Chapter 11

WELCOME!

Please find a seat in the middle section

Schedule:

- 7:00-7:30 Lesson (Joe)

- 7:30-7:50 Small Group Discussion

- 7:50-8:10 Small Group HEAR Journal

- 8:10-8:25 Small Group Prayer

We have been going through a book called…

Victory over the Enemy

Defeating the World, the Flesh, and the Devil.

There are still copies of the book available for $15.

We began with Part 1…

Part 1: Recognizing Our Enemy

Resist the Devil

Do Not Love the World

Crucify the Flesh

The last two weeks we covered…

Part 2: Knowing God’s Provisions

4. Victory in Temptation

5. The Power of Prayer

6. The Presence of the Holy Spirit

7. The Armor of God

This week we are beginning…

Part 3: Disciplining Our Lives for Victory

8. Living in Victory through Disciplined Living

9. Living in Victory through Bible Reading and Scripture Memorization

10. Living in Victory through Prayer and Fasting

11. Helping Others Live in Victory

If you’ve missed a week,

the notes for previous weeks are up here for you to grab.

This evening we will be going over chapter 11:

Helping Others Live in Victory

We must understand the necessity of fighting these spiritual battles on our own.

It’s easy for us to think we can do it alone, or that we are on our own.

In either case, it is easier for Satan to attack us.

Lawless shares about being a volunteer firefighter.

They were trained to never enter a burning building alone.

2 men would go in together, while 2 others waited outside.

It is too risky to fight a fire on your own.

It is the same in our spiritual battles,

victory is more often the result when we fight together!

1. A Personal Testimony

Lawless shares a few examples of needing mentors in his life.

Anything we are learning something new,

we need someone to show us what/how to do it.

We may eventually learn,

but it will struggle for longer than is necessary, and

will create more damage than is necessary.

Lawless shares of dealing with pornography on his own.

Didn’t want to admit he struggled.

Lawless struggled early on as a pastor,

with no one to guide him.

Made many mistakes early on.

Lawless also shared of not knowing how to love his wife as Christ loved the church.

Was not willing to ask for help because he was a pastor.

Summary

When we try and do these things on our own,

we struggle unnecessarily…

make unnecessary mistakes… and

deny ourselves the victory we could be experiencing through the help of others.

We can have victory when we intentionally walk with others!

2. Discipleship and Spiritual Warfare

The Great Commission is that we go into all the world, making disciples.

We are to call on others to put their faith in Jesus,

and when they do, we:

baptize them; and

teach them to obey Christ in all things.

a. The Offensive Nature of Warfare (Again)

Evangelism is offensive spiritual warfare because…

we are speaking the truth of the gospel to those blinded by Satan.

Discipleship is offensive spiritual warfare because…

we are arming and equipping believers for the battle.

God has chosen to use us as the means by which He will save people,

so we are therefore the target of the enemy.

We must be on guard if we want to be victorious!

i. Believers cannot defeat the enemy unless we are wearing the full armor of God

If we are going to attempt to fight spiritual battles in our own strength,

we are going to be wounded,

as well as those around us.

We need God’s armor, strength, and wisdom in order to be victorious.

ii. Wearing the armor is both positional and behavioral

Position — who we are in Christ

Behaviour — how we live for Christ

If we have position, but not behaviour,

we live however we want.

If we have behaviour, but not position,

then we become legalistic.

We need both!

iii. Believers know how to wear the full armor of God only when we teach them

New believers are typically on fire, and are bold to share the gospel with other non-believers.

For this reason the enemy desires to drag them down.

We need to teach them how to walk in victory,

or else they will walk into the enemies traps.

iv. When we do not teach believers how to wear God’s armor, they will lose spiritual conflicts

We must teach one another the enemies tactics to drag them down,

and how they can clothe themselves with the armour of God,

or they will be defeated and lured back into worldliness.

We must be intentional to help others so they can have victory.

v. The longer we wait to invest in new believers, the more likely it is they will be defeated in the conflict

Oftentimes we are excited to see new believers give their lives to God,

but then we leave them to themselves,

and expect them to figure things out on their own.

We can help them experience victory by walking with them.

vi. Discipleship should include, in addition to worship and small groups, face-to-face mentoring

We need to be with the whole church to remember we are a body…

We need small groups and friends for fellowship… but

We also need mentoring relationships that help us go deeper into personal battles,

so that we can receive help, guidance, and prayer.

vii. Disciple makers must guard their own lives under attack

We need to recognize that our lives are an example to others.

We need to be living in victory and with integrity,

as an example to others.

We cannot call others to do what we are not doing ourselves.

Not about perfection… but growth.

viii. This kind of discipleship does not happen by accident

The enemy often is victorious because he has a plan.

He is scheming against us.

We often just assume that others will grow spiritually,

so we don’t have much of a plan for discipleship.

We allow people to remain babies,

because we are not intentionally growing disciples.

ix. No believer ever outgrows the need for someone to walk with him or her

We will have spiritual conflict until the Lord comes, or takes us home.

For that reason, we will always need help.

If we ever think we are beyond the help and accountability of others is when we are most susceptible to the enemies tactics.

x. Discipleship that takes on the enemy can begin in your church today

We must not keep this to ourselves.

After we learn we can have victory over the enemy,

we should seek someone out that we can be mentoring/pouring into.

b. The Role of Mentoring in Discipleship and Warfare

Lawless shares three responsibilities of a mentor.

i. We teach others to obey what Jesus commanded

This is a fulfilment of what Jesus commanded.

“Christians who are not teaching someone to obey Jesus are not fully walking in obedience.” — Chuck Lawless

The second responsibility of a mentor is to…

ii. We walk closely enough with others to be a line of defense

The mentor is walking alongside the other person,

helping, and defending from the attacks of the enemy.

They learn, grow, and do battle together.

Eventually, the person being mentored mentors someone else.

The third responsibility of a mentor is to…

iii. We pick up and gently restore others when they fall

Even when we mentor others,

they will still fall,

and sometimes even in major ways.

We must not leave them there,

or the enemy wins.

God’s grace is great enough to restore them,

and redeem their brokenness.

We think of Peter…

he was the leader of the disciples,

and yet he denied his Lord.

but Jesus restored him,

and used him to continue to lead the disciples,

and start His church.

“That’s what mentors do: pray for their disciples, keep their eyes on them, provoke them to godliness, love them even in their failure, grant them forgiveness as they return, and renew their hope. They walk with their disciples up the mountain and through the valley. The enemy’s forces cannot stand long against that kind of sacrificial, discipling love.” — Chuck Lawless

3. Getting Started

There is no “plan”.

It will depend on the person you’re discipling.

There are some guidelines to follow.

Commit to taking a step…

the enemy wins when we do nothing.

a. Pray and Enlist a Prayer Partner

You do not want to assume that you recognize the Lord’s leading apart from prayer.

Wait for God by seeking Him in prayer,

and having someone else pray for you as well.

b. Make Sure You Are Wearing the Full Armor of God

Seek to walk in obedience to God and His Word with the help of other believers.

Be building the disciplines into your life,

seeking to be a faithful disciple of Jesus that someone else can follow.

c. Ask God to Show You Someone to Mentor

Before selecting His disciples,

Jesus spent the night praying.

We should follow his example.

Jesus’ followers were “knuckleheads” at times,

but so are we.

Those we mentor will be as well.

What should these relationships look like?

There is no secret formula.

Each relationship can be unique.

It can be more structured,

or it can be more informal.

You can have times where you have conversation together,

work on a project together,

The goal is to do life together,

pouring into one another,

and helping one another walk more closely with Christ.

4. The Gospel in a Nutshell

God created all of us in his image (Gen 1:26-27), and we are all accountable to him (Rev 4:11).

We have all chosen to rebel against him (Isa 53:6); that is, all of us have sinned (Rom 3:23).

The penalty for our rebellion is death (Rom 6:23), but God offers us the gift of eternal life through the death of his Son, Jesus, who bore God’s wrath on the cross and then broke the power of death through resurrection (Matt 28:1—10; Rom 5:8; 1 Pet 2:24—25; 3:18; 1 John 4:10).

If we confess our sins and turn away from them—that is, repent—and trust Jesus to save us, he will forgive us for our rebellion and give us new and eternal life (Mark 1:15; Acts 16:30—31; Rom 5:1—2; 10:9—10). Simply praying a prayer cannot save you, but we do encourage you to talk to God as you follow his command to repent and believe.