The Stretcher Principle Series

6 April 2016

THREE STRANDS (PART 2)

Key Scripture for series: Ecc 4:12 (NLT)

A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back to back and conquer. Three are even better for a triple braided cord is not easily broken.

There will be and probably have been seasons in your life where you have needed to be carried. We all need a group of friends that are there for us to carry us, support us and ultimately get us to Jesus. We need friends who will have faith on our behalf when we don’t have faith in ourselves. The three stranded lifestyle is like this where sometimes you are the carrier and other times you are being carried and other times you are the rescuer and other times you are the one being rescued.

• The three stranded life learns the importance of joining the stretcher small group.

Ecc 4:9-12 (NLT)

Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble. Likewise, two people lying close together can keep each other warm. But how can one be warm alone? A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back to back and conquer. Three are even better for a triple braided cord is not easily broken.

Eph 4:16

He makes the who body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.

Mar 2:1-11

When Jesus returned to Capernaum several days later, the news spread quickly that He was back home. Soon the house where He was staying was so packed with visitors that there was no more room, even outside the door. While He was preaching God’s Word to them, four men arrived carrying a paralysed man on a mat. They couldn’t bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, so they dug a hole through the roof above His head. Then they lowered the man on his mat, right down in front of Jesus. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralysed man, My child, your sins are forgiven.” But some of the teachers of religious law who were sitting there thought to themselves, “What is he saying? This is blasphemy! Only God can forgive sins!” Jesus knew immediately what they were thinking, so he asked them, “Why do you question this in your hearts? Is it easier to say to the paralysed man, “Your sins are forgiven,” or “Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk”? So I will prove to you that the Son of Man has the authority to forgive sins.” Then Jesus turned to the paralysed man and said, “Stand up, pick up your mat and go home!”

What does the stretcher look like in our lives?

Maybe your stretcher is:

A physical condition that limits or debilitates you

Anger that you can’t seem to control putting you in situations that are out of your control and hurting those around you

Fear that you cannot be free from

You may have been betrayed, deceived and hurt to the point that your stretcher is the inability to fully trust again.

Sin that you cannot forgive yourself of.

Financial ruin or poverty that you can’t break free of

You feel like a failure.

2, The relationships we invest in now will carry us later in our lives

3. Our friends’ faith releases the miracles of God into our lives (Mar 2:5)

4. True friends will bring us closer to Jesus.

• Gal 6:2-3

Share one another’s burdens and in this way obey the law of Christ. If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important.

God has designed us for relationships with other people that will carry us through the different seasons of life. Ultimately He uses people to carry others and heal others. Allow Jesus to carry you when nobody else can.