Pastoral Notes for Sunday, September 5, 2021

Dear Cornerstone Family,

I got a phone call from an old friend this week, reminding me of the time I helped him navigate a relationship he was trying to develop with a young lady. He had been discouraged by the last couple of encounters. The conversation was surfacy and the friendliness contrived. He really wanted to break through the casual and get to know her heart.

Now, before I go on, some of you are thinking, “Why, pray tell, did this young man come to you for advice on love?” If that’s you, we clearly need to get to know each other better. This may come as a shock, but in a previous life, I was something of a romance repairman. At the time, I had a girlfriend of six months (she became my wife!), so I was the resident expert on all things related to romance. Ignorant, love-struck friends would seek me out for wisdom on the ways of women. I’d offer commonsense strategies—free of charge, mind you—for jumpstarting your love life.

(You’ll find it a relief to know I’ve long since retired from this profession. Back to the story...)

On the phone, my friend started relaying my advice back to me as I braced for impact. According to him, I said something like, “You’ve got to relax and let her talk. Listen to her words, every one of them. But I don’t want you to get hung up on her words. I want you to hear and respond to her heart. True intimacy happens when we hear and respond to the heart.” Well, even a broke clock is right twice a day. That wasn’t as bad as I feared. Truthfully, that’s pretty good. It’s advice I could probably heed more often myself.

Romance aside, this silly recollection got me thinking about words. Specifically, it got me thinking about my words. What do my words say about my heart? What is my speech revealing about the kind of person I am (see Matthew 15:18; Luke 6:45)? As I asked myself those questions this week, I was invited into an opportunity to be honest with the Lord. To speak to the Lord true words about the darker parts of my heart and receive from Him truer words about His love and forgiveness. “For whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart” (1 John 3:20).

Today, you will take the Word of God into your mouth in worship. As you do this, it’s an opportunity to hear God speaking to you. It’s also an opportunity for you to be honest with the Lord, to come clean in His presence. What good will worship be today if all you do is honor the Lord with your lips, but your heart is a million miles away (Matthew 5:7-8)? Let’s disregard hypocritical ways and tell the Lord the truth. Moreover, let’s listen to the Word (John 1:1) tell us the truth about who He is, what He’s called us to do, and how much He loves us.

Your servant,

 



Pastoral Notes for Sunday, August 29, 2021

I asked Martha Brooks, our Women’s Ministry Director, to talk about the past year of ministry and to give us a look ahead as to what is planned for the coming year. In anticipation of these opportunities for fellowship and time in the Word, here is what Martha had to say:

What a year we’ve had in Women’s Ministry! We began with a dinner last August, fellowshipping and feasting after quarantine. We held our first “Seasons of Life” in October with women sharing from the heart around a table heavy with desserts and coffee. Christmas saw Covid cases rise, and we weren’t able to gather again until February, when we heard from three more ladies in our own congregation, encouraging us to love well in all circumstances. April saw us in the Chapel, laughing and crying along with several of our own dear sisters about the unexpected seasons the Lord brings. The advent of summer brought the much-anticipated return of our large group Bible study, with two fellowship suppers thrown in there just to give us a chance to catch up. And while all that was going on, small group Bible studies took place in person throughout the year.

Whew.

This ministry year promises to be full as well. And I have a confession to make: sometimes I look at our family calendar and all the different colored dots and all the maneuvering it takes to get five people everywhere they need to be and think, “I just want to sit on my couch! Don’t other people want to sit on their couches? Are their couches not comfortable? I really like my couch! Do I have to put ‘sit on couch’ on the calendar just to make sure I can sit on my couch?”

If you feel like that, too, please know we are not scheduling things for the women of the church just to fill our calendars. When we are making plans as a Women’s Ministry Team, we ask ourselves this: How can we serve? Our goal is not to get every woman to participate in Women’s Ministry, but for the Women’s Ministry to serve and encourage every woman in the church (taken from Women’s Ministry in the Local Church, Ligon Duncan and Susan Hunt).

In 2021-22, the Cornerstone Women’s Ministry is aiming to serve through small group Bible studies that see women studying the Word together, (Romans 15:4), the relaunch of a Young Mom’s Encouragement Group where some of our more seasoned mothers will train the newer ones (Titus 2:3-5), quarterly fellowships that facilitate a time to deepen our friendships (1 Samuel 18:1), a retreat (Hebrews 10:24-25), and all the way back around to large group summer Bible study for part two of our study of Revelation (Psalm 119:11-12).

These plans are purposeful, and we believe all these things help us fulfill our vision, which simply states:

Cornerstone’s vision for Women’s Ministry is grounded in God’s Word where

women grow in the context of God’s people, always aiming for the glory of Christ.

I would love to chat with you and answer any questions you have, so don’t hesitate to reach out. My door is always open. (Well, I don’t have a door, but I can meet you in my “office” at Merridee’s.) Please watch for upcoming dates, jump in where your calendar allows (while keeping a little couch time!) and let the Women’s Ministry serve you in Christ Jesus for His glory.

Grace,

Martha Brooks

Pastoral Notes for Sunday, August 22, 2021

I asked Pastor Ben Griffith to give us a preview of the men’s book study this week in the Pastoral Notes.

Brothers, I hope you’ll consider jumping into our Tuesday morning men’s book study this fall, which begins on September 14th and will meet at Biscuit Love at 6:45 a.m. And if you jump in, you’ll have to hold on tight! We’re going to make our way through Carl Trueman’s latest book, The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road to the Sexual Revolution. (If that subtitle alone doesn’t convince you that this may be one of the most relevant and timely books available right now, then maybe Pastor Nate’s naming this book his “favorite read of 2020” will!). It’s going to be a treat to process this work together over a good cup of coffee every week, and we would love for you to join us.

What we’re hoping to do in our time together is explore Trueman’s telling of how we got to where we are today, in terms of our cultural understanding of sexuality and identity. To say that the rate of acceleration and change in these areas in the last few years and decades has been dizzying is an understatement. The landscape has indeed shifted very quickly. But part of the value of Trueman’s book is the way that he locates these changes in a broader story that has been playing out for the last several hundred years. Trueman makes this long and complicated story about as short and uncomplicated as anyone possibly can. This quote from his introduction captures what he’s aiming to do throughout the book: “in short, the sexual revolution is simply one manifestation of the larger revolution of the self that has taken place in the West. And it is only as we come to understand that wider context that we can truly understand the dynamics of the sexual politics that now dominate our culture.”

Understanding this wider context that we find ourselves located in can help us live faithfully as ambassadors for Christ in this cultural moment; that’s what I’m praying our time together on Tuesday mornings will equip us to do. As Christians, we want to understand the past so we can winsomely engage the present and be prepared for the future. This book is a tremendous resource to help us do just that.

So men, please consider joining us on Tuesday mornings. It’s a great way to get to know other men in the church, and it’s great accountability to read a 400 page book in just a few weeks! There are still a few copies of the book available for sale on the book table ($20), or you can easily order online. Sign up on the Cornerstone website or app, and start reading ahead! Hope to see you on Tuesdays this fall.


Pastoral Notes for Sunday, August 15, 2021

Dear Cornerstone Family,

Every other week or so, I will hear a report about how disagreements concerning COVID-19 have seeded deep division within the leadership or membership of some church. How officers are resigning from positions and scores of members are leaving because a certain decision was made, or a certain approach was adopted of which they disagreed.

Anytime I hear of a branch of Christ’s church “by schism rent asunder,” as the hymn writer puts it, I am grieved. It’s a reminder that things are not yet as they ought to be. That the reality of “one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism” (Ephesians 4:5) that is the foundation of the church is not yet a perfected reality within the life of the church. That we still have a long way to go before our unity in Jesus Christ is brought to perfection in glory.

But when I hear reports of church division, grief is not my only emotion. Believe it or not, I am deeply thankful. Not for the divisions, of course, but for the grace of unity God has given to Cornerstone in the ten years of our existence. It has been nothing short of remarkable.

Yes, we have our family squabbles from time to time, but that’s to be expected. We wouldn’t be a family if that weren’t the case. But the measure of Christ-centered unity we’ve enjoyed over the years is astounding and rare. I pray we never take it for granted. Further, I pray we never grow slack in following Paul’s instruction, “to eagerly maintain the unity of the Spirit in the body of peace” (Ephesians 4:3), for unity is easily lost.

Certainly, our unity has been tested in the past eighteen months more than any other time in our ten- year history, and God has certainly exposed areas where unity needs strengthening. Surely we can all acknowledge ways we’ve fallen short of the standard of unity God wants for His people.

As a test of this, ask yourself, when the subject of masks or vaccines comes up, are you listening only to see whether someone agrees with you? Do you find your felt sense of unity with brothers and sisters in Christ comes more from agreement about the virus, politics, or media than the gospel? Do you find yourself becoming dismissive or defensive against brothers and sisters who take a different position than you? Have you gossiped about those who, in your opinion, just don’t get it?

These are heart searching questions. They are designed to expose the way we let agreement or disagreement on worldly matters and controversies take precedence over the perfect and eternal unity that is already ours in Jesus Christ. Division can creep in subtly and quickly erode years of unity. We must be on guard against it, always remembering our heavenly kinship is what brought us together, and it alone will keep us together. Forever.

Your servant,

 



Pastoral Notes for Sunday, August 8, 2021

Dear Cornerstone Family,

When I think back to some of the most formative spiritual moments of my childhood, I’m more times than not in a small brightly colored classroom with tiny chairs and some dear saint—like Kathy Morgan or Chuck Thompson—sharing stories and truths from God’s Word.

No, I wasn’t always listening. To be honest, I was often more excited about the snacks. But somewhere between my general distractedness and the consumption of vanilla wafers, the Lord was at work in a powerful way. In fact, as I was preparing for today’s sermon, I thought of something that one of my Sunday School teachers taught me 30+ years ago. I’m actually going to include it today’s sermon, so be listening for it!

Our fantastic Children’s Coordinator, Meredith Suits, has been hard at work getting ready for the fall term of Sunday School. I asked her if she could tell us a bit about what to expect. Here’s what she wrote:

The children’s ministry will kick off our new semester of Sunday school on August 15. We hope your kids are registered and are excited to see friends and teachers again. If you haven’t registered yet, we would love to add your kids to our rosters. Email meredithsuits@gmail.com or search our online church directory for the registration form.

Our PreK-Kindergarten class (led by Joe Marlo, Joy Marlo, and Eleanor Ware) will spend the fall learning Bible stories from Genesis, singing songs, and memorizing scripture. The 1st-2nd grade class (led by Katie Patton and Poppy Driskell) is learning a different name of God each week and what it tells us about who He is through stories in the Bible. The 3rd-4th grade class (led by Ellie Terrell and Abigail Hicks) will continue their study of Acts from the summer and learn about God’s growing church. The 5th-6th graders (led by Dave Raymond and Sabrina Brewer) will study questions 1-7 of the New City Catechism, spending about 2-3 weeks on each question and engaging in discussion of the core doctrines of the Christian faith.

We are thankful for the teachers and assistants in these classes who are sharing their time and talents with our Cornerstone kids and hope that you will join us in encouraging them and our parents as we teach our children to love God and grow in their faith.

If you have children, I encourage you—no, implore you—to make Sunday School a priority for your kids this fall. Your children need the Bible. They also need to see the body of Christ at work. By taking kids to Sunday school, both of these realities come together in a special way. In 10 or 20 years from now, what will your children look back on and say, “That’s when everything changed for me spiritually.” By God’s grace, it might just be Sunday school this fall.

Your servant,