ENCOUNTER SERIES POST ENCOUNTER CLASS 01

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1 ENCOUNTER SERIES POST ENCOUNTER CLASS 01 I. CLASS OBJECTIVES This class has the following objectives: 1. Understand that as Christians we have been given the right to be free of our former way of living 2. Understand that there is a battle for your mind 3. Understand the whoever or whatever controls your thoughts control your destiny II. INTRODUCTION A. Introduce Yourself 1. Begin by sharing something interesting about yourself. This will help the class to see you as a real person and make it easier for them to connect with you throughout this course. 2. Take a moment to introduce your class assistant. B. Student Icebreaker 1. Break the class into groups of two (2). Have the students introduce themselves to their partner. 2. The Post Encounter is the third (3) part of the Encounter Series and follows the Encounter Weekend. Whether we realize it or not, God is at work in all of our lives and the Encounter Weekend was a time to get reconnected with Him. 3. Ask each student to share what he or she has changed in his or her life to live as Christ?

2 III. LESSON: THE BATTLE FOR THE MIND (THOUGHT LIFE) A. We have a choice. Deuteronomy 30:19 (NLT) Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live! 1. God has given everyone the ability to choose. 2. Our actions are based upon our beliefs. Our beliefs are based upon our values. 3. Everyday we will make choices. The choices we make will determine our outcome in life. 4. Even though we are Christians, the quality and quantity of our life is determined by the choices we make. B. Changing Your Mind. Ephesians 4:17-24 (NLT) 17 With the Lord s authority I say this: Live no longer as the Gentiles do, for they are hopelessly confused. 18 Their minds are full of darkness; they wander far from the life God gives because they have closed their minds and hardened their hearts against him. 19 They have no sense of shame. They live for lustful pleasure and eagerly practice every kind of impurity. 20 But that isn t what you learned about Christ. 21 Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, 22 throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. 23 Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. 24 Put on your new nature, created to be like God truly righteous and holy. 1. Our mind (thoughts) doesn t automatically change when we become a Christian. We need to make that change. 2. We can be Christians and still experience life the way we lived before we believed in Christ and have the same results. 3. If we want to experience the abundant life Jesus gave us, it starts by changing the way we think. Page 2 of 5

3 C. How Do I Change My Mind? Romans 12:2 (NLT) Don t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. 1. By changing the way we think to God s ways we will learn what His will is for our life. We will know how to make the right choices and choose life in every situation. 2. The word transform in the Greek is how we get our word, metamorphoses. It describes the transformation of a caterpillar into a butterfly. God wants our lives to be transformed from our old way of living into a new way of living. 3. If we are to live a higher quality of life, we need to exchange our old thoughts with God s thoughts from His word. Isaiah 55:8, 9 (NKJV) 8 For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways, says the LORD. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts. 4. When we begin to think like God thinks and makes our decisions based upon His thoughts then we are choosing life. 5. Jesus came to give us an abundant life, full of quality and quantity. We can have it if our choices are in line with God s because He is the giver of that abundant life. D. The Battle for the Mind. 2 Corinthians 10:3, 4 (CEV) 3 For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, 6 being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete. 1. The greatest asset to the Christian is the mind. How we think about God, our self, and others will determine how we live our life. 2. We need to take every thought that is not of God into captivity. There are thoughts that are not from God that we have been thinking for a lifetime that has gotten results that we are not proud of. 3. These thoughts will continue to run through our mind until we capture it and bring it into obedience with God s word. Page 3 of 5

4 4. God has given us the power to choose. Either we are going to choose life (God s word) or death (our ideas). Proverbs 14:12 (NKJV) There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death. There are always good ideas or good intentions. However, if it s not God s way its end is the way of death. God s word is His will. When we decide that we are going to be transformed by thinking like God thinks and do what God does, then the decision we need to make has already been decided. E. How Do We Change? 1. When we became Christians our eternal destination changed and although we should live our lives reflective of that change, what holds us back is our way of thinking. 2. To bring godly changes in our lives it will require us to change our habits. Before we change our habits we need to change the way we think. 3. Although God has set us free from our past and all that our past has represented, the only thing that can keep us in the past is to think the same way as we always thought. 4. We need to take captive every thought that comes against God s word in our life and exchange it with what God s word says about it. 5. God s part for our total redemption has been completed on the cross. 6. To experience God s supernatural provision and life will require us to grow in Him. To the measure we grow in Christ and mature in Him by reading His word and to gain His thoughts is the measure we will experience His abundant life. 3 John 2 (NKJV) Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers. God s will for our lives is to prosper but that all hinges upon the way we think. Page 4 of 5

5 Proverbs 23:7a (KJV) For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. If we believe that we are saved then our decisions will reflect that. If we believe that we are healed then our actions will reflect that. If we believe that God will meet all of our needs then our actions (sowing and reaping) will reflect that. If we believe that we have been redeemed then our lifestyle will reflect our beliefs. 7. How we live our lives is the by-product of what we believe. Page 5 of 5