Cornerstone Christian Center
Cornerstone Christian Center
What are you Battling for? | Battle for the Family
Join us as we uncover the nuanced journey of family ties, from sibling camaraderie to enmity, and how a shared adversary can unite even the most divided hearts. By recognizing the true battle is not against each other but against external discord, we explore tools like forgiveness and unity to fortify our familial bonds.
Inspired by Joshua 24:15, this sermon highlights the spiritual warfare at play in our homes. We dive deep into the conscious decision to serve the Lord and the power it brings to our lives. We journey through the importance of spiritual intentionality and perseverance. Discover how prayer, fasting, and steadfast faith not only arm us for the righteous fight but also nurture a personal transformation that aligns our lives with divine purpose.
As stewards of our families and communities, we reflect on how embodying Christ-like principles can transform our relationships and influence. From speaking blessings over our children to nurturing spiritual growth, this episode is a heartfelt invitation to shift from conflict to unity. Through stories of love that endures despite challenges, we echo the promise of a life enriched by faith, urging listeners to find freedom and purpose in the symbol of the cross.
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What are you battling for? Today we're starting a new theme called Battle for the Family. We're asking that question what are you battling for? You know it's interesting because we think about this struggle that we have so often, and so often it hinges around our family and our interaction thereof. And I know no family is perfect. How many people would admit to that? No family is perfect. People aren't raising their hands or afraid of their family sitting nearby. No, it's. No family is perfect. We know this, and so we're battling for our families.
Speaker 1:I was thinking about growing up and you know my brother and I. Man, he's an amazing man. He's smart and handsome and tall. He's like six foot four and he can eat whatever he wants. He doesn't gain weight and I can smell bread and I turn into Stay Puft Marshmallow man. It's terrible, but it's one of his things where he is talented and really funny. He has his MBA. He actually works with students and helping them go into GCU and for their careers and what they want to do. A very talented person, he's one of those people that you know kind of makes you sick. They can just like pick up any instrument and play it. You guys know what I'm talking about when it's like I'm like over there trying to grind it out and the piano lessons like, and he's like just perfect, doesn't matter, he can play guitar, piano, you know, strings, horns, whatever. It is just so talented, so gifted at it. It's pretty amazing.
Speaker 1:And we were really tight when we were young. I mean, after all, we were wearing hammer pants, we were fighting evil wherever we found it. You can see here this is proof we were down in old Tucson studios fighting evil in hammer pants, while everybody else was dressed as a cowboy for some reason. So that's a good thing. But there came this time, kind of in junior high, where we started to get on each other's nerves and then we tried it. We suddenly started hating each other. Anybody ever relate to something like this, where you're walking through a season where it's those even closest to you Maybe it's a family member, maybe it's a cousin or somebody you know they're the suddenly this was the fight and this was the grind and we were just always at each other and always doing these things.
Speaker 1:And he was very good at pushing my buttons and getting me to get mad at him. I, after all, was going to be correct all the time, as the older brother correct, this is how it works. And so I would tell him I'm correct and he's like oh, no, yeah, you're right, you're right. I'm like no, I am right, I'm right. He's oh, you're right, you're very, oh, you are, which made me a crazy person, anybody, and I was like I am going to kill you. I didn't, because I fear Rich Brown, which you guys might've met. Rich Brown, he was very scary when he was young and so.
Speaker 1:I feared Rich Brown. Therefore, my brother did not get punched in the face, but we did body shots because those could not be proven. So that was how it worked, and I found that it was strange that one of who had been my best friend suddenly we were at odds and we couldn't stand each other and it was all this stuff and we moved schools and moved community and house and we're all trying to find friends and things like that, and he wanted to hang out. I didn't want him to hang out. It was this whole struggle and I remember, like my cousins who grew up with us more like brothers, my cousin comes to me and he's like hey, man, I, I think, I think Jeremy's going to kill you. He told me he's going to kill you in your, in your sleep, like he was concerned, and so I like went in his room. I was like, if you try to kill me, I'm going to haunt you. Ah, which is not, it's not, you know, spiritually correct. But that was the threat that I was making. You know what I'm saying. And so there was real animosity, like we were really going after each other, and there was something that was crazy. That happened was that we ended up finding a common enemy, and it happened because my brother was making fun of a kid at school on his birthday and the kid picked him up off the ground he's a bigger kid and he slammed him on the ground and my brother had to go to the hospital on his birthday and get fixed. And so it was one of these things where I heard about it after the fact and, as the older brother, I was like wait, no, you can't beat him up. Only I beat him up. And so now I had an enemy right, it was this kid, and like I was out to get him, and now we had this common enemy together, and so I was out to get this kid and go and fight this kid. And I'm not telling you the details and the rest of this because my teenage daughter was like so who won the fight? You know, she wanted to find out, it doesn't matter, because it really wasn't important that we had this kid and they begin to fight and get into trouble.
Speaker 1:But the point was that so often we're so busy fighting with our family instead of realizing that we have a common enemy in the one that hates us, which is Satan, the one who spiritually is against you and is against your family, is against you. Having unity, is against the love you have and the forgiveness you have in your family. He's against it. He wants to fight it on all sides. Friends, we're called to be those that don't battle against our family. We battle for our family. We're called to be those who are full of forgiveness and those who, like Christ who's forgiven us. We're called to turn the other cheek and to go the extra mile to look out for and to be our brother, our sister's keeper, to be those that are looking after them and not plotting against them.
Speaker 1:That was a lot of silence. I'm going to try over here. The point is this that we need to be those that are intentional in this process, because we know that we're not perfect and neither are they, and so it is our ambition to be those that fight and battle for the family and not against it. Would you say amen to that? We know we see ourselves very much here at Cornerstone as people who are on a journey with Christ. We realize that we are not perfect, and so that's why we are walking with him where he's leading us to go. None of us have arrived anywhere. We are still following Jesus and we have this ambition to be more like Jesus, and so we talk about that often, because that's where we are. We know that we're not perfect, and so we're going to be being conformed into his image. We're gonna be being refined by that process, and that means that we have to allow him to work in our lives and not just stop but actually keep going after God. Would you say yes to that? That today we have this opportunity to do that? I'm encouraging you to do so, to be intentional in your life after God, in joining a life group. It's a way for you to be intentional, to be one that connects and grows and serves to use your life and be intentional with God and grow in this season, because if we're not, then we start to stop and not progress in where he wants us to go. So let me encourage you in this that we together would make those steps to be more like Jesus.
Speaker 1:We have this process of what we've been working through in the beginning of this year with fasting and prayer, and we've been talking about what it means to go deep after the things of God. How many people enjoyed the deep series and talking about those things? How many people were uncomfortable because God was in your stuff. Anybody, anybody real in church? Yes, exactly. And so we've been talking about this idea of going deep with God. Pastor Schless was breaking down those different places, not just staying out on the sand, the beach of spirituality, but going deeper with God, not ankle deep, not waist deep, but all the way in. We talked about what happens whenever you go all the way in with God, that you can have the mind of Christ and he starts to shift you and who you are towards what he wants you to be. So, as we envision that beach and that water, we wanna be those that are pressing into him and going deeper after the things of God. And I'll tell you this that during this fasting time, I personally found it challenging, because what is things is that God will start to highlight his holiness as we draw near to him, will start to highlight areas where we still need work. Just me great news, praise God. But I'll be honest in that. That's the transformation piece is that he shows you something and then you take that to him and say, lord, help me with this, lord, that you would direct me, guide me by your spirit, that I can walk this out with you.
Speaker 1:Today we're continuing that process with this new focus on battle for the family. If you have your Bible, your tablet, your phone, I encourage you to open it. Today we're looking at Joshua 24, 15, the second half of that verse and using it as a stepping off point. The scripture says this that, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Say it with me, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Lord, we thank you for this word and we ask Lord, you breathe upon it, make it alive in us, lord, challenge us, lord, that we would be more like you. We pray this in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Speaker 1:So we're talking about this idea of battle for the family. That question for you and for me is what are you battling for? I think even the quieted of us, even the most quiet, the most demure and the most reserved person, they are gonna have something that they fight for. There's gonna be something that they're not willing just to let pass. They're actually gonna get in the fight about it Anybody. And I think there's something about that inside of us that God makes. He has that holiness piece, that justice piece that's inside of us and he wants us to be people who actually have something we're standing for.
Speaker 1:But what we realize so often just like me whenever I was younger is that it's not really about fighting this other person or about the battle is not against flesh and blood, as the scripture says, but it stands against the spiritual evil and darkness in this world. And that's the struggle we have as Christ followers realizing that the evil is at work inside of people. But our battle is not against the person or persons, but instead it's against the evil that's manifesting in that place. And so we have to make that distinction. We have to understand what it really means to fight and what it means for us to be. Those is intentionality of spirituality and praying our way into a fight because we know who we are and what authority we stand in, as we are children of the most high God. And that's why we talk about going deep with God, because without going deep with God, we won't know who we are or have the mindset to stand in the authority that God has given us. It makes it a lot harder for us to address things that are in our own lives. It makes it harder for us to stand up for what God has said, because we are not in that place ourselves yet, and so we're called to be those that go all in with God so that, when we fight, we fight the righteous fight that he has for us and not just some ideas that we have made up. Does that make sense? And so, as people who are doing this, then it has to be those things that, okay, what's the line that's here? Well, guess what? As for me, in my house, we will serve the Lord. We made a decision. We're not going back, we're not turning aside. We're going to fight the good fight and stay the course with Jesus. We talk about that because that is who we are called to be.
Speaker 1:As we look at Joshua, even his own circumstances, he was someone who has been given the mantle by Moses to take on all of the things that God had said Go into the promised land and fight these battles that are ahead. That's why, in the beginning of Joshua, it says over and over and over be strong and courageous, be strong and courageous, be strong and courageous. And Joshua be strong and courageous and also be strong and courageous. And he's like wait why? It's like because you're gonna get in a lot of battles. That's what's gonna happen, because guess what? I'm gonna be with you in the battles, but you have to walk the battles out. You have to fight for this thing that I'm giving you and friends, that's what it is whenever we start to talk about the things that God has given to us and when he starts to speak to our hearts, is that we have to be those willing to fight for it. We have to make that same line.
Speaker 1:See, they had got into a place where God had given them peace and they had conquered, and got into a place where God had given them peace and they had conquered. And because they had got peace, then they started to act like they were no longer in a spiritual battle, and so they started to treating their peace like it was a playground and they started messing around and worshiping this God and that God and spending their time doing this, and God was calling them back to himself and back to holiness. And Joshua makes this distinction, saying these people are going to go and worship this and these people are going to go do these things, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord and see, that's a distinction that I challenge you to make as well, that we would be those that say as for me, I know where I'm going and as for my influence, I know. What we're going gonna do is that we are going to serve the Lord. See that first fight is not with anyone else, it's actually the fight, the battle is inside.
Speaker 1:We talked about this often. That's why we talked about going deep with God for the first weeks of the year. That's why we talked about fasting and prayer. It's why Pastor Bridget came and gave such a great word about forgiveness is because all of these things are hard to do and all of them take great effort and it takes an inertia. It takes a new change of habit. It means that we need to be proactive in living this life after God. It means having a mentality that's after him. I'll tell you and encourage you we always talk about this is go in your word, read the Bible for you in your prayer time and, in your word, read it for you.
Speaker 1:But there's also some blessings I wanna share with you and you can let this be a blessing to you on top of what you're already doing. A couple of books that you might be a blessing to you. The first two are from Pastor Craig Rochelle, and he's a pastor of Life Church and they do the Bible app and a lot of other things, but one of two books that we've used with our staff this past year have been a blessing to us. I encourage you to check them out is Lead Like it Matters.
Speaker 1:See, so many of us in the room are people who run a business or own something or run a team or manage an area, and that's something that God has given to us to be stewards over, and so we need to be intentional in who we are and leading our lives, first personally, and then are those that follow us with intentionality like it matters and being a representation of what it means to live as a Christ follower, as a leader. In the same way, we need to be those that are battling for that mind of Christ that's winning the war in your mind, to realizing that we are no longer the things of our past. Those things are broken off whenever we say yes to Jesus and now we have a future that's not changed to those old things, but that we are a new creation in him and walking after where he's leading us to go, and so, in doing so, this could let it be a blessing to you, talking about rewiring the way you think about yourself, because that's exactly what the word says, and they're using this as a way to help us put some handles on these things. There's some two other books that are a blessing to us. It'd be Pastor Mark Batterson.
Speaker 1:He's out of DC, pastor's a great church there, a national community church, and he has this great book talking about taking on the day for the day. You know, give us today our daily bread. It's this concept of us actually taking the day for its worries just today. What does it say in scripture? Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow has its own worries. Right, and we can't really worry about yesterday because that's already passed. So, since that's true, then let's be intentional about the day we have and that using it as a steward, with all of our effort, all of our energy towards him, that we have that win for the day today. Pastor Kerry Newhoff is out of Canada and pastored a great church, now does leadership training, but he has this book that we use with our staff in Alexandria and other places, and we've seen this.
Speaker 1:It says at your best, it's talking about being those that give our best to God and about what it means to put ourselves in alignment with habits and with all those things so that we can operate the best that we have for God. See, if we are intentional, we'll build new habits which will help us make better decisions. How many people know what I'm talking about? It takes about habits and we've talked about this often about being those who are habitual in our time with God, because when we do, then it builds that rhythm inside of our life where we draw near to him and friends. That's the challenge that each one of us has is that we would draw near to God because our worship of God is a weapon against the darkness. Our worship of God is what breaks the yoke of bondage in our lives. Our worship of God is an alignment that helps us have his perspective of how we are, about his perspective of our worth, about his perspective of the worth of our kids, his perspective of the worth of our grandkids. Each one of these things is about his mentality as it's spoken over our lives and as we read it and as we pray it, we are speaking it saying Lord, by faith. I believe you, I trust you. Your word be done, your kingdom come in my life.
Speaker 1:Mary herself sings this. We see it in Luke, where she starts to sing the praises of God. It's a prophecy that comes upon her as the Holy Spirit is engaging there, with Elizabeth, john the Baptist inside her, as she sees her, and she glorifies God for Mary as a vessel of the coming King. And we see it here in Luke 1, verse 47. It says and my spirit rejoices in God, my savior, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on, generations will be called me. Blessed, for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name and his mercy is for those who fear him, from generation to generation.
Speaker 1:Friends, this is the promise that God has for you. He has it for your kids, for your grandkids, for the future. Should Jesus tarry your children's children and the generations to come, that we would say? As for me, I'm gonna give glory to God and this brokenness of all the ways that we treated things before it's gonna be broken right now and my kids are not going to have the same problems that I had, because I'm going to give this thing to Jesus. Not just that, but I'm going to be intentional to give him the glory and him the praise. So I don't get pumped up into some kind of ego and I don't see myself in a warped way, but instead I have a mentality of Christ. And guess what? We walk in Christ and when we fall down, we get back up and we give glory to God because he never left us, he never forsakes us, and so when we see these things, we're giving glory to God. It's a weapon against the darkness. It starts to have an effect on how we see ourselves. Is that we're no longer battling this person or that person. Instead, we're battling our mentality. We're battling the darkness. We're battling the brokenness that the enemy would try to say over your life.
Speaker 1:This is the same echo that she's using, is actually the same echo of Daniel. Whenever we see him as the prophet, he's been taken into captivity. He's been taken away from the Holy Land. All the promises that were made to Joshua about victory, all the establishment of the kingdom of David and Solomon, all of those people have been taken away because they rejected God. Now, daniel, his heart is still towards the Lord, and what does he echo? He echoes instead the glory of God. It says how great are his signs, how mighty his wonders. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. His dominion endures from generation to generation.
Speaker 1:See, his perspective was not tied to his circumstances. He didn't think that God was worthy of praise just because he was in Jerusalem at the fulfillment of all. God had said no, he was in a difficult place, a far way off, but it didn't change his mentality to say God is with me and God is for me, and not just that. But God is faithful to me and he'll be faithful to the generations. God can be trusted to bring us back to the promised land, friends. God can be trusted to bring us back to the promised land, friends.
Speaker 1:This is what I'm talking about is understanding that your circumstances don't dictate how. God is so often my in your circumstances and we're like well, where's God? God's not faithful. No, he's faithful. He's right with you, right in the middle of your circumstances. He has not left you alone, and that's why our mentality means so much and that's why we see it as a battle for the future, because his kingdom come, his will will be done, and so it is our ambition to start with the end in mind. As a Christ follower, what's our ambition that we wanna hear at the end of our race, when Jesus comes for you or you go see him face to face, is that he says well done my good and faithful servant and friends. I could tell you that's what I wanna hear. It means that I kept on being one who is consistently after him. It doesn't mean I didn't make mistakes. What it means is I got back up and kept going after Jesus and it means that we were the ones that were battling to be in alignment with him and that we didn't just go and do that, but we also were shining the light of Christ where we went. We're battling for the family, and so we see this as we start to unpack it, or what that means with a battle is not just inside, it's also outside.
Speaker 1:I was thinking about our community. You know most of us live out here in suburbia. It's the stretch of suburbia in every direction Phoenix right and we were thinking about that. And I was thinking about all of our neighbors as I was driving down the block the other day and thinking about how I knew a bunch of them. A bunch of them are friends and others of them it's like acquaintances that we've met one or two times really nice people and I was thinking about them. And then I was thinking about people that are kind of a jerk face and how they kind of cut you off and they're real loud and they turn around the corner real fast when the kids are outside. And I think about all these things and what I started to realize I started to have this real big judgment piece inside of my heart. I was no longer thinking about all the good things about my neighbors. I was thinking about all these rats-a-frats-a-rats-a-frats-a-frats. It's only me, okay, I'm going to start over here.
Speaker 1:But what I realized is that the battle outside is not really against them. It's actually not against them at all. It's not against my neighbor, it's not against my family, it's not against my friend, it's actually against the darkness. And so my intentionality, the way I fight, is not trying to get in fisticuffs with a kid that beat up my brother. The way I fight is that, through prayer and through consistency of my witness and my testimony, we see the light be shown in the places we go. And so what happens is we're not battling against this person or that person, against the neighbor or the one that calls the HOA on you, not against your person at work that you don't like because they're mean and they say nasty things about you and they clown on your outfits. Not against them either, but instead that we would be those who are battling against the darkness and understanding that they're just in darkness. That's why they're acting the way they are, because they're broken, and broken people are hurt, and hurt people hurt people.
Speaker 1:The Word of God says this in Ephesians 3, apostle Paul writing to the church at Ephesus. Now to him, who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think according to the power at work within us. To him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus, throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. See, this is what he's writing to the church at Ephesus, the people at Ephesus who are worshiping all sorts of gods, and now they've come to have their faith in Christ. And he's saying listen, you are greater than all these other things. You don't need to worship these other things. Continue to worship God, because faithfulness his faithfulness surpasses all these things, and that we would glorify him. Because it's through Christ, who has come to us, that we have this relationship with God, and so our ambition together, as Christ followers, means that we, therefore, we need to be those that battle, that we need to go to battle spiritually, and the first thing we need to go to battle spiritually is for your marriage.
Speaker 1:For those people that are married in the room, the encouragement to you is to battle for your spouse, for your marriage, and not against them. So you're called to be one together. That's why the Lord says that they should go and get married. So I encourage you today. If you're just here and you're connected up with someone in a relationship, that's a good thing. Let me encourage you that you would make it right before God. You wouldn't just go and live together or go and make these other plans together and just sleep together, but instead you'd be someone who comes to alignment with the word of God, says and the reason I want that for you. It's not like I'm trying to shame anybody. What I'm trying to do is encourage you that you'd be in alignment, for the blessing of God to be upon your life, that you don't have anything that's in the way of you and God, that instead you just come into alignment with him and that you see yourselves as united together, because that's what you are when you make a commitment before God.
Speaker 1:And so so often that's why it's important that we battle for our marriage and not against them. So often it can become a you versus me situation to see who's right. Nobody's raising their hand because they don't agree with me, or maybe they're like me and they just lose all the right. Nobody's raising their hand because they don't agree with me, or maybe they're like me and they just lose all the time. That's okay. What we realize is this it's not battling against them, it's battling for them, because they are the one that you love. They are the one that you've been united with in front of God. They are you on the other end, and though we each have our own responsibility before the Lord, the Lord always also sees us as united.
Speaker 1:That's why in the top 10, it says not to break up a marriage, because he has that kind of importance upon it, and it's also the building block of everything that we see within our families, because if the marriage is broken, then guess what? The way our kids see how things should be going on is also broken. And for those of us who've lived through where their families got ripped apart or relationships were ripped apart and they were with this one and that one, and then other families added on they understand the struggle that can come there and then they can understand the next one, as those relationships are ripped apart and it gets even more complicated and they feel it. You guys know what I'm talking about and that's why, wherever we're at in that process, then we need to be intentional, to be like you know what? As for me, in this marriage, we're stopping that mess. Right now that we're in this together, we're gonna work it out, we're gonna fight for each other, not against each other, and we're going to do so, and we're going to do so as an example, not just to our kids and not to our grandkids or the kids that are around us, or it's fair influence. We're going to do it because we are for each other and we know that God is going to help us in this circumstance. Now it'll have impact on everybody around.
Speaker 1:What happens whenever, suddenly, they stop fighting each other and start fighting for each other? What happens if we start to forgive the way that we want to be forgiven? What happens if we start to show respect the way we want to be respected? What happens if we start to show love the way we want to be loved? What happens if we initiate intimacy the way we want to have intimacy initiated? You get what I'm saying. See, none of us is perfect. None of our relationships are perfect. But, friends, if we're intentional, if we battle for them, then it will help us be those who walk in step and see God's hand at work.
Speaker 1:The second area is this is that we battle for your children, and it's such a vital thing because it's this thing that God has entrusted you with, is he's giving for your children, and it's such a vital thing because it's this thing that God has entrusted you with is he's giving you these children as a blessing. It says children are a blessing. It talks about how Jesus did not let the disciples push the children away. Instead, he would go and talk to them and bless them. That's the value that Jesus has for our children. He gives us children as a blessing for us and we are stewards of them. He gives them as a gift to us that we would return them back to him.
Speaker 1:And it's that tension between not wanting them to get hurt and doing things to help them and letting them learn how to do it and crash and burn and get up. You guys know what I'm talking about how to help them adult and help them walk through this thing. Man, I haven't figured it out yet. You guys got some tips. The Lord help us, but what I'll tell you is this is that if we keep speaking over our children, that they know that they are valued by God, that they know that they can have a relationship with God they don't have to wait for that, they can have a relationship with God right now then it changes the trajectory for their life If we model to them that it's important to live a life after Christ.
Speaker 1:If we ourselves are seen being people of prayer and people of worship and people of giving and people of generosity, if we give of our time and our talent and our testimony, then they know what it means to be a Christ follower and not just someone who shows up so other people think you're holy. And I'll say that as somebody who lived that for a season whenever I was a young adult and would just show up so that people thought I was still okay when all through the week and the rest of my life I wasn't Friends. It's not what I want for you, not just because you don't have kids or you're not being married for now. I want that for you in your life, that you'd be successful in your life with God and not make it fake and not make it plastic. And as we live those things for real, then our children get to see what it means to live for God and that means that we speak blessing over them and not curses.
Speaker 1:And there's some people in the room that they didn't have a loving family, they didn't have that thing, spoke over them. Maybe they had brokenness, maybe they didn't have a family at all, and so for them. They're just trying their best. Man, I honor you for doing all that you can, but let me encourage you in this that you would be one that goes and does this and ask the Lord to help you. That as we go and we pray over our children, we ask the Lord to bless them, to enlarge their circle of favor, that they would have favor with God and with others, that they would have wisdom beyond their understanding, beyond their schooling, that God would direct them and guide their heart. They'd be anointed by the power of God.
Speaker 1:That's what I want for you. I definitely want it for your kids, because it'll change everything for them and they won't have to go into the pitfalls and the mistakes that we made. They don't have to be brokenhearted the way we were brokenhearted. They can just walk after God and friends, we watch what we say over them. That we don't be ones that shame them, but instead correct them in love because they're valuable and we're not speaking shame over them or curses. Correct them in love because they're valuable and we're not speaking shame over them or curses over them, or you'll never amount to no, no Instead no.
Speaker 1:Friends, I expect this of you because I value you and I know what God has put in your life. So guess what? This is the expectation of you and what we do by lifting them up, is that we bring them to a place of where God sees them. Is that he bring them to a place of where God sees them? Is that he values them, he loves them, he died for them, he has a future and a purpose for them and a plan and friends that we would understand that then we would treat them differently, the way that we maybe wanted to be treated. So it's not just our marriage and not just our children. We also wanna battle for your circle. The lord is giving you a circle of influence. That means friends and family maybe it's a larger part of your family and and each one of those people, even people at work, he's giving you influence in their lives. And I'm not saying that you need to go proselytize at your workplace, but what I'm saying is that you live the love of christ where you are and that you make yourself available to them and you be even one that prays for your circle.
Speaker 1:What happens if you pray for your friend before they have the reason they need prayer? What if it's before they have the situation where they need a lot of prayer. What if you just pray for them every day? You just put them on a list. Hey, I want to pray for this person, pray for them and pray for them. Man, I just sometimes I'm so thankful the Holy Spirit would just like spark someone's heart in my life, in someone's name in my heart, and I'll just be like man, I haven't talked to them in a minute and he's like, yeah, call them, text them, see how they're doing, check in on them, let them know that they're valuable. Maybe they just need to hear it. Today it doesn't take very much for you to go do it. So go do it, jay, anybody else.
Speaker 1:And so this is what I'm talking about is that the Lord's giving you an influence there and he'll enlarge the rapport that you have with others, as he can trust you with it. So battle for your circle. That last one goes to the community. It's battle for your community and, man, this is a tough one. So we go right back to that same idea of those we live around. And you know, we're living in this world and the Lord is sometimes going to use a person to grind against you, to knock off the sharp edges Anybody else, or he's going to heat up your circumstances so that it will draw off all the bad stuff that's in your character so he can clean that away from you, and sometimes he uses people in our community to do that very thing.
Speaker 1:So we need to be intentional, to live the love of Christ out wherever we go. That means that we have to have a mindset that I'm not against them, whoever the them is, that we are for them and we are battling for them, so that whenever we're praying, we're like, lord, that you would be with my neighbors that I like and you would be with my neighbor that I don't really know, but I like them. And, lord, you'd be with the person that I don't really like down the block. But God, be with them and help them and guide them and help me that they would like me and help me, that I would like them. What happens when you start to speak that way? Well, suddenly you're not seeing them as a them, you're seeing them as someone that God values and they're worth battling for.
Speaker 1:So, friends, whenever we come to this battle, we're doing so with intentionality, understanding that the Lord is for us and he wants us to experience the fullness of his glory. We talked about it in the last theme, 1 Corinthians, 2, 9 and 10, but, as 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. Friends, that's what he wants to do in your life. He wants you to be intentional. He wants you to be purposeful. He wants you to battle for the family. I want you to battle inside and fight that. Fight out so that you can have your heart and mind aligned with him. He wants you to battle outside, not against your family or against your marriage, or against your children, or against your circle or against your community. He wants you to battle for them, your circle or against your community. He wants you to battle for them.
Speaker 1:Have a heart that is praying the prayers over them and saying Lord, how can you use me so that I can show my love, the love you've given me to others? Shine the light of Christ. Friends, that's a challenge that each one of us have is that we be those that battle and we don't give up, because what we know is that, as we're aligned with Christ, we are already victorious, because we are more than conquerors. Through him, who loved us, would you say amen? Today we have this opportunity to respond to his love, and we're gonna do so through communion. Communion is just that. It's a representation of the sacrifice that jesus has made for us. It is the elements representing his body, which was broken for us, the blood that was shed for us, and we're going to be able to come together and have a representation of that remembrance of that here in just a moment. But first we're going to come to this altar and have an opportunity to respond to God.
Speaker 1:Maybe you're here and you've never answered that question have you embraced Jesus? Today is your opportunity to do so. Today is your opportunity to say yes to Jesus. You've heard how much he loves you. You've learned how much that he's come and he wants for you to have a victorious life that's after him. He's come and he's actually taken on all of our sin and all of our mistakes. He did so as a holy sacrifice for us, a holy sacrifice so that we can have a relationship with the holy God. And so, as we answer that question, we look to the cross. The cross is the symbol for us, as Christ followers, of freedom. It's a place where Jesus, he took all of that sin, all the mistakes, all the weight of unforgiveness that we experience, and he paid for it once and for all, for all of us. And he did that because he loves you so very much. And so for us, the symbol of the cross is one of freedom, because it's the place where Jesus paid the price for me to be in relationship with him, to be in relationship with the Father, to have a relationship with the living God. And so today I invite you to make that decision, to invite him into your heart and life. You make a commitment to him that'll change your life forever.
Speaker 1:The Apostle Paul. He writes to the church at Rome. He says it like this 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. Friends, today is your day of opportunity to ask Jesus into your heart and life. I'm asking if you would.
Speaker 1:If you're in the room, if you just stand to your feet right where you're at, you just bow your head. If you're online, under the sound of my voice, you prepare your heart for what God wants to do in your life. Wherever you are. As heads are bowed, you're here in the room ready to make a decision. Maybe that's to make a commitment to God for the very first time. Maybe it's to make a recommitment to him after having been away from him. As heads are bowed here in the room, if that's you, if you just raise your hand right where you're at and say, pastor, that's me, so include me in that prayer.
Speaker 1:Today, I wanna make a commitment to say yes to Jesus. Thank you Lord. Thank you Lord. People making decisions, people reinforcing decisions See the hands that are here. Thank you God. Others, friends online, praise the Lord.
Speaker 1:I'm going to ask if everyone would just pray this prayer 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, we rejoice with you making a decision to follow Jesus today. Several people raising their hand in this service Praise God. If that's you. Let me encourage you. Connect with us before you go. We wanna put some materials into your hand back at the guest area or at the cafe. I wanna be able to connect with you so that you can be successful living this life after Christ. If you're online, message us. We want to do the same so that you are not alone.
Speaker 1:Friends, it's exciting, as we get, to come to this altar and just ask the Lord for more empowerment. Ask the Lord to give us victory in that battle inside of who we are, to see ourselves in alignment with how he sees us, to have the mind of Christ. As we come to this altar, we do so asking for more of him, asking for a blessing on our family, asking for a blessing in our marriage, asking for a blessing in our community or in our circle of influence. That each one of these areas, the Lord would help us. So I mean challenge to you is that you would come and embrace what God wants to do in your life here at this altar.
Speaker 1:Lord, we thank you so much for your word. Lord, as we prepare our hearts to go into communion, as we prepare our hearts to come to this altar, we do so with intentionality. Lord, we draw near to you, asking Lord for more of you, more of your spirit. Lord for your guidance and your wisdom and your blessing, lord for open doors and closed opportunities that are not from you. Lord for guidance, direction and Lord, we're so very thankful for you are the God who gives all that ask. It says, if we lack these things, that we'd ask of the Lord. So, lord, we come to your altar to do so, lord, with an intentionality and a heart after you. We pray all this in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Speaker 2:How many of you are excited for this new series, battle for the Family. I want to encourage you, invite someone there may be somebody in your sphere of influence that needs to be here for this Invite them, just tell them. You're saving them a seat as you head out. Today it is time to sign up for life groups, and I don't want to say I'm watching you, but I'm kind of watching you. Man, my prayer for you is that you go all in, and that's going to take some sacrifice. That's going to take you setting aside time to join a life group. It's not easy. I'm a working mom. I go to work 40 hours a week. I have commute time, but I still join something because I need it, and so I want to encourage you as you head out, look and see what there is, sign up for something and then just go. You will be so blessed and you will find just a community around you that will stand with you at the beginning of this year and encourage you in your walk with Jesus.
Speaker 1:Amen, that's good stuff. Hey, next week it's going to be our team Sunday, so wear your favorite jersey, represent the team that did not make it to the Super Bowl and, no, your favorite sports apparel. We're going to have some great stuff going on out of the courtyard and we're going to be the week two of the battle for the family. Before we go, I'm going to pray this blessing over us 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 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.