Sessions Include:

Lesson #1
Why God Made You
2 Corinthians 5.17; Ephesians 2.10

Lesson #2
The Me I Don’t Want to Be
Matthew 6.1 - 18

Lesson #3
Discover the Flow
John 7.37 - 39

Lesson #4
Find Out How You Grow
1 Samuel 17.38ff

Lesson #5
Surrender
1 Kings 20.4

Lesson #6
Try Softer
Luke 17.7 – 10; Matthew 7.3 – 5

Lesson #7
Let Your Desires Lead You to God
Psalm 40.8; James 1.17; 1 Timothy 6.17; Exodus 34.21

Lesson #8
Think Great Thoughts
Romans 12.2

Lesson #9
Feed Your Mind Excellent Thoughts
Psalm 1.1 – 3; Philippians 4.8

Lesson #10
Never Worry Alone
Mark 4.35 - 41

Lesson #11
Let Your Talking Flow Into Praying
1 Thessalonians 5.17

Lesson #12
Temptation: How to Not Get Hooked
1 Corinthians 10.12 - 13

Lesson #13
Recognizing Your Primary Flow Blocker
Jeremiah 17.9; Luke 15.11 - 32

Lesson #14
When You Are Out of the Flow, Jump Back In
Psalm 139.23; Psalm 19.9 - 14

Lesson #15
Trying to Go Off the Deep End with God
Matthew 6.6; Psalm 103.1 - 4

Lesson #16
Make Life-Giving Relationships a Top Priority
Matthew 22.37 – 40; Ephesians 5.25 – 27; Ephesians 4.16

Lesson #17
Be Human
Romans 15.7; James 5.16

Lesson #18
Find a Few Difficult People to Help You Grow
Matthew 5.43 - 48

The Me I Want to Be / Lesson #19
Let God Flow in Your Work
Exodus 35.30 – 35; Ecclesiastes 3.22

The Me I Want to Be / Lesson #20
Let Your Work Honor God
Colossians 3.23 – 24; Genesis 24.12, 19

The Me I Want to Be / Lesson #20
Let Your Work Honor God
Colossians 3.23 – 24; Genesis 24.12, 19

The Me I Want to Be / Lesson #21
You Have to Go Through Exile
Romans 5.1 - 5

The Me I Want to Be / Lesson #22
Ask for a Mountain Numbers 13.26 – 33; Joshua 14.6 - 14

The battle against temptation is a noble fight, but if we simply try to repress a desire, it will wear us out. We need to have a very clear picture of what kind of person we want to become, and why. For instance, one day I wrote down all the reasons why I would like to handle sexuality in an honorable way: what it might do to my wife if I didn’t, how my children would be affected, what would happen to my work and ministry, how it would feel to be haunted by guilt and failure, and the inability of sexual gratification to last.

Job put it this way: “I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl.” I deliberately seek to not look at a woman who is not my wife for the purpose of deriving sexual gratification. Suppose I am at a health club and out of the corner of my eye I see a woman and think that if I look over at her, then maybe I’ll be able to experience a little sexual pleasure. The next thought that comes because of what Job said is, I don’t have to look. I can not look. The thought that follows is, Instead of missing out on a little thrill, by not looking I will have a power I didn’t know I had. I can be free, and that freedom produced by the Spirit feels good.

Real freedom is not the external freedom to gratify every appetite; it is the internal freedom not to be enslaved by our appetites.

Temptation promises that we can be free to gratify our appetites as much as we want. See a fly, want a fly, eat a fly. Temptation promises freedom, but it makes us a slave. There is always a hook. Real freedom is not the external freedom to gratify every appetite; it is the internal freedom not to be enslaved by our appetites, to have a place to stand so that we are not mastered by them. For we are something more than a stomach, a mouth, and a pair of eyes.

Monitor Your Soul Satisfaction

When we are hungry, anything on the menu looks good. When our soul is dissatisfied, sin begins to look tempting. That is why it is important to notice the level of soul satisfaction in our life.

On the dashboard of any car are certain lights that tell us how hot the engine is running or when we are about to run out of oil. They are commonly called “idiot lights” — I suppose because only an idiot would ignore them. Likewise, the main light on the dashboard of our heart is our “soul satisfaction” light. This is why in the Bible there are so many commandments that call us to joy: “The joy of the LORD is your strength” and “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!”

Why do intelligent people keep getting hooked? What makes those with high IQs so vulnerable to temptation, when it is obviously such a dumb step? We become vulnerable to temptation when we are dissatisfied with our lives. The deeper our dissatisfaction, the deeper our vulnerability, because we were made for soul satisfaction. We cannot live without it. If we do not find soul satisfaction in God, we will look for it somewhere else, because we will look for it.

John Ortberg, The Me I Want to Be: Becoming God’s Best Version of You (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2009), 12–13.

If you would like to explore this new study, it is available on Amazon, as well as part of Good Questions Have Groups Talking

Why Study Books?

My church recently transitioned to using books as curriculum in our Sunday School. The reason is simple. My life has been profoundly influenced by the reading of books. I don’t think my life has ever been changed by any curriculum piece I have ever read. Ever.

I have actually surveyed a number of groups I have taught over the years, asking: Has your life ever been changed by any curriculum? The most common response is for people to laugh out loud.

Our first study was the Bless book by Dave and Jon Ferguson. It is a great study on relational lifestyle evangelism. About half-way through the the study, we did a survey to help determine what we would study next. No one wanted to go back to the curriculum. Not. One. Person.

The #1 choice for what to study next was a tie:

• John Ortberg’s The Me I Want to Be
• My recently released book, The 21 Laws of Discipleship

We will be studying these two books over the next year and a half or so. Here is what Amazon says about Ortberg’s book:

The Me I Want to Be will help you discover spiritual vitality like never before as you learn to "live in the flow of the spirit."

Why does spiritual growth seem so difficult?

God's vision for your life is not just that you are saved by grace, but that you also learn to live by grace, flourishing with the Spirit flowing through you. And this book will show how God's perfect vision for you starts with a powerful promise: All those who trust in God "will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit" (Jeremiah 17:7-8).

Pastor and best-selling author John Ortberg first helps gauge your spiritual health and measure the gap between where you are now and where God intends you to be. Then he provides detailed tasks and exercises to help you live in the flow of the Spirit, circumventing real-world barriers - pain and sorrow, temptations, self-doubt, sin - to flourish even in a dark and broken world.

As you start living in the flow, you will feel:

• A deeper connection with God
• A growing sense of joy
• An honest recognition of your brokenness
• Less fear and more trust
• A growing sense of being "rooted in love"
• And a deeper sense of purpose.

God invites you to join him in crafting an abundant and joy-filled life. The Me I Want to Be shows you how to graciously accept his invitation.

I have just completed a new, 22-week study of John Ortberg’s book, The Me I Want to Be that we will be using in my church. (I had previously done a 7-week study.)

I have always thought that using books as a curriculum would be a good idea, and I have written a lot of book studies over the years. One of the things that actually using books as curriculum caused me to realize has to do with cost. By writing a study on every chapter of this book, instead of my previous study that had a lesson for every section, the cost drops to below what we were paying for curriculum. Better curriculum. Cheaper cost. Win. Win.