Cornerstone Christian Center
Cornerstone Christian Center
Deep: The Mind of Christ
Reflect on the contrast between earthly power and divine humility as we ponder human tendencies toward pride and self-absorption. The episode challenges us to transform our mindset and perception through baptism and immersion in Christ's teachings, reshaping how we see ourselves and others. With vivid imagery from the famous hall of mirrors, we confront the distorted self-perception that often accompanies power and wealth.
The story of baptism as a symbol of repentance and spiritual renewal takes center stage, following Jesus Christ's example as we explore themes of obedience and rebirth. With the triune God present at Jesus' baptism, we recognize the call to embrace our identity as co-heirs with Christ, sharing in His heritage and reign. Paralleling faith with learning a language, we're encouraged to go beyond surface understanding to true fluency in God's love. Through personal stories, we see how deepening our faith impacts not only our lives but also our community, inviting us to embrace the transformative power of trusting in Jesus.
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The deep things of God. That's what we're about. That's what we've been talking about is the deep things of God and, more specifically, about us becoming more and more like him, and we were talking about the mind of Christ. You know, I was thinking about this struggle that we have so often, because when we draw near to God, we're thinking about who he is as our creator, who he is in his majesty and all the different aspects of what that looks like, and you think about the stars that he hung in the sky and how he spoke light into existence. We think about all these things and how we interact with them and how small we are in detail and how finite our lives are, and we start to think about the grandeur of God. And then we get derailed a little bit. Anybody ever get derailed whenever they're in their prayer time and I'll be real honest, so many times you're like man glory, thank you, god, thank you. You're starting out with giving praise to God and thanking for all it is, and you're like man God, thank you so much, thank you. And then your brain is like what about all the stuff you have to do right now? And you're like no, no, I'm being intentional. We've been talking about this. Pastor Celeste told me that I need to be intentional. I'm being intentional to go deeper with God. And your brain's like that's great. Pick up your phone and look at your phone. What if you missed the bleeps that are on the phone right now? What if you missed it? And you're like no, no, I don't need that. I mean, I'm going to think about man. How beautiful are all his wondrous works. Think about the sky and think about the deep space of all the different things that he's made and created and all these different things. And it's like remember that weird conversation you had in high school and how you feel awkward about that. You're like I'm old, what are you bringing up high school for? I don't. This has no bearing on my life at all. And your brain's like it doesn't matter. Anybody ever struggle whenever they're trying to go deep with God and the things of God. It's just me. Okay, I'm going to repent to this side of the room and you guys, who are holier than me, can just find I think all of us have been in that struggle. Right, it's this idea of trying to press into the deep things of God and tell our mind no, I don't need to be distracted right now by my phone, old ideas, things like that. Instead, I need to focus on who he says I am and draw near to him. And that means pressing through. And I'll tell you, man, it's whenever we're in a season of prayer and fasting, like we are right now, so often, that's whenever we understand how much we need him, because we're being intentional.
Speaker 1:Fasting is doing without something good, like food, for something greater, which is the presence of the Lord, and so that's a decision you're making. No one's looking over your shoulder. It's not like Pastor Rich is going to pop up. If you eat a tamale and you said you were fasting and be like, I told you You're like, oh no, you see the eyebrow go up and you're like no, and the judgment of the Lord comes and it strikes you down. No, it doesn't work like that. But I will tell you, if you are fasting, you will be able to smell the tamales that your neighbors are making and it will waft into your home. The wind goes the other way, prevailing all the time, but it will come into your house while you're fasting. You know what I'm talking about.
Speaker 1:I had a friend of mine in the room who, immediately, they're like you said, they're going to offer free food and on Monday, when they started fasting, hey, you guys, who wants the potluck that we're doing today? Free potluck, of course, when you're fasting. And the thing is, what we're doing is we're choosing something that's better than what we already have. That is good, right, and so that's why we're being intentional in this way to go after the deep things of God. I'll also tell you this because you're doing without it. Some of us deal with hangriness. How many people know about hanger? It's when you're hungry and angry and you're mixed together and you need Jesus, anybody. You're supposed to be fasting. Hopefully your neighbor, your coworker, doesn't know you're fasting, because then you'd be like I said, I'm fine. You're like are you okay? You all right, you need a hug. What's going on with you right now, friends, that we need to break through that layer to go to the deep things that God has for us.
Speaker 1:I was thinking about it because, left to our own devices and our own powers and all those things, we usually fail one of two ways. I was thinking about this because we lived for years in France and whenever visitors would come to visit us, we would take them to Versailles. And Versailles is this amazing palace that was built outside of Paris, and King Louis XIV he's the one that built it. He was the king of France and he didn't like French people so he didn't wanna be by them in Paris. He was like that they were smelly and gross and he wanted to be around shiny stuff.
Speaker 1:And so he built this amazing, amazing palace and I'll tell you if you go, it is all that I mean he did on the backs of all his people, obviously, and purged all their wealth and was just using it on himself. And it's crazy, the grandeur is wild and to think about how this pales in comparison to the glory of God and his creation. But it's interesting to see all that he's done and on all that stuff you're like man. No wonder they killed the kings later because you guys did this to them on their backs. But what was interesting about it is in his day it was so difficult to get one mirror They'd have to go to Venice and have the glassblowers make these mirrors and he took all of his wealth and he made this whole hallway of mirrors a hall of mirrors and if you ever go, it's quite breathtaking because it's just so beautiful and ornate and wild and you could understand and see him in your mind's eye, about him taking a stroll in front of these mirrors. Right, he'd just be like oh look, this is the favorite thing that I have in the world. It's a picture of me. Oh, that's me right there, hello. And then he walks a few feet forward and, oh, look, there again a mirror of me, the greatest thing in the room, hello.
Speaker 1:And I wonder, if we were left up to our own devices and we had the same kind of power and money, what would we do? How, how would our ego be? Would we be puffed up and believing our own press and looking in the mirror all the time, subjugating others to what we wanna do, or would we be benevolent and giving the way we say we would wanna do? The other side of it is this is that have you ever been in a fun house and looked at the wavy mirrors inside the fun house? And so that's one version where we're all puffed up on pride on this side, and we know pride comes before the fall. But whenever we're in the other side, it's what happens, whenever the enemy pushes us this other way and says we're not worth anything and our self-worth starts to be all warped and we're not seeing ourselves the way that God intended us to see ourselves as a child of God.
Speaker 1:And so we grow up with this warped perspective on ourselves and we start to believe these things that are true about ourselves that aren't true. It's a curse and a lie from the evil one, and that you're a mistake and that you have no future and all these other things, and it warps who you are, and so you see yourself as warped, even though you are a child of God and he created you with purpose and on purpose, for purpose. And so we see these two things, and what we have to understand is the more we go towards the mind of Christ, the more that we will A humble ourselves. And two come into alignment with the way that we're supposed to view ourselves, which is his mindset, as people who are called to be in relationship with him, walking with him, trusting him. So, friends, let's go after the deep things of God. We see ourselves very much here as cornerstone, as people that get this opportunity to gather together to worship, so we're thankful that we have this opportunity today to do so together. We are people who are definitely not perfect and we are on a journey following after Jesus. We wanna be more like Jesus, and so that's why we use this imagery of walking with him, because we know we haven't arrived anywhere. We're still walking after where Jesus is leading us to go, and so that's why we're being intentional at the beginning of this year 21 days of prayer and fasting, and let me encourage you to participate, that you would be intentional with it.
Speaker 1:We've been using a prompt in our prayer guide and even on our social media. Every day you can throw it on your story and share it with others and pray it in your prayer time in the morning or at evening, and just a way for us to stay connected and stay linked up. So you can take a shot of this prayer guide, use it, let it be a blessing to your life. But how many people have been participating in the fast? You guys been doing fasting, and I'll tell you this if you haven't, let me encourage you to participate, to go ahead and jump in and be a part of what God wants to do. It's a way for us to draw near to him with intentionality, to take steps deeper with God, to the deep things of God.
Speaker 1:Now I'll tell you I was blessed by Pastor Celeste's message last week. How many people were blessed by that message. What a great message. How deep with God will you go? And she was talking about this idea of the differences of what we've been saying in this deep series about ankle deep to waist deep, to all in with Jesus. And using this imagery of walking along the shoreline and how, while staying in the sand and the beach is fun for a season, we need to go for the deeper things of God and we need to go in towards where he can direct us and not just retreat and run back to our old life. And we need to get in more commitment than just waist level. We need to go all in with him. See, what we realize just like we've seen in baptism today is that when you go all in, then your mind, the mind of Christ, is submerged underneath what he wants to do in your life, starts to wash over your mindset, starts to change the way you think about things and how you view others. It changes the way you view yourself because it starts to wash over you the deep things of God. Looking today we have this scripture. I'm going to encourage you to turn in your Bible, your tablet, your phone. It'll be a jumping off point today.
Speaker 1:First Corinthians 2, verse 9. It says, as it was written no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined what God has prepared for those who love him. These things God has revealed to us through the Spirit, for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. Lord, we pray over your word today, asking you to make it alive in us. Lord, use it to transform us, to turn us more into your character. We pray this in the powerful name that is Jesus, christ, amen.
Speaker 1:Now, thinking about the deep. We've been talking about what it means to go deep with God, into the depths of what he wants to do for us. A piece of that is seen in this baptism. Obedience being baptized is a symbol of that. It's a symbol of what we've said obedience after Christ. He modeled it for us and that we would do, in step, the same thing. And so, as we look to scripture, we start here in Matthew, thinking about going deep with Jesus, starting in this obedience with baptism, following our decision to follow Christ, to follow Christ John the Baptist he was a pre-runner, a precursor to Christ and he starts to share with people and tell them what he was there to do. He says I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who's coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I'm not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
Speaker 1:It continues in verse 16. It says and when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water and behold, the heavens were opened to him and he saw the spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him. And behold, a voice from heaven said this is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased. We see this imagery of Jesus, and he's being baptized here. It's not for repentance of his sin, he's giving us a model of obedience, of what we're called to do. And so he goes out to John, his cousin, and John is trying to say I'm not worthy to baptize you. He said no, I need to be obedient to the Father in this moment. And as he comes out of the water, we see here in scripture that's the triune God, it's this Holy Spirit in the form of a dove above the Son, and the Father speaking over him. And so it's this imagery of God loving us. Father, son, holy Spirit, and so it's this imagery of God loving us, father, son, holy Spirit.
Speaker 1:It's also an interesting piece because it talks about the steps in which we see the formation of ourselves after God. The first thing is right there in repentance, we're called to be those who turn away from our lives to the life after God, and we're called to go away from sin and away from destruction and go towards his purposes. It says it there in Matthew 3.11. He says I baptize you with water for repentance. See, the water symbolizes that grave, it symbolizes death spiritually. And so they're saying I'm going to be dead to these things, this old way of living, dead to what we call our flesh man or flesh person, the one that would pull us down into destruction. And instead I'm gonna be dead to that. I'm gonna be alive to God and what his purposes are for my life. And since I'm gonna be dead to those things and I'm gonna be alive in God, the first thing we have to do is be someone who repents and turns towards God. You can't have formation, you can't have anything else that happens in your life, unless you first say yes to God and commit to him.
Speaker 1:Friends, so often we forget this part, that first we have to have a contrite heart, we have to be people of repentance so the change can happen, that we can embrace what Christ wants to do. It's also a revival because Christ, as he goes into the water, symbolizing death, he comes out of the water and it shows that he's there, coming out of the water and the spirit above him, symbolizing his anointing and the father speaking over him. It's a sign of revival or coming back alive. Aren't you glad that you're not worshiping a dead deity, but your God is alive? And, friends, that's the hinging point for us is that Christ, though he goes to his death and takes all the sin of the world upon himself, he's not dead but overcame death and hell and the grave and he is alive. And so that's what's on your life as well, that you would be revived or made alive again in a new way, that you become a new creation in God, and that that starts to happen in your life and those things start to take shape. You're no longer going to be dead and living in death and tied back to your old ways, your old habits, your old perspectives, but those things are going to be dead and cut off and you're made alive in Christ.
Speaker 1:We see the next piece of what that is and it says the father is speaking over him. He says this is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased. What is he saying? He's like he is my heritage, this is my son. He's speaking over Christ. He's speaking over him and he's gonna say that he's going to reign with me here. And we see the same thing with us as Christ followers, that he calls us co-heirs, meaning we get to come alongside what Jesus is doing, as made on our behalf.
Speaker 1:In the scripture it says in Romans 8,. It says, for who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. And so those of us who are following after the Spirit of God because we've said yes to Christ, those of us who have embraced what he's doing in us and have been dead to sin and alive in God, those who invited the Spirit of the Holy God to direct us, we are called sons and daughters of God and so because of that we get to have the same heritage is that we get to rule and reign with Christ. And it's not of our own doing. We can't do enough good works. It's not like we've earned it, it's by faith. It's our faith in Christ and what he has done on our behalf.
Speaker 1:We see it here in Galatians as it moves forward. It says in Galatians 3.25,. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus, you are all sons of God through faith. For as many of you were baptized into Christ, have put on Christ. And that's what I'm talking about is that we put on Christ, we say yes to him and his work in our life and we embrace what he is doing.
Speaker 1:And I'll tell you, friends, that's not always easy to embrace what Christ wants to change in us. That's why we need to be all in with him so he can actually change the things in us. I'll tell you that's one of the deepest, the hardest things. To go deep with God is to change your mindset about what you believe about yourself, about what you believe about others, about what God has said over your future and over your life. Because we start to believe the lie of the enemy, that we're not gonna account to anything, that we're not gonna be able to do enough, that God's not really gonna heal, that God's not really gonna restore, that I'm gonna have all these worries because what if, what if? What if, friends, what if God keeps his promises, like he always has, and then we can trust him and have the mind of Christ.
Speaker 1:We come back to 1 Corinthians 2, and it says it like this in speaking to us. It says what no eye has seen, nor heard, nor the heart of man imagined what God has prepared for those who love him. Friends, that's what he's speaking over your life today. He's speaking that over you that he has this love that's greater than what you can comprehend, than you can write up, than you can make up in your imagination, and he's given you a great mind. He's made you in his image with creativity. God loves you even more than that. That's the kind of promises he has for you and for your children and their children, and for the future to come, until he comes back for his church. That we can trust him because he has great love for us and he's revealing it to us by his spirit, and so we need to be in step with that.
Speaker 1:It says in 1 Corinthians 2, 11, for who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person which is in him? So also, no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the spirit of God. Now we've received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom, but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. You see the levels at which it starts to talk about, about understanding that there is change available and then engaging with that change and starting to see what happens in our own lives and then starting to become people who are people of the word and are led by the spirit and what God can do in and through them, and then people that are walking in the spirit, how he can use them as a tool in his hand to help others and see friends. That's the change that we want to see in your life. That you would not just be someone who's blessed change that we want to see in your life. That you would not just be someone who's blessed by God or occasionally experiences the blessing of God, but you walk in the peace of God, that you walk in the presence of God and that the presence of God goes with you wherever you go and other people encounter the presence of God because you are there. Other people encounter the presence of God because you are there.
Speaker 1:I was thinking about this as it goes to learning culture and language. Celeste and I we moved to Cairo in 2015 following a second revolution and the Arab Spring. It made chaos in the Arab world, north Africa, middle East and Arab Gulf, and what we found was that people were unsettled, but the people were still warm, were still hospitable, still wanted you to learn culture and language, and we were thrown into it. A city of 25 million people and high rises and dirty and crazy and chaotic and loud. When people are greeting you, they sound like they're yelling at you. You know it's crazy. So it was a learning process and, as we go in, to start to learn the basic, rudimentary Arabic to try to function, it was a lot, because Arabic is so much different whenever you start to write it, the characters are different, the sounds are guttural, it comes from the different part of your throat and your voice and you read it from right to left. Everything was difficult and I think about this in process as we start to wrestle with the things of God.
Speaker 1:So many of us we don't come from a heritage where we grew up learning about God from a young age. Maybe we didn't grow up in church or we didn't grow up going to Sunday school or to life group or kids' church, and so we don't know the stories, we don't know how the things are tied together. We don't know the stories. We don't know how the things are tied together, we don't know the narrative of the crimson thread of God's redemption from the very beginning to today. And since we don't understand it, then we're trying to put it together the best we can.
Speaker 1:And so when we start to hear these scriptures about the deep things of God, we're like man, I don't know about that. I don't even know if I understand the basic things of God Anybody been there? And I think it's hard for us to admit, because then we start to understand that maybe we don't know as much as we think we know, myself included. Because the deeper you go, you know, you get like a you know basic understanding. Then you get a piled higher understanding and a piled higher understanding about this much knowledge. And you don't know all of this knowledge Anybody been there? And so the things of God are like that, in that we have to wrestle with the understanding.
Speaker 1:But what I love about it is that God does not leave us alone. He will teach us by his spirit to walk out the obedience of the word. And so, as we ask the Lord to reveal it to us, if we read the Bible without having faith in God, then it just seems like a history lesson and a set of rules and a story about a really great guy. But if we start to read it through the lens of faith, we start to see a teaching that will transform our lives. We see a God who loved us enough to correct his people and who kept on being gracious to them and directing and guiding them, and even whenever the difficult lessons came, he still did not leave them without a future, but he gave them a future and a hope that no one could take away.
Speaker 1:That person was called Jesus, and that person, jesus, is the one that came and took all of our sin and all of our mistakes upon himself, and he took it to the cross so that we could be brought near and have a relationship with a holy God, one that we could not earn, could not do enough good things for, couldn't buy our way in, we couldn't do anything to ingratiate ourselves to a holy God. So he came to us, and so what we start to understand is that as we wrestle with this process, it will come alive to us the more time we spend in his presence and press through the distractions that our mind will try to throw in front of us. We press through the distraction of trying to pick up our phone every time we try to go in to pray, we press through the awkwardness and we go to the deeper level. Then we'll start to comprehend what God is trying to share with us and not just comprehend it like okay, I start to put these letters together to form a word, but no, like in the way that, okay, there's something bigger that I need to go deeper with here. And then we go from a comprehension to an understanding. We start to understand what it means and we understand it because we start to walk by faith through the situation and the information becomes experience, because we're trusting God as we're walking it out. And then I understand that I can trust him, and that I can trust him not just the small things and not just with my tithe or not just with my generosity, but I can trust him with everything with my future and my children, my future grandchildren, with my hopes, my dreams, my aspirations, with all of it. I can give it to God because I understand that he loves me. And then what starts to happen is we walk in process with the spirit that he starts to use us as a mouthpiece to speak to other people, and we start to interpret what the spirit is saying. He starts to use us in a way so that other people can experience his love by using your voice.
Speaker 1:And that's like what happens whenever you see a friend who knows a language and they actually start to get it where they can actually interpret for you. You ever had a friend who thinks they know a language, but it's like basic stuff off of a menu, anybody. You're like I'm super fluent, spaghetti, you know. You're like uh-huh, yeah, super fluent you are. Or even the next thing, where it's like you took some classes, maybe in high school, maybe in college, and you can kind of ask where the bathroom is in maybe one tense. You guys know what I'm talking about. But whenever you're like, hey, translate for me real quick, they're like what? No, but then a friend who knows the language, it's already inside of them and so whenever you ask them to translate something, they can just start to speak and start to share because it's already inside. They don't have to go look it up. It's already inside of who they are.
Speaker 1:And that's what I mean about our time with God. The more time we spend with him, the deeper we go in his word, the deeper that we go in relationship with him. I don't mean facts and numbers and this one begat, that one, that's great. But I'm talking about the trusting God through the process of walking out this difficult life stuff. Whenever you start to share with someone who's been in it and they're like let me tell you about this. God is faithful. You know how? I know Because we uprooted our whole family and Yard sold everything and he took care of us when we lived in Europe. It was super expensive against the Euro. We had one income and it was so hard. We were crying about how broke we were. God is still faithful. We are still here crying about how broke we were. God is still faithful. We are still here and God is not just going to leave us out. No, he's going to bless us and bring the blessing and a friend and a colleague and look out for us. He's going to do all those things as we follow after him. Let me tell you the story. And so what happens is the word of God combines with our testimony and we see overcoming happening because people are spurred on by the Holy Spirit of God. It starts to transform how we are. It starts to transform our family culture. It starts to transform our community around us. It starts to transform our work relationships, because it's transformed first in us and then it starts to change as we interact with others.
Speaker 1:Man, I am so good at complaining you guys, I'm super good at it. God, how come blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah Anybody. I will out complain you, I'm that good at it. But what I love more than that is I love how consistent God is, and I love how, though we can complain it does no good, by the way we can complain, but then God continues to be faithful and we can complain, but God is actually using that as a way to teach you a lesson, and you get like God, what about this circumstance? He's like are you going to walk with me or not? Are you going to trust me or not? Are you going walk with me or not? Are you gonna trust me or not? Are you gonna obey me or not.
Speaker 1:Friends, I wrestle with this wisdom piece because so often he tells us things that are hard to do, we don't wanna do, but when we don't do them, then we get our result. And I want blessing for your life. And I want blessing for your life, I want blessing for your family, I want blessing for what you put your hands to do. I want a blessing of God that's upon you that people can't deny. They see God's hand upon your life. But we have to walk in the wisdom of God, because without it, what good is it? It's just our good ideas. But if we live according to his transformative process, according to the spirit, then we can be those who are used in his hand for greater things that he has for you than your own plans, says God. Greater love has he for you than your own imagination. He has the answers you're looking for. He has the direction that you've been asking for.
Speaker 1:He's the one that sometimes is closing the doors in front of you because you ask for direction from God. Even whenever you kick the door because you're trying to go through the door, and he's like nope, and he's got his foot on the other side of the door. He's like I'm not letting you through this door. You're like I need to go through that door. He's like I need to go through that door. He's like no, you're like, but I'm supposed to be a billionaire. He's like you won't pay tithe on 10 bucks. Why am I giving you a billion dollars? I'm sorry, I'm going to back up. That was not in this sermon, that was in another sermon. The answer is you've been looking for. The answer is I've been looking for the answers I've been looking for. He has them and as we continue to walk with him, close to him, he'll speak them to us.
Speaker 1:But we have to go all in to the deep things of God. Today, with this opportunity to respond to him and to his message for us, with this opportunity to respond to Jesus and to draw message for us, we have this opportunity to respond to Jesus and to draw near to him and embrace all he's done for us. And that's a question for you is have you embraced Jesus? We've already had friends make a decision to embrace Jesus. Today, we encourage you that you would do the same. Maybe you're here. You've never made a decision to invite Christ into your heart and life.
Speaker 1:You're hearing this message about Christ, who loves you, about how he actually went to his death to take on your mistakes. You're hearing this story about how Jesus loved you so much that he forgives you of all the things you've done wrong, and he does that by faith and believing in him and saying Lord, forgive me of my sin. I want us to start a new life, a new relationship with you and friends. That's how we spiritually become a new creation. That's why, to us, the symbol of the cross is one of transformation, because the symbol of the cross was used as a threat. It was used as scare tactic, and it was used as a scare tactic and it was used to bring about demise.
Speaker 1:But Jesus, he lived a sinless life. He took on all of our mistakes, all of mine. He took all of our sin and he paid the price for all of us. He took on our sin and he died with that sin so that that sin could be taken care of. But the amazing thing about Jesus is that he didn't stay dead, but he is alive and on the third day he came back to life. He overcame death, hell and the grave, the creator, god, who overcame all these things and made a way for us to be in relationship with the holy God, one that we couldn't earn, one that we couldn't work our way into. He came all the way to us that we would just embrace him and what he wants to do in and through us the apostle Paul. He writes to the church at Rome and says 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:Friends, today is your day. It's your opportunity to say yes to Jesus. I'm gonna ask everyone in the room for you to stand to your feet and bow your head right where you're at. If you're online, you prepare your heart for what God wants to do, no matter where you are to respond to him. Today, friends, you've heard this challenge. Now is your opportunity to say yes. Maybe that's for the very first time, to invite Christ into your heart and life, or maybe you've made that decision in the past, but you have not been living it. It's your opportunity to draw near to him, to recommit your heart and life back to Christ, as heads are bowed here in the room, if that's you, if you just raise your hand right where you're at, say, pastor, just remember me in that prayer. Today I wanna make a decision to follow Jesus.
Speaker 1:See the hands that are here there another hand that's here, another hand that's there, people making decisions to follow Jesus, friends online. Thank you, lord. I'm gonna ask if everyone would, if you would all repeat this prayer 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.
Speaker 1:Friends, we rejoice with those making a decision today, those who raised their hand, those making a decision online. Praise the Lord. Hey, just like others, we want to make sure that you are successful in living this life after Christ. If you would connect with us before you go, let us know that you made that decision. We want to put some resources into your hands, but, praise God, it's exciting day, friends, of people already being obedient to Christ in baptism, people already making a commitment to follow after Him.
Speaker 1:Today is your opportunity to come and make an altar with God, to draw near to God, to ask God to impart to you his spirit, his wisdom for more of his peace, more of his grace for this next season ahead, that we would go deep with him.
Speaker 1:Lord, we thank you so much as we open up this altar, we do so intentionally, lord, to draw near to you and the things of you. Lord, that we come to you with our whole hearts, holding nothing back. Lord, we thank you, lord, to draw near to you and the things of you. Lord, that we come to you with our whole hearts, holding nothing back. Lord, we thank you, lord, that we can spend time with you and draw near to you and you speak to us. Lord, we thank you for your provision for us. We thank you for your joy in difficult circumstances. Lord, we thank you for the peace of God that rests upon us and, lord, for the provision, lord, and how direction, lord, wisdom, lord, that doesn't come from us but comes from you. Lord, we thank you for open doors. We thank you for closed doors. In Jesus' name, lord, we thank you for all these things and as we come to your altar today, we do with hearts of gratitude and worship. We pray this in the powerful name that is Jesus Christ. Amen.
Speaker 2:We are excited Next Sunday, right after service, we will be having life group sign-ups, and so there's a new season of life groups coming, and my prayer is that you just go as deep as you can with God this semester and find one, two, three that fit you and join them, and we'll see all the amazing things that take place this semester.
Speaker 1:I want to give a special thanks to our kids' teams and our tech team, who had no internet on campus today when we started the day and they fought through all this stuff to make it go. We appreciate you guys so very much for all. You are Amazing and if you guys are part of the church, if you want to help us, we have to break this whole stage down following this service. If you can lend a hand for 10 minutes, we'd appreciate you. Before we go, I want to place a blessing over us. Before we go, I want to pray this blessing over us. 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 must empower us by your spirit to live your love out to those around us. I 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.