Cornerstone Christian Center
Cornerstone Christian Center
Patterns | Pure
Ever feel like you’re hustling up the wrong side of an escalator? We unpack how small, faithful choices—opening Scripture first, praying before decisions, and practicing the Golden Rule—quietly rewire your patterns and reshape your day. Starting with Matthew 7 ask, seek, knock, we get real about what it means to pursue God’s presence before his provision and how trust grows when we wait for the right door rather than forcing the nearest one.
We share honest stories about attitudes getting checked by the Word, why “win the day” beats grand resolutions, and how habit science echoes biblical wisdom without replacing it. From Duhigg’s cues and routines to Duckworth’s perseverance and Craig Groeschel’s renewed mind, we connect practical tools to the deeper work of the Spirit. You’ll hear why a good Father gives bread, not stones—provision that forms character, not shortcuts that stunt it—and how that confidence fuels everyday mercy at work and home.
Prayer and fasting sit at the center of this moment. We talk about rending hearts, not garments, and exchanging noise for nearness so we can hear God for our families, our prodigals, and our next steps. If you’re ready to trade reaction for intention, and resolutions for rhythms, this conversation will help you begin where change really sticks: with Jesus, today, then tomorrow, and the day after.
If this resonates, subscribe, share it with a friend who needs a reset, and leave a review with the one pattern you’re committing to this week. We’d love to hear your story.
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The word of God so powerful. Amen. Today we're continuing in this idea of pure and that theme that we've been looking at over these past few weeks of the start of this new year. With this question, what patterns are in your life? Now, as we talk a little about this idea, we do return about that the concept of the word of God. And I'll say there's something powerful about whenever you really get a hunger for the word of God and it starts to get inside of you. Because the word of God will challenge us in our attitude, it'll challenge us in our perspectives, it'll challenge us in how we see things and what actions we take. Have you ever been in a bad mood and then tried to read the word of God? It doesn't go so well. People are laughing because they know it's true. And I can tell you because, man, this is me yesterday. I was like reading and I started getting a bad attitude about something, and I wanted to put the word down. And how many people know you're not supposed to put the word down? It's supposed to challenge you. You're supposed to continue forward and change your attitude, not have the bad attitude and put down the Bible. And I can tell you, man, that's where I was at. I was fighting through it, and thankfully, thanks be to God, that I didn't let go. Instead, I locked in and let it start to change my attitude about what was going on in my circumstances. Because we can get wrapped up in this thing and we need the word of God to challenge us. We need it to help us to be a catalyst for change, a catalyst to be those things that help us shift our patterns. That's why when we look at the word of God, it's our daily bread. It becomes a habit that that starts out what we do in our mindset, our perspective for the day. Man, I'm a night person, not a morning person. Celeste can tell you, she has the anointing of the Lord in the morning. You know when they say new every morning? That's Celeste. I'm the one that's not included, new every evening. You know what I mean? Like the nocturnal vampire for Jesus. You know what I'm saying? Like I'm like, I'm fine. They're like, hey, we're gonna be up at five. I'm like, great, I'll still be awake. That's gonna be great. But if they're like, hey, we're gonna get up at five, I'm like, the Lord bless you. No, you know? You still gotta get up, still gotta do your thing. I'm just not the most chipper, you know? So I need the word of God. I need it to spark my heart. And let me encourage you in this. Sometimes it's the patterns that are the hardest, are the ones that will challenge us the most. And so let me encourage you that you start your day in the word of God every morning. That it would be something that if it's your your paper, paper Bible that you dust that bad boy off, you open it up so it doesn't get dust on it every day, you let it speak to you. And you have that plan where it starts to speak to you in your life. Maybe you're reading from you know the gospels every day, you're reading a proverb, a psalm, maybe you're reading through a reading plan where you're doing the Bible in a year, or you're reading through a certain theme. All of those are good things because they help us to get the word of God inside of us. Maybe, maybe you're not. Maybe you're a digital person. I use my Bible app every day as well, and maybe it's just reading the verse of the day. That's okay, that's all right. But I would say this if you just just the verse of the day, then sit there and ruminate, think about it, let it wash over you. Let it have meaning more than just, oh, that's nice. And then you go to your email or your social media app or whatever you're doing. Let it be something that starts to have a catalyst in your in your life, starts a new pattern for what's going inside of you. Amen? Because what will happen is you'll start to have that perspective with God that changes your attitude for the day. And I can tell you, as somebody who needs the word of God in the day, because it does, I don't start out that way. You know, I can read at night, I'm like, I'm locked in, man. I'm already happy, I'm already going, it's good to go. People are going to sleep, they've been asleep for hours. I'm like, yes. But I need it in the morning, just the same. So let's be those that start our day with God and start those patterns with God. Because if we're going to be those who live with positive patterns, with good habits in our life, it starts first with the word of God because it speaks to us in our spirituality. It's it's a part of who we are in our form and our spirit and our physicality as well. That we need to be those that are having that type of habit as well as the good habits that are going. Now, how are your resolutions going? We're week two, week three of the year. A little dicey. How's the dicey? Is it dicey? I know it's hard because it starts to be those things that that challenge us, that shift us. And I can tell you, you know, there's things that I hear often. It's like, okay, I'm gonna do this or that. One of the ones that I appreciate is people that are like, I'm gonna drink lots of water. Anybody hydration people? You're drinking lots of water, you're like our friend here, she's drinking water. I appreciate that. I think it's great. Pastor Angus, he great, he carries around a small hot tub of water in a jug, and he's like drinking it. I'm like, man, that's good. You have to go to the gym, man. He's just lifting water all the time. I'm like, man, that's great. And I, you know, I'm a little convicted because I'm like, man, I have some coffee, have a little bit of this energy thing and this other stuff. I need some more water. I need that. Maybe you are a person that's like locking in and getting your 10,000 steps. Maybe you're going to the gym. Maybe you're good doing that stuff, and those are good things. You know, it's about right now when all the gyms start to clear out from all the people that started, you know, two weeks ago, and then they forget to cancel their membership for another four months. So if you're just now starting, it's cool, it's gonna clean out. You guys have some space to work out, don't worry about it. But it's interesting as we start to do these things because a lot of us we really are starting, trying to do that journey, trying to really go somewhere and try to ascend to another level in our lives. You can think about it about going up a path and how we would take those steps and progress up something. And it's it's doing something hard, it's setting new patterns in our life, new habits. But I could tell you that sometimes it doesn't feel like this. It doesn't feel like you're getting somewhere. Sometimes it feels like this. It feels like you're walking up the wrong side of an escalator, going the other way. And you're just kind of going in the same place. I can tell you, I've definitely had seasons of that that feel that way. A couple of things that could be something of a help to us and something to reframe us. Obviously, our first and primary is the word of God. That's the real thing that speaks to us, but these things align with it as well. And it's interesting coming from a secular perspective because they speak to us about our patterns, about our habits. The first book that could be a blessing to you is from Charles Duhig. It's called The Power of Habit. And it's really giving us a frame of reference on how we make habits, because how many people know that our decisions come from our habits? And so it's how we change our habits and what that looks like. Another one that's in alignment with that is actually from Angela Duckworth, this book called Grit. And it's talking about give not giving up, but having tenacity, a stick toitiveness, if you will, to stay the course. And what happens whenever you embrace the power of your passion and perseverance in your life to keep going. And it's interesting because these ideas, they're not from a faith perspective, but they come directly from things we would read in the Word of God. In fact, Pastor Craig Richel has a really great book called Winning the War in Your Mind. And this actually does take these concepts and others that parallel them and ties them directly into living your faith, into being those that don't live in the ruts of the past, but that we are going forward in new places that God has for us. And so let me encourage you in that that we reframe our mind to be those that have the mind of Christ, that we have the perspective that he has for us, and that it starts to help us change. That's another book that comes from Pastor Craig Richel. It's called The Power to Change. And I'll challenge you with this and say that that's the very thing, though that is almost like a four-letter word, the word change, right? It's like a curse word almost because it's painful. But, you know, the just the definition of insanity is trying to do the exact same thing and expect different results. So we realize that we have to be those that change, we have to be those that shift, we have to be those that transition to a better pattern, to a better habit. And when we do, and we do that with the mind of Christ, it aligns in our spirit and then it aligns in the other things and other parts of our life. Another great one is from Pastor Mark Batterson. He pastors uh a church in Washington DC called National Community Church, and he has a book called Win the Day. The concept of this book is similar to the others, but it's saying, for today, can you do it for today? And if you can do it for today, then tomorrow you have the opportunity to make the decision to do it for that day too. And when we start to be those that align our lives with God and to take that step in our in our spiritual life as well as the other at parts of our life, the other attributes that we're trying to change, to shift, then it starts to really be some victories, and those small victories compound. And it starts to become a pattern where we're living for God and unto God. A friend of ours, Jason Franny, wrote a book some years ago called Power to Change para Cambiar. And it's the it's one thing that's real powerful. He has it in Spanish as well. He's a he's bilingual and preaches that way. He's a missionary and a pastor uh to Latin America and has a uh a weekly Spanish radio podcast and and uh radio show that he does. Powerful, talking about these very things, about breaking the barriers in your life and about being the one that embraces the power of the Spirit of God to change those things in our life that otherwise feel immovable. How do people know what I'm talking about? See, when we start to ask that question of the Lord and say, Lord, I need your help in a mind shift in a mind change, a shift in my perspective, a change in my mindset. When we do that, it starts to be that first domino that starts the rest of these dominoes going around. And it will really start to change other patterns that we have in our life because it's the small victories. It's that picking up your Bible first thing in the morning thing that starts the process forward on making good decisions. And because it is, then we start out with the mind of Christ instead of the mind of whatever the news agency is pushing us on social media or whatever bad news we might have got in our inbox from work that's gonna happen. Or whatever it is that we're dealing with, we change that mentality. And that daily bread, that start of time, spending time with God starts to change us in our mentality and then in our actions towards the Lord. And that's why we say that we look to the Word of God, because it speaks to us and we pray that the Holy Spirit would make it alive in us. Why? Because if we just read it for the words and we're not getting the narrative, we're not thinking about who's this written to and why is it written to them? Why what are they challenging in this situation? Why are they speaking this way? See, because God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And so when we read the word of God, we see a just God, but who is also merciful. We see a God who made a way for us whenever we didn't deserve it, whenever he had his chosen people and he kept giving them another chance. And we see that he calls us the children of God, that he calls us his sons and daughters, he calls us that. That we can't earn our way into it, we can't do enough good things. How could we? We are fallen people, he is the holy God, the creator. The chasm is so vast if it were not for Jesus who made a way for us. And so whenever we approach the Lord and we we come to Him through Jesus, we're we're getting that connection, that real life relationship with the living God. And it changes our mentality, it starts a new pattern for us. We've been looking to the Word of God in this theme and seeing it speak to us. We've been looking, and if you have your Bible today, it's Matthew 5, been looking at this, and it talks about blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. And I've been praying that blessing over you and over your family. That's been part of my fasting and prayer, is that I've been praying a blessing over you, that you would be blessed in all that you put your hands to do. That in this year the Lord would help you and see that take that step and that you would have rapport with those around you. You'd have favor with those around you. And as the more you become like his character, that you would see the blessing of God being poured out upon you. That blessing that's so rich that sits upon us. And that's why prayer is so important, because prayer is our communication with God. It's our heart after God, is spending time with him. See, he is always there. He's all places, knows all things. You don't catch God by surprise. How many people know that? And we talked about how you don't have to worry about what you're bringing to God because he already knows. Even if you're like, you've never verbalized this to another human being, it's okay because the creator God already knows what's going on. And so when we come to him and when we're focused in this season of prayer and fasting, it's a focus that's saying, Lord, I'm gonna do without something good for something better. As Pastor Celeste said, something awesome, something that really is pivotal. It's it's fuel for our spirit that our soul would thrive. And that's what it is about prayer and fasting. It's not twisting God's arm to do what we want. That's not how fasting works. Instead, what it is is quieting our hearts so we draw near to him. We spend more time with him, and he could speak to us. If you haven't had an opportunity, take out your phone for a second, take a picture of this QR code and let it be a help to you. It's a guide that we're using to help us kind of pray over the same steps. Uh, there's a focus for the day, there's kind of a prayer that's there, some reflections to think about. We'll also have it available on our social media. So if you're following us on Instagram or Facebook or Twitter or the other TikTok and other things, we'll have it there. So you can definitely go and find us there. But it's an opportunity for us to be in step together as we are those who want to have pure hearts before God. Did you get it? Amen. All right. Hey, if we haven't met, my name is Jay, and it's a blessing to be with you here today. And Celeste and I have a great opportunity of leading this community of faith. We're so thankful that we are apart and that together we are on that journey and following Jesus. We talk often how each of us are those like his disciples who are following after Christ. That means that none of us have arrived anywhere. None of us are perfect. So we're all following Christ. Means you can't set up shop, you can't stop and following Jesus because he's gonna keep trying to lead you to where he wants you to go. You need to keep on that journey and following him. That means to become more like his character, to embrace what he's saying. That's why we say, both personally and collectively, we want to be more like Jesus. Say with me, be more like Jesus. Uh we are starting a new series and a new semester of life groups for spring, and so it's starting out in just a few weeks. Let me encourage you to pre-decide to be a part of it. It's an opportunity to connect and build a relationship with friends around us. It's an opportunity to grow in your relationship with God and others, and as well to serve, to use your gifts, your talents, your abilities for God. And so let me encourage you to get involved in that. And I know that what that means is that you're gonna have to give up your time, which is our most precious resource. But in doing so, it will benefit you because that's the very thing we want to do in this life. We challenge people last week. We're saying, listen, hey, you want to build a friend at church, then don't get here late and don't leave early. To which people immediately left early. It's okay. Um but that's how you build a friend is that you hang out and give room, give space to make that opportunity to build a friend. Get involved in a life group, let it be a blessing to you. Together, we love God, we make disciples, we reach the world. Now, looking to this theme called pure, today, as we we continue in that process, we look back to some of the things that God has talked to us about, about being pure in heart. And pure in heart comes as we talk about from the scripture, Psalm 51, the psalmist writes and says, Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, take not your Holy Spirit from me. Friends, we want to have a posture that is after God. That means that we are those who are humble, and as we are humble, he will lift us up. But if we are those who operate in pride, then our pride is what keeps us away from the holy God that we want to draw near to. So, friends, let's be humble. Let's be those that draw near to him with a posture that can approach his heart. It talks about, and we've said already in Matthew 5, that blessed are the pure in heart, so they shall see God. That's our heart. That's what we want to see, is we want to see God in an action in our lives. That's a priority for us. And last week we talked about priorities, about putting our priorities first and not allowing anxiety and stress and the little worries or fires of the day to take priority, but instead to be those who have an alignment with Him. It says in Matthew 6, 21, for where your treasure is, your heart will be also. So that we would be those who have a priority about the things of God and our heart, the baseline for everything that would be priority is our faith first in God. Today we continue with this idea of patterns, looking to Matthew 7. So if you want to open your Bibles there, we're looking at Matthew 7. And here we'll look and highlight verse 12. It says, So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the law and the prophets. Lord, we pray over your word today, asking you to speak to us and through us. Lord, I pray that you would illuminate it in our hearts to become Rhema and alive by your Spirit. Holy Spirit, have your way in us and spark our hearts, Lord, that we would be those that hear from you. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. We're asking that question as I said, what patterns are in your life? Looking there in Matthew 7, as we looked at Matthew 5, Matthew 6, now Matthew 7, looking at those patterns there, we start here in verse 7. So Matthew 7, 7. Let me encourage you to highlight this and the verses following we'll be looking at today, so you can look back to it this week. It says, Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock, and it will be open to you. Verse 8, it says, For everyone who asks receives, the one who seeks finds. The one who knocks, it will be open. This is a powerful word from the Lord. When you say yes to that, you know, we see it because what does it say? It says, Everyone who asks receives. And it calls us to be those who ask. Now, we're not asking for every little thing that we want. What we're asking for is more of God. And as we ask for more of him and more of his presence, more of his spirit, then he speaks to us in a transformative way. He knows what we need. We can bring those things to God. That's very much in the right step. But first, our heart is towards him for more of him. And if we ask for things of the Lord, then it says that he will be the one that pours them out to us. That if we ask, we shall receive. Now it doesn't mean that we'll get to do it in the way that we're used to, which is the drive-thru version of life. So if we ask, he's like, okay. But I'm gonna do that through this process that I'm taking you through right now. And you're like, wait, wait, wait, that's not what I was wanting. God, I just wanted the answer here on the front end with no problems. He's like, cool, cool, cool. But what we're gonna do is we're gonna work this out through your character. Because if not, you're just gonna ask again in another couple weeks whenever you're going back to the same thing. I I need you to learn the lesson to trust me through this process. And I know this because Celeste was asking me yesterday, hey, did you pray for patience? I was like, I'm not trying to say that much. Because how many people know if you pray for something like that, God will give you the opportunity to learn it. And I'm like, she's like, Oh, you you learned it something. I'm like, man, I that was not on my prayer list, I'm pretty sure. But it's good. It's good. Because we're the ones that are there. We're going to ask and we're going to receive. What does it say? It says, the one who seeks finds. And I don't know how many people ever played hide and go seek when you were a kid. Did you ever play hide and go seek? And we love that game. It was funny because later, you know, as adults, uh, when Javen was really little, my oldest son, who's in college, whenever he was little, um, before we were in the mission field, he would play hide and go seek, and he loved to play hide and go seek with his Nana, Pastor Cindy. And they would play, but I'll tell you this you know, we have delusions of grandeur, myself included, about where we can fit to hide as we get a little bit older. Anybody talking about? Whereas when we're young, you know, we fit in every crevice, and Javen was like a spider monkey strong, so you'd be like in the you know, the door frame of something, you know, or you know, ever anybody ever have a friend that were so good at hiding that they would fall asleep in the spot? And then you start to get really concerned because you're like, no, where did you you won? Come out! Where are you? Parents know what I'm talking about, starting flutters. But it's so funny because she would be trying to hide in some place that's ridiculous, and and he would count to whatever he's counting, no, no, I'm ready, I'm coming ready or not, here I come. And he's seeking her, and she would just bust up laughing. She couldn't keep from it. We were laughing, watching them try to play this game. It was insane. And the same was on the other side. She would go to try to find Javen, and she'd be like, Okay, here I come. If he would have a great hiding spot, and then he would just pop out. Here I am, I'm right here. Why? Because he wanted to be found. He wanted to be found. And friends, that's what we see here is that God wants to be found. He wants you to draw near to him. He wants you to find him. And so it says, seek and you will find. What is it talking about? The intentionality of our heart towards God. That we would be those that have an intentionality towards him. Because as we are those who ask, as that we ask for more of him, as we pursue him, we will find him. And then what does it say? It says, knock and I'll be open to you. You think about all these doors and these opportunities we have to make decisions, and each one of them are an option as they open before us that we can decide to do. But I can tell you from my own experience, and maybe you've been here too, that there have been times that I didn't ask for God's guidance. I didn't pray and fast before I made a big decision. I just made it. And then later, as I was suffering with the circumstances from my own decision making, I was complaining to God about the decision that had happened and why he had allowed me to go through that doorway. He's like, Well, gonna have to double back and make a better decision. And I think that's the thing is if we are those who start to figure out that if we ask first, Lord, what door am I supposed to take here? Till open the correct door for us. Now you will know that he'll also keep that other door that you're not supposed to go through closed. And I'm so thankful that that some relationships in my life early on, that some decisions in my life early on, that the Lord was on the other side of the door with like his foot on the door like this, trying to keep me out of that doorway. And I'm trying on the other side, ah, trying to go through there. He's trying to keep me out, like, don't do it, don't do it. And he'll let you go if you want to you want to push your way through and try and kick the door down. Go on with your bad self. Right? But what he wants for you is to knock so he can open the right door for you, so you can go through the right way, so you can be at the right job, so you can be in the right relationship, so you can be in the right circumstances. If we ask, the Lord will give us wisdom. He says, if we lack wisdom, let us ask the Lord, he'll pour out generously upon us. And that's what we're called to do is those who ask of the Lord. Now, it continues here, and it starts to talk about how he is as a good father towards us. In Matthew 7, verses 9 and 10. It says, Which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone, or if he asked for a fish, we'll give him a serpent. Now, I don't know about you for those that are fasting, but this bread that we're seeing in this picture right here, this next photo, man, I tell you, bread is from the Lord. How do you know it's from the Lord? We would walk when we lived in Cairo, when we lived in Alexandria, Egypt, we would walk by, they made Aishbility, it's the bread of the country. They would make it and it's fresh. And you would smell that bad boy. I wasn't even hungry. I even had a plan for dinner. I still bought the bread. How many people know what I'm talking about? You're walking by, you're like, ah, you just take it. And so if somebody is asking you, you're your son, your daughter, they're asking you for this, you're gonna give them that. You're not gonna give them a stone. Actually, Faith, can you help me for a second? Can we have a hand for Faith if she comes to help me for a second? Tell you what. So here's the deal. Faith is a daughter of the house. She's amazing. We know Faith, she's an amazing actress and can sing and do all sorts of stuff. And of course, as a daughter of the house, I would want to give her this local fresh-made bread that was made this morning. I want to give it to you. I want you to have, I mean, I kind of want to keep it though. You know what? I have this other, this is the second place prize. It's called a rock. Here you go. I want you to have this to be blessed and kept. Does that feel right? Feels kind of crappy. Can we say crappy? I don't know. Of course, she is a daughter of the house. We love her, we value her. She's gonna get the bread, right? And that's for me. Here you go. Take it with you. Be blessed. We have a hand for faith. Thank you, Faith. If that's the attitude that we have, if that's what we would do, even whenever we wanted to keep it for ourselves or whatever, how much more would God give it to us? Right? We see the same thing here. It continues and it says, if he asked for a fish, would he give him a serpent? Now we know the story about how Jesus uses fish and fishermen so many times. Why? Because it's right there in the middle of their culture. It's the number one thing that they're living off of in the Sea of Galilee. It's this thing that's very much a part of their everyday life. It's what people trade their time for, it's what people sell and the market has value. It's these two elements. And he said, listen, if you ask for a fish, I'm gonna give you a fish and not a serpent, because the snake is the thing that'll bite you. And we talk about, and there's a parallel throughout scripture, how it says the serpent is the thing that spoke to us in the garden. It's the very thing that tricked us into thinking we could be like God and to making sin against God, it's breaking our relationship with Him. It says that that's the reason Jesus came, is that he would stomp on the head of the snake and be victorious forever. And that's why he uses those same elements of bread and fish in feeding the five thousand. Why? Because it's the local boys' lunch. It's a very much a down-to-earth, nitty-gritty in your business about what you trade your life for, kind of thing. And he's saying, Listen, if that is what I'll if you would do for someone you care about, what would I do for you as your good father? It continues here in scripture. It says that very thing to us. It says, If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him? Friends, he is a good father. He's our creator God that knows you and loves you and values you. He calls us his children. I can't, I can't even fathom. Of all the times that have broken my spiritual father's heart, my father God's heart, when he's corrected me and instructed me, and I've gone against it. And he's forgiven me and given me another chance. And how he wants to still be the one that pours out and gives good gifts to his children. Friends, that's the God we serve. That's the God who loved us so much, He sent Jesus. That's the thing that changes everything for us. That's when we talk about what patterns are in your life, we're coming back to that daily ritual, those everyday decision making, the habits that we live by. It continues here in uh Matthew 7, verse 12. We talked about it before. So, whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them. For this is the law and the prophets. And it's interesting as Jesus says this. We talk about this being the golden rule, do unto others as you would have them do unto you. What is that? That is exactly what we talk about. Be more like Jesus. That means if you don't want people talking about you at work, then you don't talk about your coworker. That means if you want someone to give you a second chance, you give them a second chance. That means because God has forgiven us so much that we're called to forgive. And I'll tell you, all those things are hard. It's so much easier for the venom to run off of our lips and be a snake ourselves than to be someone who gives something of value. It's so much easier for us to react as broken people and broken people hurt people, hurt people. For broken people to break others. But instead, because he has made us a new creation, because he has set us apart, he is the one that's putting us together, that we can act differently. And we could say, I know how you are treating me, but I know how I want to be treated, so I choose to treat you a different way. I choose to turn the other cheek on this circumstance, I choose to go the extra mile, though I don't have to. I don't even want to. But guess what? God is doing something in me because I asked him to help me be more like Jesus. So he's gonna give us the opportunity. It's valuable, it's so valuable. It's like it's more valuable than if they wheeled in, you know, a massive pallet of gold bars, even at$4,000 an ounce, like it is right now. It's more valuable than that. How do I know? Because God uses this stuff to pave the road where he's at. So we are scrambling around for asphalt, and he's saying, Listen, what's more valuable is in you and in your character that's eternal with the Lord. So let's be the difference because if we want to see those things change, we want to see the pattern change. It starts with the small decision that we do it for the day, and then we do it for tomorrow, and then we do it for the day after, and we make those decisions because our patterns start to change everything. So let's recap for a second. The first pattern that we talked about is that we want to be those that ask and seek and knock. Say it with me, ask and seek and knock. That we would be those that ask for more of the Lord, that we seek him with an intentionality, that we would knock and ask for the Lord to give us guidance in the right doors to go through. And that brings us to the second one, which is open doors that he has for us. Say, Lord, I want you to open the door in front of me. And I'm gonna wait for you to open the door instead of try to go down the wrong path and not try to force it. Instead, I'm gonna wait on your timing. Because when I wait on your timing, it's the good thing that I'm really gonna get. So the Lord help us in that. The next one is that we should expect good gifts from our Heavenly Father because He's a good Father. He's not like others that have been around us. Maybe you had a bad experience with a father or father figure in your life. Maybe they broke promises, maybe they didn't do it, they didn't live up to it. That wasn't my experience. I had a good father figure, but even then, he's not perfect. I'm not perfect as a father. Our heavenly father is perfect. And so he wants good gifts for you. He wants to give you the bread, he wants you to give you the fish and not the stone, not the snake. Friends, that's what he has for us. And then we see it here, lastly, in our patterns, is that we're called to do unto others what we they would have them do unto us. That if we want them to live a certain way towards us, that we would be those that respond and live that way towards them first and see the difference happen in our lives. You'd be surprised if you treat the person that's so nasty to you at work with love, man, it just pours that stuff on their head. Because you're like, hi, how are you? They're like, wait a minute. What is going on? Amen. Maybe you're the person that they're avoiding and they're saying hello to you. You never know what's going on there. But if we choose to model our lives after him, to pattern our lives after him, to take this small decision and do unto others. And friends, we can be more like Jesus. And the things around us will change as well. What patterns are in your life? We want to end today with this scripture before we come and respond with this uh song. Joel 2, we've been talking about it's the theme for this process of pure. Joel 2, 12 and 13 says, Yet even now declares the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, with mourning, and rend your hearts, meaning tear them, and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love. He relents over disaster. Friends, as we've been praying and fasting, we've been asking the Lord to intervene in our circumstances and in our mentality and in our perspectives and in our attitude, as we've been asking the Lord to reach those in our family that haven't said yes to Jesus yet. And we've been asking the Lord for our children and our grandchildren to know God. We've been asking the Lord for the prodigal who knew God and ran away from God. Friends, he can do all those things and more as we walk in step with him, as we walk that process with him. Friends, that we would be those who seek to have a pure heart before the Lord. Today, we have this opportunity to ask that, to answer that question: have you embraced Jesus? For us as Christ followers, we've said yes to Jesus. Say, Lord, I believe you are who you say you are. I believe you came and you lived a sinless life, that you became the holy sacrifice of God for all people for all time. And Lord, I place my faith and trust in you. And it's nothing I can do, it's what you have done for me. And so I embrace that. It's by your grace that you've done this on my behalf, and by faith I receive it. And so that's why the symbol of the cross is so pivotal, because Jesus, he took all of the sin of the world, though he was innocent, he took on my sin and my mistakes and my agony and my brokenness. He took yours. And as he went to his death on the cross, he paid for all those things, and those things died with him there. But friends, I have good news for you that he is not dead, but he is risen. He is alive, and so we have a living relationship with the living God. And I can tell you this: that it's because of that that we can make a difference. It's because of that that we can have a countenance and a character that's more like him, because we embrace the sacrifice of Jesus for us. 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. Friends, today, it's your opportunity to say yes to Jesus, to invite him into your heart and life, to start a new relationship with God. I'm gonna ask if you're here in the room, if you just stand to your feet and bow your head as Christians are praying for those that are about to make a decision. Friends online, wherever you're at, take a moment, pause from what you're doing, for what God wants to do in and through your life right now in this moment. Friends, we've been praying for you. We've had people already in this past week that have made decisions to follow Jesus. So encourage you to do the same. As heads are bowed here in the room, if that's you and you'd say, Pastor, I just want to be included in that prayer. I'm gonna sing you out in any way, but I do want to indicate that you're making a decision to follow Jesus today. That's you, you just want to raise your hand wherever you're at and say, That's me. I just want to make a decision to follow Jesus today. I want to invite him into my heart and life. Or maybe I need to recommit my heart to God and that I have made a decision in the past, but that I need to recommit that. We see the hands that are there, other hands that are there. Praise the Lord. Others, friends, wherever you're at, friends online, praise God. I'm gonna ask everyone if they would. They pray this prayer out loud after me. Lord, thank you for loving me. Thank you for sending Jesus. I believe Jesus died on the cross for my sins. I believe he rose again. Forgive me of my sins. I surrender my life to you. In Christ's name I pray. Amen. Amen. Friends, we rejoice at those that made a decision today. Praise the Lord. People that raise their hand in service, love that. Let me encourage you in this: take a moment, take out your phone, take a snap of this QR code that we have for you online, wherever you're at as well, that you want to be successful in living for Christ, and we want to put materials in your hand so you can do so. Friends, today, as we come to this altar, we want to be those that align the patterns of our life with God. We need more of his help. None of us have made it perfect yet. All of us are in process. So we encourage every person to come and ask for more of the Lord. Ask for his empowerment to live for him, ask for wisdom for the right door to be open in this season ahead as you want to thrive in Jesus. Lord, we come to you with our hearts, Lord, open, saying thank you for the word. Thank you, Lord, for challenging, Lord, the words that you spoke to us today that we were able to read, and Holy Spirit, that you breathe upon and make it alive in us. Lord, as we come to your altar, we do so as a response, asking for an impartation of your spirit, asking for you to pour yourself out upon us. Lord, that we would have more of you, Lord, that we would have those patterns and habits in our life that are in alignment with you, with your character and living the purpose and the plan that you have for us in our life. Lord, we give you all the praise and all the glory when we come to this altar in this way, each and every one of us. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
Celeste Brown:Next Sunday, we're gonna have child dedication in both services. So if you would like to participate, you have children that you would like to dedicate, um, you can go on the app or you can go and call the office if you have any questions. But we as a church want to stand with you as you raise your children in the ways of the Lord. And so it's gonna be amazing, both services. You don't want to miss it.
Jason Brown:Amen. Before we go, I want to pray his blessing over us. The Lord bless you and keep you. Lord, make his face 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. What do 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. And then know this. We love you very much here at Cornerstone. God bless you. Have a great week.