Are You Ready?

Matthew 17:15-21

15 “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and suffers terribly. He often falls into the fire and often into the water. 16 I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not heal him.”

17 Then Jesus answered, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me.” 18 Jesus rebuked the demon, and he came out of him. And the child was healed instantly.

19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast him out?”

20 Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief. For truly I say to you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. And nothing will be impossible for you. 21 But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”

Lessons Learned

Why did Jesus' work begin when He was 30? Why did He go through the wilderness experience? Why did Jesus spend long nights in prayer? The above story demonstrates the power of preparation.  It is very difficult for a captive to set another captive free. Like the disciples, many Christians want to enter battles they are not adequately prepared to fight, which results in them providing far more harm than they do help.

Jesus was able to face this situation because he had spent the majority of His life learning. He had been tested in the wilderness, and He continued to fortify Himself through prayer and study. Those who seek to set others free must be free themselves. They cannot have the same physical, mental, and spiritual chains others have. They cannot have the same habits. Those who liberate the captives have a different mindset and a different approach to life. They have prepared in ways others have not and are able to accomplish tasks others find difficult to accomplish.

1. What type of mindset do you need to set the captives you see free?

2. What type of preparation will help you develop this mindset?

3. What resources do you need to begin this preparation?

4. How committed are you to investing the resources to get prepared?

Lessons Applied

I ask myself often, "Am I really committed to putting in the work?" The wilderness experience can be harsh. The isolated moments of preparation can be long and lonely.  Many of us feel that because it is easy to identify the problem, it is easy to implement the solution. It can take years to become an overnight success.

Last Week

In our last discussion, we concluded that the most powerful change a person can make is not in the life of another, but in the life of one's self. It is easy to focus on what is wrong with another person's beliefs or actions when you measure the world against your own narrative. However, we challenged you to understand the narratives of others before you seek to define or label them. We also challenged you to impact the lives of others by allowing them to experience the change in you and the blessings of your life.

 Are You Vested?

Galatians 6:9

And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

Luke 4:18-19

18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,

19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

Lessons Learned

Jesus declared that He was sent to set captives free. Captivity does not happen in an instant. It usually occurs over time and has very deep physical, mental, and spiritual implications. It it is not easy to take a person captive, then it is also not easy to set the captive free. Jesus encountered people who were enslaved by abusive regimes that had designed laws and enforcement  methods to subjugate them for generations. He engaged people who were bound by religious beliefs meant to limit their potential all their lives. He interacted with people plagued by mental illnesses that others did not understand and did not want to treat. All of these people were captives who needed understanding, love, and long term help.

As we studied in the previous lesson, helping someone requires you to understand their condition, develop a solution to that condition, and work to apply that solution. This process can be laborious, time consuming, and exhausting. However, the process is the process and Paul challenges us not to get weary doing what God has commissioned us to do. He told us that our season of reaping the benefits of our actions will come. We just cannot lose heart. We cannot give up. We cannot faint.

1. What captivity do you see around you?

2. What physical, spiritual, or mental tools are used to create the captivity you see?

3. What can be done to free the captive?

4. What investment of resources is needed to accomplish this?

5. How committed are you to investing the necessary resources to set the captive free?

Lessons Applied

Introduction

Everyday we are reminded that someone somewhere is hurting. We see the hurt when we turn on our televisions, open our social media, or pickup a newspaper. We witness hurt driving the streets of our city or interacting with our friends and family. We see so much of it we often become desensitized. The man begging us for some change becomes just as inanimate to us as the stop sign beside him. The woman lying on the street in the corner of a building is as lifeless to us as the pavement that has become her bed. War torn cities and homes ravaged by natural disasters are everyday occurrences we have come to expect. All the diseases, violence, abuse, conflict, and pain around us can become too much for our senses to capture and our minds to comprehend.  However, we have been challenged not to give up. We have been admonished to keep caring, praying, and helping. WHY?

Faint Not

Chapter 4

Are You Resilient?

II Corinthians 4:8 - 10

8 We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; 10 and always carrying around in the body the death of the Lord Jesus, that also the life of Jesus might be expressed in our bodies.

Lessons Learned

Setting the captives free is an uphill battle. It is often arduous, time consuming, and isolating.  People will not understand what you are doing and why you are doing it. You will not only be attacked by the oppressor you seek to overcome, you will be attacked by the oppressed you seek to set free. You will be praised one day and berated the next, often out of the mouths of the same people. As Paul asserts in the text, you will not be distressed, in despair, forsaken, or destroyed. You will be loved, kept, and supported by the Creator of the universe.

1. What are you willing to endure for this cause?

2. What are you willing to give for this cause?

3. For you, what reward do you seek for what you will give and what you will endure?

Lessons Applied