Cornerstone Church Winchendon is into week 4 of a congregation-wide study written by, Daniel McNaughton and Bryan Koch, entitled Follow: Learning To Follow Jesus. Each Sunday our pastoral staff is preaching from one of the seven attributes covered in the book while the congregation reads the daily devotions and participates weekly in a life group focused around the topic at hand.
The group I am tasked with leading has been dubbed “Turbo Follow”. Rather than approaching the class as a traditional Bible study we have chosen to act as an accountability group. The class begins with a brief overview of the daily devotionals. Then participants break into smaller, accountability groups. Each group participant asks questions of their fellows concerning the teachings. At the end of each class individuals are asked to decide what God would have them do in light of what they have learned. Then we pray for each other.
This post is a weekly follow-up of our class. For those of you who are unable because of business or geography, to join us on Thursdays this blog is a perfect way to virtually join in on the fun.
Last week our devotion covered Learning to Listen to Jesus:
Here is a summary of the daily readings from Dan Mcnaughton’s Book, Follow:
Day 1: Learn to Be Happy: Blessedness is a state of mind not bound to physical circumstances.
Day 2: Learn to God to the Source: God is our source and His Word reveals the course from the source.
Day 3: Learn to See Jesus in the Scriptures: The whole Bible points to Jesus. He is the Word of God and the Word of God is about Him. History is HIS- STORY.
Day 4: Learn to Overcome Temptation: Part of listening to Jesus is obeying Him and walking away from the old behaviors that kept us away from Him.
Day 5: Learn to Be Productive: As we listen to Jesus our lives become reservoirs of His power and Kingdom success. The amount of success we experience depends on the condition of our hearts which Jesus likens to soil.
Here are the questions we asked each other during group:
- 1. Tell your group one thing you did last week you think God was happy about. Now tell the group one thing you could have done better. OPEN YOUR GROUP BY PRAYING THAT GOD WOULD HELP EACH PERSON IN THE GROUP TO WORK ON THE AREA THAT NEEDS IMPROVEMENT.
2. On a scale of 1-10 how blessed do you feel today (1 being not very blessed and 10 feeling totally blessed). Explain to the group what makes you feel that way today.
3. Of the four types of heart soil we discussed: Pathway soil, rocky soil, thorny soil, good soil what kind of soil has your heart been like this week?
4. What could you do this week to help make the soil of your heart even better?
Don’t miss group this week. We are talking about God’s desire to heal us body, soul, mind and spirit!
Lillie-Put 
I am learning to listen more instead of interjecting my thoughts. God is stretching me in this area because I get so excited when talking about God that I forget I’m not the only one in the conversation. He wants me to do this in my prayer closet as well. I love the fellowship that is coming from these classes. Can’t wait for Thursday’s class!
I am being challenged with silence this week and allowing the Spirit to reinfuse me with power after ministry.
I struggle with listening to God. I always can talk and read, but i forget to hear what he wants me to do. This week i’ve been trying to listen more. I have realized how much God uses pretty much everything and anything to speak to us!
This is a good revelation Savvanah! God is constantly speaking but the volume of the world around us can easily drown Him out if we aren’t constantly focusing in on His voice.
Hi Pastor J, This week Matthew10:8 really stood out in my mind. (“Freely you have received, freely give”). We should always be ready to pray for others when there is a need, but I think a lot of the time fear and doubt get in the way. We are afraid if we pray and the prayer doesn’t get answered that it is our fault because maybe we didn’t have enough faith or sometimes I hear people say, that’s just not my calling to pray for others. These are all lies the enemy uses against us to keep us from doing the will of God. I know because I have struggled with this. We all have been given a measure of faith but we must utilize it. It is such a blessing to be prayed for when you have a need and you feel hopeless or alone in your situation. We don’t have to worry about the outcome of our prayers because that is God’s business. We just have to step out in faith and pray. Linda
Amen Linda! The truth is we are all called and anointed to pray. After all prayer is just conversing with Jesus and sometimes that is about the needs of others. The Devil has convinced many brothers and sisters that the main thing prayer brings is attacks but the main thing prayer brings is intimacy with Jesus. The warfare prayer is only ever successfull in the place of intimacy with Jesus.
When we pray from this perspective Jesus is free to direct our prayers and to teach us how to use them as effective armor for defending against and defeating the enemy.