Cornerstone Christian Center
Cornerstone Christian Center
Rock of Ages | 39th Anniversary
Looking around at the thrashing waves of life's storms, have you ever wondered where to find unshakable help? For 39 years, Cornerstone Christian Center has pointed thousands to the answer found in Psalm 121: "I lift my eyes to the hills. Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord."
The journey began when founding pastors Rich and Cindy Brown stepped out in faith, gathering a small group in their living room with a vision to establish a church on what was then mostly farmland west of Phoenix. The name "Cornerstone" was purposefully chosen from 1 Peter 2, recognizing Jesus as the precious cornerstone upon which everything else is built. Through decades of ministry, this foundation has never wavered, even as cotton fields transformed into neighborhoods and once-distant Buckeye expanded westward.
What makes this community special isn't its building (though that story involves divine intervention when community planners initially rejected a church on Indian School Road) but the prayers literally embedded in its walls. Before drywall covered the structure, congregation members wrote Scripture and prayers throughout the building—prayers that still cover everyone who walks through the doors today. These invisible blessings represent the heart of a church committed to making space for more people to encounter Jesus.
The "Seven C's" of Cornerstone culture—Commitment, Community, Communication, Competence, Creativity, Compassion, and Celebration—continue guiding this multi-generational, multicultural family of believers. Through outreaches like Mercy House in Cashion, which has transformed generations of lives over its 30+ years, the church remains focused on loving everyone because "that's who Jesus loved us as well."
When life's storms rage and you feel yourself clinging desperately to anything solid, remember the image of the Rock of Ages—a stone cross standing firm amid violent seas. Don't run from God in your pain; run to Him. Lift your eyes to where your help comes from, because "on Christ the solid Rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand." Your storm may be fierce, but your cornerstone will never sink.
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39 years of Cornerstone Christian Center. Praise the Lord. 39 years, so many amazing memories, so many amazing things to think about how the Lord is our provision and he has continued the ministry that's been here through this church. Someone give God praise for a lot he's been doing through our story, through this community of faith. Praise God. Today.
Jason Brown:Our question for us is where does my help come from? Give your Bible, your tablet, your phone. We're looking today to scripture in Psalm 121, starting in verse one. Let me encourage you in this, as you're doing your daily reading, your Bible study before the Lord, that as you read the gospels, as you read down your plan that you're doing maybe on the Bible app, that as you read the gospels, as you read down your plan that you're doing maybe on the Bible app, that you would also include a Psalm and a proverb, and it's a good way for us to think about the wisdom of God and also the songs that the Psalmists are writing and how our hearts can connect to them. One of them is here.
Jason Brown:We see this. It says in Psalm 1, 2, 1, verses 1 and 2,. It says I lift up my eyes to the hills. Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth. Lord, we pray today over your word, lord, that you would make it alive and Holy Spirit you would breathe upon it. Lord, it would be sparked in our hearts, lord, to challenge us. Lord, more into your character, more into the fruit of the Spirit coming off of our lives, lord, that it would become alive in Rhema, lord. We pray this in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Jason Brown:So Cornerstone, 39 years of Cornerstone. You know this idea of Cornerstone. It was birthed 39 years ago on this week in August, our founding pastors, rich and Cindy Brown. They named it Cornerstone because of this scripture and I encourage you to highlight it in your Bible. Let it speak to you. It's 1 Peter, 2, starting in verse 4. It says, as you come to him, a living stone, rejected by men, in the side of God, chosen and precious, you, yourselves, like living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house to a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, for it stands in scripture behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone, chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame. Someone say amen to that man, these powerful, these words, this word of cornerstone. It's who Jesus is to us.
Jason Brown:I think of my parents. That's who Rich and Cindy Brown are as my parents to me, and that also means 39 years ago. I was around whenever they started this church, so I'm slightly older than the church, just barely, but I digress. And so they had the courage to follow the Lord and to say yes to him. And I think about that, the moxie to follow God and to be obedient to him, to be the first money in the first prayers, in the tears on the carpet and saying Lord, what would you have us to do? And to be obedient, to step out in faith and to start a church out here in the West Valley.
Jason Brown:Now, this started right here in Phoenix, but our family, whenever my parents, met, they both were in Cashion and living in the backside of Cashion in a trailer. In fact, when I was born, that's where I was brought home to, and so we've always had a heart for the West Valley and for this whole area of what was going on. You got to remember whenever the church was started, this very place where we are now was a field. I think it was a cotton field, if I remember correctly, and across the street there was all sorts of corn, there's alfalfa and all sorts of stuff growing out here. And then, just past us, on the other side of Litchfield Park, was the desert, like the proper desert, like don't go out there without water, the desert. That's where it started. So if you were going to Buckeye you had to have like the little knapsack you know over the stick and put it on your shoulder and walk slowly. It took forever to get to Buckeye. Now we're thankful for Buckeye because it's almost touching Los Angeles. So that's the problem.
Jason Brown:But it's gone on and grown on and we knew that and the Lord knew that. That's why he challenged Richard C Brown to say yes to God and be obedient. And so the first gathering of the church was actually at our living room when I was six, and it was. They gathered together and they prayed together and the word was given. And on that first Sunday, the very first Sunday, my parents gave an offering to the church. They gave an offering to missions and they gave an offering to the building fund, because they were believing by faith that God had something bigger and a future for what he wanted to do in and through this community of faith called Cornerstone.
Jason Brown:And so as things progressed, you could see the one year anniversary that was here announced in the newspaper announcing Cornerstone Christian Center, the first annual celebration and kind of what that meant to us as a church, having gone through a year setting up and tearing down at Littleton Elementary, having gone through a year setting up and tearing down at Littleton Elementary and that was our home right there in Cashion for years, as we set up and tore down church every single week and doing things in midweek as well and pulling all the chairs out, setting up all the classes and church planting. And there was this vision that in the future that we would be able to have a home that would serve as a base of operations for the church to go forward. How do people know that the church is people and not a building? And so? But a building is a blessing, it's a way for us to gather, it's a place that can help us, and so the vision was cast for the building and they started to do a rendering of what that would look like and it became this beautiful thing that would be somewhere, and my dad had looked at all these properties in different places. And he had went and walked and put in bids on places and all sorts of things and rejected, rejected, rejected. And the Lord started to speak to him as he would fast and pray and say, lord, where would you have me build your house? Where do you want this church to have a home? And the Lord gave him a direction to be here on Indian School Road.
Jason Brown:The only problem with that is that they were building this big master plan community called Garden Lakes, and so Garden Lakes already had a place for a church. It was an LDS church by the high school and there was no other spot for a church in the community the square mile. And so my dad he just was like well, lord, they said that that's the deal and the Lord's like no, I said I wanted the church on Indian school. So my dad, who had a background in pipe fitter welding and he was someone who's in leadership on big projects like the power plant he had been a bull steward and a lot of other things. In those roles he was used to being someone who had abilities and giftings and so he used that for the glory of God. So he took the plans of this community right behind us and he redrew the plans of Garden Lakes to include selling us this piece of property and when he did, he actually included more houses for them to sell to the people in the community and because that was a skill set that God had given them.
Jason Brown:Now we have a home for our church right here on Indian School Road, where God told him to plant this church. So it's a testimony to use the skills that God has given you and that just because he's called you to a new thing doesn't mean that he hasn't prepared you, through your story, for what is ahead of you. So some of you that have gone through a big thing in your life know that God is using that, though he might not have caused it, he will use it for his glory so that he can shine in the future of what he wants you to do. He wants to level that up to the next level of what God has for you. So we came here. We were able to everyone sacrificed and we talked about building on a sure foundation and people gave and they gave to plant the church and then to build the church. Then we were able to buy this piece of property cash and then start to build the building.
Jason Brown:As we built the property, we staked out where the church would be and we had this worship service here on the property and it was powerful, the narrative, that story. Everyone came together. I remember walking around it as a prayer walk and then having this amazing moment, together in prayer and anointing this place and saying, lord, that you would use this place for your glory. And as things began to get poured and stubbed out of the wall and the walls went up, we took another opportunity to pray and we started to put prayers that as you walked in the building today you might not know it, but you walked under and over Prayers of the saints that are there in a capsule have been prayed over you every time you set foot in this building. And for those that are listening to the sound of our voice it's the reason that we send this out to you is because of the prayers of the saints that have gone out in front of us, believing that you would be impacted by the message of the gospel.
Jason Brown:And so it's amazing because we each one of us that night, we took and divided up sections of the place and the youth group and the different pieces. You could see where they were at the stage at that time was kind of little sub out stage, and so we had the different thing. My family, ours, is right beside that door which leads towards the offices, and so we were writing and putting scriptures on the wall. And so what's amazing is, behind all this stucco on these walls are prayers for you to thrive in your faith in God, prayers for you to draw near to God and the promises of God that are here for us. And whenever we had our first Sunday together to kickstart the building you didn't see it was in the West Valley View, which is pretty rare to see. This word praise the Lord you don't see that in the newspaper very often. So pretty amazing that I got to highlight, you know, what God was doing in this building going up, because you gotta remember, it was a field. At that time they hadn't built any of the houses yet, and so we were one of the first things going in alongside the high school and some of the first houses by the lake, and so it was an amazing thing to see happen come out of nothing and become something.
Jason Brown:I remember Pastor Angus, who he came to faith later in life, but his family grew up right here in Litchfield Park. They would drive down and pass this and Angus was like, oh, I didn't know that Garden Lakes was going to have a big country club right here. That's nice, that's a nice building, that's what he thought our church was, was a country club for Garden Lakes for years and years. And you know, pastor Rich, he made it so that we could you could blend into the community. Could be other things in the future, should we want to do that.
Jason Brown:But it was amazing because people would gather from all walks of life, from every different background, all of us broken, all of us in need of a savior, and come together as a community of faith. You can see in this next picture we had, even then, from the very set of the church, missional hearts, so we used to have flags flying across the back and all these things and believing and saying yes to God. And I honor our founding pastors because they had a tenacity after God to keep the course, to keep on going and do what he asked them to do. And many people sacrificed, many people walked alongside them for generations and I see some, even faces in the crowd that have been with us for years and years, for 20 years, for 30 years Some of them growing up with us and us walking this path together of being down this journey, and it's been amazing to see God continually move forward in what he wants us to do. We've been able to plant churches, we've been able to see ministries happen and see impact in people's lives. It's been powerful.
Jason Brown:And this last fall we started a remodel and started to redo the stage and one of the things that we did was we took a step forward by faith and making space for more people, and that was a vision that Pastor Richard always had as he drew this building was that the classrooms that were downstairs down here where we walked in, all of those were classrooms and eventually we had to make more space for people, but that in the future that we would have so many people come into services here as we go to plant in the West Valley and other places, like towards Buckeye and towards Levine and towards Waddell and back into the city as we go to do those things that will need space for people as they come to Jesus. And his vision was always to build out the balcony and this last fall, as Pastor Rich stood in the balcony, friends, I could tell you this that God is faithful and that God has a vision for this church that's bigger than our vision for this church, and God wants to use you and your story of the redemption of Christ in your life to impact people around you. And we need to make space for them because, guess what? God is gonna be doing something dynamic in this church in this season ahead, as more and more and more people come to know Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord. Someone give God praise for that. That's what we're saying, and so it's amazing. We see how it is. This was a picture from last weekend of us just worshiping the Lord and people coming to the altars. You see in this next image. And so it becomes this amazing thing that God is doing, how he's using this next generation of young leaders and he's pulling and stepping people up.
Jason Brown:And that's our heart is that we want to be a multicultural, multi-generational, multi-campus movement, and God has been doing that in and through us. He's done that through things like Seekids and ministering to families. Now, for all of these years, for 25 years, he's been doing that. He's been doing that back where we came from, in Cashion, through Mercy House, which we celebrated over 30 years of ministry that God has been doing through things like Mercy House in Cashion, and we got to celebrate that and see the timeline of all the good things that happened there.
Jason Brown:We were talking about it last service when Mika was in here and just saying how God is good. God is good and that he would partner together someone crazy like Mika with someone crazy like Pastor Rich and they would say yes to God and they were willing to go and to love the unlovely people. And that's who we were made of and we were made of redeemed people that lived that life, that grew up on the back streets of Cashion, that grew up in down in South Phoenix. We were the dregs of people that God redeemed and washed and made brand new and so friends. That's why we can love everyone from every place, because that's who Jesus loved us from as well, that we could be the love of God to them. And so now we've seen generations of people kids that grew up in Mercy House are now having kids and they have some even become grandparents the first generation of them and it's an amazing life change that's happened as the hope of God has been dropped into their heart and life and transformed everything because of Jesus and because of the consistency of people to give to the Lord of their time and their talent, their testimony and even their treasury, to say yes to God. That's why it's changed, friends, because the obedience of the church to do what Jesus called us to do.
Jason Brown:Now, I'm the first to tell you none of us is perfect. I'm a long way from it, but I'm someone who, just like you, is on a journey to become, to be more like Jesus. We have an ambition to be more like him. That's why we walk after him, following where he's leading us to go. That's why we use this imagery so often of us walking like the disciples, after Jesus because that's who we are is. We're following him where he's leading us in our life and we're saying yes to God to be more like Jesus. And so we say yes to him because he's challenged us to do things like the great commission. If you have your Bibles, you can highlight it here the great commission that he brings to us. It's in Matthew 28, starting in verse 18.
Jason Brown:And it says and Jesus came and said to do is to take the message of the gospel to the world around us, and he's also challenged us with this, the great commandment, and we see that here in Matthew 22. It says, teacher, which is the great commandment in the law, and he said to him you shall love the Lord, your God, with all of your heart and with all of your soul and with all of your mind. This is the great and first commandment, and the second is, like it love your neighbor as yourself. Aren't you thankful that someone loved you enough to tell you about the gospel message of Jesus Christ? Friends, that's who we're called to be is the ones who say yes to the Great Commission, the ones who say yes to the Great Commandment and obey Jesus. We're called to love God, to make disciples, to reach the world, and we do those things because that's what Jesus told us to do, and we're not called to do this life alone. So we do things like life groups, to be intentional in that process, and that's what it looks like for us here to connect together. That's why we meet across the city throughout the week, and we do so so that we can grow in our relationship with God. We do so so that we can use our gifts and abilities to serve wherever he's asked us to serve. And so it goes beyond just here in the weekend gatherings. We want to have a cornerstone culture that it talks about who we are and what we're doing.
Jason Brown:This last week, this last year I'm sorry we talked about this idea of the seven C's and talked about these seven C statements that are things, culturally, that help drive us together as a community of faith. Here at Cornerstone, we talked about the first of those, which is commitment, we said. For us, we have to be those who are committed to the Lord, that I'm not gonna turn back, no, turning back, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. And so we've made these declarative statements. We've solidified this in our heart that I belong to him and I'm going to be committed to Jesus Christ. In community. We see it in this aspect that Christ died for the church. That that's very much who we're called to be as a community of faith. And so we're called to be those that live in community, encourage each other, bring alongside another and walk with them. We're called to be those who mourn with people when they mourn, to celebrate when they celebrate. We're called to be those people that live in that community together and to make space so that one more friend can come and join us in our community of faith. And so that's why we talk about being intentional to bring a friend, bring a colleague from work, to be someone who's inviting others your neighbor to come and sit with you, so that they can know, hey, I have a friend here, I belong, I'm a part of what God wants to do here at Cornerstone.
Jason Brown:The third piece we talk about is communication. We know this, that we're called to use our testimony and share it with others around us, and we're supposed to share the gospel message of how God has changed our hearts and so that other people can, they can encounter it and it can change their life as well. And so we do that in all sorts of avenues. We do that like this, in sharing our story. We do that through our music and our songs and our worship. We do it through lights and video and online avenues. We do all those different things because we want to communicate the gospel in a way that people can receive it. That's why we do things like today with the Back to School Bash for our kiddos and for our youth tonight, because we want them to know that living this life in community with God is fun, but it has a purpose. And so we do both of those things together. They're not a separate thing, they're together in our living for God. We not a separate thing, they're together in our living for God.
Jason Brown:We also want to do things with competence. What does that mean? That means that we want to be people who are giving our excellence to God, that we're committed to God and we're giving our best to God. And that's not just here. That is here. That's what we want to do collectively in serving the Lord, but also in what we do wherever we live our life, so in our community or at work, whenever you're running your business you own and with your team and with your clients, how you hold yourself and how you are, whenever you are serving, on the team that you serve with, in your work, that you are reflecting the love of Christ and you're doing things with excellence. Because we do that. In all that, we do Not just when we show up here at church on a weekend or when we watch a service, but whenever we live our life that we give our best, because we're a reflection of our giving our best to God. Amen.
Jason Brown:And so we continue in this process of creativity, understanding that God is a creative God. He's the one that created the whole world and he gives us creativity as well to be an expression of what that means. And so we use that in different ways, and our team does that. And what we do with what we display and how we express what we're doing in all of these different avenues so that people can connect to the love of God, we also do things with compassion. That's why we function the way we do with Mercy House, with the closet and the pantry that give out food and clothing to people in need. It's why we go and partner with over 50 different missionaries and ministries every month through Kingdom Builders, because we want to have an impact in our community. And that's out on the Nader Reservation. It's with OCJ Kids helping foster kids in their communities and get connected. It's out on the ASU campus, the U of A campus and Emory Riddle at NAU. It's so that university students can love God and know God. It's all of these different avenues like things like Convoy of Hope or even Project Rescue, like we talked about today, about helping people where they are that we would have a compassionate heart, because God has had a compassionate heart towards us.
Jason Brown:And the last is celebration, that we would be those that celebrate the good things that God has been doing in and through our lives and we would celebrate with others as well, that we would say man, I'm so glad that you are experiencing God, answer your prayer. Friends, we've had people this week who shared with us. You know what I've been praying and I've been going through cancer and God said he's gonna touch my life. I went to my doctor this week and all of my numbers in cancer are completely down from where they were the previous week. Friends, that's called healing. In the name of Jesus Christ, they had had no kind of medicine applied. All these things. We believe in medicine. We're thankful for doctors, we're thankful for doctors, we're thankful for nurses. We believe in all those things. But we are also contending for the divine hand of God to heal, and so that's why we celebrate those things, even whenever you maybe not had the miracle yet, but your friend has. Friend, let's be those that celebrate with them as if it were our victory. That we don't be. Woe is me. Why did they get the answer? I don't know how. About Lord? Thank you, lord. You're answering a prayer there. It builds my faith, to believe as well that we would celebrate what God is doing in these seven C's, helping guide us to what we're called to be.
Jason Brown:Now, as we think about these things at Cornerstone, we come back to that first piece of scripture. We looked up at Psalm 121. It says I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth. I've been thinking about this question when does my help come from? You know, I talk to a lot of people in my role here as a pastor and I know man, even in my own life.
Jason Brown:It feels like sometimes we're just going through, you know, really big storms. We're going through really big storms and there's no way to kind of think about it. You think about the crashing waves around you and it feels like this imminent power of this thing that you can't change is happening and so you're kind of adrift in it. And I can tell you transparently that it's definitely a season, this last little bit, that where I've gone through a piece of that myself and it's different than even seasons before. I can't tag it to one thing. It's kind of the grind that'll get you sometimes and I'm just thinking about that and being like Lord, I feel like sometimes I'm just in this storm and I'm trying to stay strong for other people and believe with other people, and I'm championing the miracle, believing for it, and all the while, I still feel the storm myself, and I know some of you feel it too. In fact, sometimes it feels like you're not just in a storm, but that you're on the rocks and the storm is beating against you. It's coming against you and friends. My encouragement to you today is that we know where our help comes from. Our help comes from the Lord.
Jason Brown:You know, I was challenged to pray for my friend Josh. He's a friend from university and Josh has this tattoo. It's called the Rock of Ages and it's not. This is his, but he has it on him. It's the same imagery and I was thinking about it as I saw it and I looked this up a while ago and I wanted to share with you today. And it's an interesting imagery of this woman that's holding on to this stone cross in the middle of the sea and it shows the waves crashing against her, and this one. It even depicts, you know, the ships that are sinking in the backdrop.
Jason Brown:What was interesting about it is it was actually a pastor in 1763 who was caught out in a lightning storm and as the lightning struck in the sky, he knew he needed to get to safety. There was wind and water and waves and he was on the edge of a cliff face and walking up there and he was looking for a safe place to passage. And as the lightning struck the sky, it kind of gave him a highlight of where he could go and be safe and he tucked himself into the cleft of the rock. And so, pastor Augustus, he has this moment and he survives this storm. And in the midst of that he comes out of it and he starts to write, which became this hymn called Rock of Ages, and in the lyrics of it talk about how that God has made a way for him to be safe, that he's cleft away. He's safe because of the Lord has provided that way for him.
Jason Brown:This, it inspired a painter. Some years later, simon, 100 years later, he paints this imagery of the rock of ages and it's this woman holding on to this stone cross in the midst of the sea, very much like a lighthouse giving safety to ships. She's holding on and has her arms enveloped around this stone cross, it becomes something powerful of his imagery because we see how it is alone, the safety it is her salvation. And, friends, I could tell you today that if you are someone who's going through a time of struggle, if you're someone who feels like they're in the middle of the storm, that you can hold on to Jesus because he is your salvation. He alone is our, he is the provision for us, he is the strong tower, he is the one that will not sink. He is the one that will not be destroyed. He is the eagle's wings that protect us. He is more than enough for us. Jesus is our salvation.
Jason Brown:It made me think of this old, another old hymn, and from time to time I think about it. I learned it when I was growing up here in this church, and though we weren't ones that sung a lot of old hymns, this is one that we would sing from time to time, and the song says on Christ, the solid rock, I stand. All other ground is sinking sand and friends, sometimes it feels like the very ground underneath our feet is trying to take us down. But I can tell you this that everywhere I've been in my life, chasing all sorts of things and trying to find my answer in a hollowness. I've been in dangerous places that God has seen me fit to bring me home, going through really difficult spots where I felt I was alone in a crowd, that it's on Christ, the solid rock I stand, and it's only in him. He is the only one that will bring you through it. He's the only thing that will survive the storm eternally. Friends, we can run to Jesus, because all other ground is sinking sand, but he will not sink. He is our salvation, and so whenever we read those words about, I lift up my eyes. Where does my help come from, friend? My help comes from the Lord, and so let me challenge you today that you would be someone that runs to the Lord and not from him.
Jason Brown:I made that mistake. I got bitter and mad and ran from the Lord. I blame God for what was going on in my life. I blame him whenever I had two friends die in the same summer from a car wreck similar to the one I survived. I blame God and get angry. I blame God when my friend would commit suicide. I blame God whenever it didn't go my way.
Jason Brown:Friends, don't run from God. Run to God, because all other ground is sinking sand. It's only on Christ, the solid rock, that we can stand and be victorious, because in him we are victorious, because he is our salvation. We think about it. It says that I lift my eyes up. It says where do I what? I look my eyes up to those. I lift my eyes up and friends. That's his challenge to us today. And the way that we do this thing is that we would lift up our eyes to the Lord, that we wouldn't look down and downtrodden or woe is me and get wrapped up in our little cocoon of our own emotions, but that we would elevate our face and look up to our Father, who is our source, who's looking at us, because he wants us to see him and to reflect his countenance, so that we can be empowered by him, so we can reflect his countenance to others. And one of the biggest testimonies I've ever seen is people who are going through way worse things than me that they had the peace of God and the countenance of God because they weren't doing it in their own strength and they were walking in the strength of God every day. And so, as I would counter them and be like how you doing, they could say God is good, he's helping me through it, and I could see the difference on them that even in that day, in my walk with God, I didn't have it, but they had it because they were drawing near to the Lord.
Jason Brown:It says this in Matthew, in verse Matthew six, sorry. It says the eye is the lamp of the body. So if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. And, friends, that's the very thing that happens is, if we have our eyes down, away from the Lord, then we're going to be full of the darkness of our own emotions, full of the darkness of the enemy trying to take us down.
Jason Brown:But instead, lift up your eyes to where your help comes from. Lift up your eyes to the Lord and see that he is good, see that he is faithful, see that he is steadfast, see that he's not sinking in the waves, though we might be. He is not and he's the very one that can pull us up and have us stand on the waves right beside him, because he is our salvation. That we would change our perspective, that we would have our mind of Christ, a view from his perspective. It would change the paradigm by which we live our lives. That means our worldview and the way that we see things, because that will change everything for us. Lift up your eyes to where your help comes from, because Jesus is the cornerstone. Friends, all the way back to that scripture that we read from Peter about how Jesus is the one that's set in our life, that we can build our life off of him. He will not sink, he will not founder, he won't fall apart. He's not gonna break apart. He's eternal. Your faith can be in Jesus Christ, because he is the cornerstone, he's the salvation for us.
Jason Brown:Today, it's our challenge that we would embody these things, that we would say yes to God so that we can be as he has asked us to be, to be more like him. Friends, where does my help come from? I can tell you, as the one now at the helm of a place called Cornerstone, having taken the baton from our founding pastors and running the race, that the Lord empower us to do our best to run the race he's given us and, should the Lord tarry that, we would be those that do our best so that we could hand off that baton to those who come behind us, so that the Lord can continue to use this place for his glory, because Jesus is the heart of what we do. Jesus is the cornerstone. Would you say amen to that?
Jason Brown:Today we have this opportunity to respond to him and to this message of love. Maybe you're here and you've never said yes to Jesus. You've heard this message about his love for you and about how he's made a way for you, how he's eternally the answer. Friend. Let me challenge you with this that today you would make a decision to follow Jesus. Each person has to answer that question. No one can answer it for you. You can't earn your way into the God's good graces. You can't do enough good things. It's only by the grace of God and the work of Christ for us that we are connected to the Father in relationship. For us.
Jason Brown:When we look to the symbol of the cross, we do so with hearts that are humbled, understanding that Jesus, he came and embodied the very creation he made. He emptied himself of all glory to walk in the very footsteps that we walk in. He lived a sinless life and became the sacrifice for all people. He went to the cross, to his death, but it wasn't for his wrongdoing, it was for mine. Cross to his death, but it wasn't for his wrongdoing, it was for mine, it was for yours, it was for our brokenness and for our mistakes. It's for our sin against him, it's for the things we do venomously against each other. He paid the price for all those things and he paid for it upon the cross. And the cross becomes a place. That was meant for terror. It's meant to strike fear into the eyes of all that behold it. But to me and to you and to all who've experienced the grace and the forgiveness of God, this proclaims a symbol of freedom, a symbol of justice, a symbol of an eternity with God, for a God who loves us, because Jesus, he paid for my mistakes. On that cross, 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.
Jason Brown:Friends, today is your day. It's your opportunity to say yes to Jesus. In these last weeks, even today, we've had people making decisions to follow God. Friends, don't miss out on what he wants to do in your life. No one is guaranteed tomorrow that today you would make an eternal decision to belong to Jesus, to mask him into your heart and life, to forgive you of your sin, become the Lord of your life.
Jason Brown:I'm going to ask everyone if you would, if you'd stand to your feet here in the room, bow your heads where you're at Christians are praying Friends. If you're under the, you'd stand to your feet here in the room, bow your heads where you're at Christians are praying Friends, if you're under the sound of my voice, wherever you're at, online, that you would just take a moment pause for what God wants to do in and through your life. Friends, you're here, you're ready to make a decision to follow Jesus. Maybe it's for the very first time, or maybe you have made a decision like that in the past, but then you've walked away from it. Today's opportunity to return home, to recommit your life to Jesus Christ, as heads are bowed, as Christians are praying if that's you, you'd say Pastor, I just want to be included in that prayer.
Jason Brown:Today, I want to make a decision to follow Jesus. If you just raise your hand right where you're at and say that's me, I just want to make that prayer today to ask Jesus into my heart and life. Thank you Jesus. Thank you, jesus as people make a decision to follow Jesus. Thank you, lord. See people making commitments, reinforcing their commitments to God. Thank you, jesus. See the hands that are there.
Jason Brown:Others online friends. If that's you, did you make a decision to follow Jesus today? I'm gonna ask everyone if they would just repeat this prayer after me out loud 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. Praise the Lord. Hey, if that was you and you were the one of the ones raising your hand, connect with us. We want to connect with our team. Make sure we put some things into your hands so you can be successful living for Jesus. If you're online, connect with us. We don't want you to do this life alone.
Jason Brown:Friends, today here we have this opportunity, because we're going to go to communion following the response of this song. And so, during this song, I want to challenge you with this that you would make your heart right before God, that we have this opportunity here at the altar. If you want to come forward and you just need more of God, maybe that very thing, the message today, resonate with you, that you just want to cling on to Jesus. You need more of his peace, more of his guidance, more of his presence in your life. You just want to go deeper with him. I encourage you to take a step forward, find an altar with God. No one's making a judgment on you. Each one of us has our journey with God, but, as we do, we're going to come to this altar and respond, and then we're going to have communion together and go out with the blessing.
Jason Brown:Lord we pray today, lord. Thank you for this word. Thank you, lord, as we prepare our hearts to respond during this song. But we do so with intentionality, lord, understanding that you are eternal and you are the rock of ages. You are the one that we can hold on to, lord, and you are the one amidst the storm that is not moved. And so, lord, we hold on to you with all that we have. Lord, you are the cornerstone, the very thing that we build our life off of, and so, lord, help us to be obedient to your word, lord, to be more like you. We pray this in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. We ask you to stand for the blessing today.
Angus MacLeod:We are so thankful that you were with us today. We want to just remind all of the parents that we have had our kids out getting absolutely waterlogged and playing around out there on some amazing slides and stuff, and we'll be doing that during second service. But tonight we have our youth back to school bash. So if you know of any sixth through twelfth graders, we want to invite them. We're going to have some food, we're going to have fun music. It's going to be incredible. So I want to invite you to invite them.
Jason Brown:On our way out. We have rebuked the calories off some really good treats that we're celebrating with 39 years of ministry. Can we give God one more praise for that? So very thankful for that. Hey, help us out. I would ask you to just take one per person and a member of your family. I know some of you guys. I know some of you guys. Before we go, I want to pray this blessing over us. The Lord bless you and keep you. Lord, make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. Lord, lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Lord, I pray a blessing upon your church, your people. Lord, you empower us by your spirit to live your love out to those around us. 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.