What is holding you back?

Have you ever been a member of a group of men who are studying God's word and found that your sharing never goes deeper than a superficial sharing?  Find that the discussion almost always shifts from digging deeper and to what we do for a living or the activities we like to do?

What will it take for your group to move to a deeper level of sharing?

The answer lies in the leader of your group.  You and the other men will only share at the level of the man who is leading the group.  This past weekend the Holy Spirit convicted me of this fact when anther man from our small group shared his desire to go deeper.

If you are desiring for your group of men to move to a deeper level of sharing and closeness to God then do what a friend of mine did and call your leader and put the spur in his saddle.  If a leader is transparent all it takes is for one man to have the desire and express it for him to open the door for a deeper experience to happen.

Our small group this week is going to take that next step.  Here is the plan:
1. Read the scriptures below
2. I will share, in 2 minutes, some thoughts (that will be a first)
3. We will then discuss these scriptures in a different way than we have before (cannot share that yet)
4. God’s word to you before Thursday, Joshua 1:9 (New American Standard Bible)  "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go."

There are several key ideas in these verses.

Acts 10:38-44 (The Message)

 37-38 "You know the story of what happened in Judea. It began in Galilee after John preached a total life-change. Then Jesus arrived from Nazareth, anointed by God with the Holy Spirit, ready for action. He went through the country helping people and healing everyone who was beaten down by the Devil. He was able to do all this because God was with him. 

 39-43 "And we saw it, saw it all, everything he did in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem where they killed him, hung him from a cross. But in three days God had him up, alive, and out where he could be seen. Not everyone saw him—he wasn't put on public display. Witnesses had been carefully handpicked by God beforehand—us! We were the ones, there to eat and drink with him after he came back from the dead. He commissioned us to announce this in public, to bear solemn witness that he is in fact the One whom God destined as Judge of the living and dead. But we're not alone in this. Our witness that he is the means to forgiveness of sins is backed up by the witness of all the prophets." 

 44-46 No sooner were these words out of Peter's mouth than the Holy Spirit came on the listeners. The believing Jews who had come with Peter couldn't believe it, couldn't believe that the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out on "outsider" non-Jews, but there it was—they heard them speaking in tongues, heard them praising God.

2 Timothy 1:6-7 (The Message)

 5-7 That precious memory triggers another: your honest faith—and what a rich faith it is, handed down from your grandmother Lois to your mother Eunice, and now to you! And the special gift of ministry you received when I laid hands on you and prayed—keep that ablaze! God doesn't want us to be shy with his gifts, but bold and loving and sensible.

James 5:13-16 (The Message)

Prayer to Be Reckoned With
 13-15 Are you hurting? Pray. Do you feel great? Sing. Are you sick? Call the church leaders together to pray and anoint you with oil in the name of the Master. Believing-prayer will heal you, and Jesus will put you on your feet. And if you've sinned, you'll be forgiven—healed inside and out. 

 16-18 Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed. The prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with. Elijah, for instance, human just like us, prayed hard that it wouldn't rain, and it didn't—not a drop for three and a half years. Then he prayed that it would rain, and it did. The showers came and everything started growing again.

Are you tired of sharing with the men who support you only on a superficial level?  Then either get with the leader of your group or become the leader by becoming transparent and sharing first.  If you do I believe that the Holy Spirit will show up in a dramatic way and you will experience a breakthrough.

So what is that one thing that is holding you back from moving forward?  Lust, Fear, Pride, Anger, Life Controlling Habit, SIN?  I encourage you to take the risk and trust another man and share it and experience the beginning of being free of the control of that one thing.

Note:    If you are looking for a group where you can finding healing, transparency and honesty go to www.vineyard.org or www.vineyardusa.org.  I share these websites because that is where I found groups that brought healing for the broken and understanding and encouragement instead of criticism and condemnation.