REALLIFE STUDY GROUP

"Rise Up & Walk!"

(Based on a message preached by Dr. Guy Peh)

ICEBREAKER: What is your favorite thing about spring? (The sound of the birds, longer daylight hours, the fragrance of the flowers, warmer temperatures, the melting of the snow, the new green foliage, school spring break, Easter Sunday, etc...)

INTRODUCTION: Once a seed has been planted, it is the responsibility of the seed to arise out of the darkness, the depth and the dampness of the soil, toward the light. You were created as God's finest seed of creation. The seed produces after its own kind. The seed can only produce what's in its genetic code. No seed comes into the world empty-handed. The seed of your life both physically and spiritually has locked within its DNA the generic material for some form of genius and greatness. However, sometimes an event in the life of the seed can cause paralysis. In our case the paralysis may be the result of some traumatic event in our life or some iniquity in our family lineage. You will see that the man in our text was paralyzed physically effecting him economically, socially, emotionally and even spiritually. His paralysis was due to some traumatic event while he was still in his mother's womb. In other words, he had trauma producing drama from his mama! Peter spoke the Word of healing and this man arose out of his paralysis into his promise! And so can we!

CONFESSION:

· I choose to arise out of the plight of my family history

· I choose to arise in spite of my limitations, liabilities and personal lids

· I choose to arise in the face of attacks, adversaries and adversities

· I choose to arise out of the ashes of past problems, propensities, proclivities, and predispositions

· I choose to arise out of the valleys of discouragement, disparities and disenfranchisements

· I choose to arise up into the atmospheres of faith, hope and possibility thinking

· I choose to arise into my God-given destiny, calling and future

· I choose to arise out of the pits of betrayal, accusation, and persecution

· I choose to arise into the presence of The Most High God

DEFINITION: Generational curses and iniquity: A propensity, inclination, or proclivity of repeated and multigenerational cycles of evil; to be bent toward wrong thinking and wrong doing

OUTLINE:

The Stages of Critical Life Development

1. Infancy: prenatal to 4 years, imprinting or imitating stage

2. Childhood: 4-9, modeling or search for a hero stage

3. Adolescence: 10-17, peer pressure stage

4. Adulthood: 18+, attaching meaning to signs and events stage

The Progression of Iniquity

1. Abraham opened a door of potential generational iniquity through a lie. And yet he was the father of faith.

2. Isaac lied just like his dad and lied even more and passed on the "gift of deceit" even though he was the child of promise.

3. Jacob became a professional liar and made a career of deception until he came to the end of himself and had an encounter with God.

4. Joseph broke the curse and took redemptive steps of faith resulting in the salvation of his family and his nation due to his preparations for worldwide famine.

Four Types of Expectation

1. Negative Expectation: a belief that nothing good will ever happen in your life.

2. Neutral Expectation: a belief that we are simply children of fate with no power to change our lives. In other words, what will be will be.

3. Misguided Expectation: a belief that the only way good can come into my life is through my filter the way I would do it and on my time schedule.

4. Positive Expectation: a strong belief that everything will turn out for my good in the end.

TEXT: Acts 3:1-10; Galatians 3:13-15; John 3:5

STUDY GROUP QUESTIONS:

1. Describe one of the most traumatic events in your life? At what age were you when this event happened? What beliefs, either good or bad, have you developed as a result of this traumatic event?

2. In Acts 3, there is an account of a lame man that was paralyzed from his mother's womb. Clearly there must have been some traumatic event in his mother's life during her pregnancy. Instead of just meeting the man's immediate need for money, Peter spoke to his innate need and commanded him to arise and walk. That man's life was changed in many ways forever. If Jesus told you to arise out of your circumstances, how would your life change?

3. Sometimes adversity and affliction come as the result of a generational curse that arose as a result of someone in our family tree that opened the door through some act of iniquity. For example, lying became the norm and even got worse from generation to generation in the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob until Joseph came along and broke the curse. Name a generational curse that families often have to deal with.

4. Describe a type of paralysis Christians deal with (Inability to trust others, inability to make a decision, inability to relax or enter into their Sabbath, etc...)

5. The man in our story expected money but got a miracle. What are you expecting from God right now and do you need to change your expectation and dream a little bigger? If so how?

6. Sometimes it is not enough to just arise. Sometimes we need to arise AND walk. Walking means we not only get up but we move forward. In what area of your life is it time to step out of your current situation, create some momentum and move forward?

7. Who in your life do you need to encourage to arise and walk?

PRAISE REPORTS & PRAYER REQUESTS:

ACTION POINT: This week I will make a quality decision to arise out of an attitude or lifestyle of ____________________.

(Un-forgiveness, procrastination, fear, rejection, negativity, depression, poverty, shame, insanity, driven-ness, addiction, worry, greed, burnout, denial, apathy, inordinate grief, weariness, etc...)