Letters: 2 Timothy 3

Ready is not a personality trait, it’s a practiced way of living. We open up 2 Timothy and take Paul’s charge seriously: preach the word, be ready in season and out of season, and keep your faith when the moment is inconvenient. Along the way, we talk about what it actually means to “rightly handle the word of truth” so we’re not twisting Scripture into a feel good quote, but letting God’s Word form a steady, resilient life.

You’ll also hear a moving update from Shiloh about serving with our partners in Thailand, from kids and youth camps to homeless outreach, and a sobering look at ministry connected to the red light district and children impacted by trafficking. Her story puts mission, compassion, and courage in the same frame, and it reminds us that God is moving even in places that feel impossibly dark.

From there, we get practical and personal: fleeing the passions that pull us off course, resisting the trap of “itching ears,” and holding grace and holiness together without sliding into legalism or excuses. We share a simple image that sticks: you can have a whole toolbox nearby, but if you don’t carry the right tool into the moment, you still get stuck. Scripture is meant to be on your tool belt, ready to correct, train, and strengthen you for real life.

If you’re ready to recommit, or to say yes to Jesus for the first time, we make space for that response too. Subscribe for more, share this with a friend who needs a steady word, and leave a review so more people can find the message.

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Transcript

Ready In All Seasons

Jason Brown 0:00

Amen. We ask you to open your Bible, your tablet, your phone this morning. 2 Timothy 4. As we're coming to the conclusion of this series, it's not conclusion of us looking back to Timothy, but definitely is for now. And we want to highlight some of what God is going to be speaking to us today. Our theme for today is ready in all seasons. Stay ready with me. Ready in all seasons. So, Lord, we thank you so much and we pray over this word today, Lord, that as you would speak upon it, you would breathe upon it, it would charge us in our lives, Lord, to live after you. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Now we've been talking about letters and talking about this correspondence of Paul to Timothy and Paul to the early church. And as we look at letters, each and every one of those aspects is pretty important. You know, it gives us the example of how we're to live today, to encourage those who are young to step up in obedience and in faith and to follow after what God has led them to do. You

Missions In Thailand And Baptisms

Jason Brown 1:02

know, that's what we're talking about with our partners at ICA Thailand. You can see an image of what we just saw in the video of them baptizing. This is two Sundays ago, as we were there and getting a chance to be uh with them, and what a blessing to be a part of that. Uh, you know, we got a chance to go and to be there to pick up our daughter Shiloh. And Shiloh was went and was an intern there. Many of you were a part of that story and helping her get there and giving to missions. And I just want to share, have her come and share about what God did in her story just for a few minutes. Please welcome

Shiloh’s Story From The Field

Jason Brown 1:31

to the stage Shiloh. She comes today.

Shiloh Brown 1:37

Well, hello everyone. It's great to see you all. Um, I would just like to start out by saying thank you if you helped supported me. It was an amazing experience. And I'm just so honored to get a share about some of what I gotta experience in Thailand. So, starting out, I got to be a part of three camps there. One was their kids' camp, which was themed about a jungle theme, and it was all about exploring and getting to know God deeper. And that was amazing to see these kids get to go and really be hungry for the presence of God. And then I also got to be a part of an English camp, which helped kids that were trying to learn English, got to also know about God through that. And then the last camp I was a part of was a youth camp, which I just was amazing to see a bunch of generations all in youth on fire for the Lord. So that was an amazing experience. Uh, also, another ministry I got to work with was homeless ministry. And that was uh really heart-changing and eye-opening to see people so thankful and so fortunate just to get um a box of food to eat because they don't get that. And I was amazing to see people just have a smile on their face when you hand them one thing and say Jesus loves you. So that was changing for me. But the ministry that really spoke to my heart the most was when I gotta help with the sealed ministry, which is, if you don't know, is helping people in the red light district who have been introduced to human trafficking and such. And the one I really got to work with was a sealed kids ministry, which is the kids of those people in the red light district, and they get exposed to things every day. Um a lot of it we don't even get to know, and you'll never really know what they go through, but they have to see that constantly every day. And so to get to invite them into a place where they can just feel the love of God and they can feel comfort and feel safe and get to know God, it's amazing because once they come in, they don't want to leave. And it's amazing to see them go from on the streets to come in and getting to learn about God and remember things and remember the scriptures and remember the verses. And so I really just encourage you to pray for Thailand because there are things changing, and I really do believe that God is moving in Thailand. So thank you.

Jason Brown 3:52

Amen. Great job, Shy. So thankful for her, so proud of her and being obedient to God. Um, she was concerned because she's up with tech team today. She's like, I have to have someone cover me to get on stage. I'm like, we're gonna work it out. So I want to say thank you to all of our crew that make everything behind the scenes happen and our tech crew. They're amazing. Don't often get some love, but I love you. I appreciate you. I'm thankful for you. Um, I

Discipleship And Handling Scripture

Jason Brown 4:20

can see this as we looked at the scripture today. We're gonna be jumping from 2 Timothy 2 to 2 Timothy 4. As we go back a few chapters, we start to pick up here at the very beginning, and it says, Then you then, my child, being strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust of faithful men who will be able to teach others also. This is Paul writing to Timothy. Obviously, he's not a child in the way that we would think. He's a young man, but he is his spiritual son. And so he's saying to Timothy, saying, Listen, in the same way that I have modeled to you what it means to be someone who follows after God, you too are called to be someone who lives for God, who lives your full life for God, and teaches others to do the same. You notice that it wasn't something that it's just for Paul to do, that he was the only one that could do it. No, it meant that every single one of us that are on that life with Christ, every single one of us can be someone who models what it means to love God to another person. That's why we believe in the idea of life groups. If it was just, uh, if we didn't believe in life groups, we could never have different leaders across different life groups. No, we want to see people enacted in their faith, taking steps of obedience, being those who step up and say, Yes, this is something. I'll say yes, I'll help other people see Jesus. I want to see people grow in the power of God. Amen. And that's what we see here as it continues in 2 Timothy 2, now in verse 15. It says, Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. You see, what starts to happen here is they're talking about that you would show yourselves approved. So someone who knows the word of God, because the word of God is inside of you. And that's what it means to really handle the word correctly. Any one of us can take a sentence or a scripture and we could spin it with some kind of thought process and make it see lots of things that it really doesn't mean. But whenever you start to get into the word and you put it in context and talk about who it's writing to, from what was happening at that time and why it meant what it meant, it starts to speak to us on a deeper level. It starts to resonate in a way that just as Paul is writing to Timothy here, he's also speaking to us, saying, Listen, if you do the same things, the same things will happen in your life. So if we are those who count ourselves to be approved and we do the things right, we get the word of God and we start to have a hunger for the word of God. It starts to get deep inside of who we are. Then it's not, whenever, whenever someone starts to ask you a question, it's not wrong to not have the answer. I can tell you, I don't have all the answers. But what it is is that we have an understanding of where we can go to get the answer. We have an understanding of we're not fumbling through here and there and understanding the narrative. No, we have spent some time. And what does that mean? That means that as the longer that we stay with the word of God, the longer that we give it, get into the word every day, the more of the word we will know. And it's not gonna be a quiz, I'm not gonna stand up here and be like, who was Hezekiah? When was he king? Go. You know what I mean? You're like, ah, ah, ah, ah, or whatever. But the point is, like, you it it if you start to get the word of God inside of you, it's more about the characteristics of who Jesus is. It's more about the work of the Holy Spirit and into your life. And it starts to use these stories, these examples of living for God. That's what these narratives are that they're shared with us. It's saying, listen, this was someone who had frailty, this is someone who had this issue, this is someone who God took out of a raw state and he started to work in their life and started to shape them and mold them, and he used some circumstances to help bolden them up and make them a little bit more courageous. And to do these things to be obedient after me. Today, friends, as we come to the culmination of the letters, we do so with an intentionality saying, Lord, let it be the same in us. That we would be people of the word, that we would understand that we are charged to be those who also show others what it means to live for Jesus. That it's not just, you know, Pastor Jason's Celeste, you know, example. No, it's every one of us walking this thing out together. It's every one of us accumulatively as the people of God, right? We are the church. This is the church facility. We are the church. And so as we walk wherever we go, the church is out there amongst everyone. And so that's what I mean is that the church is on the school campus because you are the church and you're on the campus. And you are you're at your workplace because you are the church and you're at your workplace. And you are in your community because you are the church and you're in the community. So, friends, let's be the kind of church that people can see Jesus in us and not some kind of other agenda that would otherwise try to monopolize us. Amen.

We Are The Church Everywhere

Jason Brown 9:22

If we haven't met, my name is Jay. It's a blessing to be with you today here at Cornerstone. We very much see ourselves in people in need of a savior. And just like I was talking about, we see ourselves that every single one of us needs to follow Jesus where he's leading us to go. And I use this imagery often because I want you to get it. That you are someone who's following after Christ like I'm following after Christ. And we collectively are following him where he is leading us. None of us have arrived anywhere. It's easy once you've been a Christian for a while to think like you've arrived and you are the Christian. Friends, no. If you're there, guess what? You're behind because Jesus is still going and leading you somewhere. So we need to be those that are headed after him. Our ambition is to be more like Jesus. And I can tell you, there will be opportunities every single week for you to learn that you need to be more like Jesus. Every person that's shared this summer was sharing about how as they got ready to come up and share a piece of scripture or something, that they were wrestling with it, or that they had something go on in their life that was trying to derail them from focusing on what they're about to share. I go, uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh. Yep, yep. They're like, have you ever had that happen? Mike, every week. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, totally. Why? Because none of us are perfect. We all need to be more like Jesus. So that's why we love God. It's why we make disciples, it's why we reach the world. See, we want to see our congregation and we want to see the world know Jesus. It's the beauty of the tapestry of every culture and every language before the throne of God, exalting who He is. In just a few weeks, we're gonna start a new series of life groups, and I want to encourage you to get a part of them. We, it's why we do what we do is that we want to connect and grow and serve. And so I mean we challenge you to be someone who says yes to that, that gets involved and builds a friendship, that you get involved and you grow deeper in your love for God and your knowledge of the word, and that you would be someone who uses your time and your talent for God. Amen. Now, we're continuing today in this theme of letters. Now, we were looking just recently at 2 Timothy 1, and it was said this to us this last week, for God gave us a spirit not of fear, but power and love and self-control. Would you say amen to that? We talked about how we are people that are already victorious in Jesus Christ. That we're not waiting to become victorious. No, we're fighting from a place of victory already. And since that's true, then we see what it talks about as Paul is writing to the church at Philippi, I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. And we see that, and we talked about what it means to have that fire burn inside of us, that that passion to burn inside of us for the Lord and for our faith, to be those that don't let the fire go out in our life after God. But instead, we burn bright so we could be an example and we can show what it means to have a testimony after God to others. And they'll see the power and the spirit of God inside of us, and they'll say, Hey, I want to know God like you know God. Amen. So today we're continuing in that idea. We're

Be Ready To Preach The Word

Jason Brown 12:49

starting here with 2 Timothy 4, and we're starting in verses 1 and 2. As it says, I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, by his appearing and his kingdom. Preach the word. Be ready in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke, and exhort with complete patience and teaching. Excuse me. Be ready in every season. Be ready in every season. Be ready in all seasons. Friends, we are called to be those that are ready for what God is preparing us to do. We can't wait. We can't wait around for it. Sometimes we get so ready that we're kind of like ready to go. We're like, God, when are you gonna do it? He's like, I am doing it. Stay the course. I am doing it. Continue to be ready. Now, as we look at letters, it starts to talk about to this from these perspectives, saying exactly what Paul is continuing to talk about. He's talking about being someone who stays connected to the identity of Christ. And that we're called to be those that don't get caught up in the mess of this world, in the in the culture of this world that would draw us away from God.

Flee Passions And Pursue Christ

Jason Brown 14:12

So in 2 Timothy 2, he's speaking to Timothy, saying this, So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. Wow. Wow. What is it saying? As the word starts to unveil itself to us, as we get into the word here, he's saying, Listen, as the things I have written to you, as you know the gospel and what Jesus taught us to do, we're called to flee all these other things that would pull us away. That's the whole beginning of Proverbs as well. He's saying, Listen, my son, pay attention. Don't go do these other things that will make your life a wreck. So as we see the word start to wash over us, as we get into the word, it starts to teach us who we are called to be. Those fleeing these other passions that mean nothing. They're of the world and of the things of the world. It's status and relationship and these other things that we would chase after. No, he's saying, no, seek first the kingdom of God. And as we do, then it's a high bar of the things that we're called to pursue. What are we called to pursue? We're called to pursue righteousness and faith and love and peace. This is not an easy list. How'd you guys do with the first one? You guys doing you righteous all the time? You doing pretty good? Should we ask someone that lives near you or with you? They're like, are they righteous all the time? And they're like, You know, doing the lightning strike step. You guys know that one where you just take one big step over here just in case they decide to lie and God strikes them down. You know what I'm talking about? The Lord help us. All of us fall short. It continues here in 2 Timothy 3 with the same kind of concept. It starts to talk about what these people are doing whenever they pursue these other passions. And it gives a huge list. It says, for people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving God, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Friends, we want to hang out with this list for just a second before we move on. And think about all the places where you and I, where this list applies to us. Think about the stories that you've lived where you've made the decision and you were exactly on this list. So many of us are. And it's not because we're not trying to get out of this. The point is that we have a sinful side of who we are that will fight to keep its place. Fight for the control in your life. And that's what we say so often is we need to give that control over to God. Because if not, then this is the characteristics that are going to try to fight you, try to control you. Man, here in our own neighborhoods, right here in Litchville Park, such a brutal report of someone who will obviously allow these things into their life to commit such heinous crimes against their own parents. In the same thing of people that get isolated and tore apart is you hear about these things situations with teachers and what's going on, and you're like, what is happening? I can tell you what's happening. This list is happening right here. This list is happening. And why? It's because if we don't check this list, if we don't, if we don't come back to God, if we don't understand that our that we're broken and we need to keep on recentering back in Christ, then this list will take hold in us and break us. This list will take why? Because it's so easy to be those who want to fight self-control and want to be treacherous and reckless and do our own thing and live love ourselves and love money and love pleasure. Why? Because it feels good and we can taste it for the moment. It is fleeting. It has no eternal value. And friends, I could tell you as someone who is wrapped up in myself that this is the thing we have to fight for, that we would be free in the name of Jesus Christ. That we allow the work of the Holy Spirit to go in and through our lives so that this list would not identify in us and that we could walk according to what He's called us to. We are called to be those that avoid bad company. And what it means is not that we wouldn't love people or that we wouldn't interact with them, it means that we wouldn't tie our life to them. Man, one of the hardest decisions for me in my life is when I got serious about Jesus was cutting the ties on some relationships because they couldn't handle that I wanted to live for God. Why? Because I was the guy that showed up with the stuff for the party. I was the guy that was always ready to kick it off. I was always the guy who was ready to go to the next level. And whenever I started to radically change my life for God, they were like, where whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa. What's going on with you, man? And I'm like, listen, I'm down to hang out. Like, I'm here, but I'm not gonna be doing that stuff anymore. And they couldn't disconnect my actions from who I was as a person. They thought that I had to be someone who was wasted or this or that or the other thing in order to be their friend. Why? Because suddenly the conviction of the Holy Spirit who was inside of me was all in their business. Not me. I wasn't in their business. I wasn't saying, oh, you gotta stop doing this, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I didn't even need to do that. I just showed up and they were like, mm-mm, mm-mm, mm-mm-mm-mm. Why? Because the light of the Holy Spirit was on them like he was on me. He's showing my frailty, and I'm trying to work on it. He's showing their frailty, and they're trying to hide in a bottle or in a substance or in a thing, and they don't like it. And neither did I. Whenever I was in that same place. Why? Because someone full of the light of the gospel walk in my space, and I was like, yo, nope, no, no, no, no. Trying to hide, right? Even worse. Go back on that list one time, guys. What if we looked like we were holy, but we're really not? What if we are faking it so other people think we're holy, but we have no power from the Spirit of God? Friends, what a hollow thing. What a sham of a life to live. You're both not enjoying any of the frivolity and pointlessness of the world, and you don't have the power to live for God. You are a hollow shell in the middle. Friends, let's not be either of those things. Let's be full of the power and the presence of the Almighty God. So when we say avoid those kind of relationships, avoid bad people and bad relationships and bad company, then that means that we are called to be those that whenever we are around people, that we need to have consistency of character. So it makes a difference whenever we're becoming the light of the gospel around us. Amen? Let's look to the

Scripture Trains And Corrects Us

Jason Brown 21:39

word. It continues here and says Second Timothy 3 16, now going to chapter 3. All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped, equipped for every good work. Work. Man, I love this. I think it's so powerful when we look at the words of God, when we look at the scripture, as we start to go into the word and it starts to speak to us, that we understand that it can be the correction for us. It can teach us, it can be all those things. It starts to direct us. And we'll unpack a little bit of that, what it means for us. Apply it. We're called to be those that apply the word of God to our lives. As that scripture said, what does it say? It says that it's good for teaching. It's good for reproof. It's good for correction. It helps us stay in alignment with who God is. Have you ever got into your work, your passion after God, and your fire after God? Some people they get very religious and strict on one side. That's one side of what people do. Is they're they're going after the holiness of God. So we appreciate that. But they're going after this. So everything, everything is a sin. You are not wearing a suit and tie today. It is a sin. Everything is a sin because we are not holy enough for God. Make sense? The other side of it is grace, grace, grace, super grace. But then there's no standard to live for God. And see the thing is, it's not either or, it's and both. We're called to live as those who are holy, and it's not about your clothing, your appearance, it's about your heart after God. And so it's this and it's this. And living and understanding the grace of God and the love of God and the passion to live for God is all a gift that He's done for us. We can't earn our way in. So it's not being holy enough and trying to be holy enough, and it's not living however we want, and God's going to be okay with it. No, friends, it's walking close to his heart, applying it so that the word of God stays true in its form in our lives. It continues, the other thing we're called to apply is it says it's like good for training in righteousness and equipping for us. That's why we when we read about what the weapons are that we battle with, it's so much of it is preparatory in our heart and mind. And then the weapons are our faith in God and the word of God, which is our weapon against the enemy. So if you don't know the word of God, then it's hard to have a weapon against the enemy when he starts to lie to you about who you are and about what your value is. But whenever we have the word of God in us, it starts to change everything. 2 Timothy 4, it says, I charge you in the presence of God in Christ Jesus. And it says, what does it say? It says, by his appearing in his kingdom, preach the word. Be ready in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with complete patience and teaching. When I read this list and I'm thinking about it countering all that other list that we saw, to me, it reads like tools available for us to work with. And I'm

Carry The Tools You Need

Jason Brown 24:57

thankful for that. And then just uh the other day, they're both not in here, they're both servants somewhere else, but Angus and uh Pastor Angus and Gavin came and helped. Uh we came in. It's usually our day out from the office, but we came in because we needed to move a refrigerator out of the kitchen. Our refrigerator had died. We needed a new refrigerator, so we waited forever, forever, forever. Barbara's like, please, for the love of the Lord God in heaven, can we please get a refrigerator? And I finally caved and said yes. To which they delivered it, and we don't have a forklift, we don't have any of these other things. I needed those two strong men to help me unload this bad boy from a crate. And as we got it over to where we were going, we realized that the refrigerator we were bringing outside is a quarter inch too tall to go through the door. A quarter inch? We know because we checked a bunch, and then we tried to push it through anyways. You guys know what I'm talking about? Because it's only a quarter inch. It doesn't matter that it's made of steel and that the thing is made of steel and that everything's industrial and we're gonna have to repaint the thing. It doesn't matter. Let's push it through there. But our tools currently are in the back of this building, and we're functioning over here out of the kitchen, and I can tell you that it felt like we have every tool that we need, but somehow we didn't have the tool we needed in our hand. So there's a big difference between the tools that you have access to and the tools you have on your tool belts. See, you could be up a ladder without the tool, and you can't fix the problem even though you're there to fix the problem. You can be the person that's working on something. We had to take apart door assemblies and we got it done, friends. There is a new refrigerator in there. And we didn't scratch the new one and the other one. It is with the Lord Jesus. But I could tell you that eventually between myself and Pastor Angus and Gavin, I was like, Gav, can you? He's like, I'm on it. He just go get the new tool. You know, I'm like, can you grab us this other tool that we didn't get the last seven trips that we took over to the tool area? I wonder how many times that if we really paid attention and really took the tools with us that the scripture has. See, the tools are all here. It's all right here, it's all in the scripture. It's all right here. You have access to a tool chest right there, bam, at your house with you on your desk at work, wherever it is. And we're like, I don't have any tools. He's like, they're right here. Here they are. But what we have to do is we have to be able to put them into our lives so we can get a hold of them. And we start to work with it, we start to be able to do that. Why? Because our natural heart, our natural life will want to pull us to be lovers of money and lovers of pleasure and all these things and conceited and evil and bad. Be bad company. But we, if we have the tools on us, then we can be those that are actually able to work by faith on the things that God has given us to do. Amen. Amen. Let us be people that are applying

Truth With Patience Not Myths

Jason Brown 28:03

these things. So, what does it say? It says that we're called to be ready. First and foremost, it says that we are called to be ready to preach the word. And I love this. You know, there's obviously a sentence that we talk about. It says that we should be those that live for God and preach, preach the word of God. If necessary, use words. What they're talking about is your lifestyle, your decision making aligns with it. But I will also tell you, you need to preach the word, because it is here in the scripture. And it talks about using how can they have a life change unless they hear the word of God, Paul writes in another letter. And we can see the same thing here. So, what am I saying to you that everyone needs to come and be on stage? No, I'm saying is that in everything we do, in the way we live for God, and then when we get to share our testimony, that we have the boldness to share our testimony. And that it's aligned with the word of God. It doesn't just a feel-good version. No, it's really the word of God. And what that happens is that when we share the word, it starts to transform a person's heart and life. Why? Because it's not just my opinion, it's not just my story, it's the word of God that's impacting someone's life. So we need to be ready. Also ready to be those that reprove and rebuke and exhort. Remember, first things first, that applies to us in our own life first. It's the first level. That we need to be those that understand that we're applying this to us. We very much like to be those that tell it to other people on what they should be doing. But I could tell you, as anyone who stands up here, is that all these messages need to apply to me first before they ever come on my mouth to you. And it's the same thing in anything that we do is if we're going to be someone that comes along to reprove or correct or to bring adjustment to, to be those that rebuke or bring correction to in love, it better be out of relationship. It better be out of your character and God and loving that person, not wanting to lord over them or have some kind of hierarchy or some kind of a platform. Friends, if you do that, there's a double, there's double the amount of the responsibility that's on you. So you have to be someone who's walking correctly, ready to do what God has asked you to do. Ready with patience and teaching. Wow, what a combo. Patience and teaching. Man, shout out to all our teachers in the room. God bless you, anoint you for a new semester in season. Because I know as the semester wanes on, that's why they put breaks, so you can reset all of your patience. Because your patience wears thin and you're like, I'm only two weeks in. You know, I can relate, but I understand. I'm praying for you. Seriously, though, it's man, when we have the patience, then the teaching goes a lot better. Because when we don't have the patience and we get short in the fuse, then people can't usually receive the teaching. Because the teaching it falls back because they can't receive the way it was presented to them. Man, whenever we say something and it's mean or it's ugly, it may even be true. But if you say it in the wrong way, it'll never be received correctly. So let us be those that are ready with patience to be those that are sharing in what God has done in us. Second Timothy 4, 3 and 4 says, For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers who suit their own passions and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. Friends, I could tell you I'm someone who enjoys reading about conspiracies like everybody else. But you got to put your tinfoil hat on and protect your mind from that and have the mind of Christ. Because if we get wrapped up in this stuff of this world, we'll be no good for God. Why? Because we'll get wrapped up in every kind of thing and we're like, oh, everyone's out to get us. They might be. But you know what's passing away? All of this earth. You want that's not is God in his kingdom. And I know where we all belong is to God and to his kingdom. So, yes, we do want to walk out this thing and be good stewards of what God has given us. We want to be involved and use our voice to see other people understand the freedom and the love of God. We want to be those that are active with the people around us. All those things are good. But if that becomes our God, then everything crumbles. And if we chase after all these things, then we'll never have time and focus on God. So we're called to be those that align with Him and listen to what God is saying. We don't want to be those that just chase after what people are telling us that we want to hear. But we need to listen to the truth. That means that we need to listen to the word of God as it lovingly challenges us. We're called to be those that listen to the truth. Let's not get caught up in just some kind of feel-good situation. There's lots to feel good about. Jesus has already won everything, friends. There's lots to feel good about. It's not that at all. The idea is that we want to be those that understand it's not just that. We also need to stay the course and keep our character after God and do the hard work to live for God. We need to be those that meditate on the word of God day and night. Let it flow in us and through us and over us. Transform us. 2 Timothy 4 5 says, But as for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of the evangelist, fulfill your ministry. I like this. It's an always statement. Always be doing these things. Always be sober-minded, always be enduring, always be evangelizing. What does that mean? Just sharing your testimony? That's what it means. Sharing the love of God, being someone who encourages. Always be about these things. Why? Because these things hinge back to who we are in Christ. And it says here in 2 Timothy 4, 7, and I love this concept, as Paul is writing to Timothy. He says, I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. Friends, as we think about a long marathon, as we think about a race, and that's exactly what Paul had experienced in his roller coaster of a life after God. He's saying, Listen, I continue to go after God. I continue to go after the way of Christ, even though I've been in chains, even though I've been shipwrecked and stoned and left for dead and snake bit and all these things that have happened to me, I am still staying the way of God. I'm going to finish the race. I'm going to give my last full effort of exertion towards living for God all the way to the end. Till I meet him face to face. That I'll continue after the things of God. Friends, today we're reminded to pursue the things of God. We're reminded to avoid those things that are not of God. We're called to be those that apply the word of God to our lives and listen to what the word says to us in all seasons, in all things, we are called to be ready. Ready for what God wants to do in your life, ready for what God wants to do through your life. Because when we are ready, he can use us as a tool in his hand and see many people know the love of God.

Salvation Prayer And Altar Response

Jason Brown 35:58

Today, as we come to the altar, we do so with an intentionality, understanding that every single one of us has to answer that question of have you embraced Jesus? See, for us as Christ followers, the cross is so pivotal because the cross is the place where Jesus took all of our sin and all of our shame, all of our mistakes. He took them to himself, upon himself, and as he died on the cross, all of that sin and all of that brokenness was paid for once and for all. That we don't each have to go and do that. That's what we had to do before is make sacrifice to God for every one of our sins and everything we had done. Instead, Jesus comes all the way to us, and he becomes that sacrifice instead of us. He takes all the weight of that sin upon himself, and he paid for it so that we could be reconnected in our relationship with the Father. The Apostle Paul, he writes to the church in Rome, he 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 is your opportunity to say yes to God, to invite him into your heart and life. 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 head as Christians are praying. Friends online, wherever you are, take a moment for what God wants to do in your story today. You know, for each one of us, we have to answer this question of are we going to embrace Jesus? No one can make it for you. It's your decision alone. And so today, as Christians are praying, each one of us has already made this decision ourselves. Maybe you're here in the room and you'd say, Pastor, I've never made the decision before. I've never invited Christ into my heart and life. Today, friends, is your opportunity to say yes. Or maybe you're here and you have made a decision like that in the past, but you haven't been living for God. And so you need to recommit your heart and life to Him today. Friends, that is available to you. And today, as we ask that question, if that's you and you want to make a decision to follow Jesus today, if you just raise your hand right where you're at. Say, Pastor, that's me. I just want to indicate that I want to invite Christ into my heart and life today. I want to make a decision to follow Jesus. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord, as people make a decision to see hand and hand in a hand in a hand that's there. Others that are making decisions today, thank you, Jesus. Friends online, wherever you are, as you're making a decision to follow Jesus. I'm gonna ask everyone to 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. I made a decision to follow Jesus today. People that raise their hand, praise God. Hey, if that was you, take a moment, take a snapshot of this QR code that's right here. I just want to give you something into your hands so you can have some tools to live for Jesus. As we come to this altar today, we have this opportunity to say, Lord, I want to be ready for what you want to do in my life. So maybe we're someone that when we saw that big list, we identify things in our own life that we are dealing with. Or maybe you're not dealing with that list, but we just want to have the power to live for God. If that's you, then I would encourage every person to come and make an altar with God. As we had during this song, we just get to worship Him and we seek more of His impartation. Let's pray. Lord, thank you so much for this word today. And we thank you, Lord, how you challenge us. Lord, how you speak to us. Lord, as we come to this altar today, Lord, we do so seeking more of who you are, more of your spirit and anointing. Lord, more of you in our lives. Lord, we thank you for what you're doing in our story. We want to be those that are ready for what you want to do in and through us. So, Lord, impartation is what we ask for of your power and spirit, even now. Lord, as we come to this altar, we pray this in the powerful name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Celeste Brown 40:43

We are about

Announcements And Closing Blessing

Celeste Brown 40:44

to have a party with the pastor as soon as the service is done. If you have been a guest of ours for the last several weeks and we have not met you or our team has not met you, we would love to introduce ourselves, get to know you. If you have children that are in the nursery or kids' ministry, please go and get them first. You're gonna meet us on the east side of the building down this hallway. Come. It will just take a few moments of your time, but we would love to say hi.

Jason Brown 41:07

And next week we're celebrating 40 years of Cornerstone. It's an amazing thing. Praise the Lord. Hey, it's gonna be a special service. We're having our normal service time, special service. We have Pastor Jeff uh Peterson, who's superintendent for our network of churches here in Arizona. It's gonna be a special guest speaker with us, as well as getting a highlight to see over time God's faithfulness here for 40 years of Cornerstone. So bring a friend, invite them. It's gonna be dynamic day. You're really gonna love the word that Pastor Jeff brings, and it's gonna be a challenge because we're gonna provide sugar as you leave. So it'll be really good. Before we go, we want to pray this blessing over us. The Lord bless you and keep you. Lord, make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. Lord, lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Lord, I pray a blessing upon your church, your people. Lord, you empower us by your Spirit to live your love out to those around us. We pray this in the powerful name that is Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. Know this. We love you very much, Eric Cornerstone. God bless you and have a great week.