We are often quick to make judgments about people. We say that we believe in forgiveness and the transforming power of God, but then so often, the church acts as if we do not believe it. People who make mistakes are forever labeled by their mistakes. We believe God forgives and forgets, but while we say we forgive them, we seem unable to forget. Listen to some of the predictions or judgments that were made about some very famous people. Can you guess who is being referred to?

1. “We don’t like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out.”
2. “We don’t need you. You haven’t got through college yet.'”
3. ‘Far too noisy…Far too many notes.’
4. ‘I watched his countenance closely, to see if he was not deranged … and I was assured by other senators after he left the room that they had no confidence in it’.
5. “You ain’t going nowhere, son. You ought to go back to driving a truck.”
6. “You better learn secretarial work or else get married.”
7. “It doesn’t matter what he does, he will never amount to anything.”
8. “You have a chip on your tooth, your Adam’s apple sticks out too far and you talk too slow. “
9. “Can’t Act. Slightly Bald. Also Dances.”

Answers

1. Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962.
2. Rejection of Apple Computer Inc. founder Steve Jobs on attempts to get Atari and HP interested in his and Steve Wozniak’s personal computer.
3. Emperor Ferdinand of Austria referring to Mozart, 1786.
4. U.S. Senator Smith of Indiana, after witnessing a demonstration of Samuel Morse’s telegraph, 1842.
5. Jim Denny, manager of the Grand Ole Opry, in firing Elvis Presley after a performance, 1954.
6. Director of the Blue Book Modeling Agency, advising Marilyn Monroe, 1944.
7. Albert Einstein’s teacher to his father in 1895.
8. Universal Pictures executive to Clint Eastwood
9. Review of Fred Astaire’s Original Screen Test, January 1933.

Fortunately, God has much more accurate predictions about our future.

Jeremiah 29:11-14 (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. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”

So as you start the New Year, listen to God. Don’t listen to the voices of discouragement, but to the great encourager, the one who knew you before you were even born. The key to realizing God’s plan for you, of release from whatever captivity you may be in, of restoration to God and his place for you is to seek Him with all your heart. When you do, you not only find him, you also find yourself!

200 page e-book that explains everything you need to know when planning your very own object lessons. It contains 90 fully developed object lesson ideas and another 200 object lesson starter ideas based on Biblical idioms and Names / Descriptions of God.

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