Ok this is the last one for Ivy GGs from my Graham Cooke notes – hope they’ve been useful for you to chew over?
I think from next week we’ll be reviewing some of the teaching that’s now ongoing from our Sermon on the Mount (actually the Mentoring on the Hill) talks we’re doing on Sunday evenings.

John 16: 33 (Jesus said) “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

Discuss – how do people who don’t know God look for peace?
What counts at ‘tribulation’ – what does that word mean to you? </strong>

Romans 8:36-38
36 As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

GC: You can’t be an overcomer unless you have something to overcome.

What have you been called to overcome recently? 

GC: Your breakthrough is predetermined. Nothing works against you now because all things work together for your good. There comes a point at which you become more than a conqueror because the enemy knows he better not show up. He has limited resources so he’ll not waste them where he can’t win. 

Discuss: Christians talk about the devil attacking them. If he has limited resources, how does that work? How directly is he involved in warring against you? 

Luke 10:18-20
18 And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. 20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.

DISCUSS: It seems here Jesus wasn’t impressed by spiritual warfare so much as spiritual connection. What errors can we fall into if we get out focus wrong?
GC: There is something about you so attractive to God he pushes everything toward you. You have a divine advantage. Learn to see it. Think differently, speak differently, stand differently. ‘Count it all as joy’ – because it’s FUN. Because Jesus came to give me the power of INSTEAD. There’s no way the Father would put you into Jesus and not change you to be like him. We are heirs with God. Our inheritance is to turn everything against you to an advantage for you. Learn to become like Christ – he’s a winner! I’m in Christ. He’s in me. What would he do in me?

DISCUSS: Find where the Bible says ‘Count it all joy.’ What’s included in that?

GC: INSTEAD of your shame – you will receive a double portion. So when you get knocked back or you give in to a previous mindset; he’ll give you enough to not just bounce back but bounce twice as high! Nothing works against me – because God is FOR me. Learn how FOR you he is! Jesus became poor so we could always get our needs met. We don’t cut our cloth according to our need. We SOW, and we can reap. So you can even give to the Lord, in the face of your need. Invest in some hot soil to plant. You learn to prosper like that. Move in the opposite spirit.

DISCUSS: How does thinking like that differ eg., from the world’s perspective on money? Which mindset is more dominant in you? What can and will you do as a group and as individuals this week to move in a spirit of generosity rather than financial fear? 

God says, ‘I can take this and turn it into that. Like flicking a light in a dark room. Take a negative and turn it into something else. For every situation, you have a divine advantage.

Instead of fear – courage,
Nervous? Bold!
Bound? Free!

Your assignment:
Get 2 pieces of paper

on 1 – make a list of everything that’s holding you down, any defect in character. List them and number them

on 2 – look at number 1 and ask the Lord ‘What’s the opposite of that you want to do?’

Then get the friends in your GG around you, pray and burn the deficit list ; that is saying, ‘ I’m done with that way of thinking.’ Then live off the second list. Work through it – attach a promise, a scripture, a blessing to each. Because this is what the Lord is going to do. This is a sign to you of ‘Permission Granted.’ God says ‘I will help you overcome in those areas. You have a list of the will of God for you next season. Your future comes from your promises, your trusting, your confidence in God.