Real Talk
Rebuilding the Ancient Ruins
On the journey to freedom, nothing has the greater potential to weight us down then the family baggage.
Locations & Times
Steve's house
11201 Englewood Ct, Fredericksburg, VA 22407, USA
Tuesday 7:00 PM
Over the past few weeks we have discused what are the 5 Benefits of your covenant relationship with God.
1.To Know and Believe Him,
2.To Glorify God,
3. To find Satisfaction in God,
4. To experience Gods Peace,
5. To enjoy Gods presence.
We studied how Gods word testifies to His desire to bless us with these benefits and that really these benefits parallel what you would expect form any close and personal earthly relationship. We noted that if you don't feel like you could check off all 5 that maybe something is holding you back. Enter our last lesson on the five obstacles, the antonyms to our benefits:
1. Unbelief,
2. Pride,
3. Idolatry,
4. Prayerlessness,
5. Legalism.
I made a strong emphasis on prayer as I don't expect anyone can have an intimate relationship without talking to the other person. Plus we know to have freedom we must first have victory. Looking back at the Old Testament kings we see a pattern of those who turn to the Lord and "cried out" were delivered. Time after time it becomes apparent that God's people have the upper hand, sometimes not even going to war as in the case of Hezekiah. All this accumulates to these three principles:Cry out, Confess and Consent. This is where "Godly knowledge becomes wisdom, this is something you have to do not just know. Cry out to God like Hezekiah did when he laid the Assyria's letter of threats on the alter. Tell God what the enemy has said to you and about you. Confess your sins, tell Him what battles you've lost and what strongholds you have allowed the enemy to build on His territory (your body, your mind, your heart). Consent, agree with him, become a lover of truth by reading his word. When Jesus was tempted in the deserted he fired back at the Devil with scripture, not good intentions, not Facebook memes but Gods Word.
1.To Know and Believe Him,
2.To Glorify God,
3. To find Satisfaction in God,
4. To experience Gods Peace,
5. To enjoy Gods presence.
We studied how Gods word testifies to His desire to bless us with these benefits and that really these benefits parallel what you would expect form any close and personal earthly relationship. We noted that if you don't feel like you could check off all 5 that maybe something is holding you back. Enter our last lesson on the five obstacles, the antonyms to our benefits:
1. Unbelief,
2. Pride,
3. Idolatry,
4. Prayerlessness,
5. Legalism.
I made a strong emphasis on prayer as I don't expect anyone can have an intimate relationship without talking to the other person. Plus we know to have freedom we must first have victory. Looking back at the Old Testament kings we see a pattern of those who turn to the Lord and "cried out" were delivered. Time after time it becomes apparent that God's people have the upper hand, sometimes not even going to war as in the case of Hezekiah. All this accumulates to these three principles:Cry out, Confess and Consent. This is where "Godly knowledge becomes wisdom, this is something you have to do not just know. Cry out to God like Hezekiah did when he laid the Assyria's letter of threats on the alter. Tell God what the enemy has said to you and about you. Confess your sins, tell Him what battles you've lost and what strongholds you have allowed the enemy to build on His territory (your body, your mind, your heart). Consent, agree with him, become a lover of truth by reading his word. When Jesus was tempted in the deserted he fired back at the Devil with scripture, not good intentions, not Facebook memes but Gods Word.
Discussion: Do you like action movies? Do you like watching someone demonstrating high level training kick butt? Spiritually speaking are you highly trained or the one getting his butt kicked?
Know your craft.
The next leg of our journey to freedom is going to take us right through our home town. If we dare to break free and live the Spirit filled life we are meant to, we are going to have to exercise some courage. Here is a situation I'm willing to bet most of us relate to.
Gideon worked at night because he was scared of his family. Boy, I can relate. Maybe I'm not afraid for my life but I certainly don't mind dodging their judgement. This process is going to take courage, fortunately for us and unlike Gideon we are not slaves to fear. We will look at 4 types of courage below.
Before moving on let's just nail down some quick doctrine here. Sin and it's effects can be passed down.
Discussion: Can you recognize any inherited influences that may have enhanced or inhibited you from fulling knowing or experiencing the Five Benefits? ( i.e. character traits, personality, habits, sin habits) Can you relate this to one of the five obstacles?
Four types of courage:
1. Courage to believe we can be different.
We often feel family chains are just a part of us, who we are, in us.
1. Courage to believe we can be different.
We often feel family chains are just a part of us, who we are, in us.
In relation to God working on you have you ever said "its no use",or ever thought that way? I know I did. But I had to learn that what is in me is not binding chains but the Spirit of God. (1 Cor 3:15 and Rom 8:9) This means that I am changeable. I can be different, no matter how much I claim to be "just like my Dad" or "I got that from my mother".
Discussion; What are some scenarios or examples of generational bondage?
Here's the problem, when someone before us moves the boundary line it makes it a lot easier to wander ourselves. Keep this in mind, this is not about condemning the past it's about putting the boundary markers back for yourself and future generations.
2. Courage to be misunderstood.
We may be mistaken as: Traitors, Saviors or Fanatics.
Some are going to be mad. How do you think Gideon's Father felt about him tearing down his Idol. Consider that Gideon himself probably worshiped with him.
Some are going to look to you. It is a blessing to be called on to minister to your family but be careful. Those who don't truly believe or understand will try to make you their savior.
We may be mistaken as: Traitors, Saviors or Fanatics.
Some are going to be mad. How do you think Gideon's Father felt about him tearing down his Idol. Consider that Gideon himself probably worshiped with him.
Some are going to look to you. It is a blessing to be called on to minister to your family but be careful. Those who don't truly believe or understand will try to make you their savior.
3. The Courage to extract the precious from the worthless.
One of my relatives is a very godly person and seemed to have the gift of discernment. I thought I did too, but by uncoupling personal assumptions from this gift I've learned that we are both more judgmental then discerning. So I try to discard the judgmentalness, replace it with grace, and keep what I learned about critical thinking.
One of my relatives is a very godly person and seemed to have the gift of discernment. I thought I did too, but by uncoupling personal assumptions from this gift I've learned that we are both more judgmental then discerning. So I try to discard the judgmentalness, replace it with grace, and keep what I learned about critical thinking.
4. The Courage to deal a new way with old memories (our storehouse).
Remember we said that our Environment + our Experiences = our Truth. "Memory is vigorously present tense, selecting out of the storehouse of the past, retrieving and arranging images and insights, and then hammering them together for use in the present moment."*
In Isaiah we see that God has a second storehouse for us.
Remember we said that our Environment + our Experiences = our Truth. "Memory is vigorously present tense, selecting out of the storehouse of the past, retrieving and arranging images and insights, and then hammering them together for use in the present moment."*
In Isaiah we see that God has a second storehouse for us.
We read in Exodus that sin can stick with a family for 3-4 generations. What if you broke the chains? What if you let God use you to renew not just your mind but the minds of those who came after you, how long do you think that would last?