Cornerstonekaty

Ezekiel 16 God’s wrath is understood when we can empathize with him as a betrayed husband to his people; how his heart is broken over our unfaithfulness. Breaking the law is not the breaking of some rule written on paper, as a judge might evaluate in a courtroom. Breaking God’s law is personal with God. It is like a spouse’s betrayal. And so, we understand his atoning work, completely underserved,...

Ezekiel 10-11 One of the most tragic moments of the Old Testament is seen by Ezekiel in this vision. In case you don’t remember where we are in the book of Ezekiel, we’re looking at his 2nd vision. We find it in chapters 8-11. In this vision Ezekiel is carried away to Jerusalem where God shows him the abominations that are going on in the temple and the judgment that is coming as a result. It’s be...

Matthew 2:1-11 How do you respond to the news that Jesus has come? Herod saw him as a threat and disdained him. The chief priests knew the details of prophecy that told of his coming, yet ignored him when he came. Others risked their lives to come and worship. What about you?

John 1:1-18

John 1:29-37 Some of you are here this morning with a desire to change. You feel the frustration of trying to live a better life but struggle to change. Two steps forward are often followed by two steps back. How do you break free from this cycle? That’s a good question. John has an answer for you and his name is Jesus. Before we look at his answer let’s spend a moment reflecting upon the problem,...

Luke 1:46-55 Right off the bat, in the accounts of Jesus we find that Christianity stands apart from the religions of the world. Religion is the practice of living in such a way as to find your way to God. The reward is for the wise, discerning, and disciplined person who has managed to live a good enough life to win the reward of god. In ancient Egypt the dead would be weighed on the scale to see...

Every year, in the days leading up to Thanksgiving, my wife would become suddenly aware of how cluttered and dirty our house had become. On most days it was organized enough for us, or we didn’t notice the dust piles along the edges of the room or the pile of papers on the dining room table, or the dark stains on the patio. But every thanksgiving, Rhonda’s mom and dad would come and stay with us....

Matthew 1:18-25 Christmas has become more than a day. It is a season. Why is that? Christmas has a way of pushing out the darkness and filling us with hope. 

Revelation 2:12-17

Ezekiel 9:1-11 In this part of Ezekiel’s vision, we see the sentence and judgment brought upon the city. Judgment is not a popular theme in our society. And the idea of judgment coming from God to many seems counter to him being the embodiment of love. So, how do we make sense of such sweeping, pitiless striking dead of men, women, and even little children. This is shocking. How do we reconcile it...

When I was growing up, I loved to play outside. I looked forward to getting on my bicycle and riding around town with my friends. We often rode through a ditch in the neighborhood that took us under the highway and out into the woods and the often dry river bed. We would catch crawdads (as we called them), build forts, and make jumps for our bicycles. Sometimes homework would get in the way. Can y...

Romans 13:1-11

Ezekiel 6 God is just. One of the hard things for the world to hold together is the problem of evil and the existence of a good God. They seem incompatible. If God is good, then why would he allow evil to exist? The people in Ezekiel’s day couldn’t fathom the idea that their god, a good god, would allow the Babylonians to have the upper hand for long. Surely, he would set things right. We often th...

Ezekiel 4-5 This morning we come to the first message that Ezekiel was given. We’ve talked about the timeframe of Ezekiel’s life and ministry as he was among the exiles taken captive during the 1st siege of Jerusalem in 597 when the king and 10000 were carried away. He was there among the captives for 5 or so years before receiving his call as a prophet by way of his vision of the glory of God com...

Ezekiel 2-3 Last week we talked through the historical context of Ezekiel’s ministry. He was exiled from the land of Judah along with 10,000 men of valor and craftsman, including the king, to the Babylonian empire, many of whom were settled in this suburb of Babylon, Tel-abib, near the Chebar canal. They were exiled after King Jehoiachin rebelled against the king of Babylon who thus laid seige to...

Ezekiel 1 This morning I want to do two things. I want to layout some background to the book of Ezekiel and explore this first vision we find in the book. Ezekiel is a difficult book. It is filled with visions and enacted parables that are not always explained in enough detail for a reader to fully understand what an observer what have understood. It is difficult also because it has to do with pro...

Revelation 2:8-11 Remember, our enemy is a defeated foe, our citizenship is the coming kingdom of God, and our promise is found in the resurrection of Christ.

1 John 4:7-18 Perfect love drives out fear.

Psalm 97 History is filled with stories of conquest. Alexander the Great conquering Greece, Asia Minor, the Middle East and the Persian empire, even into India. His conquest was shockingly swift. He brought a hellenization to his conquered lands, seeking to unite the East and the West with a common, syncretistic culture. A few centuries later, Rome conquered the Greeks and extended their conquest...

Psalm 96

Psalm 95 Worship is ascribing worth. What is the worth of the Lord? His worth is beyond the universe, which is merely a reflection of His glory.

Psalm 94 One of my favorite movies over the years is Gladiator. It tells the story of a Roman General who has been faithful and effective in his service to Rome and the Emperor. But when the emperor is killed by his son, the general is viewed as a threat and is betrayed. His family is killed and he is sold into slavery. You feel the wrongness when you watch and you root for the general to find his...

Psalm 93 Niether my mother or mother-in-law will drive in Houston. The size of I-10, the volume of the traffic, and the chaos of bringing drivers together from all over the world with their imported driving habits is terrifying. You can attest. So when my mother-in-law comes to town and we pick her up from the airport, we’ve learned to ask her to close her eyes while we drive. Otherwise she wears...

Psalm 92 I think I will write you a prescription for joy this morning. I can do it. I have been granted access to it, only it isn’t in pill form. I’d like to write you a prescription to join me in corporate worship every Sunday. Worship of the Lord leads to joy and a glad heart. This is the testimony of the Psalmist. He writes in verses 1-5. Do you think about coming to worship with this expectati...

Psalm 91 When I was in the 5th grade, my family moved into a house in which my room shared a wall with my parents’ room. That’s when I realized my sister was scared of the dark. She is 3 years younger than me and on some nights, I would be laying in bed and could hear her the pitter patter of bare feet slapping the parquet wood floor down the hallway as she ran from her room into my parents’ room....