Cornerstone Christian Center
Cornerstone Christian Center
Love & Grace & Justice | Minor Prophets
The voices of the ancient prophets cut through time with surprising clarity for modern hearts. This message explores how Micah, Amos, Joel, and others challenge us with the same core message we desperately need today: return to God, embrace justice, love kindness, and walk humbly.
"Unless God is just, God is not loving." This statement unlocks a profound understanding of God's character that many struggle to reconcile. God's judgment isn't harsh condemnation but loving correction—an invitation to abandon destructive paths and return to relationship with Him. Like parents who redirect children from danger, God's discipline flows from deep love for His people.
Every believer experiences the internal tension humorously captured by the "half Jesus, half Peter" metaphor—wanting to respond with Christ's perfect love while sometimes reacting with Peter's impulsiveness. This struggle reveals why we need daily spiritual nourishment. Just as the Israelites couldn't store manna overnight, we can't live on yesterday's encounters with God. Fresh connection empowers authentic faith that transforms communities.
The message culminates with powerful testimonies of global mission movements and local community impact through Cornerstone's partnership with Mercy House. These tangible expressions of God's love create pathways for people to encounter Jesus. We witness how small steps of obedience lead to supernatural provision beyond rational explanation.
Are you ready to move beyond lip service to authentic relationship with God? The prophets' ancient call echoes today: return to Him, realign your heart, and discover the life-changing power of walking daily with the living God. What small step of obedience is He calling you to take today?
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All right, all right, settle down everyone. For those of you who don't know me, my name is Micah. I know what you're thinking. Oh great, another profit video. Listen, I've seen the videos Hosea, Amos, Jonah You've been through them all now. They all did a great job. I mean, the special effects on Jonah's whale video were top-notch.
AI Video:But here's the thing. While I appreciate the effort to make us all social media stars, I have to break character for a second here. The reason those videos work isn't because we're influencers. It's because the stuff we were talking about back then is the same stuff you're dealing with right now.
AI Video:Justice, mercy, walking humbly with God these aren't just catchy slogans for a video. We wrote them down thousands of years ago and they're still just as true today. We still see people in power abuse that power. We still see leaders building on the backs of others, and we still see people giving empty praise to idols and calling it worship. But the real question isn't for them, it's for us. It's a heart issue. It's about how obedient we are to God. So if you get anything from this series, let it be this. Read them Really. Read all of the Minor Prophets. You'll be surprised how much still applies. It's a story about people trying to find their way, just like you, and, believe me, the wisdom in these pages is way more valuable than any algorithm. Also, my book is pretty short, so you've got that going for you, Unlike Isaiah, who really needed an editor. I mean, come on 66 chapters.
Jason Brown:How are you going to say amen to that, amen? Hey, we want to say thanks to Jeremy for making all these. You know those are all original videos that were made just for this house. Can you give some praise to God for that? For him using his gifts and abilities. Thanks you, man, for that, for him using his gifts and abilities. Thanks you, man.
Jason Brown:Today we're talking about this idea of love and grace and justice. Love and grace and justice. We've been talking about these minor prophets and it's interesting as we start to wrestle with these concepts, and how many people have been thankful for the different voices we've heard over these different weeks. Aren't you thankful for those messages? I have been thankful. I've been blessed as well, and I want to say thank you, special thanks to Pastor Angus, sharing about Jonah Did such a great job with that message and such a great job with all that he was sharing, and also want to say thanks to Tyler and Christina and to Eddie for their words this last week. They were a blessing as well. Great job, you guys, so amazing.
Jason Brown:And what's interesting as we talk about these themes of love and grace and justice is how so many of the prophets the minor prophets and even the major prophets. They're bringing this word about correction that God is bringing to the children of Israel, of ancient Israel, and it's a word of judgment, and judgment sounds harsh. It's definitely not something that we want to encounter, right? We just want the gracious side of God. We don't want any of this other stuff, and I can tell you that, as people wrestle with judgment, it's hard. But I can tell you, unless God is just, god is not loving. Unless God is just, god is not loving, because what he's doing, he's saying that you can get away with whatever you want, there is no consequences, and that's not a real loving God, is it? Because he's going to let whatever go, whichever way, and so what's going to happen instead is he's bringing us into correction with the way that we should live for him. It's the reason why, as parents, that we correct our children, because we love them and we don't want them to, like, run out into traffic, right, or any other thing that would happen. We love them.
Jason Brown:Therefore, we correct them, and there's a big difference, because what he's doing is he's bringing correction, he's not bringing condemnation, and condemnation is when there's an ultimate decision that's made condemnation. You are condemned to die, you're condemned forever. No, what he does is he gives us the opportunity to respond. He gives us the opportunity to say yes to him and to correct our path. That's why he'll come alongside us and Holy Spirit will nudge us. He'll bring conviction, different than condemnation. He'll convict us of how we're going wrong so that we can correct course. If not, then we can all just do whatever we want and say well, you know, god's okay with what I'm doing. Does that sound familiar, sound like our culture at large today? And so that's why so much of this challenge that we read out of the Old Testament. It's still valid today because it's the same thing we're wrestling with now.
Jason Brown:So the word of God, it comes to us, saying that he loves us and that he has a better way for us, and that his message to us that we see throughout all these minor prophets, is return to me, return back to me. See, he doesn't want us out, running away from his plan or his path. In fact, he's saying return back your heart to me. And he does it again and again. And we see the love of God and how he loves us and how he even he set apart Israel, showing him, showing them his ways. He gave them mercy. He continually gave them another chance and another chance, and another chance.
Jason Brown:How many people are thankful for that, for the mercy of God. I know I am as well, and man. Here's the thing we're so thankful for God's mercy. It's real, it's something extends to us. See, none of us is worthy of anything. We can't work our way into it. We can't earn the grace of God. What could we wear to approach his throne room? Or what good works could we provide for a good God who creates everything in its purity? Friends, we have nothing to offer him. It talks about in scripture none is righteous, no, not one. In Romans, it talks about how all have fallen short of the glory of God. All of us are in need of a savior, and so the Lord is calling out to his people, saying return to me, return to my path, return to the ways I've instructed you, pastor Celeste. Some weeks ago, she started us out with Micah, as we just saw in the video, and the theme that we saw there we'll talk about again today here is to do justice, to love kindness, to walk humbly, and for us to walk in these ways means that we have to be doing so with intentionality, that we have to be those that are going in and following after him, that we have to be doing so with intentionality, that we have to be those that are going and following after him, that we're praying to the Lord daily, that it's a connection to him, that we're saying, lord, I wanna be intentional, I wanna be closer to you, I wanna draw near to your presence, our family.
Jason Brown:We just got back from a general council, the Assemblies of God. It's a conference that happens every two years. We're pastors of the network of the Assemblies of God across the states and even internationally. Some of our brothers and sisters come, and they come together to meet together to do the business of the church, but also to worship and to hear what the message of the Lord would come to. And it was unique this year because what they started to do is they started to combine. We have lots of teenagers, a national youth conference happening as well. So thousands of teenagers are there and they're competing in fine arts or using their gifts and their talents, and they're going and refining those things, and then they're a part of this youth conference. And then, on top of that, you have all of us who are pastors and missionaries and leaders of ministries across the US coming together as well, ministries across the US coming together as well, and the word that went out was powerful because they were worshiping together you know, young and old, everyone in this place and having a communion moment.
Jason Brown:And then the challenge comes with the word of God talking about to the pastors and to the leaders in the room, saying listen, you are not done yet with what God has for you. You need to go and to do what God has said. Don't give up, keep going, because you need to hand this baton off to these young leaders behind you. And there was a moment that was so powerful because what they had was they had every student go up behind a leader and to place their hand on the leader and to pray for them, for an impartation of the spirit of God and friends. This is youth students in all their glory. Some junior hires are stinking it up because they forgot their deodorant, but what they're doing is they have a heart after God and a purity of spirit and they're praying. They're praying for an impartation upon these pastors and I can tell you, as someone who had someone pray for me, that in that moment there was something that was happening where God is saying I'm not, you're not done with what I have for you. It's. You need an anointing for this next, this next phase of what we're going to be doing. You need to do this thing and guess what? You need to do this work so that these guys behind you could finish the job that I have for this world and friends.
Jason Brown:I could tell you it was such a powerful moment to be in, to see this next generation of young leaders stepping up and saying, hey, we are going to live for God. We know what the culture says, we're going to live for God, that he is greater, and I could tell you this it was powerful as well, as we went into some meetings and got to hear from the heart of our missions leaders. We were there and they started to talk about this challenge that went out last fall in Nairobi, kenya, and it was the same meeting that I happened to be at, because we were invited by our brother, alberto, who's a missionary pastor. We served with him in Egypt. He was in Sudan before the war and was able to escape. You guys heard that story as he preached it here in our pulpit and he invited us to go and to meet with missionary leaders, people like Pastor Isai that you guys got to meet or saw the video of, or Pastor Moses out of Chile and different ones that were making a dynamic impact, and he started to talk about how there's a need for a greater need of the gospel to go forward. And in that meeting, god started to speak about how every nation should be empowered to send out missionaries, and for some this was a huge challenge because they were just receiving missionaries, they weren't sending missionaries out, and so for them, it was very much a challenge to them to step up and to send out missionaries to the world. And what we saw was people like Pastor Isai, who now they've been doing it as a model for others for 20 years and they've sent out over 50 missionaries, or like the pastors in Argentina that, even though their economy went upside down and inflation by 300%, they've sent out hundreds of missionaries saying we don't care, we know what the mission is, we don't care what the economy says, we know what the mission of God is. And so they, by boldness, gave and sacrificed to see the world reached for the gospel, and people began to catch fire of this, and we believe very much that the global South is the future of missions, as every country sends missionaries to every country and what we want to do is be a part of that.
Jason Brown:Pastor Doug Clay he's the pastor of all the pastors for the assemblies in the US. He was there and he started to share of that. Pastor Doug Clay he's the pastor of all the pastors for the assemblies in the US. He was there and he started to share with us and he said listen, this is what God has said to me, that we need to be those that are doing this initiative, that we need to get behind it and send out missionaries ourselves. And so the national director, john, he got up and he started to share with us that we have 2,600 missionary units, but they want to increase that by 1,500 units here in the next few years to send out missionaries to the world. And that's an amazing challenge, that's a huge piece, and he felt like he felt like God dropped that in his heart.
Jason Brown:But as pastors and missionaries, we're like wait, wait, wait. Where's all this money and this math and all this stuff coming from right? And so. But he started talking about and gave us a history that even during World War I, even during World War II, even during the downturn of economics in the 70s, every single year we sent more missionaries because greater is the cause than the situation that we're facing. And so people gave and they sacrificed and they understood that guess what? We can do something. I know what this says, the circumstances say, but I have a faith in someone who's greater than my circumstances. And so they gave to see missionaries go and take the gospel message to the world, because every tribe, every tongue will be before the throne room of God, every people worshiping the Lord.
Jason Brown:And he challenged us as pastors. He said to us pastors, I challenge you that you would be people that out of your congregations there would be missionaries raised up. And I can tell you, friends, as someone who said yes to God, as someone who went myself as a single guy and then as a married guy with a family, as we said yes together as we left our family. Married guy with a family, as we said yes together as we left our family, as we left all of our stuff we had and moved across the world in just a few bins, as we did it again to the Middle East. You have to say yes to God in the small things, to say yes to God in the big things. And so my challenge to you and to some in this room I believe it in my heart that there are missionaries sitting amongst us now that will say yes to God and take the challenge to say I will go, I will be the one that says yes, and you have to be open in your heart to what he wants. To put that brokenness in your heart for the people of God, the brokenness in your heart for the people that have yet to say yes to God. The brokenness in your heart for people, people that have yet to say yes to God. The brokenness in your heart for people who are far from God right now, but that you will go and do something about it. Friends, I believe there are people in this room that will say yes and will take the message of the gospel to the ends of the earth.
Jason Brown:The word in Jeremiah says this the prophet Jeremiah 1.5,. It says before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, and before you were born, I consecrated you, I appointed you as a prophet to the nations. Friends, that's what he said about you as well. He was speaking specifically Jeremiah, but he's saying it to you as well is that while you were in your mother's womb, he knew who you were, that you have value, that you have a future, that you have a purpose and a plan for your life, that he has anointed you to do things and so that we are set apart as unto do it, and I tell you this, that he has anointed you to do great things for him. And so what you understand is that you have a value already, that the God of the universe, the creator, god of all things, knows who you are, he knows your name, he knows what he's called you to do, that you would say yes to God. And so, as we stood there, we drove us forward to the front, and we were there, together and connected, listening to this challenge, and we just said, yes, lord, let it be so. Lord, we want to see your word go forward to the world. We want to see missionaries say yes to God, to say I will go, send me. Would you say amen to that?
Jason Brown:See, friends, it's a small yes that changes the world. It's a small step of obedience that changes the world. It starts right where you are, in your own heart and life. Then it starts in your own family, in your own sphere of influence, with your friends, that you can change the world. And it's by person, by person, and sharing your faith right where you're at. It's by sharing it with your neighbor, sharing it with your colleague at work, sharing it with your friend, and it's the challenge. It's not beating someone over the head with a gospel or a bullhorn on the corner. No, it's the opposite. It's the thing where you, by faith, being prompted by the Holy Spirit, use the testimony that the Lord has given you about the redemptive power of the blood of Jesus Christ that was shed for you, meaning he took all of your sin and mistakes and paid for it with his life. And as you share that message with others around you, they too get to encounter the living God in their heart and life. We say amen to that.
Jason Brown:So we talk about this idea of prophets and we're thinking about it as we are the ones also walking forward with God. We use this imagery of Jesus walking with disciples because we believe that none of us has arrived, none of us is perfect. All of us are in need of a savior. We're all walking where he's leading us to go. That's why we talk about here at Cornerstone, that we want to be more like Jesus. Now, if we haven't met, my name is Jay and I, like you, am on that journey with Christ. We want to be those who are more like him. We want to love God. We want to love God, we want to make disciples, we want to reach the world, and we do that collectively, because we are stronger than me always, and so we work together collectively to be these people, to be this community of faith. And that's why we want you guys to be involved. We want you to say yes to things like life groups, because life groups happen. They're about to start here in September To get involved, not do life alone, don't do this thing isolated, but that you would connect and grow and serve the Lord, amen.
Jason Brown:So, as we look back to these prophets, we pick up here with this scripture. Pastor Celeste was sharing it a few weeks ago in Micah 6, verse 8. If you have your Bible, your tablet, your phone, if you'd open it today and highlight this, I want you to go back and read it, think over it, mold over it in your heart and your daily devotion. This week, micah 6, verse 8, says this he has told you, o man, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you? But to do justice, to love, kindness and to walk humbly with your God, lord. We pray over your word today, holy Spirit, that you would make it alive and Rhema. Breathe upon it, lord, that you move through it, lord. We pray over your word today, holy Spirit, that you would make it alive in Rhema. Breathe upon it, lord, that you move through it, lord, and that you would draw us to yourself. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Jason Brown:Now we talk about this idea of love and grace and justice, and that's who we're called to be. We're called to be these things because that's who the Lord is. We're called to be the love of Christ, and we talk about that. You know what does it mean if you don't do things with love, as scripture talks about, you're like a clanging cymbal or a gong. You're making a bunch of noise, but you're no good for anybody, and so that's why we're called to be the love of Christ. We're also to be those who walk of God. How many people are very thankful for the grace of God? And so we should also extend the grace of God to others around us. Now that's hard because we operate off our intentions and their actions right, but the opposite is true, that you would want someone to extend the grace to you. So therefore, we are called to be those extended grace to others.
Jason Brown:And you know, javin, we were hanging out yesterday before our flight back here and we were walking through a store and as we walked in the store, javen's like hey, did you see this guy's shirt? I go nah. So I walked around and talked to him. I go hey, man, and I saw his shirt. I was like, oh, can I take a picture of your shirt? He goes what? And then I walked away and we were laughing together after he was kind of laughing and stuff. This is what his shirt says. For those who can't see it, or those on the podcast, says I am mixed Half Jesus and half Peter. Run up and see which one you get which. I thought the shirt was great. I was like yes, truth, amen, take it. You know, take an offering. No, it was just good.
Jason Brown:What I love about it is that struggle, the tension that's very visible in this shirt, is one that we all deal with as Christ followers, because one half of us is exactly that we want to be, you know, doing the justice and loving with kindness and walking humbly. We want to be the love of Christ and the grace of Christ and the justice of Christ. We want to walk by and you know just, I love you, friend Right, all the time. And the other half of us is like what'd you say to me? I got a knife Off, goes your ear. You know what I'm talking about. Like Peter Garden of Gethsemane. Anyway, you guys right, and there's a piece of that tension that's in us and man. That's why we need Holy Spirit every day to help us walk this thing out, because we know we're not perfect, we talk about it. But to be more like Jesus means that we need to be active in this pursuit. We need to walk in the tension and I see so many times I've been guilty of myself, friends of mine being guilty around them as well.
Jason Brown:You know you're trying to live for Christ. Maybe you make a mistake and people are over there. You know you think you're saying it on the inside. Sometimes it verbalizes Anybody. You start talking to yourself a little bit and I see friends when they make a mistake and they're trying to correct their mistake, but what they end up doing is like not cussing, cussing, you know, like rats, rats, right. They're like Joe Pesci on Home Alone, right, where he's like not cussing but cussing for sure in his heart and like, because it's like what Paul says, it's like I do the things I do not want to do. And so what I love about this is that you're aware that you're making the mistake and you're trying to correct it, and so, friends, that's a good thing, so don't beat yourself up if that's you. But instead we're walking this thing out to be more like Jesus, less like Peter, less like me, more like Jesus. And so that's the tension that we walk in. The tension and the friction that we're in is that we want to listen to him so that we can do better, so that we can do justice, we can love kindness, so we can walk humbly before our God.
Jason Brown:Now, each of these minor prophets they've been talking about having a heart after God. That's been the whole focus of what they've been saying. They're saying return to God, have a heart after God, draw near to him, obey him, don't just pay him lip service and then don't do what he says, don't go and live for yourself and your own frivolousness and not paying attention to things he called you to do. It's also talking about being those who walk with the characteristics of God coming off of our life. We would say that in the New Testament, in Galatians, as the fruit of the spirit, galatians 5. And it talks about this because it's attributes that come off of our life. See, I'm all for.
Jason Brown:We believe very much in the gifts of the spirit. That means the word of God and having prophecy and having interpretation, believing in divine healing, believe in it for sure. But what I also believe in big time is seeing the fruit of the Spirit come off of your life as well. So it's not just the working of the gift of the Spirit, it's also the fruit of the Spirit in your life. It's both. It's not either, or it's and both amen. And so we live with those characteristics of God. And that's what it means. Whenever we start to live this thing out where we live in our community is we start to have an impact that's greater than what we can do by ourselves, because it's manifest in the power of the love of God to other people. That's why I love a few weeks ago, whenever we, as being a part of Mercy House went and helped over 700 kids have a good back to school with backpacks and gear. That's amazing.
Jason Brown:I want to say thank you, guys, for giving your tax donation and giving of missions. We give out of our missions, our Kingdom Builders, every month to Mercy House of giving yourself directly to them and also giving of your time. We have teachers in this house that go and teach, help kids with their after-school tutoring. We have people in this house that's right that go and they volunteer their time on Tuesdays and Thursdays for Bible study. We have people who volunteer their time so they can get food at the pantry or clothes at the closet, and we do that because we believe that the love of God can be tangible as much as the word of God, and we want to see them go and draw near, respond to what we're doing tangibly so they can have that message, that life change that really happens as they embrace Jesus. I'll tell you as you live this thing out, it returns back to you dividends in living this thing for Christ.
Jason Brown:We got a chance this week to see some friends of ours that were just giving the testimony of God. That's the Alvarez crew. They used to be here, part of Cornerstone for years and years, debbie and Jorge and their girls, and we love them so very much. And now for years I teased Jorge. He's an engineer for GE. He's a very good job. Debbie, she works in HR Very good job, all sorts of things. I tease him forever. He's a PK. We come out of similar backgrounds Surfer kids, you know kind of knotheads and stuff that Jesus had to get a hold of us a little bit, and so we share that story and I was always teasing him Like when are you going to be a pastor, jorge? When are you going to be a pastor Jorge? Like teasing him about it. Now he's still working but he's volunteering all his time. He's an associate pastor at his church, punto Amor in Florida, and they're doing great work. They launched as a Spanish-speaking church, they're now going into English and God is blessing their church.
Jason Brown:And they're telling me the story of the miracle and then the miracle after that one and the miracle after that one. And, friends, I was just getting pumped up, I was just getting. I was getting pumped up, I was getting excited, because that's how I see our story too is like man, the miracle. This person came to faith and this person got baptized and this person had life change and this person found a job and this person's marriage got put back together. Somebody and this thing happened in their life and this child came back to Jesus. And the miracle, the miracle, the miracle is happening. And, friends, I was so excited because that's what it means to live your love for God out where you are, in your community.
Jason Brown:Now, each one of these prophets here are talking about how we need to be those people of prayer that are praying the will of God and drawing near to him, understanding who God is and what he's called us to do. We looked at some of these scriptures that friends have brought up in their sermons these past weeks. We look first here to Joel 1, 14, and it talks about having a heart after God and being focused on it. It says consecrate a fast call, a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land to the house of the Lord, your God, and cry out to the Lord. Friends, it's talking us about being serious in our heart after God. What this is saying is that they know that they've messed up, they know that they've broken God's heart, they know that they have been led astray, and so they're saying let's make a concerted effort to draw near to God. And that's what God is doing. He's charged these different ones, these different prophets and the leaders there, to go and to bring a message.
Jason Brown:Many of those messages were a hard message because it's saying to change, to repent. Zechariah 1, 3 says therefore, say to them thus declares the Lord of hosts, return to me. Says the Lord of hosts, and I will return to you. See, it's the very thing that we're talking about charging them with that message of repentance. It's also a perspective on who God is. In Amos 4, it says for behold, he who forms the mountains and creates the wind and declares the man what is his thought, who makes the morning darkness and treads on the heights of the earth. The Lord, the God of hosts, is his name. Somebody say amen to that. It's giving a perspective that listen, this God that you're trying to pass and push away, he is the creator God. There is none like him. There is no other deity, no other spirit, no other entity that's even close, because he is alone, our God, and so it's calling us to him and to a repentance, a return to God. It's a challenge to us that we would be those that go and say yes to what he's calling us to do.
Jason Brown:Malachi 2.8 says it like this but you have turned aside from the way, meaning the way of God. You have caused many to stumble by your instruction. You've corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the Lord of hosts. See, he's coming against these leaders saying listen, you have gone another way. You're not putting into alignment the things I gave to you to do. He's challenging them to come back to the way of God.
Jason Brown:Haggai 1, verse 2, says this thus says the Lord of hosts these people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord. See, they knew what God had told them to do. They didn't want to do it. You ever had something that you felt God challenged you to do, but you didn't want to do it, so you pushed it off. See, that's called disobedience, and I could tell you, because I've been there and where God is like hey, I want you to do this. I'm like God, I'm already being good, I'm already a pastor over here. Look at me. He's like cool, I told you to do this. Like it's not time for that.
Jason Brown:Yet God, he's like really, I'm God. Who are you? I don't know you Like. It's not time for that. Yet God he's like really I'm God, who are you? I don't know you. Anybody getting it yet? Me too, me too, the challenge to us to adjust what we're doing. See, he wants us to speak to culture. We know this culture that we're in. It's a fallen world. We're broken people, we make mistakes because that's our nature. But what he wants us to do is run against that and be the life and the love of Christ, light in the dark places, spiritually.
Jason Brown:The word of God says this in Amos 5,. It says seek good and not evil that you may live, and so the Lord, the God of hosts, will be with you. As you have said, hate evil and love good and establish justice in the gate. It may be that the Lord, the God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph. Friends, that's what we're talking about is that we would be those that are good and not evil, that where we live in our community and what we put ourselves to do, that we would be in alignment with those who are Christ followers and not fallen people.
Jason Brown:That's why so often and I could tell you as a pastor's kid growing up in church, I hated church people because church people were hypocrites, and I was one of them too. Now, I didn't judge myself as a hypocrite because I had intention to be good, but was I being good? No, no, no, it was not being good, but I meant to be good. But I saw other people doing exactly what I was doing and I judged them. Because can you believe they call themselves a Christian and do that? Don't we? Don't we?
Jason Brown:But, friends, here's the thing, what we realize all of us have fallen short of the glory of God. None is righteous no, not one. So all of us are in need of a savior. All of us are not perfect. All of us are trying to live for Jesus. All of us are trying to do better every day, and that's why the challenge is for every single one of us to change what we're doing and come into alignment with God. Friends, my word for you and I do this humbly my word for you is to change what you're doing and go after the things of God. Each one of us, before we set foot in this room or under the sound of my voice on a video, we know what he's talking to us about doing and what we have not done. We know where he's challenging us to step out in faith or be obedient in something, and we have not done it. Friends, change what you're doing and return to God the thing, the answer you're looking for, the best thing that you're trying to buy a self-help book for, and all the other things that we try to fix ourselves in doing. If you return it to God, the alignment with all those things will start to get set into place and we walk in the will of God and the things of God, so that we don't have to be corrected, we don't have to be slapped aside our head spiritually, but that we walk in the way and in the will of God and we'll experience the peace of God that passes all understanding.
Jason Brown:Now, these prophets, as they speak to us, it's something that's you know. I can relate with them. They're very much people that are bringing a message that they're heartbroken. What God's saying is going to bring judgment on their people, on Judah, on Israel. He's going to bring in Babylon or Assyria to take them away. They're heartbroken from the moment and you can understand, you can connect with them and say, wow, I too would be heartbroken if I knew there was going to be this imminent danger, this imminent destruction that happens to my homeland, that happens to my neighborhood, that happens to my people.
Jason Brown:At the same time, you have others that they're there and they're complaining. They're complaining because they don't want to go and tell the people the bad news. Right, you have some of this, different ones that are complaining to God. They're like God of this. You, different ones that are complaining to God. They're like God, right, and none of us ever say it like that, right. We say oh God, when we should be saying oh God, see, it's all in your voice on whether or not you're complaining.
Jason Brown:Any of you guys complain to God. Only a couple of us that are being honest. Lord, you see the hands that are there as I step back from the lightning. No, I'm just joking. I'm with you guys, but that's the thing. Is that man? So many times we're complaining oh God. Why am I here? Why are you letting this happen? He's like did you do what I told you to do? Are you being what I called you to be? Are you making wise decisions that I've guided you to do? Why did I give you the Holy Spirit? If you're not listening, anybody Somebody Online you guys know what I'm talking about. Praise the Lord, friends that we would change our complaining into a cry of Lord, help me, instead of Lord. Why are you doing this? No, lord, oh Lord, my God, help me. And you see the other side of this.
Jason Brown:With some of the prophets even as Pastor Angus gave a good example of this with Jonah they were just outright disobedient to God. You know, he told them hey, go and talk to Nineveh. He hated the Ninevites, so he was like I'm not talking to them. He took the fastest and furthest boat away to get away from what God called him to do. And so you know it's interesting because you can connect with that idea how it's, like man, there are people that they have been called by God, they've been given a mission and they run away from what God has called them to do. Hi, I'm Jay, I'm one of those people. Good to meet you, hi there, good to meet you.
Jason Brown:And God calls them back and brings them back by all sorts of circumstances to get him back into alignment. And what I could tell you about this, friends, is that the God of the universe, he will see to it that these ones that have that installation of the word of God in their heart. They won't be happy in the world because they know where the real source of happiness comes from. It's only from the Lord, god, and they won't have any satisfaction in the things that they accomplish, even though they're very successful. It'll be very empty because we are praying the prayer of no satisfaction of the things of the world over their life. We want them to be called back into relationship with God because he is the only eternal source of happiness. Absolutely. Would you say yes to that? And so we believe for the sons and daughters to be brought back in as prodigals, back to a faith in God. Somebody say yes to that, and so what we talk about is believing the same thing, that we would not be disobedient. Be obedient to what God has for us.
Jason Brown:You see, some of these guys. They're actually just confused on what God had them to do. Some of them need to act out bizarre scenes and kind of give a demonstration. Another one of the prophets he was called to go and marry an unfaithful woman and keep bringing her back, pay for her debts, even though she was unfaithful, because this was what God was giving is just demonstration of how he is with the children of Israel. We talked last week. Tyler shared with us about the emo, the emo prophets that were emotional and whiny and kind of was like oh, kind of rock in the you know mid 2000s, you know screaming infidelities. You guys get the idea Very emotional.
Jason Brown:Meanwhile you have some that are going in there and have to stand with resolve and face the very flames that if you don't give up then you're going to die and there'd be like, if God doesn't save us, that's okay, we're going to still stand for God alone and that the Lord, he rescues them from the flames. Again, daniel, he has to face the lions. They said we're going to throw you in the lions if you don't stop praying to your God. He's like I'm praying to my God, that's the only one I'm praying to, and I'll face the lions and the Lord shut the lion's mouths. We see that there's so many. One after another, after another. They face difficult things and I can tell you that this is the same challenge that each one of us has is that we too are called to face difficult things, because greater is he that's in us than he that's in the world. And we are not alone when we face difficult things.
Jason Brown:And there's such a great word that came from Pastor Aaron Burke. He pastors a church called Radiant in Florida. He was sharing with us at a church multiplication network conference dinner that we had and he's sharing with us about this concept that he's been working really hard and he felt like man I have this plan, I'm working my plan. And God had been blessing their church, their multi-site, thousands of people, people having life change, people getting baptized. It's awesome, great things. And he's like man, I'm planning, I'm planning, I'm like if I get to this marker, then I can just coast and I can just retire and kick back.
Jason Brown:And he felt like he got slapped by the Holy Spirit. Because the Holy Spirit has said to him why do you think that you go and you're put through, or that you have to walk through difficult things? Why do you think that is? It's because I'm refining you in the process for things in the future, and not just that. But you think that now you've been through some difficult things, now you're a survivor of it by my hand and power in your life. What do you think I need you to do in the future? I need you to do even more difficult things Because, friends, it's not about now, it's about eternity with him and it's about people knowing the living God and it's about being after his work and his business.
Jason Brown:He said guess what? We are those who go through difficult things because greater is he that's in us than he that's in the world that we are overcomers in the living God. We are sons and daughters of the most high God. So that means in your circumstances and in mine, when he has not left us alone in the valley of the shadow of death, when he has walked with us all the way, even carried us as you see in your grandma's bathroom footprints in the sand. He's taking us to this next place as a refinement because he wants to do greater things with you in the future, not lesser things, greater things. He wants to work some of this stuff out, that's in your life, so that you can do the next thing and he can elevate that platform and give you more rapport with other people. He can bring up another set of people in behind you because now they're learning from your mistakes and not having to make those mistakes themselves. The Lord, help us to be those who trust him and return to God.
Jason Brown:Today we look at this idea and we understand the first thing that starts returning to God is in our core. It's inside who we are. We have to get it down deep that you have to say I am going to live for God, for me. Not I give lip service to it or I just look like I am on the outside to my church friends. No, I am going to live for God and his purposes. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord when we make that decision.
Jason Brown:Well, guess what? Now we get to be an impact in culture. We get to be the love of God where we go. We get to challenge things because we're living against a fallen culture. We get to live for God and stand up with boldness and I don't mean bombastically, I mean stand up with boldness because we know it's the right thing to do, live justly and not just that. But we don't do it one day, we do it with consistency. And when we start to do it with consistency, it means every day. Any one of us can do it for a day, but to do it every day means you have to be walking with God and the power of God to live for him.
Jason Brown:And that's why that prayer that we pray every day is give us today our daily bread. It's our daily bread. It's the same thing we learned about whenever the Lord liberated the children of Israel out of Egypt and through the Red Sea and did all the miracles. They were out in the desert with no food and he gave them manna from heaven. It only lasted for the day. Only on the Sabbath would it last for more than one. They could gather it up. It would spoil. Why? Because we can't live on yesterday's experience with God. We can't live on yesterday's experience, last week's experience. Our good life group that we're a part of. We can't live on yesterday's experience, last week's experience. Our good life group that we're a part of, we can't live off that either.
Jason Brown:Guess what we have to have the daily bread, the daily time with God, an impartation of his spirit so that we really can be these things, so we can do justice, love, kindness, walk humbly before our God Friends. That's what it means to be the love, grace and justice of God. That's what it means for us to embrace it as well, and it all starts with repentance, it starts with returning to him. When we repent of all these things, we say, lord, if there's anything in my life that separates me from you, lord. I want to change it. Lord, I want to draw near to you. I want to do what you've called me to do. I want to go public with my faith. I want to use my testimony for others. You'll see, what happens is, whenever you're obedient to be that one and to be the repentant, to be more like Jesus, the provision of God will outpace you in a way that is not even rational because it's supernatural, and that's what we see so often Today, as we come to this altar.
Jason Brown:We do so, and my challenge to you is this that if you're someone here and you need more of the spirit of God to live successfully for him, if you're someone here that needs guidance, needs direction, if you're someone here that needs a provision of God, you need guidance in your relationship, you need help at your work. If you're someone here that has something separating you from the Lord, that you would come and you would make an altar with God, that you would come and draw near to him, because each one of us, we're called to something greater. We're anointed for something greater. We are set apart for the things he has called for, but we have to be those that first return to God and draw near to him.
Jason Brown:Today we have this opportunity as well to invite Christ into our heart and life. Maybe you're here and you've never made a decision to follow Jesus. You're seeing people go public with their faith and you're like, wow, these people are serious. And you're hearing this challenge that comes from the minor prophets and you're like, man, there's really a better way to live. Today is your opportunity to invite Christ into your heart and life. You have to answer that question of have you embraced Jesus?
Jason Brown:So each one of us has had to make that decision for ourselves. No one can make it for you not your friend, your neighbor, your spouse, your mama. It's yours and that's why we see the symbol of the cross is so powerful. The symbol of the cross is where Jesus came and he took all the sin of the world. Though he didn't sin, he took all of our sin, all of our mistakes, all of our brokenness. He took it upon himself and when he did, he paid for all of our sin upon the cross with his life. And as he was nailed to the cross, that sin was nailed there and it died there as he died. The amazing thing about Jesus is that he is not dead, he is alive, and that's why we have a living relationship with the living God. It's not some ancient deity that we're worshiping and trying to follow some rules. No, friends, we are in an active relationship with the living God and that's why we say Jesus, I believe you are who you say you are Lord. I invite you into my life. I ask you to forgive me of my sin. Lord, I want to belong to you. I want to be more like you.
Jason Brown: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 Friends, today is your day. It's your opportunity to say yes to Jesus, to invite him into your heart and life and to follow him for the rest of your life. I'm going to ask everyone in the room if you would stand to your feet, bow your heads.
Jason Brown:Where you're at, as Christians are praying, people are making decisions to follow Jesus. Many hands in the first service making decision to follow Jesus today. So very thankful. Friends online, wherever you are under the sound of my voice, you're at work, you're traveling, you're out and about, take a moment to what God wants to do and just respond to Him today. It says you're about here in the room.
Jason Brown:If that's you, you say Pastor, that's me. I want to make a decision to follow Jesus today. I want to invite Him into my heart and life, maybe for the very first time, or maybe even living away from him, and you just need to come back to him, recommit back to him. If that's you, if you just raise your hand right where you're at and say Pastor, that's me. I just want to make a decision to follow Christ. We see the hands that are here, hands. That's Thank you, jesus.
Jason Brown:Others make a decision to follow Jesus. Thank you, lord. Thank you, lord. His hands are raised. Thank you, god. Thank you, god. You put your hands down.
Jason Brown:I'm going to ask if everyone would they pray this prayer out loud after me. Lord, thank you for loving me. Thank you for sending Jesus. I believe Jesus died on the cross for my sins. I believe he rose again. Forgive me of my sins. I surrender my life to you. In Christ's name. I pray amen, amen. Friends, we rejoice with you making a decision to follow Jesus today. Those that raised their hand today amazing, amazing, hey, connect with us. We want to be able to put materials into your hands so you'd be successful, living for Jesus. If you're online, hey, message us. We don't want you to live this life alone.
Jason Brown:Today, as we respond to this altar, we do so with a heart after God. We draw near to him. If so, with a heart after God, we draw near to him. If there's anything where you're just like Lord, I need more of you. I need more of you in my life. I need more of your spirit, more of your provision direction. I need you in my family. I need you in my workplace. If that's you or maybe you're someone saying you know, there's been something separating me from God I just need to come and to make that altar with God. We open up this altar to you.
Jason Brown:I challenge you today that everyone would come and make an altar with God. Lord, we thank you for this word. We thank you, lord, for speaking to us through your prophets and Lord, speaking to us through our word and making it alive in us. Lord, we thank you that you challenge us, lord, not to stay still, but, lord, that you love us enough to bring justice. You love us enough, lord, to bring correction to us, lord, so we can walk in your way, lord, so we're not condemned for eternity away from you, but instead, lord, that we walk in step with you, in a living relationship with you. Lord, that we come today for our daily bread, lord, for our daily impartation of your Spirit. Lord, as you pour yourself out so richly upon us, lord, we come and we make an altar with you, lord, today. Thank you for your peace and your provision, for your anointing Lord in your hand upon us as we come. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.
Celeste Brown:What a great Sunday. I want to invite you. We're having party with the pastor immediately following this service. So if you are new or you've been coming for the last several weeks and we have not gotten to meet you, our team will be in there. It's on the east side of the building. There's a hallway and a conference room. Come and join us. It's very informal. We just want to put a face and a name together. If you have children, I encourage you to go and grab them first and then come and join us.
Jason Brown:Amen. There's lots and lots of good things happening, so I want to encourage you to get involved with those things and be a part of them. Amen, 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, do empower us by your spirit to live your love out to those around us. I 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 have a great week.