Talk about how
awkward it is when someone gives you a prolonged hug.
1.Wanting freedom.
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We all
know what it is like when you get one of those long, awkward hugs.
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Or how
about a hug from some Grandma/Aunt/family member who just won’t let you go?
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You are
dying for that freedom.
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In your
head you are thinking please just let me go!
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Many times
our sin is like that, even in your head your quietly thinking man I wish this
didn't have such a caging effect on me.
Proverbs 5:21-23 (NLT) "For the Lord sees clearly what
a man does, examining every path he takes. [22] An evil man is held captive by
his own sins; they are ropes that catch and hold him. [23] He
will die for lack of self-control; he will be lost because of his great
foolishness."
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The cage
is that secret that you pray no one finds out about; maybe because your
enjoying it or maybe because you are ashamed.
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For you to
walk in freedom you must expose your cage.
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Not to the
world, but to God, and to another Christian.
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Be
trustworthy Christians, if you tell me something in secret I'll die with it,
that is the way to should be.
Illustrate here
white board: List some areas
that the enemy tries to cage student’s lives with?
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Gossip
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Insecurity
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Peer
pressure I believe your generation calls it average. Doing what everyone else
does instead of standing out.
2. Living in
freedom.
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We have to
make sure that we stay out of the cage of the enemy.
Illustrate here: Use the cage to show a trap, use
white board to draw a trap.
Uncaged from the
ultimatum.
Proverbs 11:8,19,23 (NLT) "The godly are rescued from
trouble, and it falls on the wicked instead. [19] Godly people find life; evil
people find death. [23] The godly can look forward to a reward, while the
wicked can expect only judgment."
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We can
learn to do that by breaking every area of compromise that we have in our
lives.
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I can
believe bigger than I am currently believing!
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If God,
the Creator of the universe, created us on purpose, with a purpose, and for a
purpose, then why in the world would we be willing to settle for anything less?
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Two
thousand years ago Jesus was raised from the dead, proving that this world has
no power over Him.
John 16:33 (NLT)
I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me.
Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I
have overcome the world."
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The world,
the flesh, and the Devil gave their best shot at holding Him down, but three
days later He was Uncaged from the power of the grave.
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One of the
most fascinating and hard-to-believe things about Christianity is that Jesus
lives in us.
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If the
resurrected Son of God lives inside us, that means we, too, can be Uncaged from
everything that threatens to hold us back from who God wants us to be.
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Jesus has
made it possible for us to live an Uncaged life.
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Whether we
realize it or not, Jesus made the first move, He is waiting on us to make the
next one.
3. Sharing
freedom.
Illustrate here:
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I love dancing.
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I secretly
think everyone does, but I never actually dance. Ever.
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I talk
about dancing.
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I think
about dancing.
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I watch
other people dancing.
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Quite a
few times I almost had the courage to walk onto the dance floor and try
dancing.
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But I
don't. I'm one of those guys who is always at the dance but never dances.
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When I
take an honest look at my own life and the lives of the people around me, I
have to wonder: are we doing the same thing when it comes to following Christ?
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Maybe we
think about doing something radical for God.
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Maybe we
even dream that one day we’ll be more
than we are today.
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But we end
up merely standing against the wall, never experiencing the dance.
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We don’t embrace His promise of a life that
is beyond our imagination.
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When I
read the Bible, I am consistently amazed by the words of Jesus.
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When it
comes to the kind of life He wants us to live, He made some pretty bold,
impossible sounding promises:
John 10:10 "The thief's purpose is to steal and kill
and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life."
John 14:12 (NLT)
"I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will
do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be
with the Father."
Matthew 21:21-22 (NLT)
Then Jesus told them, "I tell you the truth, if you
have faith and don't doubt, you can do things like this and much more. You can
even say to this mountain, 'May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,' and
it will happen. [22] You can pray for anything, and if you have faith, you will
receive it."
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God
promised us an abundant life, not a dull one.
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He said we
would do greater things than He did, which is pretty remarkable when we
consider that He walked on water, made the lame to walk, the elements of the
earth listened to Him and responded when He spoke, healed a blind guy using
mud, and saliva, deaf hear, fed more than five thousand people with just a
little boy’s lunch,
then raised the dead.
Acts 19:11-12 (NLT) "God gave Paul the power to
perform unusual miracles. [12] When handkerchiefs or aprons that had merely
touched his skin were placed on sick people, they were healed of their
diseases, and evil spirits were expelled."
Illustrate here: Take a second to participate with me
in an experiment.
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Choose a
number in your head—any number
you want.
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Go!
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What
number did you pick?
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Why would
we pick a number between one and one hundred when we have the option of
choosing any number in the world?
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Why would
we not pick 2,400,002?
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For many
of us, it’s a simple
and sad answer: we’ve been
programmed to focus on the small and the manageable.
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We do the
same thing with spiritual matters.
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We focus
on what’s normal
when God has promised "He is able,
through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than
we might ask or think." Ephesians 3:20
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We all
want our lives to count, to matter—and the good news is that God wants that for each one of us
as well.
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Uncaging
the life God wants for us is understanding that there is so much more in store
for us than what we are currently experiencing.
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Most of us
haven’t grasped the reality that the
resurrected Son of God is dwelling inside us, and therefore we think too small
when it comes to the potential God has placed within us.
Illustrate here: Duke & Titan, bring in a huge
Great Dane(Duke) and a tiny Boston Terrier dog(Titan)
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But if we
refuse to believe God has something greater in store for us, our chances of
becoming Uncaged and moving beyond normal are slim to none.
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Titan is
tiny, but he thinks he is bigger than he is, Duke thinks he is smaller than he
is.
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Never
think yourself smaller or larger than you are, especially in the eyes of
others.
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Secondly,
never think yourself smaller than the way God sees you.
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Thirdly,
never think yourself the way the Devil sees you, weak, inept, unable, too
timid, too quiet, too addicted, realize you have been freed to free others.
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If our
view of God is small, manageable and normal then we will have a small view of
what He wants to do in and through us.
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But if the
opposite is true if we really grasp that God’s plan for us is so much bigger and so much more powerful
than anything we can imagine then we will begin to realize the truth in what
the bible promises in Philippians 4:13 “I can do everything through Christ,
who gives me strength.”
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As we read
about Jesus, one thing is clear: He always meets people where they are and then
brings them to where they need to be.
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He never
dives into someone’s life and
immediately starts making religious demands.
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When He
called Peter, James, and John to follow Him, He didn’t give them a list of things they
needed to start doing and things they needed to stop.
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He simply
invited them to lay down what your doing and follow Him.
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When He
called Matthew, a tax collector, to follow Him, He didn’t lecture him on the evils of
taxation and then tell him he needed a career change.
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He simply
said, “Follow Me,” and they responded to the call.
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Yes, our
actions and habits change after we start following Christ, but that’s not the starting point.
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It’s as Jesus walks with us that He
shows us who He is and what He wants.
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What are
you waiting on to make an eternal difference?
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A
platform?
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A title?
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A bigger
group of people?
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If you
don't lead the one into a relationship with Christ how will you ever lead the
masses?
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Relationship,
relationship, relationship, ministry is about relationship.
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If you
wait until there are pick any random number, 100, students/people before you
get serious about leading someone into worship then you'll push back to another
excuse when the 100 shows up!
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If you're
waiting on someone else to go first before you enter a life altering, God
honoring, worship encounter with the creator of the entire universe that
desires a bright future and a hope for your life, you'll never get there.
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God is
looking for the bold, God is looking for the brave, God is looking for someone
to be audacious enough to "believe in Him."
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Why wait,
they aren't your God, they aren't your experience, they aren't planning,
providing, or encouraging your future, trust me when I tell you, and I sat this
as respectful as I possibly can, "they are not worth waiting on!"
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Making a
difference in the lives of people will cost you one thing, for sure,
relationship!
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If you
need a title to "do ministry" you have missed the point.
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If you
need more "attendees" to make a difference you have been caged into
a "performance" mindset.
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If you
need to be asked, prodded, need continual back patting, need hand holding, need
24 hour accountability to keep you from "falling" into sin, then
you're not ready.
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God's
"Uncaged" take initiative, take action, take hell by storm.
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They
refuse to wait around for the "right moment," or sit quietly by for
the "right opportunity," they engage, they make their move, they
break the chains of the enemies restraint, they chew the leash off and go for
it!
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Titan when
Uncaged is a maniac.
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Sort of
like the Tasmanian Devil.
Illustrate here
Video: Tasmanian Devil
Maggie a boxer that was given to us. Maggie
was Uncaged. There was no trapping her, holding her, restraining her nor caging
her. This dog was restrain less.
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She was
gonna be free, we need a generation of Christian like that.
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The only
thing you need to do ministry with is FREEDOM! Freedom from sin, freedom from
performance, freedom from ridicule, freedom in Jesus Christ.
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Are you
caging the gospel or releasing it into the lives of others?
Join us next month as we launch a new series entitled "Overdose."
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