Cornerstone Christian Center
Cornerstone Christian Center
What Are You Carrying? | Everyday Carry
What if the physical bags we carry are a perfect metaphor for our spiritual journey? Pastor Celeste reveals this striking parallel in her Mother's Day message, taking us from the carefree days of a small clutch to the overflowing reality of a mom bag.
Remember when you first embraced faith? Your spiritual bag was light—filled only with prayer, joy, peace, and praise. You easily cast your burdens on the Lord because you truly believed Psalm 55:22: "Cast your burden on the Lord and he will sustain you." But somewhere along the way, something changed.
Like the woman who transitions from a small purse to a medium-sized bag after marriage, we begin taking on burdens that aren't ours to carry. We pick up offenses for others. We stress about situations we can't control. We harbor hurts from years ago. Our spiritual bags become so heavy that we struggle to move forward in our faith journey.
"You are trying to fix problems that you cannot fix," Pastor Celeste explains. "It is not for you to fix, it is for Him." This powerful reminder echoes Jesus's invitation in Matthew 11:28-30 to take His yoke instead—a yoke that's easy and a burden that's light.
The image of being yoked with Jesus is beautiful. In biblical times, a young ox would be paired with a seasoned ox to learn how to plow. The experienced animal would bear most of the weight and guide the younger one. This is exactly what Jesus offers us—not a burden-free life, but a shared load with the One strong enough to carry it.
Ready to clean out your spiritual bag? It's time to return to the necessities: prayer, joy, peace, and praise. Leave the rest at Jesus's feet. What are you carrying today that was never yours to bear?
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Well, good morning. Well, I have a question for you. What are you carrying? A few years ago, jay and I and our kids were on an airplane and we were flying inside of Europe from one country to another. We were flying on a really cheap airline. How many of you have ever been on a saver plane where you have to pay to breathe while you're flying? And so you don't want to take anything on that plane, right? So you want to go with the minimum that you can, and so we were on this flight and we got on and we sat down, and then we see this young lady approaching and she's coming down the plane aisle and then she gets in the row in front of us. She didn't have anything, she just was carrying a really small little clutch. And I thought, wow, that's impressive. Either she paid a lot of money to check her bags or she just doesn't need anything. And so she gets in front of us and all of a sudden, I see her take her bag and, as she's holding this little clutch, she unzips the bottom and this big old bag appears. So it went from a mini to a long tote. Now, all of a sudden, she puts that bag down and I see her begin to disrobe.
Speaker 1:And I am telling you. She had a blazer. She took it off, folded it up, put it in the bag. She had a couple of button-down long-sleeve shirts. She undid them, rolled them up, put them in there. She even had her underwear in her pocket. So she pulled that out, put them in the bag and she pulled her slacks off and she rolled them up, put them in the bag. And she pulled her slacks off and she rolled them up, put them in the bag. And by the time she removed everything. All she had left was a little summer dress and some tennis shoes. And then she zipped her bag shut, put it in the overhead and sat down. Oh, wow, that is impressive. This lady is super woman and I got to get me a bag like that. How many of you women say amen, I got to get a bag like that.
Speaker 1:So we are in a series called Everyday Carrie, and today I want to talk about a mom bag. So, men, do not check out on me yet. This applies to you as well, but I want to welcome you today to Cornerstone. If you're a guest with us, it's an honor to have you.
Speaker 1:Our motto here is to be more like Jesus, and you'll always see this photo of Jesus walking with his disciples, and we desire that you stay the pace with God. We don't want you running ahead, we don't want you straggling behind somewhere, we don't want to have to go back looking for you and we don't want you to veer to the right or the left. We want you to just stay with God and keep moving where he is leading you. So that's our desire here at Cornerstone. We love God, we make disciples and we reach the world, and we just started a new series of life groups this past week. So you need to make time in your life to be part of a life group. I'm going to say it again you need to make time. We have a lot of things going on. You have a lot of things going on. My month of May has every day of the calendar full with something extra, but I want to tell you it is important in your spiritual walk with Jesus that you surround yourself with like-minded believers who will encourage you and walk the course with you. So get in a life group. Okay, I don't want to have to be mom. I don't want to have to go, look through the list and see who's not part of it and call you. Just join a group. Okay, all right, that's my rant on the life groups. All right Series Everyday Carry.
Speaker 1:Two weeks ago we started this series and the whole series is based on this scripture Luke 9.23. If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me. So in week one, pastor Jer shared on are you prepared? We are carrying your cross and walking with the armor of God. And I am always challenged when I hear about the armor of God, because there are many days that I walk out of that house without putting the full armor of God on. How many of you can relate to that? Maybe we just put a couple pieces on, but scripture says in Ephesians 6, 10, and 11, finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. In week two, pastor Jay shared on be ready, be ready with Christ, be ready for what he wants to do in you and through you. He is not done with you yet. Some of you sitting there like I don't know what else I could do. I got a plan for you, but my plan is not as great as God's plan, so stick with him. It says in Philippians 4.13, I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me. Today we are going to carry on in everyday carry and we're going to look at Psalm 55, 22. It says cast your burden on the Lord and he will sustain you. He will never permit the righteous to be moved.
Speaker 1:Happy Mother's Day. Well, I am excited that you are here. I want to tell you this Mother's Day is one of those days where there can be a lot of mixed emotions going on in every woman. I don't know where you are in your life personally, but sometimes there's hurt, sometimes there's pain, sometimes there's loss, sometimes you're grieving children you do not have. But I want to tell you this Happy Mother's Day because you are all women of influence.
Speaker 1:All of you are women of influence. I love being a mom. There's something special about being entrusted to help raise and influence a life, but our world as a whole. We need more women of God to love, to guide, to support, to pray for. Let me stop right there. Some of you are only here because you had a praying mom, a praying grandma, a praying sister, a praying niece, a praying neighbor, and you're sitting in this seat today because there was a woman who was praying for you, and so we need more women of God to pray and to raise up a generation of kids and young people who will change the world for Jesus, amen. So you are women of influence. Do not stop caring for people, but you are Jesus with skin on. That's what you are. There are kids who come to our house to visit our children. I cannot tell you how hard they hug me and my husband. It's almost like they don't get hugged and they'll come in and they'll be like Mrs Brown and they'll just squeeze me. And you are a woman of influence, and so you take your place today, on Mother's Day, and know that people are watching you.
Speaker 1:So we're going to go into this. We're going to talk about a mom bag. Men, do not tune me out. Young ladies who are not physically holding a child, do not tune me out, because this applies to everyone. What are you carrying? How many of you ladies have gone through a bag revolution? You're already looking at your bag like what am I carrying? What did I bring in today? What is she going to talk about A bag revolution. It means you started off with one size and you have slowly transitioned to something else. How many of you are out there say yes, transition to something else? How many of you are out there say yes, that's me All right, I want to tell you a little bit about bags.
Speaker 1:When I was young and I still feel like I'm young, so let's just keep it like that when I was young you know, 18 through my early 20s this was my bag. How many of you had a bag like this? It was small. It was small. I only carried what I absolutely needed. These were only necessities in here. So when you open it up, all you're going to find in my bag is lotion. You're definitely going to find scrunchie. You never know. When you have to pull your hair back, you're going to find the good old chapstick. We live in Arizona. You better have one of these in your purse.
Speaker 1:We didn't have paying by phone opportunities when I was that age, so we had to carry a wallet or money, something inside, but we only carried what we absolutely needed, what we absolutely needed. These were things that were going to help me freshen up, look good, because why? I was young and single and everybody was a prospect. Let's just be real, everybody was a prospect. They're like did she just say that? Yes, I did. I didn't get married till 27, 27, was it 27? 28. See, I don't even know. There was a lot of carrying this bag. So I just carried a small bag, just the necessities. That was all I needed to get through life.
Speaker 1:Then came married life and the bag got a little bit bigger. I know you women look at this and go. She's going to switch that in just a few minutes Because it's already going to get heavy on this arm. When I got married, I moved to a medium-sized bag, so I took everything I needed from that bag, put it in here and then I had to add the items that my husband needed me to carry, and I just want you to know that. I cleared this with him before I came up here and he said truth, so we're good.
Speaker 1:What did I carry for Mr J Brown? Well, let's look. We would go to the movies. Can you carry the snacks, because I can't put them in my pocket? Yes, truth. He wears glasses, so he puts prescription sunglasses on and when we go inside a building he needs the non-sunglasses prescription. Can you carry my glasses for me? Sure, why not? Let's just throw them on in there.
Speaker 1:Also, do you mind carrying my keys? Okay, women, we have a key. We don't even lock the house, we just have the car key. This man has keys like this. I'm like are you running a jail? Like? We got a lot of keys here, so those would also go in the bag. So I would take everything I needed from this bag and then some things that my husband needed, and here we go. We got the medium bag and I didn't mind why. We're in love, I don't mind carrying anything for that man. I will carry it. To a limit, to a limit, I will carry it, okay. So then we went to the medium bag and then, of course, motherhood hit and we went to the bigger bag, and I have to tell you, when we get to this bag, there's a lot of things inside. I want you to watch this video for a moment.
Speaker 2:Mom, where are your keys? Uh, check in my purse. She says I'm messy. Goodness gracious, go and clean out this purse. Why is there so much junk in here here? Give it to me. What in the world? Hey, those are my special mustards. Uh, my turn these.
Speaker 2:Help Dad with the menu. Oh, I need some of that. Ooh, I want candy. No, not candy. These are for Cammie, for when she has her coughing episodes. Hey, girls, why do you need my purse? Keep moving. Okay, slowpoke, you're the slowpoke. Careful. That's mom's prayer book. It hits the spot. This is gonna take all day. It's just her purse. It's not like it's her closet, it's like a bottomless pit. I give up. Huh, fruit snacks. Everyone's chapsticks, because sharing is gross. Ruby's earplugs Also gross. Dad's screwdriver Does she even know how to use that? I think you forgot to use this For Dad's acid free flow Flash card Duck tank Wallet. Thank you, she's broke. Does she even own keys? How could she, when her purse is full of everything that takes care of everyone else? Okay, mom, I'll see you else. Okay, mom, I see you. That was good. Should we put all this stuff back? Nah, mom will do it.
Speaker 1:How many of you can relate to that purse? So we get to the mom bag and as a mom, I have to say that you start to realize that your stuff doesn't fit in this bag anymore and everything that you need no longer goes in here. But now it's full of other things and instead of filling it with your items, you fill it with the things that those around you need. I have three kids. I got one. That's always cold. I gotta have a sweater or a hoodie of theirs. I'm the mom with the snacks. I don't care how old your kids are. They need a snack at some point. So I have snacks. Who knows where we're going? But they need a snack at some point. So I have snacks. Who knows where we're going? But we might need a rubber duck. Maybe they're bored. They want to go swimming somewhere. We got to have something to play with. But everything in this purse starts to be filled, filled with other people's stuff.
Speaker 1:What are you carrying? Psalm 55, 22 says this cast your burden on the Lord and he will sustain you. He will never permit the righteous to be moved. You see, the bag you used to carry. You selected it on purpose. When you were young, you used to plan your bag. You used to put your outfit out. You used to put the bag you wanted. How does it carry on this outfit? What color is it? You put a lot of effort into that bag. Now you're at that point where you're like just give me a bag, throw everything in it, let's go, and you get to your location and the thing you need it isn't even in there. I have to tell you, I've showed up to work before without my badge, and I work at a court, and that's not good. So all of a sudden, everything that you were used to in that bag is filled with something else. What are you carrying? If I asked each of you to empty the contents of your bag, what would we find? Not just your bag, but your pockets. What would we find? I began to look at the contents of these bags through a spiritual lens. Where am I at in my spiritual life and what am I holding in my bag? So let's start with the younger version of me, and I want you to think of it as when you first gave your heart to Jesus. Your heart to Jesus. You're a brand new believer in Christ man. Anything is possible, anything. Psalm 55, 22,. Cast your burden on the Lord and he will sustain you. He will never permit the righteous to be moved. Man, anything that was in the Bible believed it. I believed it because it was god, the father, saying it to me. So I hardly carried anything.
Speaker 1:As a new believer, I accepted christ into my life and I gave him everything. There was freedom, there was victory, the load was light. I walked with a joy and a peace that only he could give. I only carried around the necessities. In my journey with Jesus, I carried prayer because once I found Jesus, I knew that if I needed anything I could go to the father in prayer, that if I needed anything I could go to the Father in prayer. Scripture says you can go directly to him. I carried around joy, I carried around peace and I carried around praise.
Speaker 1:If you ever pass me on the road, I am always playing praise music. In fact, if you pull up to me at a stoplight, sometimes I look to make sure they don't think I'm weird. I'm making up songs, I'm doing my own thing. I'm having a concert inside my car with me and Jesus. And one day I'll probably be on some weird Instagram Valley uncensored account because somebody would be like if you're driving by this girl you better watch out. But I just have to make sure that there is a praise in my heart. And when you are first coming to the Lord and you're a new Christian man, you only carry around the necessities. Everything else gets dumped. Everything, you just leave it there. You leave it at the feet of Jesus. You just leave it there. You leave it at the feet of Jesus.
Speaker 1:When you start walking with Jesus a little bit longer, all of a sudden, spiritually, you start carrying around a medium-sized bag. Well, what's in that bag? Somewhere along the journey of serving Jesus, I begin to pick up things and put them in this bag that didn't belong in here. Oh really, you're going through that. Let me have it, I'm going to carry it for you. I got it, you just go, I'll worry about it for you. Sound familiar.
Speaker 1:All of a sudden, you have an answer for someone Not you. Sound familiar. All of a sudden, you have an answer for someone not you, but you have an answer for someone else and you begin to take those things and put them in your bag and you're like I got this, I'll carry it for you. You start picking up offenses and hurts that even they're not even for you. And you're like what did they say to you? Give me that, I'm going to carry it for you. I can't believe you're not mad, I'll be mad for you.
Speaker 1:And you start putting it in your bag and all of a sudden you start putting things in here that never belonged for you to carry. But you know what? I don't mind why. I love people and I would carry anything for them. And my bag just keeps getting heavier and heavier. In fact, you're at the point if you're a mom, you know this you're standing in line too long. You just put your purse down Like, oh, my goodness, my goodness, that's heavy. The line starts to move, let's go. No, just leave it, it's fine, I'll wipe it off later. And it starts to get heavier and heavier and it's filled with things that you didn't need to be putting in here.
Speaker 1:Maybe you've been a Christ follower for a long time. I started following Jesus since I was about eight years old I'm not going to tell you how long, because you're going to try to add up my age. That's not nice, okay. So there are seasons and I'm going to be very honest with you that in my journey with Jesus, my bag, my spiritual bag, got very heavy. It wasn't even fun to carry it around anymore. Instead, it was filled with everybody else's stuff, and the things that I had weren't even in there anymore. I had weren't even in there anymore. I just started grabbing everything.
Speaker 1:I found that my bag at times became full of worry and fear and control. Oh, moms, I know about control. I love Jesus. But, man, there are times when I think I can just do it myself. Let me do it, I can get it done faster. Sweep the floor, never mind, I'm not even going to show you, let me just do it. I can get it done faster. Sweep the floor, never mind, I'm not even going to show you, let me just do it, I'll do it faster.
Speaker 1:I have an 18-year-old who just turned 18 last week and I still have to learn to let go. And I start putting all these things into my bag and it started to get heavier and heavier. And then one day I looked inside this bag and I was shocked at what I was carrying around inside. I was surprised that I'd been holding on to all these things and, just like any mom, you don't just carry this bag. Oh, come here, let me see, I'll hold your bag too. And oh, that's okay, are you tired? Let me hold it for you. And then you start to look like this and you're carrying not just your bag, but you're carrying other people's, maybe your kids, maybe your siblings, maybe a family member, maybe a neighbor. You're carrying their stuff too, and it starts to get very, very heavy. How did all this stuff get into my bag?
Speaker 1:And then I realized I'm going to make life easier. I'm just going to get the biggest bag I could find and I'm going to put it all in there. I'm so mad at them. Why did they not even invite me to that thing? I'm not talking to them anymore. And they didn't invite my friend. Now I'm really mad. My kids never listen to me. I have all this stuff and they just don't help me. I'm going to be mad at them for the whole week. Oh, what about this? They said they were sorry and they don't even act like they're sorry. That's it. I'm putting that in the bag and then you start adding more, and you start adding more, and then you're seen walking around spiritually like this and in the natural. It is very, very funny, because I am not Santa Claus, so I should not be carrying this bag. In fact I'm going to need probably a massage after this. But you start to carry it around and in the natural it seems funny, but in the spiritual you're doing it all the time and you're walking around carrying this bag that you should not be carrying it. And I came to a place in my life where I realized I needed to clean the bag out.
Speaker 1:Matthew 11, starting in verse 28,. We touched on it last week but I'm going to dive into it right now. It says this come to me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. It says come to me all who labor and are heavy laden. Do you know what labor means? Labor is another word for weary. It means to be tired, not just in your body but in your soul. It describes not just exhaustion, but exhaustion plus exasperation, meaning it affects your mental and your emotional state. So you're spiritually carrying all this around and it gets you to the point where you want to give up. But God never asked you to be carrying this. It says not only are you weary, but you are heavy laden. It means to be carrying a heavy load for some time.
Speaker 1:There are some of you that are sitting in here that have been holding on to stuff for 5, 7, 10, 20 years. Let it go. Let it go. Let it go. It was not meant for you to be carrying the Lord's promise in this. Scripture says come to me and I will give you rest. Do you know what rest is? Rest is when you're restored. It's when you have strength again. It allows you to carry on.
Speaker 1:The Lord says take my yoke upon you and learn from me. I don't know, because you're city people, if you really know what a yoke looks like, but a yoke is what they use to harness two animals together. Usually it's donkeys, horses, oxen. But it enables them when they put it on around their neck. It enables them to pull carts or to plow, and you'll see an image behind me of what that yoke looks like. Scripture says that the Lord is telling you learn from me. You see, a young oxen would learn how to pull the plows by being yoked with a seasoned ox A seasoned ox. So what they do is they put an animal who's been doing it for a long time, they put it around their neck and then they put a young one next to it and whenever a young ox suddenly tried to turn, the seasoned ox would stand still until the young ox was ready to continue. The young ox would learn from the seasoned ox whom he was yoked to, as the two bore the burden together. And the Lord is inviting you to be yoked with him. He's saying take my yoke upon you.
Speaker 1:So, spiritually, you're walking around holding all this and at times I see heaven and I see God looking down, just going what? What are they doing? Why, why, why don't they just let me help them? Why? It's like the mom getting the groceries out of the car. You just take all 15 bags instead of saying, hey, get out here and help me. And God is looking at you, going why? I knew it was time to clean out my bag, just like it's time for some of you to clean out your bag.
Speaker 1:There are things that you are holding on to. You are trying to fix problems that you cannot fix. Let me tell you that you cannot fix them, but you are trying with all your might and you are losing sleep over it and you are putting yourself in a stressful situation. It is not for you to fix, it is for him. Not only that, but you're stressing out about decisions that other people are making. Okay, it's pretty funny when you think about it. Why are you so stressed because so-and-so is going to do this? Does that affect you? No, but it just stresses me out. And you're carrying these things that were not meant for you. You got to remove hurts and offenses that may not even be yours, something a neighbor did 10 years ago. Get over it. Get over it. Get it off of you. Get it out of your bag, leave it at the feet of Jesus. The frustration that you experienced trying to make things right. It was time to clean out my bag. I had to learn to take all these things and leave them at the feet of Jesus.
Speaker 1:Verse 30 says this for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Do you know why it says that his yoke is easy? It says this in scripture because anyone can come to him, anyone. The Bible is very clear that he is no respecter of persons. He does not look at you and say okay, you can come with your stuff, not you, you can come with your stuff. I'm going to leave that whole row out. He doesn't do that. But he just says come, just come, come to me, come to me, and you can just leave it right there with him. His burden is light because his strength helps lighten the load. Do you know who he is? We sing about it at times that he is mighty, he is powerful, he is our redeemer.
Speaker 1:And when you're young in your faith, you believe all of it. And then somewhere along the way, as you're a seasoned Christian and you've been doing it for many, many years, you are suddenly in that situation. Where is he, my redeemer? Will he answer this prayer? If I leave it at his feet? Will he take care of it? Or do I need to step in again and do something? Not only do you have Jesus, but you have the Trinity. You have Father God, who you are made in his image. You have Jesus, who you have full access to. Scripture says that he is seated at the right hand of God, making intercession for you. And then you have the Holy Spirit. What would we do without the Holy Spirit, those simple nudges in the middle of your day when you say something you're not supposed to say and you feel kind of sick to your stomach. He is working and moving and trying to shape you and get you on track and and he's saying just leave it here. Time to take all of that stuff that's not needed and go back to the necessities. Prayer, just pray, just pray.
Speaker 1:If you turn in a prayer request, you better be praying too, do you understand? Because it's your faith. It's your faith as the size of a mustard seed. God wants to know. What are you going to do with your faith? That's great. Turn it in, we will pray for you.
Speaker 1:But if you yourself are not praying for the situation, I don't know how you're going to expect an answer. Pray, go back to the necessities of joy. You know that no one can take your joy. The world didn't give it to you. The world can't take it away. They can take away your happiness for a moment, but not your joy. That is yours. The joy is yours. The peace of God. Scripture is is very clear. It says my peace, I give you my peace, I leave with you. So if you're walking around, going, man, I'm so stressed, that's on you Because you have the peace of God, put it back in your bag of necessities, and then you better have a heart of praise.
Speaker 1:I've told you before, as a mom, the one thing I don't like is when my kids come to me with I need, I need, I need and never do. They come and just give me a hug out of nowhere and when you, as a child of god, come to the father and you always come with this and this and this and this, and they got that. And how come I didn't get it? Instead of just coming and going, I praise you Because of who you are, because I'm still alive today, breathing. I'm still alive today making a difference in the world. I'm here, you've pulled me out of some crud and you cleaned me off, and sometimes I go run right back into it, but you keep pulling me out, lord, I'm thankful and you have a heart of praise. Psalm 55, 22 says this cast your burden on the Lord and he will sustain you. He will never, never permit the righteous to be moved Never.
Speaker 1:If the worship team would come and join me, I want to ask you what you're carrying today. What's in your bag? Maybe you're like man. I just showed up because my mom invited me. I have no idea. You're not here by accident, but there's a God who loves you. This life man. It throws a lot of things at us, but I am not going to give in to the things of this world. I refuse, I refuse. And every now and then I got to check what's in my bag.
Speaker 1:I'm a doer. You can ask my husband, you can ask my kids. They'll say mom, come, sit down and watch a movie with me. And I got a list of things I got to do. I'm a doer. It's hard for me to take a breather and sit down. So when it comes to my spiritual life with God, I tend to do that. I tend to do that. And then I walk around so ridiculous with this big old bag and he's saying, celeste, if you just leave it with me, just let it go, just go back to that little bag you had and just pray, just sing, praise and just be filled with the joy and the peace, and let me do the rest. I'm going to ask you to stand with me If you're here today. Maybe you've never had the opportunity to ask Jesus into your heart. I'm going to give you that chance today.
Speaker 1:There's something so beautiful about the cross, and I love when I see people wear the cross. Sometimes I want to go up to them and say what does it mean to you? Because there's something powerful about the cross. My whole life was changed because of that cross. He endured a lot for me. He endured a lot for you. He would have gone and sacrificed himself if it was just for you, and I know that's very hard to believe. But you were made in his image and he didn't want to lose anyone and so he did everything he could to make sure that you had a second chance at eternity. So maybe you're here this morning.
Speaker 1:I'm going to ask you to close your eyes out of respect for anybody who is making that decision today, and I want you just to search your own heart right now and maybe you're at the place where you've never asked Jesus to come in and be Lord of your life. Maybe you've never asked him, but in and be Lord of your life. Maybe you've never asked him. But also maybe you've asked him many, many years ago. And you look at your life right now and you say, man, I need to get back right with the Lord, I'm carrying a heavy load and I need to just give it to him. Today's your day.
Speaker 1:It says in Romans 10, verses 9 and 10, 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, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. So with your eyes closed, if you're in this building today, or maybe you're watching online and you want to ask Jesus to come into your heart, I just want you to slip your hand up. I'm going to say a prayer. I'm not going to embarrass you, but I just want to pray with you and believe with you. Today will be a change forever, amen, amen. I want you to repeat this after me 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. Amen, amen. We rejoice with you if you made that decision.
Speaker 1:We want to get a Bible into your hands. So if you come and find one of us after service or one of our team members in the back, we want to get you a Bible and we want you to find a Bible believing church, that picture I showed you at the beginning, with Jesus and his disciples. You can't walk this journey alone. You got to have people around you. So please find a church that you can be a part of. You are are always welcome here. We would love to have you, but I want to open this altar for you.
Speaker 1:Maybe there's some of you that if you started to do a little introspection of your heart, you would see that you've been putting some things in there that shouldn't be in there. It happens to all of us. We start carrying around things and we're like man, I'm feeling it. I'm feeling it. I feel it in my body, I feel it in my spirit when I go to pray. It just feels like a heaviness because there's so much that I'm trying to control or take on. And this morning he's just looking at you, saying just lay it down, just give it to me.
Speaker 1:Maybe, if you're here with your mom, pray with your mom. If she comes up to this altar, surround her, encourage her. Maybe you've been her headache, ask her for forgiveness. But, man, I'm telling you, god just wants you to let it go. What are you carrying?
Speaker 1:So, father, this morning as we open up this altar, just like first service, where many people were just laying things down, I believe that for this service as well, we are in a place where we try to be very self-sufficient, we try to do things on our own, we don't try to ask for help, and then we look and we're all just bearing a load that seems overwhelming and it seems like there's no end in sight. So this morning, we want to give it to you, we want to lay it down, we want to go back to the necessities, where we are focused on you and we let you be God. We let you be God and so, lord, this morning I pray for every person that walks up here that you would begin to bring freedom and victory to their lives. In the name of Jesus, amen. This altar is open.
Speaker 2:Weren't you so blessed by the word that Pastor Celeste brought today? I know I was. We're so very thankful for that and what it means to us. Man, it's exciting. We have a lot of great things happening. We have life groups that are happening and today, for all the ladies, we have a special gift for you Grab a suite on your way out, a book for you on your way out.
Speaker 1:Gentlemen, let them have the sweets. That'd be a blessing to us. I want to let you know that if you have anyone in your family who is graduating maybe high school, college, a trade school, anything let us know. You can go on the app, let us know. We're going to honor them in a couple of weeks and so we don't want to miss anyone, so please make sure you let us know. And also we're having baby dedications in a couple of weeks. If you want to dedicate any of your children, sign up on the app. You can call the office if you have questions, but we are going to dedicate them to the Lord coming up soon.
Speaker 2:Amen. Before we go, we're going to place a 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 empower us by your spirit to live your love up to those around us. We pray all 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 happy Mother's Day.