Greetings and grace faith family. What a wonderful day it was yesterday. From Prayer through the fellowship at the end, the energy in the room was so soul-encouraging.
I know I threw a lot at you yesterday about why your participation in the local church matters so much to God. Two things I have been unapologetically passionate about for years now is the WORD of God and the COMMUNITY of Faith. With all that is changing in our culture, it is more important than ever that we anchor ourselves to BOTH of them.
If you missed it, remember that you can watch or listen to all of the messages on our website and on iTunes. Stay a part of the conversation!
We start Nehemiah this Sunday and it will show us over and over again how our togetherness can bring God glory. The journey through Nehemiah will definitely reveal why we need to be part of a community of faith. I CANNOT WAIT!
I want to take a couple minutes and let you know what our vision for making disciple-makers will look like in the coming weeks and month. Much is still unknown, but we will figure it out TOGETHER with the Holy Spirit's help.
What the past few months have shown is that we need to double our efforts to teach people how to be SELF-FEEDERS in the word AND to teach people to teach the Word. Logistics still need to be worked out for the FOUNDATIONS and LEADERSHIP TRAINING offerings, but we can ALL start on this journey by BEING IN A D-GROUP starting next week!
The #1 thing that molds and defined a disciple of Christ is the discipline of engaging in the Word of God — on your own on ITS own. This is not about being in a bible study - but letting the Bible study YOU. We call this READING | REFLECTING | RESPONDING to the Word.
I know it is a struggle to set up this daily discipline. And I know there are days when the Word just seems dry. That’s WHERE THE D-GROUPS COME IN. Dear brothers and sisters, God is telling a grand story of GRACE and you and I ARE BLESSED TO BE PART OF IT! We need to know His story so you can share His story!
So beginning NEXT MONDAY 11.18, we will be walking through the OT in 100 chapters that share His best. You will also be given resources to help you better understand how the pages of scripture fit together into one, seamless meta-narrative. And we will follow the melodic line of His Word right back to Jesus.
D-GROUP DETAILS
We are letting the Holy Spirit lead people into groups that can look very different. Groups can be — Men | Women | YA | Young Marrieds | Old couples like me and Kerry. :-). You can share or prepare meals together or even do them around a hobby like hiking! THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX! All you need is a Bible and a journal and the power of the Holy Spirit to open the spiritual eyes of your heart. We provide the Daily Readings — handout | Bulletin (on the web) | emailed out each morning. Your D-Group will provide the encouragement and accountability you need. And sharing insights with one another will keep you excited to read more. You can even do multiple groups - for example you could be in one with others and with your family and the conversation will be completely different.
All we ask is that the D-Group participants do the following things:
Do the Daily Readings then reflect, respond and record it in some way (journal)
Be ready to share what the Holy Spirit has shared with you with your group
Memorize the passage provided together each week
Provide support, encouragement and accountability to one another
Consider how you could facilitate a group in the future
If you need help figuring out how to connect to the D-Group, want to lead or host a group, email me at doug@cornerstonechurchaz.org
Imagine with me if you would what it would be like to be a church fully committed to walking TOGETHER with one another IN GOD'S WORD, in PRAYER and in FELLOWSHIP. It would not only change our conversation, but would lead to seeing people converted into Christ-followers. And that's the mission. It is why Jesus saved you. It is what He leaves you here to do.
I love walking WITH Jesus WITH you!
Keep looking UP! — Luke 21.28
—doug