Identity Part 2: Removing Negative Labels

What Negative Label Follows Your Name?

__________________ the ____________________.

(Your name) (Label)

2 Corinthians 5:17 (NLT) Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

Genesis 25:26 (NIV) After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob.

When God is in Control

• You’ll get a new .

Genesis 32:24-25 (NLT) This left Jacob all alone in the camp, and a man came and wrestled with him until the dawn began to break. When the man saw that he would not win the match, he touched Jacob’s hip and wrenched it out of its socket.

Matthew 11:28-29 (NIV) Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

• You’ll get a new .

Genesis 32:27-28 (NLT) “What is your name?” the man asked. He replied, “Jacob.” “Your name will no longer be Jacob,” the man told him. “From now on you will be called Israel, because you have fought with God and with men and have won.”

• You’ll get a new .

Genesis 32:29 (NLT) “Please tell me your name,” Jacob said. “Why do you want to know my name?” the man replied. Then he blessed Jacob there.

Matthew 5:6 (NIV) Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

• You’ll get a new .

Matthew 16:17-18 (NIV) Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. 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.

• You’ll get a new .

Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV) “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.

Philippians 3:13-14 (NIV) Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

3 Truths to About Your New Name

1. precedes .

Psalm 51:17 (NIV) The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

1 Peter 5:5-6 (NIV) God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.

2. You must to .

Mark 8:34 (MSG) Calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, “Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You’re not in the driver’s seat; I am.”

Mark 8:35 (NLT) If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it.

3. When you find yourself on , you find .

Romans 12:1-2 (MSG) So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.