03 - GOD-INSIDE MINDED
ICE BREAKER / GAME
Name one of your major rivals or “enemies,” at present or from childhood. Why were they your rival?
GROUP SESSION VIDEO
GROUP SESSION CONVERSATION GUIDE
Today, let’s imagine again. Imagine having access to present day and historical figures (excluding Jesus) who are deeply desirous to give their expertise to us, as they fill kind of board-of-advisors seats in our lives. Imagine having a personal mentoring/accountability COMMITTEE of complete experts for every category of our lives. For instance…
BUSINESS/FINANCIAL (Maybe it would be…)
- John D Rockefeller
- Andrew Carnegie
- Cornelius Vanderbilt
- Bill Gates
- Warren Buffett
- Alan Greenspan
- Jack Welch
- Oprah Winfrey
- Stephen Covey
- King David
RELATIONSHIPS /MARRIAGE/PARENTING
- Apostle Paul
- Dr. Phil
- Dr. John Gottman (Gottman Institute)
- James Dobson
- Susanna Wesley (John-Charles)
- Emily Post
SPIRITUAL LIFE
- The Apostle Paul
- 11 Apostles
- Dr. Billy Graham
- Brother Lawrence
- Dallas Willard
- Mother Teresa
- Favorite minister over past 200 years
INTELLECTUAL/PHILOSOPHICAL LIFE
- Solomon
- Plato
- Aristotle
- Thomas Aquainas
- Blaise Pascal
- C.S. Lewis
- Ravi Zacharias
- Soren Kierkegaard
WHAT WOULD YOUR BOARD LOOK LIKE?
Now imagine that we have an HUMAN INTEGRATION MACHINE that morphs all of these people in a given category together, taking all their gifts, knowledge, perceptions, skills, character virtues, willpower, morals, discipline, etc., and making them ONE SUPERHUMAN.
- What would that be like to have this expert board-of-directors available for your personal development?
- Can you fathom the genius of that one “morphed human being”?
Now imagine that another setting on this HUMAN INTEGRATION MACHINE is able to take this new morphed BOD man you just made to advise you; that has all the attributes of each individual (their gifts, knowledge, perceptions, skills, character virtues, willpower, morals, discipline, etc.); and fuse this superhuman into inseparable oneness with you.
So now a person like you, or me, is no longer sitting in elated admiration of each one of our board-of-directors, but now their abilities, talents and gifts have been infused into each of us.
This superhuman is now an intrinsic part of our very nature.
- It’s character is now our character.
- It’s willpower is now our willpower.
- It’s morals are so powerful it overwhelms our own feeble morals.
Now everything about them is entirely morphed into us. YET our own personality, what makes us uniquely us, is still fully intact.
WE HAVE SOMETHING BETTER IN THE HOLY SPIRIT
That is exactly what happened in the NEW BIRTH, the experience called “salvation.” The HOLY SPIRIT, greater than any board-of-advisors, has become one with the believer transposing His entire person in, on and through our lives.
JOHN 14:16-20 NKJV [Jesus said] And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another HELPER (Comforter, Counselor, Advocate, Intercessor, Strengthener, and Standby) , that He may ABIDE WITH YOU FOREVER-- 17 the SPIRIT OF TRUTH, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees HIM nor knows HIM; but you know HIM, for HE dwells WITH YOU and will be IN YOU.
1 CORINTHIANS 6:19 NKJV [Paul said] Or do you not know that YOUR BODY is the TEMPLE of the HOLY SPIRIT [who is] IN YOU, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?
2 CORINTHIANS 6:16 NKJV And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will DWELL IN them and WALK AMONG [them] (KJV “IN THEM”). I will be their God, And they shall be My people."
QUESTIONS
1. After watching this session’s video, what is your biggest takeaway, “ah ha” moment, or challenging thought? Why?
2. If you were to choose 3 people in history (other than Jesus) to sit on your board of directors, who would you choose, and why?
3. Before this week’s video, what was your understanding of the Holy Spirit living inside you?
4. How are you processing the idea that Christians shouldn’t pray for power, or for God to “be with us,” because of the reality of the Holy Spirit is living inside us?
5. When the Scripture (2 Corinthians 6:16, see Group Conversation Guide) says God will “dwell in” and “walk in” the believer, should we take that literally? How would this be different than the Old Testament believer who had God in their memories, but not literally “in them?”
PRAYER
Prayer time with the Group.
ENCOURAGEMENT CONNECTION THIS WEEK
- PRAY FOR GROUP MEMBER - Pray for at least one person in the Group. Try to identify someone who hasn't been prayed for, or given an encouraging Scripture. Don't worry about feeling inadequate as a prayer. No one feels like they are professional prayers, at least not when they look into eyes of the Almighty God. Praying the Scriptures over people is the best way to learn how to pray effectively. Simply find a Scripture, put the person's name in the text, and pray those words out loud. Then ask the Lord to help you think of things to say to Him about them that would help their lives.
- ASK FOR A SCRIPTURE WORD - Ask God to give you a Scripture to give them to encourage, comfort and edify them. You can Google search "God's Promises" and find a plethora of appropriate texts. Look for one that seems to give you a spark of energy as you think about the person you have been praying for.
- DELIVER THE WORD TO THEM - Then send them an email, text or phone call to encourage them. This is how the Holy Spirit works in our lives. As you practice these movements you will expand your own capacity with God, all while giving people much needed hope and strength.