• Daniel Baker • Posted in Prayer
On the night before D-Day, June 6, 1944, Dwight D. Eisenhower distributed a message to the troops involved in the invasion:
You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hope and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you. In company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on other Fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world….I have…
• Daniel Baker • Posted in Sermons
If Jesus himself asked you, "Who do YOU say that I am?", how would you respond? It's one thing for a friend or your dad or even a pastor to ask that question. But what if Jesus himself was the one asking it? That would be unsettling. In that moment you'd realize any pretending would be foolish. Borrowing someone else's answer wouldn't work. Drawing on all that you know and have read and have observed, you'd have to go on record and tell Jesus the truth. Whatever the consequences might be, you'd have to just lay it out there.
The apostle Peter…
• Sam Taylor • Posted in Holy Spirit, Sermons
(Sam gave this testimony Sunday after our sermon on Pentecost. We asked if we could post it on the blog for those not able to be there. Enjoy!)
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
I grew up in church and have heard the gospel story for as long as I can remember. I can still remember asking Jesus Into my heart around the age of 6 while sitting in my high chair. But it was in my early teens that I felt the conviction of needing a “real" relationship with God. I constantly struggled with the “feeling” of not being…
• Daniel Baker • Posted in Sermons
Beginning Sunday, April 11, we’ll spend eight weeks looking at the book of Psalms (and one looking at Acts 2). The title of the series is “A Heart for God.” The reason for the title is that’s what we hope you experience, a greater heart for God.
The Psalms meets us wherever we are—even in the most desperate of all places—and draw our heart to God as the Good Shepherd, the Almighty Creator, the One Faithful to his promises, the one sure and steady anchor in a world collapsing all around us.
• Joy Sasser • Posted in Every-Member Ministry, Service
A year ago, the world came to a standstill. What stopped for you? Although universally impacted, the actual effects of the Covid 19 shutdown varied wildly from loss of life to loss of toilet paper. For many, the most challenging issue was isolation from friends and family. We either longed for those sweet reunions, or we got creative to make them happen. Even in this trial, there is much we can learn. As we begin to see an end to the COVID season, the church has an exciting opportunity! Let’s strategically think through how we can love our neighbor in…
• Daniel Baker • Posted in Mission
Last fall we mentioned to you that Cornerstone has begun a partnership with Acts 29 Latin America. We wanted to give you some of the back story about how we landed there.
First, with our move to Trinity Fellowship Churches, our way of doing international missions changed. Trinity's strategy is to focus on the US for locations where our own churches will plant but then to link arms with existing ministries to invest in international works. This comes from a realistic sense of our own resources and also a recognition that many people have been active for much longer…
• Gideon Ruhl • Posted in Every-Member Ministry, Healing
This past Sunday I read Gideon Ruhl's testimony of healing. We wanted to post it in the blog to be a source of further encouragement for you. To give you some perspective of where things were before he was healed, I'll begin with a report from Gideon's dad, Josiah Ruhl. We set aside January 12, 2017, as a day to fast and pray for Gideon. To guide our prayers here's what Josiah told us:
Gideon's condition seems to be stabilizing, but not in the way we had hoped. While we are praising the Lord that we have not seen much digression…
• Daniel Baker • Posted in Life in the Church, Theology
Every day we drive by dozens of “churches” and…
Well, that’s not actually true. Every day we drive by dozens of church buildings, or buildings where churches meet. But these structures of steel, drywall, glass, and paint could just as easily be gyms or schools or hair salons. They happen to be church buildings, but really they’re just buildings.
It’s good every once in a while to check ourselves in how we use certain words. “Church” is one of those words. If we’re not careful our shorthand can affect how think and feel about certain things. With “church,” we can…
• Daniel Baker • Posted in Coronavirus, Life in the Church
By my reckoning we are somewhere around Day 335 of our COVID Exile (or is it a seige?). It was basically March 12, 2020, when the whole world began to cancel and shutdown. On the Sunday after that shutdown began I preached from the book of Hebrews. Being 335 days into this season it feels like a word of encouragement is fitting, and this "time capsule" seemed worth revisiting. I hope it encourages you.
• John McLeod • Posted in Bible, Devotions, Sermons
Here are some thoughts and excerpts from this sermon on January 31, 2021. You can listen, watch, or read the entire sermon here.
Listen! Look Here! He who has ears to hear, let him hear! Pay attention to what you hear! These are the commands from the mouth of Jesus in Mark 4. His listeners’ and our spiritual lives depend on our response to it. Jesus goes on to warn his disciples that if they don’t understand this particular parable (of the Sower), they will have trouble understanding the rest of what he will tell them. We would do well to pay attention as well.