Cornerstone Bible Church: Recent Episodes
Westfield, IN
The Importance of Biblical Preaching for the Church | 2 Timothy 3:16-17 | Pastor Kirk Welch
Passion Week: Rejoice! | A night of singing God's praise as we celebrate the gospel together!
Doing All that You Can with All You’ve Been Given | Matthew 25:14-30 | Pastor Kirk Welch
Due to technical difficulties the first part of the sermon is unavailable. We apologize for the inconvenience.
Psalm 103 is praise and blessing from start to finish. There are no complaints or petitions or requests. The only command is to “Bless the Lord” – stated 7 times total (3 at the beginning and 4 at the end). It is bookended with orders to bless God, and everything in the middle provides reasons why we should.
We find here this morning one of the clearest and most definitive statements that Jesus ever made to explain the reason He came down from heaven to our world. This is what Jesus had in mind when He made the voluntary commitment to become one of us. You can see it with me in Matthew 9:13 – “Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” Jesus came for sinners not righteous. He came not to help good people become better but save bad people from their sins.
We obviously live in the physical realm, but there is a spiritual realm in which spiritual beings – angels – operate all the time (2 Kings 6). This is happening all the time, but Satan and demons prefer to keep their presence quiet so you don’t know it’s happening. But when Jesus was present and preaching, they could not keep from announcing both their presence and Jesus’ power over them. That’s what we see here and will explore in Matthew 8:28-34.
In this Sunday's teaching we looked at the first miracle by Jesus in this section – the healing of a leper. The whole story is marked by scandal. We'll begin by getting to know the man with leprosy.
Matthew's primary point is to convince you that Jesus is exactly who He said He is – the Son of God and God’s Messiah King. The point is not that you would think highly of yourself but rather highly of Jesus. Join us as we begin our series in "The Astonishing Power of Jesus" by asking "Who is Jesus?"
How does God sanctify us and conform us to Jesus, and bring His work in us to completion? God’s word provides several avenues of grace that cause us to grow as disciples. The primary way every Christian grows and is sanctified is by the word of God . There is no substitute for the word of God if you want to grow. Don’t ever expect to grow and be spiritually healthy if you’re not eating right. But prayer also sanctifies us and grows us up to be better disciples – our own prayers and the prayers of others on our behalf. Trials and tests also sanctify us by producing patience and steadfastness which make us perfect and complete, lacking nothing. Actively and faithfully serving helps you grow, too. Think about how God sanctifies you and grows you up through relationships.
What is the worst thing that you can imagine ever happening to you? We’ve come to the end of Jesus’ great sermon. And what we find here are some of the most serious and frightening words ever spoken. There is desperate urgency in the conclusion of Jesus’ sermon that you make sure that you are on the narrow path that leads to the narrow gate that opens up into eternal life. Only few find it, but many will go through the wide gate that leads them into eternal destruction.
Pastor Joe is the lead pastor of Redemption Hill Bible Church in Bellevue, WA. He previously served for nine years as Cornerstone Bible Church's Associate Pastor.
Jesus warns us about two dangerous deceptions: False teachers and False professions. You can be fooled by others, and you can be fooled by yourself. He says, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves” (v. 15). One of the reasons the narrow gate is found by only a few is because of false teachers who obscure it and make it hard to find. If you don’t learn to spot false teachers, you could be led astray and fail to enter the narrow gate.
Jesus knows that there are two gates for all people, two ways, two destinies, two fruits, two groups, two builders, and two foundations. The whole sermon is designed to drive religious people to make a choice between two options and thus make sure of their salvation. One choice puts you a path toward eternal destruction, and one path puts you on a path toward eternal life. But there are only two options. You are currently on one or the other. Could it be that you are on the wrong path? Are you sure that you are on the right path?
The application take-away of our text today is seen in v. 12 – “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” We call this the Golden Rule, and you’ve probably heard it since you were a kid. Jesus says this rule is the summation of the Law and the Prophets. The word “So” means that the rest of the passage relates to and explains it. Because of what I have just said, this is what you should do. You should do to others whatever it is that you wish others would do to you. In other places of the NT, Jesus says this is the second greatest commandment. The first greatest is to love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. And then this – “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt. 22:39). Jesus said that all the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commandments. The two most important things for you to do are to love God with your whole being and love people as you love yourself.
It’s not uncommon for the Bible to be quoted by unbelievers. Today’s text contains what may be every non-Christian’s favorite verse – “Judge not, that you be not judged.” Christians are unfortunately notoriously judgmental, condemning people, and the unbelieving world knows it. Many Christians violate this command from Jesus by self-righteously puffing themselves up in pride over others, looking down on unbelievers and believers alike as inferior. It’s easy for Christians to think and behave very much like the scribes and Pharisees in Jesus’ day. “I’m better than most people. For sure, I’m not as bad as that person.” Unbelievers usually quote this verse to say that you are not allowed to judge anything I do or criticize me for me my sin – as if this verse is a catch-all verse that bans all judgment of any kind. But that is very clearly not what Jesus says or means here. Jesus did not forbid all judgment, but He forbid the wrong kind of judgment.
In our text today Jesus explains why you are free to pursue and seek after heavenly treasures and the accompanying peace that comes with it. God wants you to live your life without any anxiety or worry. He does not want you to live a life of stress and panic and nervousness and fear. He provides all that you need to be free from all those things so that you can live a life of peace and joy and satisfaction – now in this life and forever in the life to come.
Where is your heart today? Of all the practical exhortations contained in the Sermon on the Mount, this part might be the most challenging and difficult to obey and apply. Jesus is really stepping on the American dream and our Hamilton County toes here. He’s getting in our faces about our stuff, but not just about our stuff. He’s confronting our attitude toward our stuff and getting to the real issue about our stuff – the location of our hearts. The center of this text is found in verse 21. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” It’s a declaration of fact, and it’s true. Whatever your treasure is – whatever you value most – that’s where your heart is.
Have you ever fasted? Fasting is hard because food is GOOD! Fasting is temporarily going without food (or anything really) for a determined amount of time in order to devote yourself to prayer and spiritual meditation. The Greek word for fasting is nesteuo = not eating. You temporarily give up food for a good spiritual reason – for the sake of intensifying your expression of need for something greater that you need from God. That’s what biblical fasting was – not for losing some of your excess fluffiness, doing some kind of cleanse, or earning spiritual brownie points.
This simple request for protection from evil might confuse us a little bit. Do I need to ask God not to lead me into temptation? Does He do that? Does He bait me into sin? Let’s look at this together. There is great news for you if you want to stop sinning and live in purity and holiness. Let’s look at this verse together and learn 2 important truths.
When is the last time you heard a sermon about baptism? There are only 2 ordinances for the church – Communion and baptism – and yet baptism is rarely talked about or taught in most churches. It seems there is danger in how people view baptism – in at least two main ways. Many people overestimate baptism and make it something it isn’t – namely something you have to do in order to be saved.
Eric has lived all around the country, including Minnesota, Colorado, South Carolina, Florida, California, and Indiana.
He served as senior pastor at Castleview Church in Indianapolis and associate pastor at Grace Community Church in Los Angeles under Pastor John MacArthur.
Eric has a B.A. from Trinity International University, a M.Div. from The Master’s Seminary, and is currently finishing his D.Min. at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
In addition to pastoring, Eric helped start the Indianapolis Theological Seminary, the Indianapolis Chapter of The Gospel Coalition, the Indy Sr. Pastors Network, and is a Fellow at The Mathena Center for Church Revitalization at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Eric’s passions include preaching and discipling, dating his wife of 21 years, raising his teenage sons (17, 15, 14), and helping serve other pastors. His hobbies include CrossFit and anything outdoors.
Today I want you to think about the second category of your requests in prayer – forgiveness. There is perhaps nothing more important in any relationship than the ability to forgive and be forgiven. It is, of course, at the heart of the gospel itself because in Jesus Christ God provided the way for Him to forgive you of your sinful record of debt against Him. His forgiveness, at the expense of His own Son, reconciles you to Him.
There’s something interesting and ironic about the fact that we are celebrating the resurrection of Jesus today on the day that is called April Fool’s Day. There are a lot of people in the world, who find it completely ridiculous to believe that Jesus of Nazareth came back to life after being dead for three days. You might be one of them. But the idea that He rose from the dead is the ultimate prank on the masses of gullible people who fall for it. What do you believe about all of this? Do you believe that He came back from the dead?
Our text today continues to teach us how to pray according to Jesus. The Son of God explained how we are to approach and talk to God the Father.