Cornerstone Christian Center
Cornerstone Christian Center
Sola Fide | The Five Solas
A withered fig tree, a mustard seed, and a mountain stand in our path—each one becomes a lens for seeing how faith actually works in ordinary life. We open with Luther’s spark and the Five Solas, then zoom into sola fide to ask a simple, searching question: do you have faith to believe? Anchored in Matthew 21, Ephesians 2:8–10, and Hebrews 11–12, we unpack why salvation is a gift of grace received through faith, why works can never earn it, and why good works still matter as our joyful response. Along the way, we talk about Peter’s rough edges, Paul’s dramatic turn, and how God continually chooses unlikely people to carry His story forward.
You’ll hear how Scripture alone steadies our prayers, teaching us to align our requests with God’s promises rather than our impulses. We explore the difference between demanding outcomes and trusting God’s character, and we offer three practices to make faith tangible: pray the Word, speak hope into hard places, and take concrete steps of obedience. The goal isn’t hype; it’s endurance—laying down the weights of shame and old labels so we can run light, eyes fixed on Jesus, the founder and perfecter of faith.
If you’re wrestling with a mountain right now—fear, sickness, broken relationships, or heavy uncertainty—this conversation invites you to plant even a mustard seed of trust in good soil. Christ alone mediates, grace alone saves, faith alone receives, and our lives become living doxology: to the glory of God alone. If this encouraged you, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs hope, and leave a review to help others find these conversations. What mountain are you asking God to move this week?
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500 years ago, a monk named Martin Luther ignited a fire that would reshape Christianity forever. His stand against the prevailing doctrines of his day wasn't just a protest, it was a call to return to the foundational truths of the faith. This pivotal moment of the Protestant Reformation wasn't about creating a new religion, but about rediscovering the gospel. At the heart of this rediscovery were five core principles, Latin phrases that became the rallying cry for reform. These are the five solas, sola scriptura, scripture alone. The Bible, not tradition or human authority, is our ultimate and infallible guide for faith and life. It's the final word, the highest court. Sola fide, faith alone. We're justified, declared righteous in God's sight, by faith alone, not by our words. We trust solely in Christ's finished work on the cross. So is God's gift, grace alone. Salvation is an earth, it's a gift from God. It's his unmerited favor that saves us. Nothing we do can ever deserve it. So is Christus, Christ alone. Jesus Christ is the only mediator between God and humanity. He is the one and only way to salvation, our one true King, and our sole Redeemer. Solide of Gloria, to the glory of God alone. The ultimate purpose of everything, including our salvation, is to bring glory to God. Our lives are to be lived for his praise, not our own. These aren't just historical slogans. They're living truths that anchor our faith.
Jason Brown:Do you have faith to believe? Jesus starts a story in Matthew where he's walking with his disciples, and as he's doing so, he's living life, and he's teaching them, he's training them on how they should live, and he's walking out this example in front of them. And in doing so, he's very much incarnate. He is there living in flesh the way we do. But he doesn't have the broken nature that we do from when we were young. Instead, he has this perfect nature. And so he's going about it and he's walking down this way and he comes across this fig tree. Now, the fig tree is beautiful. It should be in season, it should have fruit, and so he expects to be able to go up and pick a piece of this fruit. And I don't know about you, but man, it's nice to have a little bit of sweet something along the way. You guys know what I'm talking about? And so, you know, maybe it's not our culture here, you know, where we don't really eat figs on the regular. I don't know if it's in your diet or not, but you know, you have like the Christmas song, bring us some figgy pudding. It's not really a thing here in Arizona. Um we say bring us some tamales, because this is from the Lord. Hacemos gracias, senhor, por este comida, senor, and you know what I mean? Like this is the thing. So, but you can imagine for those who could think along the fig way, maybe you were like me and you had something called fig newtons. Did you guys ever have a fig newton? So it's like a cookie that's really, we try to act like it's healthy, but it's really mostly sugar. So we're kind of faking ourselves out. You guys know what I'm talking about? It's wonderful. It's wonderful. And so he goes to reach for this fig, and there's nothing there. And so Jesus, he's disappointed because this tree, which looks like it should have fruit, does not. And so Jesus curses this tree for not doing what it was designed to do, and so he goes on his way. And as he comes back, his the the disciples, they notice, they're like, Man, this tree, which was huge and beautiful, now has withered back into nothing because Jesus spoke the words to it. And so the scripture picks up here and it actually starts to talk about this story. It says it in Matthew 21, verses 21 and 22. And Jesus answered them, Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, be taken up and thrown into the sea, it will happen. And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive if you have faith. I think there are a lot of us that we experience mountains that are blocking our path in our life. And where there's these things that feel insurmountable. It feels like it's it's overwhelming, something that we could never move if we had a thousand lifetimes to do so. But what we see here in Scripture is how Jesus, by the word, since he's the creator God, the one that was in the beginning in Genesis, the one we hear about how he's the truth, he is the word of God in John. When we hear this out of his words, he instead says, Listen, if you pray by faith in alignment with me, then the mountain can be moved into the sea and out of your way. And friends, that's the kind of faith that we want to have. We want to have the kind of faith that is one that is aligned with God, full of faith, saying to the mountain in front of us, though you're something that I can't change, I know the God who created you and he can take you out of my way. And friends, the very things that we're dealing with, the situations that arise in our life, though God didn't create those things, he can move them out of our way and out of our path, because he is mightier than anything that we are facing. Someone say amen to that. And so in our obedience, in our faith with God, we have to answer that question: do you have faith to believe? Today we continue in our theme, the five solas. We've been talking about each of them, sola scriptura, scripture alone, sola fide, faith alone, sola gratia, grace alone, solos Christus, Christ alone, and soli deo gloria, glory to God alone. And so as we look at these five solas, these five statements of faith, they help guide us in how we live our life for God. You know, if it's your first time at Cornerstone, welcome. We're glad you're here as a guest of ours. And if you are that guest, then welcome home. We see ourselves very much as a community of faith, people that are living in the way of Jesus. None of us is perfect. All of us are in need of a savior. And so that's why we use this imagery of walking with Jesus because that's how we view ourselves, as people that are on a journey with Christ, following where he's leading us to go. That's why our ambition, most personally and then corporately, is to be more like Jesus. And we do that by living it out in our everyday and our gatherings here in the weekends, as well as throughout the week, throughout the city. We do that through life groups. And so it's an opportunity for us to be intentional, to connect and build relationships with each other, to grow in our relationship with God, to go deep in his word, and also to serve, to use our time and our talent as stewards of what God gives us. And so as we do each one of those, and we get to do the larger focus of what he called us to do, the great commandment, the great commission, and loving God and making disciples and reaching the world. And so it's by those things and with that mandate that we come into the five solas, thinking about how it directs us and how we respond to each one of these statements, these five statements of faith that we see from 500 years ago during the Reformation. And we talked about last week this kickoff of what started the Protestant Reformation, and that was found with Martin Luther, who was a Catholic priest, a Roman Catholic priest, who, as he came to Rome and was looking for this epiphany spiritually, he actually found a lot of things that were going against the very faith that he held sacred. And as he returned back to his station in Germany, where he was there at the church, he started to fast and pray and mull those things over. He had a great conviction to return to the very focus of the word, the focus of scripture and what we believe, not being guided by just traditions or relics, but instead by the word of God and faith in God and giving people context and be able to have the word of God in a way they could understand. And so he writes these 95 theses, he nails them to his church door, goes the story, and this becomes a huge turning point in the Christian faith, and returning back to that early church example that we see in scripture in the book of Acts and in the epistles, and being those people that are walking our faith out with God in a personal manner. That means each one of these things that helps us to understand what it means to follow the Lord. And in doing so, we first looked last week at sola scriptura or scripture alone. So it isn't the word of just a church leader that guides us or saves us or not, but the word of God is the authority for us as Christ followers. And therefore we can read it and it can become alive for each one of us. So we look to our scripture. This last week we talked about this very thing. If you didn't highlight it, I encourage you to do so in your Bible. It was 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17. All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. In this way, as we go into our scripture, as we go and we open our Bible every day, then we start to envelop the word of God comes around us, it becomes alive. We ask the Holy Spirit to make it alive in us and to reveal what it should say for us for the day. And in doing so, it starts to change who we are. It starts us out in the different mentality of having the mind of Christ. And as we say, Lord, give us today our daily bread, then it starts to be something that guides our decision making, our attitude, and the way we view things, which it changes the way we make decisions and live our life. In the same way, today we're talking about this idea of sola fide, or by faith alone. Have your Bible, your tablet, your phone, we're looking at Ephesians 2 today, verses 8 through 10. I encourage you to highlight this as well as we go back to it next week looking at grace. It reads here in Ephesians 2, for by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. But for we are all his worksmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Let's pray. And we thank you, Lord, for breathing upon it. We thank you, Lord, for the revelation of what it is, the Rhema of God. And so, Lord, we ask, Lord, for today, Lord, you would penetrate hearts and lives. In Jesus' name. Amen. So faith alone. As we start to look at the statement of faith alone, it has a lot to do with how we believe and what we believe. Now, in Martin Luther's day, this was really important because you had to do a series of things. You had to earn your way into membership in the church, and your alignment with your membership in the church was what said you were going to make it to heaven or not. So it wasn't just your faith in God. It was also if you aligned yourself with the steps that they said you had to do. And so this went in alignment with other kind of religious beliefs, but went against the very faith that we hear in the gospel message. And so as we start to take a look at it and start to unpack it today, it starts to become revelation to us. One of the most famous pieces of scripture is found in John 3, 16 and 17. It's where Jesus is talking to Nicodemus about what it means to become alive again in your spirit, to be born again is the term. And in doing so, he starts to talk about these things. It starts to give us a very clear picture of the mandate of why Jesus came to earth. You might know it. If you don't, I encourage you that you would highlight it and memorize this so that it'd be something that washes over you. And it reads here in the ESV for God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Someone say amen to that. So this is the gospel, this is the message of hope, this is the message of redemption that we get to experience. And this is something transformative, transformational in our lives. What does it mean? It means that we are changing into the image of God by faith. We're believing he is and who he says he is, and we're following him in that way. Now, it was interesting because as I became a pastor some over 20 years ago, I had a lot of friends who knew me pre-becoming a pastor. And say they were like, You? You're becoming a pastor? I said, Yes. They were like, ooh, they're letting anybody do this job. No, no. What they knew is that I was real serious. I'd been getting real serious in my faith and walk with God. I'd been really serious as I as I did those, even as an example to colleagues in my workplace and corporate sales and other things I was doing. And we would have these conversations about what it means to have faith. Now, like you, I probably have many friends of different faiths. I also have friends that have faith in nothing, and it's called atheism. Because they also have faith in something. How do people know that? So just like we believe that God created the world as we read it in the book, they believe that it happened by happenstance, and they have all these other thought processes that they're placing their faith in. So they're having in faith in people that they've never met, in books that they don't know who really wrote them, and in concepts that they can't substantiate. Sometimes I think they have bigger faith than us. You know what I'm saying? Because I believe in a God, in a creation I can see, in a presence that I can feel and experience, and they're just placing their faith in something that's arbitrary. So each one of us then has faith in something. It's where are you placing your faith in? And so for us, as those who are followers of Christ, we place our faith in God because our faith in God is eternal, it's not temporal. We can place our faith in things or people, but so often it will fail us, won't it? Because none of us are perfect, so all of us will let someone down sometime. And it's that very thing that actually keeps us from being able to be those who are holy because we have a brokenness inside of us. It's that brokenness that you don't have to teach, right? We know it from the time that we're little. Even when we're a baby, what you can you can love a baby and hold a baby and feed a baby and clean a baby, and it's time to go to sleep. And you set the baby down. I want to be picked up. Right? And we're that way sometimes too, even as adults. I want my own way. Half of our prayers are really just complaining to God, right? God, I didn't get my way, and my scratchy tickets didn't hit today. Instead of having faith in God and walking according to his precepts, according to what he teaches us to do and how to live. And so as we look and have faith in God, as we return to the scripture as our source, it encourages us to live a different way. Now, we've been talking about this idea of Ephesians 2, and in verses 8 and 9, we see here, for by grace you have been saved through faith. Someone say, through faith. Through faith. It's not your own doing, it is the gift of God, not out as a result of works, so that no one may boast. Man, this is so pivotal for us because it says, by grace you have been saved. It means that you don't deserve it. See, we have that problem even in our generations now, where we just think that we deserve everything. And it's the sense that we, it's like, oh man, I deserve everything. And it's an entitlement mentality that is not correct. See, we are broken people and we have things that have been given to us by our creator that he made us in his image and he values us, and he has a plan and a purpose for your life and all those things, but it doesn't mean that you get everything automatic. What it means is that we walk by faith with him through the process. And that's really hard because we can order in our pocket right now as I'm preaching this sermon, and all of you guys could have like a delivery happen and people walking in with food or whatever else before the end of the service, because that's how instantaneous our world is. And so it's by faith and and and and by long suffering and by patience that we walk these things out with God. And that's a dangerous prayer to pray when we start praying for patience, because God will give you an opportunity to be patient. So as you pray for this the fruit of the Spirit of God to be in your life, be careful as you pray those prayers. No, we want all of this fruit of the Spirit in our lives, don't we? So we want to be those that live all of these different pieces. But what does it say? It says it's not by works that these things are done. So as we look at the Word of God, it's it's not by anything that any individual did. And so as we as the word becomes alive in us, as we see the word of God and we start to dwell upon it, we see story after story after story of people that have been dedicated to God. They've been devoted to Him, but they didn't start out in the best shape. Some of them I wouldn't have picked to do the job that they ended up doing in the Bible. Can we be honest with that? It's like whenever they're picking a person to go be a savior of the world, I probably wouldn't have picked a murderer to go and just save the people of Israel from Egypt. You know, he killed somebody, and then he's off in Saudi Arabia being a shepherd. But God saw what he was doing in Moses' life, and he challenges him to do something greater than himself by obedience in God, having faith that God can do it even through me, a broken person. And that's the story you see time and time again throughout scripture is that the Lord will use broken people to do amazing things. You know, it's interesting how God would use somebody like Peter, he was a salty sailor, right? He's a salty fisherman. He's like the Jack Sparrow of the Bible. And he's over here saying crazy stuff, pulling a knife, cutting people's ears off. It's wildness. Still has the guts, the moxie to step out on the water and walk to Jesus. It's this guy that the Lord uses after he restores him, full of his spirit, to use and to prof he profoundly address all of those who were studied, the religious, uh, the religious hierarchy of his day. He's speaking to them in the deep knowledge of God, not because he read it and studied it growing up. No, he was a sailor, a fisherman. No, but by the Holy Spirit revelation that it started working in his life and through his life to profound these people who had studied their whole lives and didn't know the revelation of God. It took this guy, Peter, to do it. But by the Spirit of God, as he's full of the Spirit of God, then as he's walking even his shadow, it said healed people by the Spirit of God. That's powerful. At the same time, there's a guy named Saul who is studied. He's like the lawyer's lawyer of the word of God, of the law of God. And so he knows all of the different pieces that are there. And so he's the one that God decides to use to be the greatest church planter of all time. You know, the guy who hated the church, the guy who was throwing Christians in prison, the guy who was persecuting them and killing Christians. That's the guy that God picks. That's the guy that he takes and changes. He's he changes him into a new creation. By his spirit, he lights a fire for him and he becomes an amazing church planter across the world. Most of the epistles we read are from Paul writing to the churches that have been established. Friends, that's a powerful thing. What God can do, because he has a purpose and a plan for your life from the very beginning. And he can do amazing things even with us that are broken by faith. So as we believe that he can do it, he will do it. And so we look to the scripture here and we see that it's not us earning our way in, it's by his work in us that we respond. Galatians 2, Paul writing to the church at Galatia, he says this we ourselves are Jews by birth, not Gentile sinners. Thanks, Paul. Appreciate you, man, for all of us Gentile sinners in the room who are not 100% Jewish. Yet we do know that a person is not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ. So we also have believed in Christ Jesus in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law. Because by works of the law, no one would be justified. Justified means to be put in right standing. And so it means that you cannot earn your way to a holy God by doing good works. It's not by works that we are saved. And this is a big distinction and a deviation from every other kind of religious approach that's across the world. Every single one of those is trying to earn your way into some kind of a nirvana, a hierarchy, a heaven, a something by doing enough good things that you're found as an honorable person, and therefore the door open sesame gets opened to you. News flash, you're not perfect. Probably already knew that. I'm sorry for breaking the news to you if you didn't know. So am I, neither am I perfect. And since we're not perfect, then how can we, as broken people, approach a holy God? We cannot. In the Bible, it says, none of us is holy, no not one. It means the things that we have to offer are filthy rags before the Lord because they're what do we have to offer God? How can we impress a holy God who created everything? What do you get God for his birthday? You know what I'm talking about? Well, you give him your heart, that's what you do. But the idea is that it's what do you have to offer? Well, we have nothing to offer. That's why he came all the way to us. And that's why he came and did those things on our behalf. That's why by grace, his heart was moved towards us in compassion, and he was gracious to us, and so he came all the way to us. And so our heart, our belief is in him. We can't earn our way in to his grace. It's only by faith we can accept his work for us upon the cross. It continues in Ephesians here. We see it in verse 10. It says, For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works. Somebody say good works. Good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. So good works is what we're supposed to do. But the good works are not for earning our way into the presence of God. No, that is by faith we are saved and placing our faith in him by the grace of God. But instead, our response is good works because he set us in place to do something on purpose, with a purpose, on purpose. Amen. And since that's true, then our response to his love is to act in love. And that is to serve others, to do the work of God, to do the good works. What is it saying? To serve the widow, to serve the one that's the foreigner, to serve this person and that person. Throughout scripture, it talks about how we're called to be those who serve motivated by love. In the scripture, it says in another place how if we don't do these things as of love, we can have all sorts of spiritual giftings, but the love is what really changes the heart. Because it's the love of God that penetrates our heart and our heart and heart and sees the life change happen. So without love, we're a clinging symbol or a gong, right? And so we're called to be those that do good works as a response to the love of God, not doing good works to try to earn God's grace. We already have God's grace. He already loves us that much. He loves us so much that he came all the way to us. And so instead we respond to him and we live this life as stewards of our time and our talent, doing good works as a response to God's love and our love back to him. It continues in scripture here as we see it illuminated for us. It says, Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. And that's what it means to have faith. It's based on this concept of hope. And if you know your Bible in Hebrews, there's a whole list of stories of people that were obedient to God and they did great things by being obedient to God and having faith that God would come through. And so we see that time and time and time again. And I think if we're not careful, then we'll dismiss it that these great people of the Bible, how could I ever be like them? Well, friends, you could be like them because all of them were broken people that God took and challenged and changed and used by his spirit for his purposes. And it's the same thing he wants to do in your story. It's the reason that he's illuminated Christ in your life, is he wants to use the love of God in your life to affect those around you. He wants you to take the message of what you've experienced in life change for God, and he wants you to share it with those around you and see the spark of life change happen in them. That's why the scripture says it's by the word, it's by the blood of the Lamb that means Christ sacrificed for us and the word of our testimony. It's the story that he's given you that's uniquely yours. It's the one that no one can shake because your story is your story. And you've experienced the love of God. So as you share it with other people, it sparks something in them because they're looking for the same thing. They want to know their creator, they want to live with purpose, they want to have an eternity with a living God. That we would be so bold as to share the hope of the gospel with them. It continues in scripture here, and we see it as it starts to reveal to us in what it says. It says in Hebrews 11, continuing forward, by faith, we understand that the universe was created by the word of God. So that what is seen is not made out of things that are visible. That's why when we read in the beginning, it says, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. It says that he spoke these things into existence and the creation of the world became. That's why in the beginning of John, it talks about in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. Nothing was created without Jesus. And so as we look to him and we see these things happen, it's by our faith in what he has done for us that sparks our heart towards God by faith. And we have to have faith because faith is the currency of the kingdom of God. It changes everything. Hebrews 11 6, continuing a little bit further, it says, And without faith, it's impossible to please him. For whatever who whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and rewards those who seek him. As we draw near to God. Now think about that. I know people that even they they align their lives and do the things that scripture asks them to do. Maybe they give of their of their of their business and of their own uh salary, they give 10% and they give a they see blessing happen in their lives, even if they don't believe. But here's the thing what if we believe and we do what God says, even greater things will happen. Because it says, how do you draw near to God? But without faith, you can't go near God because you don't believe he is who he says he is. So you have to have faith that God keeps his promises, that God will sustain you through, that God will be your provision, he will be your guidance, he will be your peace in the middle of the storm, he will be all those things and more. And that's how we draw near to God is that we spend time with him and that we believe he is who he says he is. When it says in scripture that you can trust me and place your faith in God and trust him, and see that he will draw you near to himself. And scripture continues forward and it says this in Hebrews 12, the following chapter, verses 1 and 2. Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight in sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that's set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Someone say amen to that. And so we're called to be those that, as the writer of Hebrews says, that runs the race with endurance, and that we would be those that run this race of following after God. We we run it with endurance. That means not giving up when it gets difficult. I have a few friends that they are blessed to be those who are, they have a passion for running. I am of the other sort, more of the other ones that stay there and cheer for them. You guys know what I'm talking about? That's my more my people. But I cheer for them. I think it's amazing. A lot of them have run marathons, and I have a few friends that have run ultras, which is like 100 miles or more. Some people that are doing Ironmans that we've got to know. And it's very impressive. I mean, they have a tenacity that doesn't give up. But you know what they also don't do is that when they're starting the race, they also don't go and strap on all the weights of things that they've been training with to go and try to run the race. And the reason is because they know they won't make it because it's too heavy to carry all the things of the past with them towards the goal that they're trying to run. In fact, they try to get as lightweight as possible to run with endurance to the very end. And at the same time, we spiritually speaking might be those that we we get free and get charged to run this race after God, and he frees us of all this sin and all these things, these burdens. And then we decide to go ahead and pick those things right back up and try to run the race holding on to our old junk. And I wonder how many times we identify our identity as wrapped up in the brokenness. That we used to live. It was in the hurt that we've experienced. And what God is saying is that listen, that's the story that you come from. I'm healing you of that. You can let those things go. And you can run this race with me because I have a better future for you than your past. And that you're, I'm taking you somewhere that you can't take that stuff with you. You can't take your guilt and your shame and your brokenness and your sin. You can't carry it with you forward because I have a new place for you to go. So you need to trust the Lord and ask forgiveness of those things and lay those things down at his feet and then walk forward into the future that God has for us. Friends, by faith, we can trust him that he will be those that doesn't hold it against us, but instead he forgives us as we ask repentance of those very things. He will be just to forgive us of our sin and heal us and cleanse us of all unrighteousness. And the scripture continues forward here. And it says in Matthew 17, Jesus is giving an example, and he starts to tell this story about what it means to have faith. And they're talking about how they lack faith. And he says, Listen, you should have faith, but faith doesn't have to be this grandiose thing. It could be something simple. And it starts in Matthew 17, verse 20. He said to them, Because of your little faith, for truly I say to you, if you have faith, the grain of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, Move from here to there, and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you. You know, we lived in France for a number of years, and so we got to see mustard fields that were there, beautiful. It'd be yellow with flower. This example is actually from Bangladesh, where they have some of those fields there. Amazing, so beautiful. And you know, the seed that it produces is actually quite small because the plant they don't let it grow that high. You could see an example of the little flowers that are here, the beautiful yellow flowers. And they produce this tiny little seed. In fact, you could hold hundreds of them in the palm of your hand. A sack of them would be thousands, just a small sack. And each one of those becomes a plant. And if you plant it in the correct soil and you don't harvest it straight away when it's young, then actually it will grow into a substantial plant. It actually will go past being a plant even into a tree. And the example we see in scripture is that the faith that we have in God, even a small amount, can be something amazing that grows. It becomes shade for others, it becomes a place, a home for the birds of the field, it becomes all these other things that start out in a very small amount of faith. And so that the small amount of faith that we have that we put in the correct soil, which is the eternal faith in God, those things can blossom and become something amazing. Because it's not it's not just temporal, it doesn't just fade away with this world. It isn't just something that we have faith in this person or in this thing or this political movement or whatever, but it's faith in God that has subs, it has substance, it has substantial change that happens when we place our faith in God and say, Lord, my small amount of faith, if you will use it for your glory, I want to be obedient what you called me to do. And friends, God can do big things with even a small amount of faith. Amen. So we have a few things here as we answer that question. We've been looking at it, talking about it. Do you have faith to believe? Three things that we're taking away today. First is this prayers of faith, they align us with the word. So our prayers of faith align us with the word of God. And as we read through the word of God, we can pray the things that we see that's there. As we read the Psalm, we read the Proverbs, we read these stories that Jesus tells us in parables. We can say, Lord, I see this that's here, have that happen in my life. Lord, you says that you are the one that is healer. Lord, heal my situation. Lord, it says you are the one that heals these diseases and heals relationships and does all these things. So do that in my life. And as we align ourselves with the word of God, see that God will answer your prayer. A small amount of faith can have a huge difference. The second thing that we're taking away today is that prayers of faith speak hope to our circumstances. What did it say? It says that faith is a hope of things that we don't see. And so what we're doing is speaking by faith, trusting God, saying, Lord, I trust you. I believe your word is true. And so my prayer today is to align myself with your heart and so I want to see these things happen. And what happens is that your alignment with your heart, even if your circumstances don't immediately change, your perception, your thought process of what's going on changes. And your heart starts to have hope in situations that would otherwise be hopeless. Does that make sense? He starts to change it in our heart first before he changes our circumstances. And so let it be something that does that because it will be things that speak hope to our circumstances, because he starts it in our heart, and then the circumstances fall into alignment. The third thing today is prayers of faith help us to take steps of obedience. Is that like a cuss word saying obedience? I know, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Whenever you say obedience, it means change. That's another cuss word in church. Five-letter cuss word, I'm sorry. Because people don't like it. When I say change, the whole crowd is like, ooh. That's how it feels, doesn't it? Because he starts to talk to us about things that maybe we don't want to change, about people that we need to forgive that we don't want to, about things that we need to let go of so we can run this race that maybe we've made it a part of our identity, that I'm a victim, or I'm this person, or I've done this thing. But he wants you to let go of that so that you can walk free into what he has for you, so that we can be those that are obedient to what he wants us to do. If we're served, if we were those who are saved with purpose and on purpose for a purpose, then let's be obedient to the purposes he has for us. Be those that take steps saying, Yes, God, I will change in the ways you guide me to do, so I can be used by you to the fullest. And in doing so, friends, we'll answer that question: Do you have faith to believe? Because our faith is in the living God. Today, each one of us has an opportunity to respond to this message of God's hope. You know, for us, we have to answer that question of have you embraced Jesus? Each one of us has to answer it. No one can answer it for you. It's your own answer that he's looking for. Because it's for your heart and for your life. For us as Christ followers, this is something pivotal. It's where we have embraced the love of Christ. It's why we're not perfect, but we want to be more like Jesus. And so we're walking to become more like his character and to see the fruit of the spirit come off of our lives. We want to be those that reflect the love of God to others. But see, it didn't start there. It started with us being broken and hurting and all those things. It's only by Jesus, only by his grace, his sacrifice for us that we're made in right standing. We didn't earn it, as we talked about. That's why the symbol of the cross is so profound, because the cross is a place where Jesus took all of our pain and all of our sorrow and all of our brokenness, and he paid for it on the cross once and for all. He took all of my sin and all of my mistakes. He took all of yours. And as he took it on himself, he it wasn't something he deserved. He lived a sinless life. He didn't deserve any of that. But he took on the weight of the sin of the world on himself, and as he did, it separated him from the Father. Because the Father is holy and he becomes this representative, this sacrifice for all people. And in that way, he goes to his death upon the cross. He pays for all the sin, and all the sin dies with him on that cross. But the good news is, friends, that we don't worship a dead person. We worship a living savior. And that death did not hold him, and he came back to life, and he's seated at the right hand of the Father, and we celebrate that. And that's why we have an active relationship with the living God. So we're not trying to honor the memory of some dead prophet. No, we're in an active relationship with the living God and the creator God of all things. And so that's why the symbol of death and of torture that we see in the cross becomes a symbol of hope for us, because we remember the great sacrifice that he made for us, for all people. With the heart, one believes and is justified. With the mouth one confesses and is saved. Friends, today is your day. It's your opportunity to say yes to Jesus. Each one of us has made a decision to invite him into our heart and life. To say, Jesus, I believe you are who you say you are. Lord, I ask you to forgive me of my sin. Lord to wash me clean and make me a new creation. Lord, I want to follow you in the ways of you. Lord, I have faith to believe. And in doing so, we have a new life in Jesus Christ. That's the hope of the gospel message. Friends, I'm gonna ask if everyone here in the room, if you would just stand to your feet right where you're at. Christians are praying. You're online, take a moment wherever you are to be still and listen to what God wants to do in this moment for you. Maybe you're here and you've never made a decision to follow Jesus. Today is your opportunity. It's your opportunity to say yes to him. Or maybe you have made a decision in the past to follow God. And you need to recommit your heart to life, to him today. Friends, that's the opportunity that we give to you. His heads are bowed here in the room. If that's you, and you just want to make a commitment to Jesus today to invite him into your heart and life, you just raise your hand right where you're at. I won't embarrass you, just want to be able to identify you so I can pray with you today. You see the hand that's there, it's the hands that are there. Thank you, Jesus, as people are making decisions to follow you today. Thank you, Lord. Yes, you see the hand that's there as well. Praise the Lord. Friends online, wherever you are, we acknowledge you as well. I'm gonna ask if everyone would if they'd 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 raise their hands here, the earlier service as well. Praise the Lord. Huge. Let me encourage you in this. Take a moment, take a snap of this next steps QR code. It will guide you both online here in the room of what the next steps are, what we believe, how to get involved, what it means to follow Jesus. I want to, we don't want you to live this life alone. I want you to be connected with us. Friends, it's our opportunity for each one of us to respond to God's love for us and to have the faith to believe what he wants to do through us. As we open this altar today, we do so with an intentionality to draw close to God, to draw near to him. So maybe you're walking this thing out and you just need more of his presence. You need faith to believe in your circumstance, to say to that mountain to move. Or maybe you're navigating that right now, you just need more of his presence or his peace. Maybe you need wisdom for something you're going through, or you just want to draw near to God in this moment. As you come forward, we'll have people that come and pray an agreement prayer with you because we want to be those that draw near to God. Lord, we thank you so much for this word today as you've spoken it to us. Lord, as we come to your altar, we do so with intentionality. Lord, we thank you, though, because we can't earn our way to you. So you came all the way to us. And Lord, today, as we celebrate with those, Lord, that made a decision to follow you, Lord, as we celebrate with those that went public in their faith through baptism today, Lord, we rejoice with these huge moments of saying yes and following Jesus. Lord, as we come to your altar, we do so seeking you, drawing near to you, God, for you are always available to us. We do so asking for an impartation of your presence and guidance. We pray this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Celeste Brown:So we are having a fall family day. It's coming up soon, and we would love for you to invite everybody you know. Um, somebody from your neighborhood, maybe a whole, the whole block. Just invite everybody. It's gonna be great. Um, you know, people come to church because they're personally invited. And so this is a great way to get them to come. It's gonna be after our second service. So ask them to join you for church, and then right after everything is free. It's gonna be so much fun, and we're praying for the best weather that day. Amen.
Jason Brown:Before we go, pray this blessing over us today. The Lord bless you and keep you. Lord, make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. Lord, lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Lord, I pray a blessing upon your church, your people. Lord, you empower us by your spirit to live your love 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.