The document discusses how people can change when they internalize the message of the cross (CROSS). It says that because Christ lives in us, we have everything we need to respond to daily challenges in new ways. We must consistently ask where God is calling us to respond differently and help others recognize Christ's practical importance. The document prompts reflection on specific areas where we fail to let the cross shape our lives and how we would change if we lived in a more cross-centered way. It emphasizes that with Christ within us, we have new identity, wisdom, strength and character at our disposal.

1. How People Change

2. AT A
GLANCE:
HOW PEOPLE
CHANGE

3. Lesson 7:
CROSS 1:
New Identity and New Potential

4. CPR Preview
• Central Point: Because Christ now lives in me, I
have everything I need to respond in new ways to
what I face daily.
• Personal Application: I must consistently ask
where God is calling me to respond to the heat in
my life with a CROSS-centered perspective.
• Relational Application: I must help others
recognize the practical daily importance of
remembering that Christ lives in them.

5. The Big Question
In what specific ways are you failing to
let the CROSS shape your situations
and relationships? What would change
in these areas if you lived in a more
CROSS-centered way?

6. Scriptural Background:
Your potential: the indwelling Christ
• Galatians 2:20:
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who
live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live
in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who
loved me and gave himself for me.

7. Illustrations

8. Group Discussions
• Homework Discussion

9. Central Point, Personal Application,
and Relational Application (CPR)
Central Point:
• Because I died with Christ, sin’s dominion over
me has been broken.
• My heart, once controlled by sin, is now the
dwelling place of the Lord Jesus Christ.
• I now live by a new principle: the principle of
the grace and power of Christ who lives within
me.

10. CPR
Personal Application:
• I must remember that I am not the same as I
once was. I have been forever changed by
Christ’s work on the CROSS.
• I have potential for amazing change and
growth because Christ lives within me.
• Because Christ lives within me, I have his
wisdom, strength, and character at my
disposal.

11. CPR
Relational Application:
• I want to help others recognize that the CROSS
guarantees that they are constitutionally
changed; they are not what they once were.
• I want to help others grasp the hope and
potential that is theirs because Christ lives within
them.
• I want to help others recognize where they have
failed to live out of the wisdom, strength, and
character that is theirs in Christ.

12. Make it Real (Homework)
Here is another opportunity to examine the
area you chose as your Personal Growth
Project. Think about what you have learned
about life in this fallen world, your own heart
and behavior, the consequences of your
choices and actions, and now, the amazing
heart- and life-changing grace of the Lord
Jesus. As you reflect on what you have
learned, begin thinking about how the CROSS
equips you to deal with your struggle. Use
these questions to guide your thoughts.

13. Make it Real (Homework)
• Where have you failed to recognize that sin’s power
over you has been broken, and you do not have to
give in to it any longer? How would embracing this
truth change the way you think and respond?
• Where have you failed to live up to your full
potential as a child of God? Where have you failed
to take advantage of the wisdom, strength and
character that is yours because Christ lives within
you? In what specific situations and relationships
do you have God-given opportunities to exercise
the new things that are yours in Christ?

14. Make it Real (Homework)
• Where have you been repeatedly tempted to forget
that the CROSS has fundamentally changed you, which
has led you to give in to old temptations and patterns?
How would remembering the CROSS lead to new ways
of dealing with these old things?
• Where, specifically, would a CROSS-centered
perspective change your relationships? (Forgiveness?
Patience and grace? Compassion and gentleness?
Making peace? Speaking the truth? Humble service?
Saying “no?”)
• Where is God calling you to new ways of living in the
middle of the same old stuff? Where do you need to
say, “I do not have to give in to that!” or “I have greater
potential than that!”