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A Very Special Thank You!

12/31/2015

We would like to extend a very special THANK YOU! to everyone for your love, prayers, and continued support of our ministry this past year!

We have many new plans for Cornerstone this coming year and we hope to bear much more fruit of the Spirit for our community and throughout the world.

It is our prayer for you to have a very HAPPY NEW YEAR! filled with the blessings of grace, peace, and joy through Our Lord Jesus Christ!

"Keep the Faith and Spread the Word!"

Yours in Christ,

Lori & Kevin

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Rejoice! Rejoice!

12/22/2015

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"Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." (Isaiah 7:14 ESV)

Rejoice! For the promise of God, spoken through the prophet Isaiah, has been fulfilled in the birth of Jesus Christ!

“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us)." (Matthew 1:23 ESV)

Jesus Christ is the reason for the season!

As we reflect on the birth of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, we recall God's promises and are again reminded of His never-ending love for us and His faithfulness to His Word.

God promised to send a Redeemer, to ransom us from captivity - the captivity of sin. Jesus Christ, Our Redeemer, is the fulfillment of all God's promises made to us throughout Scripture. Once incarcerated in a prison of sin, we have been freed from our bondage by the atoning sacrifice of Christ on the cross. He has paid our sin-debt in full and has ransomed us from captivity!

Rejoice! Rejoice! Immanuel has ransomed captive Israel!

We would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas filled with the grace and peace of Our Lord Jesus Christ!

Heavenly Father, we praise You in Thanksgiving today and every day. You are always faithful to Your Word. We rejoice for we know that You are truly with us always! In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen †

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True Faith

12/18/2015

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“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1 ESV)

Faith is a spiritual perception to sense and believe that God is truly present and at work in every moment of our lives. To have faith is to have confidence and a firm assurance that God indeed is truly caring for us at all times despite the troubles and obstacles we might seem to be experiencing.

"Faith proves to the mind, the reality of things that cannot be seen by the bodily eye." (Matthew Henry)

We demonstrate our faith by believing that God will fulfill all of His promises even if we are unable to see the fulfillment of those promises currently at work and materializing around us. God always keep His promises. God will fulfill all that He has promised to us through Christ.

We know that God makes all things work together for our good (cf. Romans 8:28). When we affirm the principle of Romans 8:28, we cultivate the soil in which our faith takes root. Although, we do not see, although we do not fully understand, we have confidence that God will always protect us and will always provide for us.

Although we cannot fathom His methods, we can always fathom that His purpose is grounded in His love for us - God is Love and His “Love never fails” (1 Corinthians 13:8 ESV).

True faith needs no signs or miracles. True faith seeks neither historical evidence nor scientific proof. Rather, true faith is rooted in the conviction that God is faithful to His Word. Without regard, true faith believes in and relies on God alone. And it is through this faith, by the grace of God, that we are saved (cf. Ephesians 2:8).

“…blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.” (John 20:29b KJV)

Father, although we do not always see and do not fully understand, we have faith that You are always present and always in control of all that exists. You make all things work together for our good and Your love never fails us. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen. †

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Full of Grace and Truth

12/9/2015

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"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth." (John 1:14 ESV)

We read in the Gospel of John that our Lord Jesus Christ is "full of grace and truth" (John 1:14). He is equally, in perfect balance, full of both grace and truth.

In the churches of today, we see a trend to be either grace or truth. Many churches today tend to lean toward being either all grace or all truth; or to lean more toward one than the other.

We cannot be all about grace while neglecting truth. We cannot be all about truth and neglect grace. There must be a perfect balance between each. Grace cannot take away from truth, nor can truth take away from grace. One cannot diminish the other.

While we see God as being full of mercy, we must also see Him as being completely just. We cannot create a false environment in our churches with a "god" who completely ignores sin because of grace and mercy. Neither can we create an environment of fire and brimstone while recreating a false "god" who shows no grace or mercy.

We must confront our sin head-on while we embrace grace and mercy at the same time. God calls us to seek righteousness and is equally merciful in our repentance.

In His grace and mercy, the Lord forgivingly calls us to come to Him as we are - as sinners. At the same time, He calls us in His truth to turn from our sin and make our paths straight (see Hebrews 12:13-14 ESV).

"...grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." (John 1:17b ESV)

Lord Jesus, we thank You for being equally merciful and just. May we always seek to follow Your example of grace and truth in our churches and in our daily lives. In Your Holy Name we pray, Amen. †

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Jesus Paid It All

12/4/2015

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"Jesus paid it all,
All to Him I owe;
Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow"
(Elvina M. Hall)

This famous hymn is very powerful in that it recalls how our Savior, Jesus Christ, gave His life for us to wash us clean from our sin. He suffered and died to pay the ransom for our sin (cf. Matthew 20:28, Mark 10:45).

Isaiah tells us how: "But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed." (Isaiah 53:5 ESV)

Jesus tells us why: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16 ESV)

"Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:13 ESV)

Jesus was the sacrificial lamb; the lamb without blemish or stain; the perfect, sinless sacrifice offered to God on our behalf in atonement for our sin.

It is in this great sacrifice, this substitutionary atonement, that Jesus died in our place and our sin-debt has been paid. We have been freed from death and the bondage of sin. Jesus died for us that through our faith in Him, we receive God's grace and mercy and are saved (cf. Ephesians 2:8).

Grace can be defined as “unmerited favor to the infinitely ill-deserving,” or, in other words, “God’s riches at Christ’s expense.”

Although we do not deserve to receive God's grace, Jesus paid it all - and all to Him we owe.

Lord Jesus, we thank You for Your sacrifice on the cross. We thank You for dying in our place to pay our debt that we may be washed clean from our sin. There is no greater love than the love You showed to us by giving Your life for us. By Your wounds we are healed. Thank you, Lord Jesus. In Your Holy Name we pray, Amen. †

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A Very Special Thank You!

Rejoice! Rejoice!

True Faith

Full of Grace and Truth

Jesus Paid It All

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