Story #2: Adulterous woman

1. What are we thankful for?

2. What are we struggling with?

3. How did your living it out and sharing go this past week?

Adulterous Woman’s New Identity Story

Write your text here...“Jesus walked up the Mount of Olives near the city where he spent the night. Then at dawn Jesus appeared in the temple courts again, and soon all the people gathered around to listen to his words, so he sat down and taught them. Then in the middle of his teaching, the religious scholars and the Pharisees broke through the crowd and brought a woman who had been caught in the act of committing adultery and made her stand in the middle of everyone. Then they said to Jesus, “Teacher, we caught this woman in the very act of adultery. Doesn’t Moses’ law command us to stone to death a woman like this? Tell us, what do you say we should do with her?” They were only testing Jesus because they hoped to trap him with his own words and accuse him of breaking the laws of Moses. But Jesus didn’t answer them. Instead, he simply bent down and wrote in the dust with his finger. Angry, they kept insisting that he answer their question, so Jesus stood up and looked at them and said, “Let’s have the man who has never had a sinful desire throw the first stone at her.” And then he bent over again and wrote some more words in the dust. Upon hearing that, her accusers slowly left the crowd one at a time, beginning with the oldest to the youngest, with a convicted conscience. Until finally, Jesus was left alone with the woman still standing there in front of him. So, he stood back up and said to her, “Dear woman, where are your accusers? Is there no one here to condemn you?” Looking around, she replied, “I see no one, Lord.” Jesus said, “Then I certainly don’t condemn you either. Go, and from now on, be free from a life of sin.” (John 8:1-11 TPT)

4. What does this story tell us about the adulterous woman’s new identity?

5. Imagine God is speaking something to you from this story: What do you sense God saying to you?

6. After reading this story, what can you do to live it out?

7. Who can you show Jesus’ love or share with this week?

Story #3: Jacob

1. What are we thankful for?

2. What are we struggling with?

3. How did your living it out and sharing go this past week?

Jacob’s New Identity Story

God said to Jacob, “Go back home where you were born. I’ll go with you.” Then Jacob sent messengers on ahead to his brother Esau. The messengers came back to Jacob and said, “We talked to your brother Esau and he’s on his way to meet you. But he has four hundred men with him.” Jacob was scared. Very scared. Jacob prayed, “God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, God who told me, ‘Go back to your parents’ homeland and I’ll treat you well.’ I don’t deserve all the love and loyalty you’ve shown me. When I left here and crossed the Jordan, I only had the clothes on my back, and now look at me—two camps! Save me, please, from the violence of my brother, my angry brother! I’m afraid he’ll come and attack us all, me, the mothers, and the children. You said, ‘I will treat you well; I’ll make your descendants like the sands of the sea, far too many to count.’”

He slept the night there. The next day he decided to prepare a present for his brother Esau from his possessions: two hundred female goats, twenty male goats, two hundred sheep and twenty rams, thirty camels, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys, and ten male donkeys (how’s that for a present)! He sent the gifts ahead of him to his brother thinking: “When he sees me face-to-face, maybe he’ll be glad to welcome me.” So his gifts went before him while he settled down for the night in the camp. During the night he got up and took his family and crossed the Jabbok River with them. After taking them to the other side, he sent over all his possessions.

Jacob stayed behind by himself, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When the man saw that he couldn’t get the best of Jacob as they wrestled, he deliberately threw Jacob’s hip out of joint. The man said, “Let me go; it’s daybreak.” Jacob said, “I’m not letting you go ‘til you bless me.” The man said, “What’s your name?” He answered, “Jacob.” The man said, “But no longer. Your name is no longer Jacob. From now on, it’s Israel (God-Wrestler); you’ve wrestled with God, and you’ve come through.”Jacob asked, “And what’s your name?” The man said, “Why do you want to know my name?” And then, right then and there, He blessed him. Jacob named the place Peniel (God’s Face) because, he said, “I saw God face-to-face and lived to tell the story!” Then Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming with his 400 men. But when he got there, Esau ran to meet him and embraced him, threw his arms around his neck, and kissed him. And they both wept.” (Genesis 32/33:1-4 The Message)

4. What does this story tell us about Jacob’s new identity?

5. Imagine God is speaking something to you from this story: What do you sense God saying to you?

6. After reading this story, what can you do to live it out?

7. Who can you show Jesus’ love or share with this week?

Story #4 Paul

1. What are we thankful for?

2. What are we struggling with?

3. How did your living it out and sharing go this past week?

Paul's New Identity Story

Meanwhile, Saul was uttering threats with every breath and was eager to kill the Lord’s followers. As he was approaching Damascus on this mission, a light from heaven suddenly shone down around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?” “Who are you, lord?” Saul asked. The voice replied, “I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting! Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

The men with Saul stood speechless, for they heard the sound of someone’s voice but saw no one! Saul picked himself up off the ground, but when he opened his eyes, he was blind. So, his companions led him by the hand to Damascus. He remained there blind for three days and did not eat or drink.

Now there was a believer in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord spoke to him in a vision, calling, “Ananias!”

“Yes, Lord!” he replied. The Lord said, “Go over to Straight Street, to the house of Judas. When you get there, ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul. He is praying to me right now. I have shown him a vision of a man named Ananias coming in and laying hands on him so he can see again.” “But Lord,” exclaimed Ananias, “I’ve heard many people talk about the terrible things this man has done to the believers in Jerusalem! And he is authorized by the leading priests to arrest everyone who calls upon your name.” But the Lord said, “Go, for Saul is my chosen instrument to take my message to the Gentiles and kings, as well as to the people of Israel. And I will show him how much he must suffer for my name’s sake.”

So, Ananias went and found Saul. He laid his hands on him and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road, has sent me so that you might regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Instantly something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he got up and was baptized. Afterward, he ate some food and regained his strength.

Saul stayed with the believers in Damascus for a few days. And immediately he began preaching about Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is indeed the Son of God!” All who heard him were amazed. “Isn’t this the same man who caused such devastation among Jesus’ followers in Jerusalem?” they asked. “And didn’t he come here to arrest them and take them in chains to the leading priests?”

Saul’s preaching became more and more powerful, and the Jews in Damascus couldn’t refute his proof that Jesus was indeed the Messiah. After a while, some of the Jews plotted together to kill him. They were watching for him day and night at the city gate so they could murder him, but Saul was told about their plot. So, during the night, some of the other believers lowered him in a large basket through an opening in the city wall.

Back in Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him. They didn’t trust him one bit. Then Barnabas took him under his wing. He introduced him to the apostles and stood up for him. He told them how Saul had seen and spoken to Jesus on the Damascus Road and how in Damascus itself he had laid his life on the line with his boldness in proclaiming the Message of Jesus. After that, he was accepted as one of them!

(Shortly after this, Saul started going by Paul, not only did this reflect his new identity, but also his mission and purpose. The name Paul meant “little or small” because he desired to become smaller so Jesus could become greater)! (Acts 8:1-4/9:1-28 NLT)

4. What does this story tell us about Paul’s new identity?

5. Imagine God is speaking something to you from this story: What do you sense God saying to you?

6. After reading this story, what can you do to live it out?

7. Who can you show Jesus’ love or share with this week?

Story #5 Moses

1. What are we thankful for?

2. What are we struggling with?

3. How did your living it out and sharing go this past week?

Moses's New Identity Story

Moses was shepherding the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. He led the flock to the west end of the wilderness and came to the mountain of God, Horeb. The angel of God appeared to him in flames of fire blazing out of the middle of a bush. He looked. The bush was blazing away but it didn’t burn up. Moses said, “What’s going on here? I can’t believe this! Amazing! Why doesn’t the bush burn up?” And when God saw that he had come to take a closer look, God called to him from out of the bush, “Moses! Moses!” “Here I am!” Moses replied. God said, “Don’t come any closer. Remove your sandals from your feet. You’re standing on holy ground.” Then he said, “I am the God of your father: The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.” Moses hid his face, afraid to look at God. God said, “I’ve taken a good, long look at the affliction of my people in Egypt. I’ve heard their cries for deliverance from their slave masters; I know all about their pain. And now I have come down to help them, to rescue them out of Egypt and bring them to a good land, a land lush with milk and honey. “The Israelite cry for help has come to me, and I’ve seen for myself how cruelly they’re being treated by the Egyptians. It’s time for you to go back: I’m sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the People of Israel, out of Egypt.” Moses answered God, “But why me? What makes you think that I could ever go to Pharaoh and lead the children of Israel out of Egypt?” “I’ll be with you,” God said. “And this will be the proof that I am the one who sent you: When you have brought my people out of Egypt, you will worship God right here at this very mountain.” Then Moses objected again and said to God, “Suppose I go to the People of Israel, and I tell them, ‘The God of your fathers sent me to you’; and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ What do I tell them?” God said to Moses, “I-AM-WHO-I-AM. Tell the People of Israel, ‘I-AM sent me to you.’” “Now be on your way. Gather the leaders of Israel. Tell them, ‘God, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, appeared to me, saying, “I’ve looked into what’s being done to you in Egypt, and I’ve determined to get you out of the affliction of Egypt and take you to the land brimming over with milk and honey.”’ “Believe me, they will listen to you. Then you and the leaders of Israel will go to the king of Egypt and say to him: ‘God, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness where we will worship God — our God.’ “I know that the king of Egypt won’t let you go unless forced to, so I’ll intervene and hit Egypt where it hurts—oh, my miracles will send them reeling!—after which they’ll be glad to send you off. I’ll see to it that this people get a hearty send-off by the Egyptians—when you leave, you won’t leave empty-handed! Each woman will ask her neighbor and any guests in her house for objects of silver and gold, for jewelry and extra clothes; you’ll put them on your sons and daughters.” (Exodus 3:1-22 The Message)

4. What does this story tell us about Moses’s new identity?

5. Imagine God is speaking something to you from this story: What do you sense God saying to you?

6. After reading this story, what can you do to live it out?

7. Who can you show Jesus’ love or share with this week?

Story #6 Mary

1. What are we thankful for?

2. What are we struggling with?

3. How did your living it out and sharing go this past week?

Mary’s New Identity Story

In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to the Galilean village of Nazareth to a virgin engaged to be married to a man descended from David. His name was Joseph, and the virgin’s name was Mary. Upon entering, Gabriel greeted her: Good morning! You’re beautiful with God’s beauty. Beautiful inside and out! God be with you.

She was thoroughly shaken, wondering what was behind a greeting like that. But the angel assured her, “Mary, you have nothing to fear. God has a surprise for you: You will become pregnant and give birth to a son and call his name Jesus. He will be great, be called Son of the Most High. God will give him the throne of his ancestor, David. He will reign over Israel forever; His Kingdom will never end!” Mary said to the angel, “But how? I’ve never slept with a man.”

The angel answered: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, the power of the Highest hover over you. Therefore, the child you bring to birth will be called Holy, Son of God.” “And did you know that your cousin Elizabeth conceived a son, old as she is? Everyone called her barren, and here she is, six months pregnant! Nothing, you see, is impossible with God.” Mary said, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.” And then the angel left her.

Then Mary responded with these words in a song: “Oh, how my soul praises the Lord. How my spirit rejoices in God my Savior! For he took notice of his lowly servant girl, and from now on all generations will call me blessed. For the Mighty One is holy, and he has done great things for me!” (Luke 1:26-38, 46-48).

4. What does this story tell us about Jacob’s new identity?

5. Imagine God is speaking something to you from this story: What do you sense God saying to you?

6. After reading this story, what can you do to live it out?

7. Who can you show Jesus’ love or share with this week?

Timothy's New Identity Story

Story #7 Timothy

1. What are we thankful for?

2. What are we struggling with?

3. How did your living it out and sharing go this past week?

Timothy, I thank God for you! I constantly remember you in my prayers. I long to see you again, for I remember your tears as we parted. And I will be filled with joy when we are together again. I remember your genuine faith, for you share the faith that first filled your grandmother Lois, and your mother, Eunice. I know that the same faith continues in you. This is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you. For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity but of power, love, and self-discipline.

So never be embarrassed or ashamed to speak up and tell others about our Lord. And don’t be ashamed of me, either, even though I’m in prison for him. Take your share of suffering for the Message along with the rest of us. We can only keep on going, after all, by the power of God, who first saved us and then called us to this holy work. We had nothing to do with it. It was all his idea, a gift prepared for us by Jesus long before we knew anything about it. But we know it now.

This is the Message I’ve been set apart to proclaim. It’s also the cause of all this trouble I’m in. I have no regrets. I couldn’t be more sure of my ground—the One I’ve trusted in can take care of what he’s trusted me to do right to the end.

So, keep at your work, spreading the love and message of Jesus, exactly as I set it out for you. It’s as sound as the day you first heard it from me. Guard this precious gift placed in you by the Holy Spirit who works in you!”

I’m sure you know by now that everyone in the province of Asia deserted me, but God bless Onesiphorus and his family! Many’s the time I’ve been refreshed in that house. And he wasn’t embarrassed a bit that I was in jail. The first thing he did when he got to Rome was look me up. May God on the Last Day treat him as well as he treated me. And then there was all the help he provided in Ephesus—but you know that better than I.”

(2 Timothy 1:3-18 The Message).

4. What does this story tell us about Timothy’s new identity?

5. Imagine God is speaking something to you from this story: What do you sense God saying to you?

6. After reading this story, what can you do to live it out?

7. Who can you show Jesus’ love or share with this week?

Suggested reading on New Identity

Living Fearless

Exchange the lies of the world for the liberating truth of God.

Jamie Winship