Cornerstone Christian Center

Soli Deo Gloria | The Five Solas

• Jason Brown

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What you worship will shape the whole arc of your life. We open the door with the five solas—Scripture alone, faith alone, grace alone, Christ alone, to the glory of God alone—and then linger on Soli Deo Gloria, where everyday choices become an offering and ordinary moments become a stage for God’s goodness. From Martin Luther’s conviction to our city streets, we connect history’s rallying cry with the modern heart.

Walking through Acts 17, we follow Paul into Athens and its forest of idols, where an altar to the “unknown god” becomes the key to a deeper truth: the Creator who needs nothing gives everything—life, breath, boundaries, seasons—and has come near in Jesus Christ. That nearness reframes our pursuits. Idolatry isn’t only stone and gold; it can be image, achievement, comfort, even religious success. We talk about how to spot those quiet rivals and re-center our loves, not by despising good things, but by returning every gift to its Giver.

We share three practical takeaways on worship that hold up under pressure: worship aligns us with God’s purposes, worship celebrates Christ’s transforming work in us, and worship compels daily obedience. Along the way, we draw from Tozer, Lewis, and Spurgeon, and we offer a clear invitation to trust Jesus—confessing with the mouth and believing in the heart—as the way into a restored life with God. If you’re ready to trade restlessness for meaning and noise for glory, press play, lean in, and consider what needs to come off the throne.

If this encouraged you, follow the show, share it with a friend who’s searching, and leave a review to help others find these conversations. What rival love will you lay down this week?

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AI Video:

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 works. We trust solely in Christ's finished work on the cross. So would God give 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. Solely De 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:

What are you worshiping? Soli Deo Gloria. God's glory alone. Today, friends, we continue in these five solas, these five statements of faith that we've been talking about: sola scriptura, sola fide, sola gratia, solus crisis, and soli deo gloria, as these five solas or only statements about our faith in Jesus Christ. You know, if you're a guest of ours, welcome to Cornerstone. Welcome home. We're glad you're a part of us and what God is doing in and through us as a collective, as the community of faith. We're blessed to be here as those who are lifting up his name and living for Jesus. We very much see ourselves as imperfect people who are broken and in need of a savior. None of us is perfect. All of us are in need of him. And so because of that, we see and use this imagery of Christ walking with his disciples, because that's how we see ourselves as people on a journey following after Jesus. And our ambition, both personally and then corporately, is to be more like Jesus. That's why we do what we do. We live community throughout the week, throughout the city, and we do that through life groups. We connect, we we make relationships with each other. We go, we grow in our relationship with God and going deep into the word, and then we serve. We use the talents and abilities he's given us for his glory and for his purposes. That's why we have a heart to love God, to make disciples and to reach the world. So we're glad you're with us. We're glad you're a part of what God is doing. As we look to these five soulas, they start to speak to us about what he wants us to believe and how we live it. Now, we've been talking week after week about them and where they come from. These five statements, these five solas, tie back over 500 years ago where a Roman Catholic priest named Martin Luther, he had a conviction of the heart. He's a true believer, a true Christ follower. And as he went to Rome to see the seed of power for the church, he was expecting a new revelation, a new level in his spirituality. But what he found was actually the antithesis of that in seeing so many things that were set up against the very belief we have in Jesus Christ. In doing so, he felt convicted and then compelled to write 95 theses, these statements of faith, and to nail them to his church door over 500 years ago. This started off what we would known as the Protestant Reformation, being those that protest against how things were happening and instead returning to a heart that's after God. The first of these was sola scriptura or scripture alone. We talked about in 2 Timothy 3. All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness. That's how we see the word of God, that it is the truth, that it is the very guiding light that we follow after, because we see how it is the very spoken word, making it alive in us and saying Jesus is the truth. The word is the truth, and that he is the one that inspires these things. And so it's from God by the Spirit and by the interaction with Jesus that we have the scripture, and the scripture comes alive. We ask the Holy Spirit to breathe upon it and become Rhema and challenge us. And it's only by faith that we can do so, because it's nothing that we can do, that we can earn our way in. It's only by believing in what Jesus has done on our behalf. Ephesians 2, 8 says it, for by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not of your own doing, it's a gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. And this is the truth with us is that we understand that we cannot earn our way into God's good grace. It's not possible. Because of it, we, you know, we are we're broken people, and so therefore, it says that we're like filthy rags in holiness before a holy God. It means that none of us is righteous, no, not a single one, says the Roman epistle. And so, in the same way, we are those that it's only by our faith in him that we're able to do this. And it's only by his grace laid out upon us that we even have the opportunity. Sola gratia, grace alone. And it's because of this grace, which he has so richly poured out upon us, that we get to have a relationship, an eternal relationship with the living God, something that we didn't earn, that he gives to us as a gift. It says it in Scripture, it picks up here in Romans 3 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Someone say amen to that. Solus Christus only Jesus or Christ alone is the next we heard. We heard it from Pastor Dana, who shared an amazing sermon challenging us to have Jesus at the center of our hearts and lives. We see it here in Romans 5, 1 and 2 as it's reiterated to us. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we also have access by faith into his grace, in which we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Today we continue with the fifth sola, and that is Soli Deo Gloria, God's glory alone. Say Solido Gloria with me, Solideo Gloria. Thinking up here in Romans 11, it says, For who has the mind of the Lord, who has been his counselor, or who has given him a gift that he might be repaid? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for your word, and we pray over it today. Holy Spirit, come and breathe upon it, challenge our hearts, Lord, that we would become more like you. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. A solideo gloria, God's glory alone. This starts with the idea of perspective, that the glory of God is revealed by the way that we view things. You know, our founding pastors, Pastors Rich and Cindy Brown, they would teach often and talk about this idea of decisions determine your destiny. And that starts out with the way we view things. It's our perspective, it's our worldview, because so much comes from the way that we see things. And as we see things the correct way and our perspective is aligned with God, then we will have the mind of Christ. But without that perspective, then we're gonna go about it off-tilt, and that's gonna cause us to sin because we're gonna be off of where we should be going with him. And so the glory of God gets revealed as we reflect God's glory back to him as his workmanship. It's all starting with our perspective. You know, for me, I had the advantage that, you know, so many times our perspective of how we do things, it has to do with how we were reared up in this world. Our our the way we view the world is how our family viewed the world. How many people know what I'm talking about? And that means sometimes the things that were passed down to us, they can be great, sometimes they can be bad. And so it's something that we have to overcome with the wrong perspective unless we've been trained up in the way of God. And so that's why the scripture says, train them up in the way of God. They won't depart from it because it's deep inside of who we are. And though we run, we know the conviction of God because Holy Spirit will keep pulling us to himself because he loves us that much. And that's why we pray no satisfaction upon those who have made a commitment to Christ and then ran away, because we say, guess what? Everything you try is gonna be empty. It's only the things of God that will satisfy your life. And so we pray to that regard. In the same way, our perspective of our heavenly father is directly tied many times to our view of our earthly father. How many people they've had a difficulty sometimes with their perspective of their earthly father. And see, for me, I had a great example of an earthly dad. He's not perfect, but he loves God, he protected me, he provided for me, he sacrificed so that I could have a leg up in this world, and that's the model that I got to see. I got to understand God through that framework of a shepherd who would look out for me and so many others. It's not been your experience. You've been heartbroken because you don't have an earthly dad that loved you or honored you, or worse, you had a terrible version of someone who would speak curses over you. But friends, I'm here to tell you that your heavenly father loves you and values you, that he sees you from the very moments in the conception of your life to when you were being knit together in your mother's womb. And when you took your first breath, he rejoiced in who you are because you're his child. And he loves you, and it says that he will give good gifts, not a stone but bread, not a not a viper but a fish, because he wants to be the provision for your life. He's a plan and a purpose for you. All these things being made known in your life as we align ourselves with him. The scripture says in Romans chapter 11, for who has known the mind of the Lord and who has been his counselor, or who can give him a gift. Friends, this is the very perspective that we need to have is that the creator God of our world, we have nothing to offer him that he himself can't create. We have nothing to offer him that he himself couldn't be glorified in, except that he asks us for his, for all that we are in our hearts. He asks us for that relationship. And so we come to him with our hearts turns toward him. In the same way we glorify the Lord, it's glorification, the power of God made known amongst us. That's why whenever Jesus comes and becomes incarnate as man, the Son of Man here on earth, as we'll talk about in the coming weeks with Christmas, we see that all of heaven they go crazy over the party because they're exalting who he is. Glory to God in the highest. They're declaring who he is, and on earth, peace among all whom he is pleased. Friends, they're rejoicing at what he is doing, that he would be glorified, that he would receive the praise that is due him through our mouths. First Corinthians 10 31 says it like this so whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. See, we're called to be those that reflect back the glory of everything we're doing to the Lord. That means we're called to be a good witness of what he's called us to be, and that's what glorification means is that we would glorify him, we would worship him with our life. Not just on Sunday with our words to really good songs as we pray these prayers, but that we would every day in our difficult days, in our difficult situations, that we would not run from the Lord but to the Lord, that we would seek him as our source, our ever-present help in time of need. In the same way we continue here and see that his righteousness, it's only made possible by faith in Jesus Christ. We hear a quote that's here from Aidan Wilson Tozer. It says, The glory of God always comes at the sacrifice of self. How many people would agree with that? That's exactly what we see as well is that it's these very things that God wants to do that we need to empty ourselves of all that we have so that he would be made known. C.S. Lewis says, The glory of God as our only means of glorifying him, the salvation of human souls, is the real business of life. That's what we're called to be, is called to be those that are living our life for God, reflecting his glory and letting other people know about it so that they can do the same. That's how we're made to be righteous, is that his righteousness is the one that does it for us. Oswald Chambers, famous for his writings after his death, this personal journal that his his widow then published, he gave his life in service of the Lord and all that he put his hands to do. And I've stood at his gravestone there in Cairo, Egypt, where he he died in his early 30s, giving to the Lord and living for the poor. And in doing so, he did so motivated by his faith in God. We see Oswald says, We tend to set up successes in Christian work as our purpose, but our purpose should be to display the glory of God in human life, to live a life hidden with Christ in God in our evident, everyday human conditions. That's what it means to glorify the Lord, to give him all of the praise and all the glory. We don't do these things that are acts of service as a way to try to earn our way. No, we do it as part of our heart and our love for the Lord. That's why we do these things and serve, because we first were loved, so we love. And in that way that we glorify him with all that we have. We're also called to be those that proclaim the glory of the Lord. As we talked about in the proclamation that the angels said, that's something that resonates with our hearts, and that everything that we do would be those things that be brought forward. Our righteousness then that we talked about in our faith in Christ Jesus has only been made possible because we align ourselves with Him. Romans 15, 5 and 6 says, May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another and accordant with Christ Jesus, that together you may be one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. See, friends, he calls us together to be those that come together, abandoning all these other avenues and focuses, but focusing on him, that we would be one voice of worship to the Lord. We also see here God's faithfulness be made known to us. And that's how we reflect God's glory back to him. The author, writer, pastor Charles Spurgeon says the glory of God's faithfulness is that no sin of ours has ever made him unfaithful. Friends, God is faithful. Even when we are unfaithful, he is faithful. And so what we see is that the faithfulness of God, it reflects his glory back to himself and through our lives as we are obedient. Today we turn to our Bibles, looking to the book of Acts and to the story of Apostle Paul as he was church planting and they arrive there in Athens and in Greece of its day, looking to spread the gospel message, Soli Deo Gloria. Say it with me. Solely Deo Gloria. Now, the other day, I happened to be flying into Athens as on my way to Cyprus for uh this conference with these missionaries. And in doing so, the plane banks, and you get to look out the window and you look across the city, and you see there uh all the remains of all these ancient Greek uh temples and on the temple, the Olympus Temple Mount that's there. And if you took another look at it, you would see that it's a whole stair step of different places and different opportunities for them to worship in their day, each one being a divinity of things that they were worshiping. Each one with some kind of spirit or some kind of thing that they were focusing on. Very much in their pantheon of gods, they were worshiping all these fallen angels, all these fallen creatures, these spirits that have a little bit of power, but nothing like the living God. And because he created them, they took their advantage and they they had these little peons of people praying for them in built-up places, but it's all hollow, it's all empty. And in fact, most of the things they believed, it was more like a soap opera or television novella, one of these things where it was all drama the whole time amongst the gods. It wasn't a righteous God, a loving God, a creator God that we know. No, this was something else. This was just a reflection of people and our brokenness, because that's the very thing that they were worshiping. And so it picks up here in scripture, and we see it in the book of Acts, starting in Acts 17, uh, verses 16 and 17. You have your Bible, your tablet, your phone, I'll encourage you to move there today. You can highlight it and we'll move through it as we go forward. It says, now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw the city was full of idols. So he reads reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and devout persons into the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. You can imagine that throughout Athens in his day, there was temples everywhere, much like we see across the world. And in all these ancient ruins, all of them, their sole purpose is for worship of some kind of deity. So this one, which happens to be in India, I've been here, it's carved out of these caves, and each one has an edifice with different insignias of different kinds of entities that people would pray towards into. There's spirits that are they wanted to set themselves up as a little g God in this world. But friends, they have no power over you because you belong to Jesus Christ. And so the God that we worship, the creator God, is so much greater than any of these things. But as you walk in there, man, I would just pray in the spirit and ask the Lord. I just be like, Lord, as they're praying to these deities, I pray that they would feel the hollowness of what they're doing. Lord, that they would be turned in their heart towards you because you are the only answer. Friends, we believe in Jesus Christ and in Jesus Christ alone. We don't believe in other ways to heaven except through Jesus. And it's because we need a holy sacrifice that can only be made through Jesus Christ. We can't earn our way in, we can't do enough good works, we can't do enough things to try to make it that way. If we live a better life than a negative life, we don't make it into some afterlife and weren't win his favor. No, instead, it's only through Jesus that we have an eternity with the living God. And so you can hear Paul's heart as he starts to talk with people and share with them. He sees that the whole city is spiritually lost. So he's in the marketplace and he's talking with them and starts to share these ideas. And they're hungry for something tangible, something that has real substance. These are thinkers, they're deep, deep idea people, and they've been all these different ideas about what it means to be stoic or what it means to be a true believer, and different ideas that are there. So as it starts to spawn on, then it triggers Paul to take action and to live this thing out loud with his faith. It picks up here in verse 19, it says, They took him and brought him to the Aropega, saying, May we know what this new teaching is that you're presenting. For you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know, therefore, what these things mean. They're setting them up, aren't they? To be able to share the gospel with them. And it's pretty powerful. It says now in verse 21, now all the Athenians and foreigners who live there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new. Now, it's interesting because that's very much that's continued forward even into today, right? Someone always has something new that they're learning or they're telling you about. And I don't know if you're on social media at all, but if you scroll through any of the ads, all of the ads will try to solve whatever problem you have in your life. All you need to do is buy their product. However, at the very end of their product, they're also gonna say, this may cause bleeding of your face, your eyes, your back, your bottom, etc., etc., etc., etc. So if you buy their product and use their product, now you're gonna bleed out of other places and have to buy a different product. But in truth, it's because what what we're looking for is an answer. And what people in their day were looking for was an answer. And so they'd heard all these ideas, but all these ideas didn't suffice, or else they would not have a hunger for other things. Instead, like we have experienced in the hunger of the word of God, it has substance, something that's eternal that will change your life. And so it's it's very much Paul, the one that he understands and takes and monopolizes on the situation by finding an altar that's been made to the unknown God. And so they didn't want to make anybody hurt anybody's feelings. So though while they're praying to, you know, Dionysus or Athena or some other person, that they're also gonna have one set up to the guy that they don't want to make mad in case they missed them. And so Paul takes this opportunity and he says, This is the very thing that you're missing. And he picks up here in verse 22. So Paul standing in the midst of the Aropegas said, Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. Verse 23, for as I passed along I observed the objects of your worship, and I found also an altar with this inscription, to the unknown God, what therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. We could see a depiction of this, a painting of what it might have looked like in his day, with Paul addressing the people, and they are hearing from his heart, and they're trying to understand what that might look like. And so it's the very thing that is transforming their heart because they're gripped by the power of the truth of the gospel that he's sharing. It continues in verse 24, it says, The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. See, this is countercultural to their whole existence there in the city. Their whole process was bringing gifts before these gods and before these altars. He's saying, No, I worship a God who has given us everything. He is the creator God. He's the one who made Eden and put us in it, and he blessed us and gave us dominion over the earth and over the animals. He's the very one that brings life and he's the one that took dust and made us out of nothing. This is the God that I serve, who has given us everything in abundance. And you can imagine how this would spark their heart to respond to what Paul is saying. In verse 26, he says, He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God and perhaps feel their way towards him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us. What he's saying is that God is made known in creation, in beauty, in systems, in everything that's been made known, it comes from our Father. And so his testimony is even there without words in showing the beauty and the creativity that he has that he's created by. But in the same way, it says that he's not afar off, that God has come all the way to us, that we can respond to him. As we talked about the father of the prodigal that Jesus talks about, he runs all the way to his son who is afar off. And friends, that's how he views you, that he loves you and is very much present and available for you as you accept his work for you. Acts 17, 28 says, For in him we live and move and have our being. As even some of your own poets have said, for we are indeed his offspring. Friends, that's who we belong to. We are citizens of heaven. As we think of the heavenly realm, we think of clouds and cupids on strings with arrows, and that's not it. It's a king in a kingdom that's coming once again, and we get to be a part of what he is doing and live with him forever. So as we belong with him, so too we live for him and for the values of his kingdom. And so it picks up here and it says, being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. See, this city was known for its idols, and the idols were everywhere. We've seen this through many different cultures, this one being in northern Europe, where they would they would cut these things that are representative of spirits in the woods, and they would have them as something to worship, and worshiping these spirits. You would see it in other places, maybe as a totem or in different things like a kachina. You would see in other places where they would have these things for those religious leaders of their day, and it becomes an altar that they're praying to this deity, like a Buddha. And that's what you see. And so often we see it in our culture where people will use these things because they're beautiful, they'll use them as decoration, not realizing that there's really a spirit attachment to this thing. There's really a spirit alignment with this thing. And so by opening those things into our homes, what it does is open up a spiritual thing that's negative against your faith in God. Because inadvertently we're setting up an idol in a place that shouldn't be an idol. And see, it doesn't have to be even a physical one like these. You'd see these in India. I've seen them in Mumbai where you would see these different pieces. You could see how beautiful they are. They've been used by work by human hands and the effort, the time, the skill that was taken to create it. But all the while it's just a facsimile, a fake of the real thing which is our living God. And so they're trying to make an alignment with these spirits and these deities, all the while not understanding they're actually distancing themselves from the living God by praying to these things. And friends, it doesn't have to be a graven image like this. It can be anything that we lift up in our life that can become an idol instead of God. Like I love sports, I love activities, I like nice stuff. And some people, they allow those things to become their God. And they live for those things and their identities tied to those things. But all those things are temporal, they'll pass away. But instead, that we wouldn't live for these facsimiles, these fake things, but instead, our lives and our hearts would be aligned with the eternal God that's found in our Creator, God. There is none like him, he alone is our God. Say amen to that. And so we look again to the scripture here as Paul starts to continue in what he's explaining. He says, The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. Because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead. So he's telling the story of our Creator, God the Father, who brings Jesus, and Jesus becomes the sacrifice for all people, and that he, though he died with the sin of the world upon him, he didn't stay dead, but he is risen and alive. And so our faith rejoices with him. Today we return back to the same question what are you worshiping? Soli Deo Gloria. We only give glory to God alone. And as we answer that question, there's three takeaways that we want to have from what are you worshiping? Our worship, our glory that we give to the Lord first aligns us with his purposes. Whenever we worship the Lord with our hearts, it starts to align us with his purposes because we're doing the right thing. We have the right perspective, as we said. So we're saying, Lord, you are who you say you are. You are our glorified creator, God. And I love you and I thank you that you see me as your child and you value me, you protect me, you guide me, you train me even as I'm walking this thing out. Lord, we live this life in a community. And in doing so, it starts to align us with his heart. So when we worship the Lord with all that we're doing, not just sing songs on Sunday, but in our lives as we live them out with others, it aligns us with his purposes. Secondly, our worship celebrates Christ's work in our lives. Has anybody ever told you, wow, that's different than you used to be? Because they see Jesus working in your life. It's the testimony of who you are, is that your character is changed to become more like Jesus. Is that you're living that thing out every day. Give us today our daily bread. So you're allowing the word of God to wash over you. Your time, your quiet time with the Lord is something that's drawing you near to Him. And so what happens is that as we celebrate Christ's work in our lives, that is the worship that we give to God is that wherever we go, whatever we're doing, that we're living for Him. matter if the pastor is watching or not. I know some of you guys are not putting a cornerstone sticker on your car because you're afraid I'm gonna see how you drive in traffic. Pastor Rich, the founding pastor says you have to drive fast to win souls. So you guys will be okay. Put the sticker on your car. It's fine. Just be a good driver. Be a good example of Christ's work in your life. And I'm just teasing about that one, but of course it's in every action, in every place, right? In our attitude. How we do on our bad days, how we reflect the glory back to God. The third is this worship compels us to obey God's leading. See, we talk about many times Lord use me for great things. Lord I I want to be those who are used by you but he might ask you to take great change to be used by him. And that means obedience because it's small steps. It's no big big giant steps. It's small steps. It's the daily steps. And so our worship of God our heart reflecting back to God it compels us to obey him so that we can do his purposes. See that friends that's what it means whenever we're aligned and we obey and we do these things then we're walking in step with Jesus where he's leading us to go. And then therefore what we're doing is we're giving all the glory to God alone. So when we ask that question what are you worshiping? Each one of us has to answer for ourselves of how we're living our love for God. Today we have this opportunity to respond to his love and in doing so we come to this altar and each one of us has to answer that question of have we embraced Jesus for us the symbol of the cross is one of power because the cross represents the place where Jesus died. He took all of our sin and all of our mistakes all of our brokenness upon himself and as he died upon the cross that sin and its punishment died with him. But the good news is that he is not dead but he is risen. And as he came alive again it what it did is reset everything for us that we can now have a communication a connectivity to the living God because of what Jesus has done for us. And because of it we place our faith in him in the grace that he's extended to us. We read it from the word it becomes alive for us and we understand that it's only through Jesus that this is possible. It's by no other name by no other religious idea by no other try to get yourself in idea concept it's only by Jesus. And so he's the only one that we live for. The apostle Paul he writes like this to the church at Rome in chapter 10 because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified with the mouth one confesses and is saved. Friends today it's your opportunity to say yes to Jesus to invite him into your heart and life forgive you of your sin and start a new relationship with him. I'm gonna ask if everyone would if you'd stand to your feet here in the room just bow your heads as Christians are praying take a moment wherever you are for what God wants to do in and through your life maybe you're here but it's your very first time of ever responding to this question of asking Jesus into your heart and life today is your day. Maybe you're here and you have made a decision in the past but you no longer have been actively living for God right now is an opportunity for you to recommit your heart and life back to Jesus to be in alignment with him asking me to forgive you of your sins that you would be made righteous by what he has done for us. Heads are bowed and here in the room I'm gonna ask you if you would if that's you and you want to make a decision to follow Jesus today like others have already made a decision today in this room if you just raise your hand right where you're at say that's me. I want to invite Christ into my heart and life. Thank you Jesus see a hand that's there, another one that's there. Third hand thank you Jesus others making decisions praise the Lord other friends wherever you are agreeing with you friends online wherever you're at as well making decisions to follow Jesus thank you Lord I'm gonna ask if you would if everyone would just 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 those that made a decision apologies today praise the Lord people that made a decision it's powerful that was you take a moment take a snap of uh other side for the next steps we want to be able to put resources into your hands so you can live this life successfully after God same if you're online take a moment take a snap of that and take those steps so we can connect with you and support you in living for Jesus. Today we have an opportunity to respond to his love to come to this altar. And maybe you're someone that there's been a misstep in your heart there's been some kind of thing that's become an idol between you and Christ that today you would come and just ask him to forgive you and reset all those things and be in alignment with who God is. Or maybe you're here you just need more of his presence you need more of his wisdom. Maybe you need healing in your physical body maybe in your relationships or whatever is going on he is here to meet your needs to pray and ask the Lord to come as we come forward while people agree with you in prayer. Lord we thank you so much. Lord for your word we thank you Lord for breathing upon it today Holy Spirit making it alive and challenging to us Lord we thank you for the challenge Lord in the bravery of Paul Lord to stand up and proclaim who you are even in the midst of places that don't believe Lord in the same way we thank you Lord for that message coming all the way to us that we get to live triumphantly in a relationship with the living God. Lord we pray that there would be no idol in our hearts or in our lives nothing separating us from you but instead Lord we would walk in alignment glorifying you with all that we have we pray this in the powerful name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Hey tomorrow is Annie's birthday so make sure that you say hi birthday to Annie whenever you get a chance to see her. Excited for that.

Celeste Brown:

And next Sunday it is finally here our fall family day and we are excited. So invite someone this week we have a lot of things we could use your help with and if you are bringing chili please let somebody help you get it into the building before we go 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.

Jason Brown:

Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Lord I pray a blessing upon your church your people empower us by your Spirit to live your love out to those around us 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