THE LIGHT OF GOD S WORD

Transcription

1 FREE AWAKEN THE LIGHT OF GOD S WORD EXPOSING THE DARKNESS OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING By: Mark Stephenson Developed By: The Church Engagement Team of Araminta Freedom Initiative

2 2013 by Mark Stephenson Araminta Freedom Initiative Baltimore, Maryland Branding by Thornberg & Forester thornbergandforester.com Design by Anna Grace Photography & Design annagracephoto.com All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc. For my boys May the world you grow up in be one where the light of Christ has pierced through the darkness of child trafficking. For the young girl praying May the awakening stirred up by this bible study one day reach you and bring you freedom. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED No part of this bible study may be reproduced without written permission. For Information or orders: Araminta Freedom Initiative PO Box Baltimore, MD aramintafreedom.org Printed in the United States of America

3 ACKNOWLEGEMENTS CONTENTS This study would not be possible without a number of people working tirelessly and passionately to see it become a reality. I d like to start by thanking God for His provision and grace as He guided us through the creation of this project. Jesus came to set the captives free and our prayer is that this bible study will be a part of that incredible mission. Special thanks to my wife, Missy, who not only spent many hours acting as an editor for this study, but also partners with me in life and ministry. I love you and couldn t do any of this without you. I d also like to thank my teammates on the Church Engagement Team who worked so hard to make this study the best it could be. I d like to give special thanks to Bob and Mary Ellen Castle, Alicia Corson, Brian Crook, Andrea Dodge and Mark Dunlap who all spent extra hours turning this idea into a reality. Thank you Thornberg & Forester (thornbergandforester.com) for your creative design and your continued commitment to the mission of Araminta Freedom Initiative. Finally, a special thanks to Anna Grace of Anna Grace Photography & Design (annagracephoto.com) for the many hours you put into the design of this bible study. With your incredible design skills you took this pile of words and gave it beauty and structure. Thank you for being so dedicated to this cause. Introduction PAGE 2 Session 1 PAGE 3 God s Heart: A Call for Justice Session 2 PAGE 9 God s Heart for Children: Victims of Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking Session 3 PAGE 17 The Demand: Our Over-Sexualized Culture Session 4 PAGE 25 Freedom for the Captives: The Role of the Church Session 5 PAGE 33 Freedom for the Captives: The Role of Araminta Freedom Initiative 1

4 INTRODUCTION AWAKEN BIBLE STUDY SESSION 1 GOD S HEART: A CALL FOR JUSTICE Preparing for the Journey Welcome to the. We are so glad that you decided to participate in this study and pray that God will speak to you in profound ways over the next few weeks. The purpose of this study is to learn about God s desire to see human trafficking come to an end. As you journey into scripture together, you will learn about the atrocity of human trafficking, specifically one of its most heinous forms domestic minor sex trafficking. From the beginning, we want you to become aware that this is not a journey to take lightly. As you uncover the dark world of those who sell children for sex, you may experience some shock and disbelief. Please allow yourself the time and space to process all of this in healthy ways. It is also important that each participant of this study be over the age of 18. This material is intended for an adult audience that can maturely deal with topics involving sexual intimacy and sexual abuse. This study seeks to do more than just prepare your mind with information about human trafficking. Instead, it seeks to prepare your heart and your soul through the power of God s Word. This kind of holistic preparation is absolutely necessary in order to work against the evil industry of child sex trafficking. Taking the appropriate time in prayer and scripture will also be essential for the longevity of this mission. At Araminta, we are taking a generational approach to this issue. We aren t naïve in thinking child sex trafficking will come to an end in just a few years. We are committing to this work for a generation. The only way a movement like this can remain sustainable is through ongoing connection to our Father in heaven. In Luke 14:28, Jesus encourages us to count the cost before undertaking a monumental task. In many ways this study is designed to help you do just that. We need your help to end domestic minor sex trafficking in the Baltimore region. We need your gifts, skills and passions. But before you consider joining us in this incredible mission, please count the cost. Let this study be a time of great prayer and reflection. That way, if the day comes for you to join the mission to end this atrocity, you will be ready to bring the light of Christ into this overwhelming darkness. Stats & Stories STATS ABOUT HUMAN TRAFFICKING SARAH S STORY Foreign-born victims of human trafficking in the U.S. only account for approximately 5-10% of those exploited. The majority of victims are U.S. citizens; specifically, U.S. children. (US Department of Justice) Sarah is a 17-year-old Caucasian female who grew up in rural Ohio. Sarah ran away from home a few times because her mom and stepfather drank a lot and did not pay attention to her. A few months ago Sarah was walking to the store alone and a 30-year-old male drove up beside her and told her how pretty she was and asked why she looked so sad. Sarah told him that she was angry with her mom and just needed to take a walk. He asked if he could take her to get her nails done down the street to cheer her up, and she agreed. He paid right away while giving compliments and telling her he wanted to meet again the next day. For the next two months he picked Sarah up and took her to eat, to get her nails done and continued to act like a loving boyfriend. They both began calling each other boyfriend and girlfriend. They spent a lot of time together and he asked Sarah to move in with him, but after another month of living together he told her he couldn t make the rent payment and needed help. He asked her to go on dates with older men and engage in commercial sex. Sarah felt uncomfortable but agreed because she would do anything not to return home, and wanted to make him happy. Her boyfriend praised her and told her he didn t mind that Sarah helped them get money for rent this way. This continued until one night when Sarah was out on the street and was raped by a stranger who initially solicited her for sex. 1 Thank you again for stepping out in faith as you take this journey. May God speak to you in ways that inspire hope and love in the midst of despair so that you may be light in the midst of darkness. 3

5 Study ISAIAH 58: Shout it aloud, do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet. Declare to my people their rebellion and to the descendants of Jacob their sins. 2 For day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them. I can remember as a young child getting lost in a department store. I still remember how frightened I was. I frantically searched for my mother for what seemed to be hours. I m sure it was just a few minutes. When I finally saw her, she was facing the other way. I ran up behind her and tugged on her coat. As she turned around, the worst feeling shot through my body. It wasn t my mom. From the back, this lady had the same hair and the same coat as my mom, but it wasn t her. My mother eventually found me, and all was well, but I learned two lessons that day. First, don t wander too far from mom. Secondly, appearances can be deceiving. In this chapter of Isaiah, God calls on the prophet to proclaim to the people of Israel their sin. Isaiah is to call out, shout aloud, and awaken the people as to how they have offended God. But what is their offense? After all, they seem to be seeking the Lord. They seem to be eager for the presence of God. They seem to be doing all the right religious things. But appearances can be deceiving. QUESTIONS: 1. Why do you think it was important for the prophet to sound the alarm by raising his voice and not holding back? 2. How is the Church sometimes like Israel in this passage? notes: ISAIAH 58: Why have we fasted, they say, and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed? Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. 4 Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high. 5 Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for people to humble themselves? Is it only for bowing one s head like a reed and for lying in sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord? Israel is complaining about God not paying attention to all of their good work. Among all the many religious things they were accomplishing, fasting was the one in which they were most proud. If anything was going to draw in the presence of God, it was going to be how devoted they were to their fasting. Yet, God gives them a different picture of what it means to be devout. God points out that the purpose of fasting is to develop and to show a humble and contrite heart. Yet, for Israel, on the very day they were supposed to be experiencing a transformation of heart, they were exploiting their own workers and fighting with each other. They understood the outward part of fasting (i.e., lying in sackcloth and ashes, bowing one s head, refusing food, etc.) but missed the inward part entirely. It might seem strange for the modern reader to see this connection between a spiritual discipline (fasting) and a socio-economic issue (how we treat our employees). In our fractured 21st century view of the world, we tend to divide these things into two separate spheres of life; yet, for God, they are intimately connected. Treating people justly should be a direct consequence of our life with God. The transformation of our heart results in the transformation of the world. God reminds Israel that true spirituality is about more than just fasting from food one day a week. QUESTIONS: 3. Why did the Israelites feel a distance between them and God? 4. Why do you think the exploitation of workers was so important to God? Why wasn t it enough that Israel performed spiritual practices before Him? 5

6 ISAIAH 58: Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? 8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. 9 Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, 10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. 11 The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. 12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings. In this passage, we see God s heart for justice in the world. True spirituality cannot consist only of private spiritual practices. It cannot consist only of worship practices contained to one day a week. True followers of God practicing true spirituality will be involved in loosing the chains of injustice and setting the oppressed free. They will care about providing for the poor and for the hungry. It is as if God gives the Israelites a new list of spiritual practices that should take priority in their lives and each of these practices involves caring for those who have been marginalized by society. God also promises that once the people of Israel connect with God s heart for justice, He will bring light and life back to their community. He will once again return to His people as their guide and their strength. They will become healthy and green again like a well-watered garden. They will become restorers of that which was broken and ruined. This same message is delivered to the people of Israel through the prophet Micah. Notice how similar this Isaiah passage is to Micah 6:6-8 notes: With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of olive oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. QUESTIONS: 5. God gives Israel a list of activities that qualify as the kind of fast [He has] chosen. List those activities. 6. According to Micah 6 & Isaiah 58, what is the good offering that the Lord requires of us? 7. How is the presence of God connected to caring for those who are marginalized in society? 8. According to vss 8-12 of Isaiah 58, how would your life be different if you began to (or continued to) align yourself with God s heart for justice? 9. What might happen in the life of a whole church if they were to align themselves with God s heart for justice? 10. What does it look like for your church to loosen the chains of injustice and set the oppressed free in our society? 7

7 REFLECT ON SESSION 1 Meditate on Psalm 139:1-14, You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely. You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me, even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. PRAY: Allow God to search your heart. How much do you manifest God s heart for justice in your own life? Spend 5 to 10 minutes praying that God will give you a heart for justice. Optional Reading: Go to the page of the Araminta website (aramintafreedom.org) and do the assignment listed under Optional Reading Session 1. PREPARE FOR SESSION 2 1. Go to the page of the Araminta website (aramintafreedom.org) and do the assignments listed under Prepare For Session Complete Session 2 of the. To purchase the complete AWAKEN study and accompanying Leader s Guide, please visit