Cornerstonekaty

Psalm 109 This morning we come to an imprecatory psalm, which is a psalm that calls down curses. There are several in the psalms. This is the last of them and probably the harshest overall. What are we to make of it? In the New Testament Jesus calls us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. Does this not run counter to that? These are important questions that we must answer as th...

Luke 15:11-20

Psalm 108 I want to begin with a story about David. David was the greatest king in Israel’s ancient history. He was called the man after God’s own heart. With such accolades, you might be inclined to think that his life was easy. For those of you who are familiar with his story, you know that wasn’t the case. David’s life was filled with struggle. And when I say filled with struggle, I mean real,...

James 5:13-20 We’ve got one more sermon from the book of James and it has to do with prayer. If we put that in the context of the question we’ve been asking in James: what does saving faith, that is, genuine faith, look like? We can say that genuine faith leads a person to a life of prayer. Let’s be honest. Prayer is a challenge. Either we don’t know what to pray or we are skeptical of the effecti...

Zechariah 14:1-21 Easter is a pivotal day in history. It is arguably the most significant day of the Christian calendar. We hear that and believe it, but I’m convinced most of us don’t really understand it. That’s not to say we don’t value the resurrection. We think of the resurrection as God’s victory over death, which it certainly shows. We think of the resurrection as foreshadowing of our own,...

Zechariah 14 Easter is a pivotal day in history. It is arguably the most significant day of the Christian calendar. We hear that and believe it, but I’m convinced most of us don’t really understand it. That’s not to say we don’t value the resurrection. We think of the resurrection as God’s victory over death, which it certainly shows. We think of the resurrection as foreshadowing of our own, which...

Zechariah 12:10-13:9 Let’s jump in with a story; a story that begins in a place of darkness. It begins in ancient Jerusalem. Israel had left Egypt with grand hopes and a bright future. God would fulfill his promises to Abraham and make them into a great nation in a land full of “milk and honey.” He would made them the envy of all the world. And while there were moments in which that seemed possibl...

James 5:7-12 Last week James forced us to wrestle with a very uncomfortable question:  Where do you really find your security? Is it in what you can build, such as your career or your family? Is it in what you can save, such as your retirement portfolio? Is it in what you can control, such as your budget, your business? Or is it in what God has promised? James shows us the danger of building our a...

James 4:13-5:6 Each week we’ve approached James with this simple question: what does saving faith actually look like? How do we discern saving faith from false faith? For it is a frightening thing to build a life on something that, in the end, will fail us. As many of you know, I grew up going to a little lake in Michigan. It was a beautiful and magical place. But there is a dark reality to it, th...

James 3:18=4:12 Last week we ended with James statement: a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. (James 3:18) James is talking about life within a community. Sowing peace is a powerful thing and is a product of saving faith. As we continue our series in James looking at the characteristics of saving faith, this would be the one we see in this passage. Saving faith sows...

James 3:13-18 We’ve been looking at James who gives us a clear look at what genuine saving faith looks like. I fear there are far too many people in the church today that believe they are Christians, but are not. Remember Jesus’ words, “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the...

James 2:14-26 Our big question in the book of James, “what does saving faith look like and do I have it?” comes to its climactic moment in this passage. James sums up much of his argument for his entire letter in verse 26, “faith apart from works is dead.” Over the centuries the church has wrestled with the connection between faith and works and their role in salvation. One of the hallmarks of the...

James 2:1-13 This morning we turn to chapter 2 and find another characteristic of saving faith. It does not show partiality.  When I first read this chapter, I wasn’t quite sure why this was here. That is not to say we shouldn’t discourage partiality. It just doesn’t seem up to the same level of concern of some of James’ other instructions. Caring for widows and orphans, for example, is a consiste...

James 1:19-27 What is saving faith? In January I preached three funerals. Every time I do, I feel the eagerness that so many have that everyone goes to heaven when they die. With my mother, so many of my relatives commented about how all of these other relatives, who passed away years ago, are all together now, playing golf or sitting around laughing or whatever it is they used to do together. The...

John 11:17-40

Luke 22:7-22

James 1:1-18 As much as we talk about James as a letter that highlights the importance of good works, (which it does so much so that Martin Luther questioned its canonicity) it is actually a letter about faith. And that faith is extremely important, for the result of that faith is the crown of life. James writes, Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test...

Luke17:11-19

Zechariah 3:1-10 Have you ever come into a situation in which you were completely and utterly unprepared? It is enough to induce a moment of panic. What will you do? What will you say? All you can envision is a complete unravelling. I remember how that would express itself to me as a child. In our elementary school each classroom had a coat closet. It wasn’t really a closet, but the side of the ro...

Haggai 2:1-9 I still remember the day I was dropped off for college. My hard work had paid off and I was standing on the footsteps of college, full of excitement and confidence that this would lead to a bright future, that this would lead to glory! But as the year went on, I found lots of things to do besides coursework, and faced challenges and setbacks I did not anticipate. Distractions and thre...

Nahum 1:1-15 Nahum is a difficult book. It is prophecy against Ninevah, the capital of Assyria and it describes the devastating power of God aimed in judgment upon them. Ninevah fell in 612 BC, when the Assyrian empire fell to Babylon. That sets it apart from most of the prophets, which spoke of the looming destruction of Israel and Judah for being unfaithful to the covenant they had with God. Ass...

Micah 5:1-5 Micah is best known for this passage. When the Magi arrived in Jerusalem looking for “he who had been born king of the Jews” they went to Herod to find out. Of course, he didn’t know so he called the chief priests and scribes (the experts) to ask them. In response, they paraphrased this passage in Micah. “ ‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rul...

Amos 9:11-15 Amos was a prophet who lived near the end of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, similar to that of Hosea. His message was one of warning about the coming judgment of God upon the nation with a twofold goal: his prophecy was a warning and call to repentance, as well as a promise of hope for a better world. We’re looking specifically at the messianic hope in this promise of a better world....

Hosea 3:1-5 According to James Boice, this is the greatest chapter in the Bible. Why would he say such a thing? Hosea, like many prophets, has a very hard—and strange—calling. He was told to go and marry a wife of whoredom. This goes against good sense and certainly doesn’t fit Paul’s instruction to the Corinthians to not be unequally yoked. So, why is he told to do this and what has this to do wi...

1 Timothy 2:8-15 When I was originally thinking about this topic, my mind went to the passage in Proverbs 31 , listed in your bulletin. It is an excellent explanation of a godly woman. And we will look at it this morning. But as I pressed more into the topic, another text seems more to the point. It is a controversial text, and often disdained by modern, secular people. It’s one of those texts tha...