Cornerstone Christian Center
Cornerstone Christian Center
Unfinished Projects | Messy
We start with a frank look at unfinished projects, both the literal clutter and the hidden emotional stacks we’ve parked for years. A childhood story about “junk” cars becomes a picture of how intentions without action turn into anchors. Then we zoom out with Scripture—Moses and Joshua, David and Solomon, Ezra and Nehemiah—to show how God completes purposes across generations. Obedience in your chapter matters, even when you won’t see the last page. That shift reframes delay, disappointment, and the temptation to quit.
From there, James 1–2 challenges us to close the gap between church on Sunday and choices on Monday. Hearers versus doers. The law of liberty that frees us from guilt so we can act with integrity. Guarding our words so our actions follow blessing rather than complaint. We get practical about spiritual formation: keeping promises, confronting procrastination with small scheduled steps, and protecting daily time with God. The result is surprising—less pressure, more freedom, and a clearer path to purpose.
Finally, we ground faith in service. Pure religion visits orphans and widows, feeds families, and shows up for neighbors. Stories from our Mercy House and local outreach reveal how generosity multiplies impact—and joy. You’ll leave with simple ways to create margin, finish what matters, and say yes to the Spirit in small moments that lead to big change.
If this resonated, share it with a friend who’s juggling too much, subscribe for more practical faith conversations, and leave a review to help others find the show. What’s your next small act of obedience this week?
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Life is messy. But God can handle the messy. Life gets busy fast. You've got kid drop-offs and pickups. Then you need to figure out how you're going to get all of your work done in between that. After work, you have the kids' practices, the endless grocery runs, helping with homework, and trying to find time to clean. And through all that, you can't forget to squeeze in time for lunch or factor in the morning struggles. And the weekend is no break. Saturday is a 7 a.m. game. Haircuts and two birthday parties. Costco, Target, and a vacuum marathon. Before we collapse at 10:30 p.m., then comes Sunday. 8 a.m. service while setting up and teaching. Brunch, grocery run, soccer game, and laundry load number one. All before we try to finish working bells at 10 p.m., every hour is spoken for. Every single square is built. We're running on caffeine and borrowed time, fighting to keep all those balls in the air. But where is the moment to be still? Where is the time to breathe? Where is the space for God? Don't feel like you need to clean up the chaos before you ask for help. Bring the exhaustion, the pressure, the deadlines, and the endless mess. Bring it all. We can't forget to schedule time for God. Life is messy, but God can handle the messy.
Jason Brown:How many agree that life is messy? It can be a little bit sticky, a little bit messy, a little bit difficult at times. We were talking about this idea of the autumn season and that changing of the leaves. Though we don't get to experience it here, I think many of us have had an opportunity maybe to go to a place that's wooded with the changing of the leaves. And it made me think about one of the situations that I got to be a part of. When we were pastoring in France, an international church, uh, we would go and connect with other international church pastors at a conference every year. And one of those locations was actually in Austria and up in the hills outside of Vienna, there was an area that we would stay and we would meet together and pray and be encouraged by people that came together. And in doing so, many of us would go and take a prayer walk up through the woods. And there's something powerful about that time because we were praying for uh just insight from the Lord, for just a revelation from him, also for the other churches and the felt needs that were there. But as you're walking through those leaves in the changing season there on the mountain in Austria, there was something profound about thinking about the changes of the season and also the changes that God was talking to us about in our own lives and how we're called to be those that are a catalyst of change to see the things happen that God would call us to. Today we're talking about this idea of unfinished projects. Now you might be here and you're like, Pastor Jay, that's not what I came for. I did not want to know about my unfinished projects at the house. But that's okay. Hey, we're all there. All of us have been there, all of us might still be there, let's be honest. But I idea is that, you know, God is not finished with us yet. He's still working on us. One of the things I think about is this idea of having lots and lots of junk. Now, maybe your garage is like this situation here we see, where it's like, you know, the things have piled up. They've got so piled up they've become ancient. You guys know what I'm talking about. Um, it reminded me of a time I had with my grandparents when I was growing up. My my dad's mom and dad, they grew they were here from Arkansas, and their whole family goes back on both sides to Arkansas. So they're out in the woods and that kind of lifestyle outside of town. And so when they retired, they went back to Arkansas. So we would visit them, and it was a really enjoyable time for me as a kid because they had all this acreage and they gave me something precious. They gave me a BB gun, and they're like, go for it, kiddo. And I just got to run amok any side, anything inside the fence, you know, just going for it. It's over the creeks and you know, through this set of woods and this thicket, and so on and so forth. And I came across a clearing, and in the back of this clearing, there were all these old, junky, rusty cars that had the windows still in them. You guys following along? So the idea was I'm here, I'm army rolling across the hood of the car, and I'm shooting at the windows of the imaginary bad guys and having a great time, fully getting all the use out of this air rifle. You guys know what I'm talking about? It was awesome. I was pumped up, man. I ran out of ammo. I head back to the house. Now, my grandmother, man, God bless her. Some of you guys might know her, Millie. She's in the presence of the Lord today, her and my grandfather, uh Mark, but you know, she was one of these people like you can imagine Pastor Rich, unsanctified, but then a little bit meaner. She was awesome. I love my grandmother. And she loved Jesus. She had that eyebrow, she could do the eyebrow thing and look at you like this, and you would have the fear of God just hit you like this, like a wave. And you'd be like, oh, oh my goodness. And I walked in the house and she's cooking, she's doing something, preparing something. And I kind of kind of come through the screen door with some velocity, you know. I kind of break into the room. She's like, What you been doing, boy? And she's over there cooking. Now, she seemingly always had a gigantic knife in her hand for some reason. I don't know why this was, but she was always cooking something, and I'm like, Grandma, it was so great. I found all these old junkie cars, and I was shooting the windows and I was having a great time. She's like, You did what? She pointed the knife at me. I was like, oh. She's like, boy, those aren't junkie cars. We parked those cars there. And I could feel the blood just draining out of my body as I was certain I was gonna go meet the Lord. You guys know what I'm talking about? No, I survived it. But one of the things that's interesting about that is that the idea that they had always had this intentionality that maybe someday we might fix up these cars and they would have some kind of value. But they hadn't dealt with them in so long that they literally became rusty junk laying out there in a field. And I wonder how many times there are things in our own lives that we have this intentionality to do something about, but it becomes actually this anchor, this weight on us because we haven't done anything with it. And because of that, we're not willing to move on. And somehow we've emotionally attached ourselves to things or maybe even seasons of life in the past that we're not ready to let go of. But those very things are holding us back from the things that God wants us to work on as we go forward. I wonder how many unfinished projects are preventing us from the future that God has for us. You know, I think about it as people who are gifted and have different skill sets. I saw this uh image of this woman. She's working on a wedding dress. You could tell that she's a designer and she has a skill set. So you could imagine that, you know, a bride excited about her wedding day would come to her and drawing up a custom dress and she does all the measurements. And you could imagine that if this if this woman who's a designer, if she didn't go and finish the dress in time, there would be big, big problems come the wedding day. So if she didn't complete the project that she had set about to do, then then not just her, her world and her livelihood would be affected, but other people around her. Or maybe you're like this woman here who, you know, she she's excited because she's worked all of her day and now into her night, but she's still very happy about doing emails, you know, late into the nighttime. That I'm sure none of you do. None of you put more of your day in your day than can actually fit in your day. I'm sure none of you are are doing that. I'm gonna move on. You guys life is messy. And what we see is even in scripture where there are things that happen that people wanted to see completed, but they didn't even get to see it completed themselves. And I think sometimes it's it's what's something I've learned from Pastor Rich and others that spoke into my life. They're saying it's not just what you do, but what you set in motion. And so our obedience to God is for here and for the future, because God will work his purposes through us, even if we don't get it to see it completed. And so all of us in that way are unfinished projects, and all of us are still being worked on. We think about Moses as he was there, it says the Lord prevented him from going into the into the promised land because of everything that happened, because of his murdering of someone and and in the doubt that it happened. So some of those pieces, it kept him from going and fulfilling the very thing he led the children of Israel for all those years, 40 years in the desert, to do. And so you see a depiction of it here, a painting of the death of Moses as the Lord is coming to take Moses to himself after his passing. But it's a representation that, you know, it wasn't just Moses that was there, but it was a continuation with Joshua that would actually see it be fulfilled. Similarly, David had a heart after God. It says that he plucked him from the hillside as a good shepherd, and he brought him up and anointed him and gave him that courage that was already there and refined it. In doing so, David had this heart to honor God with everything he had. And it said that that David, he was a mighty man of valor. He fought at all times, and he was a man of war, and so he had blood on his hands. And so as he went to go make a house for God, God's prevented him from doing so because of that, and also because of his failure with Uriah's wife, Bathsheba. But in doing so, it wasn't that God didn't want to see that thing completed, it's just that this one had done something to make it so he couldn't complete it. So it was Solomon, actually, his son, who completed the temple of the Lord. Some years later, you would see after after many, many trials and many things of being trying to correct the children of Israel, the Lord took his hand off of them, and actually foreign instruments were brought in to become punishment against the children of Israel, with Assyria and Babylon taking the children of Israel away. And after a time, they were actually able to return. And so you see people like Ezra, who he goes and he wants to see the city restored, but he realizes that they won't even say yes to what God had in store until they hear from God's heart first. So though Ezra wanted to be the one to complete these things, he actually went and just revealed the word of God and challenged first their hearts so that their actions could follow and someone like Nehemiah could come along. And so you see these things being brought together and how they work in concert, how God will use someone and use someone else and then do his work and it'll be fulfilled. That's why it talks about later in the scripture that Paul planted and Apollos watered, but it's God who gives the increase. And so, as we are those who walk in step with it, we have to understand that this thing that might not come to fruition doesn't mean that God doesn't want it to happen. Maybe it's just not in his timing yet. And at the same time, we're called to be those that do our diligence so we can do our part and be obedient to what he has for us to do. But God can handle it. Today it's a blessing to be with you. My name is Jay. If we haven't met, and Celeste and I have such an amazing opportunity to be here and to be leading here at Cornerstone, it's a blessing to be with you. We very much see ourselves as people in need of a savior. None of us are perfect. We are still all walking and following after Jesus. That's why we use this imagery of Christ walking with his disciples because that's how we see ourselves. That none of us have arrived. All of us are still following him. And since we're going that way, then our ambition, both personally and corporately, is to be more like Jesus. And that's why our heart is to be those that connect and grow and serve. We do that through life groups throughout the week, throughout the city. And our heart is also to love God, to make disciples, to reach the world. Today I'm gonna ask you if you'd open your tablet, your Bible, your phone, if you would today. We're gonna be moving to James, back to James again, looking this time at James 1, starting in verse 22. And it says, the speed doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. Lord, we pray over your word today that you would make it alive and ram us, speak to us, Holy Spirit, and challenge us in our hearts that we would take action to do what you would have us to do. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Now, life is messy. We've been talking about this, and we know this is that we are called to be those that walk through this messy life and not alone because Christ is with us. And so, in doing so, we're gonna walk through our messy life, but we're doing it with a savior who's cleansed us. It's not our doing. We've talked about that in the past as we look at the five solas, but it's by his doing. So as we look at the scripture again in James 1, 22, it says, be doers of the word and not hearers only. Now I think hearers and doers, we know the difference because all of us have grown up and we've grown up with people and and they're like, Hey, did you hear what I said? And we always say, Yeah, yeah, I heard what you said. Yeah. And then your mom or dad goes, and then you know, growing up, and then they would come back and did you do what they said? No, no, you didn't. And so they would be like, Hey, did you did you do what I said? Be like, no, no, forgot. Forgot to do what you said. And there's a big disconnect between the hearing and the doing. How many people know what I'm talking about? People are slightly guilty, so they're feeling it right now. So you understand the difference between the hearers and the doers. I was thinking about this, you know, even in modern day, it gets so gets so crazy because, you know, now you'd say, Hey, did you hear me? And they might not hear you. Maybe you're in a house, you know, not like my house. I've heard of other homes where everyone in the house has earbuds in, so they don't really hear each other. And so you have to call people even though they're in the same house as you. This is someone else's house, not my house. You guys know what I'm talking about? So they really don't hear you. You're like, hey! Hearers and doers. You know, I wonder, I wonder so often, you know, if you're if you're hearing and doing the word of God, if you would do it correctly and do it in step, if someone else was gonna show up and check in on you. You know, so often that's what we see whenever we start to read this word, and it starts to challenge us in our actions and fulfilling the word of God, is that, you know, we might do something here in a gathering on a Sunday at a church and act differently outside of here. That's why throughout the world, many people will say, Oh, but Christians, man, they're a bunch of hypocrites because they don't do what they say. The scripture picks up here in verse 23 and 24, we could see it together. It says, For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he's like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror, for he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. And you could imagine that it's at not understanding who you are and what you represent. And that's what this analogy is here. It's it's problematic in that it's calling us to be those who are people of God who immediately don't go and act like people of God. And you could see where that disconnect would be a problem. Now, it'd be one thing, and I I realized that as I came into ministry as a young man, you know, I would walk into a place and I didn't even say anything about it, but I felt like every time I walk in, it acted like I caught somebody doing something. You know what I'm talking about? It was like I was the principal of their life and I showed up. So I'd be like, hey, good morning. They're like, hey, how's it going? Hey, hey, oh, praise the Lord, praise the Lord. Praise. They just break out into praise, praise. I'm like, what's going on? Nothing. No, just being holy. What are you doing? This is one thing if it was me, you know, you guys might be like, oh, it's just it's Jay. But if Pastor Celeste walked in, you guys would be like, oh right? Go into the Latin. You're like, wow, that's serious. That's very good. But see, it doesn't, it's not like that. It's not we're we're not here to catch anybody do anything. It we're all on that journey together. The whole purpose is that we're encouraging each other to live like Jesus everywhere, always to be the light of God. And when we make mistakes, that we would be those who come to God and ask him to uh ask him to forgive us of our sin because we've fallen short and instead change and make better decisions. And so that's what it's talking about here, because the problematic part of this is that when we don't align our what we say that we are with what we do, then it becomes a problem. And there starts to be a pressure on us because we will feel the pressure that's there because some of that is an alignment issue because now we have to live two different lives around people. And also we're trying to think like as if God doesn't know what's going on. Like when we leave the church, he doesn't see what we're doing anymore. He's like, Well, I'm cool, I'm outside the church building, I can do whatever. It's like, you mean the God of the universe created everything? Yeah, good idea. Good idea. Yeah, he can't see you. Don't worry about it. Clearly, he knows everything that's going on in our life, even our thought life. And so that pressure is not something that comes from him, that's something that comes from the enemy because we're not in alignment with what God is doing. Now, what we'll do is Holy Spirit will bring conviction to us, and that's because he loves us and wants to correct us so we can walk in alignment with God. You know, that's the very thing that we need is we need to have that alignment. When I was a young man, you know, I knew better. I grew up in a Christian home. My parents are pastors filled with the Spirit. I had really, really amazing encounters with God when I was a student, and I was trying to hold on to that, but I got bitter and angry. We talked about that last week. And in doing so, I started making this series of decisions that weren't in alignment with God. And so when I would go to church, I would feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit. Didn't matter where I sat. You know, I was in the before that, I was like in the front, kind of a church sitter. And the more guilty I felt, the further back I would sit. You guys know what I'm talking about? How you guys doing the back? You guys good back there? You guys good? You guys were in the back, they're in the balcony. You guys good up there? You guys good? See, it doesn't matter. The whole point was I was reacting to how I was feeling by the conviction of the Holy Spirit. And I knew better, so that's why I wasn't happy even going and doing the things that I was trying to do that I didn't I shouldn't be doing. Does that make sense? That's like what Paul says I do the things I do not want to do. And so in doing this thing, what we want to do is we want to live in alignment with God so we don't feel that pressure. It's not on top of us. Instead, we're walking in step with him, so that pressure's not on us because we're free in Jesus. It continues here in James, and we pick up where it says in verse 25 but the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets, but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. I love the highlight of the word here: liberty. See, the liberty is such an important piece of what goes on here because the liberty is saying you are free of all the guilt of what you would otherwise experience, because I have brought you freedom. This is what Jesus is bringing to us. He trades our destruction and our brokenness for wholeness and newness in Jesus Christ. And so we have this opportunity to live in liberty, not under the affliction of the law and breaking the rules, but instead living in the freedom that we know when we're walking in step with Jesus. Because then we don't have this pressure, we don't have this guilt because we're walking free in who he is. And when we do that, then we start to really feel the blessings of God start to go forward. And we'll respond by doing what he's asked us to do. Now, we talked about recently in the five solas how we cannot earn our salvation. We cannot earn our way into God's presence, we can't earn his holiness. It talks about in scripture how none of us is holy, no not one. It's in Romans. And we talk about that often because it what it does is sets us all on the same playing field that all of us are sinners, all of us need a salvation, all of us need uh need a Messiah, we all need Jesus. And because we all need Jesus, then when we respond to Jesus and Jesus starts a new thing happening in our life and we makes us a new creation, then we experience the liberty that is ours. It would be such a shame that after all that liberation, after all that freedom, that we walk back into the bondage that He's freed us from. Friends, that we would live free as unto God. It continues here in the scripture in verse 26. It says, If anyone thinks he is religious but does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. What I mean is you're supposed to watch what you say. And the reason we have to watch what that what we say is because if we don't, we can speak blessings and curses out of the same thing in front of our face. In our words, they really do have uh power because our words, many times our actions will follow our words. Now there is a disconnect because as we talked about, we want to be hearers and doers. And as the scripture says here, those who are doers, they get to see this liberty in Jesus, they get to experience this blessing. But whenever we don't do those things, we start to speak ill, then what we're supposed what we're happening to do is we're actually aligning ourselves negatively where we will actually take our actions to be. Because once we start speaking this thing out this way in a negative way, our actions and our perspective and our attitude start to follow in that uh direction. However, if we're those who we have that moment with the Lord every morning, and we take those things to God every morning, and we say, Lord, that you would just give me your peace and your presence, give me words to speak today. And as we come against something that's difficult for us, that we instead speak by faith. We instead speak blessing and not curses. See what happens to our perspective, see what happens to our attitude, see what happens to the way we live, is that it lives differently because now we're aligning ourselves with him. And we end up doing the things he asks us to do. And it's not that we're earning God's grace. No, we're responding to his love, and as a result, we're doing what he asks us to do. And when we do what God asks us to do, friends, that's when we really feel fulfilled. It's whenever we're going and doing whatever we want to do, we won't feel fulfilled because it's just an empty hole. It's not eternal in nature. And so we want to be those that watch what we say so that we can do what God has called us to do. Continuing scripture here in verse 27, it picks up and says, Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unsustained unstained by or from the world. We see this here talking about what we're called to do, and in doing so, caring for the orphan and the widow is something that Jesus cared about as well. It's what the early church gave us a model for. We even today are those who do things like this and giving towards things like OCJ kids to look out for foster children and for those who would be orphaned, for those who have been widowed and caring for those in need. That's why we do what we do through Mercy House and God bless Mercy House and all that give their time and energy too. Would you say amen to that? Well, we talked about recently. I was talking with Mika this first service and as well with Dave this weekend, and we were talking about how over 40, I think it was 41 different families this week, and the same, I think it was 45 two weeks ago, had food on the table because of the generosity of this church and those who give through Mercy House so the people could have what they needed. And praise God for that. And I'll tell you, I was we were talking, uh, I got just a chance to spend some time with the team yesterday and talking with Laura and Joel and others. You know, we're in there, man, these guys knocked it out. They made all the food bags and everything, and the shelves are back empty again. And Pastor Angus and Dave will go down and get more donations and things like that, fill it back up, immediately it's gone. And so this is something that we give towards because we have a heart to see people in need reached in a way that they need it. And that's part of what our heart is, is that we're gonna do with our actions because we are taking care of not just ourselves. First, we have to live in alignment with God's word, right? So we can take care of ourselves. And once we take care of ourselves, then we can have more so we can take care of others. And when we start to live with an intentionality like that, it changes what we are able to do. Because we're not just hearing the word of God, we're doing the word of God. We're not just hearing a need, we're doing something about the need. We're not just being who people who give mental assent to what Jesus says, but we're doing what Jesus says to do. And what happens is we end up being blessed more than the people who are receiving what we're giving them, because we get to be a blessing, and that blesses us back in a powerful way that I can't explain unless you've done it. But whenever you give in that way in generosity towards missions, whenever you give in of your time and your talent in serving in our kids' ministry or our nursery or our greeters or our safety team or our tech team or anyone that serves in this house, then you're giving of yourself. You feel more blessed than even what you're giving out. And it's true because we've talked about so much as we are those who with open hands he will pour in us and through us to other people. And that's why we feel blessed is we're experiencing God's presence and blessing on our lives. And so that's why we walk in alignment, that's why we do what he asks us to do, that we will see the blessing of God outpace what we otherwise could attain. Skipping over to James 2, we start to pick up here and it says this it says, What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works that can that faith save him? And the reason this question is this question is posed in this way is that it goes back to are you hearing and doing? Because if you're hearing what Jesus tells you to do, and he's asking you to follow him, if you don't do it, are you really a follower of Jesus? And friends, I could tell you there's been seasons in my life where I was not, because I was I was un I was unwilling to deal with the thing, the unforgiveness, or whatever the deal was in my life, and it nailed me down, and Jesus wanted me to follow where he was going. And he had forgiven me, he said, I've forgiven you, you should forgive as well. But I was so tied to this unforgiveness, this hatred, this malice, and all of my attitude around it that I couldn't followed where Jesus wanted me to go because I was tied down to that thing. And it wasn't until I dealt with that situation that I was finally free and I had the liberty to follow Jesus where he was leading me to go, wherever that was, walking full of the Spirit of God, listening to Holy Spirit, so that when Holy Spirit says, Hey, why don't you just take a few minutes? I know your plans, your plan is to get to A to B in this kind of time. Well, what if you take three minutes and just give an encouragement to this person? What if you, even in your workplace, you just stop and say hi to somebody who maybe they've been going through it and you don't know it. But the Holy Spirit just says, Hey, why don't you take a second here? Why don't you you know if you're a good friend of yours, why don't you ask him if you can pray about something? Now what a powerful game changer that can happen in obedience in a small way. Friends, if we're obedient to what he'll say in the small things, he'll challenge us with the big things. And when we say yes to the big things, it changes everything. Because it's not just what we do, it's what we put in emotion. Today we have a few takeaways from this idea of messy. The first thing that we see here is the first is that our promises. We are people who make promises, and when we make our promises to God, we need to keep them. God is one who keeps his promises to us. So let us be people that don't just give mental assent to something, but we keep our word whenever we give it. And the idea is that the word is perfect when it comes from the Lord, and the more we walk in step with him, the more we will keep our word as well. The second takeaway today is that we need to look out for procrastination. Okay, that's like almost cussed in church. Wow, okay, we need to watch out for procrastination. Pastor Rich told me I was preaching at myself this morning. I am so easy. You know what I mean? Procrastination. That idea of I'll do it tomorrow. I think there's many of us in the room that might have some kind of a storage unit or a messy garage or something that's full of I'll do it tomorrow's. And I could tell you, I'm getting amens. I could I could tell you that when you deal with this idea of procrastination, obviously we have to make decisions on what priorities are, and there's nothing wrong with that. We need to put God first and family and so on. But the idea is that when we don't fulfill the things that we're called to, our life gets full of mess and full of all that stuff that will hold us down. Let us be those that try to make an alignment with our heart and with our time so that we don't put off the things that we need to do. Instead, we make priority of the important things. Which brings us to that third point of priorities. We need to do and put into place that our heart and our faith with God, that's a priority in our life, that we would have time with the Lord, time that's that's not interrupted by your phone, time that's not interrupted by other things, but time that's dedicated to Him. That we would put Put the first things first. And when we do that, it changes everything for us because suddenly all those unfinished projects start to get finished. Because we're slowly working continually and saying yes to God. And he's slowly helping us check off the boxes of the things he's given us. Friends, we are unfinished projects. And he, the sculptor, is working on us so that he can mold us and shape us into what he has for our future. Friends, life is messy, but God can handle it. Today we have this opportunity to respond to the message of God's love for us, and we do so understanding that we are people in need of a savior. That's what makes us a Christ follower. We know better than anyone else except this, that we have embraced the love of Jesus, and it's changed our lives. The question for each of us today is have you embraced Jesus? The opportunity is here for you today, friend. See, for us, we say, Jesus, I believe you are who you say you are. And I believe that you are the creator God who abandoned heaven and all power to come down in a mortal man. And in doing so, you lived a sinless life and you became the holy sacrifice of God, so that you would take on all of the sin, all of the brokenness, all of the evil of this world that was taken upon Jesus as he went towards the cross. And that's why for us, the symbol of the cross is so pivotal, it's so important, because the cross is where Jesus paid for all of the sin of the world for all people, for all time. The cross is the place where Jesus took my sin and my brokenness and he paid for it there. He made it possible so that I and you, that we could embrace the love of Christ, the what he has done for us, we can embrace this sacrifice and say, Jesus, I believe you are who you say you are. Lord, I invite you into my heart and life that you will be the Lord of my life. Forgive me of my sin. Make me into a new creation today. And friends, whenever that happens and something amazing happens spiritually, in that we spark a new life in Jesus Christ by being obedient to him. And it's that new creation that he makes us. We have this active, living relationship with God. The Apostle Paul, he writes to the church at Rome and says 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. Today is your opportunity. It's your opportunity to say yes to Jesus, to invite him into your heart and life and start a new relationship with him. I'm asking if you're here in the room, if you just stand to your feet right where you're at and bow your heads as Christians are praying. Friends, if you're online, wherever you are, take a moment from whatever you're doing to respond to what God has to say for you today. It's been powerful. I was praying for you this morning early, asking the Lord just to open your heart that you would respond to him today. And I know there are many here that they're they're dealing with and asking that question about believing in Jesus. Today would be your opportunity to respond to him, to invite him into your heart and life to change everything that you've been looking for. As heads are bowed here in the room, if that's you, maybe you'd say, Pastor, that's me. I want to be included in this prayer for the very first time. I want to invite Jesus into my heart and life. Or maybe you have made that decision in the past, but you haven't been living it. And today is an opportunity for you to recommit your heart and life to Jesus. Friends, let me encourage you that you would do that. If that's you right now in this moment, if you just raise your hand right where you're at and just say, I want to make a decision to follow Jesus today, to fight him into my heart and life. Thank you, Jesus. As people making decisions, thank you, Lord. Thank you, God. Yes, Lord. Thank you, Jesus. As we see people raising a hand and making decisions, thank you, Lord, for reinforcing those things. Friends online, wherever you are, making the decisions to follow Jesus. Praise the Lord. I'm gonna ask if everyone would if we could 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 that you make a decision to follow Jesus today. Praise the Lord. Several people today making decisions for Jesus. Hey, if that was you, take a moment, take a snap of this QR code. We want to put into your hands resources so that you can live for Jesus. We don't want you to live this life alone. We want you to be a part of a community of faith. If you don't have one, you're welcome to join with us. Welcome home. We're so thankful that you are walking this life with Jesus Christ. For all of us who are already Christ's followers, friends, today is an opportunity for us to respond to this message, to respond to a message to be not just hearers of the word, but doers of the word. That we would say yes to the things that Jesus has asked us to do, and we would be obedient to him. Maybe today, as we open up this altar, you just need more of his presence, more of who he is, that you would come. We want to agree with you in prayer. Maybe you need provision from the Lord or wisdom that you would come, people would pray with you. Maybe you've been and you've made some mistakes and done those kind of things. It is open to you today, the altar that you would come and just make that place with God, saying, Lord, forgive me. I want to start this new, this new season to say yes to what you'd have for me to do in all these ways, in every area that we need help, that you just come and make an altar with God. We want to agree with you together because we believe in the power of prayer. Lord, we just thank you so much, Lord, for this message and for your word which speaks to us. So we thank you for James and for the challenges that are there, Lord, as we are those who are not just hearers, but doers of the word. Lord, thank you for empowering us, Lord, to be those who are used by you. And thank you, Holy Spirit, for speaking to us and to our hearts that we can say yes, Lord, even in the small ways, because it has big ramifications, Lord, of the things that we put in order. So, Lord, let us be those who say yes to you. Lord, as we come to your altar today, we do so with hearts open to you, asking for an impartation and pouring out of your spirit. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Hey, next week we're having baptism. So we encourage you that you would follow Jesus in baptism if you haven't already. Take that step and make your faith public in Jesus.
Celeste Brown:And in just a few moments, we'll be having a party with the pastor. So if we have not met you, you've been coming to church for the last several weeks, we would love to meet you. We'd love to put um a name to your face and also for you to meet our team. So come and join us on the east side of the building. There's a hall, we'll be right in there. Grab your children first, and we will see you soon.
Jason Brown:Before we go, we want to pray this blessing over us. The Lord bless you and keep you. Or make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. Or lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Lord, I pray a blessing upon your church, your people. 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.