REALLIFE STUDY GROUP

Take Up!

 

ICEBREAKER:  Identify one benefit of living a life of thanksgiving.

 

INTRODUCTION:

Jesus told a paralytic to take up his bed and walk. And you know what he did? He obeyed and left rejoicing and giving thanks! In other words, Jesus told a man to exercise strength in the area of his weakness. Jesus actually told him to do what he had never been able to do. He metaphorically told him to take up his bed of tears and step out of his fears and step into his promise. You see his bed represented what had become his comfort zone. And before this Jesus told him his sins were forgiven! With forgiveness of sin come infinite, endless possibilities. When you take up something, you are exercising authority over it! Taking Up is a militant, commanding act of taking charge!

 

The Scribes and Pharisees had no compassion for the paralytic and were just angry at Jesus for presuming to forgive the man's sins. Though they were doctors of the law they did not understand the heart of the giver of the law.

They could not recognize the Son of God.

They could not understand the Word of God.

Their love for tradition and not principles was greater than their love for mercy and humanity.

They were so full of bitterness that they missed the miracle.

They were so critical they could not enter into the spirit of Thanksgiving.

 

The truth is both the paralytic and the Pharisees were paralyzed in different ways! We are all stuck in some way and in need of a Savior!

So take up what has been your bed and walk. Take up your excuses and exercise your authority! Take up your shame and shout! Take up your fear and believe! Take up your security blanket and trust God!

 

CONFESSION: 

I will take up my cross this week and follow Jesus! I will follow wherever He leads me! I will follow Him though none go with me! I will follow so close to Him that I can step in His footsteps! I will follow through the ups and downs of life!  I will follow though the way gets weary and the cross gets heavy! I will follow in the hope that others will follow! And one day I will trade my cross for a crown that I will cast at the feet of Jesus as a tribute to His love and majesty.

 

DEFINITION: Take up: Airo

1.   to raise up, elevate, lift up

a.   to raise from the ground, take up: stones

b.  to raise upwards, elevate, lift up: the hand

c.   to draw up: a fish

2.   to take upon one's self and carry what has been raised up, to bear

3.   to bear away what has been raised, carry off

a.   to move from its place

b.  to take off or away what is attached to anything

c.   to remove

d.  to carry off, carry away with one

e.   to appropriate what is taken

f.    to take away from another what is his or what is committed to him, to take by force

g.   to take and apply to any use

h.   to take from among the living, either by a natural death, or by violence

i.    cause to cease

 

OUTLINE:

Take Up The Cross:

1.   Take up the ways of Christ

2.   Take up the attitude of Christ

3.   Take up the cause of Christ

4.   Take up the life of Christ

5.   Take up the burden of Christ

6.   Take up the death, burial & resurrection of Christ

 

TEXT: 

CROSS

And he who does not take up his cross and follow Me [cleave steadfastly to Me, conforming wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in

dying also] is not worthy of Me. (Matthew 10:38 AMP)

 

Then Jesus said to His disciples, If anyone desires to be My disciple, let him deny himself [disregard, lose sight of, and forget himself and his

own interests] and take up his cross and follow Me [cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in dying, also]. (Matthew 16:24 AMP)

 

And He said to all, If any person wills to come after Me, let him deny himself [disown himself, forget, lose sight of himself and his own

interests, refuse and give up himself] and take up his cross daily and follow Me [cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in dying also]. (Luke 9:23 AMP)

 

ARK

Joshua said to the priests, Take up the Ark of the Covenant and pass over before the people. And they took it up and went on before the people. (Joshua 3:6 AMP)

 

STUMBLING BLOCK

And the word of One shall go forth, Cast up, prepare the way! Take up the stumbling block out of the way [of the spiritual return] of My people. (Isaiah 57:14 AMP)

 

BED

Which is easier: to say to the paralyzed man, Your sins are forgiven and put away, or to say, Rise, take up your sleeping pad or mat, and start walking about [and keep on walking]? (Mark 2:9 AMP)

 

SHEILD

Make clean and sharp the arrows, take up the shields or coats of armor [and cover your bodies with them]! The Lord has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes [who with the Persians will destroy the Babylonian Empire], for His purpose concerning Babylon is to destroy it; for that is the vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance [upon Babylon for the plundering and destruction] of His temple. (Jeremiah 51:11 AMP)

 

SERPENTS

And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. (Mark 16:15-18 KJV)

 

MOURNING

Moreover, Take up a lamentation for the princes of Israel, Ezekiel 19:1

 

STUDY GROUP QUESTIONS:

1.  You may not ever have been diagnosed as a paralytic but in what ways have you felt paralyzed, stuck, stranded or off balance?

2.  What will it take to bring a reformation and not just a revival to our country?

3.  The Amplified Bible defines following Christ as cleaving steadfastly to Christ, conforming wholly to His example in living and if need be in dying also is not worthy of Christ. How do you define following Christ and what practical changes are required of us when we follow him?

4.  Why is the cross and the death, burial and resurrection of Christ core belief of our faith?

5.  What does it mean to take up your cross and what is the end result of taking up your cross daily?

6.  What is keeping us from taking up our cross daily?

a.   Selfishness

b.  Fear

c.   Lust

d.  Apathy & Complacency

e.  Bitterness

f.    Personal Ambition

g.   Pride

h.  The Cares of Life

i.    Busyness

j.    _____________________________________________________

 

PRAISE REPORTS & PRAYER REQUESTS:

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

 

ACTION POINT: This week I will take up the ways, the attitudes, the cause, the life and the burden of Christ by ______________________. (Choosing to forgive, choosing to serve, choosing to pray, choosing to rejoice, choosing to compliment, choosing to be more generous, etc...)