Cornerstonekaty

Psalm 130 I want to tell you a story about a sixteen-year-old boy who just got his driver's license. It was like a new world of freedom had just opened. His dad, knowing what sixteen-year-old boys are like, told him that very day, "If you ever find yourself in trouble, no matter the cause, no matter the place or the time of day or night, call me and I'll come get you." His only rule, when it came...

Psalm 129 In the early years of the Soviet Union, the Communist government undertook an enormous campaign to eliminate Christianity from Russian society. Churches were closed, pastors and priests were imprisoned, and many were executed. Religious education was restricted, and the government devoted considerable resources to persuading the population that Christianity was nothing more than an outda...

Psalm 128 This spring I planned our Utah motorcycle trip. I planned how far we would ride each day and where we would stay. But often along the way, we encountered opportunities to turn off and have unplanned adventures. We missed many because our reservations were fixed. Some of those would have been amazing and I learned a valuable lesson for future trips. Don’t get so fixed on where you think y...

Psalm 127 Throughout these Songs of Ascents, we have followed the pilgrim’s journey toward Zion as a picture of the Christian life. That journey begins in repentance, as we turn from a world of lies to the home God is preparing for us. As we travel, he is preparing us for that home—teaching us to trust him, reshaping our desires, and loosening our grip on the things that cannot finally satisfy us....

Luke 5:1-11 This test showcases how God advances redemption through ordinary people, not cultural elites, as Jesus calls working fishermen into His service. It traces a journey from skepticism to faith: after fruitless labor, the disciples obey Jesus’ command, haul in a miraculous catch, and are confronted by His authority and their own need for repentance. Their vocation is reoriented to “catchin...

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Psalm 126 So far in our look at these songs of ascent, we’ve compared the journey of the pilgrim returning to Zion to the path of a disciple. We’ve seen how it begins with an intentional departure from a world of lies, recognizing this world does not have the answers that our hearts are searching for, looks to the wonder and beauty of Zion, a glorious city built of God’s people, and relies on the...

Psalm 125 Every person is traveling toward some vision of the good life. We may not use the word pilgrimage, but all of us are trying to reach a place where we believe we will finally be secure, satisfied, and at rest. The world tells us that each person must define that destination for himself. You decide what your Zion will be, and then you devote yourself to reaching it. The trouble with that a...

Palm 124 When I was a child I used to ride my bicycle all over the neighborhood, whether it was to visit friends or go exploring. On one particular day, however, things went dangerously wrong. I don’t remember it, though, as I woke up in my home with my mother at my side. What I do remember is not recognizing her or where I was or how I had gotten there. What I was told later is that a neighbor ha...

Psalm 123 is one of the Songs of Ascents. These were songs for the road. God’s people sang them as they traveled up to Jerusalem to worship at the temple. The journey to Zion was a real journey, but it also became a picture of the life of faith. God’s people were going somewhere. They had left one place behind, but they had not yet arrived at their destination. That is where you and I live as Chri...

Psalm 122 I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord!” This statement is such a stark contrast to one that might sound more familiar, “Ah, do I have to go today?” What made the idea of going to the house of the Lord such a delight? How do we go from “do I have to go?” to “I was glad when they said, let us go!” It might help to think about something in your life that would...

Psalm 121 Can a person lose his salvation? I grew up in a tradition that taught me that my will has the last word. God extends his grace to me in the gospel, but I decide whether or not I believe it. That sounded reasonable to me. God offers salvation, and I have the power to accept or reject his offer. But if salvation is ultimately mine to accept or reject, it would seem that it is also mine to...

Psalm 120 This Songs of Ascents by showing where the Christian pilgrimage starts: in distress, amid a world shaped by lies and hostility. Like the psalmist dwelling in distant Meshech and Kedar, believers feel far from home, surrounded by values opposed to God’s truth and peace. Yet deceit is not only around us; it also resides within us through exaggeration, manipulation, and self-protecting half...

Luke 10:25–37 Genuine compassion begins by truly seeing another person’s need, but it does not stop with sympathy—it moves us toward action that may cost our time, resources, comfort, or plans. Jesus reframes the lawyer’s question from “Who is my neighbor?” to “Will you be a neighbor?” challenging us to extend mercy beyond boundaries of race, politics, class, and religion, especially toward people...

Psalm 119 The psalmist is enthusiastic about God’s law. Enthusiastic is an understatement. He’s ecstatic about it. Why is that? It is the key to happiness. This is not the first time this idea has been introduced. It is the very first idea in the Psalms as a whole. 1 Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; 2...

Revelation 3:14–22 The Laodicean church was characterized as lukewarm, something that would case Jesus to "spit out of his mouth." But this lukewarmness was merely the symptom of a deeper problem: self-sufficiency. Confident in their wealth and resources, they had grown complacent, neglecting faithful witness and wholehearted dependence on Christ. Jesus lovingly calls His church to repent, seek tr...

Matthew 25:31-46 Courageous compassion means recognizing Christ in people who are hungry, thirsty, sick, imprisoned, displaced, or vulnerable. Matthew 25 does not teach that good works earn salvation; compassionate action is evidence of faith and inheritance received through Christ. Believers are invited to care for others, not from obligation, self-interest, recognition, or a desire to complete a...

Acts 1"6-8

Psalm 118 Imagine being an Israelite in ancient history. They faced countless threats and had every reason to wonder whether God's promises would survive.  Suppose you were alive in Egypt. For four hundred years God's people had lived under slavery. Pharaoh ordered the Hebrew baby boys thrown into the Nile. If every son dies, the covenant dies. The promise to Abraham appears finished before it eve...

Luke 15:11-21 The Christian life requires continual repentance, honest self-examination, and dependence on God's grace. Like the prodigal son, people often seek fulfillment apart from God only to discover that their own solutions leave them empty. Lasting change begins when sin, fears, resentments, and destructive patterns are honestly acknowledged and brought into the light. Genuine repentance is...

Psalm 116 We read many psalms which are carefully constructed forms of poetry. Psalm 119, for example, has a unique section for each letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Other psalms follow chiastic structures where they build up to a climax and then parallel the verses leading up to the climax to bring it back to its starting point. With such works you can imagine the psalmist sitting at his desk, medi...

Psalm 115 If a proper worship of the Lord, both corporately and in the way you live in the world, leads to godliness, that is becoming like God in your character, then it only makes sense that worshiping other things will make us like these other things. This is what Psalm 115 is highlighting. You become like the thing that you worship. That should be a frightening notion, for if the object of you...

A few weeks ago we looked at Psalm 111 and 112, which shows how the character of God is shaped in the man who begins with a fear of the Lord. We saw how worshiping God and studying his works lead to this character formation. What we didn’t discuss much is what this term “fear” means. How do you begin life with this biblical “fear” of the Lord? What does that mean? While this psalm doesn’t use the...

Psalm 113 God calls people to praise Him because worship is what humanity was created for. God is exalted above all nations and even above the heavens, yet in His grace He stoops down to care for the weak, the poor, and the forgotten. He raises the needy from the dust and gives hope to the barren and ashamed, showing that His kingdom works through mercy and reversal rather than worldly power. The...

Psalm 111-112 One of the defining beliefs of modern western culture is that the truest thing about you is your inner desire. This is why we see the rise of “your truth” and “my truth.” It is why we see the rise in all kinds of self-identities. People are looking at their inner desires and defining themselves by them. Have you noticed that? Theologian Carl R. Trueman, author of The Rise and Triumph...