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Welcome! Kelly and I (James too, though he doesn’t know it yet) are excited to have you in our connect group and are looking forward to God has planned for all of us.
| Group Conventions: | Meeting: Mondays, 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM. Dates: October 4, 2010 through December 6th, 2010. Curriculum: Sermon Based |
| Group Maxims: | Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And love your neighbor as you love yourself. |
Essentially, I have two objectives for this Connect Group:
1. Practical Application
It is one thing to hear and understand what is being preached but another thing to apply that to one’s life. There are many instances, particularly for those of us who have been Christians for a while, where we hear a sermon, nod, and say, “I already know that.” Congratulations, but are you applying what you know to your life? We may know that we are to love our neighbor as ourselves but are we applying it? It’s the move from head to heart.
2. Think Critically
I am not talking about giving some sort of philosophical/theological treatise on the sermons. Here I want us to go deeper into what was said. We are in series; how do the sermons connect? Seeing the why connections are there. For example, how does being Christ’s ambassador connect with being a disciple?
Another aspect of thinking critically about the sermon, connecting up with objective (1), is to recognize and understand the implications of what is said. If we are challenged to do a certain action but we are not doing that action, what implications does that have on our life? If we really think that what Christ says is true, then what are the implications for our lives?
Recommendations:
1. Be teachable
2. Be inquisitive
3. Be yourself
If you missed a sermon, the sermons are posted on the CP website for your listening pleasure: http://www.cplace.org/messages/index.html
[1] Concerning my blog, I will post my own personal summations of the sermons and feel free to post comments. I believe that discussions outside of the group are valuable.
