When Jesus raised Lazarus from the tomb, He turned to those standing nearby and said,
"Unbind him, set him free, and let him go." (John 11:44b)
"Unbind him, set him free, and let him go." (John 11:44b)
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Think about that for a moment. Dead four days. Decaying. Foul-smelling. Putrid.
Just like our lives get when we are bound up in the death and decay of lies we’ve believed, sins we’ve committed, and evils we have suffered. But that’s not the final answer.
Just as Jesus brought Lazarus back to life in the physical realm, He gives each of us a brand new, born-again life when we place our faith and trust in Him and surrender our lives to Him (see 2 Corinthians 5:17-19; Ephesians 2:1-7).
And just as those standing nearby were called to unbind Lazarus from the remnants of death, we who have found freedom are called to help others find it too. We are called to help unbind and set free those still in bondage to the death and decay of their former lives.
Just like our lives get when we are bound up in the death and decay of lies we’ve believed, sins we’ve committed, and evils we have suffered. But that’s not the final answer.
Just as Jesus brought Lazarus back to life in the physical realm, He gives each of us a brand new, born-again life when we place our faith and trust in Him and surrender our lives to Him (see 2 Corinthians 5:17-19; Ephesians 2:1-7).
And just as those standing nearby were called to unbind Lazarus from the remnants of death, we who have found freedom are called to help others find it too. We are called to help unbind and set free those still in bondage to the death and decay of their former lives.
Unbound: Growing Ever-freer in Christ is a biblical counseling and discipleship tool designed to help people discover and live out true freedom in Christ. No matter the struggle—from simple to complex—God's Word provides dependable guidance and real help.
The heart of Unbound is saturation: physically reading God's Word aloud, several times a day, so that our minds and hearts are "saturated" with His truth. We live our lives based on what we believe to be most true, and what we saturate our minds and hearts with is what we believe.
By learning to dwell deeply in the truth of God's Word and its significance for our lives, the trajectory begins to shift—from bondage to freedom, from hopelessness to joy—as layer after layer of residue and the aftereffects of rot and corruption get peeled away and truth and life take their place.
As we saturate our minds with truth, the lies we've built our lives on are displaced and our hearts are transformed (Romans 12:2).This is where we find the freedom Christ died to give us (Galatians 5:1–2). This is where we exchange the deadness of our old life for new life in Him (John 8:31–32). This is where we are made truly free (John 8:36).
The heart of Unbound is saturation: physically reading God's Word aloud, several times a day, so that our minds and hearts are "saturated" with His truth. We live our lives based on what we believe to be most true, and what we saturate our minds and hearts with is what we believe.
By learning to dwell deeply in the truth of God's Word and its significance for our lives, the trajectory begins to shift—from bondage to freedom, from hopelessness to joy—as layer after layer of residue and the aftereffects of rot and corruption get peeled away and truth and life take their place.
As we saturate our minds with truth, the lies we've built our lives on are displaced and our hearts are transformed (Romans 12:2).This is where we find the freedom Christ died to give us (Galatians 5:1–2). This is where we exchange the deadness of our old life for new life in Him (John 8:31–32). This is where we are made truly free (John 8:36).
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Ready to see what makes Unbound different? Start with Lesson 1: Worthy.
Understanding and taking hold of your true identity as God has defined it is the first step to walking in the freedom for which Christ has set you free. Read "Feeling Worthless" |
Interested in how Unbound developed? Read the story behind Unbound
A little of the history...
The S.A.F.E Program began when Pastor Troy Smith felt called to minister in Portland, Oregon, and discovered that nothing being used, inside or outside the church, really worked to help those in bondage to addiction. He had been working with people of all walks of life who were overcome by drug, alcohol, and other besetting sins. He had come face to face with the reality that, although a person had entered into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, too often that same person was still being controlled by destructive habits, unruly emotions, and idolatrous behaviors.
Those things were still destroying these people’s lives even though they had surrendered their lives to Christ. They prayed; they read their Bibles; they went to church; they had been baptized; but try as they might, they could not break free and stay free from the bondage they had been in for so long.
After an exceptionally significant defeat through the death of a woman who seemed to be making remarkable progress; Pastor Troy resolved that the 12-Step Model really did not work, and only God could supply him with a program that did. After a time of concentrated prayer, God helped him pull together the basic principles and practices that formed the heart of the S.A.F.E. Program, and others that have flowed from it.
The flow of the lessons is so natural, most people are surprised at how well everything fits together. This is one of the sure signs that this is God's program, not any man's.
Unbound is one of the programs that developed from that initial framework God showed Pastor Troy so many years ago.
The S.A.F.E Program began when Pastor Troy Smith felt called to minister in Portland, Oregon, and discovered that nothing being used, inside or outside the church, really worked to help those in bondage to addiction. He had been working with people of all walks of life who were overcome by drug, alcohol, and other besetting sins. He had come face to face with the reality that, although a person had entered into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, too often that same person was still being controlled by destructive habits, unruly emotions, and idolatrous behaviors.
Those things were still destroying these people’s lives even though they had surrendered their lives to Christ. They prayed; they read their Bibles; they went to church; they had been baptized; but try as they might, they could not break free and stay free from the bondage they had been in for so long.
After an exceptionally significant defeat through the death of a woman who seemed to be making remarkable progress; Pastor Troy resolved that the 12-Step Model really did not work, and only God could supply him with a program that did. After a time of concentrated prayer, God helped him pull together the basic principles and practices that formed the heart of the S.A.F.E. Program, and others that have flowed from it.
The flow of the lessons is so natural, most people are surprised at how well everything fits together. This is one of the sure signs that this is God's program, not any man's.
Unbound is one of the programs that developed from that initial framework God showed Pastor Troy so many years ago.
