November 10, 2025 • 38 mins
We start with a frank look at unfinished projects, both the literal clutter and the hidden emotional stacks we’ve parked for years. A childhood story about “junk” cars becomes a picture of how intentions without action turn into anchors. Then we zoom out with Scripture—Moses and Joshua, David and Solomon, Ezra and Nehemiah—to show how God completes purposes across generations. Obedience in your chapter matters, even when you won’t see the last page. That shift reframes delay, disappointment, and the temptation to quit.
From there, James 1–2 challenges us to close the gap between church on Sunday and choices on Monday. Hearers versus doers. The law of liberty that frees us from guilt so we can act with integrity. Guarding our words so our actions follow blessing rather than complaint. We get practical about spiritual formation: keeping promises, confronting procrastination with small scheduled steps, and protecting daily time with God. The result is surprising—less pressure, more freedom, and a clearer path to purpose.
Finally, we ground faith in service. Pure religion visits orphans and widows, feeds families, and shows up for neighbors. Stories from our Mercy House and local outreach reveal how generosity multiplies impact—and joy. You’ll leave with simple ways to create margin, finish what matters, and say yes to the Spirit in small moments that lead to big change.
If this resonated, share it with a friend who’s juggling too much, subscribe for more practical faith conversations, and leave a review to help others find the show. What’s your next small act of obedience this week?
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
AI Video (00:00):
Life is messy.
But God can handle the messy.
Life gets busy fast.
You've got kid drop-offs andpickups.
Then you need to figure out howyou're going to get all of your
work done in between that.
After work, you have the kids'practices, the endless grocery
runs, helping with homework, andtrying to find time to clean.
(00:21):
And through all that, you can'tforget to squeeze in time for
lunch or factor in the morningstruggles.
And the weekend is no break.
Saturday is a 7 a.m.
game.
Haircuts and two birthdayparties.
Costco, Target, and a vacuummarathon.
Before we collapse at 10:30p.m., then comes Sunday.
8 a.m.
(00:42):
service while setting up andteaching.
Brunch, grocery run, soccergame, and laundry load number
one.
All before we try to finishworking bells at 10 p.m., every
hour is spoken for.
Every single square is built.
We're running on caffeine andborrowed time, fighting to keep
all those balls in the air.
(01:03):
But where is the moment to bestill?
Where is the time to breathe?
Where is the space for God?
Don't feel like you need toclean up the chaos before you
ask for help.
Bring the exhaustion, thepressure, the deadlines, and the
endless mess.
Bring it all.
We can't forget to scheduletime for God.
(01:24):
Life is messy, but God canhandle the messy.
Jason Brown (01:29):
How many agree that life is messy?
It can be a little bit sticky,a little bit messy, a little bit
difficult at times.
We were talking about this ideaof the autumn season and that
changing of the leaves.
Though we don't get toexperience it here, I think many
of us have had an opportunitymaybe to go to a place that's
wooded with the changing of theleaves.
(01:50):
And it made me think about oneof the situations that I got to
be a part of.
When we were pastoring inFrance, an international church,
uh, we would go and connectwith other international church
pastors at a conference everyyear.
And one of those locations wasactually in Austria and up in
the hills outside of Vienna,there was an area that we would
stay and we would meet togetherand pray and be encouraged by
(02:10):
people that came together.
And in doing so, many of uswould go and take a prayer walk
up through the woods.
And there's something powerfulabout that time because we were
praying for uh just insight fromthe Lord, for just a revelation
from him, also for the otherchurches and the felt needs that
were there.
But as you're walking throughthose leaves in the changing
season there on the mountain inAustria, there was something
(02:32):
profound about thinking aboutthe changes of the season and
also the changes that God wastalking to us about in our own
lives and how we're called to bethose that are a catalyst of
change to see the things happenthat God would call us to.
Today we're talking about thisidea of unfinished projects.
Now you might be here andyou're like, Pastor Jay, that's
(02:54):
not what I came for.
I did not want to know about myunfinished projects at the
house.
But that's okay.
Hey, we're all there.
All of us have been there, allof us might still be there,
let's be honest.
But I idea is that, you know,God is not finished with us yet.
He's still working on us.
One of the things I think aboutis this idea of having lots and
lots of junk.
Now, maybe your garage is likethis situation here we see,
(03:16):
where it's like, you know, thethings have piled up.
They've got so piled up they'vebecome ancient.
You guys know what I'm talkingabout.
Um, it reminded me of a time Ihad with my grandparents when I
was growing up.
My my dad's mom and dad, theygrew they were here from
Arkansas, and their whole familygoes back on both sides to
Arkansas.
So they're out in the woods andthat kind of lifestyle outside
(03:36):
of town.
And so when they retired, theywent back to Arkansas.
So we would visit them, and itwas a really enjoyable time for
me as a kid because they had allthis acreage and they gave me
something precious.
They gave me a BB gun, andthey're like, go for it, kiddo.
And I just got to run amok anyside, anything inside the fence,
you know, just going for it.
(03:57):
It's over the creeks and youknow, through this set of woods
and this thicket, and so on andso forth.
And I came across a clearing,and in the back of this
clearing, there were all theseold, junky, rusty cars that had
the windows still in them.
You guys following along?
So the idea was I'm here, I'marmy rolling across the hood of
(04:19):
the car, and I'm shooting at thewindows of the imaginary bad
guys and having a great time,fully getting all the use out of
this air rifle.
You guys know what I'm talkingabout?
It was awesome.
I was pumped up, man.
I ran out of ammo.
I head back to the house.
Now, my grandmother, man, Godbless her.
Some of you guys might knowher, Millie.
She's in the presence of theLord today, her and my
(04:40):
grandfather, uh Mark, but youknow, she was one of these
people like you can imaginePastor Rich, unsanctified, but
then a little bit meaner.
She was awesome.
I love my grandmother.
And she loved Jesus.
She had that eyebrow, she coulddo the eyebrow thing and look
at you like this, and you wouldhave the fear of God just hit
you like this, like a wave.
And you'd be like, oh, oh mygoodness.
And I walked in the house andshe's cooking, she's doing
(05:02):
something, preparing something.
And I kind of kind of comethrough the screen door with
some velocity, you know.
I kind of break into the room.
She's like, What you beendoing, boy?
And she's over there cooking.
Now, she seemingly always had agigantic knife in her hand for
some reason.
I don't know why this was, butshe was always cooking
something, and I'm like,Grandma, it was so great.
I found all these old junkiecars, and I was shooting the
(05:22):
windows and I was having a greattime.
She's like, You did what?
She pointed the knife at me.
I was like, oh.
She's like, boy, those aren'tjunkie cars.
We parked those cars there.
And I could feel the blood justdraining out of my body as I
was certain I was gonna go meetthe Lord.
You guys know what I'm talkingabout?
No, I survived it.
(05:42):
But one of the things that'sinteresting about that is that
the idea that they had alwayshad this intentionality that
maybe someday we might fix upthese cars and they would have
some kind of value.
But they hadn't dealt with themin so long that they literally
became rusty junk laying outthere in a field.
And I wonder how many timesthere are things in our own
(06:04):
lives that we have thisintentionality to do something
about, but it becomes actuallythis anchor, this weight on us
because we haven't done anythingwith it.
And because of that, we're notwilling to move on.
And somehow we've emotionallyattached ourselves to things or
maybe even seasons of life inthe past that we're not ready to
let go of.
But those very things areholding us back from the things
(06:27):
that God wants us to work on aswe go forward.
I wonder how many unfinishedprojects are preventing us from
the future that God has for us.
You know, I think about it aspeople who are gifted and have
different skill sets.
I saw this uh image of thiswoman.
She's working on a weddingdress.
You could tell that she's adesigner and she has a skill
set.
So you could imagine that, youknow, a bride excited about her
(06:50):
wedding day would come to herand drawing up a custom dress
and she does all themeasurements.
And you could imagine that ifthis if this woman who's a
designer, if she didn't go andfinish the dress in time, there
would be big, big problems comethe wedding day.
So if she didn't complete theproject that she had set about
to do, then then not just her,her world and her livelihood
(07:11):
would be affected, but otherpeople around her.
Or maybe you're like this womanhere who, you know, she she's
excited because she's worked allof her day and now into her
night, but she's still veryhappy about doing emails, you
know, late into the nighttime.
That I'm sure none of you do.
None of you put more of yourday in your day than can
actually fit in your day.
(07:32):
I'm sure none of you are aredoing that.
I'm gonna move on.
You guys life is messy.
And what we see is even inscripture where there are things
that happen that people wantedto see completed, but they
didn't even get to see itcompleted themselves.
And I think sometimes it's it'swhat's something I've learned
(07:53):
from Pastor Rich and others thatspoke into my life.
They're saying it's not justwhat you do, but what you set in
motion.
And so our obedience to God isfor here and for the future,
because God will work hispurposes through us, even if we
don't get it to see itcompleted.
And so all of us in that wayare unfinished projects, and all
of us are still being workedon.
We think about Moses as he wasthere, it says the Lord
(08:16):
prevented him from going intothe into the promised land
because of everything thathappened, because of his
murdering of someone and and inthe doubt that it happened.
So some of those pieces, itkept him from going and
fulfilling the very thing he ledthe children of Israel for all
those years, 40 years in thedesert, to do.
And so you see a depiction ofit here, a painting of the death
(08:37):
of Moses as the Lord is comingto take Moses to himself after
his passing.
But it's a representation that,you know, it wasn't just Moses
that was there, but it was acontinuation with Joshua that
would actually see it befulfilled.
Similarly, David had a heartafter God.
It says that he plucked himfrom the hillside as a good
shepherd, and he brought him upand anointed him and gave him
(08:59):
that courage that was alreadythere and refined it.
In doing so, David had thisheart to honor God with
everything he had.
And it said that that David, hewas a mighty man of valor.
He fought at all times, and hewas a man of war, and so he had
blood on his hands.
And so as he went to go make ahouse for God, God's prevented
him from doing so because ofthat, and also because of his
(09:20):
failure with Uriah's wife,Bathsheba.
But in doing so, it wasn't thatGod didn't want to see that
thing completed, it's just thatthis one had done something to
make it so he couldn't completeit.
So it was Solomon, actually,his son, who completed the
temple of the Lord.
Some years later, you would seeafter after many, many trials
(09:42):
and many things of being tryingto correct the children of
Israel, the Lord took his handoff of them, and actually
foreign instruments were broughtin to become punishment against
the children of Israel, withAssyria and Babylon taking the
children of Israel away.
And after a time, they wereactually able to return.
And so you see people likeEzra, who he goes and he wants
to see the city restored, but herealizes that they won't even
(10:05):
say yes to what God had in storeuntil they hear from God's
heart first.
So though Ezra wanted to be theone to complete these things,
he actually went and justrevealed the word of God and
challenged first their hearts sothat their actions could follow
and someone like Nehemiah couldcome along.
And so you see these thingsbeing brought together and how
(10:26):
they work in concert, how Godwill use someone and use someone
else and then do his work andit'll be fulfilled.
That's why it talks about laterin the scripture that Paul
planted and Apollos watered, butit's God who gives the
increase.
And so, as we are those whowalk in step with it, we have to
understand that this thing thatmight not come to fruition
(10:46):
doesn't mean that God doesn'twant it to happen.
Maybe it's just not in histiming yet.
And at the same time, we'recalled to be those that do our
diligence so we can do our partand be obedient to what he has
for us to do.
But God can handle it.
Today it's a blessing to bewith you.
(11:08):
My name is Jay.
If we haven't met, and Celesteand I have such an amazing
opportunity to be here and to beleading here at Cornerstone,
it's a blessing to be with you.
We very much see ourselves aspeople in need of a savior.
None of us are perfect.
We are still all walking andfollowing after Jesus.
That's why we use this imageryof Christ walking with his
disciples because that's how wesee ourselves.
(11:28):
That none of us have arrived.
All of us are still followinghim.
And since we're going that way,then our ambition, both
personally and corporately, isto be more like Jesus.
And that's why our heart is tobe those that connect and grow
and serve.
We do that through life groupsthroughout the week, throughout
the city.
And our heart is also to loveGod, to make disciples, to reach
(11:51):
the world.
Today I'm gonna ask you ifyou'd open your tablet, your
Bible, your phone, if you wouldtoday.
We're gonna be moving to James,back to James again, looking
this time at James 1, startingin verse 22.
And it says, the speed doers ofthe word and not hearers only,
deceiving yourselves.
(12:14):
Lord, we pray over your wordtoday that you would make it
alive and ram us, speak to us,Holy Spirit, and challenge us in
our hearts that we would takeaction to do what you would have
us to do.
We pray this in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Now, life is messy.
We've been talking about this,and we know this is that we are
called to be those that walkthrough this messy life and not
(12:37):
alone because Christ is with us.
And so, in doing so, we'regonna walk through our messy
life, but we're doing it with asavior who's cleansed us.
It's not our doing.
We've talked about that in thepast as we look at the five
solas, but it's by his doing.
So as we look at the scriptureagain in James 1, 22, it says,
be doers of the word and nothearers only.
(12:57):
Now I think hearers and doers,we know the difference because
all of us have grown up andwe've grown up with people and
and they're like, Hey, did youhear what I said?
And we always say, Yeah, yeah,I heard what you said.
Yeah.
And then your mom or dad goes,and then you know, growing up,
and then they would come backand did you do what they said?
No, no, you didn't.
(13:18):
And so they would be like, Hey,did you did you do what I said?
Be like, no, no, forgot.
Forgot to do what you said.
And there's a big disconnectbetween the hearing and the
doing.
How many people know what I'mtalking about?
People are slightly guilty, sothey're feeling it right now.
So you understand thedifference between the hearers
and the doers.
I was thinking about this, youknow, even in modern day, it
(13:39):
gets so gets so crazy because,you know, now you'd say, Hey,
did you hear me?
And they might not hear you.
Maybe you're in a house, youknow, not like my house.
I've heard of other homes whereeveryone in the house has
earbuds in, so they don't reallyhear each other.
And so you have to call peopleeven though they're in the same
house as you.
This is someone else's house,not my house.
You guys know what I'm talkingabout?
(13:59):
So they really don't hear you.
You're like, hey! Hearers anddoers.
You know, I wonder, I wonder sooften, you know, if you're if
you're hearing and doing theword of God, if you would do it
correctly and do it in step, ifsomeone else was gonna show up
and check in on you.
You know, so often that's whatwe see whenever we start to read
(14:21):
this word, and it starts tochallenge us in our actions and
fulfilling the word of God, isthat, you know, we might do
something here in a gathering ona Sunday at a church and act
differently outside of here.
That's why throughout theworld, many people will say, Oh,
but Christians, man, they're abunch of hypocrites because they
don't do what they say.
The scripture picks up here inverse 23 and 24, we could see it
(14:46):
together.
It says, For if anyone is ahearer of the word and not a
doer, he's like a man who looksintently at his natural face in
a mirror, for he looks athimself and goes away and at
once forgets what he was like.
And you could imagine that it'sat not understanding who you
are and what you represent.
And that's what this analogy ishere.
(15:08):
It's it's problematic in thatit's calling us to be those who
are people of God whoimmediately don't go and act
like people of God.
And you could see where thatdisconnect would be a problem.
Now, it'd be one thing, and I Irealized that as I came into
ministry as a young man, youknow, I would walk into a place
and I didn't even say anythingabout it, but I felt like every
(15:28):
time I walk in, it acted like Icaught somebody doing something.
You know what I'm talkingabout?
It was like I was the principalof their life and I showed up.
So I'd be like, hey, goodmorning.
They're like, hey, how's itgoing?
Hey, hey, oh, praise the Lord,praise the Lord.
Praise.
They just break out intopraise, praise.
I'm like, what's going on?
Nothing.
No, just being holy.
(15:48):
What are you doing?
This is one thing if it was me,you know, you guys might be
like, oh, it's just it's Jay.
But if Pastor Celeste walkedin, you guys would be like, oh
right?
Go into the Latin.
You're like, wow, that'sserious.
That's very good.
But see, it doesn't, it's notlike that.
It's not we're we're not hereto catch anybody do anything.
(16:10):
It we're all on that journeytogether.
The whole purpose is that we'reencouraging each other to live
like Jesus everywhere, always tobe the light of God.
And when we make mistakes, thatwe would be those who come to
God and ask him to uh ask him toforgive us of our sin because
we've fallen short and insteadchange and make better
decisions.
And so that's what it's talkingabout here, because the
(16:32):
problematic part of this is thatwhen we don't align our what we
say that we are with what wedo, then it becomes a problem.
And there starts to be apressure on us because we will
feel the pressure that's therebecause some of that is an
alignment issue because now wehave to live two different lives
around people.
And also we're trying to thinklike as if God doesn't know
(16:54):
what's going on.
Like when we leave the church,he doesn't see what we're doing
anymore.
He's like, Well, I'm cool, I'moutside the church building, I
can do whatever.
It's like, you mean the God ofthe universe created everything?
Yeah, good idea.
Good idea.
Yeah, he can't see you.
Don't worry about it.
Clearly, he knows everythingthat's going on in our life,
even our thought life.
(17:15):
And so that pressure is notsomething that comes from him,
that's something that comes fromthe enemy because we're not in
alignment with what God isdoing.
Now, what we'll do is HolySpirit will bring conviction to
us, and that's because he lovesus and wants to correct us so we
can walk in alignment with God.
You know, that's the very thingthat we need is we need to have
(17:35):
that alignment.
When I was a young man, youknow, I knew better.
I grew up in a Christian home.
My parents are pastors filledwith the Spirit.
I had really, really amazingencounters with God when I was a
student, and I was trying tohold on to that, but I got
bitter and angry.
We talked about that last week.
And in doing so, I startedmaking this series of decisions
that weren't in alignment withGod.
And so when I would go tochurch, I would feel the
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conviction of the Holy Spirit.
Didn't matter where I sat.
You know, I was in the beforethat, I was like in the front,
kind of a church sitter.
And the more guilty I felt, thefurther back I would sit.
You guys know what I'm talkingabout?
How you guys doing the back?
You guys good back there?
You guys good?
You guys were in the back,they're in the balcony.
You guys good up there?
You guys good?
See, it doesn't matter.
The whole point was I wasreacting to how I was feeling by
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the conviction of the HolySpirit.
And I knew better, so that'swhy I wasn't happy even going
and doing the things that I wastrying to do that I didn't I
shouldn't be doing.
Does that make sense?
That's like what Paul says I dothe things I do not want to do.
And so in doing this thing,what we want to do is we want to
live in alignment with God sowe don't feel that pressure.
It's not on top of us.
Instead, we're walking in stepwith him, so that pressure's not
(18:43):
on us because we're free inJesus.
It continues here in James, andwe pick up where it says in
verse 25 but the one who looksinto the perfect law, the law of
liberty, and perseveres, beingno hearer who forgets, but a
doer who acts, he will beblessed in his doing.
I love the highlight of theword here: liberty.
(19:06):
See, the liberty is such animportant piece of what goes on
here because the liberty issaying you are free of all the
guilt of what you wouldotherwise experience, because I
have brought you freedom.
This is what Jesus is bringingto us.
He trades our destruction andour brokenness for wholeness and
newness in Jesus Christ.
And so we have this opportunityto live in liberty, not under
(19:29):
the affliction of the law andbreaking the rules, but instead
living in the freedom that weknow when we're walking in step
with Jesus.
Because then we don't have thispressure, we don't have this
guilt because we're walking freein who he is.
And when we do that, then westart to really feel the
blessings of God start to goforward.
And we'll respond by doing whathe's asked us to do.
(19:52):
Now, we talked about recentlyin the five solas how we cannot
earn our salvation.
We cannot earn our way intoGod's presence, we can't earn
his holiness.
It talks about in scripture hownone of us is holy, no not one.
It's in Romans.
And we talk about that oftenbecause it what it does is sets
us all on the same playing fieldthat all of us are sinners, all
(20:14):
of us need a salvation, all ofus need uh need a Messiah, we
all need Jesus.
And because we all need Jesus,then when we respond to Jesus
and Jesus starts a new thinghappening in our life and we
makes us a new creation, then weexperience the liberty that is
ours.
It would be such a shame thatafter all that liberation, after
(20:35):
all that freedom, that we walkback into the bondage that He's
freed us from.
Friends, that we would livefree as unto God.
It continues here in thescripture in verse 26.
It says, If anyone thinks he isreligious but does not bridle
his tongue but deceives hisheart, this person's religion is
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worthless.
What I mean is you're supposedto watch what you say.
And the reason we have to watchwhat that what we say is
because if we don't, we canspeak blessings and curses out
of the same thing in front ofour face.
In our words, they really dohave uh power because our words,
(21:21):
many times our actions willfollow our words.
Now there is a disconnectbecause as we talked about, we
want to be hearers and doers.
And as the scripture says here,those who are doers, they get
to see this liberty in Jesus,they get to experience this
blessing.
But whenever we don't do thosethings, we start to speak ill,
then what we're supposed whatwe're happening to do is we're
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actually aligning ourselvesnegatively where we will
actually take our actions to be.
Because once we start speakingthis thing out this way in a
negative way, our actions andour perspective and our attitude
start to follow in that uhdirection.
However, if we're those who wehave that moment with the Lord
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every morning, and we take thosethings to God every morning,
and we say, Lord, that you wouldjust give me your peace and
your presence, give me words tospeak today.
And as we come againstsomething that's difficult for
us, that we instead speak byfaith.
We instead speak blessing andnot curses.
See what happens to ourperspective, see what happens to
our attitude, see what happensto the way we live, is that it
(22:23):
lives differently because nowwe're aligning ourselves with
him.
And we end up doing the thingshe asks us to do.
And it's not that we're earningGod's grace.
No, we're responding to hislove, and as a result, we're
doing what he asks us to do.
And when we do what God asks usto do, friends, that's when we
really feel fulfilled.
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It's whenever we're going anddoing whatever we want to do, we
won't feel fulfilled becauseit's just an empty hole.
It's not eternal in nature.
And so we want to be those thatwatch what we say so that we
can do what God has called us todo.
Continuing scripture here inverse 27, it picks up and says,
Religion that is pure andundefiled before God the Father
(23:06):
is this, to visit orphans andwidows in their affliction, and
to keep oneself unsustainedunstained by or from the world.
We see this here talking aboutwhat we're called to do, and in
doing so, caring for the orphanand the widow is something that
Jesus cared about as well.
It's what the early church gaveus a model for.
We even today are those who dothings like this and giving
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towards things like OCJ kids tolook out for foster children and
for those who would beorphaned, for those who have
been widowed and caring forthose in need.
That's why we do what we dothrough Mercy House and God
bless Mercy House and all thatgive their time and energy too.
Would you say amen to that?
Well, we talked about recently.
I was talking with Mika thisfirst service and as well with
Dave this weekend, and we weretalking about how over 40, I
(23:50):
think it was 41 differentfamilies this week, and the
same, I think it was 45 twoweeks ago, had food on the table
because of the generosity ofthis church and those who give
through Mercy House so thepeople could have what they
needed.
And praise God for that.
And I'll tell you, I was wewere talking, uh, I got just a
chance to spend some time withthe team yesterday and talking
(24:11):
with Laura and Joel and others.
You know, we're in there, man,these guys knocked it out.
They made all the food bags andeverything, and the shelves are
back empty again.
And Pastor Angus and Dave willgo down and get more donations
and things like that, fill itback up, immediately it's gone.
And so this is something thatwe give towards because we have
a heart to see people in needreached in a way that they need
(24:32):
it.
And that's part of what ourheart is, is that we're gonna do
with our actions because we aretaking care of not just
ourselves.
First, we have to live inalignment with God's word,
right?
So we can take care ofourselves.
And once we take care ofourselves, then we can have more
so we can take care of others.
And when we start to live withan intentionality like that, it
changes what we are able to do.
(24:52):
Because we're not just hearingthe word of God, we're doing the
word of God.
We're not just hearing a need,we're doing something about the
need.
We're not just being who peoplewho give mental assent to what
Jesus says, but we're doing whatJesus says to do.
And what happens is we end upbeing blessed more than the
people who are receiving whatwe're giving them, because we
(25:13):
get to be a blessing, and thatblesses us back in a powerful
way that I can't explain unlessyou've done it.
But whenever you give in thatway in generosity towards
missions, whenever you give inof your time and your talent in
serving in our kids' ministry orour nursery or our greeters or
our safety team or our tech teamor anyone that serves in this
house, then you're giving ofyourself.
You feel more blessed than evenwhat you're giving out.
(25:37):
And it's true because we'vetalked about so much as we are
those who with open hands hewill pour in us and through us
to other people.
And that's why we feel blessedis we're experiencing God's
presence and blessing on ourlives.
And so that's why we walk inalignment, that's why we do what
he asks us to do, that we willsee the blessing of God outpace
(25:58):
what we otherwise could attain.
Skipping over to James 2, westart to pick up here and it
says this it says, What good isit, my brothers, if someone says
he has faith but does not haveworks that can that faith save
him?
And the reason this question isthis question is posed in this
(26:18):
way is that it goes back to areyou hearing and doing?
Because if you're hearing whatJesus tells you to do, and he's
asking you to follow him, if youdon't do it, are you really a
follower of Jesus?
And friends, I could tell youthere's been seasons in my life
where I was not, because I was Iwas un I was unwilling to deal
(26:40):
with the thing, theunforgiveness, or whatever the
deal was in my life, and itnailed me down, and Jesus wanted
me to follow where he wasgoing.
And he had forgiven me, hesaid, I've forgiven you, you
should forgive as well.
But I was so tied to thisunforgiveness, this hatred, this
malice, and all of my attitudearound it that I couldn't
(27:01):
followed where Jesus wanted meto go because I was tied down to
that thing.
And it wasn't until I dealtwith that situation that I was
finally free and I had theliberty to follow Jesus where he
was leading me to go, whereverthat was, walking full of the
Spirit of God, listening to HolySpirit, so that when Holy
(27:21):
Spirit says, Hey, why don't youjust take a few minutes?
I know your plans, your plan isto get to A to B in this kind
of time.
Well, what if you take threeminutes and just give an
encouragement to this person?
What if you, even in yourworkplace, you just stop and say
hi to somebody who maybethey've been going through it
and you don't know it.
But the Holy Spirit just says,Hey, why don't you take a second
here?
Why don't you you know ifyou're a good friend of yours,
why don't you ask him if you canpray about something?
(27:43):
Now what a powerful gamechanger that can happen in
obedience in a small way.
Friends, if we're obedient towhat he'll say in the small
things, he'll challenge us withthe big things.
And when we say yes to the bigthings, it changes everything.
Because it's not just what wedo, it's what we put in emotion.
Today we have a few takeawaysfrom this idea of messy.
(28:05):
The first thing that we seehere is the first is that our
promises.
We are people who makepromises, and when we make our
promises to God, we need to keepthem.
God is one who keeps hispromises to us.
So let us be people that don'tjust give mental assent to
something, but we keep our wordwhenever we give it.
And the idea is that the wordis perfect when it comes from
(28:27):
the Lord, and the more we walkin step with him, the more we
will keep our word as well.
The second takeaway today isthat we need to look out for
procrastination.
Okay, that's like almost cussedin church.
Wow, okay, we need to watch outfor procrastination.
Pastor Rich told me I waspreaching at myself this
(28:48):
morning.
I am so easy.
You know what I mean?
Procrastination.
That idea of I'll do ittomorrow.
I think there's many of us inthe room that might have some
kind of a storage unit or amessy garage or something that's
full of I'll do it tomorrow's.
And I could tell you, I'mgetting amens.
I could I could tell you thatwhen you deal with this idea of
(29:10):
procrastination, obviously wehave to make decisions on what
priorities are, and there'snothing wrong with that.
We need to put God first andfamily and so on.
But the idea is that when wedon't fulfill the things that
we're called to, our life getsfull of mess and full of all
that stuff that will hold usdown.
Let us be those that try tomake an alignment with our heart
and with our time so that wedon't put off the things that we
(29:33):
need to do.
Instead, we make priority ofthe important things.
Which brings us to that thirdpoint of priorities.
We need to do and put intoplace that our heart and our
faith with God, that's apriority in our life, that we
would have time with the Lord,time that's that's not
interrupted by your phone, timethat's not interrupted by other
(29:56):
things, but time that'sdedicated to Him.
That we would put Put the firstthings first.
And when we do that, it changeseverything for us because
suddenly all those unfinishedprojects start to get finished.
Because we're slowly workingcontinually and saying yes to
God.
And he's slowly helping uscheck off the boxes of the
(30:17):
things he's given us.
Friends, we are unfinishedprojects.
And he, the sculptor, isworking on us so that he can
mold us and shape us into whathe has for our future.
Friends, life is messy, but Godcan handle it.
Today we have this opportunityto respond to the message of
(30:38):
God's love for us, and we do sounderstanding that we are people
in need of a savior.
That's what makes us a Christfollower.
We know better than anyone elseexcept this, that we have
embraced the love of Jesus, andit's changed our lives.
The question for each of ustoday is have you embraced
Jesus?
(30:58):
The opportunity is here for youtoday, friend.
See, for us, we say, Jesus, Ibelieve you are who you say you
are.
And I believe that you are thecreator God who abandoned heaven
and all power to come down in amortal man.
And in doing so, you lived asinless life and you became the
holy sacrifice of God, so thatyou would take on all of the
(31:20):
sin, all of the brokenness, allof the evil of this world that
was taken upon Jesus as he wenttowards the cross.
And that's why for us, thesymbol of the cross is so
pivotal, it's so important,because the cross is where Jesus
paid for all of the sin of theworld for all people, for all
time.
The cross is the place whereJesus took my sin and my
(31:44):
brokenness and he paid for itthere.
He made it possible so that Iand you, that we could embrace
the love of Christ, the what hehas done for us, we can embrace
this sacrifice and say, Jesus, Ibelieve you are who you say you
are.
Lord, I invite you into myheart and life that you will be
the Lord of my life.
Forgive me of my sin.
(32:04):
Make me into a new creationtoday.
And friends, whenever thathappens and something amazing
happens spiritually, in that wespark a new life in Jesus Christ
by being obedient to him.
And it's that new creation thathe makes us.
We have this active, livingrelationship with God.
The Apostle Paul, he writes tothe church at Rome and says
(32:25):
this, because if you confesswith your mouth that Jesus is
Lord and believe in your heartthat God raised him from the
dead, you will be saved.
For with the heart one believesand is justified, with the
mouth one confesses and issaved.
Today is your opportunity.
It's your opportunity to sayyes to Jesus, to invite him into
(32:48):
your heart and life and start anew relationship with him.
I'm asking if you're here inthe room, if you just stand to
your feet right where you're atand bow your heads as Christians
are praying.
Friends, if you're online,wherever you are, take a moment
from whatever you're doing torespond to what God has to say
for you today.
It's been powerful.
(33:10):
I was praying for you thismorning early, asking the Lord
just to open your heart that youwould respond to him today.
And I know there are many herethat they're they're dealing
with and asking that questionabout believing in Jesus.
Today would be your opportunityto respond to him, to invite
him into your heart and life tochange everything that you've
(33:31):
been looking for.
As heads are bowed here in theroom, if that's you, maybe you'd
say, Pastor, that's me.
I want to be included in thisprayer for the very first time.
I want to invite Jesus into myheart and life.
Or maybe you have made thatdecision in the past, but you
haven't been living it.
And today is an opportunity foryou to recommit your heart and
(33:51):
life to Jesus.
Friends, let me encourage youthat you would do that.
If that's you right now in thismoment, if you just raise your
hand right where you're at andjust say, I want to make a
decision to follow Jesus today,to fight him into my heart and
life.
Thank you, Jesus.
As people making decisions,thank you, Lord.
Thank you, God.
Yes, Lord.
Thank you, Jesus.
As we see people raising a handand making decisions, thank
(34:12):
you, Lord, for reinforcing thosethings.
Friends online, wherever youare, making the decisions to
follow Jesus.
Praise the Lord.
I'm gonna ask if everyone wouldif we could pray this prayer
out loud after me.
Lord, thank you for loving me.
Thank you for sending Jesus.
I believe Jesus died on thecross for my sins.
(34:37):
I believe he rose again.
Forgive me of my sins.
I surrender my life to you.
In Christ's name I pray.
Amen.
Amen.
Friends, we rejoice that youmake a decision to follow Jesus
(34:58):
today.
Praise the Lord.
Several people today makingdecisions for Jesus.
Hey, if that was you, take amoment, take a snap of this QR
code.
We want to put into your handsresources so that you can live
for Jesus.
We don't want you to live thislife alone.
We want you to be a part of acommunity of faith.
If you don't have one, you'rewelcome to join with us.
(35:18):
Welcome home.
We're so thankful that you arewalking this life with Jesus
Christ.
For all of us who are alreadyChrist's followers, friends,
today is an opportunity for usto respond to this message, to
respond to a message to be notjust hearers of the word, but
doers of the word.
That we would say yes to thethings that Jesus has asked us
to do, and we would be obedientto him.
(35:40):
Maybe today, as we open up thisaltar, you just need more of
his presence, more of who he is,that you would come.
We want to agree with you inprayer.
Maybe you need provision fromthe Lord or wisdom that you
would come, people would praywith you.
Maybe you've been and you'vemade some mistakes and done
those kind of things.
It is open to you today, thealtar that you would come and
just make that place with God,saying, Lord, forgive me.
(36:01):
I want to start this new, thisnew season to say yes to what
you'd have for me to do in allthese ways, in every area that
we need help, that you just comeand make an altar with God.
We want to agree with youtogether because we believe in
the power of prayer.
Lord, we just thank you somuch, Lord, for this message and
for your word which speaks tous.
So we thank you for James andfor the challenges that are
(36:23):
there, Lord, as we are those whoare not just hearers, but doers
of the word.
Lord, thank you for empoweringus, Lord, to be those who are
used by you.
And thank you, Holy Spirit, forspeaking to us and to our
hearts that we can say yes,Lord, even in the small ways,
because it has bigramifications, Lord, of the
things that we put in order.
So, Lord, let us be those whosay yes to you.
(36:44):
Lord, as we come to your altartoday, we do so with hearts open
to you, asking for animpartation and pouring out of
your spirit.
We pray in the name of JesusChrist.
Amen.
Hey, next week we're havingbaptism.
So we encourage you that youwould follow Jesus in baptism if
you haven't already.
Take that step and make yourfaith public in Jesus.
Celeste Brown (37:04):
And in just a few moments, we'll be having a
party with the pastor.
So if we have not met you,you've been coming to church for
the last several weeks, wewould love to meet you.
We'd love to put um a name toyour face and also for you to
meet our team.
So come and join us on the eastside of the building.
There's a hall, we'll be rightin there.
Grab your children first, andwe will see you soon.
Jason Brown (37:22):
Before we go, we want to pray this blessing over
us.
The Lord bless you and keepyou.
Or make his face to shine uponyou and be gracious to you.
Or lift up his countenance uponyou and give you peace.
(37:43):
Lord, I pray a blessing uponyour church, your people.
Pray all this in the powerfulname that is Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Amen.
Know this.
We love you very much here atCornerstone.
God bless you and have a greatweek.
Life is messy.
But God can handle the messy.
Life gets busy fast.
You've got kid drop-offs andpickups.
Then you need to figure out howyou're going to get all of your
work done in between that.
After work, you have the kids'practices, the endless grocery
runs, helping with homework, andtrying to find time to clean.
(00:21):
And through all that, you can'tforget to squeeze in time for
lunch or factor in the morningstruggles.
And the weekend is no break.
Saturday is a 7 a.m.
game.
Haircuts and two birthdayparties.
Costco, Target, and a vacuummarathon.
Before we collapse at 10:30p.m., then comes Sunday.
8 a.m.
(00:42):
service while setting up andteaching.
Brunch, grocery run, soccergame, and laundry load number
one.
All before we try to finishworking bells at 10 p.m., every
hour is spoken for.
Every single square is built.
We're running on caffeine andborrowed time, fighting to keep
all those balls in the air.
(01:03):
But where is the moment to bestill?
Where is the time to breathe?
Where is the space for God?
Don't feel like you need toclean up the chaos before you
ask for help.
Bring the exhaustion, thepressure, the deadlines, and the
endless mess.
Bring it all.
We can't forget to scheduletime for God.
(01:24):
Life is messy, but God canhandle the messy.
Jason Brown (01:29):
How many agree that life is messy?
It can be a little bit sticky,a little bit messy, a little bit
difficult at times.
We were talking about this ideaof the autumn season and that
changing of the leaves.
Though we don't get toexperience it here, I think many
of us have had an opportunitymaybe to go to a place that's
wooded with the changing of theleaves.
(01:50):
And it made me think about oneof the situations that I got to
be a part of.
When we were pastoring inFrance, an international church,
uh, we would go and connectwith other international church
pastors at a conference everyyear.
And one of those locations wasactually in Austria and up in
the hills outside of Vienna,there was an area that we would
stay and we would meet togetherand pray and be encouraged by
(02:10):
people that came together.
And in doing so, many of uswould go and take a prayer walk
up through the woods.
And there's something powerfulabout that time because we were
praying for uh just insight fromthe Lord, for just a revelation
from him, also for the otherchurches and the felt needs that
were there.
But as you're walking throughthose leaves in the changing
season there on the mountain inAustria, there was something
(02:32):
profound about thinking aboutthe changes of the season and
also the changes that God wastalking to us about in our own
lives and how we're called to bethose that are a catalyst of
change to see the things happenthat God would call us to.
Today we're talking about thisidea of unfinished projects.
Now you might be here andyou're like, Pastor Jay, that's
(02:54):
not what I came for.
I did not want to know about myunfinished projects at the
house.
But that's okay.
Hey, we're all there.
All of us have been there, allof us might still be there,
let's be honest.
But I idea is that, you know,God is not finished with us yet.
He's still working on us.
One of the things I think aboutis this idea of having lots and
lots of junk.
Now, maybe your garage is likethis situation here we see,
(03:16):
where it's like, you know, thethings have piled up.
They've got so piled up they'vebecome ancient.
You guys know what I'm talkingabout.
Um, it reminded me of a time Ihad with my grandparents when I
was growing up.
My my dad's mom and dad, theygrew they were here from
Arkansas, and their whole familygoes back on both sides to
Arkansas.
So they're out in the woods andthat kind of lifestyle outside
(03:36):
of town.
And so when they retired, theywent back to Arkansas.
So we would visit them, and itwas a really enjoyable time for
me as a kid because they had allthis acreage and they gave me
something precious.
They gave me a BB gun, andthey're like, go for it, kiddo.
And I just got to run amok anyside, anything inside the fence,
you know, just going for it.
(03:57):
It's over the creeks and youknow, through this set of woods
and this thicket, and so on andso forth.
And I came across a clearing,and in the back of this
clearing, there were all theseold, junky, rusty cars that had
the windows still in them.
You guys following along?
So the idea was I'm here, I'marmy rolling across the hood of
(04:19):
the car, and I'm shooting at thewindows of the imaginary bad
guys and having a great time,fully getting all the use out of
this air rifle.
You guys know what I'm talkingabout?
It was awesome.
I was pumped up, man.
I ran out of ammo.
I head back to the house.
Now, my grandmother, man, Godbless her.
Some of you guys might knowher, Millie.
She's in the presence of theLord today, her and my
(04:40):
grandfather, uh Mark, but youknow, she was one of these
people like you can imaginePastor Rich, unsanctified, but
then a little bit meaner.
She was awesome.
I love my grandmother.
And she loved Jesus.
She had that eyebrow, she coulddo the eyebrow thing and look
at you like this, and you wouldhave the fear of God just hit
you like this, like a wave.
And you'd be like, oh, oh mygoodness.
And I walked in the house andshe's cooking, she's doing
(05:02):
something, preparing something.
And I kind of kind of comethrough the screen door with
some velocity, you know.
I kind of break into the room.
She's like, What you beendoing, boy?
And she's over there cooking.
Now, she seemingly always had agigantic knife in her hand for
some reason.
I don't know why this was, butshe was always cooking
something, and I'm like,Grandma, it was so great.
I found all these old junkiecars, and I was shooting the
(05:22):
windows and I was having a greattime.
She's like, You did what?
She pointed the knife at me.
I was like, oh.
She's like, boy, those aren'tjunkie cars.
We parked those cars there.
And I could feel the blood justdraining out of my body as I
was certain I was gonna go meetthe Lord.
You guys know what I'm talkingabout?
No, I survived it.
(05:42):
But one of the things that'sinteresting about that is that
the idea that they had alwayshad this intentionality that
maybe someday we might fix upthese cars and they would have
some kind of value.
But they hadn't dealt with themin so long that they literally
became rusty junk laying outthere in a field.
And I wonder how many timesthere are things in our own
(06:04):
lives that we have thisintentionality to do something
about, but it becomes actuallythis anchor, this weight on us
because we haven't done anythingwith it.
And because of that, we're notwilling to move on.
And somehow we've emotionallyattached ourselves to things or
maybe even seasons of life inthe past that we're not ready to
let go of.
But those very things areholding us back from the things
(06:27):
that God wants us to work on aswe go forward.
I wonder how many unfinishedprojects are preventing us from
the future that God has for us.
You know, I think about it aspeople who are gifted and have
different skill sets.
I saw this uh image of thiswoman.
She's working on a weddingdress.
You could tell that she's adesigner and she has a skill
set.
So you could imagine that, youknow, a bride excited about her
(06:50):
wedding day would come to herand drawing up a custom dress
and she does all themeasurements.
And you could imagine that ifthis if this woman who's a
designer, if she didn't go andfinish the dress in time, there
would be big, big problems comethe wedding day.
So if she didn't complete theproject that she had set about
to do, then then not just her,her world and her livelihood
(07:11):
would be affected, but otherpeople around her.
Or maybe you're like this womanhere who, you know, she she's
excited because she's worked allof her day and now into her
night, but she's still veryhappy about doing emails, you
know, late into the nighttime.
That I'm sure none of you do.
None of you put more of yourday in your day than can
actually fit in your day.
(07:32):
I'm sure none of you are aredoing that.
I'm gonna move on.
You guys life is messy.
And what we see is even inscripture where there are things
that happen that people wantedto see completed, but they
didn't even get to see itcompleted themselves.
And I think sometimes it's it'swhat's something I've learned
(07:53):
from Pastor Rich and others thatspoke into my life.
They're saying it's not justwhat you do, but what you set in
motion.
And so our obedience to God isfor here and for the future,
because God will work hispurposes through us, even if we
don't get it to see itcompleted.
And so all of us in that wayare unfinished projects, and all
of us are still being workedon.
We think about Moses as he wasthere, it says the Lord
(08:16):
prevented him from going intothe into the promised land
because of everything thathappened, because of his
murdering of someone and and inthe doubt that it happened.
So some of those pieces, itkept him from going and
fulfilling the very thing he ledthe children of Israel for all
those years, 40 years in thedesert, to do.
And so you see a depiction ofit here, a painting of the death
(08:37):
of Moses as the Lord is comingto take Moses to himself after
his passing.
But it's a representation that,you know, it wasn't just Moses
that was there, but it was acontinuation with Joshua that
would actually see it befulfilled.
Similarly, David had a heartafter God.
It says that he plucked himfrom the hillside as a good
shepherd, and he brought him upand anointed him and gave him
(08:59):
that courage that was alreadythere and refined it.
In doing so, David had thisheart to honor God with
everything he had.
And it said that that David, hewas a mighty man of valor.
He fought at all times, and hewas a man of war, and so he had
blood on his hands.
And so as he went to go make ahouse for God, God's prevented
him from doing so because ofthat, and also because of his
(09:20):
failure with Uriah's wife,Bathsheba.
But in doing so, it wasn't thatGod didn't want to see that
thing completed, it's just thatthis one had done something to
make it so he couldn't completeit.
So it was Solomon, actually,his son, who completed the
temple of the Lord.
Some years later, you would seeafter after many, many trials
(09:42):
and many things of being tryingto correct the children of
Israel, the Lord took his handoff of them, and actually
foreign instruments were broughtin to become punishment against
the children of Israel, withAssyria and Babylon taking the
children of Israel away.
And after a time, they wereactually able to return.
And so you see people likeEzra, who he goes and he wants
to see the city restored, but herealizes that they won't even
(10:05):
say yes to what God had in storeuntil they hear from God's
heart first.
So though Ezra wanted to be theone to complete these things,
he actually went and justrevealed the word of God and
challenged first their hearts sothat their actions could follow
and someone like Nehemiah couldcome along.
And so you see these thingsbeing brought together and how
(10:26):
they work in concert, how Godwill use someone and use someone
else and then do his work andit'll be fulfilled.
That's why it talks about laterin the scripture that Paul
planted and Apollos watered, butit's God who gives the
increase.
And so, as we are those whowalk in step with it, we have to
understand that this thing thatmight not come to fruition
(10:46):
doesn't mean that God doesn'twant it to happen.
Maybe it's just not in histiming yet.
And at the same time, we'recalled to be those that do our
diligence so we can do our partand be obedient to what he has
for us to do.
But God can handle it.
Today it's a blessing to bewith you.
(11:08):
My name is Jay.
If we haven't met, and Celesteand I have such an amazing
opportunity to be here and to beleading here at Cornerstone,
it's a blessing to be with you.
We very much see ourselves aspeople in need of a savior.
None of us are perfect.
We are still all walking andfollowing after Jesus.
That's why we use this imageryof Christ walking with his
disciples because that's how wesee ourselves.
(11:28):
That none of us have arrived.
All of us are still followinghim.
And since we're going that way,then our ambition, both
personally and corporately, isto be more like Jesus.
And that's why our heart is tobe those that connect and grow
and serve.
We do that through life groupsthroughout the week, throughout
the city.
And our heart is also to loveGod, to make disciples, to reach
(11:51):
the world.
Today I'm gonna ask you ifyou'd open your tablet, your
Bible, your phone, if you wouldtoday.
We're gonna be moving to James,back to James again, looking
this time at James 1, startingin verse 22.
And it says, the speed doers ofthe word and not hearers only,
deceiving yourselves.
(12:14):
Lord, we pray over your wordtoday that you would make it
alive and ram us, speak to us,Holy Spirit, and challenge us in
our hearts that we would takeaction to do what you would have
us to do.
We pray this in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Now, life is messy.
We've been talking about this,and we know this is that we are
called to be those that walkthrough this messy life and not
(12:37):
alone because Christ is with us.
And so, in doing so, we'regonna walk through our messy
life, but we're doing it with asavior who's cleansed us.
It's not our doing.
We've talked about that in thepast as we look at the five
solas, but it's by his doing.
So as we look at the scriptureagain in James 1, 22, it says,
be doers of the word and nothearers only.
(12:57):
Now I think hearers and doers,we know the difference because
all of us have grown up andwe've grown up with people and
and they're like, Hey, did youhear what I said?
And we always say, Yeah, yeah,I heard what you said.
Yeah.
And then your mom or dad goes,and then you know, growing up,
and then they would come backand did you do what they said?
No, no, you didn't.
(13:18):
And so they would be like, Hey,did you did you do what I said?
Be like, no, no, forgot.
Forgot to do what you said.
And there's a big disconnectbetween the hearing and the
doing.
How many people know what I'mtalking about?
People are slightly guilty, sothey're feeling it right now.
So you understand thedifference between the hearers
and the doers.
I was thinking about this, youknow, even in modern day, it
(13:39):
gets so gets so crazy because,you know, now you'd say, Hey,
did you hear me?
And they might not hear you.
Maybe you're in a house, youknow, not like my house.
I've heard of other homes whereeveryone in the house has
earbuds in, so they don't reallyhear each other.
And so you have to call peopleeven though they're in the same
house as you.
This is someone else's house,not my house.
You guys know what I'm talkingabout?
(13:59):
So they really don't hear you.
You're like, hey! Hearers anddoers.
You know, I wonder, I wonder sooften, you know, if you're if
you're hearing and doing theword of God, if you would do it
correctly and do it in step, ifsomeone else was gonna show up
and check in on you.
You know, so often that's whatwe see whenever we start to read
(14:21):
this word, and it starts tochallenge us in our actions and
fulfilling the word of God, isthat, you know, we might do
something here in a gathering ona Sunday at a church and act
differently outside of here.
That's why throughout theworld, many people will say, Oh,
but Christians, man, they're abunch of hypocrites because they
don't do what they say.
The scripture picks up here inverse 23 and 24, we could see it
(14:46):
together.
It says, For if anyone is ahearer of the word and not a
doer, he's like a man who looksintently at his natural face in
a mirror, for he looks athimself and goes away and at
once forgets what he was like.
And you could imagine that it'sat not understanding who you
are and what you represent.
And that's what this analogy ishere.
(15:08):
It's it's problematic in thatit's calling us to be those who
are people of God whoimmediately don't go and act
like people of God.
And you could see where thatdisconnect would be a problem.
Now, it'd be one thing, and I Irealized that as I came into
ministry as a young man, youknow, I would walk into a place
and I didn't even say anythingabout it, but I felt like every
(15:28):
time I walk in, it acted like Icaught somebody doing something.
You know what I'm talkingabout?
It was like I was the principalof their life and I showed up.
So I'd be like, hey, goodmorning.
They're like, hey, how's itgoing?
Hey, hey, oh, praise the Lord,praise the Lord.
Praise.
They just break out intopraise, praise.
I'm like, what's going on?
Nothing.
No, just being holy.
(15:48):
What are you doing?
This is one thing if it was me,you know, you guys might be
like, oh, it's just it's Jay.
But if Pastor Celeste walkedin, you guys would be like, oh
right?
Go into the Latin.
You're like, wow, that'sserious.
That's very good.
But see, it doesn't, it's notlike that.
It's not we're we're not hereto catch anybody do anything.
(16:10):
It we're all on that journeytogether.
The whole purpose is that we'reencouraging each other to live
like Jesus everywhere, always tobe the light of God.
And when we make mistakes, thatwe would be those who come to
God and ask him to uh ask him toforgive us of our sin because
we've fallen short and insteadchange and make better
decisions.
And so that's what it's talkingabout here, because the
(16:32):
problematic part of this is thatwhen we don't align our what we
say that we are with what wedo, then it becomes a problem.
And there starts to be apressure on us because we will
feel the pressure that's therebecause some of that is an
alignment issue because now wehave to live two different lives
around people.
And also we're trying to thinklike as if God doesn't know
(16:54):
what's going on.
Like when we leave the church,he doesn't see what we're doing
anymore.
He's like, Well, I'm cool, I'moutside the church building, I
can do whatever.
It's like, you mean the God ofthe universe created everything?
Yeah, good idea.
Good idea.
Yeah, he can't see you.
Don't worry about it.
Clearly, he knows everythingthat's going on in our life,
even our thought life.
(17:15):
And so that pressure is notsomething that comes from him,
that's something that comes fromthe enemy because we're not in
alignment with what God isdoing.
Now, what we'll do is HolySpirit will bring conviction to
us, and that's because he lovesus and wants to correct us so we
can walk in alignment with God.
You know, that's the very thingthat we need is we need to have
(17:35):
that alignment.
When I was a young man, youknow, I knew better.
I grew up in a Christian home.
My parents are pastors filledwith the Spirit.
I had really, really amazingencounters with God when I was a
student, and I was trying tohold on to that, but I got
bitter and angry.
We talked about that last week.
And in doing so, I startedmaking this series of decisions
that weren't in alignment withGod.
And so when I would go tochurch, I would feel the
(17:57):
conviction of the Holy Spirit.
Didn't matter where I sat.
You know, I was in the beforethat, I was like in the front,
kind of a church sitter.
And the more guilty I felt, thefurther back I would sit.
You guys know what I'm talkingabout?
How you guys doing the back?
You guys good back there?
You guys good?
You guys were in the back,they're in the balcony.
You guys good up there?
You guys good?
See, it doesn't matter.
The whole point was I wasreacting to how I was feeling by
(18:20):
the conviction of the HolySpirit.
And I knew better, so that'swhy I wasn't happy even going
and doing the things that I wastrying to do that I didn't I
shouldn't be doing.
Does that make sense?
That's like what Paul says I dothe things I do not want to do.
And so in doing this thing,what we want to do is we want to
live in alignment with God sowe don't feel that pressure.
It's not on top of us.
Instead, we're walking in stepwith him, so that pressure's not
(18:43):
on us because we're free inJesus.
It continues here in James, andwe pick up where it says in
verse 25 but the one who looksinto the perfect law, the law of
liberty, and perseveres, beingno hearer who forgets, but a
doer who acts, he will beblessed in his doing.
I love the highlight of theword here: liberty.
(19:06):
See, the liberty is such animportant piece of what goes on
here because the liberty issaying you are free of all the
guilt of what you wouldotherwise experience, because I
have brought you freedom.
This is what Jesus is bringingto us.
He trades our destruction andour brokenness for wholeness and
newness in Jesus Christ.
And so we have this opportunityto live in liberty, not under
(19:29):
the affliction of the law andbreaking the rules, but instead
living in the freedom that weknow when we're walking in step
with Jesus.
Because then we don't have thispressure, we don't have this
guilt because we're walking freein who he is.
And when we do that, then westart to really feel the
blessings of God start to goforward.
And we'll respond by doing whathe's asked us to do.
(19:52):
Now, we talked about recentlyin the five solas how we cannot
earn our salvation.
We cannot earn our way intoGod's presence, we can't earn
his holiness.
It talks about in scripture hownone of us is holy, no not one.
It's in Romans.
And we talk about that oftenbecause it what it does is sets
us all on the same playing fieldthat all of us are sinners, all
(20:14):
of us need a salvation, all ofus need uh need a Messiah, we
all need Jesus.
And because we all need Jesus,then when we respond to Jesus
and Jesus starts a new thinghappening in our life and we
makes us a new creation, then weexperience the liberty that is
ours.
It would be such a shame thatafter all that liberation, after
(20:35):
all that freedom, that we walkback into the bondage that He's
freed us from.
Friends, that we would livefree as unto God.
It continues here in thescripture in verse 26.
It says, If anyone thinks he isreligious but does not bridle
his tongue but deceives hisheart, this person's religion is
(20:57):
worthless.
What I mean is you're supposedto watch what you say.
And the reason we have to watchwhat that what we say is
because if we don't, we canspeak blessings and curses out
of the same thing in front ofour face.
In our words, they really dohave uh power because our words,
(21:21):
many times our actions willfollow our words.
Now there is a disconnectbecause as we talked about, we
want to be hearers and doers.
And as the scripture says here,those who are doers, they get
to see this liberty in Jesus,they get to experience this
blessing.
But whenever we don't do thosethings, we start to speak ill,
then what we're supposed whatwe're happening to do is we're
(21:41):
actually aligning ourselvesnegatively where we will
actually take our actions to be.
Because once we start speakingthis thing out this way in a
negative way, our actions andour perspective and our attitude
start to follow in that uhdirection.
However, if we're those who wehave that moment with the Lord
(22:02):
every morning, and we take thosethings to God every morning,
and we say, Lord, that you wouldjust give me your peace and
your presence, give me words tospeak today.
And as we come againstsomething that's difficult for
us, that we instead speak byfaith.
We instead speak blessing andnot curses.
See what happens to ourperspective, see what happens to
our attitude, see what happensto the way we live, is that it
(22:23):
lives differently because nowwe're aligning ourselves with
him.
And we end up doing the thingshe asks us to do.
And it's not that we're earningGod's grace.
No, we're responding to hislove, and as a result, we're
doing what he asks us to do.
And when we do what God asks usto do, friends, that's when we
really feel fulfilled.
(22:43):
It's whenever we're going anddoing whatever we want to do, we
won't feel fulfilled becauseit's just an empty hole.
It's not eternal in nature.
And so we want to be those thatwatch what we say so that we
can do what God has called us todo.
Continuing scripture here inverse 27, it picks up and says,
Religion that is pure andundefiled before God the Father
(23:06):
is this, to visit orphans andwidows in their affliction, and
to keep oneself unsustainedunstained by or from the world.
We see this here talking aboutwhat we're called to do, and in
doing so, caring for the orphanand the widow is something that
Jesus cared about as well.
It's what the early church gaveus a model for.
We even today are those who dothings like this and giving
(23:29):
towards things like OCJ kids tolook out for foster children and
for those who would beorphaned, for those who have
been widowed and caring forthose in need.
That's why we do what we dothrough Mercy House and God
bless Mercy House and all thatgive their time and energy too.
Would you say amen to that?
Well, we talked about recently.
I was talking with Mika thisfirst service and as well with
Dave this weekend, and we weretalking about how over 40, I
(23:50):
think it was 41 differentfamilies this week, and the
same, I think it was 45 twoweeks ago, had food on the table
because of the generosity ofthis church and those who give
through Mercy House so thepeople could have what they
needed.
And praise God for that.
And I'll tell you, I was wewere talking, uh, I got just a
chance to spend some time withthe team yesterday and talking
(24:11):
with Laura and Joel and others.
You know, we're in there, man,these guys knocked it out.
They made all the food bags andeverything, and the shelves are
back empty again.
And Pastor Angus and Dave willgo down and get more donations
and things like that, fill itback up, immediately it's gone.
And so this is something thatwe give towards because we have
a heart to see people in needreached in a way that they need
(24:32):
it.
And that's part of what ourheart is, is that we're gonna do
with our actions because we aretaking care of not just
ourselves.
First, we have to live inalignment with God's word,
right?
So we can take care ofourselves.
And once we take care ofourselves, then we can have more
so we can take care of others.
And when we start to live withan intentionality like that, it
changes what we are able to do.
(24:52):
Because we're not just hearingthe word of God, we're doing the
word of God.
We're not just hearing a need,we're doing something about the
need.
We're not just being who peoplewho give mental assent to what
Jesus says, but we're doing whatJesus says to do.
And what happens is we end upbeing blessed more than the
people who are receiving whatwe're giving them, because we
(25:13):
get to be a blessing, and thatblesses us back in a powerful
way that I can't explain unlessyou've done it.
But whenever you give in thatway in generosity towards
missions, whenever you give inof your time and your talent in
serving in our kids' ministry orour nursery or our greeters or
our safety team or our tech teamor anyone that serves in this
house, then you're giving ofyourself.
You feel more blessed than evenwhat you're giving out.
(25:37):
And it's true because we'vetalked about so much as we are
those who with open hands hewill pour in us and through us
to other people.
And that's why we feel blessedis we're experiencing God's
presence and blessing on ourlives.
And so that's why we walk inalignment, that's why we do what
he asks us to do, that we willsee the blessing of God outpace
(25:58):
what we otherwise could attain.
Skipping over to James 2, westart to pick up here and it
says this it says, What good isit, my brothers, if someone says
he has faith but does not haveworks that can that faith save
him?
And the reason this question isthis question is posed in this
(26:18):
way is that it goes back to areyou hearing and doing?
Because if you're hearing whatJesus tells you to do, and he's
asking you to follow him, if youdon't do it, are you really a
follower of Jesus?
And friends, I could tell youthere's been seasons in my life
where I was not, because I was Iwas un I was unwilling to deal
(26:40):
with the thing, theunforgiveness, or whatever the
deal was in my life, and itnailed me down, and Jesus wanted
me to follow where he wasgoing.
And he had forgiven me, hesaid, I've forgiven you, you
should forgive as well.
But I was so tied to thisunforgiveness, this hatred, this
malice, and all of my attitudearound it that I couldn't
(27:01):
followed where Jesus wanted meto go because I was tied down to
that thing.
And it wasn't until I dealtwith that situation that I was
finally free and I had theliberty to follow Jesus where he
was leading me to go, whereverthat was, walking full of the
Spirit of God, listening to HolySpirit, so that when Holy
(27:21):
Spirit says, Hey, why don't youjust take a few minutes?
I know your plans, your plan isto get to A to B in this kind
of time.
Well, what if you take threeminutes and just give an
encouragement to this person?
What if you, even in yourworkplace, you just stop and say
hi to somebody who maybethey've been going through it
and you don't know it.
But the Holy Spirit just says,Hey, why don't you take a second
here?
Why don't you you know ifyou're a good friend of yours,
why don't you ask him if you canpray about something?
(27:43):
Now what a powerful gamechanger that can happen in
obedience in a small way.
Friends, if we're obedient towhat he'll say in the small
things, he'll challenge us withthe big things.
And when we say yes to the bigthings, it changes everything.
Because it's not just what wedo, it's what we put in emotion.
Today we have a few takeawaysfrom this idea of messy.
(28:05):
The first thing that we seehere is the first is that our
promises.
We are people who makepromises, and when we make our
promises to God, we need to keepthem.
God is one who keeps hispromises to us.
So let us be people that don'tjust give mental assent to
something, but we keep our wordwhenever we give it.
And the idea is that the wordis perfect when it comes from
(28:27):
the Lord, and the more we walkin step with him, the more we
will keep our word as well.
The second takeaway today isthat we need to look out for
procrastination.
Okay, that's like almost cussedin church.
Wow, okay, we need to watch outfor procrastination.
Pastor Rich told me I waspreaching at myself this
(28:48):
morning.
I am so easy.
You know what I mean?
Procrastination.
That idea of I'll do ittomorrow.
I think there's many of us inthe room that might have some
kind of a storage unit or amessy garage or something that's
full of I'll do it tomorrow's.
And I could tell you, I'mgetting amens.
I could I could tell you thatwhen you deal with this idea of
(29:10):
procrastination, obviously wehave to make decisions on what
priorities are, and there'snothing wrong with that.
We need to put God first andfamily and so on.
But the idea is that when wedon't fulfill the things that
we're called to, our life getsfull of mess and full of all
that stuff that will hold usdown.
Let us be those that try tomake an alignment with our heart
and with our time so that wedon't put off the things that we
(29:33):
need to do.
Instead, we make priority ofthe important things.
Which brings us to that thirdpoint of priorities.
We need to do and put intoplace that our heart and our
faith with God, that's apriority in our life, that we
would have time with the Lord,time that's that's not
interrupted by your phone, timethat's not interrupted by other
(29:56):
things, but time that'sdedicated to Him.
That we would put Put the firstthings first.
And when we do that, it changeseverything for us because
suddenly all those unfinishedprojects start to get finished.
Because we're slowly workingcontinually and saying yes to
God.
And he's slowly helping uscheck off the boxes of the
(30:17):
things he's given us.
Friends, we are unfinishedprojects.
And he, the sculptor, isworking on us so that he can
mold us and shape us into whathe has for our future.
Friends, life is messy, but Godcan handle it.
Today we have this opportunityto respond to the message of
(30:38):
God's love for us, and we do sounderstanding that we are people
in need of a savior.
That's what makes us a Christfollower.
We know better than anyone elseexcept this, that we have
embraced the love of Jesus, andit's changed our lives.
The question for each of ustoday is have you embraced
Jesus?
(30:58):
The opportunity is here for youtoday, friend.
See, for us, we say, Jesus, Ibelieve you are who you say you
are.
And I believe that you are thecreator God who abandoned heaven
and all power to come down in amortal man.
And in doing so, you lived asinless life and you became the
holy sacrifice of God, so thatyou would take on all of the
(31:20):
sin, all of the brokenness, allof the evil of this world that
was taken upon Jesus as he wenttowards the cross.
And that's why for us, thesymbol of the cross is so
pivotal, it's so important,because the cross is where Jesus
paid for all of the sin of theworld for all people, for all
time.
The cross is the place whereJesus took my sin and my
(31:44):
brokenness and he paid for itthere.
He made it possible so that Iand you, that we could embrace
the love of Christ, the what hehas done for us, we can embrace
this sacrifice and say, Jesus, Ibelieve you are who you say you
are.
Lord, I invite you into myheart and life that you will be
the Lord of my life.
Forgive me of my sin.
(32:04):
Make me into a new creationtoday.
And friends, whenever thathappens and something amazing
happens spiritually, in that wespark a new life in Jesus Christ
by being obedient to him.
And it's that new creation thathe makes us.
We have this active, livingrelationship with God.
The Apostle Paul, he writes tothe church at Rome and says
(32:25):
this, because if you confesswith your mouth that Jesus is
Lord and believe in your heartthat God raised him from the
dead, you will be saved.
For with the heart one believesand is justified, with the
mouth one confesses and issaved.
Today is your opportunity.
It's your opportunity to sayyes to Jesus, to invite him into
(32:48):
your heart and life and start anew relationship with him.
I'm asking if you're here inthe room, if you just stand to
your feet right where you're atand bow your heads as Christians
are praying.
Friends, if you're online,wherever you are, take a moment
from whatever you're doing torespond to what God has to say
for you today.
It's been powerful.
(33:10):
I was praying for you thismorning early, asking the Lord
just to open your heart that youwould respond to him today.
And I know there are many herethat they're they're dealing
with and asking that questionabout believing in Jesus.
Today would be your opportunityto respond to him, to invite
him into your heart and life tochange everything that you've
(33:31):
been looking for.
As heads are bowed here in theroom, if that's you, maybe you'd
say, Pastor, that's me.
I want to be included in thisprayer for the very first time.
I want to invite Jesus into myheart and life.
Or maybe you have made thatdecision in the past, but you
haven't been living it.
And today is an opportunity foryou to recommit your heart and
(33:51):
life to Jesus.
Friends, let me encourage youthat you would do that.
If that's you right now in thismoment, if you just raise your
hand right where you're at andjust say, I want to make a
decision to follow Jesus today,to fight him into my heart and
life.
Thank you, Jesus.
As people making decisions,thank you, Lord.
Thank you, God.
Yes, Lord.
Thank you, Jesus.
As we see people raising a handand making decisions, thank
(34:12):
you, Lord, for reinforcing thosethings.
Friends online, wherever youare, making the decisions to
follow Jesus.
Praise the Lord.
I'm gonna ask if everyone wouldif we could pray this prayer
out loud after me.
Lord, thank you for loving me.
Thank you for sending Jesus.
I believe Jesus died on thecross for my sins.
(34:37):
I believe he rose again.
Forgive me of my sins.
I surrender my life to you.
In Christ's name I pray.
Amen.
Amen.
Friends, we rejoice that youmake a decision to follow Jesus
(34:58):
today.
Praise the Lord.
Several people today makingdecisions for Jesus.
Hey, if that was you, take amoment, take a snap of this QR
code.
We want to put into your handsresources so that you can live
for Jesus.
We don't want you to live thislife alone.
We want you to be a part of acommunity of faith.
If you don't have one, you'rewelcome to join with us.
(35:18):
Welcome home.
We're so thankful that you arewalking this life with Jesus
Christ.
For all of us who are alreadyChrist's followers, friends,
today is an opportunity for usto respond to this message, to
respond to a message to be notjust hearers of the word, but
doers of the word.
That we would say yes to thethings that Jesus has asked us
to do, and we would be obedientto him.
(35:40):
Maybe today, as we open up thisaltar, you just need more of
his presence, more of who he is,that you would come.
We want to agree with you inprayer.
Maybe you need provision fromthe Lord or wisdom that you
would come, people would praywith you.
Maybe you've been and you'vemade some mistakes and done
those kind of things.
It is open to you today, thealtar that you would come and
just make that place with God,saying, Lord, forgive me.
(36:01):
I want to start this new, thisnew season to say yes to what
you'd have for me to do in allthese ways, in every area that
we need help, that you just comeand make an altar with God.
We want to agree with youtogether because we believe in
the power of prayer.
Lord, we just thank you somuch, Lord, for this message and
for your word which speaks tous.
So we thank you for James andfor the challenges that are
(36:23):
there, Lord, as we are those whoare not just hearers, but doers
of the word.
Lord, thank you for empoweringus, Lord, to be those who are
used by you.
And thank you, Holy Spirit, forspeaking to us and to our
hearts that we can say yes,Lord, even in the small ways,
because it has bigramifications, Lord, of the
things that we put in order.
So, Lord, let us be those whosay yes to you.
(36:44):
Lord, as we come to your altartoday, we do so with hearts open
to you, asking for animpartation and pouring out of
your spirit.
We pray in the name of JesusChrist.
Amen.
Hey, next week we're havingbaptism.
So we encourage you that youwould follow Jesus in baptism if
you haven't already.
Take that step and make yourfaith public in Jesus.
Celeste Brown (37:04):
And in just a few moments, we'll be having a
party with the pastor.
So if we have not met you,you've been coming to church for
the last several weeks, wewould love to meet you.
We'd love to put um a name toyour face and also for you to
meet our team.
So come and join us on the eastside of the building.
There's a hall, we'll be rightin there.
Grab your children first, andwe will see you soon.
Jason Brown (37:22):
Before we go, we want to pray this blessing over
us.
The Lord bless you and keepyou.
Or make his face to shine uponyou and be gracious to you.
Or lift up his countenance uponyou and give you peace.
(37:43):
Lord, I pray a blessing uponyour church, your people.
Pray all this in the powerfulname that is Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Amen.
Know this.
We love you very much here atCornerstone.
God bless you and have a greatweek.
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My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.