine, Jess, a channel of His life (John 15:1,5) I have been chosen and appointed by God to bear frit (John 15:16) I am a personal, Spirit-empowered witness of Christ s (Acts 1:8) I am a temple of God (1 Corinthians 3:16) I am a minister of reconciliation for God (2 Corinthians 5:17 21) I am a fellow worker with God (2 Corinthians 6:1) I am seated with Christ in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 2:6) I am God s workmanship, created for good works (Ephesians 2:10) I may approach God with freedom and confidence (Ephesians 3:12) I can do all things throgh Christ who strengthens me! (Philippians 4:13) I am not the great I Am, bt by the grace of God I am what I am. (See Exods 3:14; John 8:24, 28, 58; 1 Corinthians 15:10.) 67

22