March 10, 2025 • 39 mins
"Jesus is Lord" - three simple words that carry life-changing power when truly embraced. But what does this declaration really mean for our daily lives?
In our journey through Philippians, we discover how this proclamation transforms both our personal character and our impact on the world around us. From the streets of Bangkok's red light district to our local community outreach through Mercy House, we witness how declaring Christ's lordship brings tangible freedom to the spiritually oppressed and practically serves "the least of these" with dignity and hope.
The apostle Paul's letter to the Philippians stands out among his writings as uniquely positive - thanking them for their consistency in faith and sacrificial living. We're challenged to follow their example by adopting the mind of Christ, who though divine, humbled himself to the point of death on a cross. This radical humility stands in stark contrast to our culture's celebration of self-promotion and achievement.
Perhaps most challenging is Paul's call to "do all things without grumbling or disputing" so we might shine as lights in a dark world. When life squeezes us through difficult circumstances, what comes out? Complaints or the love of Christ? God is still working on each of us, chiseling away what doesn't reflect His character.
Whether you've walked with Jesus for decades or are considering following Him for the first time, this message invites you to make Jesus the true Lord of every aspect of your life - your relationships, your work, your attitudes, and your future. Because when we hold fast to Him through every circumstance, we experience the freedom, purpose and joy that comes only through His lordship.
Ready to experience what happens when Jesus is truly Lord of your life? Join our community as we learn to live out this powerful declaration together.
Cornerstone
https://www.cornerstoneaz.org/
Follow Jesus
https://www.cornerstoneaz.org/follow-jesus
Life Groups
https://www.cornerstoneaz.org/life-groups
Giving
https://cornerstoneaz.churchcenter.com/giving
Church Center App - Download then add Cornerstone Christian Center in Avondale, AZ
iOS
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/my-church-center/id1357742931?mt=8&ls=1&ign-mpt=uo%3D4
Android
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ministrycentered.churchcenter
----
Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/cornerstoneaz
Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/cornerstoneaz.org
Twitter
https://twitter.com/cornerstoneaz.org
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Jesus is Lord.
Say it with me Jesus is Lord.
So that's a powerful statementand it's one that we live out
every day.
You know, a few weeks ago I wasin Bangkok, thailand, and we
were with a group of pastors andthere with some of our
missionary friends, and we werewalking through the red light
district and I'll tell you,there's a heaviness, a spiritual
(00:24):
oppression that's to a placelike this, because it's a place
where there's been so much it'sbeen stolen from people as
they've been forced into sexslavery, and so much that's been
done there by people who areinnocent and been forced into a
life where they trade theirphysical sexuality for a dollar
and then they do it again and doit again and we see this
(00:46):
innocent that's stripped fromyoung children, from boys and
girls and others that's beenstolen from them as they're
forced in this lifestyle.
And as we walked the streetsyou could feel that burden,
you'd feel the heaviness thatwas there and we just began to
pray and proclaim that Jesus isLord and proclaim freedom for
these that are in this lifestyleand come against the spiritual
(01:09):
realm that's behind thoseactivities, behind that mindset,
and what we've seen is thatthose prayers are being answered
.
There's a place that was justbehind this, right behind me as
I was standing taking this photo, and it was a place that had
been there for decades.
It was dark and dismal.
It was a place where it wasfull of the worst kinds of
(01:29):
things, where young boys andgirls were being being
trafficked and and instead theperson that was running it said
that we'll never, we'll never goout of business, it'll never be
taken down.
But the church began to prayand they would walk and they
would pray and they wouldinteract with people in those
places and let the people knowthat are even in that lifestyle,
you are valuable and God lovesyou and you have a purpose in
(01:50):
your plan for your life, and sothey would interact with them.
They would talk with the madamsthat are running these brothels
in these different places andtell them how God loves them and
show them that, with the lassotruck, which we heard about in
January, and some of thesethings that interact, and what
we found out was that Godstarted to answer these prayers
in this dark, terrible place.
It was actually torn to theground and they put up a
(02:11):
high-rise apartment for studentsin the place of.
That.
It's amazing.
And so God is answering prayersand, as you can see, even these
hanging lanterns over the street, what would be an otherwise
very beautiful place has such adark purpose and though it's
clean in the early morning, whenwe were walking it, at night it
would be full of people andtrying to entice and do all of
(02:33):
this thing, and so we began towalk and just pray and ask for
the Lord, for breakthrough, andit's amazing to partner with
people who are good soil, thatare serving those in the least
of these, and we know what thatmeans.
That's why we give to kingdombuilders, because we believe in
those that are doing this typeof work.
And and so we went and we had achance opportunity to be there
and to to walk those streetswith them and to partner with
(02:55):
them and to see what it is thatthey're doing.
And and see Pastor Bridget asshe began to explain each one of
these, and she was talkingabout each place and talking
about the relationships they'vebuilt over years of serving with
them and how many people havecome out of that lifestyle
because of the value they found,and they've helped them get a
new skill set that establishes anew life for themselves and
(03:17):
they've given them a new futurebecause they find the freedom
that's found in Jesus Christ,and it's a powerful thing.
And as we looked at some of thesigns, we would see man, it's
just man, level on level, onlevel, each one of those being a
brothel, each one of themtrying to entice a different
traveler, a Japanese golftraveler, a Korean businessman
or a Western traveler and eachone of them trying to entice
(03:39):
them to bring them in.
And what she's found is that,even in loving the people that
would come for those services,loving the Johns that would come
in or the women that would comein for these services, what
they found was breakthrough intheir lives as well, where
people would come and they wouldbe there and the most
despicable type of things thatthey would participate in, but
they would just show them theloving kindness of God with
(03:59):
consistency, and that they foundbreakthrough where those people
are no longer coming anymoreand they've stopped that life
and stopped those things andperpetuating the darkness that's
there.
We're finding freedom.
That's in Jesus Christ.
Friends, that's the value thatGod has for you and for your
life.
He has a plan and a purpose foryou.
It doesn't matter your past, itdoesn't matter what your
(04:20):
current circumstances.
He wants to see you live inspiritual freedom.
He wants to see you have abetter future than your past.
He wants to see you live in thepeace of God.
That is for you and for yours,that your family would know the
blessing of God and would knowthe hand of God upon it.
That's what we have in ourheart as well, is that we would
be those that serve the Lord.
(04:43):
I mean, for 30 years Mercy Househas been serving our community.
Aren't you thankful for MercyHouse?
Amazing.
So many people in the room makeMercy House possible.
Came out of the heart of MikaArradondo and Pastor Rich and
Cindy as they partnered togetherto make the Mercy House exist
as it is, and so many othersthat have come along for the
(05:03):
years of making it possible.
And you give in clothing andyou give in food and so many
others that have come along forthe years of making it possible.
And you give in clothing andyou give in food and in support
and your tax donation to helpMercy House go.
And we were there yesterday.
People were getting a chance toget clothes they needed for
this season and getting a helpin that way, people were getting
food that they needed for theirfamily.
And we want to say thanks toDave and Monica and the team
(05:26):
that served week in, week out,man, helping people find the
nutrients, the sustenance theyneed.
And it's a tangible way for usto show the love of God and, in
a way, for us to sacrifice, in away that connects with them.
And I want to say thanks toJoelle and I want to say thanks
to Scott and the team thatactually go out and not just be
that way but are proactive inpraying for our unhoused
(05:48):
community, the homelesscommunity, bringing them food
and bringing them differentkinds of bags that are made
specifically for them, some ofthem with feminine products and
others and man.
We were able to engage withthem, give them a water, give
them food and these differentpieces and pray with them that
they would experience God'spresence and talk with them
about trying to give them theright tools so that they can
(06:10):
exit that life.
And it's powerful.
I mean we were there praying forpeople living behind dumpsters
in our very community andfriends.
This is the thing is thatthey're trying to make ends meet
, they're trying to survive,trying to press through, and
what we want to see is not justthem survive but them to thrive
in a life in God where they haveall those needs being met.
(06:30):
And more than that, it waspowerful getting a chance to
hear some of these stories andgetting a chance to talk with
them and pray with them and say,hey, what's your story?
And we sat for minutes andtalked with different ones and
Linda and I got a chance to talkwith this individual and they
were sharing their story with usand about everything they're
going through.
It was powerful time becausewe're sharing together and
(06:54):
talking about what that is,because you value someone as a
person, not just as somebody whoyou pass by, but having worth
and value that comes from God.
Friends, this is what happenswhenever you start to make the
Lord, when you make Jesus Lordof your life, because he's not
just Savior saving you out ofdifficulty, but he's one that is
(07:14):
motivating your actions to lovebeyond yourself, to love others
, so that whenever you proclaimJesus is Lord, you're
proclaiming freedom, you'reproclaiming his Lordship of your
life.
You're proclaiming freedom.
You're proclaiming his Lordshipof your life, you're
proclaiming a future that'sbetter than your past, because
you're proclaiming his glorythat he would be glorified, amen
.
So we say collectively Jesus isLord.
(07:34):
Say it with me Jesus is Lord.
We've been talking about thisnew theme, philippians.
We started last week and it's apowerful one.
It's a positive book.
Out of the letters that arewritten, the epistles from Paul
to the church.
In his missionary journeys,paul started all these different
churches, and many of them verydifficult circumstances.
Right, it's in the Roman empire.
(07:56):
They're believing all sorts ofother gods and practicing those
deities, and so it's verycounter-cultural to live for
Jesus and to place their faithand hope in Christ.
And so he starts to challengethe actions of the church, as
they were stepping away fromliving for God and they're
actually living against thatperspective.
So many of the writings that weread are pretty challenging.
(08:16):
It feels like a slap in theface how many people know what
I'm talking about?
And then others, like when youget to the Philippians, it feels
like an embrace because he'ssaying thank you so much for
your consistency, thank you foryour life after God, thank you
for being ones that sacrifice tosend the gospel message onwards
, and thank you for supportingme, even as I'm in prison in
Romans, writing to you, thankyou for supporting and living a
(08:39):
life of sacrifice.
And see friends.
That's what we want to be saidabout us is that we are those
who are consistent in our faithand are living the love of God.
To other people.
You say amen.
You know, we also see ourselvesvery much here at Cornerstone as
people who are not perfect.
All of us are in need of aSavior, so we see ourselves on a
journey with Christ, followingJesus where he's leading us to
(09:01):
go.
So we use this imagery ofChrist walking with his
disciples because we realizethat none of us have arrived.
All of us are still followingJesus where he's leading us to
go, and that means that we arein process and then, until we
see him face to face, that we'renot finished, that he's still
working on us, and so ourambition is to be more like
(09:24):
Jesus and that's why,collectively, we love God and
make disciples and reach theworld.
And I wanna challenge you inthis that you would take this
and make it intentional in yourlife that you would join in a
life group.
It's beyond our gatherings ofour faith community here.
It's throughout the week,throughout the city, and it
meets in lots of differentplaces and lots of different
ways, but it's intentional andfor you to take that step closer
(09:45):
to God in this season, that youwould connect, you would grow,
you would serve the Lord and youwould stretch that he wants to
do in and through your life amen.
Now, if you have your Bible,your tablet, your phone, we're
gonna look to Philippians 2,where we're picking up today in
the scripture Philippians 2, wewe're picking up today in the
(10:17):
scripture Philippians 2, we'regoing to start in verse 9 as a
starting point, and then theearth and every tongue confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord to theglory of God, the Father.
Lord, we thank you for yourword.
We pray over it today.
We pray Holy Spirit, you'd makeit alive and rain on, breathe
(10:37):
upon it.
Lord, you transform us in ourcharacter.
Lord, to be more like you.
We pray this in the name ofJesus Christ, amen.
Looking to this idea that Jesus, lord, to be more like you.
We pray this in the name ofJesus Christ, amen.
Looking to this idea that Jesusis Lord, we use it as a
declarative statement to himJesus is Lord.
(11:00):
Say it with me Jesus is Lord.
And we do so because it's apowerful statement.
It's one of power.
There's a reason why people whodon't even believe in faith
will use Jesus's name as a curseword?
Because it has power.
Why people who don't evenbelieve in faith will use
Jesus's name as a curse word?
Because it has power to it,whether or not you believe in
his deity.
You know they don't say like,you know, oh, buddha, something
you know that doesn't reallyhappen, it's not a thing.
You know, because the weight isnot there.
Because, for us that arebelievers in Christ, we know the
(11:22):
answer that is Jesus and thathe is the answer that we're
looking for.
And so, for him, that weight,that name of Jesus, is a
proclative statement to thedarkness.
It's a proclative statement offaith for us in our faith in
Christ.
Saying, as for me and my house,we will serve the Lord.
My belief, my trust, my hold isto him, and so Jesus is Lord,
(11:44):
is a greater statement than justJesus is my sometimes savior
whenever he gets me out oftrouble.
X, y, z, jesus is Lord.
And so we pick up here inPhilippians 2, the beginning of
this chapter, where it'scontinuing this idea that we
talked about last week of whatit means to live the love of
(12:04):
this chapter, where it'scontinuing this idea that we
talked about last week of whatit means to live the love of
Christ to other people, what itmeans to be sacrificial in our
life after God.
It says so, if there's anyencouragement in Christ, any
comfort from love, anyparticipation in the spirit, in
affection and sympathy, completemy joy by being in the same
(12:26):
mind, having the same love,being in full accord and of one
mind, and you say amen.
See the challenge that's here.
There's a lot in just that onestatement from Paul.
And he's writing to the churchat Philippi saying listen,
continue to be the witness thatI've called you to be.
Be the love of Christ that youare supposed to live.
(12:53):
See, there's a differencewhenever you encounter someone
who is living the love of Christ, because about them it is said
they are someone who the love ofChrist comes from them.
And see what is said about youwhen you're not around.
Is it said that the love ofChrist comes out of you, or is
it said that something elsecomes out of you?
(13:13):
And I can't say I'm not the onethat's judging you, and so the
point is like each one of us hasto take that into account.
Is like what is being saidabout us?
How are we living the love ofChrist to other people, are we
being intentional about livingthe love of Christ?
And so if we are being thosepeople, then that's being a
consistent witness of the loveof God to other people.
(13:35):
And that's not always easy, isit?
Because this world, it hits uswith a lot of different things
left and right.
And so to live the love ofChrist means we have to
challenge ourselves, challengeour attitudes, challenge our
perspectives, and we have totrust him.
That's why it also says talksabout that.
Let the joy of the Lord and thejoy of the Lord is he saying,
(13:58):
the joy would come from that.
The testimony of you beingconsistent, that's what we find.
He's in prison.
He still says I have the joy ofthe Lord.
The joy of the Lord is mystrength, and we see that as
being something that's there.
Thank you, sir.
We see that as something that'sbeing there in the consistency
of the joy of the Lord and howthat's his strength.
Think about the most difficultcircumstances that you have gone
(14:19):
through recently, and in themidst of your sorrow, in the
midst of your heartbreak, in themidst of your time, when it's
just you alone with the Lord, inall that pain, in all that
sorrow, god is still true, godis still good, god is still
consistent.
God has not left you alone.
(14:40):
And because he has not left youalone, though we're not happy
about what we experience, thejoy of the Lord can be our
strength.
We can walk in the joy of theLord and the strength of the joy
of the Lord because it comesfrom with inside us, by the
spirit of God being our advocate.
And so that's what that meansis that we live in that step
(15:03):
with him, having the mind ofChrist.
And so it continues here wecould see where it picks up in
this scripture.
It says in verse.
It says in John 17, 20, aboutthe unity that we're supposed to
have as the body of Christ.
I do not ask for these, onlyJesus praying to the father, but
also for those who will believeme through their word, that
(15:24):
they all may be one, just as you, father, are in me and I in you
, that they would also be in us,so that the world may believe
that you have sent me.
See, that's what he calls us tobe is unified in him, and his
heart to be unified in a mindsetwith God to say Lord, I belong
to you and I wanna walk in stepwith you, but not just that, but
(15:47):
that we collectively, as thebody of Christ, would live in a
unity with each other.
And we're doing that not of ourown power.
We know that because we woulddrive each other crazy except
for the love of God and thegrace of God and the forgiveness
of God that we've allexperienced and because we've
been forgiven much.
We forgive much Because we'veexperienced grace that we did
(16:10):
not warrant, that we did notdeserve.
We give grace Because, justlike Pastor Angus said, we are
not perfect and we're gonna makemistakes.
And we give grace to get backup and keep on going and say
Jesus, forgive me, help me.
I want to continue in thisjourney after you and friends.
That's what it means and that'swhat we want to be.
(16:31):
Is all of these things to livethe love of Jesus Christ to
others, with the joy of the Lordas our strength, being united
as the people of God.
It continues in verse three andsays do nothing from selfish
ambition or conceit, but inhumility, count others more
significant than yourselves.
Let each of you look not onlyto his own interests but also
(16:54):
the interests of others.
Humility is difficult.
Humility is difficult, and it'sdifficult because so often our
culture actually encourages theopposite.
The thing that we like the mostis a person that says they're
the best, the person that climbsup over the top of others and
(17:17):
conquers.
That's the thing we celebratein our American culture, and
it's a thing that flies in theface of what it means to be a
Christ follower, becausehumility is what he calls us to
do, because he says that pridecomes before a fall, which means
that if we're humble in heart,then he'll lift us up, he will
elevate us, and we've seen thistime and time again.
(17:39):
He says don't go to the head ofthe table.
Go to the place and be calledup to the place of being seen
and being honored.
And so what he's telling us isto be humble in heart, to be
those who instead are steadfastin what we're doing.
Throughout the Old Testament,you'll see where kings would
push back against what God wastelling them, and it said that
he would actually hold his handagainst them because they were
(18:01):
not being humble, even in manytimes bringing judgment against
them because they weren't.
And in some cases it would bethe opposite and they would be
contrite in heart.
They would be humble and theywould understand that God is
great and they have power andthey have authority and they're
a king and they can tell peopleto go and to come and to end
life, and they have all thispower.
(18:22):
They're nothing compared to him, and so, as they would honor
him, then he would provide forthem and make a way for them and
friends.
The same for us, in our littlecorner of the world, in our
little power, whatever levelthat's in, and people that you
have authority over or you havepower over or you have influence
(18:42):
with that, we the same, wouldalso be humble in heart that he
would be able to trust us so hecould elevate us up to the next
level of what he wants to do.
See, because he can trust youwith little, so he'll make you.
What does it say?
It says that he'll put you overcities in an authority because
he can trust you.
And that's exactly what we wantto be is those who are trusted
(19:06):
by him.
See, we can try to impressothers.
That doesn't do much, that'svery short-lived.
But if we live for Christ, foreternal purposes, it's a
different thing altogether,because you're living with an
authority that comes from Christ.
That's what real leadershipcomes from.
Is that a person that willactually go and lead the way and
do the thing and therefore theycan be trusted.
(19:27):
See, have you ever seen a personin positional authority?
Have you ever seen a personbecome like a first manager at
like a fast food chain?
They don't know what they'redoing, but they have authority,
and so the people that are likefollowing them are like dude,
this guy really it's like oh, Ihave a name badge and you're
like cool, cool, very cool, andso they think that their
(19:49):
positional authority people willdo what they say.
They might do what you say onlybecause you have the position.
And you see this and friends ofmine share with me that in the
military it's like, you know,they have these people that have
gone through all the ranks andmaybe they're a master sergeant
or something.
They have all this experience,all this leadership ability, and
a new butter bar will come out,you know, out of officer
(20:11):
training school and they haveauthority, but it's positional,
it's not built from the base upand so while we got to do what
you say, everybody's reallylooking at, master sergeant,
like what are we doing, masterSergeant?
And so let us be those who arehumble in heart that walk the
way up, because God will liftyou up and people will look to
(20:34):
you because you can be trustedto lead the way, amen.
It continues in verse 5, and itsays it like this have this mind
among yourselves which is yoursin Christ Jesus, who, through,
though he was the form of God,did not count equality with God
a thing to be grasped, butemptied himself by taking the
form of a servant being born inthe likeness of men.
(20:58):
On this hinges our faith isthat Jesus himself, god there
from the beginning, in thebeginning, was the word.
He was there from the beginningof creation, and in creating us
, his creation, he saw thatthere was this break between the
father and we could not goacross the chasm of sin and
(21:18):
brokenness that we had caused.
So he and his great love for us, his great grace for us, he
emptied himself of all glory andcame down in the form of the
very creation he created so thathe could be the perfect
sacrifice for us.
And so the son of God becomesthe son of man and walks in a
(21:41):
pure way to become the sacrificefor all people, for all time,
so generations of people can bereconciled, brought back into
relationship with the holy God,friends, we give praise.
Be to God, that the Lord beglorified.
It continues here and it says itlike this and being found in
(22:03):
human form, he humbled himselfby becoming obedient to the
point of death, even death on across.
See, he did become that holysacrifice for us and because of
it, our faith is reconciled backwith him, because we say, jesus
, I believe you are who you sayyou are and, lord, that you
(22:24):
would be the Lord of my life andforgive me of my sin, and we
accept the sacrifice that hemade for us, and so we get to
walk in that relationship withthe living God.
And so that's what it means forhim to come and to do this work
for us and on our behalf, thathe is the only way.
And I'll tell you, friends, Ihave all sorts of friends across
(22:45):
the world and God's given usopportunity to live abroad for
10 years and to have friendsfrom all sorts of cultures and
backgrounds and belief systems,and I love them and they're good
people and they're goodfamilies and they do good things
.
But I'll tell you this that webelieve different and we
disagree on this point, and Iwill tell you this that there is
only one way to God, and it'sthrough Jesus Christ.
It's only through his sacrificefor us.
(23:08):
We can't earn it, we can't doenough good things, you can't
work your way in, you can'tbecome a deity, you can't follow
the five pillars into holiness.
Guess why?
Because you are not holy.
And since you're not holy Iknow I'm not we need someone who
was, and that's Jesus Christ,and him alone.
And so it doesn't matter.
You can't do enough good things, you can't say enough mantras,
you can't do enough good works,can't buy your way in, you can't
(23:31):
serve your way in, you cannotdo it.
It's only through Jesus alone.
He is the holy sacrifice for allpeople from all places, because
before the throne of God, alltribes and all tongues will now
bow and say Jesus is Lord.
Friends, that's what it meansfor every person from every
(23:52):
place that they would embraceJesus Christ.
It continues here in verse nineit says it like this for it is
God who works in you, both towill and to work in his good
pleasure, Friends.
That is what we see is that wesee God is at work and doing
things for us.
(24:12):
In verse 9, before that, itsays therefore, god was highly
exalted him and bestowed him thename that is above every name,
so the name of Jesus.
Every knee shall bow in heavenand on earth and under the earth
, and every tongue confess thatJesus Christ is Lord to the
glory of the Father.
See, friends, jesus is Lord.
(24:34):
Say it with me Jesus is Lord.
And so we go to that next piecein verse 13, for it's God is at
work with you.
God is at work with you.
God is at work, and I love thisbecause God is at work, because
he is not finished with you,which means that he loves you
and he wants you to be better.
And that means that he'sintentional with us, calling us
(24:59):
to change the things that arenot lovely about us.
And all of us know that thereare things that are not lovely
about us, and all of us knowthat there are things that are
not lovely about us.
We can be very honest about it,right?
And if we don't know and we'remarried we can ask our spouse
hey, what is it?
No, don't do that, don't dothat.
Stay married.
Praise the Lord.
Yes, your best friend, you wantto be friends too.
(25:21):
Don't do that, don't do that.
But God is at work.
He wants to work in and throughus.
He wants to keep on thatprocess and that's why, when we
come to him, he says that Ireturn back to the Father.
I'm going to send the HolySpirit to help you in this
process.
So we ask, holy Spirit, hey,help me, guide me, more of you,
(25:44):
less of me.
Guide me, direct me, give methe words to speak, the wisdom
to walk through open doors thatyou open, shut the doors that
should be shut.
And, lord, give me the steps totake and the words to speak
when I get there and as we dothese things and it starts to
mold us.
That's why, every day, give usour daily bread.
You know the symbol that we sawbefore whenever they were
provided for in the wilderness,the children of Israel were
(26:04):
given manna.
It only lasted for the day,because if they tried to store
it up it would go bad, exceptfor the day they're preparing
for, the Sabbath.
And so it meant that they,every day, had to go to the Lord
for their source and that's thesame for us spiritually is that
we would come to the Lord everyday for our source, because
(26:25):
he's working in and through usand using the word of God to
challenge us and our characterand our perspectives and our
attitudes.
You guys didn't like thatattitudes one, okay, all right.
All right, I'm gonna move overhere and start again even our
attitudes that he would use itto change us, to form us, to
(26:49):
help us.
Verse 14 it says it like this,continuing forward, it says do
all things without grumbling ordisputing that you may be
blameless and innocent children,children of God, without
blemish, in the midst of acrooked and twisted generation,
among whom you shine as lightsin the world.
(27:10):
You know, we think about, wetalked about last week this idea
of him working on us to use usas a tool in his hand and how a
master carpenter or a potter,and talks about those imagery,
talks about him refining us likegold or precious metals, taking
out the dross and working on us.
And if we use this idea of amaster carpenter chiseling on us
(27:31):
, I can tell you in my own lifethat God has the chisel out
sometimes and I don't like it,because the beginning of this
scripture says do all thesethings without grumbling and
without having an attitude andwithout complaining.
And I, man, I'm like aprofessional.
I'm professional at grumblingand I try not to be.
(27:52):
I've got a lot better becausethe Lord's helped me.
But, man, when I first came out,I was super sarcastic Anybody
sarcastic and it was like a giftof the spirit.
I was like super sarcastic, itwas like additional one that's
not in the scripture and I'mjust like man, sharp word, sharp
word.
It's like you're not buildinganybody up, no, but it feels
good.
He's like, yeah, you're goingto knock that off.
(28:13):
And he's like chisel.
I'm like man after I was what Iwas like in four countries in 15
days and I got back and spokelast weekend and we were busy
this week and I just got underthe weather for like a day and a
half and I was like my wife.
When she's under the weather,she's like the grace of God.
She's like, oh, I do not feelwell.
(28:33):
And there's like birds andstuff.
It's like, oh, right Me.
I'm like like Joe Pesci in HomeAlone, very grumbly.
She's like easy.
I'm like, yeah, easy, easy,easy, easy.
Calm down.
And it is when we get squeezedon, when we get pressured, it's
like what really comes out of us.
(28:54):
What really comes out of us,man, I'm working so that becomes
a love of God.
That comes out.
I'm like, oh, god bless you,I'm going to die, but I'm going
to go to see the Lord, it's okay, instead of just like ah, ah,
ah, you know, god, help us, man,that we would do all things.
The scripture says do allthings as unto the Lord, and
(29:14):
it's not like I'm chastising you, I'm chastising you, I'm
chastising us, and hey, that wewould be in alignment with him
and what he wants to do.
Now, I was up early this morning, like five o'clock hour, four
o'clock hour.
I have a yappy dog and theyappy dog decided to bark at all
the things.
Anybody have a yappy dog andour dog, our dog's name is
Cleopatra, because we came fromEgypt to here, so we named her
(29:36):
Cleopatra, we call her Cleo, andso Cleo was barking at nothing,
because there's nothing scaryin our house, but she's barking
nonetheless.
And you could tell I haveneighbors that are here in the
room that come to church with us.
They can hear me.
They live two houses down.
I'm like Cleo, cleo, quiet, cleo, she's barking.
And then she I'm always likehey, shut it.
(29:56):
She's like bark, always theextra bark.
You guys know what I'm talkingabout Always the extra bark man.
And I'm ah, ah, how often do wedo that spiritually to God,
where he's like, hey, you needto stop with that attitude.
I'm going to stop with thatattitude.
Bark, bark, bark, yelling atpeople in traffic.
(30:18):
I mean, ooh, okay, I'm a bad,I'm gonna move over here In case
the lightning hits me and you,you know what I'm talking about.
Maybe you're like this guybehind me where you're just like
I can't believe it and you'reyelling at the news.
The Lord help us.
The Lord help us.
Because what's the end of thatverse?
Say Let your light shine.
(30:40):
Shine the light where you are.
It means the love of God fromin you to out of you, to the
people around you, theconsistency of God's presence,
which means that you have to bein the presence of God for the
presence of God to emanate fromyou.
And so if we walk in thepresence of God and the
character of God, then thegrumbling gets less, the barking
(31:00):
gets less, the complaining getsless.
So you're not aligned with acomplainer.
Instead you're aligned withsomeone who said about you when
you're not there, the love ofGod comes from them.
And it doesn't mean we have toall be like you know wonderful
and this, and that it's like weknow we're in process, the
chisel's still out, but what weknow is that that process we're
(31:27):
getting closer and closer to thecharacter of God.
The end of the scripture we'lluse today is there in verse 18,
16, apologies.
It says holding fast to theword of life so that in the day
of Christ I may be proud that Idid not run in vain and labor in
vain.
I love this.
It says to hold fast.
It means to hold on tight withyour grip to all that you can,
(31:51):
to who Christ is in your life.
That way we're not going thisway under our own ideas,
thinking we're running this waybut it's in vain.
We're running this other path,that's this other thing that we
think is good, but it's notreally gaining any entry with
God, but instead we hold fast toJesus and we see that in being
obedient to him he will work inand through us and that our
(32:15):
character will reflect who he is.
So, friends, if you're going tohold on to anything, hold fast
to Jesus, because even thoughyou go through the valley of the
shadow of death, he doesn'tleave you there and that he
walks with you through it andthat we will go to the other
side, to green pastures, into aneternity that's with him, where
(32:37):
we find all that we've beenlooking for and then some,
because he is a good God whogives good gifts to his children
.
Friends, your proclative prayerof what you believe is that
Jesus is Lord.
Your prayer against thedarkness is that Jesus is Lord.
The prayer over your childrenis that Jesus is Lord.
(32:57):
Over your grandchildren is thatJesus is Lord.
The prayer over your childrenis that Jesus is Lord Over your
grandchildren.
Is that Jesus is Lord In yourworkplace, over the things that
you're doing, over the projectsyou're stressing about.
Jesus is Lord.
Over the neighbor doesn't likeyou and the one that loves you,
jesus is Lord.
And over your own mind andheart and life, jesus is Lord.
Say it with me Jesus is Lord.
(33:21):
Friends, that's what we'retalking about, because we want
to be more like Jesus.
Today, we have this opportunityto respond to his love and to
respond to who he is, and so wehave that question have you
embraced Jesus?
Each one of us, as a Christfollower, said yes to him, but
(33:41):
each one of us has to answer forourselves.
Are you going to embrace thework that Christ has done for
you?
See, the symbol of the cross isone of freedom and forgiveness
for us.
It's one where Jesus took theweight of the world, the sin of
the world, upon himself.
Though he was innocent, hebecame that holy sacrifice for
us, taking the weight of our sinupon him and paying for it with
(34:06):
his life.
And in his death he did notstay dead, but overcame death,
hell and the grave, and becauseof it we have an active
relationship with the living God.
And so, by faith, we accept hiswork for us and ask him to
forgive us, not just to be oursavior, but to be our Lord, so
that he would be the one that welive in alignment with the
(34:29):
apostle Paul.
When he's writing to the churchat Rome, he says this because
if you confess with your mouththat Jesus is Lord and believe
in your heart that God raisedhim from the dead, you will be
saved.
For with the heart one believesand is justified.
With the mouth one confessesand is saved.
(34:50):
Friends, today is your day.
Today is your day to say yes toJesus.
It's your opportunity to sayyes to him and to invite him
into your heart and life.
Maybe you're here.
You've never made that decisionfor Jesus before.
Today is your opportunity tosay yes, to invite him into your
heart and life to be the Saviorand Lord of your life.
(35:13):
Maybe you have made thatdecision in the past, but you
walked away from living for God.
Let me challenge you that youwould recommit your life back to
God today and you would say yesto him and say Lord, forgive me
, I want to recommit my life toyou.
I want to live with you as theLord of my life.
(35:33):
I'm going to ask everyone in theroom if you just stand to your
feet right where you're at, bowyour heads.
If you're online, you justrespond to what God wants to do.
Take a moment, wherever you are, for what God wants to do in
your life, as people have theirheads bowed here in the room.
If that's you and you would say, pastor, that's me.
(35:56):
I wanna be remembered in thisprayer.
If you just wanna raise yourhand right where you're at and
say, lord, that's me.
I wanna be remembered in thisprayer.
If you just wanna raise yourhand right where you're at and
say, lord, that's me.
I wanna make that prayer today.
Invite Christ into my heart andlife.
We see the hands that are there, hands that are here, hands
that are there, other peopleraising their hand, making a
commitment to God.
Praise the Lord.
Other friends online praise God.
Praise God Friends.
(36:16):
I'm gonna ask everyone to praythis prayer out loud after me
Lord, thank you for loving me.
Thank you for sending Jesus.
I believe Jesus died on thecross for my sins.
(36:37):
I believe he rose again.
Forgive me of my sins.
I surrender my life to you InChrist's name.
I pray Amen, amen.
Friends, we rejoice that youmake a decision to follow Jesus
today.
What a powerful decision.
(36:58):
Many of you in this service,others in the last service
praise God.
We encourage you in this.
If you made that decision today, connect with us in the back of
the prayer banners or in thecafe.
We want to put materials intoyour hands so you can be
successful in living for Christ.
If you're online, whereveryou're at, message us.
We want to do the same.
Connect with you so that youcan be in a community of faith
to live this life after God.
Friends, I'm excited becauseGod is doing a good thing here.
(37:21):
We've had new people coming andgetting involved, committing
their life to Christ.
It's a powerful thing, and sowe're excited about what that
means.
Let me encourage you in thisthat you would take this
challenge from the word of Godserious and that you would use
this prayer every day this week,that simple Jesus is Lord
statement, and just use thatover your life and over your
(37:44):
circumstances, and that youwould draw near to the Lord for
his source, for his sustenance.
And that, even as we come tothis altar, we would do so with
an intentionality for more ofthe spirit and a blessing upon
the things that we do.
Lord, we thank you for yourword and we pray, lord, thanking
you, lord, for making it aliveto us and challenging us.
Lord, thank you for calling usto repentance and Lord, calling
(38:07):
us, lord, to make you Lord ofour lives.
Lord, as we come to this altar,we do so with intentionality,
lord, to draw near to you formore of you, holy Spirit to
speak to us and in our lives.
And Lord, for guidance andwisdom and for peace that passes
all understanding.
Lord for provision and opendoors.
Lord, we ask you for all thesethings, lord.
(38:27):
We seek your face, lord, in allthat you have for us.
We come to this altar now, lord, all these things in our hearts
.
We pray this in the name ofJesus Christ, amen.
Speaker 2 (38:38):
And in two weeks we are having our family spring day
and so you are invited.
We pray that you bring someother people colleagues,
neighbors, friends have themcome and join us.
It's free, it's going to beamazing.
We're going to have a pettingzoo and we're going to have food
and all the fun stuff, but wealso need help.
So, if any of you are available, we have sign-up sheets outside
.
We also have you go on the appand you can sign up.
(38:58):
It's going to be a great dayand I'm praying for fantastic
weather in two Sundays fromtoday.
Speaker 1 (39:06):
Amen, before we go, our praise blessing over us.
The Lord bless you and keep you.
Lord, make his face to shineupon you and be gracious to you.
Lord, make his face to shineupon you and be gracious to you.
We'll lift up his countenanceupon you and give you peace.
Lord, I pray a blessing uponyour church, your people.
(39:30):
Lord, you empower us by yourspirit to live your love out to
those around us.
I pray all this in the powerfulname that is Jesus Christ.
Amen, amen.
Know this we love you very muchhere at Cornerstone.
God bless you and have a greatweek.
Jesus is Lord.
Say it with me Jesus is Lord.
So that's a powerful statementand it's one that we live out
every day.
You know, a few weeks ago I wasin Bangkok, thailand, and we
were with a group of pastors andthere with some of our
missionary friends, and we werewalking through the red light
district and I'll tell you,there's a heaviness, a spiritual
(00:24):
oppression that's to a placelike this, because it's a place
where there's been so much it'sbeen stolen from people as
they've been forced into sexslavery, and so much that's been
done there by people who areinnocent and been forced into a
life where they trade theirphysical sexuality for a dollar
and then they do it again and doit again and we see this
(00:46):
innocent that's stripped fromyoung children, from boys and
girls and others that's beenstolen from them as they're
forced in this lifestyle.
And as we walked the streetsyou could feel that burden,
you'd feel the heaviness thatwas there and we just began to
pray and proclaim that Jesus isLord and proclaim freedom for
these that are in this lifestyleand come against the spiritual
(01:09):
realm that's behind thoseactivities, behind that mindset,
and what we've seen is thatthose prayers are being answered
.
There's a place that was justbehind this, right behind me as
I was standing taking this photo, and it was a place that had
been there for decades.
It was dark and dismal.
It was a place where it wasfull of the worst kinds of
(01:29):
things, where young boys andgirls were being being
trafficked and and instead theperson that was running it said
that we'll never, we'll never goout of business, it'll never be
taken down.
But the church began to prayand they would walk and they
would pray and they wouldinteract with people in those
places and let the people knowthat are even in that lifestyle,
you are valuable and God lovesyou and you have a purpose in
(01:50):
your plan for your life, and sothey would interact with them.
They would talk with the madamsthat are running these brothels
in these different places andtell them how God loves them and
show them that, with the lassotruck, which we heard about in
January, and some of thesethings that interact, and what
we found out was that Godstarted to answer these prayers
in this dark, terrible place.
It was actually torn to theground and they put up a
(02:11):
high-rise apartment for studentsin the place of.
That.
It's amazing.
And so God is answering prayersand, as you can see, even these
hanging lanterns over the street, what would be an otherwise
very beautiful place has such adark purpose and though it's
clean in the early morning, whenwe were walking it, at night it
would be full of people andtrying to entice and do all of
(02:33):
this thing, and so we began towalk and just pray and ask for
the Lord, for breakthrough, andit's amazing to partner with
people who are good soil, thatare serving those in the least
of these, and we know what thatmeans.
That's why we give to kingdombuilders, because we believe in
those that are doing this typeof work.
And and so we went and we had achance opportunity to be there
and to to walk those streetswith them and to partner with
(02:55):
them and to see what it is thatthey're doing.
And and see Pastor Bridget asshe began to explain each one of
these, and she was talkingabout each place and talking
about the relationships they'vebuilt over years of serving with
them and how many people havecome out of that lifestyle
because of the value they found,and they've helped them get a
new skill set that establishes anew life for themselves and
(03:17):
they've given them a new futurebecause they find the freedom
that's found in Jesus Christ,and it's a powerful thing.
And as we looked at some of thesigns, we would see man, it's
just man, level on level, onlevel, each one of those being a
brothel, each one of themtrying to entice a different
traveler, a Japanese golftraveler, a Korean businessman
or a Western traveler and eachone of them trying to entice
(03:39):
them to bring them in.
And what she's found is that,even in loving the people that
would come for those services,loving the Johns that would come
in or the women that would comein for these services, what
they found was breakthrough intheir lives as well, where
people would come and they wouldbe there and the most
despicable type of things thatthey would participate in, but
they would just show them theloving kindness of God with
(03:59):
consistency, and that they foundbreakthrough where those people
are no longer coming anymoreand they've stopped that life
and stopped those things andperpetuating the darkness that's
there.
We're finding freedom.
That's in Jesus Christ.
Friends, that's the value thatGod has for you and for your
life.
He has a plan and a purpose foryou.
It doesn't matter your past, itdoesn't matter what your
(04:20):
current circumstances.
He wants to see you live inspiritual freedom.
He wants to see you have abetter future than your past.
He wants to see you live in thepeace of God.
That is for you and for yours,that your family would know the
blessing of God and would knowthe hand of God upon it.
That's what we have in ourheart as well, is that we would
be those that serve the Lord.
(04:43):
I mean, for 30 years Mercy Househas been serving our community.
Aren't you thankful for MercyHouse?
Amazing.
So many people in the room makeMercy House possible.
Came out of the heart of MikaArradondo and Pastor Rich and
Cindy as they partnered togetherto make the Mercy House exist
as it is, and so many othersthat have come along for the
(05:03):
years of making it possible.
And you give in clothing andyou give in food and so many
others that have come along forthe years of making it possible.
And you give in clothing andyou give in food and in support
and your tax donation to helpMercy House go.
And we were there yesterday.
People were getting a chance toget clothes they needed for
this season and getting a helpin that way, people were getting
food that they needed for theirfamily.
And we want to say thanks toDave and Monica and the team
(05:26):
that served week in, week out,man, helping people find the
nutrients, the sustenance theyneed.
And it's a tangible way for usto show the love of God and, in
a way, for us to sacrifice, in away that connects with them.
And I want to say thanks toJoelle and I want to say thanks
to Scott and the team thatactually go out and not just be
that way but are proactive inpraying for our unhoused
(05:48):
community, the homelesscommunity, bringing them food
and bringing them differentkinds of bags that are made
specifically for them, some ofthem with feminine products and
others and man.
We were able to engage withthem, give them a water, give
them food and these differentpieces and pray with them that
they would experience God'spresence and talk with them
about trying to give them theright tools so that they can
(06:10):
exit that life.
And it's powerful.
I mean we were there praying forpeople living behind dumpsters
in our very community andfriends.
This is the thing is thatthey're trying to make ends meet
, they're trying to survive,trying to press through, and
what we want to see is not justthem survive but them to thrive
in a life in God where they haveall those needs being met.
(06:30):
And more than that, it waspowerful getting a chance to
hear some of these stories andgetting a chance to talk with
them and pray with them and say,hey, what's your story?
And we sat for minutes andtalked with different ones and
Linda and I got a chance to talkwith this individual and they
were sharing their story with usand about everything they're
going through.
It was powerful time becausewe're sharing together and
(06:54):
talking about what that is,because you value someone as a
person, not just as somebody whoyou pass by, but having worth
and value that comes from God.
Friends, this is what happenswhenever you start to make the
Lord, when you make Jesus Lordof your life, because he's not
just Savior saving you out ofdifficulty, but he's one that is
(07:14):
motivating your actions to lovebeyond yourself, to love others
, so that whenever you proclaimJesus is Lord, you're
proclaiming freedom, you'reproclaiming his Lordship of your
life.
You're proclaiming freedom.
You're proclaiming his Lordshipof your life, you're
proclaiming a future that'sbetter than your past, because
you're proclaiming his glorythat he would be glorified, amen
.
So we say collectively Jesus isLord.
(07:34):
Say it with me Jesus is Lord.
We've been talking about thisnew theme, philippians.
We started last week and it's apowerful one.
It's a positive book.
Out of the letters that arewritten, the epistles from Paul
to the church.
In his missionary journeys,paul started all these different
churches, and many of them verydifficult circumstances.
Right, it's in the Roman empire.
(07:56):
They're believing all sorts ofother gods and practicing those
deities, and so it's verycounter-cultural to live for
Jesus and to place their faithand hope in Christ.
And so he starts to challengethe actions of the church, as
they were stepping away fromliving for God and they're
actually living against thatperspective.
So many of the writings that weread are pretty challenging.
(08:16):
It feels like a slap in theface how many people know what
I'm talking about?
And then others, like when youget to the Philippians, it feels
like an embrace because he'ssaying thank you so much for
your consistency, thank you foryour life after God, thank you
for being ones that sacrifice tosend the gospel message onwards
, and thank you for supportingme, even as I'm in prison in
Romans, writing to you, thankyou for supporting and living a
(08:39):
life of sacrifice.
And see friends.
That's what we want to be saidabout us is that we are those
who are consistent in our faithand are living the love of God.
To other people.
You say amen.
You know, we also see ourselvesvery much here at Cornerstone as
people who are not perfect.
All of us are in need of aSavior, so we see ourselves on a
journey with Christ, followingJesus where he's leading us to
(09:01):
go.
So we use this imagery ofChrist walking with his
disciples because we realizethat none of us have arrived.
All of us are still followingJesus where he's leading us to
go, and that means that we arein process and then, until we
see him face to face, that we'renot finished, that he's still
working on us, and so ourambition is to be more like
(09:24):
Jesus and that's why,collectively, we love God and
make disciples and reach theworld.
And I wanna challenge you inthis that you would take this
and make it intentional in yourlife that you would join in a
life group.
It's beyond our gatherings ofour faith community here.
It's throughout the week,throughout the city, and it
meets in lots of differentplaces and lots of different
ways, but it's intentional andfor you to take that step closer
(09:45):
to God in this season, that youwould connect, you would grow,
you would serve the Lord and youwould stretch that he wants to
do in and through your life amen.
Now, if you have your Bible,your tablet, your phone, we're
gonna look to Philippians 2,where we're picking up today in
the scripture Philippians 2, wewe're picking up today in the
(10:17):
scripture Philippians 2, we'regoing to start in verse 9 as a
starting point, and then theearth and every tongue confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord to theglory of God, the Father.
Lord, we thank you for yourword.
We pray over it today.
We pray Holy Spirit, you'd makeit alive and rain on, breathe
(10:37):
upon it.
Lord, you transform us in ourcharacter.
Lord, to be more like you.
We pray this in the name ofJesus Christ, amen.
Looking to this idea that Jesus, lord, to be more like you.
We pray this in the name ofJesus Christ, amen.
Looking to this idea that Jesusis Lord, we use it as a
declarative statement to himJesus is Lord.
(11:00):
Say it with me Jesus is Lord.
And we do so because it's apowerful statement.
It's one of power.
There's a reason why people whodon't even believe in faith
will use Jesus's name as a curseword?
Because it has power.
Why people who don't evenbelieve in faith will use
Jesus's name as a curse word?
Because it has power to it,whether or not you believe in
his deity.
You know they don't say like,you know, oh, buddha, something
you know that doesn't reallyhappen, it's not a thing.
You know, because the weight isnot there.
Because, for us that arebelievers in Christ, we know the
(11:22):
answer that is Jesus and thathe is the answer that we're
looking for.
And so, for him, that weight,that name of Jesus, is a
proclative statement to thedarkness.
It's a proclative statement offaith for us in our faith in
Christ.
Saying, as for me and my house,we will serve the Lord.
My belief, my trust, my hold isto him, and so Jesus is Lord,
(11:44):
is a greater statement than justJesus is my sometimes savior
whenever he gets me out oftrouble.
X, y, z, jesus is Lord.
And so we pick up here inPhilippians 2, the beginning of
this chapter, where it'scontinuing this idea that we
talked about last week of whatit means to live the love of
(12:04):
this chapter, where it'scontinuing this idea that we
talked about last week of whatit means to live the love of
Christ to other people, what itmeans to be sacrificial in our
life after God.
It says so, if there's anyencouragement in Christ, any
comfort from love, anyparticipation in the spirit, in
affection and sympathy, completemy joy by being in the same
(12:26):
mind, having the same love,being in full accord and of one
mind, and you say amen.
See the challenge that's here.
There's a lot in just that onestatement from Paul.
And he's writing to the churchat Philippi saying listen,
continue to be the witness thatI've called you to be.
Be the love of Christ that youare supposed to live.
(12:53):
See, there's a differencewhenever you encounter someone
who is living the love of Christ, because about them it is said
they are someone who the love ofChrist comes from them.
And see what is said about youwhen you're not around.
Is it said that the love ofChrist comes out of you, or is
it said that something elsecomes out of you?
(13:13):
And I can't say I'm not the onethat's judging you, and so the
point is like each one of us hasto take that into account.
Is like what is being saidabout us?
How are we living the love ofChrist to other people, are we
being intentional about livingthe love of Christ?
And so if we are being thosepeople, then that's being a
consistent witness of the loveof God to other people.
(13:35):
And that's not always easy, isit?
Because this world, it hits uswith a lot of different things
left and right.
And so to live the love ofChrist means we have to
challenge ourselves, challengeour attitudes, challenge our
perspectives, and we have totrust him.
That's why it also says talksabout that.
Let the joy of the Lord and thejoy of the Lord is he saying,
(13:58):
the joy would come from that.
The testimony of you beingconsistent, that's what we find.
He's in prison.
He still says I have the joy ofthe Lord.
The joy of the Lord is mystrength, and we see that as
being something that's there.
Thank you, sir.
We see that as something that'sbeing there in the consistency
of the joy of the Lord and howthat's his strength.
Think about the most difficultcircumstances that you have gone
(14:19):
through recently, and in themidst of your sorrow, in the
midst of your heartbreak, in themidst of your time, when it's
just you alone with the Lord, inall that pain, in all that
sorrow, god is still true, godis still good, god is still
consistent.
God has not left you alone.
(14:40):
And because he has not left youalone, though we're not happy
about what we experience, thejoy of the Lord can be our
strength.
We can walk in the joy of theLord and the strength of the joy
of the Lord because it comesfrom with inside us, by the
spirit of God being our advocate.
And so that's what that meansis that we live in that step
(15:03):
with him, having the mind ofChrist.
And so it continues here wecould see where it picks up in
this scripture.
It says in verse.
It says in John 17, 20, aboutthe unity that we're supposed to
have as the body of Christ.
I do not ask for these, onlyJesus praying to the father, but
also for those who will believeme through their word, that
(15:24):
they all may be one, just as you, father, are in me and I in you
, that they would also be in us,so that the world may believe
that you have sent me.
See, that's what he calls us tobe is unified in him, and his
heart to be unified in a mindsetwith God to say Lord, I belong
to you and I wanna walk in stepwith you, but not just that, but
(15:47):
that we collectively, as thebody of Christ, would live in a
unity with each other.
And we're doing that not of ourown power.
We know that because we woulddrive each other crazy except
for the love of God and thegrace of God and the forgiveness
of God that we've allexperienced and because we've
been forgiven much.
We forgive much Because we'veexperienced grace that we did
(16:10):
not warrant, that we did notdeserve.
We give grace Because, justlike Pastor Angus said, we are
not perfect and we're gonna makemistakes.
And we give grace to get backup and keep on going and say
Jesus, forgive me, help me.
I want to continue in thisjourney after you and friends.
That's what it means and that'swhat we want to be.
(16:31):
Is all of these things to livethe love of Jesus Christ to
others, with the joy of the Lordas our strength, being united
as the people of God.
It continues in verse three andsays do nothing from selfish
ambition or conceit, but inhumility, count others more
significant than yourselves.
Let each of you look not onlyto his own interests but also
(16:54):
the interests of others.
Humility is difficult.
Humility is difficult, and it'sdifficult because so often our
culture actually encourages theopposite.
The thing that we like the mostis a person that says they're
the best, the person that climbsup over the top of others and
(17:17):
conquers.
That's the thing we celebratein our American culture, and
it's a thing that flies in theface of what it means to be a
Christ follower, becausehumility is what he calls us to
do, because he says that pridecomes before a fall, which means
that if we're humble in heart,then he'll lift us up, he will
elevate us, and we've seen thistime and time again.
(17:39):
He says don't go to the head ofthe table.
Go to the place and be calledup to the place of being seen
and being honored.
And so what he's telling us isto be humble in heart, to be
those who instead are steadfastin what we're doing.
Throughout the Old Testament,you'll see where kings would
push back against what God wastelling them, and it said that
he would actually hold his handagainst them because they were
(18:01):
not being humble, even in manytimes bringing judgment against
them because they weren't.
And in some cases it would bethe opposite and they would be
contrite in heart.
They would be humble and theywould understand that God is
great and they have power andthey have authority and they're
a king and they can tell peopleto go and to come and to end
life, and they have all thispower.
(18:22):
They're nothing compared to him, and so, as they would honor
him, then he would provide forthem and make a way for them and
friends.
The same for us, in our littlecorner of the world, in our
little power, whatever levelthat's in, and people that you
have authority over or you havepower over or you have influence
(18:42):
with that, we the same, wouldalso be humble in heart that he
would be able to trust us so hecould elevate us up to the next
level of what he wants to do.
See, because he can trust youwith little, so he'll make you.
What does it say?
It says that he'll put you overcities in an authority because
he can trust you.
And that's exactly what we wantto be is those who are trusted
(19:06):
by him.
See, we can try to impressothers.
That doesn't do much, that'svery short-lived.
But if we live for Christ, foreternal purposes, it's a
different thing altogether,because you're living with an
authority that comes from Christ.
That's what real leadershipcomes from.
Is that a person that willactually go and lead the way and
do the thing and therefore theycan be trusted.
(19:27):
See, have you ever seen a personin positional authority?
Have you ever seen a personbecome like a first manager at
like a fast food chain?
They don't know what they'redoing, but they have authority,
and so the people that are likefollowing them are like dude,
this guy really it's like oh, Ihave a name badge and you're
like cool, cool, very cool, andso they think that their
(19:49):
positional authority people willdo what they say.
They might do what you say onlybecause you have the position.
And you see this and friends ofmine share with me that in the
military it's like, you know,they have these people that have
gone through all the ranks andmaybe they're a master sergeant
or something.
They have all this experience,all this leadership ability, and
a new butter bar will come out,you know, out of officer
(20:11):
training school and they haveauthority, but it's positional,
it's not built from the base upand so while we got to do what
you say, everybody's reallylooking at, master sergeant,
like what are we doing, masterSergeant?
And so let us be those who arehumble in heart that walk the
way up, because God will liftyou up and people will look to
(20:34):
you because you can be trustedto lead the way, amen.
It continues in verse 5, and itsays it like this have this mind
among yourselves which is yoursin Christ Jesus, who, through,
though he was the form of God,did not count equality with God
a thing to be grasped, butemptied himself by taking the
form of a servant being born inthe likeness of men.
(20:58):
On this hinges our faith isthat Jesus himself, god there
from the beginning, in thebeginning, was the word.
He was there from the beginningof creation, and in creating us
, his creation, he saw thatthere was this break between the
father and we could not goacross the chasm of sin and
(21:18):
brokenness that we had caused.
So he and his great love for us, his great grace for us, he
emptied himself of all glory andcame down in the form of the
very creation he created so thathe could be the perfect
sacrifice for us.
And so the son of God becomesthe son of man and walks in a
(21:41):
pure way to become the sacrificefor all people, for all time,
so generations of people can bereconciled, brought back into
relationship with the holy God,friends, we give praise.
Be to God, that the Lord beglorified.
It continues here and it says itlike this and being found in
(22:03):
human form, he humbled himselfby becoming obedient to the
point of death, even death on across.
See, he did become that holysacrifice for us and because of
it, our faith is reconciled backwith him, because we say, jesus
, I believe you are who you sayyou are and, lord, that you
(22:24):
would be the Lord of my life andforgive me of my sin, and we
accept the sacrifice that hemade for us, and so we get to
walk in that relationship withthe living God.
And so that's what it means forhim to come and to do this work
for us and on our behalf, thathe is the only way.
And I'll tell you, friends, Ihave all sorts of friends across
(22:45):
the world and God's given usopportunity to live abroad for
10 years and to have friendsfrom all sorts of cultures and
backgrounds and belief systems,and I love them and they're good
people and they're goodfamilies and they do good things
.
But I'll tell you this that webelieve different and we
disagree on this point, and Iwill tell you this that there is
only one way to God, and it'sthrough Jesus Christ.
It's only through his sacrificefor us.
(23:08):
We can't earn it, we can't doenough good things, you can't
work your way in, you can'tbecome a deity, you can't follow
the five pillars into holiness.
Guess why?
Because you are not holy.
And since you're not holy Iknow I'm not we need someone who
was, and that's Jesus Christ,and him alone.
And so it doesn't matter.
You can't do enough good things, you can't say enough mantras,
you can't do enough good works,can't buy your way in, you can't
(23:31):
serve your way in, you cannotdo it.
It's only through Jesus alone.
He is the holy sacrifice for allpeople from all places, because
before the throne of God, alltribes and all tongues will now
bow and say Jesus is Lord.
Friends, that's what it meansfor every person from every
(23:52):
place that they would embraceJesus Christ.
It continues here in verse nineit says it like this for it is
God who works in you, both towill and to work in his good
pleasure, Friends.
That is what we see is that wesee God is at work and doing
things for us.
(24:12):
In verse 9, before that, itsays therefore, god was highly
exalted him and bestowed him thename that is above every name,
so the name of Jesus.
Every knee shall bow in heavenand on earth and under the earth
, and every tongue confess thatJesus Christ is Lord to the
glory of the Father.
See, friends, jesus is Lord.
(24:34):
Say it with me Jesus is Lord.
And so we go to that next piecein verse 13, for it's God is at
work with you.
God is at work with you.
God is at work, and I love thisbecause God is at work, because
he is not finished with you,which means that he loves you
and he wants you to be better.
And that means that he'sintentional with us, calling us
(24:59):
to change the things that arenot lovely about us.
And all of us know that thereare things that are not lovely
about us, and all of us knowthat there are things that are
not lovely about us.
We can be very honest about it,right?
And if we don't know and we'remarried we can ask our spouse
hey, what is it?
No, don't do that, don't dothat.
Stay married.
Praise the Lord.
Yes, your best friend, you wantto be friends too.
(25:21):
Don't do that, don't do that.
But God is at work.
He wants to work in and throughus.
He wants to keep on thatprocess and that's why, when we
come to him, he says that Ireturn back to the Father.
I'm going to send the HolySpirit to help you in this
process.
So we ask, holy Spirit, hey,help me, guide me, more of you,
(25:44):
less of me.
Guide me, direct me, give methe words to speak, the wisdom
to walk through open doors thatyou open, shut the doors that
should be shut.
And, lord, give me the steps totake and the words to speak
when I get there and as we dothese things and it starts to
mold us.
That's why, every day, give usour daily bread.
You know the symbol that we sawbefore whenever they were
provided for in the wilderness,the children of Israel were
(26:04):
given manna.
It only lasted for the day,because if they tried to store
it up it would go bad, exceptfor the day they're preparing
for, the Sabbath.
And so it meant that they,every day, had to go to the Lord
for their source and that's thesame for us spiritually is that
we would come to the Lord everyday for our source, because
(26:25):
he's working in and through usand using the word of God to
challenge us and our characterand our perspectives and our
attitudes.
You guys didn't like thatattitudes one, okay, all right.
All right, I'm gonna move overhere and start again even our
attitudes that he would use itto change us, to form us, to
(26:49):
help us.
Verse 14 it says it like this,continuing forward, it says do
all things without grumbling ordisputing that you may be
blameless and innocent children,children of God, without
blemish, in the midst of acrooked and twisted generation,
among whom you shine as lightsin the world.
(27:10):
You know, we think about, wetalked about last week this idea
of him working on us to use usas a tool in his hand and how a
master carpenter or a potter,and talks about those imagery,
talks about him refining us likegold or precious metals, taking
out the dross and working on us.
And if we use this idea of amaster carpenter chiseling on us
(27:31):
, I can tell you in my own lifethat God has the chisel out
sometimes and I don't like it,because the beginning of this
scripture says do all thesethings without grumbling and
without having an attitude andwithout complaining.
And I, man, I'm like aprofessional.
I'm professional at grumblingand I try not to be.
(27:52):
I've got a lot better becausethe Lord's helped me.
But, man, when I first came out,I was super sarcastic Anybody
sarcastic and it was like a giftof the spirit.
I was like super sarcastic, itwas like additional one that's
not in the scripture and I'mjust like man, sharp word, sharp
word.
It's like you're not buildinganybody up, no, but it feels
good.
He's like, yeah, you're goingto knock that off.
(28:13):
And he's like chisel.
I'm like man after I was what Iwas like in four countries in 15
days and I got back and spokelast weekend and we were busy
this week and I just got underthe weather for like a day and a
half and I was like my wife.
When she's under the weather,she's like the grace of God.
She's like, oh, I do not feelwell.
(28:33):
And there's like birds andstuff.
It's like, oh, right Me.
I'm like like Joe Pesci in HomeAlone, very grumbly.
She's like easy.
I'm like, yeah, easy, easy,easy, easy.
Calm down.
And it is when we get squeezedon, when we get pressured, it's
like what really comes out of us.
(28:54):
What really comes out of us,man, I'm working so that becomes
a love of God.
That comes out.
I'm like, oh, god bless you,I'm going to die, but I'm going
to go to see the Lord, it's okay, instead of just like ah, ah,
ah, you know, god, help us, man,that we would do all things.
The scripture says do allthings as unto the Lord, and
(29:14):
it's not like I'm chastising you, I'm chastising you, I'm
chastising us, and hey, that wewould be in alignment with him
and what he wants to do.
Now, I was up early this morning, like five o'clock hour, four
o'clock hour.
I have a yappy dog and theyappy dog decided to bark at all
the things.
Anybody have a yappy dog andour dog, our dog's name is
Cleopatra, because we came fromEgypt to here, so we named her
(29:36):
Cleopatra, we call her Cleo, andso Cleo was barking at nothing,
because there's nothing scaryin our house, but she's barking
nonetheless.
And you could tell I haveneighbors that are here in the
room that come to church with us.
They can hear me.
They live two houses down.
I'm like Cleo, cleo, quiet, cleo, she's barking.
And then she I'm always likehey, shut it.
(29:56):
She's like bark, always theextra bark.
You guys know what I'm talkingabout Always the extra bark man.
And I'm ah, ah, how often do wedo that spiritually to God,
where he's like, hey, you needto stop with that attitude.
I'm going to stop with thatattitude.
Bark, bark, bark, yelling atpeople in traffic.
(30:18):
I mean, ooh, okay, I'm a bad,I'm gonna move over here In case
the lightning hits me and you,you know what I'm talking about.
Maybe you're like this guybehind me where you're just like
I can't believe it and you'reyelling at the news.
The Lord help us.
The Lord help us.
Because what's the end of thatverse?
Say Let your light shine.
(30:40):
Shine the light where you are.
It means the love of God fromin you to out of you, to the
people around you, theconsistency of God's presence,
which means that you have to bein the presence of God for the
presence of God to emanate fromyou.
And so if we walk in thepresence of God and the
character of God, then thegrumbling gets less, the barking
(31:00):
gets less, the complaining getsless.
So you're not aligned with acomplainer.
Instead you're aligned withsomeone who said about you when
you're not there, the love ofGod comes from them.
And it doesn't mean we have toall be like you know wonderful
and this, and that it's like weknow we're in process, the
chisel's still out, but what weknow is that that process we're
(31:27):
getting closer and closer to thecharacter of God.
The end of the scripture we'lluse today is there in verse 18,
16, apologies.
It says holding fast to theword of life so that in the day
of Christ I may be proud that Idid not run in vain and labor in
vain.
I love this.
It says to hold fast.
It means to hold on tight withyour grip to all that you can,
(31:51):
to who Christ is in your life.
That way we're not going thisway under our own ideas,
thinking we're running this waybut it's in vain.
We're running this other path,that's this other thing that we
think is good, but it's notreally gaining any entry with
God, but instead we hold fast toJesus and we see that in being
obedient to him he will work inand through us and that our
(32:15):
character will reflect who he is.
So, friends, if you're going tohold on to anything, hold fast
to Jesus, because even thoughyou go through the valley of the
shadow of death, he doesn'tleave you there and that he
walks with you through it andthat we will go to the other
side, to green pastures, into aneternity that's with him, where
(32:37):
we find all that we've beenlooking for and then some,
because he is a good God whogives good gifts to his children
.
Friends, your proclative prayerof what you believe is that
Jesus is Lord.
Your prayer against thedarkness is that Jesus is Lord.
The prayer over your childrenis that Jesus is Lord.
(32:57):
Over your grandchildren is thatJesus is Lord.
The prayer over your childrenis that Jesus is Lord Over your
grandchildren.
Is that Jesus is Lord In yourworkplace, over the things that
you're doing, over the projectsyou're stressing about.
Jesus is Lord.
Over the neighbor doesn't likeyou and the one that loves you,
jesus is Lord.
And over your own mind andheart and life, jesus is Lord.
Say it with me Jesus is Lord.
(33:21):
Friends, that's what we'retalking about, because we want
to be more like Jesus.
Today, we have this opportunityto respond to his love and to
respond to who he is, and so wehave that question have you
embraced Jesus?
Each one of us, as a Christfollower, said yes to him, but
(33:41):
each one of us has to answer forourselves.
Are you going to embrace thework that Christ has done for
you?
See, the symbol of the cross isone of freedom and forgiveness
for us.
It's one where Jesus took theweight of the world, the sin of
the world, upon himself.
Though he was innocent, hebecame that holy sacrifice for
us, taking the weight of our sinupon him and paying for it with
(34:06):
his life.
And in his death he did notstay dead, but overcame death,
hell and the grave, and becauseof it we have an active
relationship with the living God.
And so, by faith, we accept hiswork for us and ask him to
forgive us, not just to be oursavior, but to be our Lord, so
that he would be the one that welive in alignment with the
(34:29):
apostle Paul.
When he's writing to the churchat Rome, he says this because
if you confess with your mouththat Jesus is Lord and believe
in your heart that God raisedhim from the dead, you will be
saved.
For with the heart one believesand is justified.
With the mouth one confessesand is saved.
(34:50):
Friends, today is your day.
Today is your day to say yes toJesus.
It's your opportunity to sayyes to him and to invite him
into your heart and life.
Maybe you're here.
You've never made that decisionfor Jesus before.
Today is your opportunity tosay yes, to invite him into your
heart and life to be the Saviorand Lord of your life.
(35:13):
Maybe you have made thatdecision in the past, but you
walked away from living for God.
Let me challenge you that youwould recommit your life back to
God today and you would say yesto him and say Lord, forgive me
, I want to recommit my life toyou.
I want to live with you as theLord of my life.
(35:33):
I'm going to ask everyone in theroom if you just stand to your
feet right where you're at, bowyour heads.
If you're online, you justrespond to what God wants to do.
Take a moment, wherever you are, for what God wants to do in
your life, as people have theirheads bowed here in the room.
If that's you and you would say, pastor, that's me.
(35:56):
I wanna be remembered in thisprayer.
If you just wanna raise yourhand right where you're at and
say, lord, that's me.
I wanna be remembered in thisprayer.
If you just wanna raise yourhand right where you're at and
say, lord, that's me.
I wanna make that prayer today.
Invite Christ into my heart andlife.
We see the hands that are there, hands that are here, hands
that are there, other peopleraising their hand, making a
commitment to God.
Praise the Lord.
Other friends online praise God.
Praise God Friends.
(36:16):
I'm gonna ask everyone to praythis prayer out loud after me
Lord, thank you for loving me.
Thank you for sending Jesus.
I believe Jesus died on thecross for my sins.
(36:37):
I believe he rose again.
Forgive me of my sins.
I surrender my life to you InChrist's name.
I pray Amen, amen.
Friends, we rejoice that youmake a decision to follow Jesus
today.
What a powerful decision.
(36:58):
Many of you in this service,others in the last service
praise God.
We encourage you in this.
If you made that decision today, connect with us in the back of
the prayer banners or in thecafe.
We want to put materials intoyour hands so you can be
successful in living for Christ.
If you're online, whereveryou're at, message us.
We want to do the same.
Connect with you so that youcan be in a community of faith
to live this life after God.
Friends, I'm excited becauseGod is doing a good thing here.
(37:21):
We've had new people coming andgetting involved, committing
their life to Christ.
It's a powerful thing, and sowe're excited about what that
means.
Let me encourage you in thisthat you would take this
challenge from the word of Godserious and that you would use
this prayer every day this week,that simple Jesus is Lord
statement, and just use thatover your life and over your
(37:44):
circumstances, and that youwould draw near to the Lord for
his source, for his sustenance.
And that, even as we come tothis altar, we would do so with
an intentionality for more ofthe spirit and a blessing upon
the things that we do.
Lord, we thank you for yourword and we pray, lord, thanking
you, lord, for making it aliveto us and challenging us.
Lord, thank you for calling usto repentance and Lord, calling
(38:07):
us, lord, to make you Lord ofour lives.
Lord, as we come to this altar,we do so with intentionality,
lord, to draw near to you formore of you, holy Spirit to
speak to us and in our lives.
And Lord, for guidance andwisdom and for peace that passes
all understanding.
Lord for provision and opendoors.
Lord, we ask you for all thesethings, lord.
(38:27):
We seek your face, lord, in allthat you have for us.
We come to this altar now, lord, all these things in our hearts
.
We pray this in the name ofJesus Christ, amen.
Speaker 2 (38:38):
And in two weeks we are having our family spring day
and so you are invited.
We pray that you bring someother people colleagues,
neighbors, friends have themcome and join us.
It's free, it's going to beamazing.
We're going to have a pettingzoo and we're going to have food
and all the fun stuff, but wealso need help.
So, if any of you are available, we have sign-up sheets outside
.
We also have you go on the appand you can sign up.
(38:58):
It's going to be a great dayand I'm praying for fantastic
weather in two Sundays fromtoday.
Speaker 1 (39:06):
Amen, before we go, our praise blessing over us.
The Lord bless you and keep you.
Lord, make his face to shineupon you and be gracious to you.
Lord, make his face to shineupon you and be gracious to you.
We'll lift up his countenanceupon you and give you peace.
Lord, I pray a blessing uponyour church, your people.
(39:30):
Lord, you empower us by yourspirit to live your love out to
those around us.
I pray all this in the powerfulname that is Jesus Christ.
Amen, amen.
Know this we love you very muchhere at Cornerstone.
God bless you and have a greatweek.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!