August 18, 2025 • 39 mins
Looking around at the thrashing waves of life's storms, have you ever wondered where to find unshakable help? For 39 years, Cornerstone Christian Center has pointed thousands to the answer found in Psalm 121: "I lift my eyes to the hills. Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord."
The journey began when founding pastors Rich and Cindy Brown stepped out in faith, gathering a small group in their living room with a vision to establish a church on what was then mostly farmland west of Phoenix. The name "Cornerstone" was purposefully chosen from 1 Peter 2, recognizing Jesus as the precious cornerstone upon which everything else is built. Through decades of ministry, this foundation has never wavered, even as cotton fields transformed into neighborhoods and once-distant Buckeye expanded westward.
What makes this community special isn't its building (though that story involves divine intervention when community planners initially rejected a church on Indian School Road) but the prayers literally embedded in its walls. Before drywall covered the structure, congregation members wrote Scripture and prayers throughout the building—prayers that still cover everyone who walks through the doors today. These invisible blessings represent the heart of a church committed to making space for more people to encounter Jesus.
The "Seven C's" of Cornerstone culture—Commitment, Community, Communication, Competence, Creativity, Compassion, and Celebration—continue guiding this multi-generational, multicultural family of believers. Through outreaches like Mercy House in Cashion, which has transformed generations of lives over its 30+ years, the church remains focused on loving everyone because "that's who Jesus loved us as well."
When life's storms rage and you feel yourself clinging desperately to anything solid, remember the image of the Rock of Ages—a stone cross standing firm amid violent seas. Don't run from God in your pain; run to Him. Lift your eyes to where your help comes from, because "on Christ the solid Rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand." Your storm may be fierce, but your cornerstone will never sink.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jason Brown (00:00):
39 years of Cornerstone Christian Center.
Praise the Lord.
39 years, so many amazingmemories, so many amazing things
to think about how the Lord isour provision and he has
continued the ministry that'sbeen here through this church.
Someone give God praise for alot he's been doing through our
(00:20):
story, through this community offaith.
Praise God.
Today.
Our question for us is wheredoes my help come from?
Give your Bible, your tablet,your phone.
We're looking today toscripture in Psalm 121, starting
in verse one.
Let me encourage you in this,as you're doing your daily
reading, your Bible study beforethe Lord, that as you read the
(00:42):
gospels, as you read down yourplan that you're doing maybe on
the Bible app, that as you readthe gospels, as you read down
your plan that you're doingmaybe on the Bible app, that you
would also include a Psalm anda proverb, and it's a good way
for us to think about the wisdomof God and also the songs that
the Psalmists are writing andhow our hearts can connect to
them.
One of them is here.
We see this.
It says in Psalm 1, 2, 1,verses 1 and 2,.
(01:08):
It says I lift up my eyes tothe hills.
Where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord whomade heaven and earth.
Lord, we pray today over yourword, lord, that you would make
it alive and Holy Spirit youwould breathe upon it.
Lord, it would be sparked inour hearts, lord, to challenge
us.
Lord, more into your character,more into the fruit of the
Spirit coming off of our lives,lord, that it would become alive
(01:30):
in Rhema, lord.
We pray this in the name ofJesus Christ, amen.
So Cornerstone, 39 years ofCornerstone.
You know this idea ofCornerstone.
It was birthed 39 years ago onthis week in August, our
founding pastors, rich and CindyBrown.
(01:51):
They named it Cornerstonebecause of this scripture and I
encourage you to highlight it inyour Bible.
Let it speak to you.
It's 1 Peter, 2, starting inverse 4.
It says, as you come to him, aliving stone, rejected by men,
in the side of God, chosen andprecious, you, yourselves, like
living stones, are being builtup as a spiritual house to a
(02:14):
holy priesthood to offerspiritual sacrifices acceptable
to God through Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ, for it stands inscripture behold, I am laying in
Zion a stone, a cornerstone,chosen and precious, and whoever
(02:34):
believes in him will not be putto shame.
Someone say amen to that man,these powerful, these words,
this word of cornerstone.
It's who Jesus is to us.
I think of my parents.
That's who Rich and Cindy Brownare as my parents to me, and
that also means 39 years ago.
I was around whenever theystarted this church, so I'm
slightly older than the church,just barely, but I digress.
(02:57):
And so they had the courage tofollow the Lord and to say yes
to him.
And I think about that, themoxie to follow God and to be
obedient to him, to be the firstmoney in the first prayers, in
the tears on the carpet andsaying Lord, what would you have
us to do?
And to be obedient, to step outin faith and to start a church
(03:19):
out here in the West Valley.
Now, this started right here inPhoenix, but our family,
whenever my parents, met, theyboth were in Cashion and living
in the backside of Cashion in atrailer.
In fact, when I was born,that's where I was brought home
to, and so we've always had aheart for the West Valley and
for this whole area of what wasgoing on.
You got to remember wheneverthe church was started, this
(03:40):
very place where we are now wasa field.
I think it was a cotton field,if I remember correctly, and
across the street there was allsorts of corn, there's alfalfa
and all sorts of stuff growingout here.
And then, just past us, on theother side of Litchfield Park,
was the desert, like the properdesert, like don't go out there
without water, the desert.
That's where it started.
So if you were going to Buckeyeyou had to have like the little
(04:01):
knapsack you know over thestick and put it on your
shoulder and walk slowly.
It took forever to get toBuckeye.
Now we're thankful for Buckeyebecause it's almost touching Los
Angeles.
So that's the problem.
But it's gone on and grown onand we knew that and the Lord
knew that.
That's why he challengedRichard C Brown to say yes to
God and be obedient.
And so the first gathering ofthe church was actually at our
(04:26):
living room when I was six, andit was.
They gathered together and theyprayed together and the word
was given.
And on that first Sunday, thevery first Sunday, my parents
gave an offering to the church.
They gave an offering tomissions and they gave an
offering to the building fund,because they were believing by
faith that God had somethingbigger and a future for what he
wanted to do in and through thiscommunity of faith called
(04:47):
Cornerstone.
And so as things progressed, youcould see the one year
anniversary that was hereannounced in the newspaper
announcing Cornerstone ChristianCenter, the first annual
celebration and kind of whatthat meant to us as a church,
having gone through a yearsetting up and tearing down at
Littleton Elementary, havinggone through a year setting up
and tearing down at LittletonElementary and that was our home
(05:09):
right there in Cashion foryears, as we set up and tore
down church every single weekand doing things in midweek as
well and pulling all the chairsout, setting up all the classes
and church planting.
And there was this vision thatin the future that we would be
able to have a home that wouldserve as a base of operations
for the church to go forward.
How do people know that thechurch is people and not a
building?
And so?
But a building is a blessing,it's a way for us to gather,
(05:30):
it's a place that can help us,and so the vision was cast for
the building and they started todo a rendering of what that
would look like and it becamethis beautiful thing that would
be somewhere, and my dad hadlooked at all these properties
in different places.
And he had went and walked andput in bids on places and all
sorts of things and rejected,rejected, rejected.
And the Lord started to speakto him as he would fast and pray
(05:51):
and say, lord, where would youhave me build your house?
Where do you want this churchto have a home?
And the Lord gave him adirection to be here on Indian
School Road.
The only problem with that isthat they were building this big
master plan community calledGarden Lakes, and so Garden
Lakes already had a place for achurch.
It was an LDS church by thehigh school and there was no
other spot for a church in thecommunity the square mile.
(06:13):
And so my dad he just was likewell, lord, they said that
that's the deal and the Lord'slike no, I said I wanted the
church on Indian school.
So my dad, who had a backgroundin pipe fitter welding and he
was someone who's in leadershipon big projects like the power
plant he had been a bull stewardand a lot of other things.
In those roles he was used tobeing someone who had abilities
(06:33):
and giftings and so he used thatfor the glory of God.
So he took the plans of thiscommunity right behind us and he
redrew the plans of GardenLakes to include selling us this
piece of property and when hedid, he actually included more
houses for them to sell to thepeople in the community and
because that was a skill setthat God had given them.
Now we have a home for ourchurch right here on Indian
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School Road, where God told himto plant this church.
So it's a testimony to use theskills that God has given you
and that just because he'scalled you to a new thing
doesn't mean that he hasn'tprepared you, through your story
, for what is ahead of you.
So some of you that have gonethrough a big thing in your life
know that God is using that,though he might not have caused
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it, he will use it for his gloryso that he can shine in the
future of what he wants you todo.
He wants to level that up tothe next level of what God has
for you.
So we came here.
We were able to everyonesacrificed and we talked about
building on a sure foundationand people gave and they gave to
plant the church and then tobuild the church.
Then we were able to buy thispiece of property cash and then
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start to build the building.
As we built the property, westaked out where the church
would be and we had this worshipservice here on the property
and it was powerful, thenarrative, that story.
Everyone came together.
I remember walking around it asa prayer walk and then having
this amazing moment, together inprayer and anointing this place
and saying, lord, that youwould use this place for your
glory.
And as things began to getpoured and stubbed out of the
(08:02):
wall and the walls went up, wetook another opportunity to pray
and we started to put prayersthat as you walked in the
building today you might notknow it, but you walked under
and over Prayers of the saintsthat are there in a capsule have
been prayed over you every timeyou set foot in this building.
And for those that arelistening to the sound of our
voice it's the reason that wesend this out to you is because
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of the prayers of the saintsthat have gone out in front of
us, believing that you would beimpacted by the message of the
gospel.
And so it's amazing because weeach one of us that night, we
took and divided up sections ofthe place and the youth group
and the different pieces.
You could see where they wereat the stage at that time was
kind of little sub out stage,and so we had the different
thing.
My family, ours, is rightbeside that door which leads
(08:45):
towards the offices, and so wewere writing and putting
scriptures on the wall.
And so what's amazing is,behind all this stucco on these
walls are prayers for you tothrive in your faith in God,
prayers for you to draw near toGod and the promises of God that
are here for us.
And whenever we had our firstSunday together to kickstart the
(09:06):
building you didn't see it wasin the West Valley View, which
is pretty rare to see.
This word praise the Lord youdon't see that in the newspaper
very often.
So pretty amazing that I got tohighlight, you know, what God
was doing in this building goingup, because you gotta remember,
it was a field.
At that time they hadn't builtany of the houses yet, and so we
were one of the first thingsgoing in alongside the high
school and some of the firsthouses by the lake, and so it
(09:27):
was an amazing thing to seehappen come out of nothing and
become something.
I remember Pastor Angus, who hecame to faith later in life, but
his family grew up right herein Litchfield Park.
They would drive down and passthis and Angus was like, oh, I
didn't know that Garden Lakeswas going to have a big country
club right here.
That's nice, that's a nicebuilding, that's what he thought
our church was, was a countryclub for Garden Lakes for years
(09:47):
and years.
And you know, pastor Rich, hemade it so that we could you
could blend into the community.
Could be other things in thefuture, should we want to do
that.
But it was amazing becausepeople would gather from all
walks of life, from everydifferent background, all of us
broken, all of us in need of asavior, and come together as a
community of faith.
You can see in this nextpicture we had, even then, from
(10:08):
the very set of the church,missional hearts, so we used to
have flags flying across theback and all these things and
believing and saying yes to God.
And I honor our foundingpastors because they had a
tenacity after God to keep thecourse, to keep on going and do
what he asked them to do.
And many people sacrificed,many people walked alongside
(10:29):
them for generations and I seesome, even faces in the crowd
that have been with us for yearsand years, for 20 years, for 30
years Some of them growing upwith us and us walking this path
together of being down thisjourney, and it's been amazing
to see God continually moveforward in what he wants us to
do.
We've been able to plantchurches, we've been able to see
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ministries happen and seeimpact in people's lives.
It's been powerful.
And this last fall we started aremodel and started to redo the
stage and one of the things thatwe did was we took a step
forward by faith and makingspace for more people, and that
was a vision that Pastor Richardalways had as he drew this
building was that the classroomsthat were downstairs down here
(11:11):
where we walked in, all of thosewere classrooms and eventually
we had to make more space forpeople, but that in the future
that we would have so manypeople come into services here
as we go to plant in the WestValley and other places, like
towards Buckeye and towardsLevine and towards Waddell and
back into the city as we go todo those things that will need
space for people as they come toJesus.
And his vision was always tobuild out the balcony and this
(11:34):
last fall, as Pastor Rich stoodin the balcony, friends, I could
tell you this that God isfaithful and that God has a
vision for this church that'sbigger than our vision for this
church, and God wants to use youand your story of the
redemption of Christ in yourlife to impact people around you
.
And we need to make space forthem because, guess what?
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God is gonna be doing somethingdynamic in this church in this
season ahead, as more and moreand more people come to know
Jesus Christ as their Savior andLord.
Someone give God praise forthat.
That's what we're saying, andso it's amazing.
We see how it is.
This was a picture from lastweekend of us just worshiping
the Lord and people coming tothe altars.
You see in this next image.
(12:16):
And so it becomes this amazingthing that God is doing, how
he's using this next generationof young leaders and he's
pulling and stepping people up.
And that's our heart is that wewant to be a multicultural,
multi-generational, multi-campusmovement, and God has been
doing that in and through us.
He's done that through thingslike Seekids and ministering to
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families.
Now, for all of these years,for 25 years, he's been doing
that.
He's been doing that back wherewe came from, in Cashion,
through Mercy House, which wecelebrated over 30 years of
ministry that God has been doingthrough things like Mercy House
in Cashion, and we got tocelebrate that and see the
timeline of all the good thingsthat happened there.
We were talking about it lastservice when Mika was in here
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and just saying how God is good.
God is good and that he wouldpartner together someone crazy
like Mika with someone crazylike Pastor Rich and they would
say yes to God and they werewilling to go and to love the
unlovely people.
And that's who we were made ofand we were made of redeemed
people that lived that life,that grew up on the back streets
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of Cashion, that grew up indown in South Phoenix.
We were the dregs of peoplethat God redeemed and washed and
made brand new and so friends.
That's why we can love everyonefrom every place, because
that's who Jesus loved us fromas well, that we could be the
love of God to them.
And so now we've seengenerations of people kids that
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grew up in Mercy House are nowhaving kids and they have some
even become grandparents thefirst generation of them and
it's an amazing life changethat's happened as the hope of
God has been dropped into theirheart and life and transformed
everything because of Jesus andbecause of the consistency of
people to give to the Lord oftheir time and their talent,
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their testimony and even theirtreasury, to say yes to God.
That's why it's changed,friends, because the obedience
of the church to do what Jesuscalled us to do.
Now, I'm the first to tell younone of us is perfect.
I'm a long way from it, but I'msomeone who, just like you, is
on a journey to become, to bemore like Jesus.
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We have an ambition to be morelike him.
That's why we walk after him,following where he's leading us
to go.
That's why we use this imageryso often of us walking like the
disciples, after Jesus becausethat's who we are is.
We're following him where he'sleading us in our life and we're
saying yes to God to be morelike Jesus.
And so we say yes to himbecause he's challenged us to do
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things like the greatcommission.
If you have your Bibles, youcan highlight it here the great
commission that he brings to us.
It's in Matthew 28, starting inverse 18.
And it says and Jesus came andsaid to do is to take the
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message of the gospel to theworld around us, and he's also
challenged us with this, thegreat commandment, and we see
that here in Matthew 22.
It says, teacher, which is thegreat commandment in the law,
and he said to him you shalllove the Lord, your God, with
all of your heart and with allof your soul and with all of
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your mind.
This is the great and firstcommandment, and the second is,
like it love your neighbor asyourself.
Aren't you thankful thatsomeone loved you enough to tell
you about the gospel message ofJesus Christ?
Friends, that's who we'recalled to be is the ones who say
yes to the Great Commission,the ones who say yes to the
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Great Commandment and obey Jesus.
We're called to love God, tomake disciples, to reach the
world, and we do those thingsbecause that's what Jesus told
us to do, and we're not calledto do this life alone.
So we do things like lifegroups, to be intentional in
that process, and that's what itlooks like for us here to
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connect together.
That's why we meet across thecity throughout the week, and we
do so so that we can grow inour relationship with God.
We do so so that we can use ourgifts and abilities to serve
wherever he's asked us to serve.
And so it goes beyond just herein the weekend gatherings.
We want to have a cornerstoneculture that it talks about who
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we are and what we're doing.
This last week, this last yearI'm sorry we talked about this
idea of the seven C's and talkedabout these seven C statements
that are things, culturally,that help drive us together as a
community of faith.
Here at Cornerstone, we talkedabout the first of those, which
is commitment, we said.
For us, we have to be those whoare committed to the Lord, that
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I'm not gonna turn back, no,turning back, as for me and my
house, we will serve the Lord.
And so we've made thesedeclarative statements.
We've solidified this in ourheart that I belong to him and
I'm going to be committed toJesus Christ.
In community.
We see it in this aspect thatChrist died for the church.
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That that's very much who we'recalled to be as a community of
faith.
And so we're called to be thosethat live in community,
encourage each other, bringalongside another and walk with
them.
We're called to be those whomourn with people when they
mourn, to celebrate when theycelebrate.
We're called to be those peoplethat live in that community
together and to make space sothat one more friend can come
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and join us in our community offaith.
And so that's why we talk aboutbeing intentional to bring a
friend, bring a colleague fromwork, to be someone who's
inviting others your neighbor tocome and sit with you, so that
they can know, hey, I have afriend here, I belong, I'm a
part of what God wants to dohere at Cornerstone.
The third piece we talk about iscommunication.
We know this, that we're calledto use our testimony and share
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it with others around us, andwe're supposed to share the
gospel message of how God haschanged our hearts and so that
other people can, they canencounter it and it can change
their life as well.
And so we do that in all sortsof avenues.
We do that like this, insharing our story.
We do that through our musicand our songs and our worship.
We do it through lights andvideo and online avenues.
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We do all those differentthings because we want to
communicate the gospel in a waythat people can receive it.
That's why we do things liketoday with the Back to School
Bash for our kiddos and for ouryouth tonight, because we want
them to know that living thislife in community with God is
fun, but it has a purpose.
And so we do both of thosethings together.
They're not a separate thing,they're together in our living
for God.
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We not a separate thing,they're together in our living
for God.
We also want to do things withcompetence.
What does that mean?
That means that we want to bepeople who are giving our
excellence to God, that we'recommitted to God and we're
giving our best to God.
And that's not just here.
That is here.
That's what we want to docollectively in serving the Lord
, but also in what we dowherever we live our life, so in
our community or at work,whenever you're running your
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business you own and with yourteam and with your clients, how
you hold yourself and how youare, whenever you are serving,
on the team that you serve with,in your work, that you are
reflecting the love of Christand you're doing things with
excellence.
Because we do that.
In all that, we do Not justwhen we show up here at church
on a weekend or when we watch aservice, but whenever we live
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our life that we give our best,because we're a reflection of
our giving our best to God.
Amen.
And so we continue in thisprocess of creativity,
understanding that God is acreative God.
He's the one that created thewhole world and he gives us
creativity as well to be anexpression of what that means.
And so we use that in differentways, and our team does that.
And what we do with what wedisplay and how we express what
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we're doing in all of thesedifferent avenues so that people
can connect to the love of God,we also do things with
compassion.
That's why we function the waywe do with Mercy House, with the
closet and the pantry that giveout food and clothing to people
in need.
It's why we go and partner withover 50 different missionaries
and ministries every monththrough Kingdom Builders,
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because we want to have animpact in our community.
And that's out on the NaderReservation.
It's with OCJ Kids helpingfoster kids in their communities
and get connected.
It's out on the ASU campus, theU of A campus and Emory Riddle
at NAU.
It's so that universitystudents can love God and know
God.
It's all of these differentavenues like things like Convoy
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of Hope or even Project Rescue,like we talked about today,
about helping people where theyare that we would have a
compassionate heart, because Godhas had a compassionate heart
towards us.
And the last is celebration,that we would be those that
celebrate the good things thatGod has been doing in and
through our lives and we wouldcelebrate with others as well,
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that we would say man, I'm soglad that you are experiencing
God, answer your prayer.
Friends, we've had people thisweek who shared with us.
You know what I've been prayingand I've been going through
cancer and God said he's gonnatouch my life.
I went to my doctor this weekand all of my numbers in cancer
are completely down from wherethey were the previous week.
Friends, that's called healing.
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In the name of Jesus Christ,they had had no kind of medicine
applied.
All these things.
We believe in medicine.
We're thankful for doctors,we're thankful for doctors,
we're thankful for nurses.
We believe in all those things.
But we are also contending forthe divine hand of God to heal,
and so that's why we celebratethose things, even whenever you
maybe not had the miracle yet,but your friend has.
Friend, let's be those thatcelebrate with them as if it
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were our victory.
That we don't be.
Woe is me.
Why did they get the answer?
I don't know how.
About Lord?
Thank you, lord.
You're answering a prayer there.
It builds my faith, to believeas well that we would celebrate
what God is doing in these sevenC's, helping guide us to what
we're called to be.
Now, as we think about thesethings at Cornerstone, we come
back to that first piece ofscripture.
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We looked up at Psalm 121.
It says I lift up my eyes tothe hills.
From where does my help come?
My help comes from the Lord whomade heaven and earth.
I've been thinking about thisquestion when does my help come
from?
You know, I talk to a lot ofpeople in my role here as a
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pastor and I know man, even inmy own life.
It feels like sometimes we'rejust going through, you know,
really big storms.
We're going through really bigstorms and there's no way to
kind of think about it.
You think about the crashingwaves around you and it feels
like this imminent power of thisthing that you can't change is
happening and so you're kind ofadrift in it.
(22:58):
And I can tell youtransparently that it's
definitely a season, this lastlittle bit, that where I've gone
through a piece of that myselfand it's different than even
seasons before.
I can't tag it to one thing.
It's kind of the grind that'llget you sometimes and I'm just
thinking about that and beinglike Lord, I feel like sometimes
I'm just in this storm and I'mtrying to stay strong for other
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people and believe with otherpeople, and I'm championing the
miracle, believing for it, andall the while, I still feel the
storm myself, and I know some ofyou feel it too.
In fact, sometimes it feelslike you're not just in a storm,
but that you're on the rocksand the storm is beating against
you.
It's coming against you andfriends.
My encouragement to you todayis that we know where our help
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comes from.
Our help comes from the Lord.
You know, I was challenged topray for my friend Josh.
He's a friend from universityand Josh has this tattoo.
It's called the Rock of Agesand it's not.
This is his, but he has it onhim.
It's the same imagery and I wasthinking about it as I saw it
and I looked this up a while agoand I wanted to share with you
(24:04):
today.
And it's an interesting imageryof this woman that's holding on
to this stone cross in themiddle of the sea and it shows
the waves crashing against her,and this one.
It even depicts, you know, theships that are sinking in the
backdrop.
What was interesting about it isit was actually a pastor in
1763 who was caught out in alightning storm and as the
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lightning struck in the sky, heknew he needed to get to safety.
There was wind and water andwaves and he was on the edge of
a cliff face and walking upthere and he was looking for a
safe place to passage.
And as the lightning struck thesky, it kind of gave him a
highlight of where he could goand be safe and he tucked
himself into the cleft of therock.
And so, pastor Augustus, he hasthis moment and he survives
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this storm.
And in the midst of that hecomes out of it and he starts to
write, which became this hymncalled Rock of Ages, and in the
lyrics of it talk about how thatGod has made a way for him to
be safe, that he's cleft away.
He's safe because of the Lordhas provided that way for him.
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This, it inspired a painter.
Some years later, simon, 100years later, he paints this
imagery of the rock of ages andit's this woman holding on to
this stone cross in the midst ofthe sea, very much like a
lighthouse giving safety toships.
She's holding on and has herarms enveloped around this stone
cross, it becomes somethingpowerful of his imagery because
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we see how it is alone, thesafety it is her salvation.
And, friends, I could tell youtoday that if you are someone
who's going through a time ofstruggle, if you're someone who
feels like they're in the middleof the storm, that you can hold
on to Jesus because he is yoursalvation.
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He alone is our, he is theprovision for us, he is the
strong tower, he is the one thatwill not sink.
He is the one that will not bedestroyed.
He is the eagle's wings thatprotect us.
He is more than enough for us.
Jesus is our salvation.
It made me think of this old,another old hymn, and from time
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to time I think about it.
I learned it when I was growingup here in this church, and
though we weren't ones that sunga lot of old hymns, this is one
that we would sing from time totime, and the song says on
Christ, the solid rock, I stand.
All other ground is sinkingsand and friends, sometimes it
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feels like the very groundunderneath our feet is trying to
take us down.
But I can tell you this thateverywhere I've been in my life,
chasing all sorts of things andtrying to find my answer in a
hollowness.
I've been in dangerous placesthat God has seen me fit to
bring me home, going throughreally difficult spots where I
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felt I was alone in a crowd,that it's on Christ, the solid
rock I stand, and it's only inhim.
He is the only one that willbring you through it.
He's the only thing that willsurvive the storm eternally.
Friends, we can run to Jesus,because all other ground is
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sinking sand, but he will notsink.
He is our salvation, and sowhenever we read those words
about, I lift up my eyes.
Where does my help come from,friend?
My help comes from the Lord,and so let me challenge you
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today that you would be someonethat runs to the Lord and not
from him.
I made that mistake.
I got bitter and mad and ranfrom the Lord.
I blame God for what was goingon in my life.
I blame him whenever I had twofriends die in the same summer
from a car wreck similar to theone I survived.
I blame God and get angry.
I blame God when my friendwould commit suicide.
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I blame God whenever it didn'tgo my way.
Friends, don't run from God.
Run to God, because all otherground is sinking sand.
It's only on Christ, the solidrock, that we can stand and be
victorious, because in him weare victorious, because he is
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our salvation.
We think about it.
It says that I lift my eyes up.
It says where do I what?
I look my eyes up to those.
I lift my eyes up and friends.
That's his challenge to ustoday.
And the way that we do thisthing is that we would lift up
our eyes to the Lord, that wewouldn't look down and
downtrodden or woe is me and getwrapped up in our little cocoon
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of our own emotions, but thatwe would elevate our face and
look up to our Father, who isour source, who's looking at us,
because he wants us to see himand to reflect his countenance,
so that we can be empowered byhim, so we can reflect his
countenance to others.
And one of the biggesttestimonies I've ever seen is
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people who are going through wayworse things than me that they
had the peace of God and thecountenance of God because they
weren't doing it in their ownstrength and they were walking
in the strength of God every day.
And so, as I would counter themand be like how you doing, they
could say God is good, he'shelping me through it, and I
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could see the difference on themthat even in that day, in my
walk with God, I didn't have it,but they had it because they
were drawing near to the Lord.
It says this in Matthew, inverse Matthew six, sorry.
It says the eye is the lamp ofthe body.
So if your eye is healthy, yourwhole body will be full of
light.
But if your eye is bad, yourwhole body will be full of light
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.
But if your eye is bad, yourwhole body will be full of
darkness.
And, friends, that's the verything that happens is, if we
have our eyes down, away fromthe Lord, then we're going to be
full of the darkness of our ownemotions, full of the darkness
of the enemy trying to take usdown.
But instead, lift up your eyesto where your help comes from.
Lift up your eyes to the Lordand see that he is good, see
that he is faithful, see that heis steadfast, see that he's not
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sinking in the waves, though wemight be.
He is not and he's the very onethat can pull us up and have us
stand on the waves right besidehim, because he is our
salvation.
That we would change ourperspective, that we would have
our mind of Christ, a view fromhis perspective.
It would change the paradigm bywhich we live our lives.
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That means our worldview andthe way that we see things,
because that will changeeverything for us.
Lift up your eyes to where yourhelp comes from, because Jesus
is the cornerstone.
Friends, all the way back tothat scripture that we read from
Peter about how Jesus is theone that's set in our life, that
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we can build our life off ofhim.
He will not sink, he will notfounder, he won't fall apart.
He's not gonna break apart.
He's eternal.
Your faith can be in JesusChrist, because he is the
cornerstone, he's the salvationfor us.
Today, it's our challenge thatwe would embody these things,
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that we would say yes to God sothat we can be as he has asked
us to be, to be more like him.
Friends, where does my helpcome from?
I can tell you, as the one nowat the helm of a place called
Cornerstone, having taken thebaton from our founding pastors
and running the race, that theLord empower us to do our best
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to run the race he's given usand, should the Lord tarry that,
we would be those that do ourbest so that we could hand off
that baton to those who comebehind us, so that the Lord can
continue to use this place forhis glory, because Jesus is the
heart of what we do.
Jesus is the cornerstone.
Would you say amen to that?
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Today we have this opportunityto respond to him and to this
message of love.
Maybe you're here and you'venever said yes to Jesus.
You've heard this message abouthis love for you and about how
he's made a way for you, howhe's eternally the answer.
Friend.
Let me challenge you with thisthat today you would make a
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decision to follow Jesus.
Each person has to answer thatquestion.
No one can answer it for you.
You can't earn your way intothe God's good graces.
You can't do enough good things.
It's only by the grace of Godand the work of Christ for us
that we are connected to theFather in relationship.
For us.
When we look to the symbol ofthe cross, we do so with hearts
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that are humbled, understandingthat Jesus, he came and embodied
the very creation he made.
He emptied himself of all gloryto walk in the very footsteps
that we walk in.
He lived a sinless life andbecame the sacrifice for all
people.
He went to the cross, to hisdeath, but it wasn't for his
wrongdoing, it was for mine.
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Cross to his death, but itwasn't for his wrongdoing, it
was for mine, it was for yours,it was for our brokenness and
for our mistakes.
It's for our sin against him,it's for the things we do
venomously against each other.
He paid the price for all thosethings and he paid for it upon
the cross.
And the cross becomes a place.
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That was meant for terror.
It's meant to strike fear intothe eyes of all that behold it.
But to me and to you and to allwho've experienced the grace
and the forgiveness of God, thisproclaims a symbol of freedom,
a symbol of justice, a symbol ofan eternity with God, for a God
who loves us, because Jesus, hepaid for my mistakes.
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On that cross, the Apostle Paul.
He writes to the church at Rome.
He says it like this because ifyou confess with your mouth
that Jesus is Lord and believein your heart that God raised
him from the dead, you will besaved.
For with the heart one believesand is justified.
With the mouth one confessesand is saved.
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Friends, today is your day.
It's your opportunity to sayyes to Jesus.
In these last weeks, even today, we've had people making
decisions to follow God.
Friends, don't miss out on whathe wants to do in your life.
No one is guaranteed tomorrowthat today you would make an
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eternal decision to belong toJesus, to mask him into your
heart and life, to forgive youof your sin, become the Lord of
your life.
I'm going to ask everyone if youwould, if you'd stand to your
feet here in the room, bow yourheads where you're at Christians
are praying Friends.
If you're under the, you'dstand to your feet here in the
room, bow your heads whereyou're at Christians are praying
Friends, if you're under thesound of my voice, wherever
you're at, online, that youwould just take a moment pause
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for what God wants to do in andthrough your life.
Friends, you're here, you'reready to make a decision to
follow Jesus.
Maybe it's for the very firsttime, or maybe you have made a
decision like that in the past,but then you've walked away from
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it.
Today's opportunity to returnhome, to recommit your life to
Jesus Christ, as heads are bowed, as Christians are praying if
that's you, you'd say Pastor, Ijust want to be included in that
prayer.
Today, I want to make a decisionto follow Jesus.
If you just raise your handright where you're at and say
that's me, I just want to makethat prayer today to ask Jesus
into my heart and life.
Thank you Jesus.
Thank you, jesus as people makea decision to follow Jesus.
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Thank you, lord.
See people making commitments,reinforcing their commitments to
God.
Thank you, jesus.
See the hands that are there.
Others online friends.
If that's you, did you make adecision to follow Jesus today?
I'm gonna ask everyone if theywould just repeat this prayer
after me out loud Lord, thankyou for loving me.
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Thank you for sending Jesus.
I believe Jesus died on thecross for my sins.
I believe he rose again.
Forgive me of my sins.
I surrender my life to you InChrist's name.
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I pray Amen, amen.
Friends, we rejoice with youmaking a decision to follow
Jesus today.
Praise the Lord.
Hey, if that was you and youwere the one of the ones raising
your hand, connect with us.
We want to connect with ourteam.
Make sure we put some thingsinto your hands so you can be
successful living for Jesus.
If you're online, connect withus.
We don't want you to do thislife alone.
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Friends, today here we have thisopportunity, because we're
going to go to communionfollowing the response of this
song.
And so, during this song, Iwant to challenge you with this
that you would make your heartright before God, that we have
this opportunity here at thealtar.
If you want to come forward andyou just need more of God,
maybe that very thing, themessage today, resonate with you
, that you just want to cling onto Jesus.
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You need more of his peace,more of his guidance, more of
his presence in your life.
You just want to go deeper withhim.
I encourage you to take a stepforward, find an altar with God.
No one's making a judgment onyou.
Each one of us has our journeywith God, but, as we do, we're
going to come to this altar andrespond, and then we're going to
have communion together and goout with the blessing.
Lord we pray today, lord.
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Thank you for this word.
Thank you, lord, as we prepareour hearts to respond during
this song.
But we do so withintentionality, lord,
understanding that you areeternal and you are the rock of
ages.
You are the one that we canhold on to, lord, and you are
the one amidst the storm that isnot moved.
And so, lord, we hold on to youwith all that we have.
Lord, you are the cornerstone,the very thing that we build our
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life off of, and so, lord, helpus to be obedient to your word,
lord, to be more like you.
We pray this in the name ofJesus Christ, amen.
We ask you to stand for theblessing today.
Angus MacLeod (38:13):
We are so thankful that you were with us
today.
We want to just remind all ofthe parents that we have had our
kids out getting absolutelywaterlogged and playing around
out there on some amazing slidesand stuff, and we'll be doing
that during second service.
But tonight we have our youthback to school bash.
So if you know of any sixththrough twelfth graders, we want
to invite them.
We're going to have some food,we're going to have fun music.
It's going to be incredible.
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So I want to invite you toinvite them.
Jason Brown (38:36):
On our way out.
We have rebuked the caloriesoff some really good treats that
we're celebrating with 39 yearsof ministry.
Can we give God one more praisefor that?
So very thankful for that.
Hey, help us out.
I would ask you to just takeone per person and a member of
your family.
I know some of you guys.
I know some of you guys.
Before we go, I want to praythis blessing over us.
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The Lord bless you and keep you.
Lord, make his face to shineupon you and be gracious to you.
Lord, lift up his countenanceupon you and give you peace.
Lord, I pray a blessing uponyour church, your people.
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Lord, you empower us by yourspirit to live your love out to
those around us.
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.
39 years of Cornerstone Christian Center.
Praise the Lord.
39 years, so many amazingmemories, so many amazing things
to think about how the Lord isour provision and he has
continued the ministry that'sbeen here through this church.
Someone give God praise for alot he's been doing through our
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story, through this community offaith.
Praise God.
Today.
Our question for us is wheredoes my help come from?
Give your Bible, your tablet,your phone.
We're looking today toscripture in Psalm 121, starting
in verse one.
Let me encourage you in this,as you're doing your daily
reading, your Bible study beforethe Lord, that as you read the
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gospels, as you read down yourplan that you're doing maybe on
the Bible app, that as you readthe gospels, as you read down
your plan that you're doingmaybe on the Bible app, that you
would also include a Psalm anda proverb, and it's a good way
for us to think about the wisdomof God and also the songs that
the Psalmists are writing andhow our hearts can connect to
them.
One of them is here.
We see this.
It says in Psalm 1, 2, 1,verses 1 and 2,.
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It says I lift up my eyes tothe hills.
Where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord whomade heaven and earth.
Lord, we pray today over yourword, lord, that you would make
it alive and Holy Spirit youwould breathe upon it.
Lord, it would be sparked inour hearts, lord, to challenge
us.
Lord, more into your character,more into the fruit of the
Spirit coming off of our lives,lord, that it would become alive
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in Rhema, lord.
We pray this in the name ofJesus Christ, amen.
So Cornerstone, 39 years ofCornerstone.
You know this idea ofCornerstone.
It was birthed 39 years ago onthis week in August, our
founding pastors, rich and CindyBrown.
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They named it Cornerstonebecause of this scripture and I
encourage you to highlight it inyour Bible.
Let it speak to you.
It's 1 Peter, 2, starting inverse 4.
It says, as you come to him, aliving stone, rejected by men,
in the side of God, chosen andprecious, you, yourselves, like
living stones, are being builtup as a spiritual house to a
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holy priesthood to offerspiritual sacrifices acceptable
to God through Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ, for it stands inscripture behold, I am laying in
Zion a stone, a cornerstone,chosen and precious, and whoever
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believes in him will not be putto shame.
Someone say amen to that man,these powerful, these words,
this word of cornerstone.
It's who Jesus is to us.
I think of my parents.
That's who Rich and Cindy Brownare as my parents to me, and
that also means 39 years ago.
I was around whenever theystarted this church, so I'm
slightly older than the church,just barely, but I digress.
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And so they had the courage tofollow the Lord and to say yes
to him.
And I think about that, themoxie to follow God and to be
obedient to him, to be the firstmoney in the first prayers, in
the tears on the carpet andsaying Lord, what would you have
us to do?
And to be obedient, to step outin faith and to start a church
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out here in the West Valley.
Now, this started right here inPhoenix, but our family,
whenever my parents, met, theyboth were in Cashion and living
in the backside of Cashion in atrailer.
In fact, when I was born,that's where I was brought home
to, and so we've always had aheart for the West Valley and
for this whole area of what wasgoing on.
You got to remember wheneverthe church was started, this
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very place where we are now wasa field.
I think it was a cotton field,if I remember correctly, and
across the street there was allsorts of corn, there's alfalfa
and all sorts of stuff growingout here.
And then, just past us, on theother side of Litchfield Park,
was the desert, like the properdesert, like don't go out there
without water, the desert.
That's where it started.
So if you were going to Buckeyeyou had to have like the little
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knapsack you know over thestick and put it on your
shoulder and walk slowly.
It took forever to get toBuckeye.
Now we're thankful for Buckeyebecause it's almost touching Los
Angeles.
So that's the problem.
But it's gone on and grown onand we knew that and the Lord
knew that.
That's why he challengedRichard C Brown to say yes to
God and be obedient.
And so the first gathering ofthe church was actually at our
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living room when I was six, andit was.
They gathered together and theyprayed together and the word
was given.
And on that first Sunday, thevery first Sunday, my parents
gave an offering to the church.
They gave an offering tomissions and they gave an
offering to the building fund,because they were believing by
faith that God had somethingbigger and a future for what he
wanted to do in and through thiscommunity of faith called
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Cornerstone.
And so as things progressed, youcould see the one year
anniversary that was hereannounced in the newspaper
announcing Cornerstone ChristianCenter, the first annual
celebration and kind of whatthat meant to us as a church,
having gone through a yearsetting up and tearing down at
Littleton Elementary, havinggone through a year setting up
and tearing down at LittletonElementary and that was our home
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right there in Cashion foryears, as we set up and tore
down church every single weekand doing things in midweek as
well and pulling all the chairsout, setting up all the classes
and church planting.
And there was this vision thatin the future that we would be
able to have a home that wouldserve as a base of operations
for the church to go forward.
How do people know that thechurch is people and not a
building?
And so?
But a building is a blessing,it's a way for us to gather,
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it's a place that can help us,and so the vision was cast for
the building and they started todo a rendering of what that
would look like and it becamethis beautiful thing that would
be somewhere, and my dad hadlooked at all these properties
in different places.
And he had went and walked andput in bids on places and all
sorts of things and rejected,rejected, rejected.
And the Lord started to speakto him as he would fast and pray
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and say, lord, where would youhave me build your house?
Where do you want this churchto have a home?
And the Lord gave him adirection to be here on Indian
School Road.
The only problem with that isthat they were building this big
master plan community calledGarden Lakes, and so Garden
Lakes already had a place for achurch.
It was an LDS church by thehigh school and there was no
other spot for a church in thecommunity the square mile.
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And so my dad he just was likewell, lord, they said that
that's the deal and the Lord'slike no, I said I wanted the
church on Indian school.
So my dad, who had a backgroundin pipe fitter welding and he
was someone who's in leadershipon big projects like the power
plant he had been a bull stewardand a lot of other things.
In those roles he was used tobeing someone who had abilities
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and giftings and so he used thatfor the glory of God.
So he took the plans of thiscommunity right behind us and he
redrew the plans of GardenLakes to include selling us this
piece of property and when hedid, he actually included more
houses for them to sell to thepeople in the community and
because that was a skill setthat God had given them.
Now we have a home for ourchurch right here on Indian
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School Road, where God told himto plant this church.
So it's a testimony to use theskills that God has given you
and that just because he'scalled you to a new thing
doesn't mean that he hasn'tprepared you, through your story
, for what is ahead of you.
So some of you that have gonethrough a big thing in your life
know that God is using that,though he might not have caused
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it, he will use it for his gloryso that he can shine in the
future of what he wants you todo.
He wants to level that up tothe next level of what God has
for you.
So we came here.
We were able to everyonesacrificed and we talked about
building on a sure foundationand people gave and they gave to
plant the church and then tobuild the church.
Then we were able to buy thispiece of property cash and then
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start to build the building.
As we built the property, westaked out where the church
would be and we had this worshipservice here on the property
and it was powerful, thenarrative, that story.
Everyone came together.
I remember walking around it asa prayer walk and then having
this amazing moment, together inprayer and anointing this place
and saying, lord, that youwould use this place for your
glory.
And as things began to getpoured and stubbed out of the
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wall and the walls went up, wetook another opportunity to pray
and we started to put prayersthat as you walked in the
building today you might notknow it, but you walked under
and over Prayers of the saintsthat are there in a capsule have
been prayed over you every timeyou set foot in this building.
And for those that arelistening to the sound of our
voice it's the reason that wesend this out to you is because
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of the prayers of the saintsthat have gone out in front of
us, believing that you would beimpacted by the message of the
gospel.
And so it's amazing because weeach one of us that night, we
took and divided up sections ofthe place and the youth group
and the different pieces.
You could see where they wereat the stage at that time was
kind of little sub out stage,and so we had the different
thing.
My family, ours, is rightbeside that door which leads
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towards the offices, and so wewere writing and putting
scriptures on the wall.
And so what's amazing is,behind all this stucco on these
walls are prayers for you tothrive in your faith in God,
prayers for you to draw near toGod and the promises of God that
are here for us.
And whenever we had our firstSunday together to kickstart the
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building you didn't see it wasin the West Valley View, which
is pretty rare to see.
This word praise the Lord youdon't see that in the newspaper
very often.
So pretty amazing that I got tohighlight, you know, what God
was doing in this building goingup, because you gotta remember,
it was a field.
At that time they hadn't builtany of the houses yet, and so we
were one of the first thingsgoing in alongside the high
school and some of the firsthouses by the lake, and so it
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was an amazing thing to seehappen come out of nothing and
become something.
I remember Pastor Angus, who hecame to faith later in life, but
his family grew up right herein Litchfield Park.
They would drive down and passthis and Angus was like, oh, I
didn't know that Garden Lakeswas going to have a big country
club right here.
That's nice, that's a nicebuilding, that's what he thought
our church was, was a countryclub for Garden Lakes for years
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and years.
And you know, pastor Rich, hemade it so that we could you
could blend into the community.
Could be other things in thefuture, should we want to do
that.
But it was amazing becausepeople would gather from all
walks of life, from everydifferent background, all of us
broken, all of us in need of asavior, and come together as a
community of faith.
You can see in this nextpicture we had, even then, from
(10:08):
the very set of the church,missional hearts, so we used to
have flags flying across theback and all these things and
believing and saying yes to God.
And I honor our foundingpastors because they had a
tenacity after God to keep thecourse, to keep on going and do
what he asked them to do.
And many people sacrificed,many people walked alongside
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them for generations and I seesome, even faces in the crowd
that have been with us for yearsand years, for 20 years, for 30
years Some of them growing upwith us and us walking this path
together of being down thisjourney, and it's been amazing
to see God continually moveforward in what he wants us to
do.
We've been able to plantchurches, we've been able to see
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ministries happen and seeimpact in people's lives.
It's been powerful.
And this last fall we started aremodel and started to redo the
stage and one of the things thatwe did was we took a step
forward by faith and makingspace for more people, and that
was a vision that Pastor Richardalways had as he drew this
building was that the classroomsthat were downstairs down here
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where we walked in, all of thosewere classrooms and eventually
we had to make more space forpeople, but that in the future
that we would have so manypeople come into services here
as we go to plant in the WestValley and other places, like
towards Buckeye and towardsLevine and towards Waddell and
back into the city as we go todo those things that will need
space for people as they come toJesus.
And his vision was always tobuild out the balcony and this
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last fall, as Pastor Rich stoodin the balcony, friends, I could
tell you this that God isfaithful and that God has a
vision for this church that'sbigger than our vision for this
church, and God wants to use youand your story of the
redemption of Christ in yourlife to impact people around you
.
And we need to make space forthem because, guess what?
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God is gonna be doing somethingdynamic in this church in this
season ahead, as more and moreand more people come to know
Jesus Christ as their Savior andLord.
Someone give God praise forthat.
That's what we're saying, andso it's amazing.
We see how it is.
This was a picture from lastweekend of us just worshiping
the Lord and people coming tothe altars.
You see in this next image.
(12:16):
And so it becomes this amazingthing that God is doing, how
he's using this next generationof young leaders and he's
pulling and stepping people up.
And that's our heart is that wewant to be a multicultural,
multi-generational, multi-campusmovement, and God has been
doing that in and through us.
He's done that through thingslike Seekids and ministering to
(12:37):
families.
Now, for all of these years,for 25 years, he's been doing
that.
He's been doing that back wherewe came from, in Cashion,
through Mercy House, which wecelebrated over 30 years of
ministry that God has been doingthrough things like Mercy House
in Cashion, and we got tocelebrate that and see the
timeline of all the good thingsthat happened there.
We were talking about it lastservice when Mika was in here
(12:58):
and just saying how God is good.
God is good and that he wouldpartner together someone crazy
like Mika with someone crazylike Pastor Rich and they would
say yes to God and they werewilling to go and to love the
unlovely people.
And that's who we were made ofand we were made of redeemed
people that lived that life,that grew up on the back streets
(13:19):
of Cashion, that grew up indown in South Phoenix.
We were the dregs of peoplethat God redeemed and washed and
made brand new and so friends.
That's why we can love everyonefrom every place, because
that's who Jesus loved us fromas well, that we could be the
love of God to them.
And so now we've seengenerations of people kids that
(13:40):
grew up in Mercy House are nowhaving kids and they have some
even become grandparents thefirst generation of them and
it's an amazing life changethat's happened as the hope of
God has been dropped into theirheart and life and transformed
everything because of Jesus andbecause of the consistency of
people to give to the Lord oftheir time and their talent,
(14:00):
their testimony and even theirtreasury, to say yes to God.
That's why it's changed,friends, because the obedience
of the church to do what Jesuscalled us to do.
Now, I'm the first to tell younone of us is perfect.
I'm a long way from it, but I'msomeone who, just like you, is
on a journey to become, to bemore like Jesus.
(14:23):
We have an ambition to be morelike him.
That's why we walk after him,following where he's leading us
to go.
That's why we use this imageryso often of us walking like the
disciples, after Jesus becausethat's who we are is.
We're following him where he'sleading us in our life and we're
saying yes to God to be morelike Jesus.
And so we say yes to himbecause he's challenged us to do
(14:45):
things like the greatcommission.
If you have your Bibles, youcan highlight it here the great
commission that he brings to us.
It's in Matthew 28, starting inverse 18.
And it says and Jesus came andsaid to do is to take the
(15:24):
message of the gospel to theworld around us, and he's also
challenged us with this, thegreat commandment, and we see
that here in Matthew 22.
It says, teacher, which is thegreat commandment in the law,
and he said to him you shalllove the Lord, your God, with
all of your heart and with allof your soul and with all of
(15:45):
your mind.
This is the great and firstcommandment, and the second is,
like it love your neighbor asyourself.
Aren't you thankful thatsomeone loved you enough to tell
you about the gospel message ofJesus Christ?
Friends, that's who we'recalled to be is the ones who say
yes to the Great Commission,the ones who say yes to the
(16:06):
Great Commandment and obey Jesus.
We're called to love God, tomake disciples, to reach the
world, and we do those thingsbecause that's what Jesus told
us to do, and we're not calledto do this life alone.
So we do things like lifegroups, to be intentional in
that process, and that's what itlooks like for us here to
(16:27):
connect together.
That's why we meet across thecity throughout the week, and we
do so so that we can grow inour relationship with God.
We do so so that we can use ourgifts and abilities to serve
wherever he's asked us to serve.
And so it goes beyond just herein the weekend gatherings.
We want to have a cornerstoneculture that it talks about who
(16:48):
we are and what we're doing.
This last week, this last yearI'm sorry we talked about this
idea of the seven C's and talkedabout these seven C statements
that are things, culturally,that help drive us together as a
community of faith.
Here at Cornerstone, we talkedabout the first of those, which
is commitment, we said.
For us, we have to be those whoare committed to the Lord, that
(17:08):
I'm not gonna turn back, no,turning back, as for me and my
house, we will serve the Lord.
And so we've made thesedeclarative statements.
We've solidified this in ourheart that I belong to him and
I'm going to be committed toJesus Christ.
In community.
We see it in this aspect thatChrist died for the church.
(17:29):
That that's very much who we'recalled to be as a community of
faith.
And so we're called to be thosethat live in community,
encourage each other, bringalongside another and walk with
them.
We're called to be those whomourn with people when they
mourn, to celebrate when theycelebrate.
We're called to be those peoplethat live in that community
together and to make space sothat one more friend can come
(17:52):
and join us in our community offaith.
And so that's why we talk aboutbeing intentional to bring a
friend, bring a colleague fromwork, to be someone who's
inviting others your neighbor tocome and sit with you, so that
they can know, hey, I have afriend here, I belong, I'm a
part of what God wants to dohere at Cornerstone.
The third piece we talk about iscommunication.
We know this, that we're calledto use our testimony and share
(18:16):
it with others around us, andwe're supposed to share the
gospel message of how God haschanged our hearts and so that
other people can, they canencounter it and it can change
their life as well.
And so we do that in all sortsof avenues.
We do that like this, insharing our story.
We do that through our musicand our songs and our worship.
We do it through lights andvideo and online avenues.
(18:37):
We do all those differentthings because we want to
communicate the gospel in a waythat people can receive it.
That's why we do things liketoday with the Back to School
Bash for our kiddos and for ouryouth tonight, because we want
them to know that living thislife in community with God is
fun, but it has a purpose.
And so we do both of thosethings together.
They're not a separate thing,they're together in our living
for God.
(18:57):
We not a separate thing,they're together in our living
for God.
We also want to do things withcompetence.
What does that mean?
That means that we want to bepeople who are giving our
excellence to God, that we'recommitted to God and we're
giving our best to God.
And that's not just here.
That is here.
That's what we want to docollectively in serving the Lord
, but also in what we dowherever we live our life, so in
our community or at work,whenever you're running your
(19:20):
business you own and with yourteam and with your clients, how
you hold yourself and how youare, whenever you are serving,
on the team that you serve with,in your work, that you are
reflecting the love of Christand you're doing things with
excellence.
Because we do that.
In all that, we do Not justwhen we show up here at church
on a weekend or when we watch aservice, but whenever we live
(19:40):
our life that we give our best,because we're a reflection of
our giving our best to God.
Amen.
And so we continue in thisprocess of creativity,
understanding that God is acreative God.
He's the one that created thewhole world and he gives us
creativity as well to be anexpression of what that means.
And so we use that in differentways, and our team does that.
And what we do with what wedisplay and how we express what
(20:03):
we're doing in all of thesedifferent avenues so that people
can connect to the love of God,we also do things with
compassion.
That's why we function the waywe do with Mercy House, with the
closet and the pantry that giveout food and clothing to people
in need.
It's why we go and partner withover 50 different missionaries
and ministries every monththrough Kingdom Builders,
(20:25):
because we want to have animpact in our community.
And that's out on the NaderReservation.
It's with OCJ Kids helpingfoster kids in their communities
and get connected.
It's out on the ASU campus, theU of A campus and Emory Riddle
at NAU.
It's so that universitystudents can love God and know
God.
It's all of these differentavenues like things like Convoy
(20:47):
of Hope or even Project Rescue,like we talked about today,
about helping people where theyare that we would have a
compassionate heart, because Godhas had a compassionate heart
towards us.
And the last is celebration,that we would be those that
celebrate the good things thatGod has been doing in and
through our lives and we wouldcelebrate with others as well,
(21:10):
that we would say man, I'm soglad that you are experiencing
God, answer your prayer.
Friends, we've had people thisweek who shared with us.
You know what I've been prayingand I've been going through
cancer and God said he's gonnatouch my life.
I went to my doctor this weekand all of my numbers in cancer
are completely down from wherethey were the previous week.
Friends, that's called healing.
(21:32):
In the name of Jesus Christ,they had had no kind of medicine
applied.
All these things.
We believe in medicine.
We're thankful for doctors,we're thankful for doctors,
we're thankful for nurses.
We believe in all those things.
But we are also contending forthe divine hand of God to heal,
and so that's why we celebratethose things, even whenever you
maybe not had the miracle yet,but your friend has.
Friend, let's be those thatcelebrate with them as if it
(21:55):
were our victory.
That we don't be.
Woe is me.
Why did they get the answer?
I don't know how.
About Lord?
Thank you, lord.
You're answering a prayer there.
It builds my faith, to believeas well that we would celebrate
what God is doing in these sevenC's, helping guide us to what
we're called to be.
Now, as we think about thesethings at Cornerstone, we come
back to that first piece ofscripture.
(22:17):
We looked up at Psalm 121.
It says I lift up my eyes tothe hills.
From where does my help come?
My help comes from the Lord whomade heaven and earth.
I've been thinking about thisquestion when does my help come
from?
You know, I talk to a lot ofpeople in my role here as a
(22:37):
pastor and I know man, even inmy own life.
It feels like sometimes we'rejust going through, you know,
really big storms.
We're going through really bigstorms and there's no way to
kind of think about it.
You think about the crashingwaves around you and it feels
like this imminent power of thisthing that you can't change is
happening and so you're kind ofadrift in it.
(22:58):
And I can tell youtransparently that it's
definitely a season, this lastlittle bit, that where I've gone
through a piece of that myselfand it's different than even
seasons before.
I can't tag it to one thing.
It's kind of the grind that'llget you sometimes and I'm just
thinking about that and beinglike Lord, I feel like sometimes
I'm just in this storm and I'mtrying to stay strong for other
(23:19):
people and believe with otherpeople, and I'm championing the
miracle, believing for it, andall the while, I still feel the
storm myself, and I know some ofyou feel it too.
In fact, sometimes it feelslike you're not just in a storm,
but that you're on the rocksand the storm is beating against
you.
It's coming against you andfriends.
My encouragement to you todayis that we know where our help
(23:42):
comes from.
Our help comes from the Lord.
You know, I was challenged topray for my friend Josh.
He's a friend from universityand Josh has this tattoo.
It's called the Rock of Agesand it's not.
This is his, but he has it onhim.
It's the same imagery and I wasthinking about it as I saw it
and I looked this up a while agoand I wanted to share with you
(24:04):
today.
And it's an interesting imageryof this woman that's holding on
to this stone cross in themiddle of the sea and it shows
the waves crashing against her,and this one.
It even depicts, you know, theships that are sinking in the
backdrop.
What was interesting about it isit was actually a pastor in
1763 who was caught out in alightning storm and as the
(24:25):
lightning struck in the sky, heknew he needed to get to safety.
There was wind and water andwaves and he was on the edge of
a cliff face and walking upthere and he was looking for a
safe place to passage.
And as the lightning struck thesky, it kind of gave him a
highlight of where he could goand be safe and he tucked
himself into the cleft of therock.
And so, pastor Augustus, he hasthis moment and he survives
(24:49):
this storm.
And in the midst of that hecomes out of it and he starts to
write, which became this hymncalled Rock of Ages, and in the
lyrics of it talk about how thatGod has made a way for him to
be safe, that he's cleft away.
He's safe because of the Lordhas provided that way for him.
(25:09):
This, it inspired a painter.
Some years later, simon, 100years later, he paints this
imagery of the rock of ages andit's this woman holding on to
this stone cross in the midst ofthe sea, very much like a
lighthouse giving safety toships.
She's holding on and has herarms enveloped around this stone
cross, it becomes somethingpowerful of his imagery because
(25:33):
we see how it is alone, thesafety it is her salvation.
And, friends, I could tell youtoday that if you are someone
who's going through a time ofstruggle, if you're someone who
feels like they're in the middleof the storm, that you can hold
on to Jesus because he is yoursalvation.
(25:53):
He alone is our, he is theprovision for us, he is the
strong tower, he is the one thatwill not sink.
He is the one that will not bedestroyed.
He is the eagle's wings thatprotect us.
He is more than enough for us.
Jesus is our salvation.
It made me think of this old,another old hymn, and from time
(26:16):
to time I think about it.
I learned it when I was growingup here in this church, and
though we weren't ones that sunga lot of old hymns, this is one
that we would sing from time totime, and the song says on
Christ, the solid rock, I stand.
All other ground is sinkingsand and friends, sometimes it
(26:43):
feels like the very groundunderneath our feet is trying to
take us down.
But I can tell you this thateverywhere I've been in my life,
chasing all sorts of things andtrying to find my answer in a
hollowness.
I've been in dangerous placesthat God has seen me fit to
bring me home, going throughreally difficult spots where I
(27:05):
felt I was alone in a crowd,that it's on Christ, the solid
rock I stand, and it's only inhim.
He is the only one that willbring you through it.
He's the only thing that willsurvive the storm eternally.
Friends, we can run to Jesus,because all other ground is
(27:26):
sinking sand, but he will notsink.
He is our salvation, and sowhenever we read those words
about, I lift up my eyes.
Where does my help come from,friend?
My help comes from the Lord,and so let me challenge you
(27:47):
today that you would be someonethat runs to the Lord and not
from him.
I made that mistake.
I got bitter and mad and ranfrom the Lord.
I blame God for what was goingon in my life.
I blame him whenever I had twofriends die in the same summer
from a car wreck similar to theone I survived.
I blame God and get angry.
I blame God when my friendwould commit suicide.
(28:08):
I blame God whenever it didn'tgo my way.
Friends, don't run from God.
Run to God, because all otherground is sinking sand.
It's only on Christ, the solidrock, that we can stand and be
victorious, because in him weare victorious, because he is
(28:33):
our salvation.
We think about it.
It says that I lift my eyes up.
It says where do I what?
I look my eyes up to those.
I lift my eyes up and friends.
That's his challenge to ustoday.
And the way that we do thisthing is that we would lift up
our eyes to the Lord, that wewouldn't look down and
downtrodden or woe is me and getwrapped up in our little cocoon
(28:53):
of our own emotions, but thatwe would elevate our face and
look up to our Father, who isour source, who's looking at us,
because he wants us to see himand to reflect his countenance,
so that we can be empowered byhim, so we can reflect his
countenance to others.
And one of the biggesttestimonies I've ever seen is
(29:15):
people who are going through wayworse things than me that they
had the peace of God and thecountenance of God because they
weren't doing it in their ownstrength and they were walking
in the strength of God every day.
And so, as I would counter themand be like how you doing, they
could say God is good, he'shelping me through it, and I
(29:39):
could see the difference on themthat even in that day, in my
walk with God, I didn't have it,but they had it because they
were drawing near to the Lord.
It says this in Matthew, inverse Matthew six, sorry.
It says the eye is the lamp ofthe body.
So if your eye is healthy, yourwhole body will be full of
light.
But if your eye is bad, yourwhole body will be full of light
(30:01):
.
But if your eye is bad, yourwhole body will be full of
darkness.
And, friends, that's the verything that happens is, if we
have our eyes down, away fromthe Lord, then we're going to be
full of the darkness of our ownemotions, full of the darkness
of the enemy trying to take usdown.
But instead, lift up your eyesto where your help comes from.
Lift up your eyes to the Lordand see that he is good, see
that he is faithful, see that heis steadfast, see that he's not
(30:23):
sinking in the waves, though wemight be.
He is not and he's the very onethat can pull us up and have us
stand on the waves right besidehim, because he is our
salvation.
That we would change ourperspective, that we would have
our mind of Christ, a view fromhis perspective.
It would change the paradigm bywhich we live our lives.
(30:44):
That means our worldview andthe way that we see things,
because that will changeeverything for us.
Lift up your eyes to where yourhelp comes from, because Jesus
is the cornerstone.
Friends, all the way back tothat scripture that we read from
Peter about how Jesus is theone that's set in our life, that
(31:06):
we can build our life off ofhim.
He will not sink, he will notfounder, he won't fall apart.
He's not gonna break apart.
He's eternal.
Your faith can be in JesusChrist, because he is the
cornerstone, he's the salvationfor us.
Today, it's our challenge thatwe would embody these things,
(31:28):
that we would say yes to God sothat we can be as he has asked
us to be, to be more like him.
Friends, where does my helpcome from?
I can tell you, as the one nowat the helm of a place called
Cornerstone, having taken thebaton from our founding pastors
and running the race, that theLord empower us to do our best
(31:50):
to run the race he's given usand, should the Lord tarry that,
we would be those that do ourbest so that we could hand off
that baton to those who comebehind us, so that the Lord can
continue to use this place forhis glory, because Jesus is the
heart of what we do.
Jesus is the cornerstone.
Would you say amen to that?
(32:13):
Today we have this opportunityto respond to him and to this
message of love.
Maybe you're here and you'venever said yes to Jesus.
You've heard this message abouthis love for you and about how
he's made a way for you, howhe's eternally the answer.
Friend.
Let me challenge you with thisthat today you would make a
(32:34):
decision to follow Jesus.
Each person has to answer thatquestion.
No one can answer it for you.
You can't earn your way intothe God's good graces.
You can't do enough good things.
It's only by the grace of Godand the work of Christ for us
that we are connected to theFather in relationship.
For us.
When we look to the symbol ofthe cross, we do so with hearts
(32:55):
that are humbled, understandingthat Jesus, he came and embodied
the very creation he made.
He emptied himself of all gloryto walk in the very footsteps
that we walk in.
He lived a sinless life andbecame the sacrifice for all
people.
He went to the cross, to hisdeath, but it wasn't for his
wrongdoing, it was for mine.
(33:16):
Cross to his death, but itwasn't for his wrongdoing, it
was for mine, it was for yours,it was for our brokenness and
for our mistakes.
It's for our sin against him,it's for the things we do
venomously against each other.
He paid the price for all thosethings and he paid for it upon
the cross.
And the cross becomes a place.
(33:37):
That was meant for terror.
It's meant to strike fear intothe eyes of all that behold it.
But to me and to you and to allwho've experienced the grace
and the forgiveness of God, thisproclaims a symbol of freedom,
a symbol of justice, a symbol ofan eternity with God, for a God
who loves us, because Jesus, hepaid for my mistakes.
(33:57):
On that cross, the Apostle Paul.
He writes to the church at Rome.
He says it like this because ifyou confess with your mouth
that Jesus is Lord and believein your heart that God raised
him from the dead, you will besaved.
For with the heart one believesand is justified.
With the mouth one confessesand is saved.
(34:21):
Friends, today is your day.
It's your opportunity to sayyes to Jesus.
In these last weeks, even today, we've had people making
decisions to follow God.
Friends, don't miss out on whathe wants to do in your life.
No one is guaranteed tomorrowthat today you would make an
(34:42):
eternal decision to belong toJesus, to mask him into your
heart and life, to forgive youof your sin, become the Lord of
your life.
I'm going to ask everyone if youwould, if you'd stand to your
feet here in the room, bow yourheads where you're at Christians
are praying Friends.
If you're under the, you'dstand to your feet here in the
room, bow your heads whereyou're at Christians are praying
Friends, if you're under thesound of my voice, wherever
you're at, online, that youwould just take a moment pause
(35:04):
for what God wants to do in andthrough your life.
Friends, you're here, you'reready to make a decision to
follow Jesus.
Maybe it's for the very firsttime, or maybe you have made a
decision like that in the past,but then you've walked away from
(35:26):
it.
Today's opportunity to returnhome, to recommit your life to
Jesus Christ, as heads are bowed, as Christians are praying if
that's you, you'd say Pastor, Ijust want to be included in that
prayer.
Today, I want to make a decisionto follow Jesus.
If you just raise your handright where you're at and say
that's me, I just want to makethat prayer today to ask Jesus
into my heart and life.
Thank you Jesus.
Thank you, jesus as people makea decision to follow Jesus.
(35:48):
Thank you, lord.
See people making commitments,reinforcing their commitments to
God.
Thank you, jesus.
See the hands that are there.
Others online friends.
If that's you, did you make adecision to follow Jesus today?
I'm gonna ask everyone if theywould just repeat this prayer
after me out loud Lord, thankyou for loving me.
(36:11):
Thank you for sending Jesus.
I believe Jesus died on thecross for my sins.
I believe he rose again.
Forgive me of my sins.
I surrender my life to you InChrist's name.
(36:33):
I pray Amen, amen.
Friends, we rejoice with youmaking a decision to follow
Jesus today.
Praise the Lord.
Hey, if that was you and youwere the one of the ones raising
your hand, connect with us.
We want to connect with ourteam.
Make sure we put some thingsinto your hands so you can be
successful living for Jesus.
If you're online, connect withus.
We don't want you to do thislife alone.
(36:54):
Friends, today here we have thisopportunity, because we're
going to go to communionfollowing the response of this
song.
And so, during this song, Iwant to challenge you with this
that you would make your heartright before God, that we have
this opportunity here at thealtar.
If you want to come forward andyou just need more of God,
maybe that very thing, themessage today, resonate with you
, that you just want to cling onto Jesus.
(37:15):
You need more of his peace,more of his guidance, more of
his presence in your life.
You just want to go deeper withhim.
I encourage you to take a stepforward, find an altar with God.
No one's making a judgment onyou.
Each one of us has our journeywith God, but, as we do, we're
going to come to this altar andrespond, and then we're going to
have communion together and goout with the blessing.
Lord we pray today, lord.
(37:35):
Thank you for this word.
Thank you, lord, as we prepareour hearts to respond during
this song.
But we do so withintentionality, lord,
understanding that you areeternal and you are the rock of
ages.
You are the one that we canhold on to, lord, and you are
the one amidst the storm that isnot moved.
And so, lord, we hold on to youwith all that we have.
Lord, you are the cornerstone,the very thing that we build our
(37:57):
life off of, and so, lord, helpus to be obedient to your word,
lord, to be more like you.
We pray this in the name ofJesus Christ, amen.
We ask you to stand for theblessing today.
Angus MacLeod (38:13):
We are so thankful that you were with us
today.
We want to just remind all ofthe parents that we have had our
kids out getting absolutelywaterlogged and playing around
out there on some amazing slidesand stuff, and we'll be doing
that during second service.
But tonight we have our youthback to school bash.
So if you know of any sixththrough twelfth graders, we want
to invite them.
We're going to have some food,we're going to have fun music.
It's going to be incredible.
(38:33):
So I want to invite you toinvite them.
Jason Brown (38:36):
On our way out.
We have rebuked the caloriesoff some really good treats that
we're celebrating with 39 yearsof ministry.
Can we give God one more praisefor that?
So very thankful for that.
Hey, help us out.
I would ask you to just takeone per person and a member of
your family.
I know some of you guys.
I know some of you guys.
Before we go, I want to praythis blessing over us.
(38:59):
The Lord bless you and keep you.
Lord, make his face to shineupon you and be gracious to you.
Lord, lift up his countenanceupon you and give you peace.
Lord, I pray a blessing uponyour church, your people.
(39:20):
Lord, you empower us by yourspirit to live your love out to
those around us.
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.
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Football’s funniest family duo — Jason Kelce of the Philadelphia Eagles and Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs — team up to provide next-level access to life in the league as it unfolds. The two brothers and Super Bowl champions drop weekly insights about the weekly slate of games and share their INSIDE perspectives on trending NFL news and sports headlines. They also endlessly rag on each other as brothers do, chat the latest in pop culture and welcome some very popular and well-known friends to chat with them. Check out new episodes every Wednesday. Follow New Heights on the Wondery App, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes early and ad-free, and get exclusive content on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And join our new membership for a unique fan experience by going to the New Heights YouTube channel now!
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