Cornerstone Church of Christ

06/06/2019

God is a God Who Works In Our Lives
Have you ever thought about the fact that God has always worked in chaos? In in the opening verses of Genesis, “the earth was without form and void” – that’s chaos. God took chaos and brought good, order, purpose, usefulness, light, and life into existence.
Then, in Genesis 2 and 3 we read about Adam and Eve. They took the good creation that God made out of chaos and created an even worse mess. They created a worse mess by spiritually polluting the good God created with evil. Genesis said it only took six days to transform chaos into order and life. Therefore, it took all the time from Old Testament Genesis chapter one to New Testament Acts chapter two for God to create order and life in the chaos produced by evil.
One of the continuing themes throughout the history of the Old Testament is that God involved Himself in the messes people made. The descendants of Abraham were in Egypt in a hopeless situation as they lived in slavery with no chance of being free. When you read the early chapters of Exodus, the situation was a horrendous mess. But God got involved, and God did what they could never do for themselves--He freed them.
As you read the rest of Exodus and the book of Numbers, you learn that these delivered slaves became a nation in the Sinai desert. And the whole situation sounds like an impossible mess! The problems these people created and perpetuated cannot be exaggerated. But God stayed involved until enough people of faith would allow Him to lead them into what would become their own land.
Then, of course the book of Judges just shows all the evil and the godless conduct created incredible chaos. But God remained involved. If you read about this nation in the time that they were one nation, in the time that they were two nations, and in the time that they were exiled, you see a mess that gets worse and worse.
As you begin to read the New Testament, God sent a part of a part of Himself as a person named Jesus to be born in, to grow up in and to minister in the chaos of Israel and the chaos of mankind. And in the most personal, direct manner ever, God through Jesus went to work in individual's lives. He worked in the chaos. He got His hands dirty.
He did not target the people who belonged to God, the people who in faith, dependence, and surrender belonged to God. He did not target the religious people who were so filled with their own sense of self-righteousness that they were certain that they had no problems and needed no help. He targeted and powerfully ministered to those whose lives were in chaos--people who knew that their lives were in chaos, people who felt their worthlessness. The hopeless. The demon possessed. The men and women that the public knew were "the sinners." The adulteresses. The incurables. The outcasts. Those who were dishonest thieves.
If you will read the gospels and make a list of all the people whom Jesus helped, many on that diverse list will be those whose lives were in chaos. And to those who knew their chaos and with faith and trust honestly accepted his help, he brought forgiveness, life, hope, and a new existence.
Therefore, understand that helping God is not easy. Many times, the process is not even fun. Yet, God wants to use your experiences to help Him work in the lives of those in chaos. If you surrender your life to help God work in chaos, you will have to get your hands dirty, too.

05/22/2019

Practicing Is Hard… John 13:12-17
12 So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, “Do you [b]know what I have done to you? 13 You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. 16 Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. 17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.

I recently had the opportunity to visit Pensacola Florida and in doing so, I wanted to take the time to photograph the Blue Angels’ practicing their air show. You know, the Navy jets… their web sites says: “There’s nothing quite like watching the Blue Angels, even in practice flights. The skill and courage required to perform aerial maneuvers in tight formations at 400 to 700 mph, all while maintaining as little as 18 inches of separation, is awe-inspiring.” The announcer talked about the lead pilot and his calling out a “cadence” or instructions for each maneuver and the theory of the move in combat.
As I watched and photograph their practice, I thought they were absolutely remarkable! Also, this must really be difficult.” Then, I thought, perhaps the Blue Angels could teach a great lesson about our amazing God. For instance:
The theory of forgiveness is wonderful. Practicing forgiveness is hard. The theory of compassion is wonderful. Practicing compassion is hard. The theory of mercy is wonderful. Practicing mercy is hard. The theory of grace is wonderful. Practicing grace is hard.
Why is it so difficult to be forgiving, compassionate, merciful, or a person of grace? Why? Because you forgive those who hurt you, show compassion to those who offend you, show mercy to those who do not deserve kindness, and give grace to those “who do not deserve it.” If I do not deserve it and receive it, it is wonderful! If you do not deserve it, why bother?—You are just getting the consequences you deserve!
The standard is not “us.” We “measure up” pretty well to people. What is the standard? It is what God did and does for all in Jesus Christ. That is one standard above all of us!
In the above passage, Jesus completed the undesirable, humiliating task of washing feet. He asked the twelve, “Do you understand what I did? I gave you an example. And you are not superior to me. So…’put your money where your mouth is.’”
Satan constantly (all our lives!) places us in circumstances that demand we validate our theory by our behavior. He did with Jesus and will with us. He did with the twelve and will with us. He did with the 1st century church and will with the 21st century church.
It is easy to declare God’s love for all, but can be demanding to take God’s love to all. It is easy to declare that God champions the weak and helpless, but demanding to care for them. It is easy to declare kindness to all, but demanding to be kind to all. It is easy to declare God’s caring, but demanding to be an agent of God’s caring.
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 [a]But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet your [b]brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the [c]tax collectors do so? 48 Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect. (Matt.4 :43-48)
It is simple to become God’s child. It is demanding to live as God’s child.
Practice service to others! Practice forgiveness! Practice compassion! Practice mercy! Practice grace!

05/10/2019

COULD IT BE THAT THE WAY TO BECOME
SOMETHING IS TO BE NOTHING?
Philippians 2:5-8 New King James Version (NKJV)
5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it [a]robbery to be equal with God, 7 but [b]made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
We are a very competitive society. Most everything is based on competition. We compete to get in schools. We compete in schools. We compete in athletics. We compete to get jobs and in jobs to advance. We even compete in lifestyles!
We want to be the best! If we are not the “best,” we want to have the best. In some way our personal significance is tied up in being able to say that in some way we are the best. If we cannot be the best in something, we feel that in some way we have failed It seems essential for us to be able to say (or at least to think), “I am better than you!”
Being “better than you” in some way makes us important. That attitude fuels significance and also fuels racism, classism, bullying others, oppressing people, and treating people as though they were things. It is an expression of arrogance that can justify almost anything—from the slavery form of prostitution to genocide. It says, “I have the right to treat you as I wish because I am better than you. Therefore, you exist to serve my desires! I do not want to hear any complaints! Just serve my purposes well!”
If you are a Christian, the greatest person you know (Jesus Christ) DID NOT become the great one through competition. The eternal one at God’s right hand served people. He emptied himself. He obeyed. He endured the shame and pain of a humiliating ex*****on. He did not raise Himself. He did not exalt Himself. He did not position Himself on God’s right hand --- God highly exalted him!
He treated the lowly as important and God as superior. Today, by God the Father’s acts, Jesus is Lord. As Lord, He is our example. Through humility, He shows us the power of humility and the curse of arrogance.
Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you. James 4:10

05/07/2019

TRUST: WHEN I CANNOT SEE WHAT IS AHEAD
Abraham lived in the city of Ur. In his day for his region, he lived in the most advantaged, opportune place that existed in his "known world" (Genesis 11:27, 28). A God [Who was new to him and was unlike the other gods he had known (Joshua 24:14)] asked him to leave, and eventually asked him to go to an unexplained, undisclosed destination (Genesis 12:1-5). He did, but Ur and Canaan were in major contrast!

When the Israelite slaves left Egypt, God did not direct them to the "short route" by the sea. He directed them to the "long route" through a desert (Exodus 13:17, 18). God knew those people would encounter war on the "short route." He feared war might change those Israelites' minds, and they might return to Egypt and slavery. The harsh way was actually the better way.

In 597 B.C. the first of three Israelite groups became Jewish captives in Babylon. Two of the Old Testament prophets were in that group -- Daniel and Ezekiel. Existing in strange conditions far, far from home in a forced exile from which they would not return was not a "wonderful experience." Two men whom God would choose and trust to be His spokesmen were among the first to go into Babylonian exile.

God gave us a perfect Savior. In this Savior, God redeemed us. Through that redemption, God gave us hope. That hope was based on God's mercy and grace. From God's mercy and grace flows incredible forgiveness. God did all that -- through death.

We struggle, agonize, suffer pain, and face disappointments. We are easily deceived. In our gullibility, we are often eager to believe any lie evil tells us. "Life is about feeling good -- indulge your feelings!" "Life is about security -- pursue money with passion!" "Life is about pleasure -- allow nothing to get in the way of having fun!" "Life is about success -- make any necessary sacrifice required to achieve your goals!"

How betrayed we are when our "feelings" change, our "security" crumbles, our "pleasures" enslave us, our "success" is cold and empty. How meaningless our lives become when what we "knew" as the all important measurements of life are not even an asterisk (*) in the footnotes!

Hard lessons for us to learn:

(1) Today's greatest city may not hold tomorrow's promise.
(2) The harsh way may be the best way.
(3) Physical tragedy may be eternal opportunity. (4) Our most significant doorway to life may be death.

We cannot see ahead. Life often changes quickly as we stare in disbelief. We can trust God. His love for us does not change. Our future is secure in His hands.

What did Abraham, Daniel, and Ezekiel learn to do? Trust God. What did those Israelite slaves never learn to do? Trust God. Our major issue: regardless of what is happening or where we are, will we learn to trust God?

04/29/2019

IF GOD COULD CHANGE ME ANY WAY HE WISHED

Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:1, 2)

If God could change me any way He wished, what would He change? How would the way I think be different? How would what I value be different? How would my priorities change? What would happen to the way I use my time? In what would I get involved? What would I discontinue? How would my “to do” list be altered?

Of this I feel certain—we all would change! The congregation, dating, marriages, parenting, job performance, and relationships would change! In fact, most of us—if not all of us—would be shocked at some of the changes God made in us. Not only would we be astounded at some areas of alteration God made, but when we knew and understood the reason, we would be even more astounded.

Some changes we prize. Many prize becoming a teenager. Many prize becoming 16 so we can acquire a driver’s license. Many prize high school graduation, college graduation, qualifying for most anything, a first paycheck, a wanted job, a wanted engagement, a wanted marriage, a wanted birth, a first home, a first car, etc.

Some changes we do not like. Many do not like turning 30 or 40 or 50 — need we go any further? Most do not like divorce, ruptured relationships, boring jobs, debt, traffic violations, unreasonable stress, being dominated by unbearable people, over commitment, impossible expectations, sickness, death, etc.

Transformation is about changing us. Generally speaking, adults least like change when it involves “changing me.” “Do not mess with my body—I like it the way it is!” “Do not mess with my mind—I like it the way it is!” “Do not mess with my priorities—I like them the way they are!” “I am okay. I have no complaints with me! Why can you not just accept me as okay? If I am pleased with me, why can’t you be pleased with me?”

Being a Christian is choosing to be transformed. Choosing to be transformed is choosing to change. It is choosing to allow God into my heart by changing the way I feel. It is choosing to allow God into my mind by changing the way I think. It is choosing to allow God into my body by changing how I use it. It is choosing to allow God to make me a person who never stops growing in His values and priorities. It is choosing to live for eternity instead of living for now.

Transformation is not about joining an organization and conforming to expectations of others. It is about becoming the person God can make me. Transformation never stops!

03/27/2019

Check this album in the future for more information on Cornerstone Church of Christ!!

03/27/2019

Meet our Minister Michael Justice! A loving, caring, hard-working family man that loves God and truly loves people. His hobbies include photography, running, and networking. Michael loves encouraging and mentoring youth and young adults, connecting people to a thriving life in Christ and showing people their un-tapped God-given potential.

03/27/2019