What Is Keeping You from Being Truly Free? Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matthew 28:18). As believers, we have Christ and never need to be afraid, yet we are not immune to the effects of evil. Even if we’re saved and trust in Christ, we may still find areas in which we just can’t get victory. Maybe it’s a sin we’ve confessed again and again, or a constant struggle with depression, anger, or lust. These long-imbedded patterns of shameful living continue to entangle us day after day, month after month, and even year after year. In Truly Free, bestselling author Robert Morris invites us into a glorious truth—that the promise of being set free from the slavery of sin is a promise to be set free completely . Although evil is real, we have the promise that the one who is in us is greater than the one who is in the world (1 John 4:4). Jesus saves us, trains us to resist the power of evil, and delivers us from anything that holds us back. With Jesus, we can be finally free forever. This study guide includes leader helps, discussion questions, conversation starters, and between-session activities to enhance application of Robert’s teaching. Sessions include: Greater Is He - Three Big Warning Signs - Beware the Chaldeans - Breaking the Snare of Pride - Breaking the Snare of Lust - Set Free Designed for use with the Truly Free DVD 9780718028749 (sold separately). ROBERT MORRIS is the founding senior pastor of Gateway Church, a multicampus church in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. He is featured on the weekly television program The Blessed Life and is the bestselling author of twelve books, including The Blessed Life , From Dream to Destiny , The God I Never Knew , and The Blessed Church . Robert and his wife, Debbie, have been married thirty-five years and are blessed with one married daughter, two married sons, and six grandchildren. Follow Robert on Twitter @PsRobertMorris. Kevin and Sherry Harney serve at Shoreline Community Church in Monterey, California. They have authored Finding a Church You Can Love and Loving the Church You’ve Found and more than sixty small group Bible Studies. Learn more at: kevingharney.com and sherryharney.com Truly Free Study Guide Breaking the Snares That So Easily Entangle By Robert Morris, Kevin Harney, Sherry Harney ZONDERVAN Copyright © 2015 Robert Morris All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-0-7180-2857-2 Contents Introduction: Free at Last, 7, Session 1 Greater Is He, 9, Session 2 Three Big Warning Signs, 25, Session 3 Beware the Chaldeans, 41, Session 4 Breaking the Snare of Pride, 57, Session 5 Breaking the Snare of Lust, 73, Session 6 Set Free, 91, Small Group Leader Helps, 107, CHAPTER 1 GREATER IS HE For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but ... against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Ephesians 6:12 TRULY FREE STUDY GUIDE Introduction We live in a dangerous world. Just turn on the news, check the top stories online, or listen to people talking around the office or your neighborhood. The world is a perilous place and growing more so with each passing day. Going through an airport reminds us terrorism is real because everything is scanned, searched, and scrutinized. War rages around our planet, and reports are given twenty-four hours a day on cable news. Sickness and disease loom, financial crisis threatens, and political turmoil is ever present. You might expect people to be paralyzed with fear and sobered by the reality of all the potential disaster surrounding them. But this does not seem to be the case. We have learned to adapt and press on. Consumers head to the mall and shop online with increasing optimism. Many people hop on planes with confident certainty everything will be fine. Viewers watch cooking shows, sitcoms, reality programs, and talent shows day after day as if everything is fine. Let's be honest—pressing on and acting like things are okay are ways of coping. If we fixate on all the danger and trouble in the world, we will be consumed with it. We still need to sing, play, go to church, shop, raise families, and live our lives ... even when the world is in turmoil. Part of survival involves not letting these realities dominate our lives or control our thinking. But wait! When it comes to the spiritual battles and dangers around us, we can't take the same posture. If we ignore the spiritual attacks, land mines, and dangers around us, it will cost us more than we imagine. We can't look the other way, become numb, or just move along with our lives. We must wake up, pay attention, and walk in the power of the Holy Spirit. If we look the other way, we will find ourselves in spiritual bondage. If we want to be truly free, we need to face the battle and resist the work of the devil in this world. To do this we must walk in the power of the One who is greater and infinitely more powerful than the enemy of our souls. When we understand this,