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    Altar Ego Bible Study Guide: Becoming Who God Says You Are
    Altar Ego Bible Study Guide: Becoming Who God Says You Are
    Altar Ego Bible Study Guide: Becoming Who God Says You Are
    Ebook90 pages1 hour

    Altar Ego Bible Study Guide: Becoming Who God Says You Are

    By Craig Groeschel and Christine Anderson

    4.5/5

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    About this ebook

    Discover your true identity in Christ.

    Many of us live for approval of others. The problem is that living for what people think of you is the quickest way to forget what God thinks of you.

    In this 5-session video study guide (DVD/digital video sold separately), pastor and author of Winning the War in Your Mind Craig Groeschel shows individuals and small groups how to abandon self-worth based on accomplishments and possessions, turning instead to God to find out who we are.

    You'll learn to expose false labels and selfish motives, sacrificing them on the altar of God's truth. As you discover your true identity in Christ, your altar ego will drive your actions, empowering you to live according to God's higher values with a deep confidence in His calling. Rather than living a timid, halfhearted, shallow cultural Christianity, you'll boldly live in the confidence of the God who believes in you.

    Are you willing to lay it all on the altar?

    The Altar Ego Bible Study Guide offers discussion questions and other supplemental material to delve further into God's divine plan, and will ultimately help you sacrifice any old, unhealthy, untrue, and unbiblical thoughts about yourself and introduce you to your altar-ego—who you are in Christ.

    Sessions include:

    • Overcoming the Labels that Bind You
    • You Are God's Masterpiece
    • Trading the Immediate for the Ultimate
    • Living with Integrity
    • Developing Spiritual Boldness

    Designed for use with Altar Ego Video Study 9780310894933 (sold separately).

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherZondervan
    Release dateApr 3, 2013
    ISBN9780310693024
    Altar Ego Bible Study Guide: Becoming Who God Says You Are
    Author

    Craig Groeschel

    New York Times bestselling author Craig Groeschel is the founding and senior pastor of Life.Church, which created the free YouVersion Bible App and is one of the largest churches in the world. He has written more than fifteen books and hosts the top-ranking Craig Groeschel Leadership Podcast. He speaks regularly for the Global Leadership Network, which reaches hundreds of thousands of leaders around the world annually. Craig and his wife, Amy, live in Oklahoma. Connect with Craig at www.craiggroeschel.com.

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    • 4/5
      Altar Ego by Craig Groeschel is one of those books that you can read repeatedly. I found his style to be very familiar, as if you were talking to a close friend, he is open and honest in telling you his story, not only revealing his vulnerabilities, but within this you gain insight into his strengths. This is one of those books that you consistently find nuggets of new revelation as you read, we share some of his embarrassing moments and most of all we share his triumphs that made him who he is today.At the start of the book Craig reminds us that we are not yet who we are called to be, and can all at times find value in the wrong places, putting on labels that do not capture who we truly are but those that are thrown at us by others. In his own life he allowed himself to go through a series of events to discover what God had placed within the core of who he truly was.The book is split up into three main parts - these are `Sacrificing your false self for your sacred identity', `Sacrificing cultural relativity for Eternal values' and `Sacrificing self justification for passionate obedience' these are then further broken down into chapters encouraging you to step outside of the labels and live with integrity and truth. In each chapter Craig invites us to dive deeper into our true calling.Who has God called you to be?It is a question at some point in your life you will find yourself asking and to have a clear understanding you have to lay down every negative behavior, comment and mindset and make a commitment to change, essentially you have to be consistent with the time you spend with God.It was my first time reading one of his books and he has authored many others which I am assuming are equally thought provoking and gem filled. The only thing I was disappointed about was when the book came to an end! Grieg really has an engaging style that leaves you feeling encouraged and blessed. If you are looking for a deeper understanding of what God is doing in your life and has called you to be then you will want to read this book, if you are ready for a change or you are in the idle you will want to read this book. If you don't know what the fuss is all about and would just like to read a good book, then you've guessed it! You will want to read this book.About the AuthorCraig Groeschel is the founding and senior pastor of LifeChurchtv, he is the author of several books including Soul Detox, Weird, the Christian Atheist and It. He lives in Edmond, Oklahoma with his wife, Amy, and their six children.

    Book preview

    Altar Ego Bible Study Guide - Craig Groeschel

    SESSION 1

    OVERCOMING THE

    LABELS THAT BIND YOU

    World conditions are constantly at work eroding the high profile specifics of each person into a flat and featureless generality, identified by label: Introvert, Elder Material, Ectomorph, Unsaved, Anorexic, Bipolar, Single Parent, Diabetic, Tither, Left-brained. The labels are marginally useful for understanding some aspect of the human condition, but the moment they are used to identify a person, they obscure … the unprecedented, unrepeatable soul addressed by God.

    EUGENE H. PETERSON, SUBVERSIVE SPIRITUALITY

    Welcome (5 Minutes)

    Welcome to Session 1 of Altar Ego. If this is your first time together as a group, take a moment to introduce yourselves to each other before watching the video. Then let’s get started!

    Video: Overcoming the Labels that Bind You (12 Minutes)

    Play the video segment for Session 1. As you watch, use the accompanying outline to follow along or to take notes on anything that stands out to you.

    Notes

    Negative labels: You are not who others say you are.

    [Your Notes]

    God’s truth is bigger than other people’s opinions about you.

    [Your Notes]

    An altar ego is who God says you are.

    [Your Notes]

    Two helpful thoughts to establish a God-centered view:

    1. God can give you a new name.

    [Your Notes]

    You will be called by a new name that the mouth of the LORD will bestow (Isaiah 62:2).

    [Your Notes]

    You will grow into your new name.

    [Your Notes]

    2. God will give you a new purpose.

    [Your Notes]

    Simon means unpredictable, unstable, unfaithful. Jesus gave Simon the new name Peter, which means rock.

    [Your Notes]

    God often takes our greatest weakness and makes it our greatest strength.

    [Your Notes]

    It’s time for you to become who God says you are.

    [Your Notes]

    Group Discussion (40 Minutes)

    Take a few minutes to talk about what you just watched.

    1. What part of the teaching had the most impact on you?

    [Your Response]

    The Labeled Life

    2. Briefly recall a few of the people you encountered in the last day or two — family, friends, neighbors, coworkers, restaurant or store staff, strangers you passed in your daily travels, etc.

    •  What labels went through your mind as you encountered these people? Consider positive, negative, and neutral labels. For example: team player (positive), freeloader (negative), clerk (neutral).

    [Your Response]

    •  What similarities and differences do you see between the labels you applied to people over the last day or two and the labels you imagine these same people may have applied to you?

    [Your Response]

    •  When you think about any negative labels you may have for people you know well, what makes it especially difficult for you to let those labels go or to see the unprecedented, unrepeatable soul behind the label?

    [Your Response]

    3. Craig described struggling with two kinds of labels: idealized, people-pleasing labels like good son and good student; and negative, confining labels like tightwad and Scrooge. He failed to live up to the idealized labels and couldn’t seem to live down the negative ones.

    •  What labels come to mind when you think about your own struggles? For example, what idealized images have you wanted people to believe about you so you could fit in and win approval? What negative characterizations have left you feeling trapped by past behavior?

    [Your Response]

    •  How have these idealized or negative labels — which are largely about how others see you — impacted the way you see yourself? For example, how might they have led to self-defeating thought patterns that keep you stuck or mental labels that you use to beat yourself up?

    [Your Response]

    Altar Ego

    4. The alternative to a labeled life is an altar ego. Developing an altar ego requires sacrificing false labels in order to discover your true identity in Christ. The apostle Paul describes how this happens in his letter to the church at Colossae:

    Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:1 – 3 NLT).

       When Paul writes that our real life is hidden, he uses the Greek word krypto. Krypto is the root word for several English words, including the word encrypt, which means to encode and make secret. Encryption is a form of protection — it guards sensitive information by making it inaccessible to anyone who doesn’t have the key to unlock the code.

    •  How does the idea of encryption help you to understand what it might mean that your real

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