Cornerstone West Los Angeles » Sermons

The path from joy to truth comes through fellowship with God. In order to abide in Him we must be able to distinguish between truth and error, and in a world of deception where the spirit of the world vies for our attention and affection, we must hold fast to His truth in His Word, so that we can abide in Him and live in His joy. Application Questions: Why is it crucial for you to be able to disti...

Doubt creeps into our hearts in all sorts of different ways.  Sometimes we mess up and doubt the reality or extent of God's forgiveness.  Sometimes we feel alone and doubt the reality of our relationship with God.  But God meets us in the moments of doubt with a gentle confidence, upholding us and reminding us (again) that we are his, and nothing will ever change that. Application Questions: When...

John has taught us that being a Christian means being adopted into the family of God. God’s family has a family dynamic: righteousness and love. This week John begins a long conversation on loving one another as Christians. He deepens our understanding of love and then shows us how to move towards it ourselves. Application Questions: 1. Do you struggle most to love other with your actions, attitud...

John speaks strongly about righteousness and being a child of God. In that language, we find a call to holy living and a motivation that is different than any other philosophy.  Application Questions: 1. Are there ways you don’t want God’s parental input in your life? What do you normally do when you feel that way?  2. Do you regularly think of yourself as a child of God, apart from your performan...

In the midst of a rich passage, John gives us the different elements that we need for real, deep, meaningful change and growth. They range from the new birth to eternal hope, but all center on the person of Christ and the transforming love God has for his children.  Application Questions: 1. If you want to change or grow, how do you normally go about trying?  2. Do you feel like you have a relatio...

When we are insecure about our faith, how do we rest assure in the Father’s arm? John reminds us to find our home in the Father’s love as we abide in Him and see His love. God sees us as His beloved children even with our faults, and John also encourages us to live lives that reflect our Father. Application Questions: 1. Do you view remembering the sabbath as an optional command? if so why? How do...

Today is a day of remembrance in multiple ways. Our country gathers every year on this day to remember an event that took place in Philadelphia, determining the trajectory of our country. The church also gathers every week on this day to remember the event that took place in Jerusalem that changed the course of human history. Today we gather to remember that more significant historical moment and...

With all the division and controversy in the world, how do we think about truth? John makes it clear that spiritual truth doesn’t adjust to fit our preferences or desires. While we shouldn’t be overconfident in ourselves, the truth about God is secure and stable. This means it shouldn’t rattle us when people reject Jesus, and we can hold onto the truth about Jesus without shame. Most of all, John...

The world around us is filled with distractions and temptations. It draws us and seduces us. How do we continue to live in the world without being lured into its traps? How do we even know what its traps are? And how do we navigate life in the midst of the world in confidence instead of fear? John gives us an exhortation and a vision for the path forward in our passage today. Application Questions...

Having heard the first section of the letter of first John, it is normal for any of us to feel somehow discouraged. Especially when we read sentences like “…whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness…” John’s sentences are loaded with razor sharp truth that could shake the foundation of even a mature believer. John now takes time to assure his church family that they ar...

What does it mean to be a single multi-lingual church?  When we take the time to look back at the very first iteration of the local church we see a group of brothers and sisters that bear a striking resemblance to who we are today, and who God is continually calling us to become. Application Questions 1. How are you tempted to neglect living out your faith as a part of a "gathered" community? 2. W...

Being in fellowship with the God who is Light radically changes the life of the Christian. God's disarming love changes us from the inside out, bringing us further into the Light of His love, and demonstrating that love to brothers and sisters in Christ around us. Application Questions: 1. How have you seen the love of God disarm you? 2. Does your experience of God's love lead you to love others a...

Being close to a God who is light means being transformed into someone who walks the way Jesus walked. This sermon takes a tour of Christian obedience, showing how it is part and parcel of a relationship with God. Application Questions: 1. What associations do you have with the word “obedience”? How does that affect the way you think about obeying God? 2. Why do you think God wants you to obey him...

John’s agenda is to give us fullness of joy through fellowship with God. So what is God like, and how will that affect our relationship with him? John teaches us that God is light: he is completely pure, completely wise, entirely holy. When we come close to a God like this, it exposes the darkness in us and in our world. But only there do we see Christ taking on our sin and cleansing us to be near...

John speaks of the truth of Jesus Christ and the joy we get from knowing him. The road from truth to joy runs through fellowship with God, a deep communion with him that is made available in Christ and deeply personal.

John begins his letter focusing on truth: the eternal life of God taking on flesh as Jesus Christ. To John, we have to get this truth right, not so we can know we are right, but so that we can know God, and find fullness of joy in him. Application Questions: 1. Are you more of a math person or a music person? How does that affect the way you view the Christian faith? 2. How do the truths of the Ch...

As we wrap up our mini-series on how we can relearn to "walk" as the local church, we examine how the community of the local church was designed to be a missional community. While presuppositions regarding "evangelism" may come to mind when you hear the term "missional," the reality of what it means to be a missional community is much deepers. In our missional calling we see and experience the cul...

The word "church" literally means "gathering". We are called to be relationally close and this requires gathering together physically. Though we have been apart physically for a year, as the pandemic wanes it is important for us to reestablish the rhythm of in-person relational connection. Application Questions: 1. What steps can you take right now towards regathering in-person with brothers and s...

On the anniversary of our first livestream service, it's easy to see how the pandemic has changed our lives. As restrictions begin to lift, we'll need to learn again what it means to walk together as a church community. This sermon looks at 1 Peter 2 to see how our personal relationship with Jesus is inextricable from our relationship with the local church community. Application Questions: 1. How...

As we wrap up our journey through the book of Colossians Paul gets personal, giving us a glimpse into the spiritual family God had built around him. When we stop and pay attention to the stories represented in this list we'll find that the community that existed 2,000 years ago in Rome isn't all that different from the spiritual family God is continuing to built here and all around the world. The...

We often think wrongly about evangelism - we have fear about getting it wrong, about saying the wrong thing. Or we may think that it's not our gifting so it's not for us entirely! But Paul challenges us to realize the deep well from which every believer should draw and that the motivation for sharing our faith may not be what we think. Application Questions: 1. What are some ways you underestimate...

How does our new life in Christ work itself out in our daily life: marriages, family, work? Far from upholding cultural standards, or telling the Colossians to rebel against them, Paul teaches them to live under the authority of Jesus and watch as his love transforms things from the inside out. Application Questions: 1. Why do you think we struggle with a passage like this today? How does understa...

What characteristics come to mind when you think of spiritual maturity? All too often the way we define maturity has more to do with our cultural norms than it does the image of Christ. In today's passage Paul clarifies for us what true Christlikeness actually looks like, and he reminds us of the incredible joy that comes as we experience eternity taking deeper and deeper root in our hearts. We we...

Paul shows us that growing is part of the basic Christian life—not just once in a while, but part of our daily experience. In this passage, we find what growth really looks like and how we can pursue it ourselves. Application Questions: 1. Would you describe your approach to growth as "putting to death"? Why or why not? 2. Do you focus more on changing your actions or your motivations? What would...

There are areas in all of our lives that we want to change, and that we know God wants to change. In different seasons we pursue growth in different ways. But, far too often, our pursuit of growth looks indistinguishable from the ways that those around us who don't know Christ pursue growth. Christian growth is fundamentally different, however. When we grow as Christians, what's taking place is mo...