Links for Worship at Home for March 15, 2020

Dear Cornerstone Family,

As we prepare to gather for worship, let’s take comfort in knowing that our God promises to meet with us wherever we are. As much as we love our beautiful sanctuary, the order of worship, and the buzz of the Sunday morning fellowship, let’s be reminded that God takes delight when two or three gather together around the Word with broken and contrite hearts. Therefore, let the unusualness of this time of worship serve as a reminder that our God is pleased to meet us in the midst of our fear and frailty and lead us to renewed faith and greater degrees of glory (Romans 1:16-17; 2 Cor. 3:18).

Toward that end, please join with your Cornerstone brothers and sisters today in worship by using the abbreviated order of worship and the timely video message from Pastor Nate from Psalm 27.   

“Our soul waits for the Lord;
He is our help and our shield.
For our heart is glad in him,
because we trust in his holy name.
Let’s your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us,
even as we hope in you.”—Psalm 33:20-22

Sermon Link

Service Order Link

Pastoral Notes for Sunday, March 8, 2020

Dear Cornerstone Family,

I want to take a moment today to relay some encouraging news on the officer nomination process that we began at the beginning of 2020. As you’ll likely recall, we opened up a nomination season for elder and deacon on Sunday, January 19th and closed nominations on Sunday, February 2nd. During that two-week nomination season, we received more nominations for office than we’ve ever received before! Fifteen different men received nominations; many men receiving 3, 4, or even 5 nominations.

As encouraging as it was to see a strong number of nominations, what was more encouraging was to see the quality of character of the men nominated. In reading through your nomination forms, it was clear that you carefully considered the qualifications for officership from 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 as you submitted your nominations. Thank you for taking the Scripture’s teaching on officership seriously and for setting forward qualified men for the office of elder and deacon!

After nominations closed, contacts with all the men were made, and, after a brief season of prayerful evaluation, ten men accepted the nomination and agreed to enter officer training. Those ten men are Matt Faulk, Dan Fiedler, Will Kesler, John Millard, Ron Moffat, Wes Pittman, Brent Roberts, Matt Suits, Casey Taggart, and Carl Ware. Please pray for these men as they enter officer training and for the Lord to confirm His direction—one way or another—as they pursue His face for wisdom and direction.

Finally, it was a heartbreaking week in middle Tennessee. Early Tuesday morning an E-3 tornado and E-4 tornado left a path of destruction 50 miles long extending from the Germantown neighborhood in northwest Nashville to Cookeville, TN. We’ve all seen the pictures of the destruction and prayed for the families of the 25 people (so far) confirmed dead. 

In addition to prayers, a team of folks from Cornerstone have been working with the PCA Mission to North America (MNA) Disaster Relief Ministry and other local PCA churches to find the best ways to serve the victims and assist with the clean-up effort. Cornerstone has set up a designated fund for Tornado Disaster Relief. All designated funds given to Cornerstone will go directly to the MNA Disaster Relief Fund, which will go to meet immediate needs of members, friends, and neighbors of sister PCA churches affected by the storm. 

If you would like to personally volunteer to serve with the clean-up effort, we recommend you visit Hands On Nashville at www.hon.org. Hands On Nashville works closely with the City of Nashville and the Office of Emergency Management to ensure that volunteers and resources are channeled to the people and places in most need. 

More opportunities will be available in the days to come for us to partner with other local PCA churches and ministries for short term relief teams. Please pay close attention to our midweek e-mail and other special communications from Cornerstone as together we pray for and serve our beloved city.

Grace & Peace,    

Pastor Nate

Pastoral Notes for Sunday, March 1, 2020

The first time I remember hearing the word conscience was watching the movie Pinocchio. You likely remember the story. The word carver, Geppetto, takes a block of wood and carves a boy out of it—a boy that comes alive through the magic of a fairy godmother.

Maybe you’ll recall that just before the fairy godmother departs, she gives Pinocchio a piece of advice, “Be a good boy, Pinocchio. Always let your conscience be your guide.” And then, of course, the great Jiminy Cricket proceeds with fairy godmother’s blessing to be, in a sense, Pinocchio’s conscience, giving him counsel at points of temptation, always steering him in the right direction. 

What do you think of when you think of the conscience? Maybe you think about the cartoon angel that sits on the shoulder urging us to do the right thing. (While the devil—a red devil no less!—sits on the other shoulder trying to persuade you to do the wrong thing.) This picture of conscience we’ve seen in cartoons is an enduring one because it resonates so deeply with our personal experience.

It’s no surprise that the conscience is regularly referred to as “an inner voice” for that’s how it comes to us. It’s a voice, a strong assured voice that makes judgments about things and gives instructions about what you should or shouldn’t do. This makes sense when look at the word conscience, which comes from Latin root words that mean to be “with knowledge.” Yes, a conscience is kind of built-into-you knowledge that is shared with you over and over throughout the day in dozens of different circumstances. 

In fact, no matter how hard we try, we can’t quite outrun the conscience. When we try to ignore it or, even worse, go against it, it only comes back louder with some reasoning like this: “If you don’t do what I told you to do, you know I’m going to make you feel miserable about not doing what you know you should do, which is going to ruin the joy you would have had in not doing what you know you should do; so you better just go ahead and do what you know you should do! 

Do you recognize this voice? I bet you do. We all do. But what are we to do with the conscience? How should we relate to our conscience? Is Jiminy Cricket right, should I always let conscience be my guide? So many good questions. And the Bible has very important instruction about each of these questions and many more.

This past Wednesday during our evening Vesper’s service, we opened a discussion about the presence and purpose of the conscience. It’s a discussion we’re going to continue for the next five weeks. I want to personally invite you to join us. You’re not behind; the conversation has just started. Make plans to join in on the conversation this week. I promise you will learn so many important truths that will positively impact your life on a daily basis.

I’ll see you Wednesday night! 

Pastoral Notes for Sunday, February 23, 2020

The grand narrative of God’s Word is no tall tale. It is a historical record of real events with real people in real places in real time. As Paul makes plain in his letter to the church at Corinth, if Christ’s birth, death, and resurrection did not actually take place in time, space, and history—then all is lost. We of all people are most to be pitied (1 Corinthians 15:9).

Further, God not only authored the Bible’s true story, He’s its lead actor. Behind the flood, the call of Abraham, the Exodus, the rise of King David, the exile and return of Israel, and every other redemptive act—God is present and the prime mover. On every page of the Bible, God is the hero of the story. And as author and hero of redemption, God calls His people to remember the great things He has done (Deuteronomy 8:1-3).

One of the means God used to stir the mind and imaginations of His people to remembrance was a calendar. From the Day of Atonement to the weekly Sabbath, to the annual feasts and festivals, God calendared salvation history in order to help the prone-to-forgetfulness Israelites remember and relive redemption each year (Leviticus 23).

Rightfully so, the shadow of the Old Testament calendar faded in the bright light of Christ’s fulfillment (Colossians 2:16-17), and though God issued no new calendar requirement for the New Testament church, He gave His people the freedom to order their days while maintaining the commitment to remember the redemption of Jesus Christ (Romans 15:4-9, Galatians 3:1-14, Romans 6:5-11, 2 Peter 1:3-11).

As the early church increasingly realized that Christ was the fulfillment of everything the Old Testament calendar pointed to, it seemed good and wise to them to “sanctify time” by ordering their days according to the story of salvation. Not as a biblical requirement but as a discipleship tool, they started setting aside certain seasons of the year for remembrance and reflection on key fulfillments of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ and His Church.

·              The season of Advent marked the time for remembering the Savior’s coming.

·              The season of Epiphany marked the time for remembering the Savior’s life and ministry.

·              The season of Lent marked the time for remembering the Savior’s trials, temptations, sufferings.

·              The season of Easter marked the time for remembering the Savior’s victory over the grave.  

·              The day of Ascension marked the time for remembering the Savior’s enthronement and reign.

·              The season of Pentecost marked the time for remembering the ongoing work of the Savior in the Church through the presence and power of Holy Spirit.

Many Christians throughout the centuries have kept the practice of following a Christian calendar, finding it a helpful means of remembering the life and ministry of Christ and the reality of His ongoing work in the church, reaching around the world and across generations.

It’s in that spirit that we invite you to join us for the forty days of Lent, as we prayerfully prepare for the heartbreaking and heart-mending climax of the Christian year—the crucifixion and resurrection of our Savior.

Pastoral Notes for Sunday, February 16, 2020

Lent Midweek @ Cornerstone

February 26-April 1, 2020

Pursuing the Joy of a Clear Conscience

Two years earlier, Fred had given his life to Jesus Christ. He’d begun reading his Bible on a fairly regular basis and was slowly but surely learning how to pray. He’d joined a local church and volunteered to be on the welcome team. He’d just registered for an evangelism training class because he wanted to learn how to share the gospel with his unbelieving roommate.

            It was clear: Christ had changed Fred’s life.

But something had begun to trouble Fred. “Nate, this may sound weird, but in some ways, becoming a Christian has made life harder not easier.”

“How do you mean, Fred?”

Fred gave a quizzical look and continued, “Well, I’m noticing that some of the things I used to think nothing about are all the sudden bothering me.” 

“Can you give me an example?” I inquired.

“Yeah, but I’m kind-of embarrassed to confess this. Before I was a Christian, I never thought twice about taking a second look at a pretty girl that walks by. I never felt bad about having a bit too much to drink at the pub or railing on a coworker that got under my skin. I guess I’m finding myself feeling increasingly guilty about certain things I think, say and do…”

Fred collected his thoughts and began again, “I’ve shared this with a few of my close Christian friends, but it hasn’t helped, at least not yet. One friend kind of blew off my concerns saying I was being overly sensitive. He reminded me that Jesus had died for my sins and urged me to stop feeling guilty all the time. The other friend said he battles with the same thing at times, but it usually passes as long as he doesn’t focus on it. He concluded by saying he’ll pray for me.”

Fred sighed with resignation, “Maybe this is what it feels like to be a Christian…”

Beginning on Wednesday, February 26 at 6:15pm in the chapel, the pastoral staff will take six weeks to explore the Bible’s teaching on the critical but oft neglected subject of the conscience. In this study, key topics related to the nature and purpose of conscience will be explored and answered biblically. Those who attend will learn…

·               What the conscience is and why it matters?

·               Is my conscience a faithful guide for life?

·               How can I get rid of a guilty conscience?

·               Is it possible to maintain a clear conscience?

·               Can a weak conscience be trained and mature?

·               How should I respond when others disagree with my conscience?

So, go ahead and mark out the time on your calendars. Consider inviting a close friend or neighbor to join you. This series promises to be an important opportunity to grow in the joy of living with a clear conscience before the Lord. I can’t wait to see YOU on Wednesday nights during Lent!