Cornerstone West Los Angeles » Sermons

What happens when a young son is left in charge of the empire while his father is away for years and years? Predictably, nothing good. But, while Babylon begins to crumble from the inside out, God remains faithful to his people in exile, even when it seems like they've been forgotten.  Application Questions:  1. In what ways are you tempted to put your hope in the kingdoms of this world, even thou...

Life in exile always means dealing with pride—both the pride around you and the pride inside of you. In Daniel 4 we see a proud king humbled, showing us the nature and effects of pride in our city and our own lives. We also see God’s grace providing a cure for pride, pointing ultimately to Jesus Christ. When we look up to receive his grace, humility and joy are released into our lives during our t...

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego faced a moment of truth. While we may never be asked to bow down to a 90-foot statue, it was not unlike many moments of truth we will each face. And the same God who granted them peace and hope in the midst of that moment is the same God who has given us peace and hope as well. Application Questions:  1. Have you ever faced your own moment of truth? 2. How might you...

Nebuchadnezzar is at the top of the world, but he's restless and troubled by questions he can't answer. His experts can’t help, but Daniel can. Through Daniel, God reveals a mystery about where all of history is going. In the process, we see that the answers to the biggest questions are found in Christ and his eternal kingdom. Only when we build our lives on those answers will we have true peace....

Upon arriving in a new place, having been forced from their homes and compelled to learn the ways of Babylon, Daniel and his friends resolve to be different. But their resolution shows that they're a different kind of different. They are different not because they're out to prove anything. They're different because of what God has done for them and what he has promised to continue to do. Applicati...

Daniel is a story about four friends who are far from home, in a foreign place with different values and priorities. The Bible shows us that this is our story too: all of us are exiles, navigating life in a place different than our true home. Daniel teaches us to live lives of steady confidence in God, looking to serve the city around us without losing our identity as God’s people. We can do that...

It's safe to say that all Christians should be motivated to grow. We want to grow and be able to obey God for the rest of our lives, but sometimes we get stuck in our walk with Him. We've tried so many things and we're still stuck. If you find yourself struggling in your Christian life, my hope is that you'll realize that there's a better way to grow and obey God. Application Questions: 1. If Chri...

Last week we looked at Jesus' call to lose our life that we might save it. This week we look at his call to lose our life to save others. The mission of the church is to be Christ's ambassadors on earth. And as it did for our Savior, that will inevitably involve suffering. Application Questions:  1. Why did Jesus come to earth? 2. What is the mission of the church? 3. Why do we have to suffer as w...

There are times that Christians embrace suffering that they could have tried to avoid. What explains that impulse? Jesus' conversation with Peter and his disciples in Mark 8 shows us why Jesus moves toward suffering, and why following him means we do the same.  Application Questions:  1. Why does Jesus insist so strongly that he “must” suffer on the cross? How does this contrast with the way peopl...

God is the ultimate source of consolation and comfort. But how do we experience that comfort when he is invisible and intangible? Scripture teaches us how to truly bring God's comfort into one another's lives by being a means of his comfort, and a reminder that God alone is the only true source of the comfort we need. Application Questions:  1. Where, other than God, are you tempted to look for co...

The world is chasing after the ability to be resilient in the face of suffering. But, what does true resilience entail? And how does the eternal hope we have in Christ both produce resilience and give us something even greater? Application Questions:  1. How does remembering your inheritance change your view of the future? 2. How does your view of the future shape how you are experiencing sufferin...

Typically in the midst of suffering, we can't stop thinking about what has been taken from us. But God shows us in James 1 what He can produce in us in the midst of trials. Application Questions:  1. How are trials in your life always a "loss"? 2. What is counterintuitive about God producing something in us in the midst of trials? 3. How does wisdom guide you in the midst of suffering? 4. How does...

How do we make sense of our suffering? Pain and difficulty can be completely disorienting and seemingly pointless. But God pulls back the curtain just enough to give us a glimpse of the glorious work he is doing through our suffering. And when we catch that glimpse, it changes everything. Application Questions:  1. In what ways do you try to make sense of your suffering with observational truth in...

Having established the theological pillars we need to understand suffering in our world, we now turn to explore what it looks like to walk through suffering on the ground. Scripture gives us a vocabulary for our suffering we can't find anywhere else in the world. And that vocabulary begins with understanding the sweet gift of lament. Application Questions:  1. What is the difference between compla...

How do we make sense of a God who allows suffering despite being good and in control of all things? Far from being a problem, God’s sovereignty gives us deep resources to face suffering. Only a sovereign God can take all things and work them for good, even when we don’t yet see how. What’s more, God uses his sovereignty to take on more suffering than we will ever experience in Christ. This shows u...

The Bible gives us more than pat answers when it comes to suffering in our lives. According to Scripture, suffering comes in different shapes and sizes, and comes into our lives as a result of many different factors. Often, suffering is a mystery without a full explanation. It’s into this complicated middle that Jesus was born, suffered, and died for our sins to show us God’s own love for us in th...

Every culture has a story of suffering that people use to make sense of the suffering they experience. Christianity provides a story of suffering that allows Christians to experience incredible hardship with endurance and even joy. It starts in the beginning with a good God creating a good world, which has been ruined by sin. This allows Christians to be honest about the struggle of suffering with...

The Psalms are incredibly honest about the reality and pervasiveness of suffering. In fact, they're often far more honest than we're willing to be. But it's only in being honest about the pervasiveness of suffering that we can experience the pervasiveness of hope. Application Questions:  1. In what ways are you currently suffering? 2. What types of suffering do you tend to overlook or not consider...

Jesus tells his followers that they are salt and light in the world. Salt is a preservative put into things that otherwise would fall apart. This teaches us that Christians are in the city to help it hold together. Light is what allows us to see the reality around us. This teaches us that Christians are in the city to show God’s truth and love to those who wouldn’t see it otherwise. Being salt and...

As we navigate life in a city filled with both unique blessings and unique challenges we need a supernatural endurance. Endurance is the strength to fulfill our God-given purpose even when things get hard. And, in Christ, we have all the strength we need. Application Questions:  1. What do you look to in order to escape the difficulties of the city when you are tempted to not endure? 2. What stori...

God gives His people instructions for how to live as they are taken into exile in Babylon, thousands of years ago. The principles that God gives His people still apply for us today. We too are in a land that is not our own. We too are called to seek the welfare of the city to which we are sent. Application Questions:  1. What are ways that you feel the temptation to assimilate to the city? 2. What...

Peter writes to Christians in a difficult place and reminds them of their identity: they are God’s own people. This identity isn’t achieved but received by grace. As citizens of God’s kingdom, Christians are sojourners in the city, living out the culture of God’s kingdom in loving interaction with our neighbors.  Application Questions:  1. How does Peter’s description of the Christian identity com...

In a city as large and varied as LA, it can be easy to lose yourself in it, life within it becoming something to merely tolerate or endure. But God has a plan and a purpose for the city, and invites you into it. Because of that, our lives in the city become wrapped up in the glorious purpose of a loving God.  Application Questions:  1. In what ways do you see life in the city as a struggle?  2. Ho...

Los Angeles is a hard place to live for many, and Christians easily lose sight of the larger purpose for their lives here. The story of Jonah shows us that Christians are called into God’s own love for the city. This calling gives us a different view of Los Angeles and our role in it, leading us to share God’s love and experience it more ourselves.  Application Questions:  1. What is the main reas...

Many thought that as religion declined, humans would experience less guilt in their lives. Instead, guilt has increased in surprising ways. We all want to experience the freedom of forgiveness, but the options to deal with guilt in our culture don’t satisfy. Christianity, by exposing the reality of our guilt and showing us the reality of God’s grace, provides genuine freedom from guilt not just fo...