Latest / UNMASKED with Wesley Farnsworth / Ep 31 - Freedom Multiplies: Why Your Healing Is Meant to Spread

Transcript

Ep 31 - Freedom Multiplies: Why Your Healing Is Meant to Spread · UNMASKED with Wesley Farnsworth

• 0:00
  Let me paint a picture for you. Imagine a single match in a dark
• 0:04
  room. Small, quiet, almost
• 0:09
  insignificant. If it stays alone, that flame
• 0:13
  eventually flickers out. But imagine that same match
• 0:17
  being used to light another candle, and then another, and
• 0:22
  another. Now imagine each person holding
• 0:26
  their flame out to the next person in line.
• 0:29
  Hundreds of candles. Thousands of candles.
• 0:32
  An entire room. An entire stadium eliminated by
• 0:37
  a single spark that refused to stay isolated.
• 0:42
  Here's the truth. Most people never realize that
• 0:46
  your freedom is not meant to stop with you.
• 0:49
  Your story is not meant to stay in your chest.
• 0:53
  Your healing is not meant to be hidden.
• 0:56
  Your transformation is meant to ignite transformation for
• 1:01
  others. Because freedom, real freedom,
• 1:05
  never ends with the person who receives it.
• 1:08
  It spreads, it multiplies, it ripples outward.
• 1:13
  Today we're going to talk about that ripple.
• 1:16
  Because some victories are not just for your life.
• 1:20
  They're meant to shape the world around you.
• 1:28
  Welcome back to Unmasked. This podcast is where we take
• 1:33
  off the filters that keep us stuck and step into the kind of
• 1:36
  honesty that leads to real, lasting transformation.
• 1:41
  I'm your host, Wesley Farnsworth, and this is episode
• 1:44
  31, final part of our four part miniseries, The Power of
• 1:48
  Community. In this last chapter, we're
• 1:56
  exploring something beautiful and profound.
• 2:00
  Freedom multiplies the ripple effect of community because what
• 2:05
  God does in you is never just for you.
• 2:08
  So let's go there. One of the biggest myths in
• 2:11
  Christianity is the healing is a personal, private journey.
• 2:16
  Don't get me wrong, it starts personally, it starts privately,
• 2:21
  it starts quietly. But it doesn't stay that way.
• 2:25
  Healing that stays hidden is not healing, it's containment.
• 2:31
  If your healing never flows into others, the enemy keeps it small
• 2:35
  and shame keeps it quiet. Fear keeps it internal, and
• 2:40
  pride keeps it private. But the Kingdom of God doesn't
• 2:44
  work this way. Everything that God touches is
• 2:46
  meant to multiply. Grace multiplies.
• 2:50
  Hope multiplies. Faith multiplies.
• 2:54
  Healing multiplies. Freedom multiplies.
• 2:58
  God never gives anything with the expectation that you'll
• 3:02
  hoard it. He gives so you can give.
• 3:06
  He frees so that you can free. He restores so you can restore.
• 3:12
  Every healing becomes a lighthouse.
• 3:15
  Think about that. Think about a lighthouse.
• 3:18
  It doesn't chase ships. It doesn't shout at them.
• 3:23
  It doesn't swim out into the storm.
• 3:25
  It stands where it stands, and it shines.
• 3:29
  And people in the darkness, they find their way because someone
• 3:33
  else's light was visible from a distance.
• 3:36
  Your testimony, your healing, your growth, your victory, your
• 3:42
  courage, your honesty, your breakthrough, your progress.
• 3:46
  They all become lighthouses for somebody else's storms.
• 3:50
  Even if you don't know them by name, even if you never see
• 3:54
  their face, even if you don't know the impact, someone else
• 4:00
  will find their way because you stopped hiding.
• 4:05
  And that, my friends, is the ripple effect when freedom helps
• 4:08
  somebody else open up. Over the years, I've seen
• 4:11
  incredible things happen again and again.
• 4:15
  Every time I share a general piece of my story, somebody
• 4:19
  comes up to me afterwards or messages me or emails me and
• 4:23
  says something like thank you. I thought I was the only one or
• 4:28
  you just sat out loud. The very thing that I have been
• 4:32
  afraid to admit or hearing. Your honesty gave me the courage
• 4:36
  to finally tell someone or sometimes even.
• 4:39
  I've been struggling for years and today I took my first step
• 4:44
  and every time that happens, it reminds me that my freedom is
• 4:49
  not mine alone. Your courage gives someone else
• 4:53
  permission to be courageous. Your honesty helps someone else
• 4:58
  go first. Your vulnerability opens up
• 5:02
  somebody else's heart. Your healing becomes someone
• 5:06
  else's hope. This isn't accidental.
• 5:09
  This is how God designed it. So let's zoom out for a moment.
• 5:13
  Community doesn't just heal individuals, it heals
• 5:16
  generations. When you break a cycle, your
• 5:20
  children benefit, Your marriage benefits.
• 5:23
  Your friendships benefit. Your atmosphere changes.
• 5:27
  Your future changes. Your family tree changes.
• 5:31
  When you choose healing, you're not just choosing it for today,
• 5:36
  you're choosing it for the next generation and the one after
• 5:39
  that and the one after that. Someone has to break the cycle.
• 5:43
  Someone has to end the generational patterns.
• 5:47
  Someone has to say it stops with me, it changes with me, and it
• 5:54
  begins again with me. Whoever chooses freedom changes
• 6:00
  history. You'll be amazed at what one
• 6:04
  honest moment can do. One honest conversation, one
• 6:07
  confession, one tear, one story. One.
• 6:10
  Me too, One I'm struggling one. This is where I'm hurting.
• 6:15
  All it takes is 1. One person willing to go first.
• 6:19
  Because that moment that someone goes first, everyone else
• 6:23
  realizes that they're not alone, that they're not crazy.
• 6:27
  They begin to think that I'm not worse than everyone else, I'm
• 6:31
  not beyond help. I'm not beyond hope.
• 6:35
  Community becomes a place of courage instead of comparison,
• 6:40
  and it begins with one spark. So let's talk about what grows
• 6:45
  out of healthy, honest, vulnerable community.
• 6:49
  The first one is courage. When people around you choose
• 6:52
  bravery, you'll start acting brave too.
• 6:55
  Next is honesty. Honesty spreads when somebody
• 6:58
  tells the truth, it gives others the permission to tell the truth
• 7:02
  too. Third is compassion.
• 7:04
  When you see somebody else open up, it softens your heart
• 7:08
  towards your own wounds. 4th is accountability.
• 7:11
  When you're surrounded by truth tellers, you become 1-2.
• 7:14
  Fifth is purpose. Community gives your healing
• 7:18
  direction. It becomes a part of what you
• 7:20
  offer the world. 6th is stability.
• 7:24
  Being surrounded by believers who you see and believe.
• 7:28
  Being surrounded by believers who see you and believe in you
• 7:31
  anchors your soul. 7th is strength.
• 7:34
  Your weakness shared becomes somebody else's strength
• 7:38
  offered. And finally, freedom.
• 7:41
  Freedom is contagious among people who refuse to hide.
• 7:45
  This is why we don't fight alone.
• 7:48
  This is why God commands community, not suggests it.
• 7:51
  I remember the first time I heard somebody open up with a
• 7:54
  level of honesty that I wasn't used to seeing in church or
• 7:58
  ministry or community. It wasn't dramatic, it wasn't
• 8:02
  emotional, and it wasn't polished.
• 8:04
  It was just real. It was raw, it was human, it was
• 8:09
  vulnerable. And something inside of me said,
• 8:12
  if he can say that out loud, maybe I don't have to keep
• 8:15
  hiding either. His honesty broke something
• 8:18
  inside of me. That is the ripple effect.
• 8:21
  Because freedom is loud when spoken softly.
• 8:24
  Someone else's courage became the spark for mine.
• 8:28
  Maybe your courage will become the spark for someone else.
• 8:31
  Let's put this spiritually for a moment.
• 8:33
  Freedom is a calling, not a container.
• 8:35
  The Bible is full of language about multiplication.
• 8:38
  Words like seeds, fruit, harvests, generations,
• 8:42
  discipleship, nations, rivers, wells, light, salt.
• 8:48
  Nothing God produces is meant to stay small.
• 8:51
  In Isaiah 61, God says you will rebuild ancient ruins, you will
• 8:56
  restore places long devastated. He doesn't just heal you, he
• 9:01
  makes you a healer. Jesus said freely you have
• 9:04
  received, freely give. You were not changed so that you
• 9:09
  could stay quiet. You were changed and healed so
• 9:13
  that you could change the world around you.
• 9:15
  I want you to close your eyes for a moment, unless you're
• 9:18
  driving, and then don't do that. But if you're in a place that
• 9:21
  you can close your eyes for a moment and ask yourself, who in
• 9:24
  my life could be encouraged by my honesty?
• 9:27
  Who could be strengthened by my healing?
• 9:30
  Who might need my story? Who might be waiting for someone
• 9:33
  to go first and then ask, where is God calling me to shine
• 9:38
  brightly instead of hiding quietly?
• 9:41
  Because the truth is, you're not responsible for saving anyone,
• 9:44
  but you are responsible for shining.
• 9:47
  And people in the dark look for light.
• 9:50
  So here's your challenge this week.
• 9:52
  Let your freedom touch one other person.
• 9:54
  Maybe that means telling your story, sharing a piece of your
• 9:58
  journey, opening up with someone struggling, inviting someone to
• 10:02
  your group, praying for somebody, encouraging someone
• 10:06
  who seems tired, or just be in the safe place that someone
• 10:10
  needs. Your goal isn't to fix anybody.
• 10:13
  Your job is to simply show up with the freedom that God has
• 10:16
  given you and let it ripple. Thank you for joining me for
• 10:24
  episode 31 of Unmasked and for walking through this entire mini
• 10:28
  series, The Power of Community with me.
• 10:30
  We exposed the lie that says that you can't handle life
• 10:33
  alone. We explored the sacred spaces
• 10:36
  that God uses to heal us. We walked through the necessity
• 10:40
  of brotherhood and sisterhood in the trenches.
• 10:43
  And today we discovered that freedom is not meant to end with
• 10:47
  us. It is meant to multiply.
• 10:50
  As you move into your week, remember this.
• 10:53
  You're not just being healed. You're being prepared.
• 10:57
  You're being shaped. You're being equipped, you're
• 11:01
  being made into the lighthouse for people that are still stuck
• 11:04
  in the storm in the darkness, looking for hope.
• 11:07
  Your freedom matters, your story matters, your healing matters,
• 11:14
  your community matters. You matter, and your ripple is
• 11:20
  only just beginning. God bless you.