Cornerstone Christian Center
Cornerstone Christian Center
Deep: Fasting and Prayer
Ever felt the weight of your struggles but couldn't quite find the strength to carry on? We promise you'll discover how to transform such moments into opportunities for profound spiritual growth. Join us as we explore the parallels between the mysteries of the ocean and our faith, reminding ourselves that God's presence is unwavering, and our journey towards a meaningful connection with Him is an adventure worth pursuing.
We're diving deeper into the practices of prayer and fasting, not as rituals to endure, but as transformative tools that prioritize spiritual nourishment over physical desires. Our 21-day journey invites you to embrace heartfelt communication with God, speaking faith over doubt, and understanding fasting as a personal journey rather than a public display. Through shared stories and a sprinkle of humor, we reflect on childhood memories of fasting and offer a prayer guide to support your daily reflections.
As we draw closer to God, the essence of soul care and stewardship emerges as integral to our spiritual growth. Aligning our time, talents, and resources with God's purpose fosters miraculous changes, not only within us but also in our communities. Together, we conclude with a heartfelt prayer of blessing, reaffirming our commitment to the Cornerstone family and encouraging each other to spread this spirit of love and connection into the world.
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God sees you, he knows exactly where you are, he knows what you're going through and though it's a new year, maybe you're dealing with the same problems. God sees you and he knows where you're at. You are not alone in your struggle. You are not alone in your situation. He is with you. You are not forgotten. You are not fighting this fight alone. He is for you and through him we are already more than conquerors. Through him, who has done a great work on our behalf, friends, I felt it so strong that this week we were supposed to change everything up and I was supposed to tell you this that the God of the universe loves you and he cares about you and he sees you and he knows your name, he knows your circumstances, he knows what you're going through. He has not forgotten you. You are his child and he loves you very much.
Speaker 1:We are focusing and we are going after the deep things of God this year. Friends, that we would go after the deep things of God this year, friends, that we would go after the deep things of God. No more surface level, no more plasticity in Christianity. The deep things of God, if you want to see a miracle in your family, if you want to see a miracle in your situation, then you have to go to the miracle working God. We have to go. We have to go together. It can't be just one of us, just two of us, friends. We need to go after the deep things of God for what he has for you, what he has for me, for your family, for your children, your grandchildren, for your neighbors, for your lost best friend. He cares about them. He wants to see them come back. But it becomes whenever you go after the deep things of God. That's when it happens this year, as we set out on 21 days of prayer and fasting, it's to focus on the deep things of God that he would draw us into, what he wants to show us that we would leave behind the other things.
Speaker 1:The scripture says this in Psalm 139, how precious to me are your thoughts, oh God, how vast is the sum of them, and if I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake and I am still with you, lord. We just open up our hearts and minds to you today and all that you wanna do on our behalf. Lord, we thank you for your spirit and how you breathe alive upon us and make this thing alive, and your word that you've given to us the truth, lord, that you are the only way. You are the light, lord, you are the focus of our worship today. So we come with our hearts towards you, open to you and what you want to say to us. We pray this in the powerful name that is Jesus Christ, amen.
Speaker 1:So I was thinking about this idea of the sand and God's thoughts of the sand, and I was thinking about how much I love the beach. Anybody a beach person out here, how many of you are from Arizona? You are a beach person, whether or not you chose it. You know a lot of beach, no ocean. You know what I mean and that's one of the things.
Speaker 1:I grew up loving the beach. A sand kid out here running around in the desert, and one of the things that was a challenge is that there is no ocean. So I had this like yearning, this drawing to the ocean. You know, occasionally our family get a chance to go to the ocean. I absolutely loved it.
Speaker 1:I would spend all my time out in the ocean and you know there's a situation where it's like man, you just want to get in there, get in the mix, and that's a learned process, right? You can't just jump in all the way. You have to kind of learn how to navigate that. And, and over time I started kind of taking my love for the ocean and started going after it and going to where it's like, okay, I'm going to get a mask and I'm gonna start to go under the water. You can see a little bit of that here.
Speaker 1:We were in Zanzibar free diving with some friends and it's interesting because you start to go and take those deep breaths and you start to go down and see things a little bit clearer and you get to have that a little bit more of an adventure because you're no longer at surface level Now. You're deep and you're in it, you're in the mix of it all. You see in this next video, it's like man, you start to go to that next little place and you take bigger breaths and suddenly you start to go deeper and longer and faster and all those things start to come alive and you're starting to learn this process of going into the deep. But I'll tell you, there's only so much you can do. That is on your own breath. And so there starts to be this thing what if I could stay down here even longer, and so I had that going on in my life whenever I was young, and so it was these things where I'm like, well, let's get scuba certified. And so I became a scuba diver and started getting a chance to dive around the world.
Speaker 1:This dive was in Sudan, in Port Sudan. This is a World War II Italian ship that was sunk by the captain so the British couldn't take it, and so we got a chance to dive through it and get a chance to navigate through it, all because of this love for the deep and for the ocean. And I was thinking about that as it parallels our faith and our walk with God. And you see the beach in all its glory, you see these waves that are coming in, and it's really, you know, as we're called to the deep things of God. It's a question for us if we're going to just stay out here on the sand or we're going to come into the deep things of God. It's a question for us if we're gonna just stay out here on the sand or we're gonna come into the deep things that he has for us. And I wonder how often, as we start to kind of look over that water, how much we're willing to go.
Speaker 1:Are we people that just kind of walk by the sand? You know long walks on the beach, you know I'm sort of spiritual, I'm adjacent to spiritual or are we people that, like, I might put my toe in there, I might come. I might come to church, I might do it? You know you come in there, get your foot in the feet in there, but you're definitely not going to go up to like your knees, cause that's that's commitment. And there's some that they're like man I'm already this man, may I just get in this thing a little bit. And they get in there about waist deep, but still they can. Still they're okay. They still got their arms out. They're okay. They're not really committed, they got their arms out.
Speaker 1:And then there are others who wanna go all the way in and they wanna go to the deep things of God and friends. I can tell you as somebody who has fought through a whole season to that, I understand exactly what that is and I understand where it's like man. Well, what's the thought process as you start to look at all of that commitment and getting deeper in the things of God, it's like well, then I'll have to deal with what happens to me. If I get in this thing, I mean, people will know I'm in here, people will see that I'm committed into this thing and I don't know, maybe I just want to blend in with the people on the beach, or maybe it's not. That it's because I feel so lack of control in my life that this is the little bit of control I have, and even though the ocean could really do whatever it wants with me, I have my feet kind of set and maybe I could do something. Maybe I could run out if I needed to. So I'm only gonna get into my ankles because going any deeper would mean that I would lose control of what he's asking me to do. Or maybe whenever I get way steep, it's like man, there's scary things when it goes past. Here, this is safe, this is safe, I'm in it, I'm committed, I'm here.
Speaker 1:But if I go all the way, if I go all the way, well, that's the unknown, that's the deep Friends. That's where all the answers you've been looking for in your spiritual life are. They're in the deep things of God. That's what it means for us to walk after Jesus. It's why we follow him. It's why we talk about what it means to be a follower of him. For us, we're starting up this year with prayer, and it's an amazing thing because as we pray, it's a focus of our hearts. And that's what we want to do is starting with an intentionality towards prayer. Prayer is our communication with God. That's simply it.
Speaker 1:And I think so many times especially if we haven't grown up in church or grown up maybe in a different type of church, you think you have to have all the beautiful words that would be there like in a liturgy, and that's just not true. You can speak from your heart to God. He already knows our thoughts, what do we read in the scripture? And since that's true, then we can just speak to him the way we are, and that's okay. You can fumble over it, and he already knows what you mean, and we don't have to say a lot of beautiful words. In fact, many times, the more eloquent, the more trying we're trying to posturize ourselves.
Speaker 1:It's a false piety, it means a false holiness, and so instead, what we need to do is actually be ones that are just contrite with our heart, that we're just humble in our heart and say Lord, this is where I'm at, because he already knows where you are and, at the same time, we don't need to doubt who he is. We can have those statements of faith. Lord, this is my situation, but I know what you say. I am because I belong to you and speak that as truth. And that's the kind of things we speak over ourselves. Because we speak doubt, we speak death and we speak all these other curses over ourselves. Guess what. That's what we're going to experience.
Speaker 1:But instead, if we start to be those that pray the prayer of faith, lord, this is what I might be feeling, but I know what your word says for me. I know where we're at, but, god, I believe that you can do something bigger on my behalf. All of those things are what the strength of prayer is about. That's why we talk about our daily bread and about having that time with God every day is that we're called to be those that are always praying, always having a relationship with him. And you see that that's what it means to be people of prayer. And so, during this 21 days, it's not like we're suddenly going to start praying. No, friends, we are people who are praying. What we're going to do is we're going to pray more because we want to hear from the Lord. Fasting is just an extension of that too, and we'll talk a little bit more about that. But we're going to start 21 days of fasting and what that looks like. We'll see what it starts to take shape and how that starts to happen and you start to think about what that would mean for you.
Speaker 1:In fact, whenever you start talking about how to fast, it starts to wrestle with okay, what does this mean? Are these people a bunch of zealots? Are they a bunch of radicals for God? What are they doing? There's food in their cupboard. Why are they not eating it? Tamales exist. Why are they not eating them? You understand, I still have three in my freezer. I am saving them from my family. You understand what I'm saying.
Speaker 1:But the idea is this that fasting is not it's not a thing where we're earning God's grace that's given to us. We can't do enough to earn his grace. We're not twisting God's arm behind his back so he answers our prayers by doing some kind of penance. It's not that either. It's not where we're not doing something or withholding from something, not eating food, so that we're punishing ourselves. Friends, that's not what that's about. You are God's child. He has already paid the price for you. He will correct you and guide you by his spirit. He doesn't need to flog you with not eating tamales. What he can do is instead be someone who speaks to you.
Speaker 1:What fasting is about is instead, not that. Fasting is about the opposite. While we don't feast on our physical things that would build up our flesh, instead we feast spiritually on the things he has for us, and so we feast on the word of God instead of on food, and we're doing it with intentionality. So it's a thing if you're dealing with hunger and you're barely making a buy, then don't do a fast in this way. Instead, eat so you can be sustained. But the idea is it's an intentionality.
Speaker 1:In fact, the scripture starts to talk about how we should fast. It says and when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you they have received their reward. Man, how often is it? You know I want to be seen doing something good. You know there's a lot of brands out there that, like you know, oh, if I buy this brand, then it's seen as I'm doing something good, because that's what this reflects. So that's why I buy this brand is because then I'm associated with being good. You know what I'm talking about. And so you kind of got your reward right there, instead of just like giving money to help people, and that's the trouble is the same thing here, spiritually is that you know if you're trying to do something so you seem holy, then you've got your reward right there. Instead of pursuing after the God of the universe which is the whole point of the exercise is drawing near to him and quieting our hearts so that we can hear from him.
Speaker 1:It continues here in the scripture. It says this but when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face that your fasting may not be seen by others, but by your father, who's in secret, and your father, who sees in secret, will reward. You See, I love this because what it's saying is that, no, instead I'm doing this for God, I'm not doing this if someone else sees me do it. No, I'm gonna do this because I wanna draw near to God and to hear from his heart for me. I will tell you this friends, this week, as we start to fast, this is the week your coworkers will bring you donuts. It is the week that your coworkers who don't really like you will suddenly invite you to lunch. It is the week that the thing you are fasting will come up with the best brand new, free version of the thing you are fasting, and it's gonna be like well, I don't wanna pass up on the best brand new, free version of the thing you were fasting. And it's going to be like, well, well, I don't want to pass up on the blessings from the Lord, so I shall participate and then I will fast later. See, nobody's making you do it, so it's about the intentionality of your heart. It's like the reason I'm not doing this is because I choose not to do it, not because someone's making me, or you know, pastor Celeste is going to find out and she's holy. And if she finds out, then, man, I know you're going to worry about me, but you know what I mean. You're going to worry about her, and that's the point of fasting.
Speaker 1:You know, whenever we were young, we didn't quite get it. My brother and I and I've told the story before but he and I would be like my parents were. You know, we're going to fast as a family and they weren't even making us. You guys, you guys fast with us, yes, and they're crying, you know. And so, of course, we are people that could probably do without food for most of the day.
Speaker 1:My brother and I like crazy people and then forget to eat and eat at the end of the day. And my brother, though, the first morning we woke up fasting. He's like food. I need food. Now I'm like, dude, you're fine man and you know, like my mom, she would, she'd cook an amazing breakfast. We had breakfast for dinner the night before and, and she'd cook an amazing breakfast, and so she had done that and we had, like you know, bacon and eggs. It's the Lord's breakfast, you know what I mean. He's blessed it. I know it's not kosher, but you guys get it. So my brother like sneaks in there and like finds the very edge of bacon grease that wasn't wiped out of the cast iron skillet and goes like Friends, bacon grease on an empty stomach. Let me suggest you don't do it. You know what I'm going to say. Let me suggest you don't. It's not fun. The kid's like, blah, blah. You're like, well, you got a whole other realm of fasting, my friend, that's not what it's about.
Speaker 1:The idea of fasting is to draw near to God, to draw near to what he wants to do in your life. That's what fasting is about. And what does it say? It says that your father, who sees in secret, will reward you Matthew 6, 18,. If you have your tablet, your Bible, that you would open it today, you'd highlight that piece. See, it's your father, who's in secret, will reward you. What is it saying? It's saying that because our intentionality are from the heart, that the one that we are doing it for, he's the one that will draw us near to himself, and it's that blessing, that proximity to his heart, to hit what he wants to do in our lives. That's what he's gonna do on your behalf, and so that's what it means for us. Is that, as we fast, that we would be those that are focused after him In the same way.
Speaker 1:How to pray so often we were talking about that. It's like how do we pray? What are we going to pray in this process? Well, the focus that we've made for us in this how to pray is we've given you a prayer guide and we'll give you a QR code here. I'm encouraging you to take out your phone and shoot it so you can get this prayer guide and make it available to you. We're also gonna be showing it every day on our social media.
Speaker 1:But let this be something of a blessing to you, because what it does is day by day. It's gonna give a focus for the day, scripture that we can read, a reflection and a prayer that we can pray. Something simple, something easy, but a blessing for us to do together, collaboratively. Of course, this is just a starting point, so you can, of course, add your list to it. I know, as a staff, we pray for all the things that everyone are doing. Mind your way, so sorry. Wow, I'm going to move. Where is it at? I'm going to stand way over here in the corner. Who made this slide? I made this slide. You see this square here. I feel like Vanna White, all of a sudden, in front of this video wall. Shoot this with your phone, do you guys have it? Here's what we see.
Speaker 1:This is an example of what it is for day one. We're gonna go through it together. You see, it says fasting and prayer. Today's focus is the service as we come together, and our scripture is this one out of Joel 2. It says, yet even now, declares the Lord return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping and with mourning, and rend your hearts and not your garments. Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He relents over disaster. You can see the reflection for the day, and that's how it talks about the beginning of our 21 days of fasting and prayer. It says as we embark on the sacred time of drawing closer to God, joel 2 reminds us of the importance of sincere repentance and heartfelt devotion. This season is a time for us to return to God with our whole hearts, fasting, weeping and mourning over the sin in our lives, but also rejoicing in the grace, mercy and steadfast love of God. In these next 21 days, let's prepare our hearts to receive a refresh outpouring of God's presence. May our hearts be open and ready for what God wants to do in us and through us. So our prayer points collectively are these today Our prayer points are one ask God to give you a heart of repentance and humility as you begin this time of fasting and prayer.
Speaker 1:Two pray for the Lord to reveal his will and purpose for this season in your life. And three pray for our church to experience a fresh move of God's spirit during this time. Would you say amen to that? We see this a sample prayer. Lord, as we begin this season of fasting and prayer, we come before you with open hearts. We ask you to search us and reveal any area of our lives that need to be surrendered to you. We repent of anything that separates us from your presence and pray that you would pour out your grace and mercy upon us, help us to hear your voice regularly and clearly during this time and align our hearts with your will. May this time of fasting bring us closer to you and prepare us for all you have in store, in Jesus' name. Amen. And that's how easy it is. So we encourage you in this process that tomorrow you would do the exact same thing and you would open up this guide and let it be a blessing to you.
Speaker 1:Now we're talking about this idea of the deep things of God and going deep with God. You have your Bibles. We're going to stay right there. In Psalm 139. It picks up here, in the very beginning, with verse one. It says oh Lord, you have searched me and know me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up. You discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and you are acquainted with all my ways.
Speaker 1:See, what I love about this piece is it starts out in this psalm, the psalmist writing to us, and we understand exactly what he's saying. He's saying you know everything I'm doing, you know all of the plans that I have, but, lord you, that you would guide me. See, the direction is such a key part of our lives and it's the main thing. Is why we don't wanna many times go deeper with God is that we know we have to let go of the control, and that's very honest, right? Is that we know the deeper we go with God, the more he's gonna say hey, I need that control from you, I need to guide and direct your life, I need to control from you, I need to guide and direct your life, I need to give you priorities, and maybe we're just not ready yet. But, friends, it's interesting because at the same breath we'll say Lord, I want you more, more than yesterday. I need you more. I want you to guide me, lord. I want you to help my family, lord, I want you to bless my children. Lord, I want you to guide me, lord, I want you to help my family, lord. I want you to bless my children, lord, I want you to guide my grandchildren. And he's like that's what I'm trying to do. I need to guide you, I need to give you direction, and meanwhile we're like but, lord, I have my plan and I have what I'm gonna do. And he's like but, lord, I have my, I have my plan and I have what I'm going to do. And he's like then you're going to have your outcomes. If you want my outcomes, let's go where I'm leading you to go.
Speaker 1:It continues here in verse four, and you could see it. It says, even before a word is on my tongue behold, o Lord, you know it all together. You hem me in behind and before you lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high. I cannot attain it. See, this is the glory and the wonder of God.
Speaker 1:What does he say? He's that he is for you and that he is with you, that his hand is upon you and not apart from you, that he's beside you, he's behind you, he has your back. It's the one, that God, that does not leave you in the depths of despair. He's the one that guides us, with his rod and his staff, through the places of darkness, through the shadow of death. He's a God who is the one who stands on our side, and so if you feel like you're in that situation, know that you are not alone, that God is with you and he's fighting for you, and that if you listen to where he's directing you to go, it'll keep you out of the pit and falling off the mountain and it'll keep you going the direction he has for you to go See, because he's not just in a far off place or high up in heaven somewhere. No, he's given us his spirit to guide us right where we are. His hand upon us that we would draw near to him and to his heart for us.
Speaker 1:It says this in verse seven where shall I go from your spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? Or if I ascend to heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there, your hand shall lead me and your right hand shall hold me. Friends, this is our prayer. Is that it's the height of all of creation, out into the stars, into the depth of space, down into the deepest parts of the sea. There is nothing that escapes God's presence. There's nothing that escapes his awareness. He is aware and knows all these things, and not just that. But what does the word say here? It says that your hand shall lead me and your right hand shall hold me. See, that means it's one of endearing. That means that it's not one with a weapon. He has a hand where he is embracing us, and so that's what he wants to tell you is that he's intentional towards you, that he loves you. He's drawing you near to himself to embrace him, so that he can keep you close to him, so that he can help you navigate, so he can help direct you and he can give you the steps to take that you can trust him, friends. That's what it's about this.
Speaker 1:Last week, pastor Bridget was talking about soul care and talking about how we're called to be those who have goals and all that God has given us, and that's true. We talk about that all the time, about all the things that God has given us and how we are called to be those who are good stewards of what he has for us. So, as we talk about our health, that we would be those who are intentional in these things this year and now. We would not just make like some kind of you know, oh, I'm making a resolution or a goal. No, let's make focus and build habits so that we can go after the things of God.
Speaker 1:And we all know where we fall short in these things in beating ourselves up or maybe not doing enough exercise or being those who overload ourself with stuff that is it's not stuff we should carry, it's from social media or from watching stuff that we shouldn't watch, and we get all burned down in our mind and our heart. Let's clear all that junk out. Let's be those people that are physically and mentally and emotionally healthy, because we have a loving God who's the healer of all those things and we believe in divine healing. So, if you're someone who's dealing with anxiety, know the peace of God is for your life. If you're someone who's emotionally broken, know that the healing God doesn't just heal your body, he can heal your emotions too.
Speaker 1:That we are called to have the mind of Christ and to set ourselves in step with him. Not just our health, but also our wealth. It's what God has given us to have over. It's our time, our talent, our testimony, yes, even our treasury. How are you being a good steward of all the things that God has given you? And so often we think about ourselves in a compare me to another person type of situation. That's not what he's called us to do. He's called us to be those who understand what we're given and use it to the fullest, and he will give us more because we can be trusted. You wanna see something miraculously happen in your situation? Use what God already has given you to use. Share your testimony with somebody else. Use your time wisely and not waste it.
Speaker 1:You know how many times we're like I can't find time to read. That. That's cool. What was the fourth season of that arbitrary show that you'll forget next year? What was that like? Was it good? Did you not like the director? Oh, what's your Bible story? Do you know the story? You don't know the story. You know the Bible has been there a couple thousand years. You read it yet. Am I getting in your stuff? Yet I'm getting in my own stuff. So hopefully you guys know not just health, not just wealth, but also the spirit.
Speaker 1:Friends, we're called to be those who have a purpose in God, with a focus and a worship of him. It's our heart in entirety as we draw near to what he wants to do in us. He's calling us to himself that we would be those full of the spirit of God, that we would align our purpose with his purpose for us, that we would have a focus with his purpose for us, that we would have a focus and make a priority of what it is to worship the Lord. And my challenge to you is that tomorrow you do do your reading, you do do the plan, because what that does is starts to build a habit of what it means to walk that thing out with God every day, not weekend to weekend, but every day. And then it goes every day to every moment of every day where we start to abide in Christ.
Speaker 1:Friends, this is what it means to go deep with God, that we're on this adventure with God, that we're drawing near to him and what he wants to do in our lives. We come back to this scripture as we prepare our hearts. Today we're gonna go into communion after our worship song, but my challenge to all of you, to us, is that we would be people that come and we draw near to God, even find an altar with God, prepare our hearts as we go into communion and we have this meal to start our fast, saying Lord, we remember your sacrifice for us, your body, your blood, which was shed for me, that you took on my sin, my mistakes. You took that to the cross at the greatest cost there ever could be. And that's what this adventure is about of living with Christ. It's trusting him because he has such a greater plan for your life than you have for your life.
Speaker 1:The scripture we read again comes from Joel. It says and even now declares the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, with mourning, and rend your hearts means tear your hearts and not your garments. Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He relents over disaster. Friends, it's our challenge that we would be more like Jesus.
Speaker 1:Today. You might be here and you've never said yes to following after Christ. Your question you have to answer is have you embraced Jesus? See for us, that's what makes us a Christ follower, a Christian is that we've said yes to Jesus. We say Jesus, I believe you are who you say you are and I invite you into my heart and life, lord, that you would be the Lord of my life, that you would guide and direct me. Lord, I know what you've done on my behalf and, lord, I ask you to forgive me, that I would start this new life with you. And so, as you say yes to that, you realize that, for you and for us, the symbol of the cross is one of freedom, because it's a place where Christ took all of the weight of the world, the sin of the world, all the things that were separating us from a loving God, and he took that upon himself. And when he did, he paid for it once and for all. That we would not be separated from him for the rest of eternity, but instead that we would be drawn near to his heart. Friends, that's the challenge I have for you today that you would say yes to Jesus. Apostle Paul writes like this to the church at Rome because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified. With the mouth one confesses and is saved.
Speaker 1:Today is your day to make a decision to follow Jesus. I'm gonna ask everyone in the room to stand to your feet, right where you're at, bow your head. Maybe you're here, you've never made a decision to follow Jesus. Today is your day to do so. It's your opportunity to say yes to God. Or maybe you have, but you've been away from living for God. Today is your opportunity to recommit your heart to him, so, as heads are bowed here in the room, if that's, you just say, pastor, that's me.
Speaker 1:I want to be included in that prayer. Today, if you just raise your hand right where you're at, say Lord, I want to make a commitment to you to invite you into my heart and life. Thank you, lord, thank you God. Yes, lord, people making decisions for God, I'm going to ask friends if we'd all would repeat this prayer out loud after me Lord, thank you for loving me, thank you for sending Jesus. I believe Jesus died on the cross for my sins. I believe he rose again. Forgive me of my sins. I surrender my life to you. In Christ's name, I pray Amen, amen. Friends, I rejoice in you making a decision to follow Jesus today. For those that raised their hands today, hey, connect with us in the back. We wanna put some materials into your hand or online Message hands today. Hey, connect with us in the back. We want to put some materials into your hand or online Message us so that we can connect with you and help you in following after Christ.
Speaker 1:Friends, as we go into this fast today, as we go into communion today, we do so with intentionality.
Speaker 1:My charge to you is that you would make an altar with God, that there be nothing to separate you from him. Lord, we thank you so much for your word and, lord, we thank you how you challenge us or how you call us into the deep things of your presence. Lord, you call us there because you want to guide and direct us. Lord, you don't want to fight us for control and, lord, you want to be those that direct us and guide us in what we are supposed to do with the purpose for our lives. So, lord, as we come to this altar, we do so with intentionality. Lord, to draw near to you. Lord, to experience more of your spirit, more of your peace, more of your presence, your joy, in the middle of circumstances that are hard to deal with, lord, that you are there with us. And so, lord, we draw near to you at this time as we prepare our hearts to receive all that you've given us in communion. We pray this in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Speaker 2:If you have been a guest of ours over the last several weeks, we would love to meet you. We are doing Party with the Pastor immediately following this service. If you have children, you can go and grab them and then meet us out here to the east side of the building there's a hallway and just come join us. We'd love to meet you and just answer any questions you may have, and it's real informal, but we'd love to just put a face to the name.
Speaker 1:We have baptism coming up. So for those of you who made a decision to follow Jesus, make a decision to follow him in baptism. It's coming up in a few weeks, so we challenge you to say yes to him in that way. Let me pray over us before we go today. The Lord bless you and keep you. Lord, make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. Lord, lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Lord, I pray a blessing upon your church, your people. Lord, you empower us by your spirit to live your love out to those around us. We pray this in the powerful name that is Jesus Christ. Amen, amen. Know this. We love you very much here at Cornerstone. God bless you and have a great week.