REALLIFE STUDY GROUP

"Mount Up!"

 

ICEBREAKER: What is the highest place that you have climbed up? (Your staircase, your bunk bed, your attic, McKinley's monument, the Rockies, the Smokies, the Appalachian mountains, the Ozark Mountains, the Empire State Building, a ropes course...)

 

CONFESSION: 

Just like the eagle my destiny is to mount up on the winds of adversity and to soar above the storms.

 

Just like the rider my destiny is to ascend on top of and rein-in the strength of both the wild and the domesticated beast.

 

Just like the mountain climber my destiny is to conquer the highest mountain of resistance.

 

Just like the power lifter my destiny is to prove that I can lift the heavy burdens of life and become stronger through the process.

 

Just like the animal that chews the cud my destiny is to to chew up Gods Word and re-chew up that Word over and over until it become a part of me.

 

Just like the righteous man, as opposed to the wicked, my destiny is to mount up on God’s grace and refuse to lift up myself in pride.

 

It is in my DNA to break out of the mundane and rise up in the spirit of excellence! When I live in obedience to God, it is my destiny to be blessed and to have blessings overtake me. It is a part of my inheritance to be the head and not the tail, above only and not beneath. I was born to learn to mount up in life!!

 

DEFINITION:  Mount Up: (1) to climb up on an animal in a seated position, (2) to scale the side of a mountain to its highest altitude, (3) like an eagle to stretch your wings and soar on currents of the wind above the storm, (4) to get in position and lift heavy weights, (5) to lift up a sacrificial offering to the Lord, (6) to chew the cud, (7) in a negative sense speaking of the wicked, it means to be haughty and prideful.

 

OUTLINE:  WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO MOUNT UP?

·        Mounting Up first requires waiting, renewing and strengthening

·        Mounting Up,  like the eagle, means to rise above the storm or to utilize the power of the storm as an altitude lifter and a wind velocity maximizer

·        Mounting Up is a learned behavior that takes practice to become a skill

·        Mounting Up happens when we get pushed out of our comfort zone and begin to discover our potential

·        Mounting Up does not break the law, it overrules it with a higher law

·        Mounting Up is something you have to do for yourself, while others may be present, it's a one man job. In other words no one can do it for you.

·        Mounting Up overcomes your fears while conquering the winds of adversity, the circumstances of life and the atmosphere of opposition.

·        Mounting Up requires you to stretch your wings and expand your horizons

·        Mounting Up means to scale the mountain to the highest peak, zenith, apex, summit, crest, or pinnacle. Moving to the high ground gives you the advantage.

·        Mounting Up means to get in position and to power lift heavy weights. Position produces greater potential.

·        Mounting Up means the bigger the problem, the bigger the reward and the higher the recognition when the problem has been conquered by mounting up to the challenge.

·        Mounting Up means to sit in a high position to harness the power of what you are seated upon to produce a forward advance.

·        Mounting Up against insurmountable odds requires courage, competence and commitment.

·        Mounting Up means to give an offering up to God.

·        Mounting Up requires chewing up and re-chewing up (in Hebrew the same word "alah" is translated to mount up and to chew the cud.

 

 

8 STEPPING UP STEPS IN ORDER TO MOUNT UP

(A sequence of learned practiced steps that look like one simple quick movement but takes time and practice to perfect)

1.    You've gotta open up in order to mount up

(Open up your heart to the possibilities)

2.    You've gotta look up in order to mount up

3.    You've gotta reach up in order to mount up

4.    You've gotta pull up in order to mount up

5.    You've gotta step up in order to mount up

6.    You've gotta climb up in order to mount up

7.    You've gotta sit up in order to mount up

8.    You've gotta stay up in order to mount up

 

TEXT:  Isaiah 40:31; Job 39:27; Ezekiel 10:16

 

STUDY GROUP QUESTIONS:

1.   Tell us one thing in your life that you have had to practice to become good at.

2.   Job 20:4-29 speaks of how the wicked mount up or puff up themselves in pride and arrogance. It says, “though his excellencies mount up to the heavens and his head reach unto the clouds yet shall he perish”...read the passage and comment on one thing that this passage says will happen to the wicked.

3.   Isaiah says, “they that wait upon the lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles.” Tell us something you have had to wait on the Lord for in your life.

4.   This kind of waiting is not exemplified by inactivity but rather serving or attending to God like a waiter or waitress waits on their tables. Name one way you could serve God, your family, your church or your community while you wait on God.

5.   Mounting up requires courage, competence and commitment. Identify something you have done or accomplished in your life that has required courage.

6.   When you mount up on a horse you are actually taking control of something that is bigger than you. In what area of your life would you like to mount up and feel like you are in charge and not the circumstances?

 

PRAISE REPORTS & PRAYER REQUEST:

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

 

ACTION POINT:  This week I choose to look at problems as an opportunity to mount up. If I can make time I will walk or climb to a high place or high building as a reminder that God wants me to see life from a higher perspective. In that place I will thank God for the high road, the high life and the highway of God and I will ask God to give me a glimpse of the big picture!