Tag Archives: Bible study

Turbo Follow- Week 6

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I am loving this discipleship class

 

 

Cornerstone Church Winchendon is into week 6 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 week we will be discussing: Learning to Love

Last week we had our discussions on Learning to be an influence for Jesus through various evangelistic styles. Here is a synopsis of each day’s devotional material:

Day 1: Some of us are invitational evangelists meaning we invite people to come on an experiential journey with us.

Day 2: Some of us are story evangelists meaning we reach people by sharing our personal stories of how Jesus works in our lives.

Day 3: Some of us are friendship evangelists meaning we reach people through personal relationship.

Day 4: Some of us are Teaching evangelists meaning we reach people by direct communication of the gospel message.

Day 5: Some of us are servant evangelists meaning we reach people by meeting their felt needs.

Here are the questions we asked of each other this week:

1.    On a scale of 1-10 how are you doing in following what God has told you to do this week? As we open in prayer what could we pray for you that would help you to follow Jesus closer?

 2.    Of the five ways of influencing people (inviting, storytelling, befriending, teaching straight, serving) which are you strongest in?

 3.    How are you using that method of influence in your relationships right now?

 4.    Who would you like to pray for so that you could have an opportunity to influence them towards Jesus?

 

I would love to hear what God has been showing you through this week’s questions!

Heaven Pt. 140: Shuddered or Shuttered?

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Mel4With all the writing I have been doing for Turbo Follow and House On Fire it has been a while  since I visited the Heaven posts. This group of blogs was created as a word study using the word “heaven” through the Bible.

When last we spoke in this vein we were in the midst of the Book of Job. You can find other Heaven posts at

http://wp.me/P39vIx-fv

Here are my thoughts on Heaven today:

The foundations of heaven tremble;
they shudder at his rebuke. Job 26:11 NLT

It is fascinating to me and more than a little sad that when God is angered the heavens themselves shudder but mankind for the most part remains unrepentant and shuttered against God. The fact that all men have this uncanny ability to harden their hearts and wink at sin is a disaster of unmitigated proportions. It’s bigger than a tsunami. It’s more deadly than global climate change or the loss of the ozone.

Of all creation it seems that men are the one species native to Earth  able to circumnavigate the displeasure of God and ignore it. God is angered and the birds flee the sky. God shakes with fury and the hills and the mountains melt like wax. The sky itself grows dark and the moon glows red to reflect and respond to the anger of the Lord. Mankind alone in the midst of creation does not bow. This is a fact echoed in history…in current events…and in prophecy.

Everyone was burned by this blast of heat, and they cursed the name of God, who had control over all these plagues. They did not repent of their sins and turn to God and give him glory. Rev. 16:9

Now that may sound truly disheartening but it makes the miracle of salvation all the more miraculous. If the hearts of men are so shuttered and hardened against God by the power of sin the question is not why aren’t more people coming to Jesus and getting saved but like the disciples asked “Then who in the world can be saved?” Mark 10:26

Jesus answer is the same today as it was then “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But not with God. Everything is possible with God.” Mark 10:27

The power of sin is mighty and it has wrought inestimable damage on the history of our race; But the power of God is greater still and He is about the business of undoing the works of the devil. So for a moment I join the heavens in shuddering that I may someday join the New Heaven and the New Earth in rejoicing over the miraculous redemptive power of my God! In fact my rejoicing starts today! His grace has saved me!

Have you ever experienced a time when you felt the weight of sin you had done? How did you move past that?

Pastor Wrinkles: House On Fire Pt. 43

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The Word of God is a bridge that connects Earth with Heaven and Heaven with Earth.- Joseph Elon Lillie

The Word of God is a bridge that connects Earth with Heaven and Heaven with Earth.- Joseph Elon Lillie

 

I am so blessed by those of you who have been jumping on board with the biblical discussion posts I have been shooting out into the blogosphere. It is just so wonderful to hear what God is speaking into the lives of so many of His servants. It is even more wonderful to hear that His Spirit has been saying some common things to many of us.

If you want an opportunity to jump in on any of this week’s discussions you can join the dialogues at

https://josephelonlillie.com/2014/03/12/the-born-again-experience/

Or

https://josephelonlillie.com/2014/03/11/turbo-follow-week-5/

Now here is today’s discussion starter on the Book of Acts:

Paul Ministers in Ephesus- Acts 19:8-22

8 Then Paul went to the synagogue and preached boldly for the next three months, arguing persuasively about the Kingdom of God. 9 But some became stubborn, rejecting his message and publicly speaking against the Way. So Paul left the synagogue and took the believers with him. Then he held daily discussions at the lecture hall of Tyrannus.10 This went on for the next two years, so that people throughout the province of Asia—both Jews and Greeks—heard the word of the Lord.

11 God gave Paul the power to perform unusual miracles. 12 When handkerchiefs or aprons that had merely touched his skin were placed on sick people, they were healed of their diseases, and evil spirits were expelled.

13 A group of Jews was traveling from town to town casting out evil spirits. They tried to use the name of the Lord Jesus in their incantation, saying, “I command you in the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, to come out!” 14 Seven sons of Sceva, a leading priest, were doing this. 15 But one time when they tried it, the evil spirit replied, “I know Jesus, and I know Paul, but who are you?” 16 Then the man with the evil spirit leaped on them, overpowered them, and attacked them with such violence that they fled from the house, naked and battered.

17 The story of what happened spread quickly all through Ephesus, to Jews and Greeks alike. A solemn fear descended on the city, and the name of the Lord Jesus was greatly honored. 18 Many who became believers confessed their sinful practices. 19 A number of them who had been practicing sorcery brought their incantation books and burned them at a public bonfire. The value of the books was several million dollars. 20 So the message about the Lord spread widely and had a powerful effect.

21 Afterward Paul felt compelled by the Spirit to go over to Macedonia and Achaia before going to Jerusalem. “And after that,” he said, “I must go on to Rome!” 22 He sent his two assistants, Timothy and Erastus, ahead to Macedonia while he stayed awhile longer in the province of Asia.

This part of Paul’s journey is long. Almost two and a half years are spent in Ephesus.

What have you done in the last two and a half years? 

What events preceded Paul’s decision to move on?

Do you think they had any bearing on Paul’s decision to move on?

How does the Spirit confirm His messages through life events?

The Born Again Experience

Posted on by under Pastor Wrinkles

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For about two years now I have been following a blog written by a wonderful Christian woman named Jessica Hoff. Recently she and some of her other contributors have been discussing the concept of the born again experience. Specifically how is it different from “religion” and is this thing called being born-again a moment or a process?

http://jessicahof.wordpress.com/2014/02/28/how-do-we-know-god/

http://jessicahof.wordpress.com/2014/02/27/born-again-2/

http://jessicahof.wordpress.com/2014/03/11/being-a-christian-4/

As I have read the posts and the thoughts of her commentators I thought I might add my two cents concerning being “born again”.  If Jessica decides the post worthy of a reblog she has my permission in advance to do so and if not then I shall take no offense as at the very least it will fill a little bit of my corner of the blogosphere with thoughts that make me happy.

In this corner of Christianity ( being the American Assemblies of God, a Pentecostal cooperative fellowship) we use terms like “saved”,  “redeemed”, and “born again”  interchangeable to describe the conversion experience; That is the “I once was lost and now am found” experience.

Like Geoff who wrote http://jessicahof.wordpress.com/2014/03/11/being-a-christian-4/  I believe that being born again is not about coming to God for therapy (although Jesus is the Wonderful Counsellor).  Being born again starts when a person realizes that his sin separates him from God and that there is a need for forgiveness. Being born again takes place when a person realizes that Jesus died on the cross to  take mankind’s punishment for sin. Being born again takes place when a person confesses his sin by prayer to God and receives by faith forgiveness of that sin.  Being born again takes place when Jesus comes into a person’s life and brings a dead spirit to life by  supernatural work. In short, a man is not born again because of anything the man does but because of what Jesus did on the cross and what Jesus does personally in that man’s life to make the man come to life through the Holy Spirit. Prayer and confession only make a pathway for Jesus to come in. ( See John 3:3-6,16-18, Rom. 3:23 Rom. 6:23, Rom. 10:9, Eph 2:1-10)

At the moment a man is born again by the supernatural work of Jesus Christ that man is granted eternal life and a home in Heaven ( John 1:12, 3:16).

But let’s not pretend that obtaining Heaven is the pinnacle of Christianity. Being born again takes place in a moment of time but the born-again experience is an eternity of walking out (it’s a process called sanctification in the Bible). If the only point of being  born again was going to Heaven then God would have beamed us off of Earth at the moment of conversion. Being born again is as much an experience and a walk as it is a moment. Once I  was born again I was called to begin living as a born again Christian.

8For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light 9(for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) 10and find out what pleases the Lord. 11Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. 12It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. 13But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. 14This is why it is said:

“Wake up, sleeper,

rise from the dead,

and Christ will shine on you.”

15Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. 18Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, 19speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, 20always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Eph. 5:8-20 NIV

Now I don’t live as a child of light to be saved or born again but because I am saved because I am born again. I was born again and my name was written in the Lamb’s Book of Life (Rev 21:27) 32 years ago and I have not been the same since that day!

Turbo Follow- Week 5

Posted on by under Pastor Wrinkles

imagesCA74DISE

Cornerstone Church Winchendon is into week 5 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 week we will be discussing: Learning to influence the world for Jesus!

 

But this post is a weekly follow-up of our last 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 Heal:

 

Here is a summary of the daily readings from Dan Mcnaughton’s Book,  Follow:

Day 1:  In order to be healed we have to allow God to touch us: Walls must come down!

Day 2: Jesus has authority to heal!

Day 3: Healing is God’s idea first!

Day 4: Faith is required for healing.

Day 5: Healing is given to be given away to others.

And here are the questions we discussed with each other in our last class:

Turbo Follow Questions Week 4- Learn to Heal

 1.    Tell the group about a healing (spirit, soul or body) you have received in the past.

 

 2.    What do you see as the greatest challenge to God’s authority in the realm of healing?

 

 3.    What can you do to eliminate that challenge from yourself and those in the realm of your influence?

 

 4.    What healing would you like to believe God for in yourself or your family life?

 I would love to hear from you about healing!

 

Pastor Wrinkles: House On Fire Pt. 42

Posted on by under Pastor Wrinkles
The Word of God is a bridge that connects Earth with Heaven and Heaven with Earth.- Joseph Elon Lillie

The Word of God is a bridge that connects Earth with Heaven and Heaven with Earth.- Joseph Elon Lillie

 

Between Turbo Follow and House On Fire I have been having some great discussion with some wonderful disciples of Christ this week! Keep up the good works gang and while you are at it check out these other bloggers from Cornerstone Church in Winchendon MA

http://artistdayapart.com/

http://debbestillandlisten.com/

http://growingupgodandbeingbusy.wordpress.com/

Here is today’s discussion:

We are going to jump here to Acts Chapter 19

19 While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul traveled through the interior regions until he reached Ephesus, on the coast, where he found several believers. 2 “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” he asked them.

“No,” they replied, “we haven’t even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”

3 “Then what baptism did you experience?” he asked.

And they replied, “The baptism of John.”

4 Paul said, “John’s baptism called for repentance from sin. But John himself told the people to believe in the one who would come later, meaning Jesus.”

5 As soon as they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 Then when Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in other tongues and prophesied. 7 There were about twelve men in all.

Why do you think the baptism in the Holy Spirit had not been preached to these men prior to Paul’s arrival?

Why do you think Paul pursued the issue of baptism in the Holy Spirit with these men?

Turbo- Follow Week 4

Posted on by under Pastor Wrinkles

imagesCA74DISE

 

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!

 

 

 

Pastor Wrinkles: House On Fire Pt. 41

Posted on by under Pastor Wrinkles
The Word of God is a bridge that connects Earth with Heaven and Heaven with Earth.- Joseph Elon Lillie

The Word of God is a bridge that connects Earth with Heaven and Heaven with Earth.- Joseph Elon Lillie

 

These discussions on the Book Of Acts have become a precious part of my week. I love the discussions that are framing up from them. These discussions will definitely fuel the atmosphere the next time I teach this material in a traditional setting. If you have missed any of our past discussion you can find them here:

http://wp.me/P39vIx-Gh

Here is today’s discussion topic:

Review our lessons from Acts 15-18 Here:

 

House On Fire 32       http://wp.me/p39vIx-S1

House On Fire 33        http://wp.me/p39vIx-Sj

House On Fire 34       http://wp.me/p39vIx-SN

House On Fire 35        http://wp.me/p39vIx-Tp

House On Fire 36       http://wp.me/p39vIx-TX

House On Fire 37        http://wp.me/p39vIx-Uq

House On Fire 38     http://wp.me/p39vIx-UI

House On Fire 39    http://wp.me/p39vIx-Vf

House On Fire 40    http://wp.me/p39vIx-VA

How successful was Paul as a church planter? What qualities helped him? What qualities held him back?

Heaven Pt. 139: From A Distance or Close At Hand

Posted on by under Pastor Wrinkles

Mel4

Job 22:12-14 NIV

“God is so great—higher than the heavens,
higher than the farthest stars.
13 But you reply, ‘That’s why God can’t see what I am doing!
How can he judge through the thick darkness?
14 For thick clouds swirl about him, and he cannot see us.
He is way up there, walking on the vault of heaven.’

My God sees everything. He misses nothing. According to the Scripture He is intimately acquainted with every man, woman and child on the planet. He clocks the moment we awake and He is aware when we fall asleep. He sees our public triumphs and is present at our private failures. The Bible goes so far as to say he keeps track of the numbers of hairs on our heads ( when you consider half the population is bald that’s not as huge a miracle as say healing cancer…but still).

  In spite of all He sees, though, God does not interfere where He is not invited. God is sovereign and He has sovereignly given us free will. For some of us that means God is intimately involved in our everyday decisions through prayer. He is our safety rope as we scale the peaks of life. For others of us that means God is totally cut out of our lives and any rope we have from Him is only enough for us to hang ourselves with. Those who pursue God intentionally and regularly understand that God is the unseen visitor at every gathering and the silent participant in every conversation. Those who ignore God take His invisibility and silence as absence or abandonment.  For them if God exists He exists somewhere far off and only observes our lives From a distance.

Pastor Howard Renker said to our congregation just the other night, “What you perceive is what you will believe. What you believe is what you will receive.”

Applying that logic, where we perceive God to be in our lives determines what we will believe about Him. That belief will affect what we can receive from Him. So if we think of God as far away in Heaven we may believe He is not present to help us with our everyday problems. If we believe that, then we will receive little help from Him on an everyday basis. If however we believe that Jesus lives with us in our homes,  in our hearts and is ever-present with us, then we will believe He is present to help us with the broken down car or the wayward child. In that case we will receive help everyday.

So let me ask, is God working with you from a distance or is He close at hand? 

What needs to change in order for you to see God as “closer” to you?

Turbo-Follow: Week 2

Posted on by under Pastor Wrinkles

imagesCA74DISE

 

I have lost track of which winter storm knocked us out of commission last week. It was Pax or Quentin or something like that. Regardless of its name it shut down our Turbo-Follow group last week. On the up-side that gives all of you an extra week to get through lesson one on “Being With Jesus.”

If you are just tuning in with us, Turbo-Follow is a class our church leadership is currently teaching using the “G.r.o.w. S.m.a.r.t.” method. Each week I write one of these posts in anticipation of my personal life group class on Thursday to help the participants prepare their hearts for what lies ahead!

If you missed the sermon on Sunday you can listen to it here:

http://cornerstoneag.net/2014/02/16/learningtorelyonjesus/

In the sermon I mentioned several different kinds of fruit or blessings that God desires to release into our lives:

Fruit is godly attitudes that manifest in good behavior: Gal. 5:22

Fruit is prosperity and holiness in our households and children: Psalm 127

Fruit involves personal prosperity:  Deut. 28, Luke 8:8, Mark 4:20, Ma. 13:23

Fruit involves the lives around you that you influence drawing closer to God: Pro. 11:30

Fruit involves being able to speak positive words that bring life to yourself and those around you: Prov. 12;4/ 13:2/18:20, Heb. 13:15.  Isa. 57:19

Fruit involves good works that lead to reward:  Prov. 31:31, John 4:36, Jer. 17:10, 21:14, 32:19, Isa. 3:10

Fruit involves  being ale to think good thoughts:   Isa. 26:3

As you read this list which type of fruit/blessing do you think is most important for your life right now? What can you be doing to give God entrance to your life so He can produce this fruit in you?