October 27, 2025 • 37 mins
What you worship will shape the whole arc of your life. We open the door with the five solas—Scripture alone, faith alone, grace alone, Christ alone, to the glory of God alone—and then linger on Soli Deo Gloria, where everyday choices become an offering and ordinary moments become a stage for God’s goodness. From Martin Luther’s conviction to our city streets, we connect history’s rallying cry with the modern heart.
Walking through Acts 17, we follow Paul into Athens and its forest of idols, where an altar to the “unknown god” becomes the key to a deeper truth: the Creator who needs nothing gives everything—life, breath, boundaries, seasons—and has come near in Jesus Christ. That nearness reframes our pursuits. Idolatry isn’t only stone and gold; it can be image, achievement, comfort, even religious success. We talk about how to spot those quiet rivals and re-center our loves, not by despising good things, but by returning every gift to its Giver.
We share three practical takeaways on worship that hold up under pressure: worship aligns us with God’s purposes, worship celebrates Christ’s transforming work in us, and worship compels daily obedience. Along the way, we draw from Tozer, Lewis, and Spurgeon, and we offer a clear invitation to trust Jesus—confessing with the mouth and believing in the heart—as the way into a restored life with God. If you’re ready to trade restlessness for meaning and noise for glory, press play, lean in, and consider what needs to come off the throne.
If this encouraged you, follow the show, share it with a friend who’s searching, and leave a review to help others find these conversations. What rival love will you lay down this week?
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
AI Video (00:00):
500 years ago, a monk named Martin Luther ignited a
fire that would reshapeChristianity forever.
His stand against theprevailing doctrines of his day
wasn't just a protest, it was acall to return to the
foundational truths of thefaith.
This pivotal moment of theProtestant Reformation wasn't
about creating a new religion,but about rediscovering the
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gospel.
At the heart of thisrediscovery were five core
principles, Latin phrases thatbecame the rallying cry for
reform.
These are the five solas, solascriptura, scripture alone.
The Bible, not tradition orhuman authority, is our ultimate
and infallible guide for faithand life.
It's the final word, thehighest court.
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Sola fide, faith alone.
We're justified, declaredrighteous in God's sight, by
faith alone, not by our works.
We trust solely in Christ'sfinished work on the cross.
So would God give grace alone.
Salvation is an earth, it's agift from God.
It's his unmerited favor thatsaves us.
Nothing we do can ever deserveit.
So is Christus, Christ alone.
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Jesus Christ is the onlymediator between God and
humanity.
He is the one and only way tosalvation, our one true King,
and our sole redeemer.
Solely De of Gloria, to theglory of God alone.
The ultimate purpose ofeverything, including our
salvation, is to bring glory toGod.
Our lives are to be lived forHis praise, not our own.
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These aren't just historicalslogans.
They're living truths thatanchor our faith.
Jason Brown (01:31):
What are you worshiping?
Soli Deo Gloria.
God's glory alone.
Today, friends, we continue inthese five solas, these five
statements of faith that we'vebeen talking about: sola
scriptura, sola fide, solagratia, solus crisis, and soli
deo gloria, as these five solasor only statements about our
(01:55):
faith in Jesus Christ.
You know, if you're a guest ofours, welcome to Cornerstone.
Welcome home.
We're glad you're a part of usand what God is doing in and
through us as a collective, asthe community of faith.
We're blessed to be here asthose who are lifting up his
name and living for Jesus.
We very much see ourselves asimperfect people who are broken
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and in need of a savior.
None of us is perfect.
All of us are in need of him.
And so because of that, we seeand use this imagery of Christ
walking with his disciples,because that's how we see
ourselves as people on a journeyfollowing after Jesus.
And our ambition, bothpersonally and then corporately,
is to be more like Jesus.
That's why we do what we do.
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We live community throughoutthe week, throughout the city,
and we do that through lifegroups.
We connect, we we makerelationships with each other.
We go, we grow in ourrelationship with God and going
deep into the word, and then weserve.
We use the talents andabilities he's given us for his
glory and for his purposes.
That's why we have a heart tolove God, to make disciples and
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to reach the world.
So we're glad you're with us.
We're glad you're a part ofwhat God is doing.
As we look to these fivesoulas, they start to speak to
us about what he wants us tobelieve and how we live it.
Now, we've been talking weekafter week about them and where
they come from.
These five statements, thesefive solas, tie back over 500
years ago where a Roman Catholicpriest named Martin Luther, he
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had a conviction of the heart.
He's a true believer, a trueChrist follower.
And as he went to Rome to seethe seed of power for the
church, he was expecting a newrevelation, a new level in his
spirituality.
But what he found was actuallythe antithesis of that in seeing
so many things that were set upagainst the very belief we have
in Jesus Christ.
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In doing so, he felt convictedand then compelled to write 95
theses, these statements offaith, and to nail them to his
church door over 500 years ago.
This started off what we wouldknown as the Protestant
Reformation, being those thatprotest against how things were
happening and instead returningto a heart that's after God.
The first of these was solascriptura or scripture alone.
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We talked about in 2 Timothy 3.
All scripture is breathed outby God and profitable for
teaching, for reproof, forcorrection, and for training in
righteousness.
That's how we see the word ofGod, that it is the truth, that
it is the very guiding lightthat we follow after, because we
see how it is the very spokenword, making it alive in us and
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saying Jesus is the truth.
The word is the truth, and thathe is the one that inspires
these things.
And so it's from God by theSpirit and by the interaction
with Jesus that we have thescripture, and the scripture
comes alive.
We ask the Holy Spirit tobreathe upon it and become Rhema
and challenge us.
And it's only by faith that wecan do so, because it's nothing
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that we can do, that we can earnour way in.
It's only by believing in whatJesus has done on our behalf.
Ephesians 2, 8 says it, for bygrace you have been saved
through faith.
And this is not of your owndoing, it's a gift of God, not a
result of works, so that no onemay boast.
And this is the truth with usis that we understand that we
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cannot earn our way into God'sgood grace.
It's not possible.
Because of it, we, you know, weare we're broken people, and so
therefore, it says that we'relike filthy rags in holiness
before a holy God.
It means that none of us isrighteous, no, not a single one,
says the Roman epistle.
And so, in the same way, we arethose that it's only by our
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faith in him that we're able todo this.
And it's only by his grace laidout upon us that we even have
the opportunity.
Sola gratia, grace alone.
And it's because of this grace,which he has so richly poured
out upon us, that we get to havea relationship, an eternal
relationship with the livingGod, something that we didn't
earn, that he gives to us as agift.
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It says it in Scripture, itpicks up here in Romans 3 for
all have sinned and fall shortof the glory of God, and are
justified by his grace as agift, through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus.
Someone say amen to that.
Solus Christus only Jesus orChrist alone is the next we
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heard.
We heard it from Pastor Dana,who shared an amazing sermon
challenging us to have Jesus atthe center of our hearts and
lives.
We see it here in Romans 5, 1and 2 as it's reiterated to us.
Therefore, having beenjustified by faith, we have
peace with God through our LordJesus Christ, through whom we
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also have access by faith intohis grace, in which we stand and
rejoice in hope of the glory ofGod.
Today we continue with thefifth sola, and that is Soli Deo
Gloria, God's glory alone.
Say Solido Gloria with me,Solideo Gloria.
(06:55):
Thinking up here in Romans 11,it says, For who has the mind of
the Lord, who has been hiscounselor, or who has given him
a gift that he might be repaid?
For from him and through himand to him are all things.
To him be glory forever.
Amen.
Let's pray.
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Lord, we thank you for yourword, and we pray over it today.
Holy Spirit, come and breatheupon it, challenge our hearts,
Lord, that we would become morelike you.
We pray in the name of JesusChrist.
Amen.
A solideo gloria, God's gloryalone.
This starts with the idea ofperspective, that the glory of
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God is revealed by the way thatwe view things.
You know, our founding pastors,Pastors Rich and Cindy Brown,
they would teach often and talkabout this idea of decisions
determine your destiny.
And that starts out with theway we view things.
It's our perspective, it's ourworldview, because so much comes
from the way that we seethings.
And as we see things thecorrect way and our perspective
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is aligned with God, then wewill have the mind of Christ.
But without that perspective,then we're gonna go about it
off-tilt, and that's gonna causeus to sin because we're gonna
be off of where we should begoing with him.
And so the glory of God getsrevealed as we reflect God's
glory back to him as hisworkmanship.
It's all starting with ourperspective.
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You know, for me, I had theadvantage that, you know, so
many times our perspective ofhow we do things, it has to do
with how we were reared up inthis world.
Our our the way we view theworld is how our family viewed
the world.
How many people know what I'mtalking about?
And that means sometimes thethings that were passed down to
us, they can be great, sometimesthey can be bad.
And so it's something that wehave to overcome with the wrong
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perspective unless we've beentrained up in the way of God.
And so that's why the scripturesays, train them up in the way
of God.
They won't depart from itbecause it's deep inside of who
we are.
And though we run, we know theconviction of God because Holy
Spirit will keep pulling us tohimself because he loves us that
much.
And that's why we pray nosatisfaction upon those who have
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made a commitment to Christ andthen ran away, because we say,
guess what?
Everything you try is gonna beempty.
It's only the things of Godthat will satisfy your life.
And so we pray to that regard.
In the same way, ourperspective of our heavenly
father is directly tied manytimes to our view of our earthly
father.
How many people they've had adifficulty sometimes with their
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perspective of their earthlyfather.
And see, for me, I had a greatexample of an earthly dad.
He's not perfect, but he lovesGod, he protected me, he
provided for me, he sacrificedso that I could have a leg up in
this world, and that's themodel that I got to see.
I got to understand God throughthat framework of a shepherd
who would look out for me and somany others.
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It's not been your experience.
You've been heartbroken becauseyou don't have an earthly dad
that loved you or honored you,or worse, you had a terrible
version of someone who wouldspeak curses over you.
But friends, I'm here to tellyou that your heavenly father
loves you and values you, thathe sees you from the very
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moments in the conception ofyour life to when you were being
knit together in your mother'swomb.
And when you took your firstbreath, he rejoiced in who you
are because you're his child.
And he loves you, and it saysthat he will give good gifts,
not a stone but bread, not a nota viper but a fish, because he
wants to be the provision foryour life.
(10:25):
He's a plan and a purpose foryou.
All these things being madeknown in your life as we align
ourselves with him.
The scripture says in Romanschapter 11, for who has known
the mind of the Lord and who hasbeen his counselor, or who can
give him a gift.
Friends, this is the veryperspective that we need to have
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is that the creator God of ourworld, we have nothing to offer
him that he himself can'tcreate.
We have nothing to offer himthat he himself couldn't be
glorified in, except that heasks us for his, for all that we
are in our hearts.
He asks us for thatrelationship.
And so we come to him with ourhearts turns toward him.
In the same way we glorify theLord, it's glorification, the
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power of God made known amongstus.
That's why whenever Jesus comesand becomes incarnate as man,
the Son of Man here on earth, aswe'll talk about in the coming
weeks with Christmas, we seethat all of heaven they go crazy
over the party because they'reexalting who he is.
Glory to God in the highest.
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They're declaring who he is,and on earth, peace among all
whom he is pleased.
Friends, they're rejoicing atwhat he is doing, that he would
be glorified, that he wouldreceive the praise that is due
him through our mouths.
First Corinthians 10 31 says itlike this so whether you eat or
drink, or whatever you do, doall to the glory of God.
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See, we're called to be thosethat reflect back the glory of
everything we're doing to theLord.
That means we're called to be agood witness of what he's
called us to be, and that's whatglorification means is that we
would glorify him, we wouldworship him with our life.
Not just on Sunday with ourwords to really good songs as we
pray these prayers, but that wewould every day in our
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difficult days, in our difficultsituations, that we would not
run from the Lord but to theLord, that we would seek him as
our source, our ever-presenthelp in time of need.
In the same way we continuehere and see that his
righteousness, it's only madepossible by faith in Jesus
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Christ.
We hear a quote that's herefrom Aidan Wilson Tozer.
It says, The glory of Godalways comes at the sacrifice of
self.
How many people would agreewith that?
That's exactly what we see aswell is that it's these very
things that God wants to do thatwe need to empty ourselves of
all that we have so that hewould be made known.
(12:58):
C.S.
Lewis says, The glory of God asour only means of glorifying
him, the salvation of humansouls, is the real business of
life.
That's what we're called to be,is called to be those that are
living our life for God,reflecting his glory and letting
other people know about it sothat they can do the same.
That's how we're made to berighteous, is that his
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righteousness is the one thatdoes it for us.
Oswald Chambers, famous for hiswritings after his death, this
personal journal that his hiswidow then published, he gave
his life in service of the Lordand all that he put his hands to
do.
And I've stood at hisgravestone there in Cairo,
Egypt, where he he died in hisearly 30s, giving to the Lord
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and living for the poor.
And in doing so, he did somotivated by his faith in God.
We see Oswald says, We tend toset up successes in Christian
work as our purpose, but ourpurpose should be to display the
glory of God in human life, tolive a life hidden with Christ
in God in our evident, everydayhuman conditions.
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That's what it means to glorifythe Lord, to give him all of
the praise and all the glory.
We don't do these things thatare acts of service as a way to
try to earn our way.
No, we do it as part of ourheart and our love for the Lord.
That's why we do these thingsand serve, because we first were
loved, so we love.
And in that way that we glorifyhim with all that we have.
(14:25):
We're also called to be thosethat proclaim the glory of the
Lord.
As we talked about in theproclamation that the angels
said, that's something thatresonates with our hearts, and
that everything that we do wouldbe those things that be brought
forward.
Our righteousness then that wetalked about in our faith in
Christ Jesus has only been madepossible because we align
ourselves with Him.
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Romans 15, 5 and 6 says, Maythe God of endurance and
encouragement grant you to livein such harmony with one another
and accordant with ChristJesus, that together you may be
one voice glorify the God andFather of our Lord Jesus Christ.
See, friends, he calls ustogether to be those that come
together, abandoning all theseother avenues and focuses, but
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focusing on him, that we wouldbe one voice of worship to the
Lord.
We also see here God'sfaithfulness be made known to
us.
And that's how we reflect God'sglory back to him.
The author, writer, pastorCharles Spurgeon says the glory
of God's faithfulness is that nosin of ours has ever made him
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unfaithful.
Friends, God is faithful.
Even when we are unfaithful, heis faithful.
And so what we see is that thefaithfulness of God, it reflects
his glory back to himself andthrough our lives as we are
obedient.
Today we turn to our Bibles,looking to the book of Acts and
to the story of Apostle Paul ashe was church planting and they
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arrive there in Athens and inGreece of its day, looking to
spread the gospel message, SoliDeo Gloria.
Say it with me.
Solely Deo Gloria.
Now, the other day, I happenedto be flying into Athens as on
my way to Cyprus for uh thisconference with these
missionaries.
And in doing so, the planebanks, and you get to look out
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the window and you look acrossthe city, and you see there uh
all the remains of all theseancient Greek uh temples and on
the temple, the Olympus TempleMount that's there.
And if you took another look atit, you would see that it's a
whole stair step of differentplaces and different
opportunities for them toworship in their day, each one
being a divinity of things thatthey were worshiping.
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Each one with some kind ofspirit or some kind of thing
that they were focusing on.
Very much in their pantheon ofgods, they were worshiping all
these fallen angels, all thesefallen creatures, these spirits
that have a little bit of power,but nothing like the living
God.
And because he created them,they took their advantage and
they they had these little peonsof people praying for them in
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built-up places, but it's allhollow, it's all empty.
And in fact, most of the thingsthey believed, it was more like
a soap opera or televisionnovella, one of these things
where it was all drama the wholetime amongst the gods.
It wasn't a righteous God, aloving God, a creator God that
we know.
No, this was something else.
This was just a reflection ofpeople and our brokenness,
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because that's the very thingthat they were worshiping.
And so it picks up here inscripture, and we see it in the
book of Acts, starting in Acts17, uh, verses 16 and 17.
You have your Bible, yourtablet, your phone, I'll
encourage you to move theretoday.
You can highlight it and we'llmove through it as we go
forward.
It says, now while Paul waswaiting for them at Athens, his
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spirit was provoked within himas he saw the city was full of
idols.
So he reads reasoned in thesynagogue with the Jews and
devout persons into themarketplace every day with those
who happened to be there.
You can imagine that throughoutAthens in his day, there was
temples everywhere, much like wesee across the world.
And in all these ancient ruins,all of them, their sole purpose
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is for worship of some kind ofdeity.
So this one, which happens tobe in India, I've been here,
it's carved out of these caves,and each one has an edifice with
different insignias ofdifferent kinds of entities that
people would pray towards into.
There's spirits that are theywanted to set themselves up as a
little g God in this world.
But friends, they have no powerover you because you belong to
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Jesus Christ.
And so the God that we worship,the creator God, is so much
greater than any of thesethings.
But as you walk in there, man,I would just pray in the spirit
and ask the Lord.
I just be like, Lord, asthey're praying to these
deities, I pray that they wouldfeel the hollowness of what
they're doing.
Lord, that they would be turnedin their heart towards you
because you are the only answer.
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Friends, we believe in JesusChrist and in Jesus Christ
alone.
We don't believe in other waysto heaven except through Jesus.
And it's because we need a holysacrifice that can only be made
through Jesus Christ.
We can't earn our way in, wecan't do enough good works, we
can't do enough things to try tomake it that way.
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If we live a better life than anegative life, we don't make it
into some afterlife and weren'twin his favor.
No, instead, it's only throughJesus that we have an eternity
with the living God.
And so you can hear Paul'sheart as he starts to talk with
people and share with them.
He sees that the whole city isspiritually lost.
So he's in the marketplace andhe's talking with them and
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starts to share these ideas.
And they're hungry forsomething tangible, something
that has real substance.
These are thinkers, they'redeep, deep idea people, and
they've been all these differentideas about what it means to be
stoic or what it means to be atrue believer, and different
ideas that are there.
So as it starts to spawn on,then it triggers Paul to take
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action and to live this thingout loud with his faith.
It picks up here in verse 19,it says, They took him and
brought him to the Aropega,saying, May we know what this
new teaching is that you'representing.
For you bring some strangethings to our ears.
We wish to know, therefore,what these things mean.
They're setting them up, aren'tthey?
To be able to share the gospelwith them.
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And it's pretty powerful.
It says now in verse 21, nowall the Athenians and foreigners
who live there would spendtheir time in nothing except
telling or hearing somethingnew.
Now, it's interesting becausethat's very much that's
continued forward even intotoday, right?
Someone always has somethingnew that they're learning or
they're telling you about.
And I don't know if you're onsocial media at all, but if you
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scroll through any of the ads,all of the ads will try to solve
whatever problem you have inyour life.
All you need to do is buy theirproduct.
However, at the very end oftheir product, they're also
gonna say, this may causebleeding of your face, your
eyes, your back, your bottom,etc., etc., etc., etc.
So if you buy their product anduse their product, now you're
gonna bleed out of other placesand have to buy a different
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product.
But in truth, it's because whatwhat we're looking for is an
answer.
And what people in their daywere looking for was an answer.
And so they'd heard all theseideas, but all these ideas
didn't suffice, or else theywould not have a hunger for
other things.
Instead, like we haveexperienced in the hunger of the
word of God, it has substance,something that's eternal that
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will change your life.
And so it's it's very muchPaul, the one that he
understands and takes andmonopolizes on the situation by
finding an altar that's beenmade to the unknown God.
And so they didn't want to makeanybody hurt anybody's
feelings.
So though while they're prayingto, you know, Dionysus or
Athena or some other person,that they're also gonna have one
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set up to the guy that theydon't want to make mad in case
they missed them.
And so Paul takes thisopportunity and he says, This is
the very thing that you'remissing.
And he picks up here in verse22.
So Paul standing in the midstof the Aropegas said, Men of
Athens, I perceive that in everyway you are very religious.
Verse 23, for as I passed alongI observed the objects of your
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worship, and I found also analtar with this inscription, to
the unknown God, what thereforeyou worship as unknown, this I
proclaim to you.
We could see a depiction ofthis, a painting of what it
might have looked like in hisday, with Paul addressing the
people, and they are hearingfrom his heart, and they're
trying to understand what thatmight look like.
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And so it's the very thing thatis transforming their heart
because they're gripped by thepower of the truth of the gospel
that he's sharing.
It continues in verse 24, itsays, The God who made the world
and everything in it, beingLord of heaven and earth, does
not live in temples made by man,nor is he served by human
hands, as though he neededanything, since he himself gives
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to all mankind life and breathand everything.
See, this is countercultural totheir whole existence there in
the city.
Their whole process wasbringing gifts before these gods
and before these altars.
He's saying, No, I worship aGod who has given us everything.
He is the creator God.
He's the one who made Eden andput us in it, and he blessed us
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and gave us dominion over theearth and over the animals.
He's the very one that bringslife and he's the one that took
dust and made us out of nothing.
This is the God that I serve,who has given us everything in
abundance.
And you can imagine how thiswould spark their heart to
respond to what Paul is saying.
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In verse 26, he says, He madefrom one man every nation of
mankind to live on the face ofthe earth, having determined
allotted periods and theboundaries of their dwelling
place, that they should seek Godand perhaps feel their way
towards him and find him.
Yet he is actually not far fromeach one of us.
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What he's saying is that God ismade known in creation, in
beauty, in systems, ineverything that's been made
known, it comes from our Father.
And so his testimony is eventhere without words in showing
the beauty and the creativitythat he has that he's created
by.
But in the same way, it saysthat he's not afar off, that God
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has come all the way to us,that we can respond to him.
As we talked about the fatherof the prodigal that Jesus talks
about, he runs all the way tohis son who is afar off.
And friends, that's how heviews you, that he loves you and
is very much present andavailable for you as you accept
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his work for you.
Acts 17, 28 says, For in him welive and move and have our
being.
As even some of your own poetshave said, for we are indeed his
offspring.
Friends, that's who we belongto.
We are citizens of heaven.
As we think of the heavenlyrealm, we think of clouds and
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cupids on strings with arrows,and that's not it.
It's a king in a kingdom that'scoming once again, and we get
to be a part of what he is doingand live with him forever.
So as we belong with him, sotoo we live for him and for the
values of his kingdom.
And so it picks up here and itsays, being then God's
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offspring, we ought not to thinkthat the divine being is like
gold or silver or stone, animage formed by the art and
imagination of man.
See, this city was known forits idols, and the idols were
everywhere.
We've seen this through manydifferent cultures, this one
being in northern Europe, wherethey would they would cut these
things that are representativeof spirits in the woods, and
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they would have them assomething to worship, and
worshiping these spirits.
You would see it in otherplaces, maybe as a totem or in
different things like a kachina.
You would see in other placeswhere they would have these
things for those religiousleaders of their day, and it
becomes an altar that they'repraying to this deity, like a
Buddha.
And that's what you see.
And so often we see it in ourculture where people will use
(26:06):
these things because they'rebeautiful, they'll use them as
decoration, not realizing thatthere's really a spirit
attachment to this thing.
There's really a spiritalignment with this thing.
And so by opening those thingsinto our homes, what it does is
open up a spiritual thing that'snegative against your faith in
God.
Because inadvertently we'resetting up an idol in a place
that shouldn't be an idol.
(26:28):
And see, it doesn't have to beeven a physical one like these.
You'd see these in India.
I've seen them in Mumbai whereyou would see these different
pieces.
You could see how beautifulthey are.
They've been used by work byhuman hands and the effort, the
time, the skill that was takento create it.
But all the while it's just afacsimile, a fake of the real
thing which is our living God.
(26:48):
And so they're trying to makean alignment with these spirits
and these deities, all the whilenot understanding they're
actually distancing themselvesfrom the living God by praying
to these things.
And friends, it doesn't have tobe a graven image like this.
It can be anything that we liftup in our life that can become
an idol instead of God.
(27:08):
Like I love sports, I loveactivities, I like nice stuff.
And some people, they allowthose things to become their
God.
And they live for those thingsand their identities tied to
those things.
But all those things aretemporal, they'll pass away.
But instead, that we wouldn'tlive for these facsimiles, these
fake things, but instead, ourlives and our hearts would be
(27:29):
aligned with the eternal Godthat's found in our Creator,
God.
There is none like him, healone is our God.
Say amen to that.
And so we look again to thescripture here as Paul starts to
continue in what he'sexplaining.
He says, The times of ignoranceGod overlooked, but now he
commands all people everywhereto repent.
Because he has fixed a day onwhich he will judge the world in
(27:52):
righteousness by a man whom hehas appointed, and of this he
has given assurance to all byraising him from the dead.
So he's telling the story ofour Creator, God the Father, who
brings Jesus, and Jesus becomesthe sacrifice for all people,
and that he, though he died withthe sin of the world upon him,
he didn't stay dead, but he isrisen and alive.
(28:15):
And so our faith rejoices withhim.
Today we return back to thesame question what are you
worshiping?
Soli Deo Gloria.
We only give glory to Godalone.
And as we answer that question,there's three takeaways that we
want to have from what are youworshiping?
(28:36):
Our worship, our glory that wegive to the Lord first aligns us
with his purposes.
Whenever we worship the Lordwith our hearts, it starts to
align us with his purposesbecause we're doing the right
thing.
We have the right perspective,as we said.
So we're saying, Lord, you arewho you say you are.
You are our glorified creator,God.
And I love you and I thank youthat you see me as your child
(28:59):
and you value me, you protectme, you guide me, you train me
even as I'm walking this thingout.
Lord, we live this life in acommunity.
And in doing so, it starts toalign us with his heart.
So when we worship the Lordwith all that we're doing, not
just sing songs on Sunday, butin our lives as we live them out
with others, it aligns us withhis purposes.
(29:21):
Secondly, our worshipcelebrates Christ's work in our
lives.
Has anybody ever told you, wow,that's different than you used
to be?
Because they see Jesus workingin your life.
It's the testimony of who youare, is that your character is
changed to become more likeJesus.
Is that you're living thatthing out every day.
Give us today our daily bread.
(29:42):
So you're allowing the word ofGod to wash over you.
Your time, your quiet time withthe Lord is something that's
drawing you near to Him.
And so what happens is that aswe celebrate Christ's work in
our lives, that is the worshipthat we give to God is that
wherever we go, whatever we'redoing, that we're living for
Him.
matter if the pastor iswatching or not.
I know some of you guys are notputting a cornerstone sticker
(30:06):
on your car because you'reafraid I'm gonna see how you
drive in traffic.
Pastor Rich, the foundingpastor says you have to drive
fast to win souls.
So you guys will be okay.
Put the sticker on your car.
It's fine.
Just be a good driver.
Be a good example of Christ'swork in your life.
And I'm just teasing about thatone, but of course it's in
(30:28):
every action, in every place,right?
In our attitude.
How we do on our bad days, howwe reflect the glory back to
God.
The third is this worshipcompels us to obey God's
leading.
See, we talk about many timesLord use me for great things.
Lord I I want to be those whoare used by you but he might ask
you to take great change to beused by him.
(30:49):
And that means obediencebecause it's small steps.
It's no big big giant steps.
It's small steps.
It's the daily steps.
And so our worship of God ourheart reflecting back to God it
compels us to obey him so thatwe can do his purposes.
See that friends that's what itmeans whenever we're aligned
and we obey and we do thesethings then we're walking in
(31:12):
step with Jesus where he'sleading us to go.
And then therefore what we'redoing is we're giving all the
glory to God alone.
So when we ask that questionwhat are you worshiping?
Each one of us has to answerfor ourselves of how we're
living our love for God.
Today we have this opportunityto respond to his love and in
(31:35):
doing so we come to this altarand each one of us has to answer
that question of have weembraced Jesus for us the symbol
of the cross is one of powerbecause the cross represents the
place where Jesus died.
He took all of our sin and allof our mistakes all of our
brokenness upon himself and ashe died upon the cross that sin
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and its punishment died withhim.
But the good news is that he isnot dead but he is risen.
And as he came alive again itwhat it did is reset everything
for us that we can now have acommunication a connectivity to
the living God because of whatJesus has done for us.
(32:20):
And because of it we place ourfaith in him in the grace that
he's extended to us.
We read it from the word itbecomes alive for us and we
understand that it's onlythrough Jesus that this is
possible.
It's by no other name by noother religious idea by no other
try to get yourself in ideaconcept it's only by Jesus.
(32:40):
And so he's the only one thatwe live for.
The apostle Paul he writes likethis to the church at Rome in
chapter 10 because if youconfess with your mouth that
Jesus is Lord and believe inyour heart that God raised him
from the dead you will be saved.
For with the heart one believesand is justified with the mouth
one confesses and is saved.
(33:03):
Friends today it's youropportunity to say yes to Jesus
to invite him into your heartand life forgive you of your sin
and start a new relationshipwith him.
I'm gonna ask if everyone wouldif you'd stand to your feet
here in the room just bow yourheads as Christians are praying
take a moment wherever you arefor what God wants to do in and
(33:26):
through your life maybe you'rehere but it's your very first
time of ever responding to thisquestion of asking Jesus into
your heart and life today isyour day.
Maybe you're here and you havemade a decision in the past but
(33:46):
you no longer have been activelyliving for God right now is an
opportunity for you to recommityour heart and life back to
Jesus to be in alignment withhim asking me to forgive you of
your sins that you would be maderighteous by what he has done
for us.
Heads are bowed and here in theroom I'm gonna ask you if you
(34:07):
would if that's you and you wantto make a decision to follow
Jesus today like others havealready made a decision today in
this room if you just raiseyour hand right where you're at
say that's me.
I want to invite Christ into myheart and life.
Thank you Jesus see a handthat's there, another one that's
there.
Third hand thank you Jesusothers making decisions praise
the Lord other friends whereveryou are agreeing with you
friends online wherever you'reat as well making decisions to
(34:30):
follow Jesus thank you Lord I'mgonna ask if you would if
everyone would just pray thisprayer out loud after me Lord
thank you for loving me thankyou for sending Jesus I believe
Jesus died on the cross for mysins I believe he rose again
(34:56):
forgive me of my sins Isurrender my life to you in
Christ's name I pray amen amenfriends we rejoice with you
those that made a decisionapologies today praise the Lord
people that made a decision it'spowerful that was you take a
(35:16):
moment take a snap of uh otherside for the next steps we want
to be able to put resources intoyour hands so you can live this
life successfully after Godsame if you're online take a
moment take a snap of that andtake those steps so we can
connect with you and support youin living for Jesus.
Today we have an opportunity torespond to his love to come to
this altar.
(35:37):
And maybe you're someone thatthere's been a misstep in your
heart there's been some kind ofthing that's become an idol
between you and Christ thattoday you would come and just
ask him to forgive you and resetall those things and be in
alignment with who God is.
Or maybe you're here you justneed more of his presence you
need more of his wisdom.
Maybe you need healing in yourphysical body maybe in your
relationships or whatever isgoing on he is here to meet your
(36:00):
needs to pray and ask the Lordto come as we come forward while
people agree with you inprayer.
Lord we thank you so much.
Lord for your word we thank youLord for breathing upon it
today Holy Spirit making italive and challenging to us Lord
we thank you for the challengeLord in the bravery of Paul Lord
to stand up and proclaim whoyou are even in the midst of
(36:21):
places that don't believe Lordin the same way we thank you
Lord for that message coming allthe way to us that we get to
live triumphantly in arelationship with the living
God.
Lord we pray that there wouldbe no idol in our hearts or in
our lives nothing separating usfrom you but instead Lord we
would walk in alignmentglorifying you with all that we
(36:42):
have we pray this in thepowerful name of Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Hey tomorrow is Annie'sbirthday so make sure that you
say hi birthday to Anniewhenever you get a chance to see
her.
Excited for that.
Celeste Brown (36:54):
And next Sunday it is finally here our fall
family day and we are excited.
So invite someone this week wehave a lot of things we could
use your help with and if youare bringing chili please let
somebody help you get it intothe building before we go pray
this blessing over us the Lordbless you and keep you Lord make
(37:21):
his face to shine upon you andbe gracious to you.
Jason Brown (37:25):
Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give
you peace.
Lord I pray a blessing uponyour church your people empower
us by your Spirit to live yourlove out to those around us in
the powerful name that is JesusChrist.
Amen.
Amen know this we love you verymuch here at Cornerstone God
bless you and have a great week
500 years ago, a monk named Martin Luther ignited a
fire that would reshapeChristianity forever.
His stand against theprevailing doctrines of his day
wasn't just a protest, it was acall to return to the
foundational truths of thefaith.
This pivotal moment of theProtestant Reformation wasn't
about creating a new religion,but about rediscovering the
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gospel.
At the heart of thisrediscovery were five core
principles, Latin phrases thatbecame the rallying cry for
reform.
These are the five solas, solascriptura, scripture alone.
The Bible, not tradition orhuman authority, is our ultimate
and infallible guide for faithand life.
It's the final word, thehighest court.
(00:42):
Sola fide, faith alone.
We're justified, declaredrighteous in God's sight, by
faith alone, not by our works.
We trust solely in Christ'sfinished work on the cross.
So would God give grace alone.
Salvation is an earth, it's agift from God.
It's his unmerited favor thatsaves us.
Nothing we do can ever deserveit.
So is Christus, Christ alone.
(01:04):
Jesus Christ is the onlymediator between God and
humanity.
He is the one and only way tosalvation, our one true King,
and our sole redeemer.
Solely De of Gloria, to theglory of God alone.
The ultimate purpose ofeverything, including our
salvation, is to bring glory toGod.
Our lives are to be lived forHis praise, not our own.
(01:26):
These aren't just historicalslogans.
They're living truths thatanchor our faith.
Jason Brown (01:31):
What are you worshiping?
Soli Deo Gloria.
God's glory alone.
Today, friends, we continue inthese five solas, these five
statements of faith that we'vebeen talking about: sola
scriptura, sola fide, solagratia, solus crisis, and soli
deo gloria, as these five solasor only statements about our
(01:55):
faith in Jesus Christ.
You know, if you're a guest ofours, welcome to Cornerstone.
Welcome home.
We're glad you're a part of usand what God is doing in and
through us as a collective, asthe community of faith.
We're blessed to be here asthose who are lifting up his
name and living for Jesus.
We very much see ourselves asimperfect people who are broken
(02:15):
and in need of a savior.
None of us is perfect.
All of us are in need of him.
And so because of that, we seeand use this imagery of Christ
walking with his disciples,because that's how we see
ourselves as people on a journeyfollowing after Jesus.
And our ambition, bothpersonally and then corporately,
is to be more like Jesus.
That's why we do what we do.
(02:37):
We live community throughoutthe week, throughout the city,
and we do that through lifegroups.
We connect, we we makerelationships with each other.
We go, we grow in ourrelationship with God and going
deep into the word, and then weserve.
We use the talents andabilities he's given us for his
glory and for his purposes.
That's why we have a heart tolove God, to make disciples and
(02:59):
to reach the world.
So we're glad you're with us.
We're glad you're a part ofwhat God is doing.
As we look to these fivesoulas, they start to speak to
us about what he wants us tobelieve and how we live it.
Now, we've been talking weekafter week about them and where
they come from.
These five statements, thesefive solas, tie back over 500
years ago where a Roman Catholicpriest named Martin Luther, he
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had a conviction of the heart.
He's a true believer, a trueChrist follower.
And as he went to Rome to seethe seed of power for the
church, he was expecting a newrevelation, a new level in his
spirituality.
But what he found was actuallythe antithesis of that in seeing
so many things that were set upagainst the very belief we have
in Jesus Christ.
(03:42):
In doing so, he felt convictedand then compelled to write 95
theses, these statements offaith, and to nail them to his
church door over 500 years ago.
This started off what we wouldknown as the Protestant
Reformation, being those thatprotest against how things were
happening and instead returningto a heart that's after God.
The first of these was solascriptura or scripture alone.
(04:05):
We talked about in 2 Timothy 3.
All scripture is breathed outby God and profitable for
teaching, for reproof, forcorrection, and for training in
righteousness.
That's how we see the word ofGod, that it is the truth, that
it is the very guiding lightthat we follow after, because we
see how it is the very spokenword, making it alive in us and
(04:27):
saying Jesus is the truth.
The word is the truth, and thathe is the one that inspires
these things.
And so it's from God by theSpirit and by the interaction
with Jesus that we have thescripture, and the scripture
comes alive.
We ask the Holy Spirit tobreathe upon it and become Rhema
and challenge us.
And it's only by faith that wecan do so, because it's nothing
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that we can do, that we can earnour way in.
It's only by believing in whatJesus has done on our behalf.
Ephesians 2, 8 says it, for bygrace you have been saved
through faith.
And this is not of your owndoing, it's a gift of God, not a
result of works, so that no onemay boast.
And this is the truth with usis that we understand that we
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cannot earn our way into God'sgood grace.
It's not possible.
Because of it, we, you know, weare we're broken people, and so
therefore, it says that we'relike filthy rags in holiness
before a holy God.
It means that none of us isrighteous, no, not a single one,
says the Roman epistle.
And so, in the same way, we arethose that it's only by our
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faith in him that we're able todo this.
And it's only by his grace laidout upon us that we even have
the opportunity.
Sola gratia, grace alone.
And it's because of this grace,which he has so richly poured
out upon us, that we get to havea relationship, an eternal
relationship with the livingGod, something that we didn't
earn, that he gives to us as agift.
(05:53):
It says it in Scripture, itpicks up here in Romans 3 for
all have sinned and fall shortof the glory of God, and are
justified by his grace as agift, through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus.
Someone say amen to that.
Solus Christus only Jesus orChrist alone is the next we
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heard.
We heard it from Pastor Dana,who shared an amazing sermon
challenging us to have Jesus atthe center of our hearts and
lives.
We see it here in Romans 5, 1and 2 as it's reiterated to us.
Therefore, having beenjustified by faith, we have
peace with God through our LordJesus Christ, through whom we
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also have access by faith intohis grace, in which we stand and
rejoice in hope of the glory ofGod.
Today we continue with thefifth sola, and that is Soli Deo
Gloria, God's glory alone.
Say Solido Gloria with me,Solideo Gloria.
(06:55):
Thinking up here in Romans 11,it says, For who has the mind of
the Lord, who has been hiscounselor, or who has given him
a gift that he might be repaid?
For from him and through himand to him are all things.
To him be glory forever.
Amen.
Let's pray.
(07:15):
Lord, we thank you for yourword, and we pray over it today.
Holy Spirit, come and breatheupon it, challenge our hearts,
Lord, that we would become morelike you.
We pray in the name of JesusChrist.
Amen.
A solideo gloria, God's gloryalone.
This starts with the idea ofperspective, that the glory of
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God is revealed by the way thatwe view things.
You know, our founding pastors,Pastors Rich and Cindy Brown,
they would teach often and talkabout this idea of decisions
determine your destiny.
And that starts out with theway we view things.
It's our perspective, it's ourworldview, because so much comes
from the way that we seethings.
And as we see things thecorrect way and our perspective
(07:56):
is aligned with God, then wewill have the mind of Christ.
But without that perspective,then we're gonna go about it
off-tilt, and that's gonna causeus to sin because we're gonna
be off of where we should begoing with him.
And so the glory of God getsrevealed as we reflect God's
glory back to him as hisworkmanship.
It's all starting with ourperspective.
(08:17):
You know, for me, I had theadvantage that, you know, so
many times our perspective ofhow we do things, it has to do
with how we were reared up inthis world.
Our our the way we view theworld is how our family viewed
the world.
How many people know what I'mtalking about?
And that means sometimes thethings that were passed down to
us, they can be great, sometimesthey can be bad.
And so it's something that wehave to overcome with the wrong
(08:39):
perspective unless we've beentrained up in the way of God.
And so that's why the scripturesays, train them up in the way
of God.
They won't depart from itbecause it's deep inside of who
we are.
And though we run, we know theconviction of God because Holy
Spirit will keep pulling us tohimself because he loves us that
much.
And that's why we pray nosatisfaction upon those who have
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made a commitment to Christ andthen ran away, because we say,
guess what?
Everything you try is gonna beempty.
It's only the things of Godthat will satisfy your life.
And so we pray to that regard.
In the same way, ourperspective of our heavenly
father is directly tied manytimes to our view of our earthly
father.
How many people they've had adifficulty sometimes with their
(09:22):
perspective of their earthlyfather.
And see, for me, I had a greatexample of an earthly dad.
He's not perfect, but he lovesGod, he protected me, he
provided for me, he sacrificedso that I could have a leg up in
this world, and that's themodel that I got to see.
I got to understand God throughthat framework of a shepherd
who would look out for me and somany others.
(09:43):
It's not been your experience.
You've been heartbroken becauseyou don't have an earthly dad
that loved you or honored you,or worse, you had a terrible
version of someone who wouldspeak curses over you.
But friends, I'm here to tellyou that your heavenly father
loves you and values you, thathe sees you from the very
(10:05):
moments in the conception ofyour life to when you were being
knit together in your mother'swomb.
And when you took your firstbreath, he rejoiced in who you
are because you're his child.
And he loves you, and it saysthat he will give good gifts,
not a stone but bread, not a nota viper but a fish, because he
wants to be the provision foryour life.
(10:25):
He's a plan and a purpose foryou.
All these things being madeknown in your life as we align
ourselves with him.
The scripture says in Romanschapter 11, for who has known
the mind of the Lord and who hasbeen his counselor, or who can
give him a gift.
Friends, this is the veryperspective that we need to have
(10:46):
is that the creator God of ourworld, we have nothing to offer
him that he himself can'tcreate.
We have nothing to offer himthat he himself couldn't be
glorified in, except that heasks us for his, for all that we
are in our hearts.
He asks us for thatrelationship.
And so we come to him with ourhearts turns toward him.
In the same way we glorify theLord, it's glorification, the
(11:09):
power of God made known amongstus.
That's why whenever Jesus comesand becomes incarnate as man,
the Son of Man here on earth, aswe'll talk about in the coming
weeks with Christmas, we seethat all of heaven they go crazy
over the party because they'reexalting who he is.
Glory to God in the highest.
(11:30):
They're declaring who he is,and on earth, peace among all
whom he is pleased.
Friends, they're rejoicing atwhat he is doing, that he would
be glorified, that he wouldreceive the praise that is due
him through our mouths.
First Corinthians 10 31 says itlike this so whether you eat or
drink, or whatever you do, doall to the glory of God.
(11:54):
See, we're called to be thosethat reflect back the glory of
everything we're doing to theLord.
That means we're called to be agood witness of what he's
called us to be, and that's whatglorification means is that we
would glorify him, we wouldworship him with our life.
Not just on Sunday with ourwords to really good songs as we
pray these prayers, but that wewould every day in our
(12:17):
difficult days, in our difficultsituations, that we would not
run from the Lord but to theLord, that we would seek him as
our source, our ever-presenthelp in time of need.
In the same way we continuehere and see that his
righteousness, it's only madepossible by faith in Jesus
(12:37):
Christ.
We hear a quote that's herefrom Aidan Wilson Tozer.
It says, The glory of Godalways comes at the sacrifice of
self.
How many people would agreewith that?
That's exactly what we see aswell is that it's these very
things that God wants to do thatwe need to empty ourselves of
all that we have so that hewould be made known.
(12:58):
C.S.
Lewis says, The glory of God asour only means of glorifying
him, the salvation of humansouls, is the real business of
life.
That's what we're called to be,is called to be those that are
living our life for God,reflecting his glory and letting
other people know about it sothat they can do the same.
That's how we're made to berighteous, is that his
(13:20):
righteousness is the one thatdoes it for us.
Oswald Chambers, famous for hiswritings after his death, this
personal journal that his hiswidow then published, he gave
his life in service of the Lordand all that he put his hands to
do.
And I've stood at hisgravestone there in Cairo,
Egypt, where he he died in hisearly 30s, giving to the Lord
(13:41):
and living for the poor.
And in doing so, he did somotivated by his faith in God.
We see Oswald says, We tend toset up successes in Christian
work as our purpose, but ourpurpose should be to display the
glory of God in human life, tolive a life hidden with Christ
in God in our evident, everydayhuman conditions.
(14:03):
That's what it means to glorifythe Lord, to give him all of
the praise and all the glory.
We don't do these things thatare acts of service as a way to
try to earn our way.
No, we do it as part of ourheart and our love for the Lord.
That's why we do these thingsand serve, because we first were
loved, so we love.
And in that way that we glorifyhim with all that we have.
(14:25):
We're also called to be thosethat proclaim the glory of the
Lord.
As we talked about in theproclamation that the angels
said, that's something thatresonates with our hearts, and
that everything that we do wouldbe those things that be brought
forward.
Our righteousness then that wetalked about in our faith in
Christ Jesus has only been madepossible because we align
ourselves with Him.
(14:46):
Romans 15, 5 and 6 says, Maythe God of endurance and
encouragement grant you to livein such harmony with one another
and accordant with ChristJesus, that together you may be
one voice glorify the God andFather of our Lord Jesus Christ.
See, friends, he calls ustogether to be those that come
together, abandoning all theseother avenues and focuses, but
(15:09):
focusing on him, that we wouldbe one voice of worship to the
Lord.
We also see here God'sfaithfulness be made known to
us.
And that's how we reflect God'sglory back to him.
The author, writer, pastorCharles Spurgeon says the glory
of God's faithfulness is that nosin of ours has ever made him
(15:31):
unfaithful.
Friends, God is faithful.
Even when we are unfaithful, heis faithful.
And so what we see is that thefaithfulness of God, it reflects
his glory back to himself andthrough our lives as we are
obedient.
Today we turn to our Bibles,looking to the book of Acts and
to the story of Apostle Paul ashe was church planting and they
(15:54):
arrive there in Athens and inGreece of its day, looking to
spread the gospel message, SoliDeo Gloria.
Say it with me.
Solely Deo Gloria.
Now, the other day, I happenedto be flying into Athens as on
my way to Cyprus for uh thisconference with these
missionaries.
And in doing so, the planebanks, and you get to look out
(16:16):
the window and you look acrossthe city, and you see there uh
all the remains of all theseancient Greek uh temples and on
the temple, the Olympus TempleMount that's there.
And if you took another look atit, you would see that it's a
whole stair step of differentplaces and different
opportunities for them toworship in their day, each one
being a divinity of things thatthey were worshiping.
(16:38):
Each one with some kind ofspirit or some kind of thing
that they were focusing on.
Very much in their pantheon ofgods, they were worshiping all
these fallen angels, all thesefallen creatures, these spirits
that have a little bit of power,but nothing like the living
God.
And because he created them,they took their advantage and
they they had these little peonsof people praying for them in
(17:00):
built-up places, but it's allhollow, it's all empty.
And in fact, most of the thingsthey believed, it was more like
a soap opera or televisionnovella, one of these things
where it was all drama the wholetime amongst the gods.
It wasn't a righteous God, aloving God, a creator God that
we know.
No, this was something else.
This was just a reflection ofpeople and our brokenness,
(17:23):
because that's the very thingthat they were worshiping.
And so it picks up here inscripture, and we see it in the
book of Acts, starting in Acts17, uh, verses 16 and 17.
You have your Bible, yourtablet, your phone, I'll
encourage you to move theretoday.
You can highlight it and we'llmove through it as we go
forward.
It says, now while Paul waswaiting for them at Athens, his
(17:44):
spirit was provoked within himas he saw the city was full of
idols.
So he reads reasoned in thesynagogue with the Jews and
devout persons into themarketplace every day with those
who happened to be there.
You can imagine that throughoutAthens in his day, there was
temples everywhere, much like wesee across the world.
And in all these ancient ruins,all of them, their sole purpose
(18:08):
is for worship of some kind ofdeity.
So this one, which happens tobe in India, I've been here,
it's carved out of these caves,and each one has an edifice with
different insignias ofdifferent kinds of entities that
people would pray towards into.
There's spirits that are theywanted to set themselves up as a
little g God in this world.
But friends, they have no powerover you because you belong to
(18:31):
Jesus Christ.
And so the God that we worship,the creator God, is so much
greater than any of thesethings.
But as you walk in there, man,I would just pray in the spirit
and ask the Lord.
I just be like, Lord, asthey're praying to these
deities, I pray that they wouldfeel the hollowness of what
they're doing.
Lord, that they would be turnedin their heart towards you
because you are the only answer.
(18:52):
Friends, we believe in JesusChrist and in Jesus Christ
alone.
We don't believe in other waysto heaven except through Jesus.
And it's because we need a holysacrifice that can only be made
through Jesus Christ.
We can't earn our way in, wecan't do enough good works, we
can't do enough things to try tomake it that way.
(19:12):
If we live a better life than anegative life, we don't make it
into some afterlife and weren'twin his favor.
No, instead, it's only throughJesus that we have an eternity
with the living God.
And so you can hear Paul'sheart as he starts to talk with
people and share with them.
He sees that the whole city isspiritually lost.
So he's in the marketplace andhe's talking with them and
(19:34):
starts to share these ideas.
And they're hungry forsomething tangible, something
that has real substance.
These are thinkers, they'redeep, deep idea people, and
they've been all these differentideas about what it means to be
stoic or what it means to be atrue believer, and different
ideas that are there.
So as it starts to spawn on,then it triggers Paul to take
(19:55):
action and to live this thingout loud with his faith.
It picks up here in verse 19,it says, They took him and
brought him to the Aropega,saying, May we know what this
new teaching is that you'representing.
For you bring some strangethings to our ears.
We wish to know, therefore,what these things mean.
They're setting them up, aren'tthey?
To be able to share the gospelwith them.
(20:16):
And it's pretty powerful.
It says now in verse 21, nowall the Athenians and foreigners
who live there would spendtheir time in nothing except
telling or hearing somethingnew.
Now, it's interesting becausethat's very much that's
continued forward even intotoday, right?
Someone always has somethingnew that they're learning or
they're telling you about.
And I don't know if you're onsocial media at all, but if you
(20:38):
scroll through any of the ads,all of the ads will try to solve
whatever problem you have inyour life.
All you need to do is buy theirproduct.
However, at the very end oftheir product, they're also
gonna say, this may causebleeding of your face, your
eyes, your back, your bottom,etc., etc., etc., etc.
So if you buy their product anduse their product, now you're
gonna bleed out of other placesand have to buy a different
(20:59):
product.
But in truth, it's because whatwhat we're looking for is an
answer.
And what people in their daywere looking for was an answer.
And so they'd heard all theseideas, but all these ideas
didn't suffice, or else theywould not have a hunger for
other things.
Instead, like we haveexperienced in the hunger of the
word of God, it has substance,something that's eternal that
(21:22):
will change your life.
And so it's it's very muchPaul, the one that he
understands and takes andmonopolizes on the situation by
finding an altar that's beenmade to the unknown God.
And so they didn't want to makeanybody hurt anybody's
feelings.
So though while they're prayingto, you know, Dionysus or
Athena or some other person,that they're also gonna have one
(21:43):
set up to the guy that theydon't want to make mad in case
they missed them.
And so Paul takes thisopportunity and he says, This is
the very thing that you'remissing.
And he picks up here in verse22.
So Paul standing in the midstof the Aropegas said, Men of
Athens, I perceive that in everyway you are very religious.
Verse 23, for as I passed alongI observed the objects of your
(22:06):
worship, and I found also analtar with this inscription, to
the unknown God, what thereforeyou worship as unknown, this I
proclaim to you.
We could see a depiction ofthis, a painting of what it
might have looked like in hisday, with Paul addressing the
people, and they are hearingfrom his heart, and they're
trying to understand what thatmight look like.
(22:28):
And so it's the very thing thatis transforming their heart
because they're gripped by thepower of the truth of the gospel
that he's sharing.
It continues in verse 24, itsays, The God who made the world
and everything in it, beingLord of heaven and earth, does
not live in temples made by man,nor is he served by human
hands, as though he neededanything, since he himself gives
(22:52):
to all mankind life and breathand everything.
See, this is countercultural totheir whole existence there in
the city.
Their whole process wasbringing gifts before these gods
and before these altars.
He's saying, No, I worship aGod who has given us everything.
He is the creator God.
He's the one who made Eden andput us in it, and he blessed us
(23:15):
and gave us dominion over theearth and over the animals.
He's the very one that bringslife and he's the one that took
dust and made us out of nothing.
This is the God that I serve,who has given us everything in
abundance.
And you can imagine how thiswould spark their heart to
respond to what Paul is saying.
(23:35):
In verse 26, he says, He madefrom one man every nation of
mankind to live on the face ofthe earth, having determined
allotted periods and theboundaries of their dwelling
place, that they should seek Godand perhaps feel their way
towards him and find him.
Yet he is actually not far fromeach one of us.
(23:59):
What he's saying is that God ismade known in creation, in
beauty, in systems, ineverything that's been made
known, it comes from our Father.
And so his testimony is eventhere without words in showing
the beauty and the creativitythat he has that he's created
by.
But in the same way, it saysthat he's not afar off, that God
(24:20):
has come all the way to us,that we can respond to him.
As we talked about the fatherof the prodigal that Jesus talks
about, he runs all the way tohis son who is afar off.
And friends, that's how heviews you, that he loves you and
is very much present andavailable for you as you accept
(24:41):
his work for you.
Acts 17, 28 says, For in him welive and move and have our
being.
As even some of your own poetshave said, for we are indeed his
offspring.
Friends, that's who we belongto.
We are citizens of heaven.
As we think of the heavenlyrealm, we think of clouds and
(25:03):
cupids on strings with arrows,and that's not it.
It's a king in a kingdom that'scoming once again, and we get
to be a part of what he is doingand live with him forever.
So as we belong with him, sotoo we live for him and for the
values of his kingdom.
And so it picks up here and itsays, being then God's
(25:23):
offspring, we ought not to thinkthat the divine being is like
gold or silver or stone, animage formed by the art and
imagination of man.
See, this city was known forits idols, and the idols were
everywhere.
We've seen this through manydifferent cultures, this one
being in northern Europe, wherethey would they would cut these
things that are representativeof spirits in the woods, and
(25:46):
they would have them assomething to worship, and
worshiping these spirits.
You would see it in otherplaces, maybe as a totem or in
different things like a kachina.
You would see in other placeswhere they would have these
things for those religiousleaders of their day, and it
becomes an altar that they'repraying to this deity, like a
Buddha.
And that's what you see.
And so often we see it in ourculture where people will use
(26:06):
these things because they'rebeautiful, they'll use them as
decoration, not realizing thatthere's really a spirit
attachment to this thing.
There's really a spiritalignment with this thing.
And so by opening those thingsinto our homes, what it does is
open up a spiritual thing that'snegative against your faith in
God.
Because inadvertently we'resetting up an idol in a place
that shouldn't be an idol.
(26:28):
And see, it doesn't have to beeven a physical one like these.
You'd see these in India.
I've seen them in Mumbai whereyou would see these different
pieces.
You could see how beautifulthey are.
They've been used by work byhuman hands and the effort, the
time, the skill that was takento create it.
But all the while it's just afacsimile, a fake of the real
thing which is our living God.
(26:48):
And so they're trying to makean alignment with these spirits
and these deities, all the whilenot understanding they're
actually distancing themselvesfrom the living God by praying
to these things.
And friends, it doesn't have tobe a graven image like this.
It can be anything that we liftup in our life that can become
an idol instead of God.
(27:08):
Like I love sports, I loveactivities, I like nice stuff.
And some people, they allowthose things to become their
God.
And they live for those thingsand their identities tied to
those things.
But all those things aretemporal, they'll pass away.
But instead, that we wouldn'tlive for these facsimiles, these
fake things, but instead, ourlives and our hearts would be
(27:29):
aligned with the eternal Godthat's found in our Creator,
God.
There is none like him, healone is our God.
Say amen to that.
And so we look again to thescripture here as Paul starts to
continue in what he'sexplaining.
He says, The times of ignoranceGod overlooked, but now he
commands all people everywhereto repent.
Because he has fixed a day onwhich he will judge the world in
(27:52):
righteousness by a man whom hehas appointed, and of this he
has given assurance to all byraising him from the dead.
So he's telling the story ofour Creator, God the Father, who
brings Jesus, and Jesus becomesthe sacrifice for all people,
and that he, though he died withthe sin of the world upon him,
he didn't stay dead, but he isrisen and alive.
(28:15):
And so our faith rejoices withhim.
Today we return back to thesame question what are you
worshiping?
Soli Deo Gloria.
We only give glory to Godalone.
And as we answer that question,there's three takeaways that we
want to have from what are youworshiping?
(28:36):
Our worship, our glory that wegive to the Lord first aligns us
with his purposes.
Whenever we worship the Lordwith our hearts, it starts to
align us with his purposesbecause we're doing the right
thing.
We have the right perspective,as we said.
So we're saying, Lord, you arewho you say you are.
You are our glorified creator,God.
And I love you and I thank youthat you see me as your child
(28:59):
and you value me, you protectme, you guide me, you train me
even as I'm walking this thingout.
Lord, we live this life in acommunity.
And in doing so, it starts toalign us with his heart.
So when we worship the Lordwith all that we're doing, not
just sing songs on Sunday, butin our lives as we live them out
with others, it aligns us withhis purposes.
(29:21):
Secondly, our worshipcelebrates Christ's work in our
lives.
Has anybody ever told you, wow,that's different than you used
to be?
Because they see Jesus workingin your life.
It's the testimony of who youare, is that your character is
changed to become more likeJesus.
Is that you're living thatthing out every day.
Give us today our daily bread.
(29:42):
So you're allowing the word ofGod to wash over you.
Your time, your quiet time withthe Lord is something that's
drawing you near to Him.
And so what happens is that aswe celebrate Christ's work in
our lives, that is the worshipthat we give to God is that
wherever we go, whatever we'redoing, that we're living for
Him.
matter if the pastor iswatching or not.
I know some of you guys are notputting a cornerstone sticker
(30:06):
on your car because you'reafraid I'm gonna see how you
drive in traffic.
Pastor Rich, the foundingpastor says you have to drive
fast to win souls.
So you guys will be okay.
Put the sticker on your car.
It's fine.
Just be a good driver.
Be a good example of Christ'swork in your life.
And I'm just teasing about thatone, but of course it's in
(30:28):
every action, in every place,right?
In our attitude.
How we do on our bad days, howwe reflect the glory back to
God.
The third is this worshipcompels us to obey God's
leading.
See, we talk about many timesLord use me for great things.
Lord I I want to be those whoare used by you but he might ask
you to take great change to beused by him.
(30:49):
And that means obediencebecause it's small steps.
It's no big big giant steps.
It's small steps.
It's the daily steps.
And so our worship of God ourheart reflecting back to God it
compels us to obey him so thatwe can do his purposes.
See that friends that's what itmeans whenever we're aligned
and we obey and we do thesethings then we're walking in
(31:12):
step with Jesus where he'sleading us to go.
And then therefore what we'redoing is we're giving all the
glory to God alone.
So when we ask that questionwhat are you worshiping?
Each one of us has to answerfor ourselves of how we're
living our love for God.
Today we have this opportunityto respond to his love and in
(31:35):
doing so we come to this altarand each one of us has to answer
that question of have weembraced Jesus for us the symbol
of the cross is one of powerbecause the cross represents the
place where Jesus died.
He took all of our sin and allof our mistakes all of our
brokenness upon himself and ashe died upon the cross that sin
(32:00):
and its punishment died withhim.
But the good news is that he isnot dead but he is risen.
And as he came alive again itwhat it did is reset everything
for us that we can now have acommunication a connectivity to
the living God because of whatJesus has done for us.
(32:20):
And because of it we place ourfaith in him in the grace that
he's extended to us.
We read it from the word itbecomes alive for us and we
understand that it's onlythrough Jesus that this is
possible.
It's by no other name by noother religious idea by no other
try to get yourself in ideaconcept it's only by Jesus.
(32:40):
And so he's the only one thatwe live for.
The apostle Paul he writes likethis to the church at Rome in
chapter 10 because if youconfess with your mouth that
Jesus is Lord and believe inyour heart that God raised him
from the dead you will be saved.
For with the heart one believesand is justified with the mouth
one confesses and is saved.
(33:03):
Friends today it's youropportunity to say yes to Jesus
to invite him into your heartand life forgive you of your sin
and start a new relationshipwith him.
I'm gonna ask if everyone wouldif you'd stand to your feet
here in the room just bow yourheads as Christians are praying
take a moment wherever you arefor what God wants to do in and
(33:26):
through your life maybe you'rehere but it's your very first
time of ever responding to thisquestion of asking Jesus into
your heart and life today isyour day.
Maybe you're here and you havemade a decision in the past but
(33:46):
you no longer have been activelyliving for God right now is an
opportunity for you to recommityour heart and life back to
Jesus to be in alignment withhim asking me to forgive you of
your sins that you would be maderighteous by what he has done
for us.
Heads are bowed and here in theroom I'm gonna ask you if you
(34:07):
would if that's you and you wantto make a decision to follow
Jesus today like others havealready made a decision today in
this room if you just raiseyour hand right where you're at
say that's me.
I want to invite Christ into myheart and life.
Thank you Jesus see a handthat's there, another one that's
there.
Third hand thank you Jesusothers making decisions praise
the Lord other friends whereveryou are agreeing with you
friends online wherever you'reat as well making decisions to
(34:30):
follow Jesus thank you Lord I'mgonna ask if you would if
everyone would just pray thisprayer out loud after me Lord
thank you for loving me thankyou for sending Jesus I believe
Jesus died on the cross for mysins I believe he rose again
(34:56):
forgive me of my sins Isurrender my life to you in
Christ's name I pray amen amenfriends we rejoice with you
those that made a decisionapologies today praise the Lord
people that made a decision it'spowerful that was you take a
(35:16):
moment take a snap of uh otherside for the next steps we want
to be able to put resources intoyour hands so you can live this
life successfully after Godsame if you're online take a
moment take a snap of that andtake those steps so we can
connect with you and support youin living for Jesus.
Today we have an opportunity torespond to his love to come to
this altar.
(35:37):
And maybe you're someone thatthere's been a misstep in your
heart there's been some kind ofthing that's become an idol
between you and Christ thattoday you would come and just
ask him to forgive you and resetall those things and be in
alignment with who God is.
Or maybe you're here you justneed more of his presence you
need more of his wisdom.
Maybe you need healing in yourphysical body maybe in your
relationships or whatever isgoing on he is here to meet your
(36:00):
needs to pray and ask the Lordto come as we come forward while
people agree with you inprayer.
Lord we thank you so much.
Lord for your word we thank youLord for breathing upon it
today Holy Spirit making italive and challenging to us Lord
we thank you for the challengeLord in the bravery of Paul Lord
to stand up and proclaim whoyou are even in the midst of
(36:21):
places that don't believe Lordin the same way we thank you
Lord for that message coming allthe way to us that we get to
live triumphantly in arelationship with the living
God.
Lord we pray that there wouldbe no idol in our hearts or in
our lives nothing separating usfrom you but instead Lord we
would walk in alignmentglorifying you with all that we
(36:42):
have we pray this in thepowerful name of Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Hey tomorrow is Annie'sbirthday so make sure that you
say hi birthday to Anniewhenever you get a chance to see
her.
Excited for that.
Celeste Brown (36:54):
And next Sunday it is finally here our fall
family day and we are excited.
So invite someone this week wehave a lot of things we could
use your help with and if youare bringing chili please let
somebody help you get it intothe building before we go pray
this blessing over us the Lordbless you and keep you Lord make
(37:21):
his face to shine upon you andbe gracious to you.
Jason Brown (37:25):
Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give
you peace.
Lord I pray a blessing uponyour church your people empower
us by your Spirit to live yourlove out to those around us in
the powerful name that is JesusChrist.
Amen.
Amen know this we love you verymuch here at Cornerstone God
bless you and have a great week
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